Category Archives: 6 Star Games

Metroid Prime: Hunters Review

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It’s time for a portable Metroid Prime. This definitely changes things up since the DS is a very different console than the Gamecube or Wii. In some ways the most tragic thing is that this would have been amazing for the home consoles but alas the DS does begin to show the cracks in its armor here. The main drawback is absolutely the fact that the game is extremely painful. You can feel it breaking your wrists as you try to move the screen and fight the enemies. By the end you will have had a true workout but not one that was really intentional from the game design.

The Federation calls on Samus to stop yet another alien infection across the universe but this time there will be competition. A bunch of other hunters have decided to step in for a grand prize that is said to be present on one of these planets. Samus must crush all of these guys but they are professionals as well so it won’t be so easy. She will have to really focus up and may have to use new abilities that she never had before.

At this point it is a running gag that Samus absorbs just about every kind of creature and energy that she can over the course of the series. She has had the powers of darkness, the dread, and other mysterious energies in each game. They just never stop and yet she is still around so Samu is made of sterner stuff. This game decides to leverage that in a different way but letting her have elemental abilities. Yes, in this game you have around 6 different powers like ice, electricity, fire, and other attacks.

It makes for some really fun variety as you keep on blasting away at all the opponents. The vania aspect is naturally still around but the worlds are much smaller and bite sized so you won’t get lost as much. To counteract that, the game doesn’t actually display the map so you have to pause every time you want to look at it. A most regrettable game design choice if you ask me. You want to be able to see where you’re going even in a smaller world.

Still, the main issue here is the gameplay itself. You have to use your stylus in order to move the screen and attack the monsters. This results in a whole lot of moving but it’s clearly geared towards someone who is right handed. As a leftie myself, this was really tough. You have to tilt your hand in an unnatural way in order to get to the enemies. There is a whole lot of combat here like the constant mandatory minibosses so your hand will be sweating it out during that.

Additionally, these minibosses will re spawn every time you enter their room so if you get lost or just have to backtrack because of a mandatory power up, you will have to face them again. This makes for a pretty rough amount of tedious gameplay because you aren’t getting anything from these battles. At least if it was an RPG you would be getting stronger and stronger but that’s not the case here.

The graphics are pretty good. We have actual cutscenes here which is nice and of course the gameplay is sharp. The soundtrack is also good even if it isn’t nearly at the level of the main primes. It’s just hard to make it through without the big Ridley or Dark Samus themes. It still gets the job done and as a whole it’s clear that they put a lot of effort into this one. It’s quite advanced for a portable game and plays like the real home console versions.

As always Prime just needs to tone down some of the weaker gameplay design elements and then this would be a more fun adventure. The stylus controls were naturally a terrible decision right from the start but also the forced mini bosses doesn’t make sense. I’d also argue for more quick travel points in general but it seems like the Prime games just tend to avoid that for all of the titles. This is still a third person shooter though so at the end of the day it will be satisfying to shoot down the opponents. The large variety of weapons is fun after all and some of them are super broken like the electricity. That one is definitely a lot of fun to spam at enemies.

You do have to use the stylus to switch abilities so that can get a bit tedious but on the whole it works out well enough. Just slow down when you need to and that can make a world of difference. Pure difficulty-wise it is definitely tougher than Prime 3 but not quite as hard as Prime 2 so it’s somewhere in the middle there. Not exactly a walk in the park but you’ll get enough power ups through the course of the game to claim victory in the end. If you die, there are restart points so you don’t have to run to the boss. You just restart the fight which is a great quality of life update.

Overall, Metroid Prime: Hunters is a good game. It would have been a very good one but unfortunately the pain is just too much for me to put it any higher. I suppose if you are right handed then you can add an extra star to this game and have a blast. Otherwise I can’t say that I would fully recommend it though. You’re better off skipping ahead and getting Prime 3 or going back and playing Metroid Fusion. In either case you are getting a much stronger experience there. Prime Hunters does add some fun characters to the mix like actually getting other opponent hunters but that just isn’t enough to overcome that gameplay.

Overall 6/10

Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes Review

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It’s time to finally check out the second Metroid Prime. It’s been many years since I played the original so it’s about time that I get onto the sequel right? Prime 2 does a great job of getting a more intense atmosphere than the first game but still does deal with a lot of the big issues you’d expect from a Metroidvania. Additionally, the game is lacking in quite a few of the quality of life updates you would hope for.

The story starts off with Samus landing on a planet where all federation staff were wiped out by some odd zombie creatures. As she goes deeper into the planet, she really sees just how vicious the massacre was. Now she needs to eliminate this threat before she leaves the planet or it could spread across the solar system. Will she be able to fight off all of the aliens…even Dark Samus?

One thing I can say for the game right away is that it starts off with a very memorable beginning. Getting to see how the aliens took over through the flashbacks was really good. I also enjoyed all of Dark Samus’ appearances and fights throughout the game. That villain was an absolute standout and I can see why even Ridley had some competition in terms of popularity. Dark Samus is the big mastermind here and is one step ahead for most of the game.

Unfortunately the game is very front loaded when it comes to the cutscenes. The story really starts to taper off after the initial levels to the point where there will be large gaps in time where there is no big story updates. So for the most part it is just about you solving the puzzles. The puzzles can also range from being reasonably fun to incredibly tedious.

The biggest issue that plagued the game was how you had the light and dark modes. This gimmick meant that you would have to look for a portal to take you to the other side. Each side is a complete duplication except that each one has different power ups. So you will be going through the same rooms over and over again as you switch back and forth. It would have been nice to have been able to have just stuck to one side since it would have been less repetitious.

This also meant if you used up your light or dark energy, you would have to go around looking for enemies or crates to smash in order to replenish. I can tell you that this wasn’t always easy. Sometimes you would have to go through several rooms in order to find what you’re looking for. These are small things that would really begin to add up.

Aside from that there is also no quick travel until you reach the climax of the game. So you have to run a long way to get to a portal to go from world to world. Honestly even the quick travel we do get is incredibly limited so I suppose I shouldn’t give that too much credit either. It feels like a game where they did not prioritize the consumer as much as they should have.

The soundtrack is really good though. The Dark Samus theme is really quite incredible and I also liked several other themes that play during the game. There was definitely no effort spared on this one and it worked out very well. The graphics are solid throughout and that definitely helps to ramp up your enjoyment. Ultimately if the technical elements were not as good then this game could have been in real trouble.

As far as the gameplay goes, it’s not bad. The thing is, I’m still not a big fan of the FPS style of gameplay. It’s okay but the camera work just doesn’t do me any favors. I will always take a more zoomed out style where I can actually see the character. The combat works well enough but you spend more time running around rooms and trying to scan everything in order to trigger the next level.

Maybe in a way the game realized this and so there are mandatory mini boss battles every time you enter some specific rooms. Trust me when I say this gets old pretty fast. You don’t want to have to continue beating up the same opponents over and over again. That’s not really going to make things any more exciting. Especially since it’s not like there is an exp system here with level ups and everything. That would change things.

I’d say this is a game where the gimmicks really held it back. No switching between worlds and this would already be better. That said, it’s still not a bad game or anything. While getting lost for the 50th time will hurt, at the end of the day it is a game where you will gradually get stronger as you go on. The more you get used to the controls as well, the more you will be blowing your opponents away. So don’t lose heart and every 2 hours or so the game will even throw in a hint.

Overall, Metroid Prime 2 is a good game but it is carried a bit by the soundtrack and graphics. It’s a game where you could easily picture it being an amazing title if it was more of a classic 3D action brawler. Metroid should consider leaning more into that kind of gameplay someday if you ask me. Well either way if you played Metroid Prime 1 then you should play the sequel. It’s very similar in a lot of ways after all and you want to continue the saga. You will definitely be missing the daylight early on though as just about all of Prime 2 is indoors compared to 1 where you got to be outdoors at times. Hopefully Prime 2 is able to give us a little more balance there. All I need is at least some brighter level backgrounds.

Overall 6/10

Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 Review

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It’s time for a very emotional game. Poppy’s Playtime has been a fairly intense video game series where almost every journey ends with tragedy. Most of the characters do not get a happy ending and at this point they are just hoping to get out of this place alive. It’s hard to say how many chapters there will be but this one does feel as though we are approaching the ending. Potentially just one chapter left now but we’ll have to see how that goes. This was my first journey where it was just one chapter by itself so that was different. It does mean that the game goes a lot faster than the collection.

Chapter 3 ended with the hero finally getting close to the safe haven so things should go well from here. Poppy will go check on Missy while you go forward to save the day. The only thing you did not count on was that the danger is still ever present. Well, I guess you probably did figure on that to be honest. You’ll have to use your wits and reflexes to stay alive once more because these villains still intend to destroy you as soon as they can. There may not be a whole lot of enemies left but each one packs a punch. Are any of the creatures on your side? Or are you walking right into a trap?

Along the way you will learn a lot of lore through your surroundings as well as the various audio tapes. They can get a little repetitive at times though as it feels like the game is drip-feeding you the information much slower than before. You need multiple tapes just for the characters to be begging for their lives during the experiments. It’s pretty clear that the villains got away with a whole lot back in the lab and you can definitely see why they are all eliminated.

The gameplay itself is solid but the story does often tread into the valleys of being a little too extra grim dark. You’re more interested in the present and staying alive than the mystery of what happened before. Personally I would say the best thing for the game to do would be to keep it as secretive as possible. The more open you keep the past, the better it will work for theory crafting. I suppose its existence does give the game a lot of replay value though as I’m sure a whole lot of people enjoy going through the rooms slowly to try and find every possible collectible. Even outside of those, you will often find messages on the tables and walls .

I would say the core gameplay is platforming but there is also a lot of puzzle solving. You need to connect different objects and also piece together patterns. For the most part the game is reasonable with these but there was one puzzle involving anatomy that I thought was a little unreasonable. I had to brute force it and am still not really sure how to do it logically. The red smoke made it so hard to explore and it felt like this puzzle had a number of red herrings. That only made things even trickier. When it comes to the platforming itself, I found it to be much easier than the third game. I still did die a whole lot during the game but nothing quite as crazy as the final boss in part 3.

The toughest segments for me here were typically when I had to use stealth and get past the monster. Their hearing is quite sharp and sometimes their speeds were lightning quick. It’s why I was really grateful for all the checkpoints in the game. Without that it would have definitely taken even longer to complete the game. It would certainly be easier if we could carry a better weapon. The flare gun that the lead has is okay but certainly not the most powerful thing around. It’s mostly good for just scaring the opposition.

The story took around 3 hours to beat and we got over half of the collectibles but not quite all of them. The platinum trophy actually looks rather difficult so that would add a lot of replay value. Of course keep in mind that the game is fairly cheap even when it just came out so it makes the play time a lot more tolerable. You are still getting a good amount of value for your purchase with this one.

The graphics are also pretty solid here. The game definitely does get the horror vibe across well. Even I got startled a few times in the game when I would get caught. It’s a mix of well placed sound design as well as a color scheme that just really works with this. It’s hard not to get scared at least a little while playing the game. The soundtrack is less impressive but I do get why they would do that. If the soundtrack got too hype or something like that then it could definitely take away from the scare factor of it all.

My main complaint with the game would be that it does have the most breaks in action. Or at least it felt that way where there would be several points of listening to long monologues from the villains while you can’t move. With the audio tapes those are optional and you can still move so that’s fine but when you can’t move you wish the villains would pick up the pace a bit. You also figure they should have been able to beat the main character several times so the longer they talk, the more you have to suspend a little disbelief here. It’ll be interesting to see who the main character is by the end. By this point all signs are pointing to him not being some ordinary human.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 isn’t quite ready to give us any of the important answers but you still feel that we are getting closer to the end. There just aren’t many villains left to defeat after all and it’s also the kind of game where I’m not expecting that we will get all of the answers. Although there will likely be a lot of them that I just don’t notice during the main story so that’ll be where Youtube comes in handy. If you’ve been keeping up with Poppy then you should definitely jump in now. The game is reasonably difficult and quite intense so you will definitely be kept interested the whole time.

Overall 6/10

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault Review

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Gradius definitely looked like a fun game right from the jump but I was still surprised to see that it had a bit of a real storyline going for it. We got actual little cutscenes between levels and a real ending. So I was impressed there and it helps make up for how short the game is. There are only 6 levels here after all, although the game is exceptionally difficult so it will feel like a lot more than that at different points.

The main story sees you fighting off a powerful alien invasion. These creatures have the advantage in sheer numbers as well as technology. You will be using a lone plane to try and take them all down. The game is a 2D shooter where you can gain new weapons and abilities as you go through the levels. It won’t be easy without a doubt but you will certainly be able to help even the playing field this way. The key is to make sure you don’t grab the wrong weapon because it overwrites the one you had on previously. Some weapons can be combined though. As you gain item boxes, you see which slot is highlighted and pressing the A button will give you that ability. The letter stands for each one, L for Laser for example. So choose your abilities carefully and you should be all set.

Personally my favorite combination was the laser blasts with the shield and rocket. It covers your front pretty well and the shield also buys you a little time. The lasers seem to do a little less damage than the spread shot machine gun but I liked the speed. So you will need to find the right combination that works for you and then the rest will really come into place. Additionally, it’s fair to say that you need fast reaction times here. Most of the bosses revolve around you hitting the weak point but that’s the area where it rapid fires all of the attacks from. So if you don’t watch out then you’re gonna be in trouble.

The graphics are definitely more on the old school side. They’re not terrible or anything but they won’t be standing out. When you recommend this game to someone, you’re probably not going to be talking about the graphics. At least I doubt that you will. Instead it will come down to the soundtrack. That part’s okay but nothing too memorable either so maybe instead just focus on the gameplay. It’s a simple but effective game with how it controls. It’s easy to pick up but difficult to master.

There isn’t really any replay value to be found here so you should keep that in mind. Of course if you’re playing it on the Switch Online then that is more of a non factor since you won’t have to pay anything extra to check this one out. Instead you can just dive in and enjoy it. As long as the game is fun, it helps to override the length to an extent. It’s still not going to make a name for itself as one of the top NES titles or anything like that but I would say it is still good enough in the end.

Overall, Gradius is a good game. It’s not really anything to write home about but at the same time I give it points for just being a fun title. No real gimmicks or desperate attempts to try something new. Instead it settles for just being a fun space shooter. Perhaps that is a result of the game being fairly old so this was still new territory or the devs were just that confident. Either way it is a title that has withstood the test of time and I can really recommend it to any gamer.

Overall 6/10

Kirby’s Star Stacker Review

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It’s time for one of those Kirby games that is so obscure nobody has heard of it. I didn’t think this was even possible but sure enough, it was a whole new experience. I could finally see what the retro Kirby was like. The game is fun enough but a bit on the limited side. It adds a new dimension to the stacking type of games with how the gameplay works but once you’re past that gimmick there isn’t really anything else left. At that point you’ve really seen everything that the game has to offer. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but it does mean the gameplay really needs to impress you.

There are 4 difficulty levels here. The first two are super easy, the last one is super tough. So you could say the third one is the best level to get familiar with things. Basically you need to make matches with at least two items of the same type. When you match enough of them, you summon stars to defeat King Dedede. Additionally there are stars scattered throughout the level and matching two items across from a star will automatically use it as well. This is where the main gimmick comes in. It’s not enough to be making basic matches here, you need to get really creative and make matches from long distance. If you can pull this off then you will be able to beat the levels easily.

The first difficulty has 8 levels and each level takes around 25 seconds so this is fast. The next one has 16 levels and they take around a minute so that’s a bit longer. Then the final one presumably has 32 with the third being 24 but I don’t know for sure. With the final one I just had fun doing a few levels here and there but by the end it definitely got old. Not the kind of game where I felt like I absolutely had to complete everything.

There is no story here after all so you’re just playing for the love of the game at this point. You go through all of the levels to prove to yourself that you still have what it takes. While there is some repetition, it’s not like the game is super long or anything. I can see why this one wasn’t remembered very well though because ultimately it’s just not going to last very long. I imagine even if you bought the game for full price on day 1, you probably wouldn’t stick with it for more than a week. Even that is probably an overly cautious estimate. There’s also just not a whole lot to say about the game in general either because the gameplay is so simple. Not in a bad way but it means that everyone knows what you are talking about right away.

The graphics aren’t bad but of course there are no colors for the Game Boy titles when playing on the Switch. Kind of removes any charm the game might have had there. The soundtrack wasn’t bad though. Nothing particularly memorable I gotta say but it still gets the job done well enough. Ultimately this is a Kirby title after all and you’re just happy to see the little guy running around. The game has a very calm atmosphere about it.

At least with the highest difficulty there is a real challenge here if you want one. If they ever announced a sequel I would be interested but it would definitely be conditional on their adding more content to the game. Throw in a story and I’ll have fun no matter what the gameplay is like. Trust me, that’s really all I need there. At least if you want me to spend money on a game. Now the next Kirby game for me to play might be the elusive Planet Robo.

Overall, Kirby’s Star Stacker is a good game but it doesn’t really bring a whole lot to the table. Nowadays you would expect this to be the kind of game that you would find on the app store for free. Buying it as an actual paid title is just crazy. Even if you really enjoy the Tetris type gameplay, there is a real lack of content here. Ultimately I would not be able to defend it. Of course you tend to be a little softer on it when you end up playing the game for free. At least that’s the way I see it.

Overall 6/10

Killer Instinct Gold Review

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Killer Instinct is a pretty fun fighting game in some respects but it also does feel its age in others. The gameplay could stand to be a whole lot smoother than it currently is. Landing combos is also really difficult due to the way that the combo system is set up. You have to manually find the attacks that line up and go from there. This will vary from character to character of course so if you were thinking about any auto combos, well you can forget about those.

The game mainly revolves around the vs mode and arcade. The vs is about what you would expect as you fight someone and get to see who has really mastered the controls. It’s one of those modes that has endless replay value and it’s why multiplayer games are so good. You know that no matter what, this will still be around for whenever you need it. That said, it also comes down to how much you like the gameplay itself. A fun thing about Arcade mode is it does let you change characters every time you lose so you don’t have to get stuck with anyone. By the end of the Arcade playthrough I had played as every character. I knew that I just had to do it.

They all just feel a bit on the clunky side though. I can tell you that beating arcade mode was incredibly tough and took me many attempts. In fact, I can’t even really say that I completed the game because the final boss has a special gimmick where you can only beat him with a launcher combo. The problem is I couldn’t figure out how to do that so I would defeat him over and over again but he would just regenerate. Really a crazy boss and I can only imagine renting the game from Blockbuster and then trying to take him down.

It just wouldn’t fly. So that’s a bit of an annoying way to finish off the campaign but it’s not like there is a whole lot of story to the title either. At the end of the day it’s a retro fighting game where you can test your fundamentals and have a good time. There’s really not a whole lot more to it beyond that. So just get your game on and then you should be all set.

The graphics look pretty good for the game. That part has definitely aged really well. The colors are striking and I like the fact that the levels even seem a bit interactable. The soundtrack is good too so the technical elements are all in order. If the game could have just had a better gameplay style then this would have really been a very solid experience. I think the fix would be a mix of increasing hit stun on all of the attacks and just naturally letting certain blows connect to each other. At that point, once the hits are connected then it’s more fun since the whole game would become more fast paced. It encourages you to really go in and try to do something instead of all the random button mashing.

There’s not a whole lot more I can ask for from such an old game but this is one that I think would be pretty reasonable. Most games have basic combos as the standard after all and this one would have just needed to match that and it would have been all set. I can see why the series never hit it off to the same level as Street Fighter and Tekken. It definitely would have needed that extra gameplay boost.

I can say that the character designs are fun though. The roster will keep you entertained and it’s not even as small as you might have assumed for such an old game. The characters feel like interesting elseworld versions of popular characters like Predator and Sub Zero. Definitely one way to get around all that copyright I suppose.

Overall, Killer Instinct Gold is a good game but it could have been better. The fact that it is a fighting game is really the only thing keeping it afloat. Otherwise there’s just not a whole lot to say about it. If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you may as well check it out while it’s there but otherwise I’d say you can definitely find way better titles within the genre. No reason to stick with this one for too long.

Overall 6/10

ESWAT: City Under Siege Review

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The Genesis adventures continue here as we get a more traditional 2D shooter. This is one of those games I had definitely not heard of before so it was pretty interesting to see what it is like. The graphics are good and the soundtrack is nice. I would say my only issue is how huge the main character is. That may sound like an odd issue but the problem is that it makes dodging any attack rather difficult. You are constantly on the defensive and a single hit will deal a whole lot of damage.

You start out as a basic guy with a gun but then in the middle levels you play as a guy in a mecha suit that can fly around with limited fuel. It’s a pretty fun way of adding onto the gameplay and not letting things get stale. You also have a whole lot of attack options while you are in the mech suit like rockets, a mega buster, fire blast, etc. I ended up going with the buster because to me it seems like easily the best weapon of the bunch. You can charge it up to fire really powerful blasts or just spam it like a normal gun.

The toughest boss in the game is a large drill that keeps on hopping around and you can only injure it at very precise moments. So being able to use the buster with its wide range was incredibly helpful. Without that it would have taken a lot longer to defeat. Each of the bosses were quite difficult though and I would say this is probably one of the harder Genesis games. You are constantly outnumbered by a large amount of opponents and if you let your guard down at all then you are in trouble. The game forces you to constantly be aware of what’s going on.

Additionally while the game is mainly a 2D platformer, it is not always linear. Sometimes you have to hit switches and go in doors to open new pathways. If you miss the right exit and go to an old area then you will have to do a lot more fighting because this is the kind of game where all enemies respawn immediately once they are off screen. Yes, it’s one of those so you do have to be extremely careful. The enemies can drop little potions that heal your health but they seem to be rare drops so fighting more enemies is often a net negative.

I like the sci-fi setting though. It makes for great level designs and I also like the music. It’s all got a proper sci-fi feel to it that just works really well. The graphics are solid as everything looks nice and this feels like a game that took advantage of the Genesis processing power. The game also has a proper ending cutscene with a lot going on. I think a modern remake of this game could be a lot more fun.

Ultimately the biggest thing to fix here is just the scaling of the main character. In this game he’s so tall that you tend to get hit even when you are crouching and there isn’t enough room to jump over a shot. You should never be in a position where your only hope it to shoot immediately because a counter is guaranteed to hit you. The game needs to work on that and that is really the only thing that held this one back. Of course a modern remake would also presumably have more of a story which can go a long way too. There’s probably no reason in particular why a remake would be made of this game but I’d definitely be in favor of it.

Overall, ESWAT is a good game. It’s the kind of title that always has a lot going on and so each level has your full attention. If you let your guard down for a moment then you end up paying dearly for it. That said, this nonstop measure of no room for error does mean that this isn’t exactly a relaxing game. It’s one of those full trials that is fun but you wouldn’t want to be playing it forever. So that’s what keeps it from being a bit higher on the scale. If you have the Switch Online then there is definitely no reason not to play it though.

Overall 6/10

Streets of Rage Review

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Streets of Rage is a series that has gotten quite a few games. It’s actually pretty impressive when you think about it. The series had very humble beginnings and yet it has gone very far into the modern day. The game feels its age but the fundamentals aren’t bad. It’s a quick title but it is fun to play through with some decent level designs. Probably not a title you will be talking about 10 years from now but when it’s free on the Switch Online there is no real downside right?

The controls are simple as you move up, down, left, and right as you try to land attacks on your opponents. You can also grab and pummel them which can be good for the more powerful opponents. The main key is to make sure you never let the enemies get too close to you. Once they are within range then you are really going to be in trouble. At that point you’re basically doomed since they can get you into near infinite combos. Usually I would opt for some aerial attacks but in this case that’s not always a great idea. The range is pretty small and the damage is super negligible.

Now granted, there are 3 characters here and I only tried playing as one of them. It’s completely possible that playing as a different one will yield different results since they all have different movesets and abilities. I do appreciate that as well as it adds another dimension to the game. It may be simple but the average title would have made 3 identical characters. The bosses all have different movesets and abilities as well.

I would also say that the game doesn’t feel “cheap”. If you played this at the arcade with a friend you feel like you would be able to go pretty far and wouldn’t have to spend much money to get all the way to the end of the game. It is very difficult, don’t get me wrong on that. But it is difficult in a way where you can continue to get better and defeat the game as opposed to feeling like it is all rigged against you. When a game is impossibly difficult then it’s time to shake your head.

The graphics have aged reasonably well. I won’t say the game looks amazing or anything but the colors are striking and I like the backgrounds. You feel the weight of each of the attacks as you play through the game and it just has processing power that you wouldn’t expect from this era. It is a game that had a lot of effort behind it. The soundtrack is also fun and very lively the whole time. I really appreciated that as well.

The main campaign is pretty short, you can probably complete it in a little under 2 hours. Probably way shorter than that if you are particularly good at the game but honestly you should expect to die a whole lot as you get used to the game. All it takes is one mistake on your part and you could end up eating a nasty combo and losing a whole lot of health. It’s the kind of game where you have to continually win neutral over and over without letting the opponent win once. That kind of strain can definitely be rather tough to overcome.

Of course the Switch Online has access points and rewinding to make that part easier. Without that? Yeah you may be here for hours and hours and hours with no real way to continue. The final boss in particular is unforgiving and I feel like the game glitched at one point because I kept hitting him over and over and his health bar never changed. It’s quite possible that I just wasn’t doing something right but after switching to grabs it didn’t seem to matter. The next day when I went back to the game I was dealing damage so I don’t know. It was all just pretty weird. If that happened to me live back in the day I’d definitely be shaking my head.

Overall, Streets of Rage is a good game. It’s admittedly not one that I would break out the wallet for or anything like that but it will pass the time by relatively well. If you like beat em up titles like this then you will definitely enjoy the title. If you don’t like the genre then you won’t like the game. The reason for this is because the game completely embodies what that kind of gameplay is like. There are no ribbons or special features around this. It’s about beating up your opponents completely and thoroughly with a tiny smidge of plot thrown in. If there was more story then the game would be more appealing but back in the day it was rare to have big stories like that.

Overall 6/10

Alex Kidd In Miracle World DX Review

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All right it’s time for a really retro platformer. Alex Kidd is a title that just about everyone has heard of at some point but I would say a lot of people have probably not actually played it before or have seen what the gameplay is like. I can’t say that I knew much about it myself and so it was time to finally change that. This game is fun but the sheer lack of length and replay value does hurt this one somewhat.

The story follows a kid named Alex who was minding his own business when Janken the Great shows up and starts a lot of chaos. He invades the kingdom and defeats the King while also kidnapping the prince. Alex is the only one who can stop this menace but to that end he will have to take down the 3 Rock/Paper/Scissor fighters. See, it’s a play on words with Janken being some of the words in the Japanese spelling of the classic game. Fortunately Alex excels at everything he does.

First lets go over the good things about the game. It looks really solid. A lot of polish went into the modern graphics so it stands out and the game even gives you the option to switch back to the old style at any point. That was definitely impressive and I switched a few times for fun but the modern graphics are definitely the way to go. The levels are all bite sized with check points except for one really long level which was really difficult to beat. It takes a while to really master the controls and mechanics but there was a good amount of thought put into this one.

If the gameplay weren’t so slippery then this would be even better. As it stands, you will probably die more than a few times to what looks like a normal jump because the air carried you too far or something like that. Unlike most platformers, this one has momentum as a factor so if you jump forward and try to stop, your character won’t stop unless you pull back. As a result it is easy to overcalculate and even to the end this was difficult to work around. Expect to die a lot but eventually you will get the hang of it.

The soundtrack isn’t bad although it is mostly forgettable. i can’t think of any really hype tunes off the top of my head. It’s definitely going for a much more down to Earth kind of vibe. Nothing wrong with that but for any kind of sequel I hope they do decide to go all out a bit more. The game should also provide more explanations since basically nothing is elaborated on. You just have to figure it out the hard way.

Items are virtually useless in the game so I would recommend ignoring them. They don’t regenerate when you lose a life meaning you will lose this almost immediately. The items really didn’t make a difference here so I wish I had skipped them and could have gotten a nice trophy out of it. Perhaps you will find them to be more useful but I think they could stand to be buffed a little more. At the very least they should stick with you until a full game over.

The difficulty level for the game is fairly high but definitely not impossible. You really need to master jumping as soon as possible. Once you have that down then you can really start moving and not only will the levels get shorter but you can focus on the boss battles. While the rock paper scissors mechanic for each boss fight is not possible to know at first, they always follow the same pattern. So just memorize what they pick for the first two turns and you will beat them on all future runs. That’s really the only way to approach this.

As for the actual boss fights, they can be hard but they all lack in durability. So the best thing to do in every fight is rush in and try landing some hits. You just need to survive for around 10 seconds and your punches will take care of them. It doesn’t sound that bad when you put it like that right? Honestly the most annoying thing will just be in having to complete the stage again in order to get to the boss fight.

Even when the levels are short you can still feel the repetition. Getting all the trophies for the game will also take some time so that adds some replay value. All in all, this is probably not a game you would want to get for full price but on sale it is a good bet. The gameplay itself is fun after all as you run and jump across obstacles and levels. You can even punch but the range is so short that it is also easy to bump into an enemy by mistake and take damage. In fact, that is easily the toughest part of the game and how I suffered a ton of deaths. After a while you get the hang of the range though.

Overall, Alex Kidd is all about trial and error. The game is fairly unforgiving as one hit from any attack will take a whole life from Alex. That being said, you can also beat a lot of enemies in one hit. Play slow and steady as often as you need because there is usually not any kind of timer anyway. You can worry about speed running and everything after you beat the game. So that’s the game in a nutshell, some questionable game design decisions to be sure but it is a game that’s fun to play. Even when you die a whole lot, it never feels totally hopeless or anything like that. If they make a new Alex Kidd game at some point I do think it would be a lot better. There are easy ways to make the sequel a lot better after all. Put in a solid story as well and I’ll definitely keep an eye on it.

Overall 6/10

Mario’s Picross Review

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I remember playing the Legend of Zelda Picross a long time ago and it was surprisingly fun. I’m more familiar with Sudoku than Picross but they have a lot of similarities. It’s satisfying to see the picture that you have created by making all of the matches. While Mario may not have quite the same amount of polish that the Link title had, I would say that it holds its own. The levels also throw you into the deep end right away with how many rows and columns there are.

For those who don’t play Picross, the basic goal is to try and figure out whether each tile is an X or an O. You do this by reading the numbers listed on each column and row. There are 15 rows and 15 columns. So lets say a row says “15” on it. Then you know that every tile in that row is an O. Likewise if it says zero, then every tile is an X. You start the level with one “hint” where the game completed 1 row and 1 column for you. Then from there you have to figure out the rest with logical deduction. After the first levels you won’t see any 15 or 0 indicators. Instead there will be numbers in the middle like 5, 7, etc. So for those you just have to check every field and narrow down your search. Don’t try to solve everything at once and eventually you will get there. You can get a few guesses wrong but each one hurts your score.

So that’s the gameplay and of course like I said you get to see a fun image related to Mario once you have completed the puzzle. It’s a nice incentive for pulling this off. Perhaps if you recognize the image that will appear it can also work as a hint but to be honest that’s never worked for me. It’s just too specific to really zoom in and make a great guess like that. You will need to really be a genius to pull that off so you’re probably going to be stuck trying to solve the puzzle the normal way.

How much you enjoy the game will all depend on how much you like Picross because that’s literally the only mode here. You won’t be doing anything else. Now if you do like the style, then you’ll be glad to know that there are over 100 levels to go through here! That’s a lot of Picross to get through and so you can’t say that the game is lacking in content. I’m curious which symbols are used but I guess across the Mario franchise it should be easy to make 100 pictures. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last one is a Mario face or something.

The graphics aren’t bad here. I’m not going to say they’re amazing or anything but they hold their own and don’t show the age all that much. The art style works well and then you’ve also got a decent soundtrack. Surprisingly they don’t go ahead and throw in all of the big Mario tunes though. That would have been really fun to have gotten a large variety of those. Maybe next time if they were to ever make a new Picross title.

It’s hard to estimate how long it would take you to complete every level but surely it would be at least a few hours. After all the puzzles only get harder and harder the more you go on. I wouldn’t be surprised if they increased the size to a 20 by 20 or even a 30 by 30 in the end. The difficulty should feel really hard by the end and so this works as a real educational game as well. You have to really focus and give it your all in order to reach your way to the top. One wrong move or bad guess will send you back.

There’s not much else to say about the game because of how direct it is. Likewise you should know if you will like it or not right away based on this as well. Picross is Picross at the end of the day. There may be some slight differences in how it can be presented but there certainly are no differences in how the game itself is played. Although if anyone was to ever add items or gimmicks to the game, it would definitely be Nintendo.

Overall, Mario Picross is a good game. It’s definitely not all that ambitious but you don’t need to be for a game like this. The real fun is in trying to see how far you can go. You can even implement big challenges on yourself like considering it a game over if you get any wrong responses or turning down the hint at the beginning. Just keep on going and your skills are bound to continue improving over and over again. Soon you will be a Picross champion!

Overall 6/10