Solomon’s Key Review

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It’s time to look at a pretty big puzzle game for the NES. Solomon’s Key is one of the titles that looked pretty fun and I saved it for the end of my NES run. Outside of the more RPG type titles the NES collection is now done. Solomon’s Key is a pretty fun way to end off. There are a lot of puzzles here and it’s pretty fun to figure out a way to clear the level. Due to the nature of the game there are many different ways to clear the stages although I imagine that near the end of the game you’ll have to follow more of a set strategy. The game certainly does start to get pretty difficult towards the end.

The idea of each level is to make it to the key and then to go through the door. Both of these items are strategically placed somewhere in the level. Usually to taunt you the exit door will be right near the entrance so you know it’s super close but it doesn’t matter until you get the key. The way you navigate the level is by jumping and summoning boxes. You can make a box appear which you can then jump on and make more boxes appear. There does seem to be a limit to how many boxes you can create at a time, but it’s fairly high up and shouldn’t matter. Either way the enemies eat your boxes very quickly. In a lot of the levels you have to go very quickly but also try to take into account the fact that the enemies will definitely not let up as they try to take you down.

It’s a lot of fun trying to outwit the computers. You have to predict what they will do ahead of time. It’s a great brain teaser and I made it pretty far through the game. I didn’t quite beat all of the levels as I stopped around halfway but it would be a great conquest for someone to beat them all. The dificulty noticeably spikes as you go through the game. While the first few you could just power through with experienced platforming that just won’t cut it later on. One thing I would try to do is box the enemies in but that only works on the first kind of enemies. The rest of them slice through your blocks like butter so it’s almost pointless to even try. It can at least slow them down though.

The toughest level for me was one where a lot of statues are constantly shooting fireballs at you. It’s a straight forward level design wise as you just have to climb up around 12 stories without a ladder. Naturally this means you will be using your blocks but as they are getting destroyed right as you are creating them you have to keep using others as a shield. The difficult part is as you go up you can only make a shield on your level so they can shoot out the ground from under you. Ultimately what I did to get around this was to always create in sets of 2 and 3 so there would be enough ground for me to keep climbing up. It took a ton of tries along with different variations of the plan but ultimately I made it through. The game definitely feels very rewarding after pulling that off.

The graphics are definitely fun and pleasant. This is a game that has aged rather well. Part of this is because there aren’t a lot of assets or characters on the screen so the developers could really focus on the ones they did have. The core gameplay is also timeless since this is a logic puzzle game that anyone can get behind. The music is also decent although I dare say a little too peaceful. Throw in some electronic music or something a little more rock based and that would really help you begin to crack the code. If you ask me that would be the perfect way to give the game a little extra boost that it could use.

Overall, Solomon’s Key is pretty fun. It’s also longer than the average NES game with how many levels it has. You can really test your puzzle abilities and with the NES Access States so you can always save your progress and try more the next day. That’s something I’ve always really enjoyed about the online state. I look forward to more games being added at some point. I’m guessing we already have most of the games available but certainly there are some more out there right?

Overall 6/10

Clu Clu Land Review

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It’s time to take a look at an old NES game that I actually wasn’t really a fan of. The gameplay is unique so that is always nice to see. I haven’t played a game quite like this one. The closest would probably be DK King of Swing which has a similar concept just with a completely different gameplay style. That one succeeds a lot more than this one though. Clu Clu Land is ultimately okay in a small batch but beyond that you need to really enjoy the gameplay to stick with it. Considering all the other games on the NES I wouldn’t really be spending much time with it.

So here’s how the levels go. You play as a creature that automatically flies through the stage. The goal is to turn the stage into an image or something. As such, there are hidden coins around many of the turns. You have to bump into them all to complete the picture. Since you don’t know what the picture even looks like at first your opening strategy is really to bump into as many corners as possible. Once you’ve got the general idea of the shape then you can target the gates that you want to pass. You turn by sticking your hand out and grabbing a pole and use that momentum to go in a new direction. You can only reach out one hand at a time so try to plan your movements a few steps ahead of time. After all, each action will need another one.

Additionally you need to avoid the enemies. A single hit will take down your life so you want to live for as long as possible. The lives aren’t exactly easy to come by after all. I liked seeing the various shapes that would form. Clu Clu Land definitely has really nice visuals that have aged well. I can definitely appreciate the difficulty of making so many images using only coins. The stages remind me a bit of Pac Man with how they’re set up. It looks like a very similar style at least even if the gameplay is different. The music is less memorable, but fast enough where it’s pretty fitting while going through the levels.

So in the end the reason the gameplay didn’t click with me is that it just didn’t feel like enough was going on. Ultimately all you’re doing it turning. While you can probably break many games’ core gameplay down into a simple structure like that, you still feel like a lot is going on. This game doesn’t disguise that quite as well to me. I think a lot of the appeal will be from seeing the pictures that you create which are nice to look at, but I need more. Throwing in some physical movement would have been nice. Maybe allowing you to move the character back and forth and then you only need to use the hand feature when you want to turn. Ultimately that would still be very similar though so maybe that wouldn’t change very much at all.

In terms of replay value this game technically has quite a lot. You can keep on playing the levels over and over again to improve your score and move on to the next. I assume the game basically has unlimited levels although I imagine there will be a point where they start to loop. At that point you can really say that you conquered the experience and it really would be pretty impressive. These games were definitely not a walk in the park back when they came out and certainly not today either.

Overall, Clu Clu Land is the weakest NES game I’ve played in a bit. I definitely wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s the weakest NES game or anything like that but it just didn’t work out for me. If you like the general concept then I believe you’ll enjoy the execution. The gameplay is pretty smooth and I certainly didn’t notice any lag or anything like that. The gameplay’s also a bit familiar so I believe I probably played a demo at some point like in NES Remix or something. I think this game would be more enjoyable as a minigame.

Overall 4/10

Asura vs Infinity

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Suggested by JordyPresto0418 Infinity is another cosmic being who is pretty skilled. She can fire off energy blasts which is always a good technique to have. That being said, it will have absolutely no effect against Asura. Asura’s durability is completely out of this world and it would take more than what Infinity has shown to be able to put him down. Meanwhile Asura’s strength is enough where he can easily take Infinity down with a few solid hits. At the end of the day that is really all that he needs to claim victory here. Asura wins.

Asura vs Eternity

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Suggested by JordyPresto0418 Eternity is one of those cosmic beings who seems pretty intimidating at first. He basically is the universe so the guy has some solid range in his attacks. That being said, I still don’t see him as being able to do much against Asura. Asura has the massive advantage in physical power and stamina. He can shake off all of Eternity’s hits with ease and just keep on barreling through until the winning hit is made. Rest assured, Asura only needs one hit to end this. Asura wins.

Cattleya vs Sophitia

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Suggested by Sonic Cattleya has a solid degree of super strength which will be her main advantage in this fight. It’s reasonable to say that she is slightly stronger than Sophitia physically. That won’t be enough to win here as Sophitia has incredible equipment at her disposal. She also has an interesting energy attack that hits you multiple times in the blink of an eye. It’s hard to say exactly how she performs this technique but that also makes it difficult to stop. Ultimately Cattleya will not be able to fend off such an experienced fighter. Sophitia wins.

Unicorn vs Basilisk

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Suggested by Sonic I always liked the Unicorn and consider him to be Iron Man’s most underrated foe. He can create barriers with his energy and also fire off powerful blasts as well. The guy’s quite intelligent, but he won’t be able to compensate for the difference in strength. Basilisk has taken down Black Bolt in the past and given other heroes pretty good fights. He has great strength and speed which will allow him to simply barrel into Unicorn and knock the guy unconscious. The armor won’t buy Unicorn enough time here. Basilisk wins.

Matoro vs Tania

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Suggested by Sonic Matoro is a powerful Bionicle who uses ice moves to take down his opponents. He’s resourceful and quick, but that won’t make a difference here. Tania has a lot of cards at her disposal with various jungle type creatures. They’d overwhelm Matoro with pure numbers. Tania can also fight a bit with hand to hand and spell cards of her own. It’s very tough to defeat a duelist because of how many different techniques and skills they possess through their deck. Tania wins.

Omega Red vs Gamma

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Suggested by Sonic Gamma is a pretty fun Sonic robot. The guy had a really big role in Sonic DX and ended up getting pretty popular. He can fire off multiple blasts at a time and was able to keep up with Sonic. Ultimately he won’t be able to win this round due to Omega Red’s speed. He looked quite impressive in the Wolverine anime and his healing factor was sped up as well. He’ll be able to shrug off most of Gamma’s attacks and has enough savage power to break Gamma in a few moves. Omega Red wins.

Luna Platz vs Rouge

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Suggested by Sonic Rouge is a skilled treasurer hunter as well as a close combat fighter. She would definitely have the edge over Luna when they are both in their normal modes. The issue for Rouge here is that Luna does have her fused form where she gains several abilities such as super strength and energy blasts. She can also summon snakes which probably wouldn’t help much but every bit adds up. Ultimately this will force Rouge on the defensive and she doesn’t have the striking power needed to turn the tables. Luna Platz wins.

Handy Manny vs Bob The Builder

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Suggested by Destroyer Handy Manny’s a nice guy, but there’s no way he’s going to beat the original builder. Bob The Builder has been fixing things for many years. He may be a little forgetful at times but he always gets the job done. I really don’t see Handy Manny being able to keep up with this guy. Bob The Builder just doesn’t play around. With his tools he’ll easily beat Handy Manny in a fight. The problem for Manny is that he hasn’t been in nearly as many dangerous situations as Bob. Bob The Builder wins.