Man, these new additions to Switch Online are weird, aren't they? BACKGROUND:
Again, I had no idea that this game existed prior to its addition to the emulator service. I will note that during the update trailer, the gameplay snippet they showed of this got an audible "wow, that shit looks weird" reaction out of me. SUMMARY: Jelly Boy is a side-scrolling platformer where you play as a squishy jelly being trying to... escape... from somewhere? That's as much as I can glean from what information the game itself conveys about the story. Control-wise, the titular jelly boy has straightforward mechanics: a jump, a melee attack (that makes a fist pop out of the boy's belly), and a duck (which, amusingly, transforms you into an actual duck). Seems simple enough, but the game has a key mechanic that really spices things up. Majority of the levels have power-ups you can collect that give the jelly boy timed transformations, adding to the variety. There are a ton of transformations you can encounter, from a pogo stick that lets you jump higher, a helicopter that lets you fly and shoot bullets, an umbrella that lets you fall slowly, and even weird shit like a soda bottle that floats across water. These abilities are a lot of fun (and occasionally tricky), and the levels (which, themselves, have all sorts of interactable elements/hazards that fit the theme of their respective worlds) are all designed around these mechanics. Though pretty much every level plays like your typical side-scroller (just get to the end), completing the game will actually require you to be more exploratory. In each level, there's a puzzle piece that's off the beaten path that you can collect. If you want to progress the game, you'll have to collect all the puzzle pieces for each world (of which there are six, each all having eight levels), which unlocks the boss of that world. Beating the boss will give you one of the six world items needed to unlock the end of the game. Finding the puzzle pieces can actually be quite challenging, since some of them are pretty well-hidden (a few even employ devious shit like hidden blocks that would require a walkthrough to figure out). Plus, each level has a time limit, which means you have to find the puzzle piece quick enough such that you can beat the level, and some levels have rather low time limits. I found this focus on looking around for secrets quite novel and engaging; despite platformers from this era including more exploration-based elements than the previous generation (see Mario World or Super Metroid), not many of these games had their completion fully tied to finding a purposely hidden item within the levels. Even unlocking access to the rest of the worlds is tied to finding well-hidden keys within certain levels. This is probably the point where the whole secret-finding aspect of the game goes a step too far, as the game doesn't really indicate that you need these to progress. In fact, one could say the same about the puzzle pieces themselves; you're only really told that you need the six key items to finish the game, but they don't connect the dots between puzzle piece to boss to key item. As much as I enjoyed the emphasis on finding secrets, it would have probably been better design-wise to convey that that's the whole point of the game. Perhaps such information was in the original release's instruction manual, but it's better to show that in-game. There's a surprising amount of variety when it comes to the enemies, and while only a handful of them are truly unique gameplay-wise, I was still impressed at all the unique enemy sprites that fit the theme of each world. The bosses aren't too hard, but many of the fights are distinct and take full advantage of the transformation power-ups. I thought this game's visuals were particularly good. Aside from the aforementioned variety of sprites, a lot of are well-animated and had great detail. Jelly Boy himself looked very.... squishy. VERDICT: I think Jelly Boy is a delightfully weird platformer with some neat visuals and some neat gameplay choices. Though unintuitive at first, I liked that the main focus is finding secrets as opposed to simply clearing levels. I also enjoyed the many transformations the titular character can undergo, and how the game's many levels are designed around using said transformations. I wouldn't call it revolutionary, but the game was different enough while still being fun, and I appreciate that. If you're in the mood for a side-scrolling platformer with a big focus on exploration (with just a dash of platforming skill mixed in for some levels), you might enjoy this game. It may behoove you to keep a walkthrough handy just in case, though, because some of the collectibles are well-hidden. - end -
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I've just started getting through the latest additions to the Switch Online emulators, and boy, do we have some weird ones on deck. BACKGROUND:
Would it surprise you that I didn't know this game existed prior to its addition to the emulator? SUMMARY: Bombuzal is a puzzle game where the objective is to blow up all the bombs in the field without dying. Each level has an isometric view (or overhead, if you toggle it) and is composed of tiles, and you control this weird blue dude and walk around one tile at a time. Every map will have bombs or land mines on them, and you have to detonate these bombs such that you aren't caught up in the explosion or don't fall into the abyss because a tile was destroyed. Once you succeed, it's off to the next level to do the same thing. The core idea is pretty simple, but the game is much trickier than it looks. For one, actually figuring out what stuff does is trial-and-error in itself, and I died a bunch just trying to experiment with each level's mechanics. But once I got over that hurdle, the levels themselves were quite challenging, as there are various mechanics that make blowing up all the bombs easier said than done. For one, there are various bomb types to contend with, each with a different blast radius. You can only detonate the smallest regular bomb safely without dying, as you're able to safely move away from its blast radius after igniting it. For everything else, you'll need to set off a chain reaction to detonate, and that will require studying the map and finding the safest small bomb to detonate. To make things tougher, more unique bomb types also show up in later levels, like land mines that you can't step on (thus requiring a chain reaction to detonate), bombs that change size (and blast radius) at set intervals, or bombs with a label that detonate simultaneously regardless of proximity to a blast zone. It's not really communicated well what these specialized bombs do at first, so you'll likely die in an attempt to learn. Once you've figured it out, playing around these bombs adds to the challenge of the levels. If that's not enough to worry about, the very tiles you walk on also have different types. You have cracked tiles that break after you step off of them, teleporters that warp you to a specific tile, tiles with rails that allow you to reposition bombs placed on top of them, unbreakable tiles immune to explosions, and even ice tiles that make you slide in the direction you stepped in. Detonating the bombs from a safe distance is tricky enough, but these mechanics will have you planning out your route well ahead of time so you know where to position yourself when the last bomb goes off. There are also a few other mechanics you can encounter in a level, like drones that you can use to safely trip mines or detonate bombs from far away, interactable switches that toggle level elements on and off (finding out what these do per level can be a little annoying in terms of trial and error), and what I can only describe as weird gas clouds that move around and kill you on contact (but can be destroyed via explosion). All these elements come together to create several dozen levels that provide an admirable challenge and have all manner of solutions. Many levels have you blowing up bombs in a specific order, while others have you time your detonations at the right moment. Some levels require a lot of setup before you can detonate anything, while others can be a little more straightforward. I found myself scratching my head with some of the levels at first glance, but as tricky as they can be, they're rarely ever obtuse, and it's always satisfying to complete a level. The game has a points system, awarding more points the faster you complete a level. There's also a score bonus for the number of tiles that remain after you clear a level, which seems to imply that there are possibly solutions that have minimal "casualties", so to speak. Apart from earning extra lives, there's little to gain from chasing a high score, so don't worry about it too much. As a bonus, some levels have a bit of artistic flair to them. Clearing a level will almost certainly leave some remaining tiles on the map, and when the view changes to show said map, sometimes those tiles form an image. It doesn't really mean anything gameplay-wise, but I thought it was neat. VERDICT: Despite its rather oddball aesthetic, I found Bombuzal to be a surprisingly engaging puzzle game with a simple premise, but a handful of tricky mechanics to make the several dozen levels a challenge to beat. It reminds me of Wrecking Crew (an NES game I really enjoyed) in that it's all about studying the level, planning out your route, and commencing the destruction. Apart from the initial struggle of figuring out what shit does, this game successfully scratches my puzzle game itch, and I enjoyed playing around with the mechanics. It's kind of a meme at this point to scoff at any new additions to the Switch Online emulators, but I implore people who like puzzle games to give this one a chance. - end - We're at the end of the latest batch of Switch Online's new SNES additions. I took my time this go-around, as I had just finished playing two update's worth of games when this new batch was added. BACKGROUND:
I'm not American, so baseball is one of those sports that I never really got into. I did eventually get a good understanding of it when I got older, but even then, it just wasn't a sport I was interested in (because no one plays it where I live). That's never stopped me from playing the occasional baseball video game, however, though in the same vein, those types of games rarely hold my interest unless they're Mario Sports-style wacky sports game. SUMMARY: Now, this may come as a surprise: Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 is a baseball game. What a twist! Jokes aside, this game is about as much as you expect from a sports sim. It's just the sport itself in video game format. Naturally, you have to have some prerequisite knowledge of baseball to get a sense of what's going on. If you don't, you're gonna have a bit of trouble understanding every aspect of the game, but as long as you recognize the basic idea of hitting the ball with a bat, I think you'll piece together everything else eventually. In terms of gameplay, there's really not much out of the ordinary if you have a good grasp of the rules of baseball. I will say that the controls will take a bit of experimentation to figure out, but once you're past that hurdle, I think you'll be OK. There is one thing that sets this game apart, however, but I'll get to that later. Like many sports games, this one has two main modes: Exhibition (which is your standard jump-into-a-game mode) and Season (the long-form version of the game where you simulate an entire season of baseball). In both modes, you can set the number of innings, the stadium you play at, and CPU difficulty. You can also choose to play the game manually, or pick manager mode, which is a more hands-off mode where you give instructions to your team as opposed to directly controlling them. I found that I'm pretty ass at playing this game, so spectating CPU matches or playing manager mode allowed me to enjoy the game from a distance (so to speak). A fun thing this game has on top of everything else is the ability to create your own baseball team. The default roster features 18 teams, but you can make your own if that isn't enough for you. Custom creator features are always neat, so it's cool to see that there's one here. The most notable thing about this game is that while it's mostly on the realistic side when it comes to simulating baseball, it has this video game-ass mechanic called Ultra Power-ups. As the name implies, these are power-ups that tips the scales in your favor, allowing you to throw pitches that confuses the shit out of batters, or hit home runs that no fielder can catch. These power-ups are fun, but only a fraction of the game's teams have access to them, so you'll have to edit them into the other teams should you wish to play with them. It would have been cool if they built the game around these power-ups, because if there's one thing I find more fun than sports games, it's sports games with wacky bullshit. VERDICT: Baseball isn't really my thing, but I still thought Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 was a serviceable game that is faithful to the actual sport, and has a surprising amount of options in terms of gameplay settings and custom content. Again, I wish the game was built more around the Ultra Power-ups that made shit weird, but I appreciate that it's there all the same. Can't really say this one's for me, but I don't think it's terrible by any stretch. I don't know much about any of the modern baseball simulators in the market today, but if you want a more retro-style experience, this is probably a decent title to check out. The controls may take you a bit to get a hang of, but for a Super Nintendo game, I think this game features a respectable amount of depth. - end - I'm halfway through Switch Online's latest emulator additions. Let's continue. BACKGROUND:
I vaguely remember watching a Let's Play of this game somewhere, but I retained very little information about the game itself. This is essentially a fresh experience for me. SUMMARY: Spanky's Quest is a 2D platformer where you play the titular monkey on a quest to do... something. The opening cinematic is a little vague, but what I gleaned from it is that there's an evil witch who's overdue an ass-whooping. Seems simple enough. As opposed to a typical linear platformer where you simply need to get into the end, Spanky's Quest has levels that feel more akin to small challenge rooms. The objective in each room is to find the required keys to open the exit (the number of which varies per level). You must do this while avoiding enemies and navigating hazards, but that's about it. You won't really need to solve complex puzzles or go through particularly grueling platforming sections. Spanky has probably one of the most unique modes of offense I've ever seen in a video game. Pressing A causes a tiny bubble to spawn overhead, and you can bounce it atop your head to change its color. You can then press A again to transform the bubble into a ball, the type of which depends on the color of the bubble at the time you popped it. These balls kill enemies on contact, and while every level of the attack is equally effective at killing enemies, the higher charge levels cover a lot more ground and can take out multiple enemies at once. For example, the baseball (which appears when you pop the bubble immediately, AKA you didn't bounce the bubble) is tiny and can only kill one enemy, but the basketball (which comes out at the highest possible charge) is a massive spread attack that throws five balls across a wide area. Ideally, you want to fire off basketballs as much as possible, but as the levels progress, you'll find it increasingly tricky to find the opportunity to charge the bubble to that level, or perhaps find trouble hitting enemies that move around too much. In situations like this, the lower bubble levels can come in handy. There are fifty levels in the game spread across five worlds, each boasting unique layouts. In terms of unique level mechanics, there aren't a lot to speak of, but the game does enough with a little to provide distinct challenges to work around. Coupled with a small variety of weird enemies (which are anthropomorphic fruit with unique movement patterns), no two levels felt exactly alike. Although few and far between, the game does have power-ups in the form of hats that Spanky can wear. These hats confer different abilities, such as a quick charge (that straight up maxes out the bubble on one bounce), or an extra hit against enemies. It's neat, but I got by without relying on these hats too much. At the end of each world, you face off against a fruity boss, and I found that fighting them is a lot of fun. It's here that Spanky's unique brand of offense shines, as the dance of avoiding the boss's relatively simple patterns while also charging your attacks is a surprisingly engaging challenge. The game doesn't have a ton of secrets, but you can uncover the occasional bonus level or power-up by breaking sections of the level with your bubble. I thought that was neat, if a little inconsequential. Another little thing I liked was that you can acquire extra keys if you look around enough in certain levels, allowing you to breeze through later levels by decreasing the keys you need to actually find. VERDICT: I thought Spanky's Quest was a fun, unique experience; while everything else seems like standard fare for platformers, the fact that it's all built around the unique bubble bouncing mechanic changes things significantly. I enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought I would, and I'd probably still enjoy it even if the game was just the boss fights. Perhaps this game is one of those "too weird" kind of experiences, but I think people should give this one a chance. Even if you end up not liking it, I think the simple act of just exploring its core mechanic for a couple of levels is something that's worth checking out. - end - Got a bunch of stuff going on, but I'm making sure to make some time to play the latest Switch Online emulator additions. Here's what I checked out this week. BACKGROUND:
For once, I'm actually familiar with Joe & Mac, as I played the second game almost two years ago at this point. Now, I finally get to play the first game. SUMARRY: Joe & Mac is a side-scrolling platform where you play as one of the two titular characters (or both, if you're playing with two players), who are cavemen living in an anachronistic Stone Age. Our protagonist must brave the prehistoric world and all its dangers to rescue... sexy cavewomen? This is definitely a game from 30 years ago. Compared to the second game, this is a much more straightforward affair. The world map is small and more linear, almost like Mario 3's overworld, but with significantly less levels. Aesthetic-wise, it's pretty standard stuff (forest level, water level, volcano level, ice level), and the layouts themselves are only mildly difficult, with only tricky enemy placement to mess you up. Movement is also pretty straightforward, as Joe/Mac can jump, high jump, swing their club to attack, and do a short roll that does damage. You won't be doing anything too demanding platforming-wise; in fact, the high jump in particular trivializes some of the levels (like the vertical ones). You can collect a small assortment of power-ups that give you different projectiles along with your melee attack, from boomerangs, bones, stone wheels, and fire. What's interesting is that once you pick one of these up, they're in your inventory forever (provided you don't die), and you can swap between them freely, allowing you to use a weapon that fits the current situation. This gave the game a slight Mega Man vibe, which I enjoyed. Apart from occasionally tricky placement, most basic enemies won't give you trouble (especially if you have your projectiles). The bosses are more or less simple, too, with easy to follow attack patterns, but the caveat is that some of them take a lot of hits. Despite being mostly a straightforward affair, the game does have occasional bonus levels, which has everything from extra power-ups to bonus fights. You can access these by finding hidden keys to open the few branching paths there are in the world map. They're largely inconsequential, but hey, they're there. VERDICT: Joe & Mac is a short, sweet, and simple platforming experience. While it didn't blow me away with level design, mechanics, or difficulty, it was still a decent time-killer that I had fun with. If you're looking for a chill platformer to kick back with, you can't really go wrong with this one, but if you want something more challenging, this might not be for you. - end - ![]() It's time for me to check out the May updates to Switch Online's emulator services. Let's start with the one that I was most interested in. BACKGROUND:
I've never heard of this game before, but in the update trailer, this caught my eye the most because it looked a lot like Puzzle Bobble in terms of gameplay. I love me my puzzle games, so I was most looking forward to trying this one first. SUMMARY: While Magical Drop II does look like Puzzle Bobble at first glance, its gameplay is quite different. The basic idea of popping same-colored bubbles remains the same, but the mechanics are distinct. For one, you don't have a queue of colored bubbles you have to shoot; you actually have to pick up the bubbles from the board itself and then shoot them elsewhere to get combos going. This alone makes Magical Drop a completely different experience from Puzzle Bobble, since now you're kind of free to decide your next move or set up your own combos. as opposed to the game dictating the pace with a random selection of colored bubbles. Another thing that's different is that the aiming in Magical Drop is purely vertical. You don't have to think about geometry and trick shots here like you do in Puzzle Bobble; just shoot bubbles directly above and you're good. On that note, you can only pop bubbles when three or more are stacked vertically, whereas Puzzle Bobble is a little more liberal on where you can place bubbles. Combos feel Puyo Puyo-esque in this game, as well-placed bubbles can cause a chain reaction of consecutive pops. Given how you can manipulate most of the bubbles on the board yourself, it's a little easier to set up your own combos, but I found that the game's fast pace (at least on higher difficulties) would require you to be extremely quick with your setups. Also on the board are bubble types apart from the standard colored ones you have to clear. Some (like clear bubbles and ice) are obstacles that require you to clear or shoot bubbles onto them, while others are power-ups that can clear entire lines or every bubble of a certain color. The obstacles are surprisingly tricky to work around, and the power-ups are quite satisfying to pop. The game has four modes: Solo Challenge (which is your typical endless mode), Friend Challenge (your 2-player VS mode), Story (an arcade-style mode where you play the VS style against the CPU), and Puzzle (a gauntlet of boards with fixed layouts that you have to beat within a time limit). All standard stuff for the most part. The VS modes are pretty intense, as combos cause the opponent's stack of bubbles to descend faster (they descend somewhat fast even playing solo at normal difficulty), and there's also a score threshold that you and your opponent are racing to reach first. In terms of the story, there barely is one, as most of the story can be summed up with character #1 going "fuck you", and character #2 responding with "no, fuck you". I will say that the characters themselves (who are named after traditional tarot cards) have unique designs. Speaking of design, this game has a strong anime aesthetic, and the sprite work is quite polished (it feels more like an arcade game than a Super Nintendo title with how great it looks). The animations in particular are impressive; I was completely surprised to see certain.... motions fully animated. VERDICT: I really enjoyed Magical Drop II's unique spin on the Puzzle Bobble style of match-3 gameplay, and the game has all the usual modes I would want from a puzzle game of this type. This scratches my itch of match-3 puzzle games that require equal parts reflexes and strategy, so I'm pretty happy to have played this. In fact, I think I'll be playing more of it going forward. If you're a fan of this subgenre of puzzle games like I am, you should definitely check this one out. I think it's distinct enough from more popular offerings that the experience won't feel too similar to anything you may have played before, and if you liked something like Puyo Puyo or Panel de Pon, the game's art style and characters have that same charm to them. - end - This is the last of my Super Nintendo backlog! Time for me to move onto the NES additions to Switch Online. BACKGROUND:
*shrugs* I got nothing. SUMMARY: Psycho Dream is a side-scrolling action platformer. You have the choice to play as one of two characters: Ryo or Maria, and while they have slightly different properties, the basics are the same: they can jump, they can dash, and they have a basic melee attack. They also have access to a limited supply of screen-clearing attacks. Interestingly, this is a Super Famicom game that was never released outside of Japan, so the little text it has is still in Japanese. As such, I don't really know what the story is, but from what I can glean from the game itself, it seems to be about Ryo and Maria traversing through a distorted version of reality to rescue a girl that's trapped deep within. I'm probably far off, so if you want to know what the story actually is, you're better off looking it up elsewhere. While I didn't understand much of the story to get really into it, the visuals of the levels had me a little intrigued. There are six stages in total (called "tracks" in-game), most of which are typical linear platforming levels (with the occasional auto-scroller, vertical section, and survival room). Nothing really stood out to me mechanics-wise, and the difficulty isn't that remarkable (there's tricky enemy placement on occasion, but no precise/execution-heavy platforming). I will say that the aesthetic is somewhat memorable, as the otherwise normal-looking metropolis slowly being warped and transformed into something bizarre-looking captured my imagination. As you play and kill enemies, you'll eventually spot colored gems that you can pick up. These gems power you up, and the effect differs depending on the color. Yellow, for example, enhances your basic attack (like extending its range), and green gives you temporary invulnerability. You can also acquire a ranged attack, which levels up with a different color power-up. The enhanced melee is pretty good, as the added range or attack speed can deal with troublesome enemy placement with well-positioned attacks. The enhanced ranged attack, however, is comically busted, and completely trivializes most of the game, as both fully powered-up versions shoot out attacks in six directions. Maria's version of the enhanced ranged attack is especially broken, as hers is a series of homing shots. Even the bosses (of which there are six, one for each stage) go down like punk bitches if you have the max ranged attack, and while some of them have annoying patterns, I didn't think they were that difficult normally. VERDICT: Psycho Dream's distinct level designs caught my eye throughout my time with the game, but the gameplay being pretty easy and my lack of context regarding the plot kept it from being a particularly remarkable experience for me personally. The platforming wasn't anything I haven't seen before, and while I thought the power-up system was interesting, maxing out my shit made the game too much of a breeze. Overall, I thought it was OK, but it just didn't really hold my attention for long (mostly because I beat it way too quickly). I still think this game is worth checking out if you find the name "Psycho Dream" all mysterious and captivating, but I don't think you'll get anything unique out of it gameplay-wise apart from the broken weapon upgrades. That said, it's a good choice if you just want to kill an hour or so with an easy platformer. Also, if you can understand Japanese, you may actually be able to get a better sense of the story than I did (and it's possible that doing so will lead to a better appreciation of the game). - end - Got a couple more Super Nintendo games to go until I'm all caught up with the emulator updates. BACKGROUND:
Surprise, surprise: I don't know what this game is. SUMMARY: The first thing I thought of upon looking at Prehistorik Man was that it's almost exactly like Joe & Mac: it's a side-scrolling platformer set in anachronistic caveman times. However, the game does do a number of things that set it apart from Joe & Mac. The story is about as silly as I expected from a game set in the pseudo-Stone Age. A bunch of dinosaurs stole all the food from a village, and the chief assigns a dude named Sam to help collect food before winter comes. For some reason, this task requires him to collect bones from the Dinosaur Graveyard, which, if I recall, will be used to... buy the food they need? I thought these folks were hunter-gatherers? Control-wise, this is a pretty standard platformer. Sam can run, jump, dash (allowing for farther jumps), and he has a melee attack with his club. The most unique thing Sam can do is a shout, which is a powerful screen-clearing attack that has a lengthy cooldown after using it. In terms of level mechanics, there isn't a lot I haven't already seen in other games, but the overall design does present a slightly decent challenge. While most of the game's 23 levels require you to simply reach the end, there's a bit more room to explore and find secrets. You mostly want to do this if you want to get 100% on each level, as that requires you to collect a specific amount of gems and food strewn about the level. You can also find a shop (which takes collectible bones as currency), various power-ups (like alternate weapons with limited ammo), the letters for the word "bonus" (completing the letters takes you to a bonus level with more collectibles in it), and even permanent upgrades. A few of the levels straight up change the formula from typical linear platforming to something more exploration-based, with a couple of stages requiring you to find a specific item before you can move on to the next level. Others feel more like collect-a-thons, and they usually involve you controlling a gimmicky vehicle of sorts. I enjoyed these levels as much as the more straightforward linear ones, though I did find slight difficulty finding the required items or controlling the slightly janky vehicles. There are also a few boss fights in the game, and they're pretty simple for the most part. Combat overall isn't too complex here, as all you have to do is wail on an enemy until it dies. This game has a lot of charm to it, with its delightfully goofy (and vibrant) sprites, upbeat music, occasionally silly dialogue (this aspect is a little more hit-or-miss), and hilarious sound effects and animations (for example; Sam's shout attack sounds almost exactly like Tom from Tom & Jerry's scream, which has been making me laugh since I was a kid). VERDICT: It's not really the most revolutionary platformer out there, but I had good fun with Prehistorik Man's side-scrolling action. I liked that it mixed things up with some nonlinear levels, and I enjoyed the emphasis on collecting stuff. While it doesn't mean a great deal other than a satisfying 100% counter at the end, I still liked collecting for the sake of it. Some of the mechanics were also neat, and I certainly chuckled at some of the game's silliness (I can still hear Sam's shout in my head and it still makes me laugh). If you're in the mood for a simple platformer with a good deal of charm, you may like this game. It's pretty short and there's not a lot to completion apart from the collect-a-thon aspect, however, so if you want a bit more meat in your platformers, this may not be for you. - end - Now, I'm onto the three Super Nintendo games added to the Switch Online emulator last February. Let's keep playing. BACKGROUND:
Can't say I've heard of this game, either. SUMMARY: Doomsday Warrior is another 2D fighting game, and much like most fighting games that came out in the early '90s, it was likely capitalizing off of the popularity of Street Fighter II. What makes it different? This game's control scheme is a bit odd. There are only two attack buttons (punch and kick), and there are dedicated buttons for jump and block. I found it quite jarring at first, but I quickly adjusted after receiving a modest ass-beating. Overall, the combat is simple, with very little in terms of unique normals (there's only up, down, and neutral inputs for both punch and kick), there are very few special moves (most of which are easy charge inputs and don't require any complex motions), and there are barely any combos. You won't get any complex mechanics here, unfortunately. The health bar is a little strange as well, as it's split into four sections. You can also regenerate some health if you back off long enough, but you can only heal up to the top of the bar that isn't completely drained yet. Not really a fan of this mechanic, as it's the kind that encourages stalling and zoning. There are seven playable characters, and they mostly look and feel distinct from one another. However, this game doesn't really do much to build them as characters, which is a bit of a shame since some of them seem pretty interesting. The game doesn't do much to explain its story, but the gist is that the character you choose in the story mode is rebelling against an evil group, and you're fighting against your former comrades (AKA the other playable characters), as well as Main (the big bad in charge) and his lieutenants. Nothing special, but I did like how they made the idea of fighting the other characters in the roster make sense within the context of the story. You can play the story mode on either Easy or Normal, but regardless, the mode has a neat RPG mechanic that you can take advantage of. Every time you win, you can spend some points to increase your stats, like enhancing punch or kick attacks, or reducing your damage taken. It's a cool idea, though I couldn't really tell how significant the boosts are. Apart from the final three boss characters (which are your standard best-of-three rounds), most of the story mode is a best of one bout. It's a little odd, so I thought I'd point it out. Of course, no fighting game is complete without a two-player versus mode, and Doomsday Warrior has one. These follow the standard best-of-three format if you're concerned about that. VERDICT: Doomsday Warrior did some things that I thought was neat or different, but it didn't really blow me away overall. I did enjoy my brief time running through the story mode spamming throws on the CPU, so I suppose that's something. Again, if you want to check out '90s fighting games, you have more exciting options available, but if you want to mess around with a super simple one, you might enjoy a couple of rounds of this. - end - This is the last of the SNES games of the December 2020 update. I got three more games from the February 2021 update after this. BACKGROUND:
Never heard of the Valis series prior to seeing this game in the Switch Online emulator's library. Go figure. SUMMARY: Super Valis IV is 2D platformer in the style of Castlevania: fight your way to the end of a level, fight a boss, repeat. It's standard linear platforming action for the most part, but it does do a few things to set itself apart. The story itself is nothing revolutionary, either: Gallagher, the ruler of the Dark World, is here to fuck shit up, and the only one who can end the terror is a young woman named Lena. Lena is the only one who can wield the legendary Valis Sword, so it falls upon her to save the world. Nothing about the plot really did anything for me, but I didn't mind that much. In terms of the gameplay, the basics are straightforward. Lena has a basic attack with her sword, she can jump, and she can dash (which allows you to jump farther). The level design isn't particularly demanding in terms of precise movement, but it's made up for with some occasionally challenging enemy placement. This game has a similar mechanic to Castlevania where you can pick up sub-weapons, which can be used by pressing up-attack. By default, you have a standard fireball that you can use freely, but you can also pick up other weapons with limited uses, like a homing shot or an upwards projectile. You can also pick up an item that allows you to heal, as well as armor that negates damage for a couple of hits. While the power-ups themselves aren't anything new, I do like how you have a sort of inventory that allows you to keep a stock of six sub-weapons, and you can activate them on command. It's a different approach to other games, which usually have you commit to one power-up, and picking up another one replaces what you already have. Regular enemies mostly serve to make traversing the levels a little bit tricky with their placement or their projectiles, so don't expect any compelling combat out of them. If you're looking for a fight, you'll get them when you reach the boss at the end of each level. I didn't find most of the bosses particularly tough, as they only really had a handful of attack patterns, but some of them do take a while to defeat, and they often are immune to a lot of your sub-weapons. Perhaps the game's most interesting mechanic involves a bit of speedrunning. The boss at the end of each level actually gets stronger the longer you take to get to them, so there's incentive to blaze through a level. In my experience, I only encountered a few sections where I felt like I was slowed down significantly, so you may have to actively stall to get the harder boss fights. Visually, the game has some nice-looking pixel art, with the art that serves as the "cutscenes" looking the most impressive. I like some of the level music as well. VERDICT: It's not the most revolutionary 2D platformer out there, but I enjoyed my brief time with Super Valis IV. I liked the alternative take on the sub-weapon mechanic, and I thought the idea that boss strength being tied to how quickly you reached the end of the level was interesting. Other than that, I found it to be a standard experience. I think this game is worth trying out once if you like platformers, but you might not find it as engaging if you've played more iconic games from this era, or are more accustomed to modern platformers with a lot of neat mechanics. - end - Nintendo is regularly chastised for its strange bottom-of-the-barrel additions to the Switch Online emulators, but there are some really fun games in there sometimes. BACKGROUND:
Had no idea this game even existed before I saw it in the SNES Online library. Par for the course at this point, I suppose. SUMMARY: At first glance, The Ignition Factor looks like one of those top-down shooters (now more known in the modern day as twin stick shooters), but instead of blasting enemies, you're playing as a firefighter who goes into burning buildings to rescue people. I was immediately intrigued by this twist, as it takes elements of a genre more associated with combat and makes something different out of it. Before you start a level, you get a briefing on the situation at hand. You can view a map of the floors of the building on fire, choose your point of entry, and select your equipment going into the building. There's a small assortment of tools at your disposal, like three types of fire extinguishers, a rope to cross gaps with, an axe to bust down doors with, and even stuff like C4 (to open up walls) and CO2 bombs that clear out fires. There are a handful of levels you can go through, and each features different layouts and hazards you navigate through. Your objective is to rescue a certain number of people and exit the building within a specified time limit, while also avoiding getting hurt by fire or other dangers. Overall, none of the levels are particularly tough (as long as you have a sense of urgency about you), but I found a lot of enjoyment in scouring the building in an effort to rescue as many people as I can. There's just something satisfying in helping video game people escape fictional danger. Most of the levels have minor puzzle-solving elements to them, which is where your firefighter's equipment comes in. Based on the briefing you get before the start of each level, you get hints on what tools may come in handy, and for the most part, going off of those hints is more than enough to get you through. In the event you don't have the tools you need to get past certain hazards, you can look for your fellow firefighters on the level, who will allow you to swap equipment and replenish things like your extinguisher ammo. None of the puzzles are difficult at all, for as long as you have the right tools or pay attention to the environment, you'll easily figure out what to do. Still, there's something neat about applying smarts to rescue situations. Every so often, you'll get messages from the firefighter captain or the NPCs about special events. For example, you can be notified about what points of interest to check out (e.g. go to the boiler room to deal with the source of the fire), or NPCs could ask you to help retrieve their belongings or tell you where their friends may be trapped in. It's a cool touch that makes the game feel a bit more realistic; a lot can happen during a fire, and this element of the game captures that in a way. There's also a weight mechanic where your character slows down significantly if you're carrying too much stuff. It's not really a major problem since no levels really require you to bring everything, and you can also offload items to your fellow firefighters if need be. At the end of each level, you get a score breakdown based on how quickly you clear the level and how many bonus objectives you complete. It doesn't really mean anything, apart from the occasional HP stat increase. One thing I found incredibly odd about the game is its writing. There's no overarching story (which I don't mind), but it really goes out of its way to break the fourth wall and get all meta in its humor. It comes off pretty forced, and while I mostly tuned out the game's dialogue, it overstays its welcome almost immediately. It's kind of a shame, because the game's one attempt to insert drama into the story is completely overshadowed by the multiple references to the game's developers. VERDICT: I found The Ignition Factor to be a rather unique game, taking elements from other top-down games to create a game all about putting out fires and rescuing people. It's not the most challenging or lengthy game out there, and its writing put me off, but I had a lot more fun with the game than I thought I would. Plus, I just appreciate that there's a game out there that isn't just about fighting or killing; you get to experience a career that doesn't really get a lot of kudos in real life, one that's all about saving lives. - end - Slowly but surely getting through the 7 Super Nintendo games that were added to Switch Online in the past three months. Here's game #2. BACKGROUND:
As is tradition at this point for new Switch Online emulator additions, I have no fucking idea what this game is. SUMMARY: Tuff E Nuff is a 2D fighting game, likely one of the many Street Fighter II clones that came out in the '90s. The basic idea is the same as any other fighting game: beat the shit out of your opponent. In terms of controls, it's the standard four-button layout that you see in many fighting games (light/heavy punch, light/heavy kick). You can perform throws, execute special moves with typical motions (quarter-circle forward, charge inputs), and do jump-ins/cross-ups. It's nothing out of the ordinary for a fighting game, though I will note that there isn't really a combo system or complex mechanics like special cancels in this one (those were pretty uncommon at the time anyhow). The starting roster is sadly shallow, as you can only choose one out of four playable characters. Technically, the other seven characters are also playable, but you apparently need to unlock them with some sort of passcode. I'd have preferred if they were unlockable through gameplay instead. Overall, the roster is OK (if below average) when it comes to moveset diversity. Most characters only have a handful of special moves that aren't all that unique (it's mostly just spins on traditional moves like fireball projectiles, uppercuts, or advancing moves), and all the normals are pretty straightforward. Character design feels a little hit or miss; only two or three characters are remotely memorable to me. The modes are also standard fare: you have a "story mode" that's just a series of fights, a two-player versus mode, and a versus CPU mode. The story, by the way, is set in a post-apocalyptic world, and there's a weird asshole named Jade who takes over the world, and a tournament takes place to see who gets to fight him. Nothing too revolutionary, and you don't even get endings for any of the playable characters when you beat the story. The visuals are pretty decent, with good-looking character sprites and a ton of detail in the backgrounds. I can't say that I found the music memorable, however. This game has a cool replay feature that appears after the end of a deciding round. You can rewind and control the speed of the replay, which I think is really neat. I don't think any other fighting games at the time had anything remotely close to this feature, which makes this one stand out in a way. VERDICT: Tuff E Nuff is a serviceable 2D fighter for the most part, and while its content pales in comparison to what more popular or modern fighting games have to offer, I still had an OK time playing through the story mode. It's probably worth trying at least once just to see how it plays, but there are definitely more exciting options if you're hungry for '90s fighting games. - end - Derryck Plays - SNES Online: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble [Nintendo Switch]4/19/2021 During the three or so months my Switch was kaput, the SNES and NES emulators got two updates that brought new games. I'll be playing catch up for the next couple of weeks, playing every game from both the December 2020 update and the February 2021 update. BACKGROUND:
This is the third game of the original DKC trilogy, and having enjoyed the first two games, I was anticipating DKC 3's addition to the SNES emulator. SUMMARY: DKC 3 continues the side-scrolling platformer gameplay of its predecessors, but like DKC 2 before it, they mix things up by having Dixie Kong be the main Kong you play as. Teaming up with her is Kiddy Kong, who is literally a child. As for the original duo being missing, the search for Donkey and Diddy is the main plot. Three guesses as to who's responsible... Dixie's controls are pretty much the same as they were in the previous game, hair twirl and all. Kiddy Kong is sort of a mini version of Donkey Kong, as he has the forward roll as his main move. This game has a decent variety of levels, many of which have unique gimmicks or mechanics. Overall, I didn't feel the same level of difficulty or sense of momentum the previous two games did, but I still enjoyed a lot of what the game had to offer in terms of its platforming. In terms of aesthetics, the locales the levels are set in aren't anything new for DKC; forests, mountains, and seas aren't exactly uncharted territory for the series. A lot of the game's elements carry over from the previous games, with some slight twists. Bonus rooms still exist, the various collectibles (like the KONG letters and tokens) are back, you still have Swanky Kong minigames, and nearly every Animal Buddy you encounter is from the older entries in the series. In this sense, DKC 3 feels like more of the same with little innovation, but that's at least slightly offset by the game's largely unique level designs. Of course, the game does have a few new elements. For one, you have the Brothers Bear, who are a family of bears who will trade you items and such if you fulfill their requests. For another, the game's overworld is slightly more complex, allowing the player to actually explore a bit instead of just being a glorified world select. Both the visuals and the music are also quite similar to the previous games, so there isn't much I could say there that I haven't already. However, I feel like the soundtrack for this one isn't as memorable as the ones for DKC 1 and 2, but that's only because those games set a pretty high bar. VERDICT: Although it isn't my favorite of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, DKC 3 is still an enjoyable platforming experience, keeping most of what worked in the previous games and adding a few new things to spice things up. I think it's worth playing if you enjoyed the other two DKC games, but you won't miss too much in terms of fresh gameplay mechanics if you decide to skip it. If you've yet to check out this series, I'd definitely pick the previous two games over this as a good starting point. - end - There's one more SNES game from the latest Switch Online update, and I'm playing it today. BACKGROUND:
I don't know anything about this game. Something something new experiences. SUMMARY: The Peace Keepers is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up. It's fundamentally similar to most games in the genre: walk around, beat the shit out of opponents to progress, rinse and repeat. The combat is pretty simple (attack, jump, throw, super move, dash... that's it), and there aren't a lot of enemy types (a lot of them are just palette swaps of the same couple of sprites), so I can't really say much about the gameplay other than it's serviceable. In terms of other gameplay elements, there isn't a lot to say, either. You can pick up health and weapons, but they're rare. Breakable objects in the environment are equally uncommon. Boss fights didn't feel any different from regular fights other than how long it took to win. The only real thing that's remotely interesting are the game's occasional branching paths that change the story depending which one you take. There are four playable characters, each with their own moves and properties. Each one has a backstory that motivates them to fight against the evil corporation known as DM, which is led by some shithead named Mr. Iago, who is involved in genetic experiments and is out world domination. It's a whatever story to me; not terrible, but not remarkable, either. The graphics are pretty solid. The sprites look good and the backgrounds have decent variety to them. What baffles me the most is the lack of music when you're playing; it was somewhat unsettling to me to play through something and only hearing basic sound effects and nothing else to set the mood. It's even weirder because other places (like the character select screen) does have music. VERDICT: I think The Peace Keepers is a passable beat-'em-up experience, but it simply didn't do enough to hold my interest for long. The gameplay, while decent, didn't stand out to me, the lack of music was jarring, and the story wasn't much to write home about. With that said, I did get some form of enjoyment from my brief time kicking the shit out of enemies, and I'm sure I'd like this more if I were playing with a friend. From what I understand, the company behind this game also made Brawl Brothers (another SNES beat-'em-up, which I also played via SNES Online and talk about here). Though that game didn't really hold my interest for long, either, I think I enjoyed it more than this one. - end - Got another SNES game to check out thanks to Switch Online, and it's one I've been looking forward to seeing on the emulator. That's right, it's time for Donkey Kong Country 2. BACKGROUND:
In the last SNES Online update, I was able to play the first Donkey Kong Country for the first time (thoughts on that here), and I ended up really enjoying it. At that point, I hoped that the other two games of the trilogy would come to the emulator in the future, and here we are. From what I understand, it is generally agreed upon that this game is the best out of all three, so my excitement was compounded by such high acclaim. SUMMARY: The game may be called Donkey Kong Country, but you don't actually play as him in this one. Instead, he has been kidnapped by King K. Rool (who, in this game, is now a pirate called Kaptain K. Rool), and it's up to Diddy Kong and the debuting Dixie Kong to rescue the big gorilla. DKC 2 plays pretty much the same as the first one, except that the lead character is now Diddy. He still functions pretty much the same way he did previously. Instead of Donkey Kong, he now has Dixie Kong as his partner, and she is a blast to play. Her signature ability is her hair twirl, allowing her to slow down her fall speed, which lends itself well to tricky platforming. There is also now the ability to throw your partner like you would a barrel, which is honestly situational, but kind of amusing to do. There are a tad more levels here compared to DKC 1, and I feel that they're a massive upgrade in all aspects. The designs feature more varied locales (like wrecked pirate ships, bee hives, spooky libraries, and even an amusement park), there are all sorts of interesting mechanics (honey that allows you to cling to walls, changing water levels, reworked minecart levels, and more), more bonus rooms to find, and a plethora of collectibles to uncover. While DKC 1 had solid level design throughout, the second game feels even more polished, with many levels simply feeling good to play through in terms of maintaining the player's momentum, many featuring a tougher challenge with trickier enemy placement and a greater need for precision, and the secrets being quite out of the way and satisfying to find. Bosses, while still fundamentally simple to figure out, feel improved as well, with many bosses going through multiple phases and having a wider variety of attack patterns. The final fight with Kaptain K. Rool is exemplary of this; that fight ended up being longer and more challenging than I expected, and I enjoyed it immensely. The animal buddies from the first game are back, too. Most of the animals from the first game are back (except the frog and the ostrich; sorry), and they added two new ones: Rattly the springy snake and Squitter the spider. They are integrated throughout the game a lot more, with full platforming sections (or even entire levels) that have you play as them. I like that they're an even bigger part of this game, because they're just as enjoyable to play as the main characters. Collectibles have been changed as well. You still have your bananas and K-O-N-G letters, but now you have three special coins to keep track of. First are the banana coins, which you can give to the other Kong family members for hints and other helpful things. Second are the K. Rool tokens, which are the rewards for completing the challenges in the hidden bonus rooms. These are worth getting from a completion standpoint, as you can trade them in with Klubba the Kremling to unlock the "Lost World", which is an entire bonus area with its own set of levels. Lastly, you have the DK coins, which are incredibly hard to find, but as the game itself admits, finding them is purely for the feeling of accomplishment and nothing more. Aside from Dixie, there are two other new Kongs introduced in this game. You have Wrinkly Kong, who is some sort of teacher and gives you various hints in exchange for banana coins (and also replaces Candy Kong as the save point), and Swanky Kong, who hosts various game shows you can participate it to get stuff like extra lives. They're pretty neat additions to the crew, though I never found myself really using their services, if you will. Funky and Cranky are also back from DKC 1, and have the same gameplay functions here. In terms of personality, I think Cranky is still the best, with his grumpy meta humor shining through in a lot of the dialogue. The game's presentation is largely unchanged from the first one, but it's still pretty great. The graphics feel a little more polished and have brighter color to them, and the music is as fantastic as ever. I already touched on the significance of the graphics in my blog entry on DKC 1, so I won't repeat those points here. VERDICT: People online seem to really love this game, and I get it now. It's a complete step up from the original Donkey Kong Country, and does what any good sequel should: take what worked the first time, polish that formula, and add fun, new things to mix it up. As much as I enjoyed the first game, I found DKC 2 to be more fun in terms of its level design and mechanics. Dixie is also just really fun to play as. While I think you should probably play Donkey Kong Country 1 first, you can absolutely jump into this with no prior knowledge. Regardless of which game you choose as your starting point, Donkey Kong Country is a series worth checking out if you like platformers, or if you're interested in Nintendo's pantheon of games. - end - |
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