Solstice (NES) Review

Solstice is a 1990 puzzle orientated game for the NES developed by Software Creations and published by 3 different companies (Epic/Sony Records in Japan, CSG Imagesoft in America and Nintendo for Pal regions). The plot of the game is that you are a wizard called Shadax who must save Princess Eleanor from Morbius the Malevolent in Kastlerock by finding the 6 pieces of the Staff of Demnos that happen to be hidden there.

Oddly the game doesn’t really have what you’d call a title screen and instead has rolling opening credits with some demo play of levels as well until you press start but the game gives you a nice chiptune to listen to and I believe it lasts longer than you’d think. I’m not entirely sure seeing some of the gameplay so frequently was 100% good although it did help show of the sort of stuff you might not have immediately thought of.

When you do press start you are shown one of the very oldschool types of cutscenes where Princess Eleanor gets kidnapped by Morbius with Shadax there using the ingame graphics but with text boxes with more detailed looks at the 3 characters. After that you are thrown straight into the game.

As soon as you get into the game you can tell that the graphics had aged quite alot but the music was still quite nice. As for controls they were easy with A being a bit of an awkward looking but working jump and B letting you pick up some movable objects when you are on top of them and place what you’re holding below you (so you can stack them up).

It didn’t take me very long to get lost even with the partial map which means you either need great memory of some pens and paper (no walkthroughs allowed), it really felt like a maze with loads of different rooms to look around in. The only real problem was the fact your character was a 1 hit wonder and therefore you needed to be quite good to get anywhere although the developers seemed to acknowledge that and there is an ingame code that gives you 90 lives (and the potions).

Without using the code I at least got 3 of the pieces and was proud of myself for even getting that far especially with some of the stuff you had to do. I worked out myself that there was a cool little trick where you could jump off items the second you place them in order to get what is essentially a double jump (with a TAS I watched pulling off a triple jump).

Watching a playthrough after my own attempts brought up a flaw of sorts, the game took strategy, skill, patience and a tonne of luck but the ending was extremely lackluster. While its obviously not what they say its essentially a “I win” “No you lose” situation and nothing really happens. It doesn’t matter if you take the time and insane skill to get 100% either (although thankfully there isn’t a time limit because that’d be evil even if more interesting).

Overall its quite an interesting game but perhap the graphics downgraded my experience a bit. Sadly unlike other games I mention that have aged I’m not sure this sort of thing would have the player base large enough to warrant remaking it although if someone wanted to do it I’d probably try it.

Mr Gimmick! (NES) Review

Mr Gimmick! (just Gimmick! in Japan) is a 1992 platformer for the NES developed and published by Sunsoft. You play as Yumetaro, a small green blob, on his journey to save the little girl that owns him from the toys that kidnapped her. Sadly because of the character designs not only do alot of people assume the game was for young children but Sunsoft of America completely refused to release it over there.

Loading up the game I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the music seemed from the very start and in the game, the graphics also looked quite nice too which included a olschool type of cutscene where you see the girl get the blob as a present from her parents and her kidnapping.

Being an old game there were no options but I did hear the game could get quite difficult, on top of that if you don’t find hidden objects in each of the stages you don’t go to the secret final stage and have to start again (sort of like the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic the Hedgehog games).

Getting into the game the controls were super easy to use but it was quick to show that it wouldn’t be that simple. Not only was the jump very adjustable but the star attack could also be jumped on top of if you time it correctly (you need to do that to reach the area where the first magic item is). What I found interesting was the attack lasts quite some time until it leaves the screen so it can really screw you over if you miss.

You could definitely tell that the game was going to be difficult considering the second screen was already throwing instant death spikes at you with instant death pits soon after among other things but since you felt you had plenty of controls over the character it was never that stressful that it would of been in another game. Each enemy was also quite interesting with how it moved and interacted with the player as well.

Bosses were just as interesting as the enemies although they did seem like they could just be spammed and the inclusion of carryable health potions sort of made them a bit of a joke, I did note however that its entirely possible to die just after you defeat a boss though with the 2nd bosses sword still damaging you if you walk into it for example.

What I found the weirdest though while playing this is while I found it quite difficult it felt that if I was to remember the layout of the short stages it would become so much easier, in fact I accidentally stumbled across the first 2 special items and its honestly quite clever how they’re hidden. Finding them grants you a lot of points so while you have to go out of the way to get them the first one nets you a few extra lives plus nothing can kill you in that area either. Note you can tell when you’ve gotten the item because the tiny flag on the world map on the beaten stage will be pink instead of white.

Overall this is a very enjoyable game and although I will probably cheat a little bit I’m determined to finish the game at some point. I recommend it to anyone that hasn’t played it and I thank the person that recommended it to me.

Adventures of Lolo (NES) Review

Adventures of Lolo is a 1989 puzzle game for the NES developed by HAL Laboratory and published by HAL America. The goal of the game is to guide Lolo through 50 levels in order to save his girlfriend Lala from the evil King Egger.

Before you get to the title screen you actually get to see a very simplistic ‘cutscene’ of Princess Lala being kidnapped by King Egger and fliying off to the castle in the distance. The title screen itself doesn’t actually look that good, while I’m ok with part of a logo like the characters name being bigger the difference between the two here just seems far too much.

Other than Start and Password there are no options so you get into the game rather quickly. I found it quite odd that Lolo is seen entering the castle after you choose start despite how far away it seemed in the opening.

When you get into the game the graphics are alright but the music does seem very repetitive. As for controls though they are super simple and you could probably figure out what to do even without reading the manual. The idea being to collect the hearts which sometimes give you ammo that lets you put enemies in bubbles to push out the way or use a second bubble to temporarily kill them. Collecting all the hearts opens the chest with a pearl in which kills all enemies and opens the exit when collected.

Of course its much more complicated than it sounds, not only do you have to use the bubble power sparingly but the game is quick to introduce different kinds of enemies. For example the 2nd level introduces enemies that will wake up and shoot fireballs in front of them once you’ve collected all the hearts while the third level introduces an enemy that walks around and will fall asleep if it bumps into you. Said enemy is easily the most annoying as the worst case scenario is having to press select which is pretty much a suicide button.

Every 5 levels counts as a different floor and to my surprise it already gets to a point of being challenging (to me at least) before you even get to the 10th level out of 50, not only are harder enemies introduced but you end up with multiple after you at once. On top of that you are also given powers which is actually just a way to foce you to collect the hearts in a certain order. Basically to activate the weapon you have to get enough hearts for it which is usually all of them except the one(s) you need the power for. I found it quite an interesting idea and I could tell it would get insane later considering you had 3 power slots.

It was really satisfying once you managed to beat a level especially when an enemy is chasing you down and you only just get to the pearl that kills them. Too bad I didn’t get as far as I wanted though since the later levels seemed like they’d need insane amounts of strategy but I enjoyed what I played (before losing over and over), you seemingly had infinite continues so I never got frustrated at it like I would with some other games.

Overall its quite a nice puzzle game and if you like these sorts of games I highly recommend giving it a try.

Blades of Steel (NES) Retro Review

Blades of Steel (or Konamic Ice Hockey in Japan) is a 1988 Ice Hockey simulation for the NES developed and published by Konami well known for quick paced action and the ability to start fist fights between 2 opposing players. Note while teams are fictional they are based on locations in the US and Canada.

While the title screen has no music the logo itself was quite nice with its quick animation and how it was voiced (even if voice audio on NES aged insanely). The usual Konami logo at the top is there which is a sign of there games (although I believe it might be copyright protection too). Note as always I cannot play 2 player although in this case I don’t need to.

When you load the menu you’re given the options between exhibition and tournament, with the former being a single game and the latter multiple matches in an attempt to win the cup. Either way you then choose a difficulty between Junior, College and Pro (although I always choose the middle for review purposes). After that its just a case of choosing your team (and the opponents if you’re on exhibition).

Despite the easy looking controls my first match of the review session was absolutely terrible yet I couldn’t really tell if it was the game being difficult or me being bad. From what I could tell I’d get too concentrated on blocking the opponents with whatever player I’m moving that I kept accidentally putting the keeper at the sides and letting them in. Kinda makes me wish it had the AI until chosen mechanics instead of automatically switching but I doubt that could exist in a NES game.

The graphics and music were quite good for its time although I found it odd how much attention to detail they put into Ice Hockey which even included a short little advert for other Konami games being played on a screen at one point. I’d of said it would get annoying at some point but considering the length of each match you’d probably only attempt to do the tournament once every so often.

What sets this apart from most Ice Hockey games is the ability to start fist fights with the opposite team, this happens if you bump into each other enough and honestly ifs super satisfying especially if (like me) you keep losing since I honestly found it the easiest part of the game. In fact you can apparently have 4 of the other players on the floor at once if your fast enough. Amusingly this was supposedly not something just added to the game for the fun of it but based on the fact fights do sometimes start in the real game (although I don’t watch it).

As dumb as it is to say I definitely enjoyed it more when I got more used to how it works and far more concentrated on my own goal keeper. It was especially satisfying to put the difficulty to Junior after finally winning a match in College so I could essentially destroy them. I don’t see me winning the in game tournament mode though.

Overall its an enjoyable game once you learn everything but at first it can be highly frustrating if you didn’t already know about it. I’d still give it a try for the fist fights though, its one of the best parts.

Sky Kid (NES) Retro Review

Sky Kid is a 1987 horizontal scrolling shooter for the NES developed and published by Namco. It might be interesting to note that its the first Namco game that allowed simultaneous 2 player.

 

 

While the logo looked quite nice I had to wonder what was with the tiny noise you heard when starting the game instead of any sort of tune. It was interesting to note that the 2 modes were named after the characters you play as instead of the generic 1 player and 2 player you’d see in most other games.

 

 

Going into this game with no prior experience was ultimately a bad idea as you actually fly from left to right and crashing into anything killed you. On top of this the music/sound wasn’t exactly that good and the colors seemed a little bit too bright as well.

Controls were really awkward at first, moving around seemed easy but shooting wasn’t. At first glance it looks like you can only shoot left in front and above and below diagonally depending on if you were flying up or down meaning crashing was surprisingly easy to do. Although you do also get a move where you do a 360 maneuver and while it is probably mainly for dodging you can shoot while using it making hitting enemies behind or below possible but extremely difficult.

 

 

The game got a little less impossible once I did a little research and learnt that holding up and rapidly hitting B actually lets you recover from being hit if you are fast enough. Although that was nothing compared to the awkward realization that despite getting through 2 of the levels (and getting stuck on the 3rd) I wasn’t really completing them at all. To “Bomb the Target” as you’re supposed to you have to pick up the bomb off the ground and then drop in on the target, the fact that this uses the B button and therefore temporarily disables the loop suggests this is worth ignoring if you aren’t already good at the game. Although I also realized the game even lets you skip the bit where it tells you to land and still lets you go to the next mission despite crashing.

Something weird I noticed that I feel like mentioning was that the game was surprisingly cheat proof on top of being hard, something as simple as autofire didn’t even register and even game genie didn’t help (other than infinite lives) as you couldn’t spam bombs and you could only slightly increase your firing rate.

Overall its an ok game but one of the many that I couldn’t enjoy that much because of how bad I am at it. Although this seems like something I could get ok at if I perhaps replaced the controller I use and played it for a bit longer so I can still recommend it.

Yoshi’s Cookie (GB/NES/SNES) Retro Review

Yoshi’s Cookie is a puzzle games for NES, SNES and Game Boy developed by Bullet-Proof Software and either published by them (SNES version) or by Nintendo (NES and GB versions). This is yet another incredibly pointless multi console review yet compared to the other Yoshi game this ended up on the SNES as well.

 

 

The fact there was a version on a newer generation of consoles compared to the other 2 already proved which one would be the better one. However it was interesting to note that the NES/GB got a different title screen with a little cutscene of sorts which I thought was actually better than the weird animated title screen the SNES version got. Some people might even prefer the 8 bit version of the theme tune on the NES too.

All 3 versions have 1P (Action on the SNES) which is the normal stages with the speed/stage/music selections you see in some other games as well as VS which is you VS either a player or a CPU. However the SNES version also has a puzzle mode where you have to clear the screen (which is how you clear stages in Action anyway so no screenshot needed).

 

 

The SNES version is obviously the best in terms of graphics actually having backgrounds and stuff with the music being better too. The NES version is passable though.

The gameplay was quite simple to work out, essentially you could move columns up or down or rows left and right in order to match the cookies up and hopefully clear the board. You also have the things at the side (which I never worked out what its for).

At first it seems quite simple but after a few rounds you starts to see how hard it really is. Instead of only having to match a certain number you have to complete the entire row column which means the more rows there is the harder it’ll be. On top of that more cookies are added if you are too slow and if they reach the edge you lose. I found this quite interesting.

Puzzle stages are essentially clearing out set patterns with only a few moves which is a nice addition to the game. Its actually really satisfying when you get them right.

 

 

Last thing I tried checking out was the VS mode despite the fact i had no one to play with, oddly enough the NES version was the only one that didn’t have a character select or an AI opponent (the SNES version lets you choose AI or 2P).

Also with the GB version being such a downgrade it couldn’t even show the second player so you’re stuck with a slowly rising bar instead making it less of a vs battle and more of a time attack with annoying stuff thrown in randomly.

The thing is no matter how many times I played it i could never really get used to any of the effects and didn’t really have an idea of what does what. On top of that I felt that the AI was overly difficult or at least I wouldn’t feel so bad if i had lost against a player, I think It’d actually be fun if I did that.

Overall its quite a decent game and the NES version is still ok if you want to collect it but its obvious the SNES version shines above them and the Game Boy version died of old age forever ago.

Monster Party (NES) Retro Review

Monster Party is a 1989 Platformer for the NES developed by Human Entertainment and published by Bandai. The game pays homage to /parodies various classic horror monsters and locations throughout the game. The version I’m playing is a restoration hack based on the unreleased Japanese prototype and what the game could have looked like if not for copyright and Nintendo of America’s strict censorship.

The aim of the game is to go through levels looking through doors to get the key to win the level whilst beating enemies and bosses.

 

 

Definitely an interesting title screen with the huge mouth and the monsters walking past, looks so much better with red (blood) instead of green (goo). I wasn’t so sure about the music, it wasn’t bad but considering the game its in I wasn’t sure it fit. Although its all seems to be like that so its easy to get used to.

The story seems a little bit dumb and surprisingly it was always meant to be like that and isn’t a consequence of censorship like I initially thought.

 

 

Starting the game the graphics seem a bit bad, the trees are blocky for instance but the sudden change in the middle of the first level was awesome (see screenshot) and the graphics from then on are pretty decent. The music even gets much better when that happens too, oddly enough this is present in the released version and its been questioned how it got past censors. The controls were easy to figure out since you only have 1 attack which personally seems quite bad.

At first glance the game seems insanely unfair, you have you incredibly short range bat and they have projectiles, you also only have one life and the first door you walk in seems to be a miniboss (which is a homage to little shop of horrors like it was meant to be unlike the generic thing it got replaced with).

However what you may not realise if you play this without looking it up is that all projectiles can be reflected back which is essentially the players true attack and the only possible way to beat bosses. Its quite hard to do at first but I can say for certain the second i realized it I got hit a lot less. Also while you have one life the possible health you can have is quite a lot which can be refilled if you take advantage of the fact enemies reappear if you walk away after killing them and come back.

 

 

While the bosses were plentiful and unique they sometimes seemed a bit too hard, I don’t know how you were meant to beat that pumpkin ghost but there’s probably a trick to it. After all I easily beat Medusa by being as close as possible and attacking her head with the bat which reflected her projectiles the instant they appeared (I felt quite smart after working that out).

While I didn’t make it that far at all I can say that i enjoyed playing it, this may be another of the old games that would benefit from getting a remake especially if they got permission to use the copyrighted characters it was meant to have.

Overall, I think its a decent platformer that should be tried out at least once although people that don’t like hard games should probably steer clear of it.

If you want to play the hacked version I did you’ll need the original rom (from anywhere), the restoration patch and Lunar Ips to apply said patch (ask and I’ll add links to the post).

Marble Madness (NES) Retro Review

Marble Madness is a 1984 arcade game for the NES developed and published by Atari Games. In the game the player is tasked in controlling a marble through stages filled with holes and obstacles before your time runs out. The original arcade version is known to be the best as it uses a trackball but since I don’t have one there’s no point playing that version.

 

 

Kinda weird that is had a credits screen before the title and the silence was a bit awkward. At least the logo looked quite cool.

Note I cannot play 2 player for obvious reasons although from what I’ve seen the game can get frustrating as its the kind that forces both players to stay together or risk dying.

 

 

The graphics seem good enough for the game itself and the variety of music is nice (even if you are rushing through levels and can’t really stop and appreciate it). Controls started off seemingly impossible although you got used to them surprisingly quickly with the 2 options (45 and 90 degrees) being really helpful. I managed to get 22,330 on the first try of the review session for example.

What really gives the game the challenge is the obstacles and a few anti-rush mechanics. Not only is there weird leaping things, moving acid puddles and even what seems like hammers to get past but you can’t fall from very high without the marble smashing into pieces (unlike a real marble). People could find that annoying but ultimately the game is already short and doesn’t need to be any shorter.

 

 

What I like about the game is just how quickly you can improve and the satisfaction of beating a previous score. For example I netted 29,360 points 2nd attempt of the session. One thing that I didn’t like about the game though was the fact that the time carried over from each level and you are only given some extra time on top of it. This meant that to even have a chance to get to the last level you have to practically be an expert at the earlier stages.

Sadly for me though I could never get past the “Silly” stage although I can easily say the fact i kept trying proved that the game is quite enjoyable and makes a good time waster.

Overall I think its quite a good game, its sad how overlooked this game was although the main reason was how late this was released.

Happily Ever After (NES) Prototype Review

Happily Ever After (originally Snow White) is an unreleased Platformer for the NES developed by SOFEL which was meant to be based on a film that came out around the same time it announced which bombed. The game kept getting pushed back although the prototype that was recently dumped says 1991.

 

 

The game starts with explaining the story and as it turns out Happily Ever After is actually a sequel to Snow White (probably an unofficial one), you can kind of tell why the movie it was based on would do badly. Also its strange that the Title screen has “/99/” since that would suggest it was pushed all the way back to 1999 which may or may not an entire console generation after the NES. It has a bit of a weird map screen and the distance you go just to get to stage 1 suggests its a very small game.

 

See anything missing?

 

Getting into the game I noticed the graphics were a bit weird and the music was quite repetitive but luckily neither of them were to the point of being annoying. The controls were a bit weird though, as well as just A is jump and B is attack (which she does by spinning) pressing B fast pauses the game and activates one of her unlocked powers. In fact the craziest thing would be that lives and hp are the same thing, getting hit essentially takes a whole life off you every time. It started getting annoying very quickly.

 

I basically spoiled 1/4 of the game with 2 pics…

 

There were also bosses and I wasn’t that sure they were programmed that well and even the first one seemed impossible… if you stay in front. Staying in front meant getting hit every time especially since your attack is a super close range one, however if you take a hit and walk through it the boss doesn’t turn around and its a bit more possible.

Although it almost seems on purpose since the 2nd level of just a few pulls a particurlarly nasty trick with a bridge. In fact the ability system might as well have been done like that to screw people over because you rarely actually need any of them, in fact it would of been better to just scrap the thing entirely.

The 4th (and already final) turns the game into a maze just to be annoying and even threw a pointless boss rush in your face before the big boss who didn’t even turn into a dragon, he just jump backward and forward while shooting annoying projectiles at you and being generally impossible to beat (although I had to cheat to get there in the first place). It was at that point I knew the game was shit and never did deserve to be released.

Overall while its a good thing that a prototype has been found its sadly not of a very good game. You can’t let it off because its a prototype if the date is true as it would mean they had quite some time to improve on everything.

Links
Download the rom here.
PrinceWatercress’ LetsPlay.

Crystalis (NES) Retro Review

Crystalis (or God Slayer: Haruka Tenku no Sonata or God Slayer: Sonata of the Faraway Sky in Japan) is a 1990 Action RPG for the NES developed and published by SNK. The game follows a man who wakes up from a cryogenic sleep 100 years after a nuclear war with no memories of his past soon discovers he might be the key to saving the world. Can’t say the story sounds that good from the description.

The little story bit it goes straight into was quite nice and although these sorts of ‘cutscenes’ are heavily outdated they still have their own charm. Plus you can’t deny thats a pretty cool logo with a perfectly resting in the middle as a T. So was the short ‘cutscene’ afterwards.

Getting into the game the graphics and music was still quite good. The walking controls were very easy although the fact you immediately talked to anyone you walked up to was a bit weird. It was also a bit strange that the pause screen was only for viewing stats like your name, condition, attack etc while you had to press select to go to a very simplistic equip/items screen. However once you had done that you could leave and start fighting creatures straight away although you can’t attack diagonally. You can hold down the attack button and shoot a bullet like thing which easily makes up for it though. Sadly doesn’t stop me dying alot.

There was also a bit of grinding involved which i find ok although i acknowledge some don’t. Basically there was an item you needed in the store and while you could of bought it with the money given to you at the start i was already saving up for a shield after using it to buy armor.

Playing for a lot longer i felt that it did get harder quite fast, perhaps i should of stayed in each area more so it didn’t seem like so much of a jump. The reason why it seemed that way though is for 3 reasons. 1st reason is the area near the second town has parts of floor that hurt you. Secondly enemies can throw in all directions while you can’t and thirdly there are some enemies you can’t damage yet on top of that though luckily Zebu will stop you from going in some areas too early.

This didn’t really detract from my enjoyment though, simply meant i didn’t feel like playing it as long as i would’ve after being in the same area for a while. I did get further after playing longer but by that time i was too burned out to carry on.

Overall its quite a good game and while it obviously has a few problems i can easily see why people like it. I’d recommend it to people that like this sort of game. I may even play it again at some point and update this review, in fact i should probably compare it to the GBC remake that no one seems to like.

If you want to play this you either have to get a real copy you can search Ebay or if you are are ok with emulators you can get it for EmuParadise.