Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Game Reviews Volume 9 From 2020

Just beat Puyo Pop Fever on DS. Its typical Puyo Puyo where you match 4 or more same colored beans together and try not to run outta space. In story mode you play through various rounds and beat foes who send clear beans to fill up your screen and they are removed by removing beans next to em in a or more combo. It gets pretty hard and after I beat the normal mode I got the credits. Its voiced and has colorful bright graphics and fun music. It reminds me of Super Bomberman R on Nintendo Switch with its style and if you get enough clear, you go into fever mode where you are given a few seconds to cause a chain link in a separate space than the play field. You have until time runs out and the more chain links you do, the more clear beans you send to your foe. It plays well but can get pretty tough at time. Unlimited tries though so just keep at it til you get good or lucky. Good game. Glad I got it.


Just beat Mario Party 3 on N64. Its typical Mario Party fair where you roll dice, go around the board get and use items, try to win the most stars and mini games, and outplay the opponents. In Story Mode you gotta get all the stamps won by doing Battle Royal games which are usual Mario Party stuff, and Duel games where you gotta take out your opponents heart points with partners in front and back to attack and defend when you walk next to each other. Each board is different and you get extra stars after the game for winning most coins in Mini Games, Landing on Green spaces and other things and whoever has the most stars wins. In Duel games you gotta end the game with more remaining Heart Points and the game ends when 1 runs out or 20 turns go by. 1 kick in the crotch is Battle Mini Games where all players pay coins and the winner gets more of em. But most Battle Games are luck based and you just gotta roll dice and hope you live. Its Russian Roulette! Plus some games like Bowser Toss are pretty much impossible but the NPC wins each time. Also is a Shy Guy mini game where you wager ALL your coins and do something dumb like choose a box and hope it don't got Bowser Jr or Roll Dice against him and whoever gets higher wins. Once I did well and got 999 Coins in a Duel game. In the end you fight The Millennium Star (Totally not outta Yugioh) and its pretty bad with it being hard to grab the things you throw at him and the ground goes to water then ice. You get unlimited tries so if someone else wins, you just get another chance. Its not impossible, but some parts are annoying. Good classic N64 graphics and music and the voices are good. Its pretty good and I'm glad I played this but some parts took some time.


Just beat Thor: God of Thunder on DS. Quite grand. Its got great pixel art and looks crisp and clear. Good music and the gameplay is quite grand. 1 button grabs, 1 jumps, 1 attacks and 1 is a ranged attack. R makes you roll and Tapping the screen uses a lightening attack that's a screen nuke like in Contra. You go through several levels and each has a boss that's well made and you get infinite tries and there's regular checkpoints. It even saves your game auto and you can collect runes to equip and add effects like more damage done, less damage taken ect. You get life back from beating guys and magic points that fill the power bar that when full lets you use a lightening nuke. the game is played over both screens like Contra 4 and you can jump and UP to go high and down and attack to slam. Spamming this can loop guys. Also you can use Down and Attack to hammer the foes for a bit of damage that happens rapid. It's not too hard and you can unlock stuff from beating the game like playing as different characters and you can redo levels after beating em. Its a pretty good movie based game and its by WayForward who did Shantae and Wendy Witch on GBC. Its quite good and even though I never saw the movie its based on, I liked it. It stands on its own. Glad i played this.


Just beat Star Fox 64. Pretty good game. Controls work well but my thumb nail kept accidentally hitting the B button and wasting my nukes. Controls were pretty easy to adapt to and its a pretty fair game. On my 1st playthrough I made it to the Real final boss but ran outta guys and lost. I tried again but bit it on the last level. I played one more time and made it to the boss and after several hours beat it. The C buttons do actions like boost and brake. A fired, hold A to charge and fire a homing blast, Bis for nukes, Z and R are bank left/right. Double tapping is a barrel roll. You get a few lives and can get more by beating guys and getting more points. You get more points if you use a charged shot to take out multiple guys. No continues but the True Final Boss has an extra guy on the path to him if you right then left. After beating the final boss you gotta go through a path maze to get out but its a checkpoint after beating the boss., Good graphics and music and there's voices that sound good. After beating a level you go to the next but if you do something special like go through all the hoops or hit all the switches in a path, you can go to another path (Sorta like Shadow the Hedgehog). It can be beat in like an hour but some parts are tough. I like it and had fun playing it but the final true boss is quite tough. Eventually i got through it and it was worth it. Also it starts out on rails but you get a free movement mode to go wherever you need to. Oh and you can get power ups for your laser, more nukes, and silver rings to refill life and gold rings (Not like Sonic) where after getting 3 you get an extended life bar and 3 more gets a free guy. The gold rings, nukes and power ups carry over between levels and biting it lets you keep the gold rings and resets it to 3 nukes. Glad i finally got around to finishing this. I played it with my cousins as a 90s kid.


Just beat Mega Man II on GB. Everyone says its bad. I didn't find it to be. Its got decent controls, its kinda lite on challenge but the final Wily can burn E Tanks. No charge shot but you get the Slide. Its a mix of MM2 and 3 on NES and has an alternate future Mega Man as a boss who just jumps on a Pogo Jack Hammer Stick. The controls are a bit stiff but not much. Everyone hates the music but I thought it wasn't awful. Its not really Mega Man but not horrible. I mean its not super great but its not unplayable. Its better than I expected and a not tough game if you wanna beat something in like an hour. Its got a simple password and unlimited continues that send you back to the start of a level if you use one. Not every game has to be Battletoads and this was a pretty ok one. Glad I played this.


Just beat Wings of Wor on Sega Genesis. Took around 2 hours to get through 6 levels (The last one being a mini boss rush) with 5 continues and up to 5 lives per try. Biting it in 1 hit has you revive right where you fell but with less power and speed. Its a Shmup where you play as this Angel and fight weird H R Giger abominations in caves, under water, factories and a Womb! Good detailed graphics and nice semi classical music that fits and good gritty coloring. A activates a Scroll and C fires it while B is your peashooter. You got 3 types of shot: Red is Spread like Contra, Blue is an around you spread and Yellow is in front and behind(and rare and not so great). Using a continue lets you keep the same shot you had. There's a level select code and holding Left A and C when you run outta guys until the Continue Screen opens lets you continue without using one of your continues. And you'll need em cuz level 5 is the hardest! Its not too hard overall if you use the codes and its pretty cool and creative. Good atmosphere and feels and I got this hearing it was easy. It wasn't but was pretty nice. Glad I played this.


Just beat Batman Returns on my Snes thing. Its a Beat Em Up with you as Batman and Player 2 as No One as Robin wasn't in this movie. 1 button attacks, 1 jumps, 1 uses an Item like Batarangs and 1 uses a limited supply Nuke. L/R is block and its pretty much Final Fight but with some platforming. Some levels are 2D like Altered Beast and you throw Batarangs with Attack. My version was f'd and some levels didn't render right so the Level with the Ice Princess was blocked off with Solid Color. The bosses take some learning but can be beat with practice. You get 3 continues and several lives and biting it in a level lets you continue there but using a Continue goes to the last Checkpoint. In the 2D levels you can usually walk past guys but you get extra guys with enough points. Using a continue or going to the next level resets your Nukes and there's a Batmobile level that's kinda easy. The Catwoman parts are annoying as she has good reach and does high damage.Its pretty good but kinda hard at times but with enough tries it can be beat. Glad I played it. Its a totally different kinda game than the Genesis Ver (Like 89 Batman and The Dark Knight)


Just beat Decap Attack on Genesis. I liked it. Good lite spooky feel like a 90s Halloween special. Remember that Cryptkeepers Haunted House game show? Sorta like that but brighter colors and more cheerful. Good controls but you gotta build momentum sometimes. You can change what button does what and how many hits you can take. You collect coin, potions that have different effects like a screen nuke or longer reach or higher jump or invincibility. But can't use it on bosses for some. I don't know how many continues you get as I never ran outta guys as I was able to get like 40 extra guys in bonus rounds which are the same each time and if you stack your coins in the right path and hammer C as they reach the end, you can get like 15 guys. You an get a skull to throw at guys and it comes back but lost it after taking 1 hit. You beat guys by jumping on them of attacking them with a face in your chest and can't attack while ducking. There's no time limit and just take your time and you can beat it. Also you can get life bar extensions if you find clear hearts. Its not too hard, oh and each level you gotta find a hidden item in an item dropping thing that lets you finish the level, but its not hard to do if you just look. You can wiggle ur feet by tapping jump in the air and it slows your drop. It plays pretty well, even the ice level, but the water controls are a bit off. I liked it and am glad I got it for 21$. I actually got the box for like 10$ but the game inside was sonic 1 so I returned for a Multitap and when the store guy was gonna throw out the box, I got it free. I later ordered the Cartridge for 21$ and finally beat it on my 1st play. This is a good one.


Just beat Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts on GBA. Its pretty tough but has balancing factors. This ver has a save system that you can return to whatever segment of a level you saved at AND keep your armor and weapons. If you take a hit or grab the wrong item: reboot and goo back to the last save! 1 button attacks and 1 jumps and you can swap em in options and you get like 6 continues and 3 lives per each. One hit takes ur armor and an unarmored hit takes a guy. You keep the weapon until you get a new one and can later get a shield that can protect you a bit. get the green armor and ur weapon powers up, then gold armor lets you use magic by holding attack and release, then you get a stronger shield that can take 3 hits instead of 1, them on ur 2nd run you get the goddess attack which is stronger and goes further when in gold armor. Normally you gotta beat the game 2x and use the goddess attack to beat the boss at the end to get the true final boss, but this has an Arrange Mode that lets you do alternate levels. beat it with green armor or higher and you can do a remixed level from past GNG games. Do it with Gold and you can do a hard ver of Super GNG level. Do it worse and you get an easier ver of SGNG. Some weapons are cr-p like the axe but the Knife is the beat one as its super move is a raging dragon attack. Also you can get the goddess attack in the 1st run and don't need to redo the game again. It took me 140 tries to beat the last level with a previous 75 days b4 and only won as I got the 2nd forme boss in a loop. The true final boss I did on 1 try. Oh and there's a time limit. Its hard but not impossible, esp on GBA. Good spooky colorful graphics and organ 16 bit music too. Glad I got this. A worthy Challenge. It beats on you enuff to get you to keep trying. Checkpoints are fair but some parts you gotta do in 1 run 0 hits on you. Oh yeah, And you get a double jump but can't wiggle around in air like Mario or Sonic. Its like Castlevania 3.


Just beat Mortal Kombat 3 on Game Gear. Its pretty bad. Choppy animation, super unfair AI that pounds you hard and fast, Moves that sometimes don't work(although it could be me) and only 5 continues to beat several guys ibn bet outta 3 fights. But: There is a cheap way to win. Use Sheeva and do the down then up and attack and you do a stomp thing that is mostly unblockable and knocks em down. As the animation is ending and you jump back, re enter the command and you do it again, getting them in a loop. It don't work sometimes and its easy to get trapped in a chain link of attacks and be burned down in seconds. All fights are tough but Sindel wasn't too bad. There's only 8 characters and Shao Khan (No Liu Kang or Motaro or Sub Zero) . The only way to do ANY thing in this game is to fight cheap. 1 button attacks the other also attacks and start is block (You can't pause). Its not very long either but there's higher difficulties that just have you fight more guys. Honestly, its kinda bad. But if you want something to beat quick by spamming Sheeva Stomp then try it. The music is ok and art is nice but it animates pretty bad. Oh and there's a symbol thing b4 each match that if you shuffle the right symbols in, lets you have different effects like doing more damage or no blocking or w/e (But its not on the final fight). Glad I played this, but its not good.


Just beat Super Variable Geo on my SNES Collection. The File I ran didn't work well and it was spazzy and had slowdown and often froze. I had to use Save States to make it trough b4 the game f''d out.. Its pretty tough, even on the lower difficulty and plays sorta like a Neo Geo game with 2 punch and 2 kick buttons. Typical Street Fighter II stuff where you fight through each fighter in best of 3 rounds with infinite continues. I was able to pull off a special move a few times but wasn't sure how. I used Erina Goldsmith as she;s Blonde , American and a Rabbit girl (I AM the rabbit!!) and was able to tough my way through the game. Good graphics and music and its got that cool 90s anime style. Its pretty good, controls well when not spazzing around and nice animated backgrounds. Oh and good sound clips of Japanese girls voices. Its pretty good and has bright 90s colors. Glad I played this. I liked the Anime and this was a good fit.


Just beat Mr. Driller on GBC. Its sorta like Columns but you play as this little dink who drills through the floor and 500 or 1000 m (Miles?) of bricks where each layer is 1 M (The Metric system is non canon!!). As you go down the brix fall and can crush you but you can climb 1 step is there's no bricks on it. Also you got an air supply where each second it does down by 1 and has a max of 100. You can collect air tanks of 10 airs each and if you run out it costs a life. You get 3 guys and 0 continues but the game can be beat in several minutes if you go right. Also are boxes that break with several drill hits but cost 20 airs to break. If a colored brick falls and goes next to a same colored one it links together and if that is busted it all goes. The 1000 this is too hard and annoying and I beat it on the 500 which sez "Try 1000 M" like any game you don't beat on the highest setting. All you get is more of the same but spread out over more. Its a spin off of Dig Dug but I never played that so I wouldn't know. Its decent on 500M but annoying on 1000 M. Also if 4 or more boxes link they poof away. Its got good music and colorful graphics but on my TV with the GameCube Player I had trouble seeing the boxes as they fell. Not bad but can be stressful. Glad I tried it but that 1000M was an ordeal.


Just beat Mortal Kombat 2 on Game Gear. The 1st few rounds are easy but at Shang Tsung it gets pretty hard. I find the foe often uppercuts you right after you uppercut by ducking and timing it perfect. The moves are easier to pull off than other MK handhelds and it controls pretty well. Good color and music and graphics. I used Liu Kang and also had trouble with Mirror Match and Kintaro (Who was the hardest fight). Shao Khan I beat by jump kicking and walking a bit then doing it in a loop. I find its easy to throw guys by standing and hitting punch. With Kintaro you gotta keep your distance and attack and jump back or use the jet kick thing or keep jumping and kicking in case he uses his stomp. Its probably the best Handheld MK game and has 6 continues to beat around 10 guys. Glad I did this. Its pretty good.


Just beat Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon S - Jougai Rantou on my Snes collection. Its a fighting game where you choose a Sailor Scout and fight the others with Uranus as the final boss. Yo do moves by spazzing the D pad and pressing buttons and there's a desperation move if you have little life bar left. This game is in Japanese and I was able to wiggle my way through it. B4 the fight you get to choose the controls and if you press Select you can get a stats screen where you can give skill points to starts like HP or Attack. If you put it on lower difficulties you get more points and make the game easier. Its pretty good but my version on my emulator on DS was spazzy and kept flashing white over and over in the fights. I used Sailor Venus as she's the fun one and has good range with the Love Chain Whip. Its as easy or hard as you want it to be by hoe many points you give yourself. Good graphics and music and it plays well. Decent Street Fighter 2 Clone. Bright and colorful and has that anime look of the show when it was good. Glad I did this one. Its a good one. Oh and I think you got unlimited continues but I'm not sure as I didn't really lose much.


Just beat Psychic World on my Game Gear multicart. Its sorta like Valis with Anime style cutscenes and battle shoulder pad mini skirt armor. You got 4 levels to go through where 1 button attacks and 1 jumps. Holding down and pressing Jump lets you access a lower options thing where you can press left or right to go in the opposite direction to choose a different attack or ability like hovering or invincibility. You got a life bar and a ki bar that powers your abilities and infinite tries to get through. If you bite it you restart the whole level and some parts are sorta maze a bit. Collecting new attacks over and over lets you power them up and if you bit it, you return to how you were at the start of the level with all newly gotten things reset til you get them again. Its not too hard but there's no checkpoints and starting a level with low hp can make you have to do it perfect. Also you can cheese through a lot of the game with spamming invincibility. some parts have puzzle solving like building ice steps of burning through ice blocks. Its pretty good but has some flaws. Good graphics and music and decent controls. Its not impossible if you just stick to it and maybe watch a longplay or walkthrough. no saves or passwords but i hear there may be an options menu with round select. Glad I played this. Its pretty good.


Just beat Thunder Fox on Genesis. You play as these elite guys in Reed or Blue pants and no shirt who go through 5 Altered Beast style beat em up/Run N Gun levels where 1 button is attack, 1 is jump and 1 is item. You get items from boxes or wasting guys and they have limited ammo. You can slug guys with weapons for close range attacks and getting 2 of the same weapon gives you 2x the ammo. Up and jump is a flip jump and that makes you invincible and pressing down and jump in mid air lets you attach downward. Looping these makes you hard to hit but not invincible 100%. It controls pretty well and has nice music and graphics but a few levels are pretty tough. You get 5 continues and 3 guys each to try and no way to get more. You can press Jump + Attack to do a straight jump kick and I used that against a few bosses to get em in a loop as they block if you use a weapon on them. The final round has you facing a huge robot that is only hit by grenades and guys randomly popping up to ice to get em, but to get by the robot w/o damage, you gotta flip up and down while going toward it. It helps if its moving toward you. After that the final boss is tough and I had to spam jump kicks as flip kicks were only good for invincibility frames. If you run outta guys, you restart the fight and the boss is back at full life. Its easy to spam flip kicks through the levels to get by but the bosses are tricky. Also there's a time limit that only resets when it runs out or you start a level. If it runs out, you lose a guy. It can be beat in like 40 mins if you know what to do. Glad I played this. Its 1 played though, unlike the Arcade ver.


Just beat Sonic Battle on GBA. Is a fighting game where you go around a field sorta like Streets of Rage and fight guys. L is charge Ki and heal, R is special attack, A is jump and B is attack. You gain Ki by blocking hits but I'm not sure hot to do that and getting killed. If you have full Ki, you glow and the next R is a 1 hit kill move that can be blocked sometimes. The controls take getting used to as Back and B is an upward move but sometimes I wanna turn around and hit and I do the wrong move. Enemies can take you out in 1 chain combo from full to 0 and you have various ways to win depending on the fight. Ice 10 guys, take out all their lives, ect. You play in 8 story's where each is a different character and go around an overworld to different areas and fight different fights and have long unskippable text scenes. Good music and there's voices and good graphics but sometimes its hard to tell where you gotta go to hit the foe as they move up and down in the air and on a board. You get skill points after winning a fight and the new character is a robot that can equip moves on using those points. The story is good and more serious and bada55 than the typical Mario one. Sorta like Digimon to Pokémon. The game autosaves after fights but sometimes you gotta fight 2 fights in a row and the 2nd one is harder and you got to win both to continue or if you go back to change your equips, you gotta do the 1st one again. Some parts are an ordeal and some take a while, but its not too bad. Just gotta get the foe in a loop sometimes. I liked it and its got some good stuff to it. Glad I got it. It works mostly. Oh and you get unlimited tries and a save file to beat it in.


Just beat Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar on Genesis. Its called one of the best Genesis games. After playing it, I see why. Its a Shmup where you blast through 10 levels of side scrolling and get power ups too use different shots. 1 button fires, 1 changes weapons and 1 adjusts the speed. You can cycle through weapons if paused. You get 6 continues and several lives to beat it but if you go to the hidden options menu, you can set lives to 0 and get 99 guys. Without it, its pretty hard with 1 hit kills but you get shields and options. If you get options after the 1st few levels, you can not fire for a few secs and auto charge a power shot. The bosses take a ton of hits but have patterns that are not too tricky, esp if pause and unpausing. Great graphics and really great music that seems like something from an 80s anime ova. Some of the better Genesis music. I'm glad I played this and even with getting extra guys I picked up, I started with 99 and was down to 13 by the end. I went through the soundtrack after beating the game and its got extra tracks in there that are great. Worth the 27$ I shelled out for this cheap Repro cart.

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