meunierd
1993
There are so many things I love about this game but it's not without its rough spots. Some of the secrets: heart tanks, and capsules feel like you're trying to get the game to glitch out to get that one perfect dash jump off. The timing of the final Sigma battle is such a huge spike in difficulty compared to the rest of the game which is fairly balanced. I'm not sure I really like how hard the design leans on X's charge shot. It slows down the speed a lot from Classic Mega Man even if everything else is ostensibly faster.
1987
What's there really to say that hasn't been said. My advice to anyone coming fresh to this is don't look up the boss weaknesses. It's more fun to experiment and replay levels. Yellow Devil is unreasonably hard but you feel great when you get the timing down or you can cheese it with a glitch.
I didn't realize folks had turned on this game. The encounter rate is way too high, it's hard to farm the chips you actually want, but the underlying combat engine and deck building are great. The music is decent, the visual design is superb. It's a full RPG in under 15 hours. It's great!
This game is wonderfully compact. In 3 hours you'll breeze through eight dungeons punctuated by decently challenging boss battles.
I love how cleanly Buster's pixel art reads. Everything is chunky, colorful, well proportioned and well animated. Power ups are passive and plentiful, making you progressively more nimble as you explore the labyrinth.
The music is great and clearly indebted to Maze of Galious (as is the core design). Can't recommend this micro metroidvania enough.
I love how cleanly Buster's pixel art reads. Everything is chunky, colorful, well proportioned and well animated. Power ups are passive and plentiful, making you progressively more nimble as you explore the labyrinth.
The music is great and clearly indebted to Maze of Galious (as is the core design). Can't recommend this micro metroidvania enough.
2014
The beginning of the Kirby Golden Age.
"The metroidvania one."
So what do we really have here? You start off as Mikey. You're trying to find and rescue your brothers scattered throughout a large continuous environment. Each turtle has a unique ability that allows you to progress deeper through the labyrinth.
You get a complete map at the beginning of the game with areas of interest marked with a nondescript dot. Unlike Castlevania, you don't see doors marked on the map.
The player is left to make educated guesses about where to press forward, and this is my favourite design element. The maze is fairly simple to actually explore but seems vast from the map. Navigating without a guide is not difficult.
What is difficult, is the bosses. They move too fast. They are too big. They have too many i-frames. As you learn their movements and improve your reaction time, they are beatable but it's not enjoyable.
The turtles themselves are fun to control. You have an air kick, and a generic attack. As best I can tell the hit boxes are the same for all turtles. You aren't able to spam attacks, they have about a half second cool down period, so you need to be precise with your strikes like with a Ninja Gaiden.
Music is good. Enemies lack variety. It's no Metroid II but it's interesting and competently put together.
So what do we really have here? You start off as Mikey. You're trying to find and rescue your brothers scattered throughout a large continuous environment. Each turtle has a unique ability that allows you to progress deeper through the labyrinth.
You get a complete map at the beginning of the game with areas of interest marked with a nondescript dot. Unlike Castlevania, you don't see doors marked on the map.
The player is left to make educated guesses about where to press forward, and this is my favourite design element. The maze is fairly simple to actually explore but seems vast from the map. Navigating without a guide is not difficult.
What is difficult, is the bosses. They move too fast. They are too big. They have too many i-frames. As you learn their movements and improve your reaction time, they are beatable but it's not enjoyable.
The turtles themselves are fun to control. You have an air kick, and a generic attack. As best I can tell the hit boxes are the same for all turtles. You aren't able to spam attacks, they have about a half second cool down period, so you need to be precise with your strikes like with a Ninja Gaiden.
Music is good. Enemies lack variety. It's no Metroid II but it's interesting and competently put together.
I love this broke-ass game. That you can exploit the mechanics and one punch man your way through the most difficult battles is a strength, not a weakness. I love how each class has its own growth mechanics. I love all the bizarre effects your equipment can have.
Uematsu is in fine form, wringing out memorable melodies from the GB sound chip. The art design is strong. Everything reads really clearly and the enemies have fun, cute designs.
Overall it's a really impressive release for year one of the Game Boy. Mechanically I like this better than Final Fantasy I and II. Kawazu is a mad genius.
Uematsu is in fine form, wringing out memorable melodies from the GB sound chip. The art design is strong. Everything reads really clearly and the enemies have fun, cute designs.
Overall it's a really impressive release for year one of the Game Boy. Mechanically I like this better than Final Fantasy I and II. Kawazu is a mad genius.
1990
This is a snappy, fun little game. Great Hip Tanaka soundtrack. I really like the tension of letting go of your balloons or trying to make a quick pit stop to pump up a new one. The last level's cruel but that's what save states are for.
The ultimate expression of what the Game Boy was capable of, and probably the best Zelda narrative.
1995
One of the absolute best games for the Game Boy. The depth of Kirby and his friends' movesets is incredible for the DMG. The Super Game Boy effects are really impressive, in how it's able to use careful palette swapping and positioning of assets to convey more colour than would otherwise be possible. You even get little extra PCM samples on the title screen. This is HAL showing off their mastery of the Game Boy as a platform.
(Finding Rainbow drops is BS, just use a guide)
(Finding Rainbow drops is BS, just use a guide)
I assume this is the shape of mainline Kirby going forward.
1992
Bonk is a really interesting foil to Super Mario Bros. The game is slower, and more exploratory. You have a more acrobatic move set that Mario would really only adopt later. It's more forgiving in terms of letting you continue from where you've died, having health at all, and being able to expand it.
1991
I really liked a compressed, more forgiving Contra experience. It doesn't overstay its welcome.
The animation of the palm trees are a great example of Konami polish.
The animation of the palm trees are a great example of Konami polish.
1992
This is right up there with Kirby's Dream Land for most impressive use of the DMG.
1991
Nemesis on steroids. Multiple characters. Hard as nails. One of the best STG for the DMG.