It’s way past time I finally got around to playing this on my SNES mini. It’s an interesting kind of sequel that’s very different to the first but still fits right in, and has a lot of ambitious ideas to it.
Subjective game reviews, comic translations, pixel art, and other video game bits & bobs.
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May 14, 2020
[Review] Star Fox 2 (SNES)
August 15, 2019
[Review] Rockman & Forte (SNES)
My pick for Game Club was this instalment in the Classic Mega Man series. It feels oddly split in its design and is of course quite difficult, but has redeeming qualities that made it the most appealing of any Classic series game, and this was borne out in my experience.
July 30, 2019
[Review] Radical Dreamers (SNES)
Now that I’m finally checking out other instalments in the Chrono series, it’s time for the only one that’s not a JRPG. It can be obtuse but I appreciated what its format allowed it to do.
March 26, 2019
[Review] EVO: Search for Eden (SNES)
For my game club this month, I picked this one. I have no history with it but its premise—you are a creature with magical evolving powers, who can take on different forms over the course of history—intrigued me, and seemed like it would make for good comparative discussion.
February 21, 2018
[Review] Mario’s Super Picross (SNES)
Guess what, I played a Picross game. Running this through my New 3DS kept me company during travel in Japan and on some quiet nights at home. Mechanically it’s identical to the Game Boy instalments but having colour and larger puzzles (that aren’t broken up as in 2) makes a difference.
January 29, 2018
[Review] Castlevania: Dracula X
Thanks to retro game club I organise, it’s back to the stage-based Castlevania well for the cut-down alternate retelling of Rondo of Blood, Dracula X/Vampire’s Kiss/Akumajou Dracula XX. I previously reviewed Rondo on PSP and it did eventually win me over. I can’t say the same for its SNES sibling.
December 1, 2016
[Review] Bubsy (SNES)
Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind is nostalgic for me. I played it several times at a friend’s house, but its unforgiving difficulty never let us beat it. I streamed it recently and found myself once again charmed by its severe cheese factor and challenged to master its movement mechanics.
Bubsy, the character and the game, are the butt of many jokes in the gaming community. Sure, it’s a blatant Sonic ripoff with even more cheap difficulty, but come on. The giraffe is wearing sunglasses. And the music never fails to bring a smile (as long as you choose SNES over Mega Drive).
Yes, it’s frustrating, and I save scummed mightily, but I think Bubsy (yes the character and the game) have genuine worth. The fourth wall breaking is endearing! And that’s why I like Modern Bubsy, it’s respectful and has fun with its ideas, and gives us a reason to celebrate Bubsy again. For more rambling, watch the stream. ;)
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 16, 2015
[Review] Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (SNES)
This is the point at which playing the Lufia games in chronological order falls down. You see, this is the first game in the series in terms of production. As it turns out, many of the elements that made Lufia 2 unique and interesting, such as visible encounters, puzzles, a rotating roster of characters, the IP meter, etc. were all implemented first in that game. What does that leave this first instalment? A pretty generic RPG, unfortunately.
The plot and characters do approach the level of Lufia 2, albeit much simpler here. The writing is still good, even though the forced jealousy between Lufia and Jerin rankled more than Tia and Selan’s rivalry. There’s a good range of spells and items to spice things up, although I mainly just attacked to keep things moving quicker. There’s still a huge world to explore. It’s just that it seems a little primitive with its random encounters and clunky menus.
I even found myself in retrospect appreciating some of the things Ruins of Lore did, with its dynamic events, its take on the map screen and exploration, and its visual variety. In Lufia 1 (and 2 for that matter) you end up with a long list of towns on your warp list that all look very similar when you get into them. It’s a problem a lot of old-school RPGs had, unfortunately.
It’s too bad I found so much that compared unfavourably to the sequels, because playing the game is fine in the moment. There is a lot of repetition though, and RPG busywork. It ends up feeling like it’s dragging. Ah, what would I have thought as a youth had I sought out RPGs instead of platformers and found this first (impossible given it wasn’t released in Australia ever)? But I played Lufia 2 first, which simply exceeds this in every way. I suppose if you are looking for a strictly old-school style game without the action and puzzle elements, a more simple and basic game, this could be the ticket?
As it is, what I took away from this most was seeing all those bits and pieces that would be called back to in later games. The Ancient Cave in Ruins of Lore is based on this game’s version, and there are lots of little references that in retrospect tie it in closer to the series, as well as events in Lufia 2 that are inspired by this game. Not to mention character archetypes that are set up here. Although I was a bit puzzled to see that—I think—none of the towns are carried over to either 2 or RoL? Odd. Well, given all that I’m really dying to play the final game in the series: The Legend Returns on GBC. It’s the only Lufia game on the Virtual Console, and I’m happy to buy it even though I won’t have the emulator’s turbo button that helped so much in this game (although not as much as in the slower GBA one).
Oh and I finally met Lufia in this game; spoilers, but there is kind of a good reason the series is named that despite Lufia herself only appearing in this one game—Curse of the Sinistrals convinced me that the whole series is really Erim’s story. At least this one had a happy ending.
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!
January 7, 2015
[Review] Star Fox (SNES)
AKA Star Wing.
For my first review of 2015, I’ve played a game that was the precursor to one that defined my childhood. Lylat Wars (AKA Star Fox 64) was a masterpiece and one I know inside out. Unfortunately Star Fox itself doesn’t hold up too well.
The main issue with this beginning of the Star Fox saga is that it’s been superseded in so many ways by its sequel. Apart from a few settings and concepts that would end up being used in later games, its music, and the novelty of early 3D vector graphics, it’s been made obsolete. Lylat Wars not only takes many concepts of this game and improves on them, it outright replaces its plot as well—Star Fox isn’t even canon anymore! It’s a little rude if you think about it.
Coming as I am at this afterwards, I can only see the ways it falls short. There’s tons of slowdown when stuff starts happening on screen. The SNES’s limited 3D capabilities (augmented valiantly by the SuperFX chip) make spatial awareness difficult and obstacles and shots will hit you when you think you’re safe. There’s also less character without bosses talking to you, and much less team chatter.
Still, for the time and considering the hardware, Star Fox remains a very ambitious game, that was let down by those limitations it was pushing up against. Lylat Wars surpasses it in almost every way, but it’s got a few tricks that make it worthwhile. Flying into enemy ships and bases to fight their cores, locales such as Path 2’s Venom structure or inside Macbeth’s caverns, the “ship graveyard” black hole and the surreal Out of this Dimension are highlights, as well as the moody atmosphere that some levels set with their theme and colour schemes. It also retains the sci-fi pastiche feel, borrowing imagery from Star Wars and the like.
So it’s not all bad on reflection, but the stiff controls and dodgy hit detection made it a struggle to get through. It was perhaps reaching a little too far for the SNES, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Star Fox 2 improves the engine if at all. Did you know that Star Fox 2 was more than 90% complete when they cancelled it so they could sell more N64s? And then the N64 was delayed, making the cancellation a dumb decision in hindsight? And that modders have made it fully playable? So that’s my next (and final) target. There’s more peripheral games to the Star Fox saga, such as Stunt Race FX, Game Boy title X, X-Returns for DSiWare, and Steel Diver Sub Wars; but I won’t be covering them. Sorry. Play them yourself and tell me if they’re any good. Cheers. Oh, and do a barrel roll or whatever.
December 14, 2014
[Review] Kirby’s Adventure (NES) & Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (SNES)
Kirby’s not my usual bag, so I thought I’d compare two of his games I’d played recently. Of course, I snagged Adventure during the Famicom sale even though I wasn’t terribly interested in it. Dream Land 3 was more appealing, because of its distinctive “crayon-y” art style and its use of cameo Nintendo characters.
The differences go deeper than the art style, as I found out. Adventure is a Sakurai game, and so feels similar to the other Kirby game I’ve played, Super Star Ultra, which is based on Sakurai’s Super Star. The emphasis is on a variety of powers and their organic use, with setpieces sprinkled in the levels and secret areas to find. DL3 on the other hand relies on its animal buddies to change up your movement and your more limited power set, as they each change how each power works, as well as employing collectibles and optional objectives.
On the whole I preferred Dream Land 3. It obviously has the graphical edge over Adventure, being on a more powerful console but its more unique style also appeals. The music stuck with me more, and it had a bit more variety with softer pieces in the animal friend and NPC rooms, while also having very dynamic tracks for things like boss battles. Those boss battles were also more fun; Adventure felt like powers were too limiting and did hardly any damage. The sheer variety of powers in Adventure I also found overwhelming compared to DL3’s more manageable set.
DL3 also had a more enjoyable structure; rather than a series of obstacle courses with minigames sometimes, it felt like an adventure (ironically). Helping the NPCs with their various needs (figuring out what they wanted was sometimes a puzzle in itself) with the help of your buddies and possibly even a co-op friend gave a good feeling of teamwork, as well as varying your side goals. The NPC designs were super cute, and as I said seeing characters like ROB and Samus was a welcome sight. Having more collectibles like little stars and the NPC objectives were also good ways to give rewards to players for exploring or doing things.
The co-op mode of DL3 was a surprise, and allowed me to play with my dear wife for a while. Unfortunately the ramping difficulty, combined with her discomfort with platformers, led her to drop out, but it was good while it lasted. Of course, both games get harder as you go on, leading to my general frustration with Kirby games: a lack of precise control with increasingly demanding platforming and combat. As the games get harder the experience of playing them feels worse. I saw them both through, but only DL3 had enough other appeals for me to strive for 100%.
There were a lot of fun ideas in both games, though. Moments that stand out in my mind were the level in Adventure that apes the Game Boy palette of Kirby’s origins, and the massive dungeon-like pyramid in DL3 where you search for ROB’s missing parts. Ultimately though DL3 had more of these moments, placing it ever above Adventure in this comparison. And what’s up with that weird blank line that’s always on the left of the screen in Adventure?
I don’t feel overly convinced about the Kirby series in general. Dream Land 3 was actually delightful in a lot of ways, but the core gameplay still seems slightly unsatisfying to me. Not to mention the Kirby games’ tendency to go “Oop, you wanna get to this secret area? You don’t have the right power. Start the level again.” The only other games in the series I’m curious about are Mass Attack and Epic Yarn, the ones with interesting gameplay or artistic gimmicks. I didn’t get on with Adventure at all, but I’d easily recommend Dream Land 3, there’s lots to love from the look to the variety. And it’s just so cute!
June 3, 2014
[Review] Yoshi’s Panepon (SNES)
I like to play other related games to coincide with getting the new latest game in a series. In this case, I knew Yoshi’s New Island was on the way so I went after the number 1 most Yoshi’s Island-style game, the very inaptly named Tetris Attack. The name seems to be cashing in on the Tetris craze that sweeped the world, despite the fact that the Panel de Pon/Puzzle League games are nothing like Tetris besides being dynamic puzzle games. This title (and the Western boxart) also give no indication of the Yoshi branding, which makes the game insanely colourful and fun to look at. So badly named all around.
You may be aware that this game is a reskin of the Japanese original, Panel de Pon. It featured flowery fairies that I guess wouldn’t fly with the young male demographic. Yoshi’s still cute, but not that cute. They ported it to Game Boy too, which is nice and retains the same gameplay and features, with its own visual flairs that are still nowhere near the colourful frenzy of the SNES version. The GB one retained its Yoshi-ness when returned to Japan, and gained the name Yoshi’s Panepon, which is probably the most correct title, which is why I used it on this post (even though I played the English version). The Yoshi SNES version made its way over there eventually too, on the SNES satellite addon the Satellaview.
Unlike the other two Yoshi puzzle games, Yoshi/Mario & Yoshi/Yoshi’s Egg (NES and GB), and Yoshi’s Cookie (NES, GB, SNES, and SNES rerelease with extra stuff to promote some oven or something…), this game is Yoshi’s Island through and through. No adult Mario, no Mario enemies, just pure Island stuff. I couldn’t be happier to just take in all the framing. You get cute little sprites and more lavish backgrounds of Poochy, Raphael the Raven, Prince Froggy, all the favourites.
As for the gameplay though, I struggled to get the hang of it. Compared to other tile matching games I’ve played, the control is quite limited. You are only able to switch two tiles horizontally at a time, and try to create lines and combos. Combos are essential as the difficulty climbs in later stages, and it’s just something I just found got too hard too quickly. The learning curve seemed very steep: I was all easy, easy, easy, UGH I lose so quickly now! Luckily there’s lots of modes so when one part got too tough in the clear stages mode, I could switch to puzzle or versus and continue there for a bit.
Ultimately the difficulty and limited control meant the game’s appeal didn’t last that long for me. I absolutely love the Yoshi’s Island style and this game does a great job of bringing that across. But I got frustrated at the gameplay, which made me stop before really reaching the ending. I came for the Yoshi but didn’t stay for the gameplay. Is that a good soundbite? Eh, probably not.
But it does bring up a problem I have with some more recent sanitised Nintendo releases: the next Puzzle League games were a paired Pokemon set on N64 and GBC (based on the anime actually, a tradition of sorts in games after Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine co-opted Puyo Puyo Pop with branding from the Sonic cartoon… but I digress). And the GCN’s Puzzle Collection featured a straight-up sequel to Lip’s Panel de Pon. But since then there’ve been two releases for GBA and DS that are basic and bland, without any series stamped on them. This means the game is forced to stand on its gameplay alone which as I asserted is not that compelling. There’s a reason I bought Tetris DS and not Tetris Party, and it wasn’t the online multiplayer. And with that, I’m off!
May 22, 2014
[Review] BS The Legend of Zelda (SNES)
I knew I was going to play A Link Between Worlds, despite my initial hesitation. So I wanted to go back to a game I never bothered to complete: the very first Zelda game. We have it on the Wii’s Virtual Console, but I’m buggered if I’m going to put up with the limitations of the NES if there’s a better version available. And it turns out there is. At the BS Zelda Homepage, you can get reproductions and patches that let you play one of the most rare Zelda games: the satellite broadcast remake of Zelda 1 for the SNES. Only sent out at certain times in the 90s, the game was split into parts with timers. Hackers have stitched them together and made a few teaks, to make it the best version of the original game.
The version I played, Third Quest, uses the dungeons from the broadcast version, which are different to the original game. So it’s not 100% authentic, but close enough and the overworld is the same. They also made a few choices that probably meddle too much, like putting in the Hylian shield, but they also add other things to make it a bit more dynamic (I think, not totally sure). Also you can play as Zelda, which of course I did.
Essentially it’s a graphical and sound upgrade for Zelda 1, all the mechanics are the same. It’s not like a LttP romhack, all the sprites are brand new and look great, and are actually parseable unlike the NES version’s muddy, ugly graphics.
Of course, the graphics and sounds aren’t the only limitation of this NES era game. Movement and combat is stiff, and there’s little interaction with characters or the environment. Like a lot of SNES games, A Link to the Past is doing the same thing as the NES game it’s following, but doing it better and fleshing it out. That’s what I found with this, and I’d much rather play LttP than Zelda 1. But I did find myself having fun with this, enjoying the simplicity and the ramp up of my power, without plot distractions. I feel bad saying so, but I now feel I can give Zelda 1 a niche of its own.
I would recommend BS Zelda over the NES original any day of the week. In my mind, while it exists there’s no reason to look to the NES (apart from blind nostalgia). If you’re an impatient modern gamer like me though, have a guide handy for when you get stuck, because we’re not kids anymore and wandering the overworld endlessly can get tedious. I’m very glad for the BS version, because although I’m a completionist I just didn’t feel I could face the NES one. Similarly, I’m not sure if I’ll ever do Zelda 2. So in the end Zelda 1 was ok. Pretty forgettable in this day and age but I had some fun.
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