Game Reviews Volume 13 From 2021 And 2017

 My feelings on games I played in the 1st bit of 2021 and 1 I did in 2017

Just beat The Flash on my 108 Game Boy games in 1 GBC Cart. Its a brief 8 bit game where you control The Flash from DC Comic to go across the level and bunch a dynamite stack timer before time runs out. 1 button punches, 1` kicks and Up is jump. Holding A/B makes you run fast but drains the Power Meter that's refilled by buying vending machine food. The Life Bar is refilled by beating out guys and picking up Flash Logos. You also find $ for Money and use it in the Machines. Its not too long or hard but some parts take a while to get through if you screw up. You get a few lives and 0 continues but there's a password accessed by pressing Select on the Title Screen and its just the names of the Level like Fun House or Denim, Blvd. You don't refill life between levels but biting it refills it and starts the level over. It don't control too well but its not awful. Its got nice 8 bit graphics and decent sounds and is only 13 quick levels and you can eventually get through it. Oh and you can't pause as Start does Jack. Its not bad if you want something you can beat in like an hour and can get it cheap. Glad I played it. Its a decent Super Hero Game. The Train Levels were the easiest for me.

Just beat Golden Sun 1 on my 27 GBA Games Multicart. Its a pretty good RPG that has you going on a quest to do something. Typical RPG stuff like leveling up and casting spells and equiping items but here your Spell Points are recharged by walking and you can cast some spells outside of battle to get around like unblocking paths or time freezing guys. You also have the Djinn like in Wishmaster but look like Neopets where you equip em and it boosts stats or gives/takes new Spells. But also you can use em as an item and get an effect like stat boost or as an attack and later summon that Djinn to attack a foe. Also if you have several Djinn free to summon, you can get stronger summons from various pantheons. Pretty good graphics that have that look the 1st buncha GBA games got like Altered Beast on GBA and nice music. Its by the guys who did Shining Force and it plays well. If all your guys bite it you wake up in a Pokemon Center and it costs some cash. Its got a few things from Shining Force like an Artifacts/Special deals area of the store menu to buy rare things and permanent stat boost items. I liked it and its got some good stuff and puzzles that can make you think. The story was great too and you really care about the characters. Glad I played it and I look forward to playing part 2

Just spend over an hour on the Lv 4 Sierra Nevada track on Road Rash in a Fruitless attempt to beat it. This game just p-sses me off. You go down zigzag tracks and hope a car doesn't run you over. You can get run over multiple times but you crash your bike a few times too many and its game over. The passwords s-ck with letters and numbers depending on how much cash you got, your bike, and what p[position you got on what race. The 1st buncha levels are good the after a while it gets way too hard. I regret buying this

Just beat Ys III: Wanderers from Ys on my 218 Sega Genesis Games MultiCart. Its sorta like Zelda 2 where you side scroll through areas and beat guys to get EXP and Level Up to get more power. You also get better equipment, items like a life refill thing, herb to refill life at a command, a scree nuke that works on bosses to damage em, Rings that use Ring Power points gained by slaying monsters and a thing that recharges the Ring Points a bit. You got 1 life and if you bite it you reload a save. 1 button jumps, 1 attacks and 1 uses items. 1 thing to do is grind a few levels against bugs at the start of the game and wait outside to regenerate if you get low. Its not so hard if you grind for a bit and the Volcano level has a Herb you can get over and over to refresh after grinding. Holding the Sword Button has you flail it around and if you jump and hold sword it does a down stab thats stronger. The graphics and music are nice and there's some good art that all feels like an 80s anime. The story is good and has good twists. You max out at level 12 and most bosses are beat by slashing in attrition. After beating a boss you refill on life and the final one is pretty tricky as you gotta jump just high enough to reach him, but not too high or you take a hit. Overall its a good game if you know to grind and get the items. Its not too long and I beat it in a few hours and it is pretty straight forward in where to go. Glad I played it. Its kinda simple but it entertains.

Just beat Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey & Donald on GBA. Its a platform game where you play as one or both of the 2 in 2 player mode and go through a few levels to save your homies or w/e. Like in the 1st game, you get different costumes and they have powers based on what they are of like in Cutey Honey. 1 button jumps, the other attacks and L chooses another costume and its accessed with R. If you bite it you resummon right there and using all guys sends you back. I didn't use a Continue as this has a Save feature that puts you at the start of the last room you were in. Its not too hard, but if you get hit Donald spazzes out for a sec and won't move. Also no matter what direction you face, if a bad guy nails you from 1 side, you fly the other way. If you fall down a pit or bite it, you lose a guy and drop down in a Balloon and can move around for a bit before being pooped out. My copy was in German which I didn't know until I popped it in today and all it affects is the text and not gameplay. It was originally a SNES game but only in Japan and both player characters have little differences like Donald floating in water as a Knight and Mickey sinking as Donald is in as Barrel and Mickey is in Metal. Its pretty good but it takes a bit to turn around and if you attack you get stuck in that animation until its over. Not as gameplay good as the 1st game, but its got nice touched that push it ahead in looks and creativity. I liked it and its got great graphics and music. Glad I played this

Just beat Predator 2 on my 218 Genesis Games Multicart. Its a top down Run N Gun like the bad levels in Super Contra but not awful. You have several lives and a password that is real words based on the movie where you go around Soviet L A in the distant future year of 1997 and shred drug dealers and gangs with infinite ammo. A is free run fire, B is locked Fire and C selects a special weapon that is used by with tapping A and I think holding B. It moves fast but you get a life bar and gotta rescue hostages by touching them before the Predator blows em apart in a spray of blood and chunks. The gang members keep coming and its best to keep moving and there's arrows on the ground that show where to go. It can be beat in like under an hour and isn't too tough but its easy to take hits. You get extra guys with enough points and can grind at spawning points and hold fire as they keep walking into it. The final level is the alien ship and you rescue a buncha guys and in the end face a boss predator who if you stay to the side and keep firing and moving he goes down eventually. I beat it on my last life with 1 hit left on my 1st try on Easy (Which I think just gives you more lives and not needing to save an many hostages) and you don't get a password for the final level so if you wanna get back you gotta go to the 2nd last one. Its pretty good with great voices and good music and graphics. I hasn't seen the movie but this game was pretty good. Glad I played it.

Just beat The Steel Empire on my 218 Genesis games in 1 Multicart. Its a Steampunk Shmup where you play as either a Zeppelin with more health and a Plane with more speed. 1` button fires left, 1 fires right and 1 is a screen nuke. You get up to 5 Continues depending on the difficulty setting and there's a code to get 99 guys or more nukes. It controls well and has good speed but some parts like going through the cave can be a bit fast. Its the 1800s or w/e and you fight an evil; empire across 7 levels and the last one is in space ()As 1800s Aeroplanes and Zeppelins can work up there). Some parts can be pretty tricky but you don't get sent back unless you run outta guys. Its got good music and graphics and is done by Acclaim and Flying Edge who usually does stuff that's not well liked, but I enjoyed a few games they did like Krusty's Super Fun House and Spider Man X Men Arcades Revenge and Double Dragon 3 on Genesis. Overall its a pretty good game but can be a bit tricky at times. I like the 1800s and felt this was a creative and decent one. Glad I played it.

Just beat Mega Man III on my 108 GB/GBC games Multicart. Its pretty tough but for kinda cheap reasons. A lot of cheap kills and 1 hit kills and pits and some jumps you gotta be on the edge to get by. Also getting touched stuns you and you spazz out and jutter back and often off a ledge. Its got infinite Continues and a Password to return where you left off but don't save your E tanks. A is jump and B is fire and you got limited ammo use of Special attacks gotten from beating bosses and if you do em in the right order you can use the weapon you just got to cream the next boss. You can get up to 4 E Tanks and using a Continue don't take em away so you can keep game overing and getting the same E Tank til your full. Its not impossible, but too me over 3 hours to get through. Its a good game, just kinda hard. Glad I played it. Oh and you have the slide and the charge shot but it takes a bit to charge. Its got good 8 bit Graphics and Music and I think has Super Game Boy features as on my GameCube Player it had some colors.

Just beat Yang Jia Jiang/Yang Warrior Family/ Generals of the Yang Family on my 218 Genesis games Multicart. Its a 2 player Beat Em Up where A is Super attack that drains life, B is attack and C is jump. Its kinda basic and there's not many moves but it plays decent. You get 3 continues and 3 lives each with no way of getting more but if you play as 1 player and press start b4 he bites it on player 2, you can continue with a fresh supply. Its possible to stun lock the foes with timed punches and beat em in like 6 hits. Its easy to throw guys but it does little damage. Jump kicks are pretty strong and can 2 shot some guys. I hear there's a level select code but I couldn't get it to work and beat it legit. If you bite it you resummon there but if you use a continue it starts the boss fight over unless its got a 2nd player to keep it going. Biting it on a regular level is the same but it doesn't send you back and only restores the enemies. Its started as an unlicensed game in Asian in 199X and later got a physical release by Piko Interactive in the 1st world. On boss fights its got 2 of the same guy resummoning when beat endlessly and there are points which do nothing and there's life restores like meat and a whole pig to refill the whole bar. everyone hammers this game for not being as good as Water Margin but as its own thing its not bad. Good graphics and nice music and good story pages with scrolling text that only player 1 can speed up. I'm glad I did it and think its not awful but decent and worth a try if you can get it. Oh and the 4 players play different and the best is the main guy with the sword.

Just beat Ex-Mutants on Sega Genesis. Its an up to 2 player platform game based on a 90s comic from the guys who used to do Robotech. 1 button jumps, 1 attacks/throws 1 projectile and 1 uses a secondary projectile. Its 5 levels where you get through the distant future year of 2055 after WW3 devolved everyone into mutants and you play as the last humans to beat totally not Jabba the Hutt. You gotta find a Power Cell in some levels and get through it and beat a few bosses. Its pretty tough and you get like 7 or 8 continues that send you back to a checkpoint if the level has it and the gamer ends after a few levels if you play it on Easy. The guy is strong and slow and the girl is quicker but does less damage. Its pretty hard and there's a cheat menu to access if you do a thing and you can either select a level, or use 1 cheat like have unlimited ammo or not having to get the Power Cells or have more Lives. Its not a bad game, and has that mid 90s feel. Decent graphics and nice music, Controls mostly ok, Its not awful, just kinda hard at times. The level select makes it more balanced so I can return to where I was after a Game Over. Glad I played it. Its got some good stuff if you give it a shot.

Just beat Super Hang-On on Sega Genesis. Its a Motorcycle racing game like Outrun where you get across a number of Checkpoints in time and get more time in each one. B is Speed Up, C is Boost and I never used A. You go across one of 4 courses like Africa or Americas and each has its own tracks and number of Checkpoints. I beat it on the Beginner with 6 Checkpoints and That took me like an hour and a half. I don't know why I bought this, I don't even know how to drive. The Game Shop guy said he had these 2 games that are good and offered me em and the other was Streets of Rage 2. I only got SOR but went back thinking I'd be missing an opportunity. If you get to top speed you can use the Boost to go faster but it makes you veer a bit on turns. Its not a bad game and has good music and decent graphics for a late 80s game, but its not for me. If you crash into one of the things on the side you spazz out for a few seconds and it places you back on the track. Crash too much (usually 2 or more) and you won't make it. You gotta know when to boost and when to ease and sometimes its better to slow down and take a tight turn than crash and take more recover time. There's an Original mode too that I didn't try but hear you earn cash and upgrade your bike and use passwords. Its not a bad game and you can choose what song to listen to, but I'm not a racing guy. Glad I got through it though. Don't plan on doing it again.

in April 2017

i started playing super mario world on gba. i think i perfer sonic. mario moves too slow and i dont like holding B to speed up. jumping isnt as accurate as i like but it might be my DS D pad.

i played super mario world. its not so great. mario moves too slow and if u hold b(which i hate doing) he's hard to control. theres so many out of the way places to go just to get to the next level and none of em are intuitive. some levels just dont work. the ghost house has u have to go through the door 2x just to hit the same block 2x and get different results only if you do a weird trick. i perfer sonic. this game just isnt that great

so i've been playing super mario world. i dont like it. the control isnt for me. he's too slow in walking and too uncontrollable in running. the cape is hard to use. the jumping is hard to aim or manage. the water levels are stressful. the bosses are too easy(3 hits?! robotnik takes 8 min!). yoshi keeps getting away. yoshi's tongue is hard to aim. the level design is stress inducing. and the enemy placement is piut in a way to punish your natural instincts.

Just beat Columns Crown under Flash Columns on my 28 in 1 GBA Multicart. Its Columns like on Genesis where you gotta get that 1 jewel that flashes by linking it in a straight or diagonal line to 2 other of the same jewels in a row. Its got 50 rounds with a time limit and every 5 is a 10 second one where you gotta bat it in usually 1 shot by placing the jewels in the right place. It has unlimited tries and you'll need em. It gets pretty tricky but eventually if you get good or lucky you can get through it. There's also a story where you gotta get all the jewels for the princess's crown and you need 2 copies of the game to link cable it to get a few and all it does is play a cut scene. Its got other modes and play styles like using jewels to interfere with the guy you battle and such. But you don't gotta finish the Pokedex to beat the Elite 4. Its pretty good but the jewels can look kinda similar like orange and yellow and blue and purple, so it can screw you up Its a decent game with nice graphics and music and you play as these boy or girl characters who are the princesses homies from school who you can name up to 6 letters. They look kinda like Sonic X characters or those American attempts at Anime you see on adds on the side of websites. Overall its not bad but its got some toughness. Glad I played it.

Just beat 2 in 1 - Sonic Pinball Party & Columns Crown on my 28 in 1 GBA Multicart. Its got the 2 title games which are sorta 32 bit versions of Sonic Spinball in a way and Columns. sonic Pinball Party is good but can be tough with trying to get enough points or meeting the requirements to beat the level, but it plays pretty well and looks and sounds nice. Good details in the table and worth a run. columns Crown is a good puzzle game where you match 3 or more jewels together to vanish em and clear objectives like getting the flashing jewel or beating the computer in rounds. good music and colors but the jewels look a bit too similar at times and can cause issues. Its story is nice but you gotta do a link cable with another copy of the game to get it so just play one of the modes instead. Its a decent 2 pack and has games worth giving a shot. Glad i got this. Its got a good callback to Sega's 8 and 16 bit days in a good 2D 32 bit update. Give it a shot if you can find it. Its got some good stuff to it.

Just beat Super Castlevania IV on my Snes collection. Its a remake of the 1st Castlevania but here you have improved control. You can move in air, whip in 8 directions, jump on (but not off) stairs (but can drop through em with Down and Jump). You have 5 lives and unlimited Continues but using 1 puts you back at the start of the area. There's also a Password to return to a previous level from the Title Screen. Good Graphics and really nice music and it plays pretty well, but the Stairs kinda got weird where holding a direction makes you go the wrong way and spazz out against yourself. Its not bad but I think I liked Bloodlines/The New Generation on Sega more. The last level gets pretty rough too with a Boss Rush and the 1st guy is pretty hard. Dracula can be tricky but you can get through it with the secret area by the stairs. Butt you can walk off it if done wrong and its invisible so it might ice you a bit. Overall its not bad. Oh and you can change the control set up to how you want. I had A Jump, B Attack and Y for special Item. Glad I played this. It was a worthy one.

Just beat Cho Aniki Bakuretsu Ranto-hen on my Snes Collection. Its a weird fighting game where you play as one of these freaks from the Cho Aniki series and fight in a 1 on 1 best of 3 battle. B and Y are attacks and using the D Pad lets you aim em or dash and attack by double tap. X or may A(I don't recall) lets you do a rush that does no damage but moves you fast. Unlike other fighters, you move around in the air with the D Pad and can be knocked around by the opponent. There's super moves that I don't know how to do and for some reason, the fighters get dizzy from using their attacks too much i think. This game is weird and hard to figure out. Its by Masaya who did Wings of Wor and Mamono hunter Yohko and like those its got strange stuff. It controls kinda weird and most fights are either really easy or really hard. I usually just mash buttons and come through. Good graphics and music and you get unlimited continues to get past 8 guys, including a Mirror Match. Its sorta like Parodius but with really gay themes. Its not bad but Mami gave me the most issue. Glad i played it and its an interesting game, sorta like how Christopher Walken and Willam Shatner and Tommy Wiseau are interesting actors. Its also got a 2 player mode to battle and not much else. Good if you wanna just plow through this to beat a game in like under an hour.

Just beat Snow Bros. Jr. on my 108 GameBoy Games Multicart. Its as screen by screen game kinda ;like Bubble Bobble but better. You play as a Snow Man and A Jumps and B throws up to 2 Snowballs at a time before you can reload. You go across 50 levels with a Boss every 10 and a bonus 10 after that with the Game Boss. You gotta hit enemies with enough Snow Balls until they get coated, the use B to punch it when close and it rolls around until it busts. You can take out other guys with the rolling and you gotta clear the screen to advance. The bosses you gotta turn its minions it poops out into Snowballs and nail him with it. There's a story about saving the world by making the Sun happy by returning its Heart or Smile or w/e. You get 10 Continues and each has 3 lives. Biting it lets you keep going on the same level but using a Continue makes you restart. Its not too hard and there's even a Level Select Code to get you up to level 51 or lower. Its got nice GB graphics and music and plays mostly well. There's also power ups got by taking out guys with rolling Snow Balls. Most are Points but some are Potions or Bottles of Pop or w/e that make you faster or inflate you to float around and bump anything you touch out. If you get stuck in a rolling Snow Ball you can jump out or ride with it. Its a pretty decent game and I'm glad I played it. It can be beat in like an hour too and ain't too tough.

Just played around 2/5ths through Ys 4 Mask Of The Sun on my Snes thing. Its an RPG where you fight by walking into enemies in the right area. You can use an Item or Magic with buttons. You get EXP and Gold from beating guys and Level Up with enough. You also can buy new Items and Armor/Weapons/Shields to upgrade. You get less exp from weaker guys if you LV UP enough so you gotta keep moving. Its easy to grind and level up in some places and the story is pretty good too. It controls well and once you get the hang of it, its pretty nice. I used a Rom on my DS and it worked ok but when I got to the part where Adol takes the boat trip to bring the Medicine to the guy the game f'd out and froze. I tried different settings and even Downloaded a Japan Rom to try it and the same thing happened. I liked playing this and wanted to beat it but the game just f'd out. Its pretty good and has nice 16 bit graphics and music and lets you save pretty much anywhere so you can just reload after getting iced. There's multiple save slots too so you can save outside a dungeon and use a different save if you ain't sure you wanna risk being stuck in there where you can't get back. Oh and you heal by standing still outside of dungeons. Its a nice game and I would've liked to finish it.

Just beat Disney's Aladdin on my 106 Game Gear Games in 1 GBA Multicart. Its sorta like the Snes one but you get a Sword in the last fight. 1 button Jumps and the other does things like throw rocks you pick up. You climb by jumping and pressing Up and can do a Slide that's only needed in 1 area by double tapping Left/Right and pressing a button and down. You do a creep walk by holding Down and tapping a button. You got several level types like auto running levels where you can move left and right and platform or puzzle levels where you gotta get through by throwing rocks at guards or finding Keys or throwing rocks into gold demon faces on the walls open mouths. There's really only 1 boss at the end and its not too long or hard. You get unlimited Tries and a Password if you choose no on continue and its got nice cutscenes that have actual dialogue from the movie. Its got nice colorful graphics and music and controls well. sometimes you gotta be super accurate to jump up and grab a ledge and getting on the stairs is kinda tricky, but overall its pretty good. You get 3 things of life and each is about 2 hits. Its a pretty decent game that can be beat in like half an hour or more if you watch the cutscenes. Glad I played it .

Just beat The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer on DS. Its a Beat Em Up where you play as Mr Incredible or Frozone and swap between em to get past obstacles. Its pretty simple and most of the game is either mashing attack or freezing platforms to get to computer things to open doors. A is Jump, B is attack, and X or Y is a power slam that needs to recharge if overused. X also lifts things blocking your path. For Frozone A is Jump but Double tapping it lets you ice glide to get across things and up and down changes height. B is attack but its not much. Y is a spray attack that uses the charge meter and X lets you fire a freeze arrow like Naga from Slayers and freeze enemy's and platforms that can be hard to see. You can also freeze pipes that poop slime and fire blasting things. Its got nice music that pretty heroic and the graphics are that classic DS look. You get several lives and I don't know about continues as I never ran out, but I played on Normal so yeah. If you bite it you resummon where you left off and it saves after each area. Overall its not a bad game. Kinda simple and can be beat in like an hour or 2. But if you wanna beat a game in 1 sitting, its decent. Glad I played this.