Tetris DX is very nostalgic and special to me as I actually owned a physical cartridge of this game back in my youngling days. I have a lot of memories playing this on my old GBA that for the most part I can’t seem to remember because I usually only tend to remember the stupid moments instead of the fun ones. I kinda recall getting the Space Shuttle cutscene at least once, I mean that probably could have been a false memory but I’d like to believe I was that cool back then.

if you played the Game Boy Tetris then Tetris DX is pretty much identical but there’s a few different things going on. DX’s Marathon goes out to Level 30 rather than Level 20 but rather than having the same difficulty curve, DX’s speed increases at a slower rate which means you have more time to ease into the increase of difficulty. you can also save your score in this version so you don’t have to worry about that disappearing whenever you turn the game off. DX also has an improved DAS (Delayed Auto Shift) and if you don’t know what that means, well me neither I just learned the term as I was typing this, but basically the pieces are less annoying to move around. lastly there’s a VS mode where you can compete against a CPU, though it’s pretty primitive as you don’t actually get to see how your opponent performs, your only indicator is a vertical bar to the side of your gameplay that slowly ascends and descends red. if the red reaches top then you’ve defeated them but if it drops down and you hear a warning sound, they’ve sent garbage to your screen that you’ll need to clear out. overall you’ll probably just stick to the default mode, though I’m glad these other modes are here as well.

Tetris DX introduces something special to the game: COLOR!!! okay to be fair NES Tetris has color, the DOS version has color, all the later releases have color, but hey nothing wrong with some easier visualibility. it’s not just color though, there’s a cool new checkerboard background during your gameplay that moves around the whole time, and when you get a Tetris it briefly scrolls faster and changes into a hot pink! it's very satisfying to pull off a Tetris in this game and see that background zoom with the new Tetris jingle going "DELELE WHOOP"! the ending cutscenes that you get when you finish a game have also been changed up a bit. in the original they kept things simple by having a rocket launch with its size depending on how high your score was, but here they decided to have a bit of fun. the general idea is still the same, but now they’re launching out goofier things like a tiny toothpick rocket that chases after a bird, a regular sized rocket that transforms into a parachute, a giant champagne bottle that erupts and fizzles out, they even launch the Statue of Liberty while a brief snippet of “Korobeiniki” plays. even the original space shuttle from the Game Boy game appears but they fail to launch it and have to take it back for repair. if your score’s really good though, they successfully launch the shuttle into space as it drop out items back down to Earth, making the grandiose reveal that all those Tetrominoes that you control during your gameplay are being sent from that very shuttle, thus giving the game a proper backstory, this is the Tetris lore that we needed.

there’s also this neat Fireworks scene after completing the 40 Lines mode that means a bit to me personally. it’s nothing too amazing nowadays, but back when I first saw that cutscene during a late night at the park, I felt as if I won the lottery and earned myself a kajillion dollars, it really was a special occasion. lastly there’s these cool demos that showcase the GBC’s capabilities in-between the regular Tetris gameplay demos. there’s a couple of fish swimming underwater with some neat seaweed moving in the background, a screensaver reminiscent of the DVD logo with a bunch of rainbow triangles while the Nintendo logo briefly glimmers every once in a while, and lastly a chalkboard where a piece of chalk writes out “Nintendo GAMEBOY COLOR” in various colors, all while this track is playing at the back of them all. this is easily the best track in the game and it’s what childhoods are made out of. if you disagree with my statement, well of course I respect your opinion but you heard what I said.

the music is an interesting topic and quite a controversial one as all of the gameplay tracks from GB Tetris are not in this one and have been replaced with generic 8-bit music. I gotta say, that's really disappointing, and this is coming from the guy who grew up listening to the DX tracks. they're not bad tracks they're pretty alright as a matter of fact, they just don't scream out "Tetris" like Korobeiniki or the original B and C themes do. you just gotta have that Russian influence somewhere you know? A-Type sounds a bit underwhelming when it first starts but becomes more catchy the further it goes, B-Type has a bit of a more calming and upbeat melody to it, and C-Type has a bit of a groove going on, it kinda sounds like something I'd hear in a Donkey Kong Land game (yes C-Type is the best one). interesting to note is that the music of what Type you choose is replaced with more frantic versions the higher that your stack rises, so if you ever wanted an added sense of anxiety to Tetris, they got you covered. the rest of the tracks that are in the game are pretty neat too. the File theme is actually a slower remix of the Game Boy's High Score theme except without the second half. the Menu theme is only about 10 seconds long before it loops but it does a great job during those 10 seconds. the Game Over theme pretty much goes "OOPS you messed up, but there's always a next time!", it's goofy and not too discouraging. the Name Entry has a similar vibe to the File theme and shares almost an equal amount of nostalgia to me as the Intro theme. finally the last Ending theme where the shuttle successfully launches has a snippet of the intro before playing its own peaceful and soothing theme, that combined with the cutscene goes together to create the perfect ending for this game.

both Game Boy Tetris' mean a lot to me but DX has much more memories to me in particular. while I never properly owned the original and had to rely on a defunct website to get to try it, with DX I had an actual physical cartridge that I played on all the time before I inevitably lost it. it took me a good while to recover from this tragedy but eventually I would move on, especially after learning there's other and easier ways to play this game again. as for anyone who has yet to try this version in particular, I'd definitely recommend you check it out, especially if the Game Boy version is one of your favorites. if you're feeling discouraged about not being able to listen to the iconic theme, there's a hack that reimplements the full unused track back into the game (sorry to the B and C-Type bros there's no hack for those ones). of course you could always wait for it to get added to the Switch Online service, but I wouldn't count on it. I do hope we see Tetris DX get included in an update for the Game Boy NSO as there's enough differences from GB Tetris to justify it being included, also the more Tetris the better.

take a shot every time I've said GB or Game Boy in this review

I enjoy Tetris, specifically the GB versions as those are the ones that I grew up with. are they perfect though? not exactly. GB Tetris lacks the QoL improvements that make the later releases so great, such as the Hard Drop and Preview. so yeah it’s not perfect, it’s just okay.

wait you’re telling me a rom hack added all those features I mentioned into the original Game Boy version? okay nvm the game’s perfect

as someone who’s particularly fond of the Game Boy games’ aesthetic, a hack like this is practically what the Doctor (Mario) ordered. no longer do I have to worry about those pesky S and Z Tetromino showing up at the worst time possible as now I can just hold them and get a different piece in return (unless I was holding another S/Z Tetromino before then that’s on me). on top of that, the hard drop feature makes game sessions feel much snappier during the earlier levels where the blocks take 10 million years to fall down. oh yeah you can also skip the rocket cutscenes by pressing Start but why would you want to do that those scenes are iconic. all of these features and more, on the OG GB. there’s really no reason to go back to the original version once you’ve got yourself used to this one unless you need the authentic fix of how Tetris used to be played. the only thing that would make this better for me is if an equivalent of this hack was made for Tetris DX as that version supports full color, though DX is technically a different game even if the gameplay is very similar to the original, I just think it’d be cool!

I don’t really know what else to say it’s kinda hard for me to go into an in-depth analysis of Tetris unless you want me to go into the entire history of how the game was made but that’s not what you’re here for, go find a YouTube documentary for something like that. excellent rom hack. if there’s any way you should go about playing the Game Boy version of Tetris in this day and age, this is the way.

if nobody got me I know Tetris got me can I get an AMEN

me and the gang Soma Cruising into Dracula’s Castle

I’ve heard very great things about Aria of Sorrow in particular so I’ve had high expectations going into this game, like let’s say at least 9/10 expectations. however seeing as you can see my rating right there, I won’t beat around the bush and instead go straight into the point.

the year is 2035, fur coats and bell-bottoms are back in style as Soma Cruz goes out to watch the solar eclipse with his definitelynotgirl-friend Mina Hakuba at her shrine. out of nowhere, the two are transported into Dracula’s Castle where they meet up with Genya Arikado (real clever name there buddy) who informs Soma that he has the ability to absorb the souls of monsters and orders him to go to the master chamber while intentionally leaving the situation vague. along the way Soma will meet many other wacky characters such as Graham Jones, a dude who’s 99% not evil or anything, Yoko Belnades, a member of the Church whose investigating the castle, Hammer, an army soldier who was sent to investigate as well but decided “nah I’m going to open up a shop in Dracula’s Castle instead”. lastly there’s J, some amnesiac dude who lost his memory back in 1999, the same exact year that Dracula was finally destroyed for good, hmmmmmmmm. If I had to describe what the vibe of this story’s like, I’d say it’s an in-between of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, more-so RoB outside of the art style, but it does start to hit SotN territory near the very end. I think some of it is due to how you’re not playing as a professional hardened vampire hunter like most of the games from before. Soma’s instead a pretty goofy guy. not only does he appeal to the male fantasy but he also believed that the story of Dracula was a fairytale (well he’s not wrong outside of his universe). for the most part he’s just some regular high school dude trapped in a castle until he isn’t but that’s a bit of spoiler territory so I won’t go into that whole plot twist here.

so yes you must once again traverse the Metroidvania and I have to say out of all the castles so far, this one was the least confusing to go through, and that’s good. on top of that it’s also the shortest one yet which surprised me as I was expecting another castle or just a longer one to get through, but hey that just means it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I think the reason why it’s not as long as the others is because they instead put their focus on the newly introduced Tactical Soul mechanic. Sometimes when you defeat an enemy, there’s a rare chance you can absorb the soul they have. there’s four types of Tactical Souls in the game: Bullet Souls which let you perform an enemy attack similar to how a sub-weapon would be used, Guardian Souls that let you use various abilities by pressing or holding the R button, Enchanted Souls that give you unique attributes or boost stats without draining your MP, and Ability Souls that give you active abilities to traverse areas of the castle. every regular enemy in the game has a soul you can absorb, that’s pretty impressive once you think about it. not only that, but you can also have one of each of the main types (red/blue/yellow) on at each time rather than being restricted to just one, so you can just mish-mash any combination you want and just go wild, which will net you a great amount of replayability.

that said, I do have one problem with them, and it’s that some of the souls in the game have ridiculously low drop rates, returning us back to Circle of the Moon enemy grinding. the one in particular that comes to mind is the Lightning Doll soul which I needed to stand a chance against Death. I could have sworn I took at least an hour leaving and coming back to the same room, defeating those dumb dolls, and not getting anything out of them. eventually I did get the soul and ended up becoming a bit overleveled for the Death fight and a brief portion of the game after that, but man did that take a while. eventually you get the option to buy the Soul Eater Ring from Hammer’s shop that increases the rate of soul drops, but good luck getting it without money strats since it costs a whopping 300,000G. so you either spend a bunch of time grinding money to purchase the ring, or spend a bunch of time defeating enemies over and over without it, there’s not really an easy way out. oh yeah equipable weapons are back, didn’t really have a good opportunity to bring it up back there. not much for me to really say except that the best weapon’s hiding around only halfway in the game inside a hidden wall, it’s literally just lying there, no grinding or purchasing acquired. to be honest I was hoping to see more futuristic weapons or even futuristic stuff in general in this since it takes place in 2035 but it’s not really a deal breaker, I’ll take my succubi disguising as shrine maidens as well as my handguns to shoot them with.

on a bit of a side note, there’s a bonus mode you can unlock after completing the game at least once that lets you play as Julius Belmont, a member of (surprisingly) the Belmont clan. Julius is BUSTED for real; immense attack power, high health bar, insane movement options, he’s supposed to be a Belmont but instead he ends up feeling like Goku. bro can really turn a 5-hour long game into a 5-minute long game, that’s how powerful this dude is, the only way you’re going to get a game over with this guy is if you’re intentionally going out of your way to do so. he can’t access the shop or use other weapons and healing items like Soma can but he really doesn’t need them, all he needs is his trusty Vampire Killer and a couple of sub-weapons. not too difficult honestly but you’re playing as a Chad Belmont, maybe the Chaddest of all the Belmonts so can you really complain?

for the graphics this comes to no surprise, they’re great. the Metroidvania Castlevanias are almost guaranteed to have smooth and detailed spritework, so you can expect to see more of that in this one. on the GBA brightness spectrum, I’d say it’s an in-between between the previous two games color palettes. it's not too dark, but it's not too bright….it's just right. I don’t really have much to say here, I think most of the color choices are fine. the only two I feel like could have been a bit better are some of the areas in the Underground Reservoir and the first phase of the final boss. a lot of the areas in the reservoir have this odd turquoise color scheme that makes the area look like some sort of ice cave, nothing too major but maybe a muter color palette could have helped. as for that first phase, your vision is kinda impaired during it since everything is just….gray, neat callback to Harmony of Dissonance with that one. while we’re on the topic of the final boss, can I say how crazy it is? it feels like there’s at least four different attacks going at the same time with that thing and it’s just nuts, not to mention all the tiny bullets flying everywhere that are not only a pain to avoid but can juggle you into other attacks meaning you have to heal yourself ahead of time. man what a nightmare, I was starting to get PTSD flashbacks to Scarlet Symphony during that mess.

on the bright side let’s move onto the music, and yes I’d say it’s pretty good. the composition sounds more similar to Circle of the Moon, and on top of that the music is a lot more catchy and action-packed. a bit ironic since the game’s opening starts off with a slow and calm mysterious theme with the Prologue, great track by the way one of my favorites. then the Castle Corridor theme plays and now it’s good old Castlevania time, with an epic GBA guitar to boot! the Chapel has more of a menacing and foreboding tension going on, while Study gives the vibe of something Bach or Beethoven would have composed. Dance Hall unironically sounds like clown music I cannot take it seriously. it’s not a bad track by any means it just sounds so unintentionally goofy that I was taken back when I first heard it during my playthrough. Clock Tower sounds relatively normal when it first starts but then out of nowhere it starts bringing the DOOM guitar out of nowhere and all of a sudden it’s now a rock song. this might seem a little odd, but Floating Garden, Underground Reservoir and Forbidden Area all kinda sound like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon tracks to me. am I the only one who thinks that or does anyone else think so too? Premonition is the perfect cutscene music for Castlevania, and Dracula’s Fate is also perfect for what occurs when it plays. Confrontation is a pretty alright boss theme, but Formidable Enemy is where it really goes hard, especially when it brings out the trumpet and the song starts going DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT. of course how could I forget Heart of Fire, the theme of Julius Belmont who we’ve already established is a Gigachad that for some reason has not gotten any women in the 55 years he’s been alive, life really done my bro Julius dirty. honestly the only thing truly holding this game’s soundtrack back is that it’s stuck on the GBA. the tracks already sound good on their own but if they had CD quality then they’d for sure be even more amazing.

I was debating on whether this game is either four stars or four and a half stars worthy. in the end I decided to go with the latter as this is a great beginner-friendly game if you want to get into the Metroidvania styled Castlevanias. I’d still say Symphony is a little better in that regard since there’s so many ways to make the game easier for you, but you can’t go wrong starting with this one instead. as for overall, this is definitely one of the best Castlevanias, only being beaten by Rondo and Symphony. Rondo is just a hella neat platformer, and Symphony’s soundtrack and sound effects are unparalleled, at least when it comes to Castlevania. Aria definitely has a better designed castle though so they’re pretty neck-to-neck really. so yes I was not disappointed, Aria of Sorrow was pretty epic and now I shall become one of many to shill this game to you. check it out, you'll have yourself a fun time.

Underground Cemetery is the best track btw

“Harmony of Dissonance”? er, more like…. “Harmony of PISSonance”!!!

is what I would have said if I hated the game, but no I really enjoyed it actually

going from Circle of the Moon to this in just a few days is….interesting. I’m not saying Circle of the Moon was bad, I quite liked it, I’m more or less stating that these two games have very different vibes, which makes sense as Koji Igarashi (AKA IGA the Metroidvania Guy) is actually directing this one unlike the former game. while Circle of the Moon has you going through a mostly normal looking Dracula’s Castle (as normal as it can be) with easy to figure out pathways, Harmony of Dissonance has you venturing to a psychedelic non-Dracula’s Castle full of crazy and inconsistent environments all within a confusing labyrinth. what I’m saying is that this game is mental

here you play as Juste Belmont, grandson of Simon Belmont and he and his friend Maxim Kischine investigate a mysterious castle where their childhood friend, Lydie Erlanger has been kidnapped inside. Maxim is quite an interesting fellow. unlike Hugh Baldwin who treated NATHAN GRAVES: RIGHTFUL PROTAGONIST OF CIRCLE OF THE MOON like absolute dirt for most of the game, Maxim here is an actual bro, as he leads you to the castle himself and splits up not to prove himself better but just to cover more ground and collect more information the next time you two meet up, he even gives you an item to access a locked door at one point. unfortunately even bros aren’t perfect. prior to the events of the game, Maxim collected the remains of Dracula to try and defeat him just like Simon did all those years ago. naturally this goes horribly wrong, and the end result leads to the creation of two incomplete castles, as well as a manifestation of Maxim’s dark side roaming about. really the moral of the story is to not collect dead body parts of a demonic being (unless the being in question inflicted a curse onto you then it’s A-OK)

it’s some more of the usual Metroidvania stuff, nothing to go wrong with here. Juste controls pretty good. he has the Vampire Killer which you can equip with upgrades later on, he can use the usual Castlevania sub-weapons as well as a new one called the Sacred Fist, and not only does he have a back dash but a forward dash as well, which makes traveling between areas much faster than in the previous games. if the wall jump from Circle of the Moon was present, we’d have Juste zipping around the castle like a Mega Man X character, unfortunately we can’t have nice things. it’s fine though, as Juste can instead use the power of Spell Books he can find, which allow him to cast various magic spells depending on what sub-weapon he currently has equipped. thankfully the Spell Books aren’t rare drop rates like the CotM’s cards as you can find them lying around in certain areas of the game so no more repeatedly defeating the same enemy over and over again! in total there’s 31 Spell Fusions, though admittedly I have not experimented with many of them in my playthrough, and that’s because some of the spells you can use are way too powerful. the two in particular I used for most of the game are the Bible + Ice Book and the Bible + Bolt Book. the Ice Book spell has you fire off two giant waves of water to the sides of the screen, which not only deals a lot of damage but gives you a long invincibility period on top of that, and the Bolt Book spell summons two hexagonal gears in front of you which can defeat every regular enemy in about 1-4 hits and takes down bosses very quickly, oh yeah it’s also a Gradius reference too so that’s pretty neat. you can get through the entire game just fine with those two combinations alone, but feel free to experiment if you don’t want to curbstomp everything so easily.

as for the castle, you have to go through two of them, A and B. unlike in Symphony where the second one was upside down, here it’s mostly the same layout outside of different backgrounds and tougher enemies, which means you don’t have to transform into a bat every thirty seconds to navigate the place. on the other hand, this does lead the two castles to being somewhat samey, which makes sense from a story standpoint of course, but I can understand why others would be bothered by this. for me I don’t really mind as having the same layout means I already know where most of the locations are so I don’t end up being confused too often. I can remember that “oh the save point in Castle A was over there so it’ll be right here in Castle B as well” or even look over to the A+B map and check the rooms that I haven’t got to in the castle I’m currently in. plus with how the bosses and enemies are laid out in Castle B, you’ll be going through the areas in a different order than you would in Castle A. I was about to go onto a brief tangent on how the Warp Rooms don’t function like they did in SotN and CotM in that they only take you from Castle A to Castle B instead of transporting you to a different section of the castle. as I was writing this review and doing more research, it turns out the Warp Rooms can do that, you just need to hold down instead of up for it to do so. now I could use the excuse that the game doesn’t explain how to do this clearly, but you’ll get a Hint Card that does just that. the Hint Card in question says “Kneel before the round gate to be taken to a different place.” so yeah I’m just a dumbass, don’t make the same mistake I did.

then you have the bosses, and they certainly exist. the bosses might be my least favorite aspect of this game, fighting against them is sort of a nothing burger. even if you aren’t abusing your magic spells, they’re just not that interesting as they’ll just use the same two or three attacks for the entire fight. then at a certain point the bosses are suddenly able to kill you in four hits no matter how high your health bar’s gotten, so yeah kinda wack. they’re a few good ones, namely one of the bosses right near the end, but for the most part they’re just there. real quick I want to bring up the Relics of this game. there’s not that much of them actually, and only three of them give you more movement options, one of which isn’t until near the end. the main reason I’m bringing this up is because I really think the Crushing Stone and Crush Boots should have been relics. I mean I’m not really too bothered by having to equip and unequip the two items when I need to use them it doesn’t really take that long, but it kinda baffles me how there are so few relics in this game and they never thought once that these two should been apart of them.

finally I’d like to discuss is the furniture sidequest of sorts that you can do. throughout the game you can find random furniture that you can place in an empty room in the castle. you can’t really interact with the items in the room or get anything too amazing out of completing the room, all that happens is Lydie holds onto Juste’s arm in the ending so to all you Lydie fans out there, they got you covered. I think it’s just a neat little goofy thing you can do in this otherwise dark and mysterious storyline. I love the implication that Juste has an interest in home decor to the point that he wants to decorate some random room in a castle he doesn’t own. I know we’re not getting any new Castlevania games any time soon, but it would be fun to imagine a Castlevania spinoff where Juste Belmont is going around to various buildings to decorate their interiors while Maxim and Lydie are there to help him out as assistants. hey if we’re not getting anymore mainline Castlevania then make this into an actual game hire me Konami (not really though I don’t want to work at Konami)

so the graphics are an interesting topic. before I start talking about this, I must admit that for my playthrough I used the recolor patch, so my cred is unfortunately not the greatest, nevertheless I must discuss it. in a great contrast to CotM, HoD’s graphics are much brighter and colorful, giving the castle a unique surreal vibe compared to all the ones that came before. looking back the color choices aren’t really terrible, the purple sky in The Wailing Way is neat, the green in the Room of Illusion compliments the flowing lava there, the crystal room in the Castle Treasury is awesome, and even the crazy red and blue background during the final boss, while undeniably a bit of an eyesore, is still pretty cool and trippy looking. unfortunately for every section with cool colors, there’s going to be another section that’s mostly nothing but gray. gray in the Entrance, gray in the Marble Corridor, gray in the Castle Treasury, the gray in the Luminous Cavern is especially excessive. There is a bit of exaggeration coming from me here, but man that’s a lot of gray what is this the Game Boy??? the sprite colors are mostly fine, even though Death’s purple for some reason. the purple actually looks fine in the portrait but his actual sprite looks a bit too pinkish. the biggest offender for me is Juste, his actual colors aren’t bad but he’s constantly surrounded by this blue outline. I get that it’s there so players don’t lose track of him, but for me that blue outline just looks way too distracting, to the point of it being the main reason I chose to play the recolor mod. looking back though the default colors are actually pretty nice, it’s just a mixed bag when it comes to some areas. if I ever do a second playthrough I’ll make sure to go through it normally.

as for the music….well from what I know, most people that have played this game consider this game’s music to be a low point, and to that I say: did we even listen to the same soundtrack? yeah that’s right, I enjoy this game’s music. I’m not even saying this to be special or anything, I genuinely think it slaps. now I’m not saying it’s a masterpiece in composition or anything, I just think the soundtrack is better than what a majority of people give it credit for….except for Offense and Defense that’s definitely a masterpiece my god man. but yeah I don’t really mind the quality I quite enjoy how GBC music sounds, in fact the music even takes me back to Akumajou Densetsu, and anything that reminds me of how that game sounds is cool in my book. now for my favorites, Name Entry is groovy and a nice callback to an obscure Castlevania track I didn’t know about until recently. Successor of Fate is a neat introduction to what you’ll be going through in this journey. Skeleton Den is amazing for a place full of sentient skeletons that want you dead. I absolutely love that beginning buildup with Chapel of Dissonance which speeds up the further the song goes. I’ll Sell at My Place is probably one of the hardest short looped tracks I’ve heard, it’s just a shop theme yet it sounds like something I’d hear in Wario Land. even the more moody and atmospheric tracks like Approach to Despair, To the Center of the Demonic Castle, and Aqueduct of Dragons are great, they really sell the unknown fear that embodies the entire castle. I’m sorry I can’t bring myself to hate this game’s music. I’m not expecting a grandeur cinematic score or anything, especially from the GBA, all I want is a soundtrack memorable and catchy enough to bring me back to listen when I’m done playing the game, and it did exactly that.

so Harmony of Dissonance: is it flawed? yeah very, but I still had a great time with this game. there were definitely moments where I was scratching my head on what to do at certain points, but at the end of the day it didn’t stop me from exploring every nook and cranny because I was having fun. I just have this urge to go “aaaa I need to 100% this place!!!” whenever I’m placed inside one of these castles, I like seeing what everything has to offer in these games. there are rooms for improvement which I will hopefully see in the next game, so I’m counting on that one to impress me even further.

maybe I enjoy this game more than I should but I don’t care, Juste is a professional decorator and I think that’s funny

I'm finally playing Castlevania again, let’s all rejoice for this wonderful moment in history

I came into this game expecting MID but what I got was actually pretty fun. the game definitely has its own flaws of course but I can definitely see young me spending a lot of time playing this on his red GBA SP, unless he were to get stuck at something that’d be really obvious to solve, trust me it happened a lot

the game starts with Dracula being resurrected however immediately after this he already has people showing up to kick his ass back into the grave, those vampire hunters in 1830 did not mess around. to counter this he sends a bat towards the ground which sends two of the three hunters falling down a huge pit which is as cheesy as it sounds. normally this would usually kill a Belmont but this is no Belmont you’re playing as, you’re playing as god damn NATHAN GRAVES. a huge pit ain’t gonna shatter his legs, he’ll just stand right back up and make his way back to beat the everloving crap out of you because this dude is NATHAN GRAVES: CERTIFIED VAMPIRE HUNTER. unfortunately his friend Hugh Baldwin is nowhere near as cool. instead of teaming up with Nathan and making things easier, Hugh is all like “uhhhh Master’s my father, I’m going to find him you’ll just get in the way” and runs off like an ass. so the basic goal of the game is make your way back up Dracula’s Castle and obtain the key to gain access to where he’s hiding, and along the way Hugh will rear his dumb head every so often to say “uhhhh Nathan BAD, me GOOD” what a prick someone should knock some sense into him we’ll see who’s the cool one after that

all things considered though you don’t really need his help since you’re playing as NATHAN GRAVES, and he doesn't need any idiots dragging him down he can do this all by himself. Nathan wields the Hunter’s Whip and while it's not the Vampire Killer he can still kick ass with it. if Nathan had the Vampire Killer there wouldn’t even be a game he’d just run up to Dracula and whip him to death before he can do anything, Dracula was lucky he didn’t have to fight NATHAN GRAVES at his full potential. did I mention that this guy is just a regular human? bro doesn’t even have freakish strength like the Belmont bloodline yet somehow this man survived a huge plummet and came back up out of sheer willpower. characters that achieve their strength by just training and working hard are extremely admirable, and Nathan is definitely no exception to this.

once you actually get into the game itself it’s about what you expect, some good old Metroidvania action. it’s not as fleshed out as Symphony of the Night as there’s no currency, equipable weapons, and probably some other stuff I can’t think of right now, but for a GBA launch title it’s surprisingly polished for the most part. while it can be kinda basic, this game includes a neat feature referred to as the Dual Set-up System, or DSS for short. some enemies have a chance of dropping either Action cards or Attribute cards after defeat, and by combining one of each you’re able to cast various magic spells that’ll help you out in the castle. turn your weapon into a stone whip, greatly increase your movement speed, summon various creatures for a screen nuke, turn into a skeleton that has a chance of tossing out an OP BONE, those are just a few of the goofy things you can do with them. nothing will put fear in Dracula’s face more than the main man NATHAN GRAVES summoning Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters that’ll eat him like breakfast. Dracula sending him down that pit was probably the worst mistake of his life. if he had just battled Nathan right there he would have at least had a small fighting chance instead he has only made Nathan more powerful and ensured his inevitable demise. the only problem with this however is that the drop rates for most of the cards are very miniscule. even with save states and rewind in the Advance Collection, you’ll be spending lots of time defeating enemies and hoping they drop that one card or even equipment you’re looking for. if you’re going out of your way to do this then you’re going to met with a big pace breaker every so often and it can be a bit tiring. luckily for you, there’s an easy glitch you can do while only having two cards that lets you access all of them at your leisure. right as you activate a spell, pause back to the stat screen and go to the DSS selection, switch over to a combination you don’t have, and once you exit the menu you’ll use that spell without it being in your inventory, meaning once you have two cards you basically have them all! but of course this glitch wasn’t intentional, imagine using it just so you don’t have to spend time grinding those card drops couldn’t be me hahaha

a good portion of GBA games had to use bright colors for their games due to the fact that the original GBA did not have any sort of backlight, however this game chose not to do so. now back in the days when people had no choice but to play this on those original GBAs this was a bit of a problem, nowadays you’re not going to be doing this unless you’re one of those people who need that 2001 authenticity, therefore I think the graphics are great. the devs did a great job replicating the vibe of Dracula’s castle into the GBA, it really is like a portable Symphony of the Night, though there’s still two more GBA Castlevanias so we’ll have to see how they fare in that regard. noticeably though the animations for all the sprites feel a lot more snappy compared to the fluid animations that came from SotN. while it bugged me at the beginning, you kinda get used to it after a while so it’s not too much of a big deal. the music is….good. GBA soundtracks are usually a mixed bag due to the hardware with those few expectations like Mother 3 and Mario & Luigi that were able to use it to their advantage. Circle of the Moon soundtrack does not have that GBA jank that you usually expect to hear which was a pleasant surprise, increased further that is once again a launch title for the system. that said, I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely amazing or anything, it’s more or less smack dab in the middle. there’s a few excellent tracks like the Clock Tower theme (or Machine Tower as this game calls it for some reason) and the Credits theme (which is oddly used for the title screen in the Advance Collection), the CV3 remixes and faster paced Dracula theme are welcome additions too. everything else is….good. they’re serviceable tracks that do the job, not ones I’ll come back to all the time, but they’re by no means bad.

so yeah I think three and a half stars is a worthy rating for this game. there’s not as much depth here compared to all the Metroidvanias, but you’re still getting a fun experience out of this, and I certainly had one. besides, how can you turn down the game that features none other than the man myth and legend NATHAN GRAVES?! if you were to ask me, I’d give this game five stars for just having NATHAN GRAVES alone. you ever wonder why he never appears in another Castlevania game after this? he’s too powerful that’s why. keeping him around means there would be no more Castlevania because Dracula would be dead before the game even starts. Dracula would be looking out of the window in fear asking Death, “oh god I really hope NATHAN GRAVES isn’t out there please tell me you didn’t see him” right before the man crashes from the ceiling and begins throwing crosses and summoning thunderbirds like the absolute chad he is. you see the real reason the Belmonts retired is because they knew they could never match up to the sheer power radiating from NATHAN GRAVES: THE TRUE DRACULA KILLER. the Belmonts KNEEL in his presence, knowing that the torch has been passed to a successor truly worthy of defending the world of Castlevania. heck, you can drop him in other franchises and he’d probably solo them. Pokémon with all its Pokégods running around? EZ. Kirby with all those eldritch abominations and ancient warriors? piece of cake. whatever the hell even goes on in Naruto’s world? PULEASE. to anyone else it would be the most important day of their lives, but for our good friend NATHAN GRAVES, it’s only a Tuesday. people are always asking “but can they beat Goku???”, and I’ll do you one better as you should really be saying “but can they beat NATHAN GRAVES?” the answer is no. he’s kind enough to spare your character as long as they aren’t completely evil, but know that they will not stand even the slightest chance at winning, as they are facing up against the one and only, supreme vampire hunter, the absolute legend, NATHANIEL. F’ING. GRAVES.

Nathan is cool :^)

Kirby Slide: an absolute enigma of a game. in the middle of December 2003, this Kirby game was mysteriously shadow dropped into the world for all the e-Reader users to play. an average person would normally use their e-Reader to gain access to special events to obtain unique Pokémon or unlock bonus levels to play through in Super Mario Advance 4. however, Kirby fans aren’t exactly “average”. sometimes they seek more, they would rather put in the work and effort to experience something that make a lasting impression for the rest of their lives, and Kirby Slide has the criteria to fill in that exact need.

before we can discuss what the game has to offer, I feel as if it’d be quite amiss if I didn't bring up some of the mysteries surrounding Kirby Slide that adds to its odd or surreal nature. the first thing I should mention is that we don’t know the exact date it came out on, as December 2003 is around the time it is commonly known to have been released. it’s rather strange how there’s no documentation on what day of the month Kirby Slide had officially been sent out to the public, and 2003 nonetheless! you would think that by this point in time all video games would have their full dates publicly available to the masses, yet Kirby Slide is not one of them. I feel like the common explanation I’d receive in response would be, “It’s only an accessory, it doesn’t have the same priority that an actual video game would have.” while I would agree that the likelihood of an e-Reader game would not share as much importance to the developers and audience as a mainstream title, to write off an e-Reader game as nothing more than an accessory is quite a shameful thing to say. while yes anything that comes from the e-Reader is not going to have the memory or capabilities to stand on the same ground as something like Final Fantasy VII with it’s three big discs out, at the end of the day this is still a video game as the advertising for it clearly states “This Card Contains A FREE Game!”, meaning not only are you playing an actual game, but a free one at that. In my sincere opinion, I believe Kirby Slide as well as any other e-Reader games should be respected for what they were able to accomplish, rather than what they aren’t.

our next mystery involves the developers of this game, or rather the lack of information on them. obviously Nintendo is going to be the one publishing this game, as they have for the rest of the Kirby franchise, but oddly enough HAL Laboratory were not the ones responsible for development on this game, marking this the first Kirby game not to be developed by HAL. Kid Kirby would have been the first to receive this honor, as well as being the first to be created by a non-Japanese studio, however that game would never see the light of day. returning to Kirby Slide, its developers are none other than 4Kids Entertainment, the company that was infamous for creating strange localized dubs for various anime at the time, with their most well known creation being….you guessed it: the “One Piece Pirate Rap”. so we know 4Kids were involved, but who were the exact people that made the game? unfortunately, we have no clue. Kirby Slide lacks any kind of staff roll, as completing the puzzle loops back to the beginning. why is there no ending credits? surely the 4Kids staff wouldn’t have prevented their names from appearing anywhere near this game. if I was given the chance to help bring about this game into existence, you can bet that I’d happily leave my name here for all the expert Kirby Slide players to see. if I had to guess why there’s no information on the people who worked on this, I believe the game had gone through a rocky development cycle, which Nintendo was not all too happy about. Nintendo perhaps forbade the members of 4Kids Entertainment from adding a staff roll out of their frustration with the final product, believing they don’t deserve any sort of credit or compensation for the game. while that’s just a theory, keep in mind a good amount of games back in the old days were not allowed to credit their developers due to a variety of reasons, one of the most famous examples being Castlevania for the Nintendo Entertainment System, so it’s not far-fetched to believe that Nintendo would do the same for Kirby Slide, it wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary for them.

and now for perhaps the most interesting thing to discuss with this game: what is its true name? while yes many people refer to this game as “Kirby Slide”, myself included, and even Backloggd itself does so as well, you’ll also notice that in the very description it mentions this important detail: “Kirby Slide (called Kirby Puzzle on the e-Reader menu)”. Kirby Puzzle. yet another mystery to add to this puzzle. philosophers have been asking the age-old question of whether the chicken or the egg came first, but I believe the more important question that we should really be asking ourselves is which came first: the Slide or the Puzzle? it’s no stranger for a game to receive more than one title, many of them get a title change when moved over to another region, however Kirby Slide or Kirby Puzzle, whichever one you prefer, had only released in America, with no signs pointing at plans for a release in multiple regions. besides the fact that no one outside of America ever got to experience the sheer joy of playing Kirby Slide, the name “Kirby Slide” is not mentioned anywhere in the actual game itself. it’s only on the back of the e-Reader card where it brings up the saying, “Do The Kirby Slide!” right before the “This Card Contains A FREE Game!” sentence is brought up. so what’s the big idea? if you were to ask my stance on this whole debacle, I believe Kirby Puzzle was the title that likely came first. the game was probably meant to be shipped as Kirby Puzzle before Nintendo saw the name themselves and ordered 4Kids to change the name to Kirby Slide for all its advertising. they probably assumed no kids would want to spend their time playing a game that has the word “puzzle” in its title, so they instead opted for the more exciting “slide” instead, which also fits the game as it features none other than a slide puzzle. as if why the game is still called Kirby Puzzle on the e-Reader menu, I’d assume the name change was a last minute decision, leaving them no time to update the title once it was shipped out to the public. with all this in mind, we now have a better understanding about Kirby Slide’s history and we can now delve into the game itself.

the objective of Kirby Slide is to set the eight-block sliding puzzle of Kirby into their correct order. pressing A to a block next to an empty space will make it slide over to the location of that space, which in turn makes an empty space at the former location of the block you chose. you repeat this process until all the pieces are put into their correct order, which will award you with a congratulatory message before giving you the option to reset the puzzle, which lets you start over to move the pieces once more. while many will shun the game for supposedly not giving out a true reward for finishing the puzzle, I would argue that a congratulatory message is possibly one of the best rewards you could ever want. many of my favorite games often add a “thank you for playing” message or another variation of that phrasing during their ending sequences, and Kirby Slide is no exception to this. the game saying “Congratulations” once you finish the puzzle is not there for show, it’s to let you know that the developers care about you. they’re proud that you were finally able to experience completing a slide puzzle for most likely the first time of your life, and one that features Kirby nonetheless! and at the end of the day, is that not all that really matters? some may also argue that there’s no point in playing a “miniscule” game such as this when they would rather spend their time playing anything else that could offer them a better use of their time. to that I say that playing Kirby Slide will give you no regrets whatsoever. at first you’ll most likely not care for it, as you’ll probably want to seek more from it, but over time you will grow to love the game and appreciate it for what it is. sure it may not have tons of depth from a first glance, but that’s not what Kirby Slide’s attempting to achieve. it’s not seeking to be the next triple AAA gaming masterpiece, Kirby Slide’s most important goal was to advertise the Kirby: Right Back at Ya anime that was airing around the time this game came out, and the game even uses humorous artwork from the anime depicting Kirby inhaling something. while Kirby Slide gives you the joy of completing a slide puzzle, it also serves to introduce you to the world of the Kirby anime. mayhaps once you have been satisfied with what Kirby Slide has to offer you, you’ll probably want to go through the Kirby anime and perhaps binge-watch it during your spare time. think about how many people out there got into Kirby: Right Back at Ya thanks to this very game. I don’t understand how anyone could bring themselves to dislike this game for that alone.

Kirby Slide is truly a misunderstood gem of the gaming industry. it is commonly known as the laughing stock of the Kirby fandom as well as any other gamers that are aware of its existence due to being a “simplistic and boring” slide puzzle game, but there’s nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. Kirby Slide was created to introduce people to slide puzzles, as well as get people into the Kirby: Right Back at Ya anime, that’s all it was aiming to achieve and I believe it does not deserve all this unwarranted hate for that. the next time you see people hating Kirby Slide online for some non-existent internet points, let them know that this game is much more than what it seems. the love and care put into Kirby Slide cannot be underestimated, and I share this message and review to all of those who are willing to give this game another chance to be appreciated. thank you for reading, and take care.

seeing as I’ve played Ikaruga, it was only a matter of time before I came face-to-face with its spiritual predecessor. I’ve heard that Radiant Silvergun is one of the best shmups out there, so to find out Treasure was able to pull this off with their first attempt in the genre is absolutely astonishing. then again I really shouldn’t be surprised this is the same company that created Wario World for the Nintendo GameCube these guys know their stuff

what makes Radiant Silvergun stand out is that there’s no powerups in this game, but instead the game offers you seven different weapon types that you can freely switch through depending on what button (or button combination if you’re playing the arcade version) you press. you have the Vulcan which is your standard forward shot, Homing which isn’t too powerful but in turn homes into nearby enemies, Spread which leaves you open to enemies from the front yet allows you to easily take care of enemies from your left and right, Homing Plasma that homes into two enemies and increasingly gets stronger for the duration, Back Wide which shoots out spread shots from behind, and Homing Spread which aims around at a certain range of your ship. last but not least, you have the Radiant Sword. yeah that’s right baby, your ship can spawn a big ass sword and slice things up! you can spin it around in a circle, let it linger around, and absorb the pink bullets that enemies can shoot at you. let it absorb ten pink bullets and it will turn into the Hyper Sword. the next time you use it, two giant Radiant Swords pop out to swing at everything in front of its path. as a bonus, it leaves your ship invincible during the attack’s duration. you might think that’s a lot to keep track of….well it is, but as you play on you’ll eventually get used to the wide variety at your disposal and learn which ones to use in the right circumstances, not only that but they’ll also gain experience and level up the more you utilize them so there’s a sense of progression as well.

now as for the other stuff, the score system is based on the type of enemies you defeat. there’s red ones, blue ones, and yellow ones. if you destroy three of the same color in a row, you’ll get bonus points. continuing to destroy enemies of the color you chose will stack up the points until you break the chain by attacking a different color. if you’re playing the Switch version like I did, beating the game once gives you the option to use Ikaruga’s scoring system, where you can switch to a different color after each third combo. I'd recommend leaving this on as soon as you can access it as it makes scoring much easier. finally, the bosses you face can also net you more points depending on how you defeat them. these guys are jumbo big and have many other segments to them that you can attack. if you’re able to successfully dismantle all their parts one by one, you get a very nice “Destruction Bonus”. while on the topic, hoo boy there’s a lot of bosses in this game, and I mean a lot. most of this game’s play time is pretty much section-boss-section-boss-section-boss. hey I’m not complaining though because these bosses are really rad. one of the first bosses GALLOP is already out here firing diagonal and circular lasers at you while setting the walls to your left and right on fire. NASU is a big ass metallic serpent flying around the place, DAIKAI-10 completely surrounds you as it blasts out bullets and lasers, 17VA-50 traps you in a rectangular space and fires out multicolored bullets that bounce around like a chaotic game of billiards, DAN-564 just does whatever it wants. rolling up into a giant sphere, firing out missiles in a circular pattern, chasing you down and going on the offensive, you got it! and holy crap that final boss….I thought Ikaruga had a climatic final boss but here’s Radiant Silvergun with the huge BTFO. you really need to experience facing this final boss for yourself to get what I’m talking about because….wow. god these boss fights are so cool….

I should finish the gameplay talk by quickly mentioning Story Mode. it’s a bit different from the default Arcade Mode as you’re given no continues (at least in the modern releases) but in turn you get to keep your weapon’s level progress for your future attempts as well as gaining more default lives the longer you play. theoretically you can get to the point where you’ll have 99 lives and Level 33 (the max level) for all your weapons at the beginning of a session, which is pretty epic by the way. on top of that, instead of choosing between Stage 2 or Stage 4 like in Arcade Mode, you’ll instead have to go through both, which means you’re going through all the Stages in this mode. Stage 6 also gets upgraded to a full-on boss gauntlet so have fun getting that 1cc!!! oh yeah you also get to see the cutscenes in this mode, it is Story Mode after all. speaking of….

where do I even begin? nothing good happens in this story. I repeat: nothing good happens. to clarify, I don’t mean it in the way of “oh it sucks it’s poorly written”, I’m more talking about the fact that the story for this game is a complete downer. it starts off rather goofy with the 90s anime opening cutscene with some brief light-hearted comedy, but it quickly (very quickly I might add) takes a turn when the Stone-Like is brought into the picture. once this octahedron rears its ugly faces in, it makes its first impression by wiping out every living being on Earth with a world ending explosion. the only survivors are four crew members of the ship “Tetra”, along with a robot onboard nicknamed “Creator” a year passes and they inevitably run out of all their remaining food and resources, leaving them no other choice but to return to what remains of Earth and cross paths with the Stone-Like in a near-hopeless final stand. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t end well, like not even close. it’s probably one of the worst outcomes that can even happen, maybe the worst if you really think about it. normally I’d tell you to play the game to find out what happens, but this game’s hard AF! I suppose you should just look up a Story Mode playthrough if you really don’t want to go through the journey yourself.

so how’s the soundtrack? pretty damn nice I should say. the composer for this game is Hitoshi Sakimoto, who also composed the music for Final Fantasy Tactics. I haven’t really heard the music from that game as of the time this has been posted, but I can say for certain that Radiant Silvergun’s soundtrack definitely gives me Tactics vibes. I’ll admit, I didn’t care for it as much at first, but as I continued to listen to it as I was typing out this review, it’s been growing on me. that said, Ikaruga’s soundtrack is still more to my liking, some of the tracks there are just too iconic and legendary. if you want to know my favorite tracks, they’d have to be Debris, Reminiscence, Evasion, Penta, Origin and The Stone-Like. the sound effects are alright I guess, but the one you hear when the warning screen appears….that goes hard. oddly enough, I actually find myself more interested in how this game looks rather than how it sounds. Radiant Silvergun can look a bit rough in some places, especially if you’re using the original graphics, nevertheless I still find this game’s looks to be very charming. 2D sprites in 3D backgrounds? hella cool aesthetic (even if all the bosses are huge 3D models). I love the warning screen’s seizure-inducing visuals that lead into the line “NO REFUGE” and then concludes by giving you nonsensical Engrish advice for the boss you’re facing, peak schizo. the militaristic metal tags that pop in to show your results each time you defeat a boss is also great as well. going through the nighttime 3D cities during the flashback with that menacing blue hue before fighting KOTETSU with the moon ominous spinning around in the background, love it. then at the beginning of Stage 5 you return to where the ending of Stage 2 took place and there’s now this ugly orange fog of death looming about throughout the entire stage, really shows how far Earth has fallen since the explosion. and of course, the boss fights are going to use the graphics to their advantage. UNDO is fought in a spinning circular arena, you fight UE2A-GAL as you continue ascending an endless skyscraper, during the GEDO-O battle the visual turn into WIREFRAMES during the whole thing, then when facing PENTA you can get a great view of the sky throughout the battle, and SBS-130’s final phase has the screen slowly rotating around for the remainder of the fight. once again, epic boss fights

okay maybe I should start wrapping things up, this is a lot of talk for an hour long game. I must confess that I am not skilled at Radiant Silvergun, not even close. there’s no way I’m going to be able to beat this game without Free Play, I unfortunately do not have the time and capability to do so, I’m sorry. I know that’s blasphemy for all the shmup superplayers out here but that’s just how I roll. and yes I’m aware four and a half stars is very generous for a game I’m absolutely terrible at but I don’t care this game’s oozing with soul. I definitely overuse the word “soul” a lot, but I genuinely mean it this time I swear. now the real question here is do I prefer this over Ikaruga? the two are very close, but I must admit I think I like Radiant Silvergun a little more. while I do prefer Ikaruga’s soundtrack, ending, warning siren, and just being a big fan of its polarity system, I think Radiant Silvergun beats it at everything else. the more eye-catching environments, the awesome boss fights, having a story that’s in the actual game, yeah, I’d say good game. I could definitely see myself continue to improve my skills with Radiant Silvergun in another timeline, unfortunately this isn’t that timeline so I can only dream. in my Ikaruga review I said if there was only one bullet hell game you should play it was that. let me rephrase what I meant; if there’s only two bullet hell games you can play, make it this and that. heck, play Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga in one sitting, what’s going to stop you? an orange floating stone?

hahaha, dear reader, stones don’t float….

they can put him in a World, but first they have to put him on a Land

Super Mario Land feels like a Super Mario Bros. from another timeline, a lot of the staples you’d expect from a 2D Mario are either not here or done very differently. there’s no Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser isn’t here, and Mario is rescuing the princess of Sarasaland “Daisy” for a change of pace. I’m guessing there was a brief moment in time where Mario lost interest in Peach and instead sought out to gain Daisy’s affection instead and I don’t blame him Daisy’s waaaaay better haha

did I tell you how weird this game is? the Koopas explode after you jump on them, the Flower power up lets you throw bouncing bowling balls, there’s sentient moai head enemies, the villain is some purple alien dude who you fight in a horizontal shmup, the Star theme is the god damn CAN CAN, what the HELL were R&D1 taking when they were making this game and where can I get that stuff

Sarasaland kinda kicks ass when you think about it. not only is each Kingdom based on real life locations such as Bermuda and Easter Island, but each Kingdom is also associated with the four elements. Birabuto is Fire, Muda is Water, Easton is Earth, and Chai is Air. there’s a good chance that the element thing is unintentional but I don’t care, I still think that’s pretty cool. not revisiting Sarasaland feels like one of the biggest missed opportunities this franchise has taken, I feel like it couldn’t hurt for a new 2D Mario game to do just that. not only would we be able to visit more fleshed out versions of the Kingdoms, but maybe there’s another four Kingdoms that we might not have known about, expand the world building of this place that’d be neat. I don’t know, maybe there’s some Super Mario World hack that does just that and it’s slipped past my radar.

I used to think Super Mario Land was just “Mario but he take place in the desert!!!” but nah it’s more than that. there’s only twelve levels with three for each world, but I have to say they really did their best to make sure you’re getting a memorable experience out of this. somehow this goofy ass Game Boy launch title with simplistic graphics has more soul than a majority of the Mario games that are released nowadays, how did we get to this point? oh yeah the game’s fun btw. the ladders at the bonus stages are cool; they remind me of Donkey Kong.

I like Donkey Kong

it’s more Kirby’s Adventure, can’t go wrong with that

Nightmare in Dream Land has the unique distinction of being the only Kirby game where all of the Big 3 had some sort of involvement (Masahiro Sakurai being the Chief Director, Shinchi Shimomura being the regular Director, and Shinya Kumazaki being a part of the HAL Debug Team). unfortunately this would be the last time Shimomura would be involved with Kirby before disappearing off the face of the earth, a bit poetic that his final game would be a remake of the first game he helped out with.

being a remake of Adventure, there isn’t too much new stuff to talk about. the story’s about the same with Kirby going off to restore dreams by retrieving pieces of the Star Rod that King Dedede gave to all of his buddies. the gameplay’s been smoothed up a bit from Kirby’s Adventure as all of Kirby’s movement is performed snappier to be more in line with how he controls in Super Star. before I go into stuff I enjoy about the remake I’m going to get my nitpicks about it out of the way. the iconic drawing tutorial intro got removed, running down and jumping slopes doesn’t let you perform a cool long jump anymore, the rotating towers in Butter Building’s stages got replaced with stationary foggy rooms, Meta Knight no longer appears in the middle of stages to throw you an Invincible Candy, my boy Bounder got replaced with this dumb and stupid pig head with wings, and for some reason the main antagonist Nightmare Wizard is referred to as “the Nightmares”. I’m not sure why the dude’s referred to as plural (translators think he’s Venom!) which is especially odd since Kirby’s Adventure was more accurate by calling him “the Nightmare”. lastly this may be an unpopular opinion, but I feel as if most of the tracks in this game took kind of a hit from the transition from 8-bit to GBA. don’t get me wrong the GBA tracks are still that great Kirby goodness, but I feel as if this soundtrack was made for the NES. Yogurt Yard, the Arena theme, Nightmare Orb, and most of the map themes besides Orange Ocean’s are a noticeable downgrade compared to how they sounded in Kirby’s Adventure, at least in my ears.

oh yeah the American cover sucks! they just slapped a bunch of JPGs onto a black background and called it a day. Meta Knight takes up most of the space as if he was the main antagonist when in reality all he does is throw his followers at you every once in a while before getting clapped himself. on top of that, they slapped Fighter Kirby even though Fighter Kirby isn’t even in the game, Kirby ain’t fightin’!!! I mean yeah Backdrop Kirby looks identical with the red headband but the artwork on the cover is clearly from Kirby: Right Back at Ya and Backdrop was not in that anime. actual false advertising! now compare that to the Japanese box art, which has waaaay more effort and accuracy put into it. the Kirby artwork used actually comes from Nightmare in Dream Land! not only that, but the Star Rod and the Fountain of Dreams are featured prominently on this cover, telling you exactly what this game’s going to be about without words. also Kirby’s smiling in this one which means he’s actually enjoying his time, making this the objective better box art

but those are pretty much all of my nitpicks, since this is a remake of Kirby’s Adventure, it means I still think highly of this game. the updated engine means some rooms and Copy Abilities won’t turn the game into a Powerpoint slideshow, that alone makes it a preferred experience to go through this adventure. the new Sub-Games are also a welcome improvement from the ones in Adventure. Bomb Rally is a fun hot potato type of game where you’re constantly smacking bombs back and forth with other Kirbys until you’re either the last one standing or you explode because you didn’t tap the A button in 0.001 seconds. Kirby’s Air Grind is a racing game (possibly inspired by an upcoming Kirby game?!?!) where you’re grinding through rails on the Warp Star to reach the finish line before the others, as well as maintaining your speed when going over some rigged segments. Quick Draw is like the one from the original except instead of the Wild West you’re now in Feudal Japan! all you have to do is time your A button at the right moment to best your increasingly faster opponents in battle. the new tracks included in this game are probably the best ones in the game. The Meta-Knights now uses a remix of Kirby 64’s mid-boss theme, the Mid-Boss Tower plays King Dedede’s theme, and the battle at the end of Rainbow Resort uses a slower and more menacing remix of King Dedede’s theme (yeah there’s two versions of King Dedede’s theme and no I am not complaining). lastly the sprites and graphics received a big and neat overhaul. Kirby is a lot more expressive and all the sprites have much more detail and life to them. the backgrounds were completely redrawn and damn they look gorgeous! have a quick internet search and take a look at them yourself, they’re straight up professional paintings stuffed inside a GBA screen.

that’s pretty much all I have to say about this remake, so I suppose I’ll end this review by explaining why I even like Kirby to begin with. why exactly would I spend so much time writing all these long reviews about them and give myself a Kirby profile picture and username? well, they’re just fun. there’s a lot of pretty lengthy and difficulty games out there, and there’s nothing wrong with that. however sometimes you just want to wind back and play a short and sweet game to relax and ease yourself, that’s where Kirby comes in. at my ripe old age of young adult, Kirby is that perfect medicine that you take to have a relaxing experience and immerse yourself into this colorful and dreamlike wonderland with this wonderful upbeat music playing in the background. there’s no dramatic heart-wrenching and philosophical narratives out in the world of Planet Popstar (at least for the most part). over here, you’re just Kirby: eating, sleeping, and taking care of the current situation at hand so you can continue eating and sleeping. maybe these games aren’t the most challenging games around compared to the other big boys out there where you’d be grinding and losing lives all the time to whatever new challenges are thrown, but that’s okay. Sakurai’s vision was to create an accessible and fun game to introduce others into the world of video games, and I believe he succeeded with the Kirby titles he worked on. even then, you can still find challenge in Kirby if you want to put in the effort to complete the games 100%, as you’ll have to complete various puzzles with your Copy Abilities to gain access to optional collectibles as well as unlockable bonus levels and modes that’ll provide a more difficult experience for you to take. by doing this you’re not just going from Point A to Point B, you’re getting the chance to explore everything that each stage is able to provide to you. Kirby just has this comfy vibe that you don’t really see from a lot of other games, especially nowadays. Kirby’s formula hasn’t really changed in any major ways besides the recent transition from 2D to 3D, but like the old saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. the games may end up filtering a bunch of people that are seeking something more hardcore, but to those that have the motivation and interest to stick around and take in everything these games, characters, and worlds that they have to offer, you have a pretty damn excellent franchise that the creators genuinely pour their heart and soul into. I’ve been a fan of this franchise for at least a decade now, and that’s not stopping anytime soon as I trust I’ll be given a fun time with each new entry that gets released. as cheesy as it sounds, Kirby is that one franchise that’s shaped like a friend, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

that said it’s not League of Legends so these games suck

whoa I finally got to finish writing a main series Kirby review again I never thought I’d see the day

we’ve made it to the last game in the so-called “Dark Matter Trilogy”. once more we got the mystique Shinichi Shimomura as director for this Kirby game and this is without a doubt his most ambitious game. likewise with a couple other of late Nintendo 64 games, the game was originally developed for the 64DD before Nintendo realized “uh oh we screwed it up!” and had HAL shift development to the basic N64. even with the change of hardware Kirby 64 is a pretty impressive N64 game, dare I say it’s my favorite game from this console?

there’s a lot to talk about here this time. those god damn pesky Dark Matter are back at it again but it seems they learned their lesson this time because instead of invading Planet Popstar they decided to go and bully some fairies over at Ripple Star and take over their planet with absolute ease. the Fairy Queen orders some pink-haired fairy named Ribbon to escape with this big ass crystal they have lying around to make sure it’s safe from the Dark Matter. she manages to get out of there but three Dark Matter named Dark Rimuru, Dark Rimura, and Dark Rimuro (don’t ask why they have names they just do) chase after Ribbon and send her flying to Popstar with the crystal shattered into pieces. she bumps into Kirby and they both find two Crystal Shards shortly after. while they team up and explore Popstar, they encounter Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and King Dedede along the way; all three have been possessed by Rimuru, Rimura, and Rimuro respectively (Dedede can’t and won’t ever get a break). once the team is assembled, they all venture towards different planets to collect and piece together all the Shards. this is where I’d end things but this game actually has full on cutscenes throughout the game. later Kirby games would also include cutscenes in various different forms but I feel like they already perfected the cutscene format with this game. the cutscenes do a great job making you feel as if you’re truly on a journey with your friends. you’re eating together at Rock Star, you’re stone skipping together at Aqua Star, you’re running for your life together at Neo Star, and while this isn’t exactly a cutscene, at the end of each non-boss level there’s always a picnic at the end with your friends waiting for you. this adventure is a group effort. and if you thought it couldn’t get better than that, THE MUSIC SYNCS WITH THE CUTSCENES. whenever something happens such as a character emoting or moving, a Crystal Shard appearing, Dark Matter being on-screen, etc., the music briefly shifts to give you the illusion that sound effects are currently playing, when in actuality these “sound effects” are actually a part of the music. no better does this enhance the experience than in my personal favorite cutscene at the end of Neo Star. unlike the previous cutscenes where the group shares a goofy and light-hearted moment, here they’re sprinting away from an active volcano that has begun to erupt. on its own the cutscene would be fine, but the intensity is amplified by the dynamic music playing in the background. those brief three seconds of Waddle Dee desperately running towards the portal before Kirby comes in with the clutch by popping up and inhaling him inside are some of the most dramatic moments I’ve ever felt in a video game no joke. the presentation is off the charts in this game and I love it so much.

oh yeah I have to talk about gameplay. although we’re on the N64, the game’s still a 2D scroller so no need to familiarize yourself with a different gameplay style, it’s not time for 3D yet. Kirby has all his moves from Dream Land 3, as well as most of the Copy Abilities from that game. Kirby loses out on Clean and Parasol, but in exchange he gets access to the Bomb Copy Ability, a fair trade-off unless you’re a huge Clean and/or Parasol enthusiast, don’t worry they’ll be back in some later games. unfortunately the Animal Buddies have sat this game out but in their place, Kirby gains the power to mix and combine his Copy Abilities. each combination gives Kirby a unique Copy Ability to use that’ll help him defeat enemies and destroy certain blocks. for example, Burn-Cutter gives Kirby a giant flaming sword to swing and throw, Stone-Spark lets Kirby swing a boulder chained by electricity, Ice-Spark turns Kirby into a fridge that throws out healing items you can consume, Needle-Bomb turns Kirby into a Gordo that can explode and shoot spikes, there’s a bunch of more Abilities but those are just a few to give an idea on how it works. to this day this is the only Kirby game where combining Copy Abilities gives you a completely unique Ability with its own properties and characteristics. Squeak Squad and Star Allies may have had their own methods of combining Abilities, however it was only restricted to elemental and weapon-based Copy Abilities (Fire Sword, Water Bomb, Spark Cutter, etc.). that said, I need to address the elephant in the room, or rather the puffball in the room. Kirby’s movement feels….off. he’s noticeably slower and heavier in this game than he was in every other side scrolling game before and after, I suppose that’s fitting though since Kirby does look a bit chubby this time around. look no further than when he goes into a puffing state, not only does his puff movement feel slow, he actually gets tired if you puff too long and begins descending out of exhaustion. bro’s been eating and gaining too many pounds if the track title “I’m Hungry” is anything to go by. but hey, that’s okay because your friends will show up every so often in the levels. Waddle Dee will lead you to some riding segments together, Adeleine will draw and give out healing items as well as clues to solve puzzles, and King Dedede will give you a piggyback and use his hammer to destroy walls Kirby (probably) can’t do on his own. once again I must state that this is a group effort. your bros and gals are by your side helping you out and if they weren’t there, Kirby would probably be stuck in Rock Star being confused or something.

likewise with Dream Land 2 and 3 you have collectibles to obtain throughout the levels, that being the Crystal Shards, and regrettably this is when I have to go into something I don’t like about this game. I have to admit: this might be my least favorite Shimomura game to 100%, and as someone who almost always goes for 100% completion every time I replay a Kirby game, this is a bit of a damper. Dream Land 2’s Rainbow Drops may have been a pain to get but at least there were just 7 of them, with only 3 of them being trouble. as for Dream Land 3, it may have had 30 Heart Stars but most of them weren’t really that too difficult to obtain. Kirby 64 has 74 Crystal Shards, each non-boss level housing three of these things, and a good portion of them are just, not fun. to give two examples, Aqua Star 3’s last Crystal Shard requires you to hold onto Stone-Cutter for the second half of the level and has you use it against a mid-boss before reaching the area you’re required to use it on. Stone-Cutter isn’t exactly the most reliable Copy Ability combat-wise and if you end up losing it in the water, you’ll need to restart as Stone enemies are only during the first half of the level. Neo Star 2 tops that by having you drag along Stone-Bomb, a very risky Ability that can actually injure you, throughout most of the entire level with a tough section filled with bottomless pits and enemies all over. if you lose a life, you have to do it all over as there are no Stone and Bomb enemies in the entire level, meaning you need to get the Ability from an entirely different level not only before, but every time you fail an attempt. so yeah, it’s a big hassle, but if you manage to pull that off and collect all the Crystal Shards, you get access to the real final boss as well as the true ending. I’ve mentioned this in my Dream Land 2 review, but I feel that a good way to go about this is by making your first playthrough a casual one, collecting any Crystal Shards that show up in your direction. after that if you’re still itching for more of the game, that’s when you should go back and obtain the ones that you’ve missed before.

so how about them graphics? well it’s an N64 game alright. it doesn’t hit as hard as Dream Land 3’s did, but I imagine it’d be a pain to replicate a crayon drawn art style, so instead they opted for a pop-up storybook style which I enjoy. and with all the checkerboard patterns everywhere, it reminds me a bit of early CGI, especially with the whole training room. I always thought this game looked like early Veggietales, until I went and looked back at Veggietales and realized they’re not that alike. nonetheless the graphics have this old school 3D vibe that still holds up surprisingly, especially in the cutscene department. now let’s talk about the music. Super Star’s soundtrack was pretty bombastic, while Dream Land 3’s soundtrack was more on the relaxed side. Kirby 64 takes the best of both worlds and offers a nice balance of those two styles. while there’s a lot of catchy tunes here, it isn’t afraid to offer you some mellow tracks as well. you know how people joke about Wet-Dry World having this odd negative aura? that’s kinda how I feel whenever I listen to this game’s file select theme. something about it feels quite melancholic, but perhaps it was intentional considering some of the stuff that happens in this game whether it’s in the story or the background. Quiet Forest is literally a Chrono Trigger track prove me wrong. it’s a crime this track only plays in one singular level but then again I feel like that’d take away some of the magic it has. I like how each possessed friend battle theme progressively gets much more fast paced. Waddle Dee’s is pretty chill, Adeleine’s is very upbeat, and then King Dedede’s is literally adrenaline overdrive, it’s such an intense theme for a battle that’ll probably only last thirty seconds. Rock Star has a crazy energetic vibe for a track that plays out in a desert, it makes this otherwise relaxing stroll feel more like Mad Max (I have never watched Mad Max). the Ruins theme from the same world goes the opposite direction and has more of a quiet atmosphere of wonder and mystery. Aqua Star is without a doubt a Kirby track. You know how people can listen to Green Greens and Gourmet Race and go “yeah, that’s Kirby”? Aqua Star is with them and man do I love this track. very upbeat and catchy, an earworm that makes you want to listen repeatedly, and that iconic Kirby synth. yeaaaaahh baby fill my eardrums with that ARR1 sample!!! even something simple as a map screen has bopping music. Neo Star’s map theme is almost 50 seconds long and sounds like something that you’d hear in Crash Bandicoot 1 or 2. Ripple Star’s map theme should sound familiar to you Kirby fans since it got remixed into other tracks in later games such as Helper’s Rest in Super Star Ultra and A Well-Deserved Rest in Triple Deluxe. oh and how could I forget to mention that boss theme? this is the best Kirby boss theme, nothing else comes close (okay Robobot’s and Star Allies’s do but you get the idea). oh yeah this game has three Sub-Games and one of them titled Bumper Crop Bump has an absolute banger track, one of the best in this already great soundtrack, and it’s stuck inside a Sub-Game!

of course, I need to describe something maybe a few of y’all were expecting me to mention, and that’s the fifth world. Shiver Star tells out an entire story just by its visuals and music. when you first arrive after witnessing that volcano cutscene leaving Neo Star, you’re greeted to a much more realistic looking planet from the ones you’ve seen before. the track when you enter the map screen is very discomforting, a stark contrast to the previous themes, letting you know that you are unwelcome in this territory, as well as giving you a hint of what's to come. then all of a sudden, you’re hit with a huge mood whiplash as you start the first level and are greeted with cheery Christmas music taking place at a friendly winter wonderland, you even get to go snowboarding with your bro Waddle Dee! by the time you get to the cloud level listening to even more upbeat and cheerful music, you’ve pretty much completely forgotten that unnerving first impression when you first got here. Shiver Star has successfully given you a false sense of security, and you’ve fallen right into its trap. with your guard down, you enter the next level which appears to be some sort of shopping mall. when you’re first going through the level, you’ll probably think nothing of it, but when you begin to take note of the entire place, you’ll notice something’s definitely up. for example, let’s compare and contrast to Forgotten Land’s “Alivel Mall”. while both are similar on the surface, the two of them have very different vibes. Alivel Mall has moving walkways and escalators, a dining room on the inside and outside, that one big hallway with the giant window you can look out of, this is a genuine mall being kept alive by the enemies of that game. Shiver Star’s on the other hand feels more like a mish-mash of seemingly random stuff. low ceiling rooms with random blocks everywhere, elevators powered by wind up keys, a big ass garden and aquarium, and some weird room with a bunch of giant nuts and bolts on the ceiling and floor, in a way it barely qualifies as a mall. even with Shiver Star’s theme playing, something about the whole place is uncanny. it feels very strange and robotic, it makes you wonder just what exactly was this mall’s true purpose. the final level of the world has you go down into an underground location. it’s then that reality hits you. yep, you’re inside an abandoned industrial factory. King Dedede shows up to help put you at ease for a bit, nevertheless the mood is still tense and those hammer machines with the psychotic grins certainly aren’t helping in your favor. then you get to the next room and spot a bunch of big test tubes in the background with various giant creatures inside of them. a pink hippo thing, some white bird, a black cat without any limbs. And some humanoid creature wearing an old-fashioned hood. what the hell was going on in this area? if you pay attention long enough, you’ll notice that the cat actually blinks and moves its ears. these things are still alive. just how long were they left inside these tubes and what kind of experiments were the inhabitants performing down here? at last you make it to the end. before you’ve been battling mostly cartoonish looking bosses (not sure what Pix’s exactly supposed to be), but that changes as you’re now face to face with a GIANT ROBOT. it’s no Iron Giant, it’s packed with missiles and changes its formation to some kind of Heavy Lobster expy, this thing was built for combat. by now you should have pieced everything together. giant robot, abandoned mall and factory, test tubes, the striking resemblance to real life planets. there used to be a human-like civilization living on this planet, however it’s all but been abandoned as all its residents have “moved away”. unfortunately we’ll probably never get any more information about Shiver Star’s backstory as it has never appeared or been mentioned in a Kirby game since. unless you have Shimomura on speed dial, we’re all out of luck.

okay let’s (thankfully) leave Shiver Star so I can briefly talk about the true final boss music of this game. this track right here is probably the second most iconic Kirby final boss track right behind none other than King Dedede’s theme. I guarantee even if you haven’t played a Kirby game you’ve most likely heard a version of this track somewhere on the internet at least once. we started off with a melancholic track and now we finish the game with another one. everything in Dream Land 2 and 3 has all led to this very battle. this is a battle that you can’t back away from, all you can do is “tough it out” and see it through to the end, or die trying. there’s something about facing this final boss for the first time that feels so special, it’s as if you’re witnessing a huge historical moment in front of your eyes, at least that’s how I felt when I fought it. actually it may as well be a historical moment since this is the last time we ever see traditional Dark Matter as the antagonist of a Kirby game. this track signifies the end of Dark Matter. it’s their last hurrah as the leader desperately attempts one final time to destroy Kirby for good. of course, we all know who made it out in the end….

wow what a wacky kids game amirite?! I may have been a bit critical when it came to the item collecting but it’s no surprise I love everything else. the story’s great, the music’s excellent, the world building is interesting, yeah I’m thinking good game. real quick I want to bring up something that not much people talk about, and that’s some of the scrapped ideas that were meant to be included. there were some cool levels that never made it into the actual game like a laboratory, a meteor shower, and even a giant whale! not only that, but Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and King Dedede were all meant to be playable, there’s even early screenshots of them in action that you can find online! basically what I’m saying is that this game could have been even more based. even if all this stuff got scrapped, what we ended up getting was still amazing, and it doesn’t surprise me that there are people who’d like to see a Kirby game in this style again. maybe one day we’ll see it happen, Kirby 64’s old enough to the point that it can be considered nostalgic, so maybe HAL will bless us one day and bestow us a spiritual successor when we least suspect it. someday….

I can beat N-Z in a fight

Mario Super Sluggers is evidence that you can indeed make baseball not boring

I remember getting this game on my Wii back when I was a wee lad and boy I soaked so many hours into the game like you wouldn’t believe. I wasn’t even into baseball, but somehow those colorful and wacky Mario characters put their own unique spin into it and I was hooked.

there’s a couple of modes you can try out here, you got Exhibition (basically the free play mode where you can create your baseball teams and go all out), Challenge Mode (where all the story is and how you unlock other characters/stadiums/features), Minigames (self-explanatory) and Toy Field (Let’s Make a Deal meets baseball). Exhibition and Challenge Mode are the big two that I’d recommend, Exhibition is where I (and probably you) will get most of your replayability, and Challenge Mode is essential if you want to unlock everything.

I don’t remember much of what happened in Challenge Mode storywise, but I do know that I had a great time with it so I advise not to pass it up and see if you enjoy what it has to offer. I unfortunately do not have the time to revisit it right now, but perhaps when I do I’ll write a second review that goes into that aspect in more detail.

as for the gameplay, you have a variety of Stadiums that you can choose to play in. almost all the Stadiums have their own unique gimmicks except for Mario Stadium because Mario. Peach Ice Garden has Freezies running around like they own the place, Yoshi Park has a train that commits vehicular manslaughter, Wario City has a giant Wario in the center to let you know you’re playing Wario City, DK Jungle has giant barrels that are lit on fire during the night, Bowser Jr. Playroom has loud Chain Chomps, Bowser Castle is a giant OSHA violation, Luigi’s Mansion has a GHOST and Daisy Cruiser has Gooper Blooper messing with the place and everyone insists the game must go on, what troopers. as cool as all that is, I think my favorite part about the Stadiums is how you can unlock the ability to be able to play them during the night. the Stadiums were already great on their own, but they all look a lot cooler at nighttime.

after that you can choose your captains and team players to your liking. each captain has their own unique Star Skills they can use to throw off the batter or launch a crazy ball to buy their team time to run across the bases. every single character also has their own different stats with some being excellent pitchers, great battlers, or fast on the field. with so many characters to choose from, you can straight up create an OP team that’ll net you easy wins, namely the ones that have a high chance of getting Home Runs. but if you don’t feel like analyzing every characters’ strengths and weaknesses, just slap Petey Piranha on your team and you win everything gg shake my hand. that said, my favorite detail is that every character in the game has “chemistry”. basically if two characters share chemistry with each other, they’ll be able to throw fast balls to each other and jump high enough to catch Home Run balls, giving you an advantage in the field if you place them near each other. on top of that there’s also bad chemistry meaning characters that don’t like each other will perform worse together. not only does it encourage team building, it’s also fun to see which characters do or don’t get along with each other. did you know that King K. Rool prefers King Boo over Bowser, Blooper and Hammer Bro don't get along, and that Birdo has beef with Tiny Kong? what the HELL did Tiny Kong do to Birdo?! too bad we’ll never find out! have fun with this keeping you up at night

I think that’s about all I have to say for now. if you’re a Mario fan that can also tolerate baseball, this is the game for you. lots of character importance, a fun story mode, some good old callbacks I mean good god they made Daisy Cruiser from Double Dash it’s own Stadium, no way you’re convincing me that isn’t cool. you want a good baseball game, play any of the others, if you want a real man’s sports game to prove you’re a true baseball connoisseur, you play THIS.

while I was writing this review I found out that this game never released in Europe, damn they got robbed