3rd May 2012, 5:37 PM
I've come to the conclusion that it's downright SHAMEFUL that SNES era Natsume was so often overlooked. They've got some amazing games on that system.
Recently? Wild Guns. Wow... I can only describe this game as "Zombies in Wonderland" but better. It's cowboys shooting sci fi robots. While moving the cursor around the screen with a d-pad isn't quite as good a fit as Zombies in Wonderland's use of the Wii remote, the rest of the game just plain shines. Oh, and it's on the Virtual Console now too.
Kirby's Dreamland 3 is a very interesting game, in terms of reception. Since hearing ABF's thoughts, I've seen reviews ranging from "worst" to "best" Kirby game. Just check GameFAQs for a sampling of the range. Having had a chance to play it myself now, I will say that the biggest crime behind Dreamland 3 is being made AFTER Super Star. I still consider that game the best in the series. However, looking past that, I think KD3 is a great game. The game is one of if not the last game made for the SNES, being released in 1997. It, like Super Star, and Super Mario RPG, makes use of the SA-1 enhancement chip to provide much larger numbers of fast moving sprites on the screen and make up for the comparatively slower SNES CPU. Whatever one thinks of the gameplay, this is one of the best looking games on the system. The game's "look" takes after Yoshi's Island with a child-like drawing style. This one goes for a somewhat fuzzier look with much thinner borders in contrast to that one though. Everything is well animated and everything is drawn in good detail. Further, the game is one of the very few on the SNES that used a mode called "pseudo high resolution", which would "blend" pixels between objects to give the illusion of a higher resolution than the SNES could actually support. The effect comes off very well in fact and manages to add to the fuzzy crayon drawing effect as well. The sound and music are as good as they were in Super Star.
As for the gameplay, this is where it gets divisive. The walking speed on Kirby really is slow here. It's noticeable pretty quickly. Depending on the pace you prefer to play your platformers at, this can get old quick or not be that big a problem. If you make sure to run everywhere though, the movement speed becomes a lot more tolerable. Even running is slower than in other Kirby games like Super Star, but it's certainly workable. Another point of contention is the copy abilities are not nearly as fleshed out as in Super Star, which can certainly feel like a step backwards. Cutter won't have all the moves you may remember, instead going back to a simple thrown boomerang blade. This is offset by the return of the animal friends. There are quite a few more this time around, and thus all the moves in the game have numerous variations based on your animal buddy. Whether this is enough to make up for the simpler "basic" moves is a matter of taste, but it's certainly worth noting. Instead of "helpers" as in Super Star, this time you'll have only one helper, the odd looking Gooie fellow. Again player 2 can play as this character. The big difference is Gooie can eat enemies and copy powers just like Kirby, so player 2 should have just as much variation in what they do as player 1.
The stages are long and numerous, which somewhat makes up for the lack of "multiple games" as in Super Star. It'll take a while to go through. The big thing that gives this game replay value are stage objectives. Every stage has an interesting side-goal. In stage one, for example, a flower at the end will be sad unless you avoid stepping on any flowers through the whole stage. It certainly keeps things interesting.
All in all, this game is divisive for a reason, but I suggest taking a closer look if you didn't like it before. There's a lot to like here if you can get past it's flaws.
Recently? Wild Guns. Wow... I can only describe this game as "Zombies in Wonderland" but better. It's cowboys shooting sci fi robots. While moving the cursor around the screen with a d-pad isn't quite as good a fit as Zombies in Wonderland's use of the Wii remote, the rest of the game just plain shines. Oh, and it's on the Virtual Console now too.
Kirby's Dreamland 3 is a very interesting game, in terms of reception. Since hearing ABF's thoughts, I've seen reviews ranging from "worst" to "best" Kirby game. Just check GameFAQs for a sampling of the range. Having had a chance to play it myself now, I will say that the biggest crime behind Dreamland 3 is being made AFTER Super Star. I still consider that game the best in the series. However, looking past that, I think KD3 is a great game. The game is one of if not the last game made for the SNES, being released in 1997. It, like Super Star, and Super Mario RPG, makes use of the SA-1 enhancement chip to provide much larger numbers of fast moving sprites on the screen and make up for the comparatively slower SNES CPU. Whatever one thinks of the gameplay, this is one of the best looking games on the system. The game's "look" takes after Yoshi's Island with a child-like drawing style. This one goes for a somewhat fuzzier look with much thinner borders in contrast to that one though. Everything is well animated and everything is drawn in good detail. Further, the game is one of the very few on the SNES that used a mode called "pseudo high resolution", which would "blend" pixels between objects to give the illusion of a higher resolution than the SNES could actually support. The effect comes off very well in fact and manages to add to the fuzzy crayon drawing effect as well. The sound and music are as good as they were in Super Star.
As for the gameplay, this is where it gets divisive. The walking speed on Kirby really is slow here. It's noticeable pretty quickly. Depending on the pace you prefer to play your platformers at, this can get old quick or not be that big a problem. If you make sure to run everywhere though, the movement speed becomes a lot more tolerable. Even running is slower than in other Kirby games like Super Star, but it's certainly workable. Another point of contention is the copy abilities are not nearly as fleshed out as in Super Star, which can certainly feel like a step backwards. Cutter won't have all the moves you may remember, instead going back to a simple thrown boomerang blade. This is offset by the return of the animal friends. There are quite a few more this time around, and thus all the moves in the game have numerous variations based on your animal buddy. Whether this is enough to make up for the simpler "basic" moves is a matter of taste, but it's certainly worth noting. Instead of "helpers" as in Super Star, this time you'll have only one helper, the odd looking Gooie fellow. Again player 2 can play as this character. The big difference is Gooie can eat enemies and copy powers just like Kirby, so player 2 should have just as much variation in what they do as player 1.
The stages are long and numerous, which somewhat makes up for the lack of "multiple games" as in Super Star. It'll take a while to go through. The big thing that gives this game replay value are stage objectives. Every stage has an interesting side-goal. In stage one, for example, a flower at the end will be sad unless you avoid stepping on any flowers through the whole stage. It certainly keeps things interesting.
All in all, this game is divisive for a reason, but I suggest taking a closer look if you didn't like it before. There's a lot to like here if you can get past it's flaws.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)