171 Reviews liked by wafflesforleah


Kenji Sasaki, the director of Sega Rally at one point in development worked so much on the project that he began questioning the very thought of finding driving "fun".

As a minnow you'll barely know how to drive a go-kart in Super Mario Kart, in comparison a fine-tuned high performance Toyota Celica GT-Four is well above your pay grade. You will start racing in the beginner-friendly Desert course just fine and dandy, until you try to make the very long easy right near the end and see yourself smacking head-first into the stone wall, sometimes even finding your curious eyes getting distracted by the zebras standing nearby. The Forest with it's pine trees welcome you to a hairpin turn that you have no hope of knowing how to handle in your weighty polygonal real world vehicle, and you barely find yourself making it to the end out of sheer luck. Then the apparent finale rears it's ugly head, an insurmountable Mountain with not only it's own hairpin turn, but many tricky curves, a long narrow turn leaving little room for error, and precise maneuvering through town. This is the end for you, this mountain cannot be conquered. You're left to zero knowledge of the hellish Lake Side extra course that lies beyond that mountain, home to narrow precision-demanding turns and chicanes that only true experts of the dirt may discover and have any hope of navigating.

You become enamored over how mean the mountain is, and find it's song mesmerizing through it's triumphant guitar riffs that feel like it's cheering you on. You're but a kid, but you try your best to figure out the science of operating a championship-grade motor vehicle. You only learn so much, even if you do get a bit better at the other portions of the track, a hairpin turn is still essentially a guaranteed crash. Despite an obvious skill plateau for your moronic self, you still find the game fun to play and come back to it just to hear it's cheery demeanor root for you. You've game over'd so many times, but it never feels bad, because the game only wishes to entertain and not belittle.

As an adult you come back to the same game with fondness, puzzled as to why you took so much leisure just driving by yourself in time attack. Was it really just the music? Was the Celica GT-Four just that cool of a car? You come back to the same course and struggle as you normally do, albeit this time with knowledge of how to decelerate and utilize the brake properly. You hug the inside of those corners, you get the drift around the hairpin without touching the embankment, and not a single wall is run into as you make the quick descend through town. That "cool part" of the music that you really liked is now suddenly the victory jubilee as you approach the finish line on the third and final lap. Addiction to the feel of the road sets in, and you find yourself beating the arcade mode and getting the esteemed honor to officially drive on the Lake Side course without the need of that code you found one time on your dad's shitty internet. The Stratos car also becomes yours, best of luck driver, you are now a true master and may access these dangerous assets at any time. You deserve it truly.

It's at this point we come back to Sasaki, who had taken a moment to drive his own car around the mountains to find his spark again to make good-ass driving games, he found the experience so exciting that he based the Mountain track on it and made the very same course that I loved and still do to this day. To transfer that experience to a video game and have it somehow resonate with a six-year old who is now a full grown adult that can handle that hairpin turn with relative ease is a true mark of brilliance, and why Sega Rally stands on it's own as the foundation of all rally racing games and possibly one of my favorite driving games ever made.

Hurrah to you Mr. Sasaki.

Mission Perfect!

Ugh… I was dreading this one, and it looks like those feelings were completely warranted. This is a very strange pastiche of various NES Mega Man titles by an American developer (USA Gold) that clearly had no idea what they were doing. Horribly grating sound effects and music paired with short, amateurish remakes of classic levels and a Megaman that feels as bad to control as he’s ever felt. So many puzzling choices in this one. Megaman can only fire 2 shots at a time instead of 3, and all of the boss weapons reach new heights of uselessness. Just as well, for the first time in the series, the camera scrolls vertically as well as horizontally, making every second of this utterly nauseating. Interestingly enough, you can control the camera by holding down the jump button and using the D-pad as one would in a Sonic game. However, this technique is never actually taught to you, and, because of the unimaginable screen crunch, I’d imagine that most players would jump into nothingness and hope for the best. I’ll attempt to say something nice though: USA Gold had the good sense to make this roughly an hour long, and the graphics are pretty impressive! They’re clearly based on the NES games, but with added shading and some slightly brighter colors. Maybe I would’ve liked The Wily Wars more if it looked like this.

I’ve played some really bad Mega Man games, but, at this point, this one stands alone.

WE HAVE ACQUIRED TECHNOLOGY!

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”

-- Ursula K. Le Guin, Datalinks

I watched Terminator 2 tonight and enjoyed it even more than the first one and because I hate myself, I thought I’d give the Japanese releases of Terminator 2 a look. It’s one of two games that LJN published to get a Famicom version, though they’re not credited in this version. There’s also a Game Gear version I’ll be looking at too so hope you enjoy both.

Famicom version

You go through five stages as the T-800 that are for the most part based on important parts of the movie. It skims through a lot of it but it makes sense to do so especially for the short length. The story also follows the movie pretty well which is nice though the way it portrays the story could be better. My only gripe with it is it doesn’t start with the T-800 naked, like what the heck devs? You can’t just say clothes obtained when he is clearly already wearing the ones he stole from in the movie!

The game starts out as a rather poor beat em up with only two attacks. A punch and if you can jump on enemies if you do it off a platform. You’ll want to do the jump if there is more than one enemy ready to beat you up and do punches when it’s just one enemy. It’s simple and easy and it should be easy to do a no damage run of it. You’ll eventually go inside to fight more enemies and then a boss. The boss is annoying because you want to hit and run away each time but sometimes he immediately attacks and I can’t really predict it well and you don’t wanna hit him as he’s attacking. You’ll know you’re doing damage if you see him flinch far back. Hit him enough and the stage is over.

The second stage is a bike driving level where you must avoid walls and the vehicle the T-1000 is trying to kill you with. This level seems rather notorious for the instant deaths but I personally found the level easy once I realized how to get through the doors and shoot the vehicle behind me. I think being in the middle helps a lot? I can’t really say. Though with how easy it is to die and only having four lives and no continues is rather mean.

Sarah Connor has to be saved in stage 3 and you’ll be going through rooms trying to find a card for the elevator and it’s pretty simple enough. The next level is similar as you’ll be going through multiple floors trying to find explosions to put into a dispenser at the top floor and then placing them all on the top floor once you find all 10. It can be a bit tedious but you shouldn’t have too many struggles. Though I don’t get why there’s even a limit to the amount you can hold. The time limit for setting the explosives is also really tight so don’t be slow! A tip I can give is that running from the enemies is easier than always engaging, especially with the T-1000. This is due to only being able to shoot them in the knees (due to a plot point of John Connor saying to not kill humans) and also just having ammo you may wanna conserve. I didn’t even mention how there’s this rating system that seems to give you better guns the better your rating is.

We’re finally here at the factory level and it’s rough. There’s so many things that can hurt you, tough platforming, and so much instant death. It’s not too long of a level but you better hope you had a few lives going into this. Have I mentioned yet you don’t get health back for beating a level? It’s also a pain in the ass to tell what’s foreground and background in this level. You’ll face the T-1000 a few times and at the very end you’ll have to constantly jump on him to push him off the platform and he’s done for. Just get to the end to talk to the Connors and the game is over and you get to see the ending!

Now despite everything the game might have going against it, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever played? I found the game more mediocre than anything. I can tell the team did try to make it a good experience, sure I don’t know their skills and talent but I like to think with more time and money, they could’ve ironed out some issues. I also didn’t really understand some of the criticism like “maze-like level design.” Come on guys, it wasn’t that miserable. I don’t even think the game is good, far from it. It’s just surprising Japanese players think this is like bottom 20 material. I’d easily take this over something like a Micronics game.

The presentation is nothing special but I do appreciate it, sometimes trying to feel more like the movie, like with the red vision of the T-800 with text displayed on the screen. The game’s cutscenes don’t really look all that good, especially John Connor seriously where is half his face? I’m also disappointed the game doesn’t end with the T-800 giving the thumbs up! Where is it?! How do you fumble the bag so bad on that one? The music by Geoff Follin is kind of bland. I don’t feel any positivity about this OST. I swear a lot of it just sounds like noise or just sounds like most Euro composed NES music. I’m not sure if it’s a hot take but was not feeling it at all.

This was a surprise feeling to have. I feel like I should be more negative but guess not. It’s close to being a bad game but ehh I just think it’s mediocre. I don’t think anyone should really play Terminator 2 for the Famicom but it’s not something like Outlanders bad. The game is a little pricey nowadays so good luck trying to get a copy if you want a full collection. At least watching the movie was fun but damnit this movie deserved better.

Game Gear version

This game is just a port of the NES/Famicom version. It was developed by Arc Developments and there’s not much to say besides good god there’s some issues. First off right off the bat, no stage 2. It’s just gone in this version and I assume it’s due to the screen size would probably make it impossible to see stuff coming. Now it’s just a four stage romp which feels lazy. Sadly it gets worse when you get to stage 3 and 4. (3 and 4 as in the ones from the console game)

The enemies can just shoot at you from so far away and it’s so unfair especially in stage four when countless shooters are in rooms. You can’t even shoot back at them unless they’re close to you which is just unfair! It’s no wonder the game has a lot of 1-ups in stage 3 because they probably knew you would suffer. At least you don’t take much damage but expect to take a couple of deaths. They also got rid of any of the parts where the red vision thing displays text to tell you the mission. I’m not even sure if the rating or non lethal shots are even in this port but I still tried to only shoot at the knees. There’s not even any Japanese in the JP version, it’s that lazy!

Another big issue was the bomb placing, the arrow is just bugged and sometimes tells you to place bombs in a place you already set one. The timer is already tight, why have a programming error like this?? The crane hooks in the final stage are also now just generic platforms for zero reason. At least the final boss is easier as you just shoot him a bunch and he falls off the platform, makes me wonder if that was also an option in the console version if I had kept my ammo. You don’t even get to see the ending animated before and still no thumbs up and then the game just goes back to the Sega splash screen.

Not even the presentation can save it as the in-game graphics are about the same and some of the story graphics are the same though for some reason Schwarzenegger looks way worse here then he did on the console version. The music is actually even worse here as while I thought it was bland on the console, it’s repetitive and feels like nothing on the Game Gear, what were they even thinking with this?

This port is just a mess, it’s still somewhat playable but wow is it really not worth playing. Avoid this one like you already have. I can’t believe Acclaim just let Japan have this version and thought that was okay to do. They should be ashamed of themselves. While it’s not the worst Game Gear game I’ve ever played, I can’t imagine this having any fans ever. At least it’s not the 16 bit version but in the end, I just want my 30 minutes back.

In an age before the internet became commonplace, I didn't have as much to entertain myself within the multiple childhood bedrooms I had. A small hand-me-down television of dubious quality eventually made it's way into my possession, albeit with no cable or antenna. Three things kept me company during those rainy lonesome weekends: toys, old video game consoles, and the trio of pencils, crayons, and discarded notebook paper.

I never liked having my room overtaken by the sound of silence, so I would often keep my fan on during even the cold winter nights. The constant noise of the fan wasn't really sufficient when I wasn't actively trying to sleep, so often I would rely on the only thing my television could produce besides static white noise, the music of my video games. This music was something that could either be easily conjured up by the sound test within the options menu, something that I could only hear in-gameplay, or if I'm lucky pausing wouldn't quiet the music. It's the reason a child would do such things like constantly replay a game to the point of being able to no-hit run it, play a racing game to drive on the same tracks over and over, or destroy countless soldiers on the battlefield for an entire evening. It was all due to the cool music.

Sonic 3 and all of it's versions didn't have a sound test, at least as far as I could see. It was quite a bother, because Sonic 2 had this. Why didn't 3 have it? I love the music so much. It wasn't until I came across the miracle of gaming magazines such as Tips and Tricks, Expert Gamer, and the like that suddenly my games would find a new lease on life, and Sonic 3 would perhaps get the most mileage out of it. Go to the vines in the first level, hit left x3, right x3, and up x3. Easy enough to remember. Sure, I get a stage select, but the sound test without any strings attached was what I truly wanted. I didn't need to constantly fight Mecha Sonic as Knuckles to hear the final boss music, even if I did find him super cool. I drew him so much...

Even when I eventually did get cable in my room, there were only like four channels I'd bother watching, and unfortunately I broke my sleep curfew a lot and stayed up like many a kid would, and advertisements would eventually start being shown instead of cartoons, pro wrestling, or stand up comedy. I'd spread my blanket across the floor of my room in front of my TV to either play something or just put music on from something I liked, then I'd draw, play my game boy, arrange my massive stash of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, etc. Was I a weird kid for sometimes enjoying the company of bleeps and bloops or some insane synth-rock music I heard in a fighting game about the anime I would catch after school every day? Maybe so, but music is music regardless of it's origin. For myself, that music represents memories of the journey I have taken through every console's library. Some are just more special than the rest...

I grow older, and I go through changes for better or worse. I live, I learn. Yet, here I am typing up this pointless nostalgia piece to the very music that inspired me to create decades prior, with the sound of the CRT speakers being replaced by some HyperX headphones, and my notebook paper replaced by a digital interface.

Some things never change.

I've been trying to think of bigger blunders humanity has made than letting the Sega Saturn die, shit like the Hindenburg Disaster and the invention of mayonnaise are peanuts compared to this catastrophe.

When I was in the mood to finally fill the massive gap in my Sega console lineup, I had to slap down a decent amount of didgeridoos for a working console and an ODE. It was a big down payment for only one console, but I essentially told myself that all it took was one copy of NA Saturn Bomberman for the entire thing to be paid off. It's insanely fucked up, more fucked up than someone inventing mayo while the Hindenburg was exploding, but these are the hurdles I'm willing to hop over to fix the hole in my heart that's the shape of my missing childhood Sega Saturn. I wanted to experience all the hypothetical final forms of two-dimensional art on my own coffee shit-stained clunker CRT TV, and emulation kinda smelled during that time. Worse than mayo.

I'd imagine there has to be some kind of heavenly timeline where the Saturn survived, and we weren't so quick to ditch 2D. I love my low poly original PlayStation, but if you had crafted a giant colorful sprite of a pizza in this game and made it scale up and down constantly while spinning all over the screen, it'd be second only to an actual pizza, and even then I'd be complaining about my pizza not getting more pixel-y as it approached my mouth, with similarly pixel-y cheese dripping from it ala a TMNT cartoon.

The Battle Mode is the literal life of the pizza party, and they even got a cast of Hudson all-stars to round out the playable characters. Bonk, the Adventure Island guy, that loser from Milon's Secret Castle, and even fuckin' Yuna goddamned Kagurazaka is here. I don't think Konami even remembers they own Galaxy Fräulein Yuna, and it makes me want to dive into the Turbo library a bit more again seeing all these peeps here, who are absolutely not getting let out of Konami's storage locker anytime soon. I mean, christ Bomberman himself didn't even get the common courtesy of an AV collection or any NSO releases. No respect, no respect at all I tells ya. Not even the common courtesy of a reach around. Konami don't give two shits about my man's history, cause he ain't their boy.

The only way you could make the battle mode more fun in this game would be to mod in all the voices from Atomic Bomberman, where all the Bombers were inexplicably voiced by Mr. and Mrs. Bighead and the Red M&M Guy. Maybe a lovely person could do that for me one day...

One day, one day maybe in 2050, Fightcade will have Saturn and 8P support....and the funny voice clips. There it is....the perfect bummer man.....you'd love to see it....

"time for a fuckin' dirtnap ya shitfuck" ~ Konami's last words to Bomberman after Super Bomberman R 2 bombed

Another genre hybrid very early on in the SNES' lifespan, though a lot more subtle than ActRaiser. Each level consists of a beatemup section and a platforming section, the former also including some adventure game elements such as stores and townsfolk to interact with and sometimes minigames to play with them. It all comes together very nicely, with a lovely little soundtrack as the cherry on top that fits like a glove with the feudal Japan aesthetic going on here.

Very pleasant stuff all around. It does get pretty rough in the endgame as far as difficulty goes, and I had to use a guide somewhere in stage 8's overworld, but those aren't really enough to detract from the overall experience. There are of course bigger highlights in the decade-spanning SNES catalogue, but this one makes for a great playthrough if you're looking for something on the quainter side.

The quintessential "You had to be there" JRPG. Voice-acted anime cutscenes back in "the day" were unbelievable. An incredible level of polish for an admittedly basic game. Brimming with charm, it's easy to ignore Working Designs' jank, sometimes anachronistic localization. Heck, I would argue it adds to the overall vibe.

This is an early 90's anime VHS tape of a video game.

Akin to getting jumped and brutally murdered. The back half of this game should not be experienced by anyone. Abandoned somewhere in the final few levels.

Further refinements in addition to 2's small fixes make this probably the best of the trilogy on SNES. The ability to run and the expanded moveset really help this feel like a bigger upgrade than 2 was to the original. It also feels as though levels are less drawn out and enemy variety is improved upon, with at least one new enemy being introduced per level until the final stage.

It seems like it didn't sell well or see great reception though, probably because it was released as late as 1996 in Western regions. I could imagine by that point people would have rather seen a port of one of Capcom's other arcade beatemups, such as Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, Alien vs Predator, or Armored Warriors. Whatever the case, this remains a solid product in its own right. Definitely the best pick for Final Fight at home, but I can't help but continue to prefer the arcade original over it. I think that game sets a crazy high bar for 1989.

Despite recently writing in my Persona 5 Tactica review that games like this weren't my cup of tea, along comes Marvel's Midnight Suns, a tactical RPG that does just about everything it can to win me over - and succeeds. In fact, it's more akin to a trading card game than anything else, mixed with a healthy dose of social simulation - a fact I probably would have been way more enthused about sooner if this game was at all marketed properly. Instead, I'm coming to the party late, but nevertheless happy to be here.

While this game comes from the makers of Xcom, I would actually describe its closest comparable as Fire Emblem: Three Houses. However, a couple of key changes in design turned it from something was largely carried by its non-gameplay elements (as Three Houses was for me) to one that almost perfectly married combat and social sim in execution. The card-based nature of Midnight Suns was one part of it, although the lack of a grid for movement was a bigger deal (positively!) than I expected. While there is a limited number of moves in a turn, you have the freedom to move anywhere on the board, meaning strict positioning plays a much less prominent role. No worrying about being on the wrong tile and having the entire enemy team gang up on you, especially because (aside from bosses) all enemies telegraph which of your units they'll attack. There are no surprises, meaning you're free to concentrate on crafting your strategy from the cards in your hand.

These enemy encounters also have a lot of different win conditions present, resulting in no shortage of variety to combat, especially when you factor in that each Marvel character you control also has their own unique playstyle. Some characters, like Blade, are built around inflicting status effects like bleed on enemies, while others such as Wolverine and Spider-Man are about chaining together attacks on multiple enemies, either with your cards or by using environmental hazards on the battlefield. If I had one complaint with this part of the game, it's that there aren't a lot of unique enemy units - you'll be staring down hydra goons and green demons for most of your playtime. The DLC adds an entirely different set of units to fight (vampyres), but those DLC missions also bring in an additional problem I'll touch on later.

Then you have the social aspect of Marvel's Midnight Suns, the thing I had no idea was even present yet becomes the star of the show. A big part of this game's enjoyment comes from simply hanging out with your favorite Marvel guys. Want to go fishing with Blade? Play video games with Spider-Man? Join a book club with Captain Marvel? Go on friendship dates and give presents to Iron Man? If so, you'll be spending a lot of time doing that. Talking with all these various Marvel characters and learning their stories forms a core part of the gameplay loop, as doing so also helps you level them up and gain better cards/stats. This is ultimately an RPG, after all, but being able to see a different side to these iconic characters than most games allow is genuinely cool.

So who's doing all this, you ask? Your very own Marvel OC, of course. Also something I had no idea about, but when you start the game, you create your own character, dubbed "The Hunter" by others. This could easily be something cringe or forgettable but they actually took the time to make Hunter their own character, complete with voice acting! Yeah, you're super OP so you can stand alongside the giants of the Marvel universe but they somehow make it work. Speaking of voice acting, this game has a TON of dialogue. A little too much, in fact.

See, if I have one major gripe with Midnight Suns, is that there's almost TOO much content. This is factoring in the DLC, mind you, since I got the complete version on sale, and those characters and the entire DLC storyline are integrated almost seamlessly into the main narrative, so you'll be doing those missions as you work your way through it. This game took me over 60 hours, way more than I was expecting, and while I don't mind long games, Midnight Suns really drags towards the end. As I said, there's a lot of dialogue - characters usually have something to say after anything that happens - and while you can skip or ignore it, there are opportunities for friendship points in nearly every conversation, so it pays to pay attention. That said, by the end, I was almost entirely checked out as I pushed towards the final mission. Believe me, it's a lot.

The story itself is also pretty blasé. It's your pretty standard Saturday Morning superhero affair, with a bunch of good guys banding together to fight a mystical evil with mostly PG language and scenarios. It's also about these two groups - the titular Midnight Suns and the Avengers - being forced together to deal with this threat and the constant internal conflict these bands of heroes rub against. In theory, it works, but again, not nearly for the runtime of the entire game. There are three chapters and the repetitive nature of constant bickering between the two groups does wear on you well before they put their differences aside for good at the end. There is at least some really good character work for the individual heroes here and there, however, and if you do have the DLC, I would even say Midnight Suns features the best-written version of Eddie Brock ever put forward in media. Another surprise!

Nitpicks with story and length aside, I really adore Marvel's Midnight Suns. This game went overlooked by a lot of people, myself included, but there's so much here that I can definitely say it's worth your time, at least if you're into Marvel. Hell, I didn't even get into the fact this game has a hub world, with third-person exploration! Fucking wild! How did they not market this shit better?

Common is the videogame with good mechanics and a bad structure, rare is the videogame with mediocre mechanics and a perfect structure

Angel_Arle Rockman reviews
Part 1: Rockman for Famicom
Part 2: Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo for Famicom
Part 3: Rockman 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!? for Famicom
Part 4: Rockman World for GB
Part 5: Rockman 4: Aratanaru Yabou!! for Famicom
Part 6: Rockman World 2 for GB
Part 7: Rockman 5: Blues no Wana!? for Famicom
Part 8: Rockman World 3 for GB
Part 9: Wily & Right no RockBoard: That's Paradise for Famicom
Part 10: Rockman World 4 for GB
Part 11: Rockman 6: Shijō Saidai no Tatakai!! for Famicom
Part 12: Rockman's Soccer for Super Famicom

Wanted to write an apology. This review should have been done months ago but I was just lacking motivation at the time to finish it. This review will for a lot of it be stuff that was already done but I replayed the game just to keep my mind fresh on it and write the rest of it so enough talk, now with the actual review.

Well we’re here at another finale that I wasn’t expecting to happen already. We are at the end of the Rockman World games, it’s been fun replaying them but it’s now time for Rockman World 5. If people were to tell you to play any of these games, it would most definitely be this title. It’s the only one to be fully unique without having to reuse past Robot Masters. After the many titles on the handheld, it was finally time to see what they have cookin here. Let’s finish these Game Boy games once and for all!

It’s another day for Rock and Roll as the two are walking outside until suddenly a new threat arrives. He doesn’t look like anyone Rock has seen before but he lets Roll retreat for the rest of the game, seriously she never shows up again after this. Rock becomes Rockman and it’s time to get rid of this mysterious foe. He charges the Super Rock Buster and…it doesn't work! Even charging it did nothing, can Rockman not win? We find him awakened back at home and thanks to Dr. Right, we now have a new buster called the Rock’n Arm! With this new power, no new threat will be able to thwart our blue hero. Now it’s up to him and a new robot cat named Tango that accompanies Rockman to stop this new mysterious threat.

Like the plot showed, we now have a new buster. While buster shots are once again the same as they’ve always been, Rockman can shoot his fist at enemies. Think of it like a faster version of Hard Knuckle but it comes back to you. The move is strong but the one con it has is that Rockman can be offensive less if he misses so try to not miss too much. Otherwise everything is about the same as it was in World 4.

Oh man the stage design in this game. It’s so awesome in this game! There’s so many cool new ideas they put into this one. Since we are now fighting new robots called Space Rulers, a lot of levels feel like they have the inside of something in space or actually in space. You first start with four stages starring the trap ridden floors of Mars’ stage, the long strip of outside before going into a location filled with leaky pipes and water of Neptune’s stage, the bubbly and bounciness of Venus’ stage, and the treadmills that constantly move with many spikes around in Mercury’s stage. They are all a good length and aren’t too easy but nothing too difficult outside of a few months. Really the only issue I had was the bouncy floors being a bit finicky in Venus’ stage. They are all of a good length too. This goes for the other stages you’ll do in the second half of the game. Saturn’s stage has a really cool gimmick where some rooms change the gravity for platforming to make you floatier or heavier depending on the setting. They even have an optional path to get special items that I’ll talk about later. The stages also fixed the issue I have of World 4 where sometimes the level design rinses and repeats things. While not every stage is 100% original as stuff like water is obviously not new, there isn’t a single bad level in this game. Enemies are also well placed and really the only complaint I had with the level design is that there were one or two moments of praying you don’t fall on spikes falling down a long corridor. Otherwise, it’s pretty awesome! The order I went was Mercury -> Mars -> Venus -> Neptune -> Pluto -> Uranus -> Jupiter -> Saturn.

Well I can actually talk about the fights in this one as they’re all unique here. Mercury is pretty simple, his Snatch Buster can steal your items but as long as you hit him then he will rush to the other side as a liquid. Parts of his liquid body move in two different ways but he never changes his pattern so learn how to dodge and you’ll beat him in no time. Venus can be tricky as his jump depends on if you try hitting him or not, reminds me a bit of Clash Man. His Bubble Bombs can be hard to dodge so watch out for those! Mars can shoot Photon Missiles that you can slide or jump over but watch out as he can shoot a very fast projectile that you’ll need to mash the buster button to avoid getting hit. As he rushes to the other side, focus on dodging mines as he’s invincible anyway. Neptune likes to jump a lot so be wary of that and be careful if you’re too far away as he can do a move to drop water from the ceiling and during this you can’t even slide. Pluto is fast and likes to dash around. Watch out for his fast projectiles when he’s up on the ceiling and don’t bother hitting him when he’s dashing around. Uranus has huge defense! You’ll be here for a while without his weakness and worst of all he can crush you when slamming the ceiling down and he hurts like hell. Jupiter is pretty easy since you’ll always have Bubble Bomb for this fight and he’s got a pretty easy pattern anyway. Saturn…uhhh I forgot to actually learn what he does since he dies very fast to his weakness. I’m sorry. Overall they are pretty fun bosses though I wish Uranus was better but some of the more fun fights also to do Buster only or would that be arm only? Totally not doing that cause I’m too lazy to remember all of the weaknesses.

Alright time for the usual special weapon discussion and this will be a good one! Grab Buster from Mercury is really good as it fires a projectile that not only hits hard but also gives you back a small amount of energy to refill on health. Perfect if you are needing it but don’t want to use an E-tank. Bubble Bomb from Venus is pretty good too as it fires upwards in a wavy pattern and hurts anything on contact. It also runs along walls and ceilings. This move is just excellent on a lot of enemies so enjoy using this one a lot even if the aiming can be a bit challenging at first. Photon Missile from Mars is alright, I like the power and multiple missiles you can send out but it’s a little too slow for my liking when you first send it out. It still can be useful at times. Salt Water from Neptune is eh for me. I’m sure it’s good but I never feel the need to bring it out and the only time I ever use it is when seeing the enemy named Birdy. It can be good for walls and ceiling as it splits into three smaller balls of water. Electric Shock from Jupiter is really cool as you can use electricity from your hands, making the range small but perfect for killing enemies in seconds. It feels very satisfying. Black Hole from Saturn sends out a black hole that then shoots out a lot of projectiles expanding as a circle and is very useful for killing enemies but lacks much energy. Deep Digger from Uranus is sadly the worst weapon in the game. It lets you pick up rocks to throw at enemies but they mostly use this to find secrets making the weapon extremely situational and kind of useless. Finally we have Break Dash from Pluto and it’s awesome! They finally did one of these physical attacks right. It’s strong, you can go through enemies no problem, you have i-frames during and after the move, and best of all YOU CAN ACTUALLY SHOOT WITH YOUR BUSTER WHILE HAVING BREAK DASH ON! It’s like everything I wanted from Charge Kick and even more! The only real flaw is it can’t be used in the air and immediately ends if you go off the floor. You also can’t charge your buster since that activates the move but not a big deal. These are a very solid set of weapons and I’d argue they are really underrated!

Rush Coil and Rush Jet are still here and honestly they just feel obligatory at this point so let’s talk about the new cat in town, Tango. Tango will attack enemies by rolling up in a ball and moving around hitting anything it makes contact with. He can be helpful but I find him not that worth using once you get more weapons since he’s a bit slow to get working well. Eddie is also here to sometimes give you items along with Blues too, though sometimes you’ll have to find him in secret areas. Oddly no Beat though which is odd. Dr. Right also has a shop where you once again buy stuff with P-chips. This store even has upgrades for the Rock’n Arm. Sadly this game also does that thing where the 2nd half doesn’t refill your energy and you have to buy an item to refill it everytime. Honestly just purposefully get a game over to refill it for free. You can also buy a special item but I gotta rant real quick.

In Rockman 6, I complained about the game having some poor replayability due to how you get the Beat letters. In the 2nd half of the game, you can collect jewels for Dr. Right since he’ll make an item for free with them. The item is the Power Generator which halves weapon energy consumption. It’s really helpful but you need to find them in secret areas. These areas require Break Dash and Deep Digger. This means you will have to go to them first if you want to beat the game faster. This sucks because the weapons from Jupiter and Saturn are really fun to use but it’s just not optimal to them first. Even worse, Pluto’s stage requires Deep Digger and Uranus’ stage requires Break Dash meaning you have to replay one of those stages anyway which feels like bad design to me. Could they really not find a better way to hide these? At the very least they are optional unlike the Wily letters in World 4 but I don’t think that makes the situation any better. I could see this hurting the game for me whenever I decide to replay the game more which kind of worries me ngl.

I didn’t mention it but halfway you’ll fight a boss named Dark Moon. It’s just another Devil fight and it’s pretty easy this time so just use Photon Missile and you’ll be fine. Once you’re done with all of the eight Space Rulers, you’re off to fight the foe from the very beginning of the game who is Earth by the way. Well the game gives you blocks so just use Deep Digger and it’ll be over before you know it. You’ll get Spark Chaser from Earth and it’s awesome as well. A laser that homes in on enemies and is really powerful. Worth using if you have the chance to in the final part of the game. You think it’s over but nope you learn the Space Rulers were working for sigh Dr. Wily…God they really can’t let go of Wily. So yeah he’s the main threat now so off you go into space some more with Rush and the final act commences.

The first level is a shmup section and like many games that aren’t shmups, this shmup section sucks. Starts off with asteroids you can’t hit, one single type of enemy and giant ass lasers you cannot predict and do a ton of damage. The boss is also very easy and boring. Probably the worst level in the game. The last level in the game is long and you’ll be going through a level with multiple paths and you’ll even rematch all of the Rockman killers and Quint. It’s a pretty cool callback to the previous entries. Though whoever thought the rooms after them should all end with spikes on the right side every time needs to be told they’re not funny. Otherwise the level is pretty solid but nothing too amazing. By the end you’ll be doing a…boss rush. Goddamnit. Beaten, destroyed, bye bye, dead, go away, wait why is Neptune weak to Spark Chaser, boom, and bam. Ok off to the final boss which is Dr. Wily. First you get a ton of weapon energy refills and then it’s off to fight the left and right knuckle of Wily’s Machine. They’re pretty easy to dodge and just a little bit of aim of Salt Water will knock them both easily. Now you’re fighting the main thing, Dr. Wily’s Brain Crusher. The first phase is easy as you just need to dodge and bounce the bomb back with your shots and when the enemy that changes gravity shows up, I just use Spark Chaser. With enough explosions the first phase is done. The second and final phase is even easier as with enough uses of Spark Chaser, he goes down fast and his shots are pretty easy to dodge. Congratulations you have beaten-wait there’s more? Wily isn’t the final boss? Nope you still have one more opponent. You must now fight Sungod. He is strong and he moves fast. You even at times have to deal with different gravity with your jumps. He’s easily the hardest fight in the game. Though if you can still use Spark Chaser, it can make it a bit easier for you even though Sungod has zero weaknesses surprisingly. Once he’s down, he barely lives but it’s too late for him as Rockman has to book it out of there with Rush after a bit of small talk. The base explodes with Sungod still inside, ending his life for good. Once Rockman gets back on Earth, he sits down and thinks about the journey he had. Sadly it’s cut short as Dr. Wily continues to fight Rockman until his saucer breaks leaving him defenseless. With no other choice, he flees with Rockman giving chase, ending Rockman World 5.

When it comes to the graphics, they’re pretty nice. This game actually has SGB support this time though the colors are nothing amazing. I wish there was a full color version but there isn’t. The border is at least nice. The framerate issues are also still here but honestly I didn’t even notice it that much when playing. All the sprites and stuff are of good quality as expected. Really love all the new boss designs. My only real issue with the graphics is the lack of cool cutscenes that World 4 had. At least the weapon get screen is still very cool and awesome. I also love how they still give stuff like the level select screen such a cool look and not do the same old design of bosses in Squares. The music is some really good stuff too, it’s impressive they could make so many good songs on their own. Though I’m not sure who composed it sadly. My favorites have to be Mercury’s stage theme, Pluto’s stage theme, and the ending. God the ending feels like an amazing way to end this series of games on the GB. I think it’s about time to wrap things up.

So, there you have it people. Every World game is finally done and in the end, I love World 5. This game is so far my favorite Rockman game I’ve reviewed so far. So much of the game is just so fun to play. The level design is really good, the bosses are fun for the most part, and there’s not even really a bad level besides the shmup one. We have seen the highs and lows of these GB games and it’s great to see it end on a high note. I’d be surprised if any Rockman game surpasses this one for me. I’d strongly recommend playing it if you have the chance to. Sadly it’s gone on 3DS VC so you’ll have to get an original cart unless one day Capcom decides to put the World games on NSO. Rockman will also never be seen again on a Nintendo handheld after this unless you want to count Rockman & Forte on GBA. I had a great time reviewing these, yes even World 2. I hope you enjoyed this and I hope it can even motivate you to give this great game a go! Next time on the Rockman reviews, I’ll be moving to the Mega Drive with Rockman: Mega World. I’ll see you then!

Gave it the benefit of the doubt for the second time and still came out hating it. Just back to back horrible enemy and level design mars anything you could get out of the campy bosses or Koshiro music. Gets put on this enormous pedestal only because it's like, the only launch window Genesis game that had any money or polish put into it, and yet it's still littered with damning design oversights.

Putrid.