Super Mario Land (Nintendo, 1989, GB)
Well here's where it alllll started. This was one of the launch titles for Nintendo's Game Boy (a system I admit I have neglected somewhat, so my next three or four reviews will be GB games ) along with Alleyway (basically a clone of Breakout and Arkanoid), Baseball, Tennis, and Tetris. The play control isn't bad at all for being a release title on a relatively primitive system, with movement being pretty smooth. It is also fairly diverse - although it is at its core a platformer, there are two stages that handle like a horizontal-scrolling shmup in the mould of something like Gradius or the shmup stages of Air Fortress.
The graphics, considering the limitations the original Game Boy had, are actually quite good. Honestly, the worst the graphics get are those of Mario himself as well as some of the "older-school" enemies such as Bullet Bills or Goombas. The background graphics, a lot of which are line-art, are really good in context, even if they've aged a little poorly. It is also worth noting that it was the most musically diverse Mario game up to that point, although it would be supplanted by Super Mario Bros. 3 within less than a year! Sound effects were about on par with Super Mario Bros. 2 (the North American release, that is). But the music is actually quite well-composed.
Level design is about the same as the original Mario, outside of the two shmup stages - with the noteworthy exception of the multiple exits that would return in Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins as well as Super Mario World and to a much lesser degree Super Mario Bros. 3. It does add a certain degree of challenge at times. But the real challenge comes more from the hordes of enemies you have to avoid. This game is not particularly easy for the average casual gamer, even if the shmup stages aren't as prohibitively hard as their game counterparts tend to be! This balances out the game's relative shortness - there are only three stages per level (like SMB2) rather than four (as it was in the original SMB) and there are only four levels.
The story is in the manual, basically, and it is a departure from both the typical Mario platformers/many of the RPGs (where you have to bail Peach out after she gets nabbed by Bowser) and SMB2 (which is you trying to free a kingdom from a tyrannical king named Wart). It's closer to SMB, another rescue the damsel in distress, but the damsel in question is Daisy, who didn't appear again in a Mario game for another eleven years after this one! Rather than rescuing a Toad at the end of each level, "Daisy" turns into an enemy. It also takes place outside the Mushroom Kingdom and without any mention thereof, an extreme rarity for Mario games - you're in "Sarasaland" instead.
Fun factor - yes, this game does have replayability to spare just because of its challenge and diversity of gameplay. It does also see the debut of a few enemies that would return later, such as Roto-Disc, which would reappear in SMB3 and inspire similar enemies for many future Mario games, and Torpedo Ted, who reappeared in one level in SMW and after a bit of hiatus returned in the 3D Mario games, for example Super Mario Galaxy, as well as the New Super Mario Bros. games. Certainly not a bad way to kick off a system!
Just remember that I contextualise my marks to the system and the time it came out.
Play control: 19/20
Graphics: 14/15
Music: 15/15
Sound effects: 7/10
Level design: 8/10
Balance of challenge: 12/15
Story: 0/5
Fun factor: 7/10
Final score: 82/100 B+
R-Type (Irem/Bits, 1991, GB)
Apparently, people were so desperate to get R-Type's arcade fun into their homes, or even portable, that this port was even a thing. You knew right off the bat that it would be far inferior to the original in every mechanical sense. As a standalone GB game it isn't too bad, albeit far from the greatness of Super R-Type, and with the relative lack of shmups on the system (even after being out two years the only other shmups on the system were Nemesis and Burai Fighter Deluxe) it made sense to bring it in. What I don't get is why Nintendo didn't wait a few months and bring port the original R-Type for the SNES - its port-plus of R-Type II was one of the best shmups in the system's entire run!
In any case, the play control, as with all R-Type games (and most 2D shmups in general) is variable. You start out a little slower, but not prohibitively thus. Getting used to controlling your Force module (one of the defining marks of the franchise) may take a while. The graphics are probably the best part of the game, and although they are far from the best in the system's history they may well be among the best from the system's earlier days. The music rather annoyed me. There was no bass. I recognised some of the tracks from R-Type III for SNES. Sound effects were alright - nothing mind-blowing.
I do have issues with the level design. Having to squeeze through near-impossibly narrow passages while dodging five or six enemies at a time is kind of stressful! One wrong twitch and you're toast. This does play into the balance of challenge - you're thrown into the deep end right at the beginning of the game. It is FLIPPING HARD. This is a frequent criticism of all versions of the first R-Type, whether Arcade, TG-16, Sega Master System, whatever. And there's next to no story. "Defeat The Bydo Empire!" is all you get, and that's on the title screen. There's text-crawl at the end. Other than that, the story is in the manual.
This game is only really fun for those who are shmup enthusiasts or such die-hards of the arcade version that they had to have it. It would have been better to get the TG-16 version if you had the money to do so.
Play control: 15/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 7/15
Sound effects: 7/10
Level design: 5/10
Balance of challenge: 5/15
Story: 0/5
Fun factor: 7/10
Final score: 61/100 C
Gradius: The Interstellar Assault (Konami, 1992, GB)
Now this is an impressive GB shmup! Released the previous year in Japan (and given a good preview in Nintendo Power), this is actually the second Gradius game released for GB, following up on 1990's Nemesis, and the sixth release in the series overall. Yes, you heard that correctly. Gradius and Life Force came out in North America for NES, with Gradius II being released on the equivalent Famicom in Japan and (as NES games go) having arguably the best graphics of any game for the system; Gradius III had come out as a NA release title for the SNES, and then this game came out!
As with many shmups, the play control does depend on power-ups, but it is consistent. It does start out a little sluggish in manoeuvring your Vic Viper, but it doesn't take many power ups to get it to more manageable levels. Furthermore, the hit detection is accurate even as shmups go. The graphics are absolutely amazing by GB standards, and the music (which lacks a lot of the annoying perkiness of Gradius III's music) and sound effects follow suit.
Level design provides challenge sometimes, but not in the unfair way that R-Type did. But shmups do tend to be difficult anyway. It wasn't getting thrown into the deep end as with R-Type or later games like Ikaruga though. It's hard, but it's fair, and the increase in difficulty is more gradual. With power-ups a plenty, you can build your ship up, and, as is the hallmark of the series, you actually have a larger degree of control over which powerups you actually take on, thanks to the Gradius power-up bar system. You can actually skip over power-ups you don't want at that point in timer. Just be warned. If you want the better power-ups you have to build up your power-up bar!
The story is even more non-existent than R-Type. This is actually pretty typical of earlier Gradius games. Seriously, "Destroy The Core" is about all you get - your enemies aren't even identified! But there's no question about how fun this game is! Its more manageable difficulty and greater length, plus the fact that it is just plain addictive, make it one of the better GB games!
Play control: 17/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 14/15
Sound effects: 10/10
Level design: 10/10
Balance of challenge: 13/15
Story: 0/5
Fun factor: 10/10
Final score: 88/100 A-
Gonna do one last GB game then open it back up to requests. The last GB game will be an RPG, Final Fantasy Legend.
Well here's where it alllll started. This was one of the launch titles for Nintendo's Game Boy (a system I admit I have neglected somewhat, so my next three or four reviews will be GB games ) along with Alleyway (basically a clone of Breakout and Arkanoid), Baseball, Tennis, and Tetris. The play control isn't bad at all for being a release title on a relatively primitive system, with movement being pretty smooth. It is also fairly diverse - although it is at its core a platformer, there are two stages that handle like a horizontal-scrolling shmup in the mould of something like Gradius or the shmup stages of Air Fortress.
The graphics, considering the limitations the original Game Boy had, are actually quite good. Honestly, the worst the graphics get are those of Mario himself as well as some of the "older-school" enemies such as Bullet Bills or Goombas. The background graphics, a lot of which are line-art, are really good in context, even if they've aged a little poorly. It is also worth noting that it was the most musically diverse Mario game up to that point, although it would be supplanted by Super Mario Bros. 3 within less than a year! Sound effects were about on par with Super Mario Bros. 2 (the North American release, that is). But the music is actually quite well-composed.
Level design is about the same as the original Mario, outside of the two shmup stages - with the noteworthy exception of the multiple exits that would return in Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins as well as Super Mario World and to a much lesser degree Super Mario Bros. 3. It does add a certain degree of challenge at times. But the real challenge comes more from the hordes of enemies you have to avoid. This game is not particularly easy for the average casual gamer, even if the shmup stages aren't as prohibitively hard as their game counterparts tend to be! This balances out the game's relative shortness - there are only three stages per level (like SMB2) rather than four (as it was in the original SMB) and there are only four levels.
The story is in the manual, basically, and it is a departure from both the typical Mario platformers/many of the RPGs (where you have to bail Peach out after she gets nabbed by Bowser) and SMB2 (which is you trying to free a kingdom from a tyrannical king named Wart). It's closer to SMB, another rescue the damsel in distress, but the damsel in question is Daisy, who didn't appear again in a Mario game for another eleven years after this one! Rather than rescuing a Toad at the end of each level, "Daisy" turns into an enemy. It also takes place outside the Mushroom Kingdom and without any mention thereof, an extreme rarity for Mario games - you're in "Sarasaland" instead.
Fun factor - yes, this game does have replayability to spare just because of its challenge and diversity of gameplay. It does also see the debut of a few enemies that would return later, such as Roto-Disc, which would reappear in SMB3 and inspire similar enemies for many future Mario games, and Torpedo Ted, who reappeared in one level in SMW and after a bit of hiatus returned in the 3D Mario games, for example Super Mario Galaxy, as well as the New Super Mario Bros. games. Certainly not a bad way to kick off a system!
Just remember that I contextualise my marks to the system and the time it came out.
Play control: 19/20
Graphics: 14/15
Music: 15/15
Sound effects: 7/10
Level design: 8/10
Balance of challenge: 12/15
Story: 0/5
Fun factor: 7/10
Final score: 82/100 B+
R-Type (Irem/Bits, 1991, GB)
Apparently, people were so desperate to get R-Type's arcade fun into their homes, or even portable, that this port was even a thing. You knew right off the bat that it would be far inferior to the original in every mechanical sense. As a standalone GB game it isn't too bad, albeit far from the greatness of Super R-Type, and with the relative lack of shmups on the system (even after being out two years the only other shmups on the system were Nemesis and Burai Fighter Deluxe) it made sense to bring it in. What I don't get is why Nintendo didn't wait a few months and bring port the original R-Type for the SNES - its port-plus of R-Type II was one of the best shmups in the system's entire run!
In any case, the play control, as with all R-Type games (and most 2D shmups in general) is variable. You start out a little slower, but not prohibitively thus. Getting used to controlling your Force module (one of the defining marks of the franchise) may take a while. The graphics are probably the best part of the game, and although they are far from the best in the system's history they may well be among the best from the system's earlier days. The music rather annoyed me. There was no bass. I recognised some of the tracks from R-Type III for SNES. Sound effects were alright - nothing mind-blowing.
I do have issues with the level design. Having to squeeze through near-impossibly narrow passages while dodging five or six enemies at a time is kind of stressful! One wrong twitch and you're toast. This does play into the balance of challenge - you're thrown into the deep end right at the beginning of the game. It is FLIPPING HARD. This is a frequent criticism of all versions of the first R-Type, whether Arcade, TG-16, Sega Master System, whatever. And there's next to no story. "Defeat The Bydo Empire!" is all you get, and that's on the title screen. There's text-crawl at the end. Other than that, the story is in the manual.
This game is only really fun for those who are shmup enthusiasts or such die-hards of the arcade version that they had to have it. It would have been better to get the TG-16 version if you had the money to do so.
Play control: 15/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 7/15
Sound effects: 7/10
Level design: 5/10
Balance of challenge: 5/15
Story: 0/5
Fun factor: 7/10
Final score: 61/100 C
Gradius: The Interstellar Assault (Konami, 1992, GB)
Now this is an impressive GB shmup! Released the previous year in Japan (and given a good preview in Nintendo Power), this is actually the second Gradius game released for GB, following up on 1990's Nemesis, and the sixth release in the series overall. Yes, you heard that correctly. Gradius and Life Force came out in North America for NES, with Gradius II being released on the equivalent Famicom in Japan and (as NES games go) having arguably the best graphics of any game for the system; Gradius III had come out as a NA release title for the SNES, and then this game came out!
As with many shmups, the play control does depend on power-ups, but it is consistent. It does start out a little sluggish in manoeuvring your Vic Viper, but it doesn't take many power ups to get it to more manageable levels. Furthermore, the hit detection is accurate even as shmups go. The graphics are absolutely amazing by GB standards, and the music (which lacks a lot of the annoying perkiness of Gradius III's music) and sound effects follow suit.
Level design provides challenge sometimes, but not in the unfair way that R-Type did. But shmups do tend to be difficult anyway. It wasn't getting thrown into the deep end as with R-Type or later games like Ikaruga though. It's hard, but it's fair, and the increase in difficulty is more gradual. With power-ups a plenty, you can build your ship up, and, as is the hallmark of the series, you actually have a larger degree of control over which powerups you actually take on, thanks to the Gradius power-up bar system. You can actually skip over power-ups you don't want at that point in timer. Just be warned. If you want the better power-ups you have to build up your power-up bar!
The story is even more non-existent than R-Type. This is actually pretty typical of earlier Gradius games. Seriously, "Destroy The Core" is about all you get - your enemies aren't even identified! But there's no question about how fun this game is! Its more manageable difficulty and greater length, plus the fact that it is just plain addictive, make it one of the better GB games!
Play control: 17/20
Graphics: 15/15
Music: 14/15
Sound effects: 10/10
Level design: 10/10
Balance of challenge: 13/15
Story: 0/5
Fun factor: 10/10
Final score: 88/100 A-
Gonna do one last GB game then open it back up to requests. The last GB game will be an RPG, Final Fantasy Legend.
Spammers Beware! I will destroy you by the POWAH of the JARK SIDE! ALL SPAMMERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT.
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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