For Game Club in April, we played the first console conversion of the Tamagotchi brand. I had a unit myself as a young lad, but being more mature now I found myself attaching more to my baby, albeit with a slight layer of irony at times.
Subjective game reviews, comic translations, pixel art, and other video game bits & bobs.
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May 3, 2018
[Review] Tamagotchi (GB)
August 10, 2017
[Review] Mario’s Picross (GB)
Having run short of new Picross games to play *cough Western gamers should really have been allowed access to Club Nintendo Picross and Club Nintendo Picross Plus cough* I turned to the past to satisfy my burning desire for picture crossword puzzles. Jupiter’s very first offering in their long-running series (now 23 strong by my count) is a barebones affair, mostly 15x15 puzzles on a tiny monochrome screen.
November 30, 2016
[Review] Sneaky Snakes (GB)
Here’s another game that I played through on a stream. You can see that archived here. I talk a bit about my impressions in the video itself, so I’ll be brief here.
Sneaky Snakes was one of Rare’s early handheld companions to a console release, in this case Snake Rattle n Roll. It takes that game’s central mechanic of eating Nibbleys throughout a level in order to gain enough weight to unlock the exit, but translates it to a 2D sidescroller rather than an isometric 3D scape.
It seems very faithful to the formula of its parent game but with a few interesting additions and maybe a little more variety in its content. There are more different varieties of Nibbleys, for example, and things like an evil snake or a ball you have to push around then bounce off. New enemies such as sentient staplers and toilet lids show a sense of ridiculous fun that the game’s sometimes hellacious difficulty doesn’t quite manage to squash. The final boss too, a pot-bellied homunculus with a brass instrument for a face, has to be seen to be believed.
The environments become more and more strange as you continue, ending in some decidedly alien caverns. Perhaps it really is following up on the promise of “Snakes in Space” that the NES original teased in its ending. Incidentally, this video fits the maps from the first game together to show how clever its level design was to fit it into a greater context. Sneaky Snakes is not quite so impressive but it’s still fun and a refreshing change of pace from other platformers.
October 30, 2016
[Review] Kid Dracula (GB)
It’s the spooky season apparently, so why not break out a Castlevania game? The only thing scary about this chibi-fied spinoff is its difficulty, but I was able to mitigate that through rampant savestate cheating.
March 13, 2016
[Review] X (GB)
X is a Japan-only game notable for two things. One is its impressive tech, rendering 3D vector-like graphics on the underpowered Game Boy. While there is still frequent slowdown, showing that it’s pushing the hardware almost past its limit, I still found it surprising… for the Game Boy. The primitive visuals do look very dated now, but that’s no reason to turn your nose up at the game.
Anyway the second thing is that this is Dylan Cuthbert and Argonaut’s first collaboration with Nintendo, which would evolve into the seminal Star Fox series. I was watching out for points of contact within the game, but beyond a few minor details, there’s not much in common. I’ll just headcanon it into the Metroid series somehow. (Adam Malkovich’s ship in Other M has the same name as the player’s tank in this game… there’s something there.)
X is like nothing I’ve played before. I think maybe that it takes many cues from Battlezone, the 1980 arcade game that pioneered 3D vector graphics with an open-world tank battling style. However much they were inspired by it, X evolves the concept with many fun gameplay innovations and level concepts. There’s different loadable weapons for different situations, the ability to launch your tank and become a low-altitude aerial fighter, warp tunnels with a flying minigame (the closest thing to Star Fox here), and many different enemy types.
In the space tank VIXIV, a big floating head briefs you before each mission. Being only in Japanese, a separate walkthrough helped, but the neat animations give you the gist. Your tank is then dumped in a huge world. The playing area is the same for each mission but they get a lot of mileage out of it by varying the objectives. You generally have to roam around, getting hints by docking with radar stations, trying to locate whatever it is you need to blow up or rescue. Your display has a number of dials and navigational tools to keep track of; fuel, ammo, and health, as well as a radar and minimap. The game is about keeping track of all these, managing your resources and time, and not getting distracted too much.
There’s a lot to take in, but once I got the hang of it I found it quite compelling. Escorting the truck convoy, or hunting alien cocoons before they hatch into evil butterflies, the final climactic showdown with the mothership. It’s amazing what they managed to wring out of the concept, although it helped to have savestates and a turbo button for the searching around phase. I did buy a copy of this in Japan, and was playing it that way until I nudged the cartridge during play and lost my progress. That is a fine way to play though; there’s a pretty fair continue system that rewards you for doing better in missions and there’s no Super Game Boy palettes.
It’s a shame they never localised this game, and there are no translation patches either, but it’s pretty playable anyway if you use a resource like this to help (the hardest part is fulfilling the specific requirements during the tutorial). It’s got that recognisable Nintendo touch from a time when that really meant something. Thumps up from me. Space tanks.
October 7, 2015
[Review] Castlevania Legends (GB)
As I said in my Judgment review, I react negatively to someone ostensibly in charge of a series being exclusive for dumb reasons; it just made me want to play Legends more. Having a female Belmont as protagonist and being the last of three Game Boy games and so presumably more polished also attracted me (although yeah, it’s in the same engine but it was actually made by a different team).
So in this game that is totally in canon and fits in the series perfectly no matter what people might say, you play as Sonia Belmont, who kicks ass before any Belmont men ever did (except Leon 400 years before, but he’s a wuss). She has a relationship with Alucard as well, who as we all know is pretty much the coolest dude to ever wear a cape and a moody expression. SPOILERS! He’s also the father of her child Trevor, at least I think so.
Unlike the first two GB Castlevanias, this wasn’t rereleased for GBC in Europe. But that just makes it more of an underdog! Of course, in these situations you have to examine all the options. To play in GBC mode or Super Game Boy mode? In this case, GBC mode has less garish colours and more distinction between sprites and background, which always helps. The SGB border is cool but who needs that taking up screen space?
So now the gameplay. This is my first “traditional” Castlevania game, the linear type with stages. I know this may not be the best example but it didn’t win me away from the RPG/exploration of the Metroidvania style. And it didn’t even have the infamous Castlevania stairs, about which I’ve heard more horror stories than about Dracula himself. There are some branches, leading either to dead ends or special items (which unlock the good ending). However the timer (why oh why did there have to be a timer) discourages dilly-dallying.
The graphics are mostly nice pixelly goodness—those tiny faceless heads are adorable—but then you get things like the awkward zombie seen above from time to time. The music is pleasantly chippy as well. It’s too bad the game suffers from stiff play control and slightly off hit detection.
From what I read, Legends seems to be slightly easier than its predecessors. There are concessions like the “Burning Mode” which give you brief invincibility, but only once per level; and sub-weapons are very powerful, but you do lose all hearts on death. But the game did well in transporting me into that retro mindset (didn’t prevent me from abusing savestates to get through though… I’m a bad, bad boy). Short, sweet, old-school goodness.
July 23, 2015
[Re-play] Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES) and Donkey Kong Land III (GB)
Once again, a critical eye is hard to apply to a game that was so impactful on me in my younger years. It’s also difficult because I’ve been exposed to much discussion and analysis on the DKVine forums. I would agree with sentiments I’ve read there: that DKC3 may possibly in fact be objectively the best of the three, but it’s not my favourite.
It’s certainly ambitious. More involved map screens, a range of NPCs with item trading sequences, more creative level concepts. Its atmosphere is unique and beautiful in its own way. Its status as the black sheep of the Country trilogy can be put down to its late (post-N64) release, and its tonal dissonance. It was developed by a different team than the one who did parts 1 and 2; there are not the common enemies or sense of escalation that those shared. In some ways it’s a sidestep for the series as much as it’s an evolution of 2D platformer design. Ditching both Donkey and Diddy likely did it no favours either; I never did mind but “gamers” don’t like to play as a bawling baby. They should get over it.
So much for analysis. As for the feeling, well this game is deep in my heart. I don’t have it as memorised as DKC2, but only because the secrets are more well-hidden. But they’re not unfair either: every level has exactly 2 bonus barrels, and the DK coin is always accompanied by a setup with Koin and a keg. Control is perfect and Eveline Novakovic’s soundtrack is sublime.
The Wii U has the NA version published. This is actually an issue: I don’t remember there being slowdown with too many sprites on screen, but in this version there is. It’s especially noticeable on that one waterfall level with falling barrels. Speaking of VC versions though, DKL3. Don’t buy this on 3DS. Well, maybe buy it, but don’t play it there. There’s a far superior version for GBC that was released only in Japan. Ok, there are some compromises but those have been reversed and the game translated back to English by Blaziken257, whose ROM hack you can find here. It’s the definitive way to play the game and makes the VC (which doesn’t even support Super Game Boy palettes, still) look pathetic.
How is DKL3 as a game though? The highest compliment I can pay it is that of the three Land games, it feels the most like a Country title (especially the GBC version). Control and level design are a clear cut above the previous handheld instalments. Sure it doesn’t have the weird new ideas or new content of DKL1 but it sure plays better, and it’s more inventive than DKL2. It uses the familiar enemies and environments of DKC3 but in nice new ways and with new worlds (albeit feeling a little thrown-together) and a new (farcical) plot. It’s even got a unique minigame with a memory tile matching thing—it’s required to get to the Lost World.
Although Donkey Kong Land 3—a game that does not in any way feature Donkey Kong, outside the manual—is an odd way to end the classic DKC series, it’s quite good. In fact I’d say that DKC3 and DKL3 together are the strongest pair of the three. If you only play one of the three Land games, make it DKL3 (the GBC version, please). But all three Countries are solid gold blockbuster classics with magnifico graphics, amazeballs soundtracks, wondero-tastic gameplay, and fantabulous atmosphere. Splendiferous character. Lenticular design. Anyway they’re good.
July 11, 2015
[Re-play] Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) & Donkey Kong Land 2 (GB)
Forgive me, but I can’t be expected to talk rationally about DKC2, one of my favourite games of all time. Everything about it is so perfect to me. Playing it on the Wii U is such a treat; it still looks and sounds amazing, the sheer artistry shining through and blending with the tight gameplay to give one of the best experiences on this or any console. Anyway I like it.
Land 2 is also good, insofar as it tries to emulate DKC2. Of course, the music is less rich, although Kirkhope’s chippy renditions of the Wise soundtrack have their own appeal (worse is missing tracks, leading to repetition of tracks like Lockjaw’s Locker). You don’t get colourful environments and backgrounds and the detailed sprites (I realised that the DKC sprites remind me of claymation… random aside). The level designs and even item placement are also a noticeable step down.
DKC is very straightforward, and DKC3 is very ambitious with many tacked-on systems. DKC2 is a nice middle ground with rewarding collectibles, challenging gameplay, interesting gimmicks, and variety in level design. I think one of the more important things in its design is how the aesthetics work with the gameplay; for example, there’s sticky honey in the bee hives and the levels base their platforming around that.
Much of this carries through to Land 2, but scaled back for the Game Boy. While Land 2 is regarded as a port, in truth almost everything is ported over, except for the levels themselves, the layouts of which are brand new. This means that playing it is playing a brand new game, just sharing the exact same characters and world. The interesting part is seeing new platforming situations and enemy placements being done with the same basic concept. It should be noted that Land 2′s engine is greatly improved from Land 1; while jumps are still fairly high, the control and momentum feel much closer to the SNES.
Playing DKC2 was a breeze; my muscle memory practically plays it for me, including finding most of the secrets. DKL2, on the other hand is unfamiliar and thus feels more challenging; although I think that some of the setups are inherently more difficult, it could just be that I haven’t done them so many times that they’re trivial. The secrets in Land 2 though either are actually trivial to find or occasionally unfairly located, in which case I recommend Mario Wiki’s pages on each level to find them.
I absolutely recommend both of these games. DKL2 is not just a downgraded port, it’s new levels using (downgraded) DKC2 assets. But it’s fair to say it’s “overlooked” while DKC2 more than earns the title of “classic”. Good times.
June 22, 2015
[Re-play] Donkey Kong Country (SNES) & Donkey Kong Land (GB)
I don’t often replay games. But when I do, they’re good ones. Since the DKC and DKL trilogies were finally released on the latest Virtual Consoles (after several years of angst on the part of Donkey Kong fans) I felt compelled to buy them, despite some of the backward practices on the Virtual Console that I don’t agree with (for example, on 3DS you cannot rebind controls, and don’t have access to the Super Game Boy enhancements such as palettes).
When deciding to play these frankly awesome games again, I chose to simultaneously play the Country game with its Land accompaniment, to see more directly how they translated the experience to the less powerful portable. Of course, unlike the second and third parts, the first duo are quite different; Land 1 has a number of new level types with new musical compositions by Graeme Norgate, one of Rare’s slightly less lauded composers. I think they’re ace, and the new stage types really help tie it into other parts of the series: ship decks were introduced here before DKC2 ran with them, and the city stages specifically call back to the Arcade era games, especially DK 94.
Country 1 is a fine game, but in my view pales next to its sequels, with more cheap deaths and straightforward gauntlets, unrewarding rewards, and odd design quirks. It’s undoubtedly a classic though. Land 1 is an experimental little thing, with nonlinear progression, strange gimmicks, and of course its fourth-wall-breaking plot. It’s to be congratulated for its uniqueness, but unfortunately the conversion is less than stellar. The play control is quite wonky and deaths are even cheaper. Thankfully the sequels are much tighter even if they hew a little too closely to their console counterparts.
I’m less familiar with Country 1 than I am with childhood stalwarts 2 and 3, and it’s also one I will revisit less often. Land 1 is also hard to return to, considering your inability to travel between worlds and certain stages that really kicked my ass. Anyway, see you next time!
November 2, 2014
[Review] Metriod II: Return of Samus (GB)
This is it; the last main Metroid game I had yet to play. Aside from First Hunt and Galactic Pinball, I’ve now experienced the complete saga. It’s odd of course, because not only were several of the games made anachronically according to the series’s timeline, I played them in a strange order too. Starting with the Advance games (the last and first in the timeline), I became accustomed to the controls there, which made Super too floaty and needlessly complex for me.
Metroid 2 is a bridge between the first and Super, and introduced many concepts that made their way to the console sequel. The larger Samus sprite, the Varia changing your appearance, ducking, as well as the ship and some of the abilities. From my memory, it also seems to be closer in feel to Super. Being simpler though, I found it easier to deal with. I should also note that I used savestates and a map throughout (MDB’s reconstruction of the Nintendo Power map, to be precise).
There’s not too much variety and it’s quite linear, as well as the numerous repeated level structure elements you’ll notice. But it’s quite short, ramps up nicely, and feels self-contained and the right length. I miss the days when these big franchises weren’t afraid to give us a little sidestory on a handheld. The consistent theme in tracking down those Metroids is a unique experience.
The music is largely unintrusive, apart from the fantastic “Main Caves” theme. The graphics look nice, but this is one of the more complicated games to get colours into. Usually you have to try it on a Super Game Boy and a Game Boy Color, not to mention the different options they’ll give you. I was happy with what I ended up with, nice contrast between enemies and background. The only problem is that the light blue level tilesets never changed, giving it an unfortunate uniform feel despite the different designs of those textures. Most likely my fault, but oh well. It’s too bad they never actually made the proposed DX version of this game for GBC.
I feel quite good about this game, allowing for the fact I used a map. There was a good amount of challenge, exploration, and not too much backtracking. I certainly had a better time than with Zelda 2, as this actually keeps and evolves the core gameplay of the series. And using that Spider Ball to just nip around any surface was so fun! The beam-switching mechanic was interesting too, with several instances of each littered around, and none being compulsory until the end.
I even got the best ending for finishing under 3 hours and with 100% items, although as I said I had my map and savestates. Metroid 2 is a fine instalment for the series, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for the final release of the fan remake AM2R. The baby! I actually like the baby now.
August 23, 2014
[Review] Game & Watch Gallery (GB)
I’ve showed a few screenshots here from my playthrough of this game. I found playing through it kind of a chore, because my motivations were mainly to see the content for an article/feature I’m working on. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but I didn’t pick it up to have fun.
The point of this series is high-score chasing, which I’ve never been engaged by very much. I got through as quick as I could, with copious use of savestates and looking up strategies in case there were particular scoring quirks (for example, in some Classic modes you can get double points for a time by getting to 300 points with no misses).
I did find value to myself in the content though, whether it was unlocking little summaries of titles in the Game & Watch library, or seeing the Mario elements they chose to use in the Modern versions of games. I love seeing my favourite characters represented in different styles, and get excited when I see a sprite I haven’t seen before. For example, Toads can be very cute in this game, because their head is so small.
In the end, I found what I was looking for (the DK Jrs in the different games), and got a few surprises too, such as the different animations in Oil Panic. Classic mode is a bit of a slog, but I’ll admit it felt good to get into the rhythm of the beeps and static frames… on some of the games, anyway. Definitely play it in a Super Game Boy, though. It’s got good palettes that really enhance the game, and a cool Yoshi’s Island-inspired border.
July 17, 2014
[Review] F-1 Race (GB)
Well, I didn’t play this game by choice. I’m (slowly) working on an article for DK Vine about all the games tangentially related to the DKU that the site doesn’t cover per se but could still be considered when thinking about that universe. You may remember my long-ago post about the Honourable Mentions thread I started. Site staff have approached me to expand it, which means lots of writing, and lots of screenshots.
To get a single screenshot of Arcade DK, I had to play through almost all this game. I recently posted the results of that, with screenshots showing the full animations of each cameo character, in GBC palettes. I’m proud of that, especially because the game was pretty hard.
Without savestates, I don’t know how I could have done it. I can imagine kids getting good at, especially with the multiplayer mode which is apparently not bad. But I’m a busy adult with lots of games to play, I can’t focus on this one. It was ok though, the game is well put together and nicely presented. With the hardware they were working with, it’s a competent enough racing game. The cameos by beloved characters sweetens the deal (and of course is the only reason I would ever consider playing it).
At home we had for our Super Nintendo a copy of “Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing”. I always found the game boring, the only fun to be had was getting up to speed then crashing into a barrier and there weren’t even any damage mechanics. Even the name meant nothing to me, as he’s popular in Britain but not really over here. It was more in depth than this though, with customisable parts and pit stops.
I didn’t really have fun playing F-1 Race. I’ve also now obsoleted its main draw by posting those screenshots, if I can give myself that much credit. The world of racing sims is pretty alien to me, so I don’t know if this is a good example, but it’s a Nintendo first-party title so it’s a quality product. I just know I’m never touching it again.
February 14, 2014
Review: Conker’s Pocket Tales (GB/GBC)
This is a very interesting game, for several reasons. One, the cartridge contains two distinct versions of the game, depending on what system you’re playing on, the monochrome version and the full-color version, but the differences go deeper than simply the presence of colour. The minigames are different, level layouts and environment sprites also differ, item locations and progression is changed. However, contrary to expectations, the GBC version is not strictly better: certain aspects, such as animations, are better in the monochrome version. I also preferred the always-on UI, but it lacks 8-directional slingshot aiming.
I should explain. This is a kind of isometric platformer adventure, with Conker roaming Willow Woods and its surrounds, fighting various creatures and pushing boxes around in puzzles, finding his way through large mazelike environments in search of the birthday presents from his party, which was ruined by an evil member of the anthropomorphic acorn race that populates his home countryside. Got it? Good.
This is the other interesting aspect: this game is a time capsule, representing the original plans for the Conker franchise before it got darker and edgier in Bad Fur Day. As I’ve explained before, the N64 iteration was in development to properly introduce the squirrel from Diddy Kong Racing, but had many ideas pilfered by the Dream/Banjo team, at which point Chris Seavor reworked the game majorly to distinguish it. Pocket Tales was meant to be a handheld accompaniment to the console Twelve Tales, as was done with many franchises and still is. However, in this case the main event that PT was supporting didn’t eventuate. A very curious circumstance.
Beta footage and screenshots of Twelve Tales/Conker’s Quest/whatever show that it was to be very similar: acorn people, the shorter chipmunk version of Berri (who was a playable character), persistent slingshot. These elements now live on solely in this watered-down version of the Thing That Didn’t Happen. (Did it happen though? Are unreleased games canon? Sure, why not, except where they disagree with actual canon).
As it is, and I played through both versions simultaneously, we have a slightly clunky action adventure game. Progression is a bit confusing: you can always ask the Forest Guardian where to go but I often couldn’t find him because I got lost. And in the hub too! I was using Nintendo Power’s maps to help me out, though. You find presents for doing the odd task or just exploring. The environments are a little samey but memorising the layouts is essential to getting them all. Enemies are annoying, it’s often hard to defeat them. Some of them respawn but health pickups don’t, so unusually health management is a prospect that extends over the entire game in long form. In a way every single health acorn is like a Heart Container or somesuch. There’s no upgrades really except items for helping you reach new areas.
So combat was not the best, but I liked breaking the game up with little block-pushing puzzles. The minigames were also not great, although one mimics Rare’s earlier game Cobra Triangle, which is also replicated in DKC3 GBA, an interesting tidbit from their history. Bosses were pretty good, and Evil Acorn (yes that’s his name) was always stringing you on with taunts. There’s also the mysterious Honker the skunk, Conker’s nasty rival to contend with you at various points (mostly minigame-based).
Unfortunately there’s not a lot to distinguish this game, but it’s a bit memetic on DKVine because it’s so obscure. It’s pretty much irrelevant to Conker’s Bad Fur Day but interesting to compare with what could have been, and going from this to BFD all the more underscores its subversive tone. It is a bit of a pain to play though honestly, and just generally clunky and vague. The characters who distinguish themselves are cool but mostly they’re just acorns with not much going on. The level concepts are cool though, from a tropical island chain to a medieval castle.
The Game Boy format doesn’t really do the game justice, as a result of Rare’s typical tendency to try to outdo the limitations of the platform. Sometimes this results in fantastic games, while this one is let down by those limitations. Still, a Rare fan should at least give this a try, and heck I’ll say it, you have no right to fully enjoy Bad Fur Day if you haven’t experienced Conker’s humble origins. I can’t really point out one version as better than the other, so play around with both and pick your favourite (although I had a heck of a time emulating both separately… oops, I gave it away didn’t I?). Oh and there’s a character called the Forest Wong. How can you go wrong with the Wong?
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