Sunday, April 26, 2020

Game Reviews Volume 8 From 2020

Just beat Thunder Force 3 on Genesis. Simple Shmup where if you touch anything you bite it and lose the weapon you wee carrying. Good graphics and really good music that has kind of an 80s anime feel. Esp during the credits. The bosses are creative and well designed and each has a weak point to hit. Its side scrolling left to right but some levels you go diagonal or back. The only level; that really gave me trouble was the one with the moving rock floors. You get extra guys from points and finding em and power ups are found in special ships you take out. The bosses ain't too tough but if you pause and unpause it helps navigate through the bullet storm. Its probably the easiest of the Thunder Force games and you get 4 guys to start with and 7 continues. Biting it respawns you where you left off but using a continue makes you restart the level. You can choose what level to start on but gotta run through all of em. Good game. Glad I got it. I wanted to beat Thunder Force 2 b4 this and this b4 Lightening Force.

Just beat Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Tomo to Kimi to Koko de on GBA. I thought I ordered Battle Assault but instead I got a game I never knew existed. In here its all in Japanese and has 2 styles of gameplay. Talking and fighting. So its Gundam. In the talking modes you mash through Japanese text you probably can't read but recognize a few English words like Ark Angel or Athrun written in the limited Japanese you understand.. Also you can wander the Ark Angel and hope to find your way around a map by going from room to room until something happens. Once I was in a loop where I had to choose the right choice through a multiple option. I figgered my way through with trial and error. The battle scenes you control Kira who is in the Gundam that fits the story place and eventually upgrade. Also in some levels you can have a partner who helps you fight. The fights are done by using A to choose a target and B to fire an attack. Then there's a cutscene you can skip with Start and after that you can move again. Attacking stops everything for a sec. You get aa power meter and life meter and running outta life you just redo the level. Some levels have missions like take out a certain target. It follows the Anime story well and has good art and music from it. The graphics are nice and have that CG Anime style. Its not too hard but I had to look up a playthrough to figure out how to do some parts. 16 levels and its got a save thing and you can save between saves in text by hitting Start that you return to with Continue. To return to a save file use Load. Also you can use Seed by pressing Select at some times that lets you fight better. R is boost and in Seed you can move faster. Its not what I expected but I'm glad I got it and gave it a chance. Oh and Start and the 1st option in battle brings up a map.

Just beat Bonk's Revenge on my TG16 Collection. Pretty good sequel. Bright colors and good music. Controls pretty well. You get 3 continues and the last level is a boss rush but the game boss takes less hits. Getting enough points gets an extra guy and there's hidden guys everywhere. You don'y recover life between levels but if you get enuff smileys you get access between levels for more life refills and extra heart containers. Getting fruit also recovers life and Smiley's and fruits are in bonus levels you get to by finding flowers. Spamming the attack button lets you spin and if you attack a plant it might change color. Blue is extra guys, pint is fruit, tan is meat that makes you stronger and yellow is a spring to bounce off. You can also rebound off the walls with a headbutt. I made it to the last level with like 15 guys and ran out on the game boss. After burning through another continue I made it there with a few guys left. I was thinking of rebooting as I lost my glut of extra guys and continuing resets your life bar to standard but I battled on and figured out you gotta hit his crown. I jumped and took a hit even though he should be in the background and figured, might as well try, and one hit later I won. Grand game. I like it more than Mario. Glad I played it. Oh and when you use another life it only refills 3 hearts no matter how many extra you get.

Just beat Kung Fu Kid on my Master System Collection. Simple game. Jump and kick. Go to the end of the level. Sometimes wall jump. Up and Attack throws an item you can collect. Only 7 levels but no continues. It can be beat in under 20 mins in you know what to do or how to nail the bosses. Its pretty simple and easy and you jump faster than you run. Unlimited enemys that keep coming so you gotta keep moving. Also a time limit. You get extra guys from points and you get more points after beating a level depending on how much time and life you have left. Good colorful graphics and upbeat music. Glad I played this. It was a nice lite game that you don't gotta sink 500 hours into.

Just beat Choplifter on my Master System Collection. Pretty challenging with 1 hit kills and kinda stiff controls. You get 3 lives and no continues but there''s a level select code by going up down left right on the 1st title screen, then after pressing the button through the screens, the level select pops up but autoscrolls so you gotta wait for it to reach the level you want. I used this as a Continue to beat each level but the last one I beat on my 1st try. You gotta bust open bases and land to rescue captured guys. If you tap up every few secs when picking em up it keeps tanks from showing up. You gotta save 40 guys per level but they can bite it if you land on em, cap em, or get shot down with e on board. You can carry 16 guys per trip and theres 4 16s of the per level. You get extra guys by points. Flying backwards can get through places easier like caves and keeps the side of the screen on one side. 1 button shoots and 1  changes direction so you face left right or center. When facing center you drop shots toward the front and hit tanks and stuff. Not a bad game. Good music and graphics and its not too long. It was kinda annoying but a well made game that can be beat thanks to the code. The way I see it, in the arcade you could keep putting in tokens so unlimited continues is more reasonable.

Just beat Castlevania  Dracula X on my SNES collection. It was pretty tough to get that good ending by saving both chicks. You get unlimited continues and there's a password and you need it. There's a few levels with branching paths that keep you from getting the good ending. 1 button jumps, 1 attacks, and 1 for Item Crash/Crush. Up and attack is subweapon so you can't use it while ducking and it gets in the way on stairs. Item crash can be used with no item for a fire whip or with the key needed to unlock the good ending for no cost and it damages anything touching you, which can help on the key needing level. To get the good ending you gotta get through lv 3 without falling in any of the 20 holes, the key, beat the boss, go through all of lv 4 on 1 guy, and open both doors to save Maria and open the final door. That took me DAYS. In the water level you gotta whip the hose the water flows out of in 1 room and go down to save ur gf. Saving a girl stays saved even if you game over. The hardest part is the Reaper who has 2 formes. 1 is floating around and touching it spazzes you out. And the other is a street fighter wound where he can do a spin attack and cut you down. I beat him using Item Crush with Axe to Cheese invincibility when he spun. The final level isn't too bad and Dracula isn;t so tough if you grind for hearts and stay low using the axe. The final forme can be beat with spamming axes and item crush. His final mode shows up where his 1st one fell so if he''s further away you can get more shots on him with the axe. Pretty good game. Not as hard as CV3 but up there. Glad I played this

Just beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game on my NES collection. Its a beat em up where 1 or 2 guys choose a turtle and fight like 10 levels of mostly the same guys. Good graphics and music and pretty good controls. A jumps B attacks and both do a stronger move that is worth 2 hits, which makes you wonder why this wasn't the main attack. You get 3 continues that puts you back at the start of the last area you were in but there's a level select code that gives you 10 guys instead of 3 per continue so the game don't gotta be beat in 1 sitting. Its moderately tough but some parts are hard to get through unscathed. some bosses take 40-70 hits and you gotta beat Krang and Shredder in 1 continue. Plus Shredder can devolve you back to a regular turtle with a lightening attack and take a life in 1 hit. Plus he clones himself and the clone can do it too. Jump kicks usually deal with bosses but they can counterstrike if you are imperfect at range and targeting. Gotta get that special spot to get in rhythm. If you can get em in a loop it helps. You get an extra guy every 200 kills or so and could be beat w/o the code with enough practice and luck. Glad I played this.

Just beat King Of The Monsters on Sega Genesis. Pretty good pro wrestling Kaiju game. You play as 1 of 4 monsters and fight the 4 monsters, then fight em again in different colors. A is punch, B is kick, C is run, A+B is Jump, hold A+B to beam attack and A on a downed foe is pin. You wail on your foe and can grapple and such and chip their bar down until they are beat enough to pin. Hammering the buttons when pinned can get you back up but it gets harder each time til the 3 count. 1 move that works is to C and B to charge through the foe and repeat until they are beat enough to pin. Destructible environments and an electric fence make the arena and vehicles come out to attack the monsters at times. You get up to 12 continues and if you grab a foe right, you can squeeze out a P sphere and get enough of these and you Digivolve to a stronger forme and new color that stays even after using a continue. Using a continue doesn't stop the fight and you pick up where you left off. Also the deeper in the game you get, the more life the foe has. Pretty good game. Colorful, fun, bright, good music and graphics, controls well. decent controls. I liked it and I'm glad I got it. Its the Godzilla game AVGN should've played as a kid.

Just beat Primal Rage on my Game Gear Collection. It works pretty well for an 8 bit port. Some color and decent sounds. Controls well. You get up to 10 continues top beat all 6 guys in a best outta 3 match and you fight by holding the buttons and spazzing on the D pad. There's a stun meter that drains as you take damage and when out, you can't move for a bit. Unlike the GB ver I didn't face a Boss Rush but it might be as I had the difficulty on 3 outta 8. I liked it and used the Fire T Rex to win as he's cool and has the blazing warp thing where he flames out and reappears in another area. Like Goku's Instant Translocation from DBZ but actually damages the foe. Its a decent game and works fine. Glad I beat it.

Just beat Rave Master on GameCube. Pretty good 3d fighter. I hear its like Power Stone but I never played that. I never saw the anime nor read the manga but this has the Bleach and Robotech actors in the Dub. You play through one of several characters and fight in several best on 1 matches and pick up weapons and power ups  like metal skin or more energy in boxes. You gotta use a button to pick up and there's a strong and low attack, and a guard and super move, and jump. Super moves use energy but it can be refiled with close range hits and gems. You get 3 guys per round that refills after each fight and unlimited continues and 1st to run outta guys loses the fight. Its got good control and nice early 00s graphics and some anime style cutscenes. Its pretty good and can be beat in under an hour. I used Elie and mainly used the tonfa gun to take off most of their life. Glad I got it.

Just beat Ax Battler: A Legend Of Golden Axe on my Game Gear collection. Its lie Zelda 2 but you don't gain Exp nor Level Up nor get stronger in any way except in learning new moves by going to Training Rooms and winning a 1 on 1 fight with a rando w/o taking a hit. 1 button jumps, 1 attacks and Start uses magic in battle but opens a menu out of it. You talk to people, move over an overworld, fight random battles with gradually stronger guys that 1 hit and you lose 1 point of HP outta 6 but the battle ends, fight through longer levels with many foes that don't kick you outta the fight with 1 hit, and no bosses. Beating foes gives you magic pots but they 0 out when you bite it. But you return to the last Pass Word hutt you were at. No saves but infinite tries and a Password system with 8 characters. You can heal by paying pots at an inn. The final level is going from teleport point to point and walking through the castle exit and a cutscene plats of the bad guy being beat. Its not bad but can be annoying to go back after running outta HP. Its not impossible but can take some tries to get through. Glad I played it. It wasn't as bad as others said.

Just beat Samurai Shodown on my Game Gear collection using Ukyo. Its got good color but the graphics are kinda hard to make out. The music is good and it controls sorta ok but it takes getting used to. Unlike the Genesis and Gb ports you get only up to 3 continues. You fight through 10 best of 3 fights (no Earthquake) and one button is weapon and 1 is feet. You can throw and the more damage you take, the higher your power bar goes which lets you heat up and do more damage. I made it halfway through on Normal but dat Hanzo is too cheap so I went on Easy. Charlotte is tough but if you block and use both bottoms for the power move after she attacks you can hold her off. She won't attack if you don't. Its a decent game but I think I perfered the Gameboy ver. The final boss is pretty easy if you duck, block and use both buttons to power hit and gave me the least trouble(I got a perfect on my 2nd round). Usually knocking them down and getting close and using both buttons is enough to loop them but some can wiggle out. Glad i played this but I've played better. Oh and you can dash forward and back with double tapping the D pad.

Just beat Ninja Gaiden on Game Gear. Simple, lite, not too tough. No continues but there's a hidden Password thing that lets you go back to other levels and get goodies like unlimited ammo. Down and attack is ninja sub weapon and can be done in the air. Most enemy's hit lite and only take off 1 point but bosses hit hard. There's times where you can get stuck and just keep taking damage and if its on a boss, that's it. Its got cutscenes that ain't as good as the NES but ain't bad. The final boss has 3 formes that each take a ton of hits but he's got a simple pattern so its not so bad. I liked it and it's only got like 5 levels but the control could use some tuning. Glad I played this.

Just beat Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure on my Tg16 collection. It borrows a lot from past games and reuses graphics from them quite a bit. It controls ok and the mini games only give you happy faces that can be used to play mini games of your choice between rounds. The mini games ain't as good or easy as past games but my fave was the one where you bust the house. Now there's candy in Red and Blue flavors (Take the pill?! The Matrix ripped off Bonk!!) where one makes you bigger and 1 makes you shrink. Blue makes you Big and Red makes you smaLL (It makes sense in Japanese). Taking a big when small makes you normal but getting hit in either returns to normal. There's lots of hidden goodies like extra guys and bonus  levels and a green dink who cuts your smileys in half when he nails you. I think its got unlimited continues as I suicided a lot after playing this and didn't seem to run out. I gathered enough extra guys to just attrition my way through the last rounds. Its a decent game and the size change was pretty good as there's areas you gotta be small to get and goodies its easier to get when big, but it seems more  like Sonic Mania than Sonic 3 compared to the past games. More of an upgraded remix than a full on sequel. Maybe Super Street Fighter II over Street Fighter II. But I liked it and it was a not bad game. Glad I played this. But those Ice levels were kinda annoying.

Just beat Fatal Fury Special on my Game Gear collection. Plays well. You get up to 9 continues and the only guys I needed em for was Duck King. 1 button punches and the other kicks. Spazzing on the D Pad with em lets you do moves. I won most of my fights by jumping around and kicking at the guys but spamming ranged attacks worked too. I used Mai Shiranui and she controls ok. Good graphics and nice colors with cool looking backgrounds like Duck King's level. Even Billy and Geese didn't give me much issue. I liked it and its a decent game. Simple, Quick, Good if you wanna beat something in like half an hour. Pretty impressive for an 8 bit handheld. Glad I played it.

Just beat The Chessmaster on my Game Gear collection. Pretty straight forward. Its Chess. One button grabs and drops a piece and 1 lets you undo moves. But you can't do new moves. Only look at em. Sorta like the Ghost Of Christmas Past. If a player does the same move too many times its a draw and you use the bottom to cycle through pieces when a pawn gets to the other side. Decent graphics but I wasn't used to the design of the pieces and it was a bit hard to make out. You got a few things you ca do like change difficulty level and have a timer and you can save or load games. Its  pretty good and has more options than the Gameboy version. I liked playing Chess since the 90s and this was a pretty good one. I think it has hints and a thing that shows where each piece can move and a touch rule but I didn't really use those. Pretty good way to play Chess on the go. Glad I played this.

Just beat Godzilla Kaijuu Daikessen/Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters on my SNES collection. Pretty good Kaiju fighting game where you choose 1 and fight 7 others, then Super Mecha Godzilla. I went through it without using a continue and used Mothra. You got a life bar and a lower bar that when filled up by hits has you stunned a bit. Mothra can fly and Biolante can't jump. Spazzing on the D pan and using the heavy or light attack access's stronger moves and there's a dash button and grab button. I think you get unlimited continues and its a best of 3 rounds. No mirror matches. It plays ok but as you control huge monsters they move like it. There's air attacks and a time limit and the songs are fine. The graphics are good and its pretty good. If we got it over here in da 90z it would probably get love. Glad I played it.

Just beat Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone on Sega Genesis. I heard it was the worst in the series. Honestly, it wasn't bad. Yeah its kinda simple and often your hits don't register. But its not unplayable and its not that big an issue. You go through 5 levels of beating up guys and bosses and it has 2 player co op. You can have up to 25 coins and can use them to buy extra guys and can use different characters depending on the level after your main guy bites it. You can also get weapons and buy the ability to do moves like a throw or spin kick but once you bite it you gotta guy it again. Its a pretty brief game as I beat it in under 20 mins and had like over a dozen continues left. Its not as bad as everyone says and has decent graphics and good music. If you press A B and C as the bricks are scrolling on the title you get an options menu, and can add more coins, choose what guys you wanna start with or other things and the non Bimmy and Jimmy have different HP numbers.. Some levels are kinda weird like going underground in the desert to fight Tree People (What is this? Inhumanoids?!) and some parts have cheap hits. But you get quite a bit of life (Measured in numbers at the top) and its not so hard if you know what you are doing. Glad i wound up getting this. Its decent.

Just beat Art Of Fighting on Sega. Not bad port of a NeoGeo game. You play as either Ryo or Robert and fight 8 rounds with a Bonus Level after each 2 rounds to increase your HP or Ki or learn the ultimate move. You can choose how long you want each fight to be and if you want best of 1 3 or 5. I find its usually easier to jump kick the foe to the corner and time it to loop em in jump and duck kicks. You get 2 continues but there's a level select code I used so I wasn't fighting the same guys I already beat over and over. The fights are not too bad but I had trouble with jumping left/right as I often just jumped straight up if I wasn't already moving. A and B attack at different ways and C is for taunting to drain their Ki but it can be recovered by holding A. The final boss was pretty tough as he can do everything you can, but stronger, faster and better. I beat him by jumping over him close and using C to backwards kick and low kick til he falls. Then move in and try to loop him. If you jump not close he uppercuts you out. I faced him dozens of times before winning by time out and having a bit more life. The game ends with To Be Continued? but it never was on Sega. Its not bad and has some goodness but its not super awesome. Graphics and music are good and you can skip cutscenes. It can be beat in like 15 mins if you do well and set the time and rounds low. Glad I got it. Its a decent fighter.

Just beat Ninja Spirit on my TG16 Collection. Its by Irem and is a pretty simple and not too tough ninja platform game where you play as this ninja and fight through several levels with infinite continues and a halfway checkpoint per level through various Japanese style stuff. you use 1 button to jump, 1 to attack, and Select changes your weapon. But you gotta do it in real time and can't do it when paused like in Mega Man so its kinda irritating. You can get up to 2 shadow clones and they attack and aim where you do and can stay in the air if you land. You got an arcade mode with 1 hit kills and another where you get 5 hits per guy. Its got good graphics and music and plays pretty well although the jumps can be a bit stiff and in some levels you gotta stick to the ceiling and run. Th longer you hold the jump button the higher you go. I find the purple blast items are good for damage and the shuriken when powered up to spread shot are useful with groups of enemies. Not a bad game. Glad i finally got around to playing it. It can be beat in under 20 mins if done right.

Just beat Battleship on my 106 Game Gear games in 1 GBA cart. Its just like the board game where you choose squares and figure out where the enemy ships are. In here you play through 8 levels each with 5 rounds where you place your boats and face off. But here every level you get a new ability or boat and can hit multiple squares in a pre-set pattern. I often mixed up which button turns and which plants a ship and which button fires and which opens the weapon select. If a ship that a weapon is connected to goes out, you lose access to it. This can work for you as if you take out an enemy boat b4 he uses it, its outta his arsenal. I find the computer usually don't have 2 boats directly touching and its usually better to save your big attacks for scouting for unknown locations. You get unlimited continues and there's a password system of 4 numbers that can be used to continue. Its a pretty good game and I'm glad I  played it.

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