Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Beat’em up games were all of the rage growing up, but for the life of me I don’t know how I not only avoided the Double Dragon series, but how it was ever popular either!
Honestly, these games are for the birds. I understand the palette swap, repeating the same enemy over deal (due to limitations of the hardware at the time) but someone decided a few things were “good ideas” for this sequel of an already difficult game:
1. Punching/Kicking
Let’s make the A and B buttons for punching and kicking work in the direction you’re currently facing. That means in the B/A layout (where the B button is on the left) B will punch if you’re facing the enemy but will be reversed and be a kick if you’re back is to them.
Considering the kick is weak and practically useless due to collision detection in the game, punching and constantly keeping enemies in front of you is a must.
2. Weapons
Cool you can use weapons!
Well, there are weapons but they’re scarce. That’s a great concept when they do more damage. (Sense my sarcasm yet?)
Why would you want to allow someone an advantage in a game they purchased?
3. Jumping
The absolute worst.
Pressing B and A at the same time to jump: the jumps in this game are stupid. Flat out cheap and stupid.
Why even have them other than to add cheap deaths to an already difficult game?
There are areas where you jump THROUGH the platforms due to the goofy mechanics of it. Other times trying to reach a platform you’ll perform a special move (cyclone kick) instead, miss the platform and fall to your death.
Note: That’s why I included so many screen captures of the one room with the gears. Even with save states it took me close to two hours to get across one part of the level, which leads me to believe this is a bugged portion of the game akin to TMNT’s horrid jumping from platform to platform.
Furthmore, what a great idea all of this iswhen the default option starts you with 3 lives.
Conclusion
Also, the hand icon with the doorbell ringing to tell you to proceed through the game is annoying. Trust me, I want to keep moving through these stages but you won’t allow me until I defeat every iteration of the same enemy… over and over… it gets repetitive to say the least.
The ending is incredibly underwhelming too, but that’s typical of many 80’s NES titles. (See below, and you’ll see what I mean.)
Other than having Kung Fu, I could pass on this series so far. I’m going to continue with the other sequels and see how they are, but I’m totally disillusioned with the Double Dragon games when there are better ones in the same genre from this era.
Yoshi’s Island DS
The Yoshi’s Island series originally spun-off of the sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, with a mechanic where Yoshi eats enemies and then shoots eggs while protecting Baby Mario throughout six worlds filled with various traps.
That original game used a special graphics chip to pull off a unique artistic style which has carried over into the other Yoshi games, including this direct sequel to Super Mario World 2, entitled Yoshi’s Island DS.
As you may have guessed, the “DS” in the title means it was developed for the dual-screen Nintendo DS handheld console, which had many games which lacked a real need/use of the second screen, making the console, at times, feel gimmicky.
Having played the Yoshi titles out of order as well, I was fairly burned out on the series. The N64 Yoshi’s Story was barely a “game”. The newer 3DS iteration, Yoshi’s New Island, was practically a direct clone of SMW2 and hence, got repetitive quickly.
The same could be said for latter editions on the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch, which felt like new paint jobs of the same old Yoshi gameplay, often dumbed down for a younger audience.
Imagine my surprise picking up this title that I had missed in the middle of all of the plodding and boring gameplay of some of those titles. Yoshi’s Island DS isn’t a gimmick, using both screens in a top-down double screen layout of levels that feel massive in scope, breathing new life into boredom of the series. Though the ability to see more is seen as a gimmick in and of itself (and the bottom touchscreen goes unused) it feels like a true title made for the DS and adds to the fun.
Seeing as this was the sequel of the series, I can now understand why other sequels were made, but an actual “DS 2” version needs to be done as this may be the standout title of the series. Joining Baby Mario on this adventure are Baby Peach, Baby Donkey Kong, and Baby Wario, with the ability to also control Baby Bowser at one point as well.
All of the baby characters have their own special powers, and with the ability to change them at certain stations throughout the worlds/levels, really opens up the uniqueness of this game and replay value, as you may have to go back through with a character previously unavailable in your quest for 100% completion.
Everything else, however, remains largely the same as the other Yoshi games, with a decent but not insurmountable challenge to beat the game.
I highly recommend this title if you enjoyed any of the other Yoshi games and feel it’s a hidden gem on the DS console.
Fighting Street (aka Street Fighter)
Have you ever given any thought as to why you never hear much about the original Street Fighter?
I hadn’t, until the game was recently included as part of anniversary editions issued by Capcom, featuring the umpteen editions of Street Fighter II.
That got me to thinking: where the heck is Street Fighter “1”? It’s nearly buried in history, but the very company which created it… and now I understand why.
The original, as with the many sequels, originated as an arcade game and was only ported to one console in the United States: the nearly unknown CD add-on for the almost as unknown TurboGrafx 16. Thus, American gamers never really experienced the original game of the Street Fighter franchise, that is, until it was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console as a TurboGrafx port in 2009.
That’s the version I got my hands on, but for all intents and purposes I’m listing it under it’s original 1988 label, as it’s a clone of that game.
As for the title itself, it’s dated. Very dated.
Nostalgia takes over with some of the introduced characters, as well as what I’m sure were groundbreaking concepts with the 8-way joystick and six buttons for various degrees of punch/kick combos… and of course, the special moves.
The game is a true throwback when it comes to difficulty, however. I never proclaim to be the best gamer and despite my best attempts to cheat and/or use save states, I couldn’t complete the main story mode, if you will. This game may cheat more than almost any other I’ve ever encountered, including some versions of Mario Kart or Mortal Kombat. It’s clear the arcade port was intended to make you part with your quarters and takes cheap shots that drain your life bar quickly.
And that’s considering if you beat the insanely fast timer, another relic of a bygone era where most games didn’t have you just beating an opponent, but also made sure you weren’t standing at the cabinet for too long so they could get X amount of quarters paid per hour.
Honestly, that’s my main gripe with the game. I can overlook the dated graphics and whatnot (heck, I’m playing Game Boy games still) but the intense AI cheating is too much to overcome for my full enjoyment of the game, keeping me from giving it a full thumbs up rating.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue
With my recent luck in finding good to decent TMNT games, I continued my quest to play through all of the titles based on the series: which led me to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue for Game Boy.
Let me tell you, I really struggled with how to review this game.
Rather than the beat’em up style I’ve become accustomed with in all of the other TMNT games released for this console, as well as the arcade, NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, Konami went another direction and created a Metroidvania game.
That sounds really cool, right? I love the Turtles and I love Metroidvania games.
But somewhere along the line this game falls way short of the mark by reverting back to the stupidity that we found in the original TMNT 1 on NES. That is, horrible controls, bad collision detection, an endless slew of respawning enemies, near-impossible jumps, and deliberate traps that make me believe no one has ever beaten this game cleanly. (That is, without cheats.)
Much like the original NES game, retracing any steps within a board respawn enemies. That’s not so terrible when you go to the next screen within a level, but once you beat a “cleverly” placed enemy set as a trap, only to nudge the control a hair to the left/right and have it reappear, it becomes frustrating.
Otherwise the premise of the game is simple: you start as Michealangelo and have to save your other three turtle brothers before moving on to save Splinter and April. As you save a new turtle, each has a special ability to help you access other areas on the map you otherwise can’t get to.
All is well until you trek through much of the world map (which is just about useless) to find a dead end or realize that a key you need is all the way back where you came from: complete with respawning death traps.
Should you make it past the 4-5 bosses and rescue everyone save April, you are then taken through a horrible end of the game corridor of doom with shifting platforms, spikes, and enemies which are unavoidable.
Get past that and then you have to reface all of the previous bosses in succession before taking on the main boss, Shredder… who, after being defeated, respawns back to full health for a second round.
And if you get past all of that?
You have to make it through yet another death corridor before you can unlock the door April is held prisoner behind.
All of this leads me to believe I would’ve smashed this Game Boy cartridge to bits as a kid. Luckily, cheats and save states (highly necessary even with cheats enabled) allowed me to see just how stinky of a game this is. Unless you have a morbid curiosity for completion like I do, I’d avoid this game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers
The 1990’s were full of TMNT shovel ware. The Game Boy was the basic dumpster where these titles reside, aimed toward kids on the go with hardware that forced many games to be oversimplified graphically to fit on the small screen.
That’s a harsh representation of this game, which actually builds upon the original Fall of the Foot Clan by upgrading the graphics to an acceptable TV cartoon style.
The only problem is, your turtle has been made bigger on the screen which creates the usual collision detection issues seen in other games: in other words, you can die… a lot.
Of the three TMNT Game Boy titles, this one best represents Konami’s arcade theme used throughout other TMNT titles as well as Marvel Comics and The Simpsons based games. The ability to hang from certain ceiling structures, and move around on the level rather than side-scrolling as seen in the first game, are featured too.
Each turtle has their usual strengths/weaknesses based on range and speed of attack. If you die, the turtle is “captured” and you have the ability to get them back throughout the game. Otherwise you’re basically stuck with four lives and lots of cheap hits/areas as you’d expect that make the short game last a bit longer.
Your list of who’s who as it pertains to TMNT enemies are here: Foot Clan ninjas, mousers, etc. and the bosses are a good mix from the source cartoon show material including Bebop and Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, General Traag, Granitor (The Stone Warrior), Krang, Shredder and Super Shredder.
I didn’t mind this game that much but could see where it would take a lot of practice to get to the end with your health/life intact. That’s more or less the status quo of 80’s and early 90’s games where cheap gameplay gimmicks are inserted to make the game more difficult: speaking of, there are difficulty settings to make the cheapness even more unfair!
Overall this game hasn’t aged too well and is only a must-play for completionists like myself. Otherwise it’s a fairly boring and uneventful entry into the series.
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
The box art doesn’t lie: “Hard to Beat” is legit!
The original Ninja Gaiden was stupid hard. So naturally, the developers at Tecmo must’ve called the Mega Man design team to ask for tips on how to make the game even more difficult!
Their suggestions: add more fire, spikes, a wind/rain element (that moves your character left/right on the screen) and snow/ice (that makes you slip to your doom).
Oh, and let’s add a storm act, where lightning flashes intermittently allowing you to see an otherwise completely dark board. Throw in some ancient relics which obstruct your view of enemies and other threats too, and you now have Ninja Gaiden on a cocktail of steroids and crack.
Otherwise, the game is fun. Graphically it’s ahead of its time, and the cut scenes add a dimension rarely seen in Nintendo games. (They’re straight out of the action films of that era and cheesy!)
Definitely, recommend playing this unless you’re on blood pressure pills.
Killzone HD
For whatever reason, the original Killzone is a game that flew off of my radar even when it was initially released for the PlayStation 2 back in 2004. I’m not sure why, either, because I have a love for First-Person-Shooters: at least decently good ones, that is.
Killzone is centered around an odd storyline of world governments and an Earthly wasteland. You can pretty much sum it up as rebels versus the empire, though it’s not Star Wars-like in anyway. In fact, the game was released to be a “Halo Killer”, that is a flagship title on the PS2, but I have a feeling the adult-oriented content may have kept those expectations grounded.
Years later, the game received a high-definition refresh on the PlayStation 3, which is the version I opted to review here.
Now for the good: the game looks really impressive with the HD refresh. You can tell, especially with the cutaway scenes, that it’s an older title, but that really doesn’t take away from the enjoyment. The visuals, along with the soundtrack, are great.
The voice acting, along with the (in my opinion) unnecessarily added swearing (i.e. the “adult content” I mentioned earlier) gets repetitive and could be done without… though it does lead to a few laughs throughout.
Gameplay-wise, the game will have some frustrating moments. There are obvious squeeze points that force you to use more strategy, a specific weapon, or to conserve ammo. You can carry up to three weapons, and sometimes dropping one weapon in lieu of another may leave you almost empty-handed in certain situations.
The weapons often have secondary features, and as customary in these games, some are better at closer distances, load faster, etc. None of that is a shocker.
Grenades are also a part of the game, though I found them to be aggravating to aim properly. In fact, the controls are the biggest caveat in this game as the button layout doesn’t follow your traditional FPS pattern in some cases. Even reloading or trying to melee attack an enemy can be quirky at times.
In all, the game isn’t something to really be a downer on. I checked it out because of having it on my bucket list for so long, and having seen it spawned a slew of sequels. Playing a remake of a game two generations after it’s initial release, I won’t comment on any of its shortcomings as that would be unfair.
The only thing I can say is, the game does feel as if it becomes a chore to complete after you reach a certain point. A surprise or two here or there helps keep you into it, but I can see why it was never a true “Halo Killer” after all of these years.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
With a newly reimagined remake for the Nintendo Switch recently released, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the first “reimagining” of a classic Legend of Zelda game: Link’s Awakening.
Originally released in 1993 for the Nintendo Game Boy, Link’s Awakening was the first handheld game in the series and an odd one at that as it didn’t take place in Hyrule, nor did it feature Princess Zelda.
In fact, the game makes a number of references to other Nintendo franchises, notably Super Mario Bros. in a dream-state Koholint Island. This adds to the uniqueness of this title, which originally began as a port of the critically acclaimed Link To The Past on the Super Nintendo.
Having been an owner of the original Game Boy cartridge who put countless hours into defeating this title multiple times, I never latched onto the “DX” remake of the game which came out in 1998. However, playing this game in modern times, the monochrome Game Boy colors are harsh on the eyes and the preferable color palette, as well as a few other additions, make the DX version of this game a more than worthy playthrough.
In fact, the DX version has an additional dungeon added that was not in the original game, which plays off of the Game Boy Color’s ability to, um, show colors. (The dungeon used color tiles as part of the puzzle solving scheme with a reward of a red or blue tunic.)
Link’s Awakening DX also makes numerous references to a long-forgotten Game Boy Printer add-on, of which it’s pretty much the only title that ever made much use of it!
Overall you cannot go wrong with this game. It’s one of the all-time classics which, until it’s Switch remake, has been locked in the Nintendo vault, only to be seen on old hardware with small screens. Alas, if you have the means to play the DX version, it’s more than worth its salt as a full-fledged Zelda title, one that you’ll likely want to compare to the newer version, if only for nostalgia’s sake.
Super Mario Advance
Holy-cowza Batman! Anyone who knows me knows how much I loved Super Mario Bros. 2. It was the second game I ever owned as a kid, and first-ever purchase, aside from the pack-in Super Mario Bros. that came with the NES.
Little did I know that this launch title for the Game Boy Advance built upon (and bastardized) the Super Mario All-Stars version of SMB2! (And that’s not a bad thing!)
A synopsis of changes made in this edition of the game include larger enemies and plants, added platforms and hearts (that you can even pluck like a plant) plus more potions, and a better “super jump”, all to make a somewhat challenging game much easier.
But the biggest alteration of all was the addition of a completely brand-new boss that only appears in this game: Robirdo! (Who is the only “in your face” full contact of the main bosses.) She spits larger eggs and charges at you, and within this version of the game, it flat-out works.
I’ve had trouble panning any of the reissues of several beloved titles from my mouth and this is another that totally blindsided me with how good it is even in comparison of the original. It’s crazy how much they changed in this game, but I found the not-so-subtle changes to be fun! So much fun, I wish I could give this two thumbs up.
Note: My wife claims to always have a guilt trip as a child that they finished the original NES title without using Luigi, as the game will show you how many times you used each of the four characters after completing it. So I made sure Luigi got used at least once, because he’s still a terrible character outside of accessing one warp pipe in World 5!
Super Punch-Out!!
I feel really bad saying this, but I thought this game was much better the way I remembered it. The obligatory upgraded everything with “Super” attached, Super Punch-Out!! took the game to the next level graphically, but the gameplay leaves something to be desired.
The NES original was a classic button masher which had a sense of urgency and intensity. You knew you could be wiped out if you didn’t have a certain rhythm, or if you didn’t time the opponent’s specialty punches.
In Super Punch-Out!! the specialty punches feel like a gimmick. They take the borderline feeling of being able to win (much like one or two of the Mario Kart games) and gets gimmicky to a point where the game is all about those punches: win or lose.
In this way, it feels cheap and underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, I still like this game and feel it’s worth playing, but some of your standard punches are going to make it through, whereas the older game was all about ducking, dodging, and timing.
And for some reason, Doc Louis (Little Mac’s trainer in the NES original) is MIA too. (Actually, the fighter in the SNES version isn’t Little Mac either… he’s called whatever you name him.)
The saving grace is the flashy graphics, added animations, and audio.
There’s a little less of that here, and it looks more or less like the arcade title, but the game is still worth checking out if you’re doing the retro deal too.