Connor Nichols's Reviews
I cannot say the same about this port, since it is plagued with a lot of annoyances and problems that make this one of the last places I’d advise you play the game. From audio pitch glitches, barebones options, the lack of save states or an autofill password feature, and a tiny smidge of input lag, this is an incredibly barren port, and for the $10 price, double that of an old NES VC title from back in the day, it is honestly pretty upsetting to see such a fantastic game presented in such a barebones fashion.
I am pleased to say that this still is an outstanding puzzler, from the best, most engaging puzzle mode in the franchise, a fantastic scorechaser world, and decent online multiplayer, Puzzle Bobble Everybubble still shows that Taito can nail a lot of aspects that make the franchise fun to play.
Bugged credits aside, I am pretty impressed with how this game was brought over after all this time, and the treatment here really does give me hope that the other 3 games will follow suit. The original Shockman is rather janky, but it still has a lot of charm to it and is pretty decent fun in co-op, and for the price point + extras, this is definitely a PCE classic worth playing through at least once, especially if you are fond of the sequel that did make it over back in the day.
Magical Drop VI’s core gameplay is still fantastic, and honestly did a damn fine job at bringing back the frantic gameplay that made me addicted to III all those many years ago, polishing it up with a great new coat of paint. Unfortunately, MDVI’s idea of replay value is not that of scorechasing or online, but needless amounts of padding to unlock the full current roster.
Gematombe is a really clever blend of two puzzle genres, and in concept, it works out remarkably well, with a lot of addictive potential. Sadly, the pacing of the game is a really big issue, and even when the difficulty is cranked up, the game never feels as frantic or speedy as it should have been. I feel like if this game style was played in say, a Super Turbo style of speed, I’d be singing a lot more praise for this competitive brick breaker and go back to it a lot, but as it stands now, Gematombe has a long way to go and is rather content lite.
Still, with how beautifully this game runs on Switch (hardly a hitch or dip to be seen during my 3.5 hours of play), I’m very pleased to have experienced this tribute, as Lunark is definitely one done with a lot of love and attention to the genre, even with all the genre-bound frustrations.
Not a bad port job, but horrible in value, so much so to the point I can only in earnest recommend this at a steep discount or if you are that desperate for a physical edition. The fact they couldn’t even throw in as much as a scanned flyer in-game speaks volumes.
Just, maybe play this game on anything that isn’t the Switch for the sake of not having a bad framerate or godawful scrolling, since after finally giving it an honest marathon session, I easily can see that being a dealbreaker for some like it was for me, and no matter how many times I tried to throw myself at this game in hopes the performance would be something I could get around, it just came back like a recurring nightmare.
Sure, it definitely feels steeply expensive compared to stuff like the great Gleylancer port, but with how stellar the core game is and the sheer amount of effort poured to include nearly everything imaginable, this just might be the new gold standard of a standalone retro port. Definitely a case where the price reflects the quality.
80’s Overdrive on 3DS is a pretty decent racer, with only the 3D effect really going for it as the huge reason to play it on the 3DS over any other console. But on other platforms, it got a little bit of extra polish and rebalacing, and honestly, if you can get past the rough patches and difficulty spikes, this 3DS version is still a worthy 3D showcase before the shutdown in a few days, and is still pretty darn fun to play once you get over those initial hurdles.
A great gameplay loop, a variety of fun characters to toy around with, awesome remixes, loving tributes to Jaleco as a whole, and all sorts of fun stages to replay and scorechase like the Hell content and the Ranking stage, The Great Yokai Battle + Hell is a definite must-own, and is easily the best entry in the entire Jajamaru franchise, both serving as a loving tribute to the five famicom games it pulls from, and being a fun way to modernize a very simple arcade-style game and add so, so much depth to it.
What you see is what you get, but as a fitting end to the Wii U eShop reviews, I feel Block Paradise is a good afternoon of puzzling action regardless of where you play it, and definitely worth spending that last bit of eShop cash.
The Lost RPGs should be a good pair: a very average, but common for the time Dragon Quest clone, and a solid Zelda-like action RPG that would be well worth your time. Unfortunately, the sheer stupidity of such a major bug in The Golden Castle completely soured my mood for this pair of games, since I cannot fathom why such a core part of the game would be bugged in such a way that nobody seemingly caught onto it.
Still, while the other Toaplan games I covered may be known names and classics, titles like OutZone prove that even the obscurities deserve to have a light shined on them, and can even be better than you may expect, if you dive in and take up arms...
Even if that meme of an intro is planned to be added in the future, I really can only recommend you dive into this one if you buy the other three in the bundle: good weaponry, music and QOL still can’t do much to save an otherwise average shooter from developers who could do so much more.
Make no mistake, this reimagining is easily the definitive take on Akka Arrh, especially if you compare this modern entry to the original in Atari 50 and see just how much Minter was able to evolve the concept test marketed all those decades ago, and finally realizing it in an addictive fashion that modernizes the game a while also adding great scorechasing elements, just like he did with Tempest before.
Unfortunately, while the emulation is generally pretty good, there’s barely any features to speak of, with a confusing save state system that does nobody any sort of favors, and the NES game being left completely as is without so much of a manual or any other QOL mechanics, with the obscure, decent gem of a Game Boy title ported over without freaking Game Boy palette options or a LCD filter.
Whichever regional variant you decide to try, I can safely say Twin Cobra is definitely worth a full playthrough, port quirks aside, and this game is especially suited for those handy online leaderboards.
Still solidly made with a few hours of fun to kill if you don’t mind the excessive fetch quests, but nothing that’ll impress fans of platformers or help get non-fans like me into the series.
Definitely a solid port all around, and I desperately hope the sequel comes along solely for the sake of the great accessibility options making Truxton II close to a more playable, fair experience. Not bad for a starting effort!