Saturday, December 3, 2022

Game Reviews Volume 25 From 2022 Part VI

 One more group of Games I beat or played this year and my thoughts on em

Just beat Dual Heroes on N64. Its a Fighting Game by Hudson where you play in a 3D arena and have matches of best of 1 3 or I think 5 and some rounds have Ring Outs while others are walled in. A is Punch, B and R is Guard that heals if blocking the move, C Down is Kick and Holding Z lets you move in 3D and you use the A Stick for movement, even in the Menu. Its got Unlimited Continues and you can play on Normal, Hard or Expert. Overall its not that hard or complex, which can work. Not every game has to be Ghosts N Goblins. It feels like a NES Game in some ways but has nice 3D Graphics and cool music. The characters look like Power Rangers and they have a number of butt shots as the camera moves. Its simple and can be beat in under  20 mins and there's also a 2 Player Mode. Its a  decent game and you can change the controls in the options. If you need a quick game to beat or jest want a lite game to spend a few mins on, this ones not bad. Glad I did this one. Its not Super Elite, but it does things right.

Just beat Rampage 2: Universal Tour on GBC. Its kind of a environment destruction game where you play a a big monster and bust all the buildings in each city for 125 levels. Each 25 levels you go to another area like a continent and on the 25th, you gotta bust a safe with a friend inside. A is jump and B is attack and you can climb buildings with up but you gotta be standing in the right area. On top of a building you can hold down and hammer B to bust it and on the side you can punch the walls to bust it or eat people in windows for extra health. You get a few lives and on Easy Mode, some items in the buildings kill you. Some are Power ups and I think with enough Points you get extra guys. There's guys firing at you and tanks and choppers that attack from above and below and if you take em out, they resummon soon after. Often its best to climb the building, bust it from top, jump to the next and repeat until finished. There's no continues but there are passwords made of letters and numbers. When you start you choose the 1st area then do the rest and these Kaiju things try to free their friend, they go in straight lines to various cities across the map in no real pattern. Later there's aliens and you go through space somehow and bust these Zentraedi looking buildings on various planets and the aliens in them are tough to see. Also are Bonus Levels that get you points. Its kind of a mindless game where you bust cities but its good simple fun. I think on Higher difficulties you gotta bust more buildings to beat each level. I liked it and its a decent way to spend an hour or 3. Glad I did this.

Just played Rolo to the Rescue on my 200 Sega Genesis/Master Systems Games Multicart for Genesis. Its bad. Its by EA when they were "good" but this makes me think they were always bad. You play as this dinky elephant trying to save his mom from the Circus and beat 4 bosses. I made it to the 2nd boss and after Game Overing had enough. You got 4 Continues with 3 guys to start with and NO Passwords, Saves or Level Select. There's a code by holding A/B or A/C and Up/Left and Resetting, then releasing them and hitting B on the Title Screen, but if I Reset, it goes back to the Multicart Menu so that's out. You gotta use the elephant to beat the Key Man by jumping on him, them unlock ALL cages of your woodland critter friends by touching em, then get to the exit. Sometimes you gotta use the critters powers like High Jump Rabbit or Wall Jump Squirrel to get a platform over or get a power up to get the elephant there. B is Jump and C uses the power while Start opens a Menu to change animals, so you can't use Start on Turbo for Slomo. The jumping is bad. If you miss a jump, you plummet and by the time you realize you missed, you're at the bottom or dead. Also its easy to miss jumps or fall off. There's power ups like a Vacuum that lets you suck in or poop out things from your trunk or water glasses that lets you blast water, or an air tank that inflates you like a DeviantArt post. You can quit and go back to the map any time and items resummon like extra guys or points, but if you beat a level, you can redo it with all cages open. You bite it in 1 hit and the hit detection can be bad, but if you have friends, you can have them as extra hits, but they poof out when you get hit. Also is puzzle pieces you can get to unlock more of the map besides beating levels. The map system is kinda like The Pagemaster but don't recover it when you Continue. This game made me mad and stressed. Not much fun. Decent graphics and ok music but the control kills it. Also too many death pits.

Just beat Sonic Generations on 3DS. Its the 20th anniversary game of Sonic with levels from his past games, but reimagined. You play as Sonic or Past Sonic gotta beat a version of each world 2x and get a Chaos Emerald, with a few Boss things. A/B is Jump, Down and B is Slide or Spin Dash for Past Sonic, Y is Boost for Sonic, Jump in air with a Target out is Homing Attack when Unlocked for Past Sonic and Down and B in air is Stomp for Sonic. X uses Whisp Powers in like 1 level and in the Emerald Zones you hold Y to Boost but gotta collect colored spheres. The Music is nice and has good remix's and the Graphics look good and have a nice 32/64 bit feel but more advanced, maybe even 128 bit. You get unlimited Continues and if you run outta guys you start the level over instead of at a checkpoint. The Past Sonic levels are solid 2D with some 2.5 D looks and feel similar to the 16 bit Sonic Games. The Now Sonic is 2.5D with speed and boosts sorta like the DS ones and you get a Boost Bar to increase speed with a button. The bosses take 8 hits and change patterns after a bit and there's 3 races where you only need to get to the end of the level 1st as Boss rounds. It can be beat in like around an hour or 2 and saves quite often. There's Missions and other things I never looked into and as usual with Sonic, you survive hits if you have 1 ring but they all scatter if hit. The game is pretty forgiving and each level can be beat in a few mins, so its trying to be like the Genesis games. nice speed and style. The jumping could be a bit more precise in some parts but its not awful. Often there's several paths to the exit and the higher ones are quicker. I found I often got D Rank on the Past Sonic levels as I play em more casual instead of racing to the end. It was cool to see the Dreamcast Sonic Games in 2D and the Genesis ones in Semi 3D. Overall a good game that holds up well. Glad i did this one.

Just beat Lucky Luke on GBC. Its kind of an ordeal. Its a Platform game based on a comic I never read where B is jump and A is attack because in Europe they do things backwards like driving on the wrong side of the road or being commies.  You get a few lives to get through it, but you only get Continues by getting enough points, like 10 000 or something, then paying that many points to Continue. You also get extra guys with enough points, and as there's no time limit, you could grind on the resummoning enemies over and over until you get enough points. But that's kind of a waste of time. There's a 5 symbol password but its tough to make out the weird shapes, until you realize its someone's head. Usually you gotta go through a level and get past things like a locked door or a broken thing, and get an item to solve it, like a key or the missing piece. You go to the place, press down, and advance. There's a number of 1 hit kill things like red ground or bulls chasing you and often you don't know what it is until you bite it a few times. Down and B is planting Dy no mite but often I mix of A/B as this game does it wrong and accidentally use it when trying a crouch shot. Then a second later it blows and harms me. The bosses are often a simple pattern of jump and nail em when they come out. You can catch onto ledges and hang, then press Up to climb, but it usually only works when you don't wanna cling. 1 thing I hate is how there's animals you can't kill but they can kill you. Luke's a Cowboy! They ain't sissy hippy vegans who inject soy in their parts! Also there's only like 3 passwords so if you make it far, then bite it, you gotta go back and slog through the same parts you hate to get another chance at the part that iced you. The graphics are kinda bad. Its hard to tell what's what and the colors look bad all devolved together. The music is good  and it controls mostly good. I'm glad I did this but I doubt I'd play this again. Oh and it ends in a boss rush.

Just played The Lost Vikings on my 218 Genesis Games Multicart. Its a Puzzle Platform game where you use 3 dudes with different abilities to get through a buncha levels. You need to get all 3 to the exit but if 1 runs outta life, you might as well start over. You get a 4 character password  after each level and its up to 3 players with the right multitap. C activates hints at ? square, B is main ability like sword or Jump, A is 2ndary ability like Bow, X and Z cycle through characters, Mode opens the Item thing and Y uses Item, You can carry 4 items and trade with each other. You take fall damage and some items heal you. 1 guy has a shield to block enemies or stand on, 1 has a sword or bow to take guys out and 1 can jump. It you restart you gotta do it ALL from the start of the level but  with Infinite Tries and a password, it can be eventually done. Start opens a Give Up option to restart the area if you screw up. Its got nice graphics and colors and the music is cool. There's also fun dialogue and good writing. Its a well made game by what's now Blizzard Entertainment who has since kinda devolved. My problem was my Controllers didn't wok. 1 6 button pad had C do Start and Up did X or Z so when I climbed a ladder, it kept swapping characters. The other didn't have a working A Button, And you kinda need a 6 button pad for this. The pad didn't spazz out on other games, even on the same Multicart so I'm not sure what the deal is. Its a good game and had well made areas and things. I just can't play it. Glad I did the 1st 1.8 levels though.

Just beat Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord for Master System on my 200 Sega Genesis/Master System games Multicart. Its an 8 bit Jrpg that was actually the 1st Jrpg to come to America. 1 button is Confirm and the other is Deny and you play as this guy who needs to find the 3 other warriors, find their magic armor and weapons, and get the 3 Keys to get to the final Dungeon to fight some naked green daemoness . The text is written in Ye Olde Englishe and can be tricky if you read it too much, but often its just Yes/No. After you beat the creative design enemies, you get either money and or Fangs that you need as a sign of being a hero, or can trade for money or items. The screen is weird as 1 corner is a shot of the Hero and land he's on that moves as you move to show direction, 1 is a map that shows where you are, the bottom is the Life/Exp bars, and in battle the top screen shows the monster you fight. At the start its tough as the enemies are stronger than you and if you ice good people, your Charisma drops. If it falls too far, townsfolk don't talk to you so only wack bad guys. Some bosses are non evil but you gotta ice em so keep your rep up as icing bad guys raises it. Its best to use a guide as some parts are tricky to figure out. You gotta grind a lot in here to compete but its not so awful to me. If you beat certain foes, you get an item that can be used in battle and when used: It not only prevents the enemy attack., but also gives all party members Exp. Talking to people you meet in the wild can give hints on where to go and each Party Member you unlock gives a piece of a Scroll that tells how to get to the final boss. But the guy who wrote it was 2x as fast as you so you gotta double the numbers. There's Feathers you can use to warp to town but I never needed em. You can save anywhere outside and can revive dead guys at 1 village for a high price. Different Terrain has different enemies as do different areas. Its a good one but can be tough. Oh and Armor and Weapons break down after enough use so you need to use a Blacksmith to repair em. You can pay each time, or buy a Blacksmith for continuous use, but he can die at a certain part near the end of the game so you need to buy a new one. Also you can carry up to 24 Herbs to heal but buy them in 5's and can carry up to 11 Nuts but get them in 3's. In battle, you get a bit of Exp each time a character attacks but only that character gets it. You can't use Herbs in battle but there's a Resurrection Potion you get near the end of the game that can heal a guy to Full Life in Battle. Unless a Magic Attack is used, only the guy attacking takes damage from the enemy. New party members come in at a level below the lowest guy, but that's to a point as my main guy was almost at the highest level and the 2nd guy came in much lower. The Graphics and Music are quite good but the music restarts when saving and there's enemies every few steps. I had some good stuff with this one and it holds up pretty well despite translation errors and needing much grinding. Glad I did this one.

Just beat the Master System version of Space Harrier on my 200 Sega Genesis/Master System Games Multicart. Its a Shmup where you play as this dude who can fly and has a huge cannon and blast through 18 levels of endlessly forward scrolling. There's 2 levels that are Bonus Rounds where you ride a Dragon named Uriah after the Bible guy/Angel and bust through trees and towers for points. You get 3 guys and 0 Continues AND bite it in 1 hit or if you run into anything. But, there is 2 things that can help. on the Title Screen press Right Left Down Up and you get a Sound Test, Then play the numbers 7 4 3 7 4 8 1 and you get a Menu to change the difficulty, reverse the Controls, and change the guy into a Jet, but if he bites it he falls as a man. This don't help much, but there is a code that lets you continue around 9X. On the Game Over Screen: Press Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Down Up; Down Up and if done right you resume the game. I used a Turbo Pad to Rapid Fire but 1 time I thought I had an extra guy and was holding it and it cut to the High Score Screen. There's no Passwords or Saves or Level Select so the only way to beat it is to plow through. Its pretty tough and there's no power ups and you only can get 1 extra guy by points. When you get hit, you are invincible for a bit but it don't last. It gets pretty fast and you mostly hit the guys when they are closer. Like Super Thunder Blade, there's scrolling but its choppy. Some parts let you fly over enemies and obstacles by going high enough. It can be beat in around 20 odd minutes and has a story connected to Fantasy Zone. Its got nice colors and good floor scrolling and the music is good. Its got a scream when the guy gets it and it controls pretty well. Glad I did this one. Its a tight challenge.

Just beat The Cursed Knight on Sega Genesis. Its a Platform/Shmup where you play as this future guy who has to save this princess. A is Attack, and holding is Autofire, B is Jump and Double Jump, C is change weapons but for me it was tough to work, maybe its my pad, and X/Y/Z is switch Gravity. There's options for using Mode to swap Gravity or using Up on the 3 Button Pad. Down and B is Slide and its Up/B when on the ceiling. If you hammer B when crouching it slides longer and faster. If Shmup Mode A is fire Left and B is Fire Right, C switches weapons but if you hold it, you can charge up a super blast that does more damage and can take out some Invincible foes. It starts out simple but gets pretty challenging. You get 3 styles, Normal with infinite tries, Old School with 3 Lives and 2 Continues that makes you restart the level when using a Continue, and Insane with 1 guy and 0 Continues. It gets pretty tough and I can get nearly through Level 4 of 6 on Old School. Its got this gravity mechanic where you flip upside down and back, but you gotta land 1st so if you do it without a ceiling you bite it. The Graphics are amazing and look like the modern style of Genesis games. The music is well made and has kick. It controls pretty well and is pretty fun. Its got that Bio Horror thing with some of these bosses and areas. To get the Good Ending you gotta beat it in like under 90 mins or so and the game times you. I did it in 1 13 00 but watched longplays to know what's ahead. There's 3 Gems to get that let you Triple Jump. I had this backed on Kickstarter and its quite  good. Its got some unskippable cutscenes but its not so bad. Its worth playing and I'm glad I got this one. Oh and the Super Attack you gotta collect Power Ups to use and can hold up to 4. Also you can Power Up your weapons but if you bite it, you gotta get the Big P item again to reclaim it.

Just beat Champions World Class Soccer on Sega Genesis. Quite an ordeal. Its by Flying Edge who is kinda LJN GX, but they did a few good games like The Tick and Venom Spider Man Separation Anxiety. This is not one of em. C is good kick but is also change who you control if not holding the ball, B is small kick or Trip, and a does something but I never really used it. start pauses and has options like no sound and for Goalies the buttons and D pad does different catches. You choose a country and some get better stats and despite some being 3rd world, are better than the rich countries. You play 3 games to qualify then go to a finals and single elimination to get to the top. You can have fouls on or off and cornering or w/e too but I dont like soccer so I don't know what that is. There's a 7 character password with Letters and numbers but they dont do 0/Q/O or I/1 or S/5 ect. You can play in several languages but I only know English and some Japanese. You can change the Goalie to automatic or manual or semi where you choose how he catches or kicks or something. I don't really care. Soccer s-cked and so does this game. when you start you can choose what formation the players go and b4 the game choose a coin flip, but its naturally on Tails for some reason and its presented in a way so you don't know if you go 1st or not as you are on the right side for coin flip, but start on the left when the game starts and are shown on the left for your flag. Controlling characters is a mess. You tap the C button until you get the guy you want but it seems almost random on who it changes to. Also the controls seem delayed as I press C to good kick but by the time it registers, the other guy took my ball and shuffle around. The  B kick is useless unless you wanna go to the next player a bit ahead and B attacking often misses. Often the characters and a chaotic mess and I can't tell what's what Its ok in graphics and music and ain't hard, but the bad controls ruin it. Ruined FOREVER!

Just beat Sigma Star Saga on GBA. Its a Sci Fi RPG by Wayforward where you play as 1 guy and go around various planets to discover the mystery behind it. Instead of a Turn Based System, you have random encounters where you are called up like The Coming Rapture and face a Shmup level to beat a certain number of foes. After popping enemy's, they drop a glowing dot to collect for Experience and enough EXP has you Level Up and fully heal. You collect Gun Data in the overworlds that lets you choose what your shots do and how they do it, with after effects like dropping HP or having each iced foe count as 2, R switches between weapons, L is a Nuke, Holding B lets you speed up and A fires but some Guns work better by tapping instead of holding Fire. On the ground holding B lets you run, A does the selected action like Pistol or Wings once unlocked and Select opens the map. L/R cycles through Actions but it gets rough near the end when you have so many. Its not too hard and sometimes you gotta go back to past areas when getting new abilities. Once or twice I got stuck and looked up what order to do things in or that with the Shoes you gotta Press A when jumping off a cliff to do a stomp. Its got a good story and characters and twists. The graphics are nice and have good sprites and the music is well done. It controls well but when you go to a Shmup round you don't choose the ship and sometimes get a bad one thats big and slow.  There's a few endings that determine who lives and one you can only get by getting ALL Gun Data and starting a New Game Plus, Which doesn't seem worth doing it again right away. Its a good game and I'm glad I got it. The 1st Level isn't great but it gets quite good soon after. Also you CAN skip text with Start and only get Exp in Shmup Levels but Ground foes can drop Life/Nukes. Hitting a foe/wall costs some life and clears foes w/o counting them for the number needed to win and you Save in Save Points.

Just beat The Legend Of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass on DS. Its a sequel to The Wind Waker that plays mostly with the Touch Screen to move and attack and use items and draw on the map to remind you things. Its not too hard and if you bite it, you can Continue from a summoning point, as well as having a Save File. At 1st I didn't like the Touch Screen controls but after playing Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, I could handle it. You go through dungeons and fight enemies but its kinda forgiving as there's plenty of Item Restocks like in Pots or Plants. 1 recurring thing is this Dungeon where you only have so much Time to get through, but you get more Time as the game goes on. Also as you get new items, you can do it faster. Besides the Land areas is a vast Ocean overworld where you use the Touch Screen to draw a course and tap to use a Cannon to fight. You can unlock other Ship Parts to mix and match to have more Life. Also is Fishing and a Salvage Arm for getting Sea Treasure. There's also Gold Frogs that if you nail with a Cannon, tell you a Symbol to draw to warp there. Its got a bit of Charm to it and seeing the Personalities of the people in this world brought me back to playing Ocarina Of Time on N64. The Graphics and Music are good and have that Wind Waker feel but its Control could be better. In the Final Boss I had to sword fight fort a bit, hit him, draw a symbol and hit him in a spot, but the Touch Screen Controls made it hard to fight as I wouldn't hit him or I'd be outta range as you move/attack with the same thing. Also the symbol I had to draw wouldn't count most of the time. Its not a bad game and I got it for 20$ used in a replacement box. There's lots of mini games and secrets and a trading sequence to get the Ultimate Spin Attack where you go full Beyblade for a bit. After getting used to it, its not a bad game and I had some good times with it. Glad I did this one.

Just beat New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS. Its another 2D Platformer that plays like recent Mario Games and is pretty solid. A is Jump, Hold B to Run, or Press B to use a move like Fire Ball or spinning the Tail on your Fursuit Holding B also lets you grab Shells and Jum,ping and pressing Down and  A or B, I forget, lets you do aa butt slam. You can hold 1 extra Power Up on the Touch Screen and tap it to summon it from above. This game has a focus on Coins where its quite easy to get them. Almost like a Wario Game. You got 9 worlds byt only need to beat 6 to win. Each boss is one of the Koopa Kids and 2 levels are Branching Paths where somehow you can go Up or Down on the map, but I never found out how. Some places on the overworld where you go from zone to zone and can use Big Coins you find in levels to unlock alternate paths to do other zones. Its got nice graphics and music and has voices. Most bosses are beat in 3 hits and mini bosses are usually are 2-8 dinosaurs on rotating platforms. If you die 5x on a level, you can use a super fursuit to let you be invincible to enemy hits, but as a Real Gamer Ore Samma did not need it! You get extra guys pretty easy and I had over 80 on the last level. It gets kinda annoying on the last level and there's the usual Mario issues like moving slow, having low jump range unless holding B and mobility issues but its pretty forgiving. One of the easier Mario games. I got it for 25$ and it was worth it. Glad I did this one. Oh and the Koopa Kids all have their own gimmick and the final boss is an autoscrolling thing over lava.

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