7th May 2010, 12:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 7th May 2010, 12:53 AM by A Black Falcon.)
Monday
Game Gear
--
Donald Duck in the Lucky Dime Caper - Fun little platformer... the game has nice, colorful graphics, with simple, fun gameplay. It's got some challenge, which is why it took several weeks to finish, but it was pretty fun. The game has seven levels, of moderate length, and infinite continues (from the beginning of the stage; when you lose a life you start from the last door your entered, or the start if you haven't entered any). As Donald you run and jump and attack (hammer or throwing weapon, depending on which you have picked up). Defeat the enemies and get over the jumps... basic stuff. Basically the enemies kill you easily, but once you memorize what to do, the game gets somewhat easy (as long as you don't mess up). I died in the final level many times, but when I finally beat it I did so without dying. Still, with the nice graphics and fun level designs (the later stages get a bit more complex, with moving platforms, blocks flying at you, etc), it's pretty good while it lasts, if you like simple platformers. I liked the game at least.
Yesterday
Dreamcast
--
Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge -- Fun arcade platformer... the ending is underwhelming (you just finish the last level and then see the ending video, it's somewhat anticlimactic gameplay-wise), but it's a pretty fun, and challenging, game. The game is short, but the difficulty level is fairly high, so it took a decent amount of time to finish. Overall, very fun game. I was surprised by this one, wasn't expecting it to be as good, or fun, as it was.
Today
NES
--
Abadox -- First -- TURN ON YOUR AUTOFIRE! Seriously, it's pretty much necessary in this game. Otherwise you've got to mash the button, fast, for most of the time you're playing, and that's just not fun. Save yourself the hassle, and the potential finger-strain, and just use your NES Advantage and turn on autofire at max speed.
Such a great game... yeah, I just got it yesterday, but I had beaten it before in emulation (and loved it), so I wanted to play it again. The game only took a couple of hours to finish this time. It didn't take as long this time as the first time, I'm pretty sure. I'd expect that though, because this is a very, very memorization-heavy shmup and I still remembered some of what to do (there were times where, despite not really remembering the stages before seeing them again, I just instinctively went straight into the places I remembered were safe as I progressed...). The game's interesting, with a weird biological graphical theme that is very well done -- it's more consistent and cool than even Life Force I would say, in that. The creepy, very well done graphics really stand out and are a real part of why the game is such a great game. The music isn't quite as great as the graphics, but it's good enough, and somewhat catchy.
The game is extremely difficult, but isn't that long at only six levels (each with two parts, with a miniboss at the middle and a final boss at the end). The only "checkpoint" in each level is after the midboss, so in effect there are 12 stages. Three levels are top-down, and three side-scrolling. Though both are tough, I find the topdown levels harder. There seem to be more pop-up surprises with little warning there, while in the side-scrolling areas I seem to have a little better sense of what's coming at me -- and the more warning you have the better chance you have of getting through.
The game has powerups which you get from specific enemies. Powerups are not that common and drop specific powers, so it's not user-selectable like Gradius. You want to try to collect most powerups, because the game is made much, much easier with powerups, and like a Gradius game, if you die, you start from scratch again and it hurts a lot, and makes it much more likely that you'll die a lot more too. Try not to die if possible; if you do though, as you inevitably will, then just memorize everything, and learn how to get as many powerups as possible in the stage without hitting the bullets...
After dying in it, I think level 2-2 took me an hour to beat... it was one of the hardest stages in the game, in fact, going by how long it took. Levels 5 and 6 probably are harder overall, but by that point I was more used to the game again I think... but also, level 2-2 is very cruel -- there are NO weapon upgrades in the whole stage. There's just a shield, rotating guard thing, and speedup... no weapon upgrades at all. It makes the stage inordinately difficult; even one basic weapon upgrade would make a tremendous difference... but instead it's just really frustrating. Oh well, I got past it eventually and went on to beat the game. :)
One key factor makes things a lot easier than they otherwise would be: You have infinite continues. Really, this is why I was able to beat it so quickly (or at all perhaps). You don't have to restart the whole thing after a couple of deaths, you can just keep trying until you get it right. This really is a key to why I'd call the game not quite as hard as it sometimes seems to get a reputation for being -- yeah it's hard, but you have infinite continues! You don't need to replay level 2 (level 2-2 is very, very hard if you die in it and have to start from the beginning of 2-2 with just the peashooter) fifty times just because you keep dying in level 5 or 6. With a game with levels this hard, which will kill you so many times until you memorize exactly where you should be at every instant, that is a huge, huge thing.
Oh, the bosses are oddly easy compared to the levels. I don't think I died more than two or three times at most of them. A few are a bit harder, but most have multiple blind spots where you can just stay in one space and fire, and wait until the enemy dies; the others generally only require very simple back and forth movements to beat. Only a few are more complex. I'm not complaining though, because with levels as hard as this game's are, it's nice to have a bit of a break -- and with how when you die at a boss you go all the way back to the beginning of the area (either the beginning of the level or to right after the miniboss, depending on if you'd beaten the first part or not), I don't mind this, really. Having to replay the levels even more times would impact the fun factor, I think. Still, compared to how hard the levels are, it is a bit odd. Eh, whatever, it's fun. The bosses are often huge and pretty impressive, so they certainly do visually impress. They just go down easier than you might think. This is true all the way to the final boss, the last boss has only one form and it's not that much harder than any bosses before. At least the ending is decent, if simple. You rescued the princess and escaped, congratulations. :) (On that note, stage 7, the escape, is a fun one... not hard, but a great touch. These things became common later on, but in 1989 or 1990 when this game came out I don't think this kind of stage had yet reached that point...)
I don't know, I just really like this game... it reminds me of games like Gradius, which I absolutely love, but it's different enough to be its own thing. It's a very good shooter, for anyone who wants a challenge that will really reward you as you learn the game and what do do at each point. Fantastic shooter. Don't let what I say about the difficulty stop people from trying it, it's really worth playing, in my opinion. I think it's an incredibly fun game, and it's got to be one of my favorite NES shmups. Konami's shmups are my favorites on the NES, but this is one of the best of the rest.
Game Gear
--
Donald Duck in the Lucky Dime Caper - Fun little platformer... the game has nice, colorful graphics, with simple, fun gameplay. It's got some challenge, which is why it took several weeks to finish, but it was pretty fun. The game has seven levels, of moderate length, and infinite continues (from the beginning of the stage; when you lose a life you start from the last door your entered, or the start if you haven't entered any). As Donald you run and jump and attack (hammer or throwing weapon, depending on which you have picked up). Defeat the enemies and get over the jumps... basic stuff. Basically the enemies kill you easily, but once you memorize what to do, the game gets somewhat easy (as long as you don't mess up). I died in the final level many times, but when I finally beat it I did so without dying. Still, with the nice graphics and fun level designs (the later stages get a bit more complex, with moving platforms, blocks flying at you, etc), it's pretty good while it lasts, if you like simple platformers. I liked the game at least.
Yesterday
Dreamcast
--
Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge -- Fun arcade platformer... the ending is underwhelming (you just finish the last level and then see the ending video, it's somewhat anticlimactic gameplay-wise), but it's a pretty fun, and challenging, game. The game is short, but the difficulty level is fairly high, so it took a decent amount of time to finish. Overall, very fun game. I was surprised by this one, wasn't expecting it to be as good, or fun, as it was.
Today
NES
--
Abadox -- First -- TURN ON YOUR AUTOFIRE! Seriously, it's pretty much necessary in this game. Otherwise you've got to mash the button, fast, for most of the time you're playing, and that's just not fun. Save yourself the hassle, and the potential finger-strain, and just use your NES Advantage and turn on autofire at max speed.
Such a great game... yeah, I just got it yesterday, but I had beaten it before in emulation (and loved it), so I wanted to play it again. The game only took a couple of hours to finish this time. It didn't take as long this time as the first time, I'm pretty sure. I'd expect that though, because this is a very, very memorization-heavy shmup and I still remembered some of what to do (there were times where, despite not really remembering the stages before seeing them again, I just instinctively went straight into the places I remembered were safe as I progressed...). The game's interesting, with a weird biological graphical theme that is very well done -- it's more consistent and cool than even Life Force I would say, in that. The creepy, very well done graphics really stand out and are a real part of why the game is such a great game. The music isn't quite as great as the graphics, but it's good enough, and somewhat catchy.
The game is extremely difficult, but isn't that long at only six levels (each with two parts, with a miniboss at the middle and a final boss at the end). The only "checkpoint" in each level is after the midboss, so in effect there are 12 stages. Three levels are top-down, and three side-scrolling. Though both are tough, I find the topdown levels harder. There seem to be more pop-up surprises with little warning there, while in the side-scrolling areas I seem to have a little better sense of what's coming at me -- and the more warning you have the better chance you have of getting through.
The game has powerups which you get from specific enemies. Powerups are not that common and drop specific powers, so it's not user-selectable like Gradius. You want to try to collect most powerups, because the game is made much, much easier with powerups, and like a Gradius game, if you die, you start from scratch again and it hurts a lot, and makes it much more likely that you'll die a lot more too. Try not to die if possible; if you do though, as you inevitably will, then just memorize everything, and learn how to get as many powerups as possible in the stage without hitting the bullets...
After dying in it, I think level 2-2 took me an hour to beat... it was one of the hardest stages in the game, in fact, going by how long it took. Levels 5 and 6 probably are harder overall, but by that point I was more used to the game again I think... but also, level 2-2 is very cruel -- there are NO weapon upgrades in the whole stage. There's just a shield, rotating guard thing, and speedup... no weapon upgrades at all. It makes the stage inordinately difficult; even one basic weapon upgrade would make a tremendous difference... but instead it's just really frustrating. Oh well, I got past it eventually and went on to beat the game. :)
One key factor makes things a lot easier than they otherwise would be: You have infinite continues. Really, this is why I was able to beat it so quickly (or at all perhaps). You don't have to restart the whole thing after a couple of deaths, you can just keep trying until you get it right. This really is a key to why I'd call the game not quite as hard as it sometimes seems to get a reputation for being -- yeah it's hard, but you have infinite continues! You don't need to replay level 2 (level 2-2 is very, very hard if you die in it and have to start from the beginning of 2-2 with just the peashooter) fifty times just because you keep dying in level 5 or 6. With a game with levels this hard, which will kill you so many times until you memorize exactly where you should be at every instant, that is a huge, huge thing.
Oh, the bosses are oddly easy compared to the levels. I don't think I died more than two or three times at most of them. A few are a bit harder, but most have multiple blind spots where you can just stay in one space and fire, and wait until the enemy dies; the others generally only require very simple back and forth movements to beat. Only a few are more complex. I'm not complaining though, because with levels as hard as this game's are, it's nice to have a bit of a break -- and with how when you die at a boss you go all the way back to the beginning of the area (either the beginning of the level or to right after the miniboss, depending on if you'd beaten the first part or not), I don't mind this, really. Having to replay the levels even more times would impact the fun factor, I think. Still, compared to how hard the levels are, it is a bit odd. Eh, whatever, it's fun. The bosses are often huge and pretty impressive, so they certainly do visually impress. They just go down easier than you might think. This is true all the way to the final boss, the last boss has only one form and it's not that much harder than any bosses before. At least the ending is decent, if simple. You rescued the princess and escaped, congratulations. :) (On that note, stage 7, the escape, is a fun one... not hard, but a great touch. These things became common later on, but in 1989 or 1990 when this game came out I don't think this kind of stage had yet reached that point...)
I don't know, I just really like this game... it reminds me of games like Gradius, which I absolutely love, but it's different enough to be its own thing. It's a very good shooter, for anyone who wants a challenge that will really reward you as you learn the game and what do do at each point. Fantastic shooter. Don't let what I say about the difficulty stop people from trying it, it's really worth playing, in my opinion. I think it's an incredibly fun game, and it's got to be one of my favorite NES shmups. Konami's shmups are my favorites on the NES, but this is one of the best of the rest.
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