Here are a few thoughts on each of the aforementioned games:
BurgerTime Deluxe--What can I say about this title that I didn't say in the "Great Gaymathon" review I published earlier in the week? I don't know, to tell you the truth--well, other than that I finally made it pretty deep into the game and, as such, experienced some of its most daunting challenges.
Sadly, I never was able to successfully make my way through stage 4-4, so eventually I had to cheat (by looking up passwords via GameFAQs) to play through the rest. I'd normally feel kind of bad about that, but not in the case of this game--thanks to the fact that some of its later levels are tougher than nails and seriously impressed me with the amount of strategy that's required to beat them without wasting all of your "pepper shots" and lives en route.
Random aside: my favorite part of this most recent playthrough of BurgerTime Deluxe revolves around encountering the gigantic angry doughnut enemies that only pop up in its last few stages.
Final Fantasy Adventure--I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I was absolutely obsessed with the first two Final Fantasy Legend titles that were released for the GameBoy way back when. (The third one, not so much--although in its defense, I've yet to spend much time with it.)
Given the above, it almost could be considered criminal that before this weekend I'd never played that series' companion (in the States, at least), Final Fantasy Adventure, for more than a few, scant minutes.
Now that I've played it for a good couple of hours, I can honestly say I was a complete idiot to ignore it for so long. The game's basically a mash-up of Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda and, thus far, has proven to be even more enticing and enjoyable than that combo suggests.
Two of its standout characteristics, in my mind: its destructible environments (assuming you're sporting the right equipment) and its old-school difficulty level. (Oh, and a third: its sublime soundtrack, which harkens back to Square's glory days.)
Snow Bros. Jr.--Considering I've long professed to being a bit of a "super fan" when it comes to single-screen platformers (see: Bubble Bobble), you'd think I would've put some serious time into one version of Toaplan's Snow Bros. or another before now.
Not so, sadly enough. Actually, I've spent a few minutes with both the arcade and Mega Drive iterations here and there, but neither left a very positive impression on me, if I'm to be completely honest. That had nothing to do with its gameplay, mind you; rather, I think it had to do with the game's odd, off-putting art style.
After I came across Snow Bros. Jr.'s Japanese box art a few months ago, though, I decided to give it another chance. And you know what? I kind of fell in love with it as a result. In part, this change of heart can be attributed to the earworm of a tune that accompanies players through the first 10 stages, although the snowball-throwing and -making gameplay is pretty infectious, too.
Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe--File this one under "it's never too late to discover great GameBoy titles." That's because I didn't even know of this Technos-made game until some kind soul on Twitter brought it to my attention a month or so ago.
After reading about it over on hardcoregaming101.net, I decided the above-mentioned twitterer was onto something and hunted down a copy of the game as quickly as I could. It wasn't long before I was regretting that decision, though, as despite the game's adorable art style and pleasant backing tunes, I found myself stumped by its gameplay during my first few attempts at it.
Returning to the Hardcore Gaming 101 article I mentioned a paragraph ago opened my eyes as to what I was doing wrong (yes, you can aim the sun's beams at baddies to get rid of them, but if you want to advance you have to aim them at the flower seeds that populate each stage, too), and ever since it has been smooth sailing.
Actually, it's been better than smooth sailing, as I now consider myself a fairly big fan of this kinda-sorta tower-defense game. It's far from a perfect game, of course--as implied by the fact that it took me a while to figure out how to play it--but it's also refreshingly unique and features some really impressive spritework.
Will I ditch all of the above and get back to THE "DENPA" MEN 3 and Etrian Odyssey IV this week? I'm not at all sure, to tell you the truth. I have a feeling, though, what ends up happening will fall somewhere between those two extremes (as in, I'll probably continue to play Final Fantasy Adventure while also playing one or both of the 3DS titles).
See also: previous 'Shall We Do It?' posts
20 comments:
Penguin Land rules :) The Master System version is my favourite. The manual for this version features typically appealing characters as well though!
I don't know if I've ever played the MS version, Simon! I've def. seen screenshots of it, though, and it looks great -- as does the Mega Drive revamp that was released some time ago.
Hey! Short bit of trivia. "Final Fantasy Adventure" is actually the first game in the "Seiken Densestu" series. More commonly know out west as the "Secret of Mana" series. There's a great re-make of it for the gba called "Sword of Mana".
Yep, I already knew that, Matt, but thanks for letting others know about it via your comment. (I really should've mentioned it in the post!)
I've never played the GBA remake, BTW, although a few folks recently let me know via Twitter that it's worth checking out. Maybe I'll do just that after I'm done with the original :)
Yeah, I should have realized you would know that. You have an eye for such details ect. that I guess I was just surprised when you didn't mention it. Oh well. And count me in as another in the "recommend" column. The GBA remake is quite nifty :).
Hello again! I'll be sure to mention it next time I bring up the game -- which surely will be soon given how much I'm liking it so far. Anyway, thanks again for the info, and thanks for the Sword of Mana recommendation, too!
Final Fantasy Adventure is one of my favorite Game Boy games, and I'm hoping it gets a Virtual Console release on the 3DS one day. The music is great, and I love the overworld theme.
Yep, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite GB games, too. So stupid of me to not play it until now!
You've got to expect ugly graphics from Toaplan games! It just comes with the territory. Personally, I really like the Genesis version of Snow Bros., as bizarre as it may have looked. I never played the Game Boy version, but I imagine it's pretty similar to Capcom's NES game which replaced all the sushi prizes with candy.
The MD version was released in Japan over the network thingy wasn't it? I've played the SG-1000 version too, it's pretty good but the MS version looks and sounds nicer as you would expect :)
Yes, it was released that way first, but later it was added to a Mega-CD collection, too--called the "Game Can" or something like that, if memory serves.
Actually, Jess, I wouldn't describe the graphics in Snow Bros. as ugly; it's the art style I consider ugly. Or is that what you meant, too?
(What I mean is, the actual graphics seem pretty well done.)
Also, you know what? I honestly can't remember if sushi or candy pops up after enemies have been defeated. Guess I'll have to go give it a look in a few minutes and then report back.
I'm playing the Japanese version, not the NA one, BTW. Or did Capcom change the sushi in all versions of the Fami/NES game?
So they made the change when the game was localized, then. I just played Snow Bros. Jr. (US) on an emulator and they switched the prizes over to doughnuts, hard candies, and other sweet nothings. Now I gotta play the NES version and see if they did the same thing there.
How weird! Now I've got to go and play the US version of the game, as I want to see how these doughnuts and candies look :)
You may not have to... take a gander at this!
http://kiblitzing.blogspot.com/2014/05/somethings-fishy-snow-bros-localization.html
Also, that Burgertime Deluxe game is distressingly addictive. I wasn't expecting it to be that good!
Ha ha! Thanks for sharing that, Jess. I guess I did the right thing in going with the JP version of Snow Bros. Jr., eh?
As for you being addicted to BurgerTime Deluxe: I love it!
And yeah, by "ugly" I meant the art style. But nothing beats Universal Playland in that department! I played a Genesis game called Bio-Ship Paladin a few years back... in it, you fly an orthopedic boot through a world of hostile 1950s kitchen appliances. "Ugly" would be an understatement.
Bio-Ship Paladin, eh? Even the name/title is ugly! Anyway, I just took a gander at it via the Googles and, yep, it's ugly! Yikes...
What Game Boy console are you playing your games on?
Trying to figure out the optimal handheld to play old Gameboy games... Pocket? Color? Light? Custom? SP?
What's your recommendation?
Hoo boy, Walter, that's a tough question! I mean, personally I prefer the original design GameBoy, but of course that's a terrible option if you don't have access to a light source.
I own one of those, a GB Pocket and a GBA SP, although I only use the first two to play GB games. (And my OG GB desperately has to be replaced.)
I've long loved the idea of the GB Light and would like to acquire one soon, but I've never used one so I can say if they're worth checking out or not.
Anyway, I would say that if you don't mind GB games not taking up the whole screen of your handheld, go with the GBA SP thanks to the fact that it's backlit (or frontlit? (I can't remember.)
Otherwise, the Light may be a good option--but like I said, I have no experience with it whatsoever ... yet :)
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