**12:02 pm - Review - Phantasy Star**The community lives!I won't get into why I haven't updated in forever here. What I will go into is that I've been overloaded with projects lately. However, last night, I talked to a member of FESS named ArmorDragon, and we got to talking about Phantasy Star, and... well, that was the motivation I needed to brush everything else aside and get to work on something here. <3 So why not get things going... with the first of a four part series?Today, we'll chronicle Phantasy Star. Sometime over the next week, I plan to finish reviews for all four console based Phantasy Star games (I do not consider Phantasy Star Online a "true" Phantasy Star).Sources for pictures that don't come from me come from the following sources:Video Game Museum (SPYWARE ALERT! BEST VIEWED WITH FIREFOX!)The Phantasy Star Pages - THE place for information about every Phantasy Star game. Ever.TITLE: Phantasy StarSYSTEM: Sega Master SystemDEVELOPER: SegaYEAR OF RELEASE: 1987 (Japan), 1988 (USA)GENRE: Turn based RPG1987 was a pivotal year for the fledgling Role Playing Game (RPG) genre... at least in Japan. The first Final Fantasy was released, and the very first Dragon Quest (more commonly known as Dragon Warrior) was gaining humongous momentum as well. However, there was one thing those games, and other lesser known games, had in common: storylines that were so similar that they are now the cliches that developers try to avoid; save the world, but on the way, save the princess. Nothing very inventive, and it was a tried and true plot that had worked for Dungeons and Dragons players over the years. However, that year, Sega released a game in Japan for their own Master System - who's sales had started to flag behind Nintendo's Entertainment System in both Japan and the United States - that not only added some spice to typical RPG storyline fare, but also combined the two typical genres of RPG at the time: first person dungeon crawling with 3/4 overhead map walking and turn based combat; they released this same game in America the next year. The result is the most underrated RPG Gem of the 8-bit era.Phantasy Star takes place in Space Century 342, on the planet Palma, one of the planets in the Algo Solar System. Palma is under the dictatorial rule of King Lassic, who enforces his laws with robotcops. In the midst of this, small rebellions swell up, but are just as quickly put to rest. One such fallen soldier is Nero Landale, who's sister Alis holds him in her arms as he gives her his final command; find Odin, and destroy King Lassic once and for all. On this trip, Alis will not only find Odin, but she'll also recruit a mutant cat named Myau, as well as an esper named Noah. She will also travel between the three planets of the Solar System (the other two being Motavia the desert planet and Dezolis the ice planet). This might not seem like much today, but back in 1987, this was HUGE.Phantasy Star has a menu system for it's commands that might seem a little rough to navigate for people used to newer, more streamlined RPGs. On any menu that isn't a fight scene, you can view stats, use curative magic, equip/use items, search the ground for items, and save the game. Phantasy Star lets you save the game anywhere, which is HUGE; it is recommended people abuse this. Once a fight starts (all combat is random), you can attack, use magic, use an item, "talk" to the enemy (which will only work if it's human; I've never gotten this to work), and run, of which success is random. Frankly, the enemies in this game can be TOUGH; if you're not leveling up properly, you're going to get dusted, often. This is why I stress to SAVE OFTEN.Towns, and the overworld map, are all in a 3/4 overhead view that most people are familiar with due to the Final Fantasy games, and other standard RPG fare. However, once you get into the dungeons, things change around, and you go into a first person view; anyone that's ever played Wizardry or Bard's Tale will feel right at home. Only problem is that these places are VERY easy to get lost in; mazes with this type of view were intended to be completed by mapping out the caves on graph paper. This can get VERY tedious; one notable advantage we have in 2004 that we didn't have in 1987 is the internet, and sites that have the maps for the dungeons on them; I recommend Phantasy Star Cave for maps.GRAPHICS: 9 Compare the graphics here to other games of the 8 bit era, and this game looks lush; bright colours, detailed sprites, and the dungeons move well. For the genre, and the era, this is as pretty as it gets.GAMEPLAY: 6 Some people are looking at me funny for that rating, mainly because I love the Phantasy Star games, each and every one. Well, for one, let me say this: this game is HARD. Even back in 1988, this game was incredibly difficult, and today, with easier games that give you two hour tutorials out on the market, a game like this - which doesn't tell you what to do, and barely gives you a nudge - is like speaking Latin in an English world; it's a lost language. The difficulty eases up a lot once you start leveling up, but that's part of the problem right there. This game will frustrate every newer gamer that touches it, and a lot of experienced ones, and frankly, a lot of that is the game's fault. For one, I can't stress how much of a pain it is to map out the dungeons. But the REAL killer here is the bugs in the game itself. The most disturbing one you'll notice is that some enemies that don't hurt your character one level, will start wailing your characters after they level up! In other words, 0 damage to Alis on level 8 can become 4 damage on level 9. Same thing goes for damage; Alis can kill someone in one hit one level, then next level, she's missing all the time, or doing a lot less damage. I write that off as bad programming.As for the difficulty, a lot of older RPGs forced you to walk around and do a lot of random battles just for the sake of leveling up... but Phantasy Star takes things one step beyond; if you don't spend a good portion of your time leveling your characters up, you are going to have the title music in your head, because you're going to hear it a lot after your party dies... again, and again...Another thing that makes this game needlessly difficult is that, if you're fighting more than one character, the game picks who hits who at random. That means the accepted practice of ganging up on one guy to reduce the amount of people that can damage you is not an option here; the game can just as easily spread the hits around as it can have you gang up on one guy. This makes some battles needlessly hairraising, as you're going to be making hard decisions on weather to fight or run a lot, especially in dungeon stages, where healing resources are very limited.Good points about the gameplay are that battles go quickly and efficiently, and that the menu system is fairly painless to use; moreso than later games in the series (looking at YOU, PSIII). Also, once your characters get stronger, this game can be flat-out fun to play, because you can start mowing down enemies in your way. And the boss fights are incredible.MUSIC/SOUNDS: 7 Yes, some of the music is catchy (the opening theme, to me, is synonymous with the series), but the sound effects are anywhere from decent to terrible. However, the Master System can be blamed for this, so I don't take too much penalty from here, and instead focus on the music, which can be good for the most part.FUN FACTOR: 8 This is a double edged sword. The good point here is that I am placing the plot of the game into this score, and the plot - especially for the era - is very good. Also, the search for the best weapons (Laconian Weapons) can be very fulfilling. However, the bad comes into play when you have to take graph paper to get through the later dungeons, and the fact that you have to do as much mindless leveling up as you do. However, since this game is geared more towards the hardcore, they will see the positives over the negatives - which they're used to anyway - so that explains the higher score.OVERALL : 7 This score seems a little low even for me, until one thing is realized: time has not been kind to this type of RPG. First person dungeon crawling, without minor technological advantages (like a compass or a map, or modern graphics) is an idea who's time has come and gone, and the game is just not as playable as the newer games in this series, and the genre as a whole. It's this fact that hurts the final score.Basically, if you're an older gamer, and grew up with games like this, dive in; you'll get a lot out of this, and you can look past the faults that time has exposed to find a gem of a game.If you're a newer gamer, you might want to move up to a more traditional game like Phantasy Star II for Genesis, which has a system that most of you will be more used to. Since the four Phantasy Star games are linked together (and 1 and 2 are heavily linked), if you want to get the story without playing the 30-40 hours necessary to beat this game, than go to Phantasy Star Pages, which not only has a story for the game that has the author's own flair added in, it also has the entire script of the game. Overall, newbies will want to come to learn their roots, and old timers will want to stay for a kick-ass game.
**12:01 pm - Review - Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!**Tonight is the night of the boxing fight between Mike Tyson and Danny Willams, which is a hugh night... for Mike Tyson and Danny Williams. Everyone else probably couldn't care less, but in case there's anyone that does, I will harken back to the time when Tyson was invincible, when his first liscensed video game was released in 1987.Tomorrow, if I have time, I might write a review for a game I DON'T like.All screenshots are by me, via the VirtuaNES emulator, and the box scans are courtesy of the Video Game Museum, who dumps so much spyware, I won't even bother linking them.NOTE: I AM REVIEWING THE FIRST RELEASE OF THIS GAME. THE SECOND RELEASE WAS JUST TITLED "PUNCH OUT!!", AND DID NOT CONTAIN MIKE TYSON.TITLE: Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!Developer: NintendoYear of Release: 1987Genre: SportsIn 1987, Mike Tyson was the most feared and dangerous man alive. At 21 years old, he was well on his way to the WBA Heavyweight Title, and shook some opponents just by them finding out they were about to fight him. With his reckless and powerful fighting style, he was the king of ending fights within the first three rounds, sometimes within the first couple minutes, as he proved when he finally beat Michael Spinks for the title in that year. Naturally, Mike Tyson was my HERO. I wanted to beat people like him, to be as fierce as him, and as famous. I was starstruck. I was seven.Fast forward seventeen years. Tyson is now 38. After his trainer Cus Damato died in '87, his life started coming apart. He was married - and quickly divorced from - Robin Givens in the late '80s. In 1991, he was convicted or raping a beauty pagent contestant by the name of Desiree Washington, and when he came out, he was never the same fighter. He would win the title again, but would lose it to Evander Holyfield, and again in a rematch, in which he would bite off part of Evander's ear. After a couple more tuneup fights, he would have two more title fights, against now retired Lennox Lewis, who toyed with him like a cat before finishing him off both times. Now heavily in debt, Tyson is about to embark on a series of PPV fights specifically for the purpose of paying off his millions of debt. When people see what Mike Tyson has become, it's almost impossible to remember - especially for anyone under 20 years old - what he used to be. The biggest reminder for me, someone that used to worship him as a childhood hero, is his NES video game, a quasi-home version of an older arcade game of the same name. As with most Nintendo games of that era, the home version would far surpass the arcade game - a normally rare feat - and would become one of history's most cherished classics. The story of Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! is that you take control of a 17 year old, undersized Bronx kid named "Little" Mac, who is trained by former Heavyweight Doc Lewis, who was a "famously hard hitter in the U.S. around 1954" (from the Punch Out!! instruction manual). As Mac, you work your way up through the ranks in the World Video Boxing Association (W.V.B.A.), you go through the Minor, Major and World Circuit, fighting such characters as Glass Joe (who is, unsurprisingly, French), King Hippo, Bald Bull, and Super Macho Man, before coming up against the man himself, Mike Tyson, in a one for it all bout.Mac can throw four different types of normal punches: lefts (with the B button) to the body and head (while holding up), and rights (A button) the same ways. He can also sway left and right (press left and right on the control pad), block (hold down), and duck (double press down). By punching an opponent after he misses you, you can string together combos, enough of which will whittle his energy bar down, and knock him down. Also, if you punch your opponent at the right time, you will "stun" him, giving you an uppercut punch (start button) that can take off some major power. For you button mashers, Mac has a stamina meter, measured in hearts, in the upper left hand corner. If this runs out, he will lose his ability to punch, will take more damage from hits and blocks, and must avoid punches from opponents for a while, until it comes back. Fights are three rounds of three minutes each, with a three knockdown per round TKO rule. Decisions are based on points at the end of three rounds, depending on the opponent; sometimes, it's impossible to win via decision (the instruction manual calls these "hometown decisions"). At the end of every circuit, you're given a password, depending on your record; if you get three losses in a game (or if you lose to Tyson), your game is over. GRAPHICS: 9 Yes, there are games on the NES that look better. However, almost none of them are older than this, and NONE of them have the scaling that this game has. This is the best looking NES game of it's era, period. Also, it's one of the few games to utilize the MMC-2 chip, which allowed the smaller sprite in front of larger sprite effect (I believe the only other ones to have this were boxing games as well; Power Punch 2 and George Foreman's KO Boxing. I could be wrong, though...). Since it's only fair to compare graphics of one era to it's peers, this game stands out above the rest.GAMEPLAY: 9 Simply put, there are games that have come out within the past year and a half the try to copy the very same system this game had, and can't do the trick; to an extent, even it's sequal, Super Punch Out (SNES), couldn't replicate the magic here. Everything here is based on timing; if your timing is good, you'll win, and if not, you'll lose. It takes a little bit of memorization to win in the later levels (which brings the score "down" to 9), but even then, you need to have your timing down, or you WILL lose. Also, some boxers have quirks to them that go beyond the conventional knowledge, and the ones that are conventional now (King Hippo), weren't back then, and made people scratch their heads in disbelief back when this came out. Simply put, this level of originality hadn't been seen before this on a home console, and this even beat out both of it's arcade predecessors in that regard. Also, not only do the harder circuits get longer (requiring better precision to get through them), but for those that beat everything, there's the "Extra" World Circuit, which is a bonus challenge. The learning curve in this game is perfect, letting newbies climb right in against Glass Joe, and still challenging vets from Mr. Sandman and up. Although all the boxers have a pattern to them, having the timing (I keep coming back to that word) to hit them at the right time is not easy, even for people that have been playing this since it came out. Simply put, as far as arcade style boxing games come, many have tried, but none have duplicated yet.MUSIC/SOUNDS: 6 Not much selection here, but what is here gets the job done. Only one theme plays during the actual gameplay, and that only changes to something celebratory if you knock your opponent down, or something urgent if it's the other way around. There are also different themes that play when the boxers come out before the match; nothing that I mentioned is of note. The sound effects are a little better, but not much. Overall, it all adds up to being above average.FUN FACTOR: 9.5 It's still more fun to play than the SNES game, which was a fun game to play in it's own right. The characters all have a very distinct personality to them, and even your catylist character and his trainer have a charm to them. And it doesn't get funnier than Doc saying things like "Join the Nintendo Fun Club Today, Mac!"OVERALL: 9.5 This is a true classic that ANYONE should try to get, although the Mike Tyson version is definately prefered to the rereleased version, after Tyson starting getting in trouble with the law.Simply put, if you're into older video games, this is the best boxing title ever, and one of the top 10 NES games of all time.
**06:29 am - Review - Mega Man 2**It's been a while since I last wrote, and my momentum is absolutely dead. For anyone that doesn't know what's up (unlikely), I've had some rare health problems as of late, that are pretty serious; I'm basically forcing myself to write this one up.All screenshots are by me, via the VirtuaNES emulator, box scan courtesy of Cheatbot.comTITLE: Mega Man 2Developer: CapcomYear of Release: 1988Genre: Action/ShooterThe very first Mega Man game was a huge success in the mainstream market for many reasons, the biggest of which was it's tight controlls, colourful characters, and novel idea, that being the ability to absorb a boss's weapons after defeating them; for a more detailed explination/review, read my review here. After a game that does this well, it's only natural for a company to milk it's cash cow for everything it's worth. This is the first of who knows HOW many sequals there are in this series, and it retains all the chewy goodness of the original, while spicing things up with a nice, polished crunchy shell.Like I said in my previous review, if you thought the story of the first game was a little iffy, they would only get worse. In this case, they just got less inventive: Wily has escaped, and built eight new robots to take over the world with. Well, if at first you don't succeed... Once again, Megaman has to save the universe from Wily's nefarious plot, being helped much more by Dr. Light (who sharp eyed people will recognise as Dr. Wright from the first game; he would keep this name for the 16 years after this game's release).There are a few noticeable differences between this game and the last one, most of them very noticeable. For one, there are eight robots now, instead of six, meaning greater variety in the stages. Also, the point scoring system that was in the last game (which would give you a random bonus for beating a stage boss, and reward you for picking up orange dots) is gone; now, you only have to worry about beating the stages. Also, there is now a password system for saving your progress, instead of having to beat the game straight through in Mega Man 1.Normally, password systems are a nightmare to navigate (see: Metroid, Kid Icarus), but in Mega Man, it's fairly simple; you get a grid, with numbers and letters representing the X and Y axis, and dots fill in the boxes you need. It's almost impossible to have an error on a password, unless you copy one down wrong. Yet another change is the addition of Energy Tanks, which, when collected, give Mega Man a full energy bar on command, and are saved in the password screen. The last major change is that after beating certain level bosses, you get "Items", which are portable platforms that can either move slowly up, across the screen, or attach to a wall. A subtile gameplay change is that Megaman no longer drifts in the air as much as he used to. Only VERY expierenced players will notice this (trust me, I didn't even notice until I played both within five minutes on Mega Man Collections), but it's easy to compensate for.GRAPHICS: 7 The graphics got a very slight upgrade from the last game to this one - and when I say very slight, I mean almost unnoticeable - but by this time, programmers were figuring out better ways to get more out of NES technology, so since the graphics remained on par with the era, this score remains the same from the last game.GAMEPLAY: 8.5 The improvement in the controls, the added depth due to the extra bosses and the "item" platforms, and the better overall stages are a big improvement over Mega Man 1. So why only a half point increase? One reason: challenge, or more specifically, lack thereof. This is, by far, the easiest Mega Man game ever (of all the classic style games; obviously, Mega Man Soccer doesn't count). The bosses are all relatively beatable even with the Mega Buster, and the inclusion of the Energy Tanks makes things even easier. Newbies will have some initial trouble, but for the most part, this is the game most people will want to break in with. MUSIC AND SOUNDS: 8.5 Another big improvement over Mega Man 1, as the tunes in this game a highlight; they are very catchy and upbeat, probably the most upbeat tunes you'll find in this series, except maybe Mega Man 8 for PS1. The sound effects still kinda suck, but that's nothing you'll really notice.FUN FACTOR: 9 The password function really helps here, as you can beat one boss a day if you really want. That, coupled with a fairly easy difficulty (compared to other Mega Man games) makes this a nice, light romp, and a good choice for beginners. OVERALL: 8.5 This game is approaching the highwater mark for the Mega Man series, as it would rise suddenly for the first three games, taper off near the end of the NES era, and then be reborn with the release of Mega Man X for SNES.This is the second greatest Mega Man game of all time. It only stays out of the 9s, because the one game above it is THAT much better...
**06:10 pm - Review - Magic Knight Rayearth**For anyone that read the Mega Man review and can't wait for more (yeah, right), I'll get to it, don't worry. In the meantime, I'll post my last remaining review from the SNESZone era, of a Japaniese game that almost no one has ever played. Thanks to http://www.fantasyanime.com for the screenshots (and fuck ZSNES and SNES9XW for not allowing me to take decent snapshots).**TITLE: Magic Knight RayearthDeveloper: TOMYYear of Release: 1995Genre: Classic RPG**The Manga style of animation is widely popular in Japan - so much so, that it is considered one of that countries many influences on pop culture all over the world. Many popular American shows showcase this style, from the old style cartoons like Thundercats and Transformers to newer shows like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!. Other series are available on other formats, like VHS and DVD, in a translated format. One of the most popular is the Magic Knight Rayearth Series, which has gone through many volumes over the years. As popular as this series has been in many countries, however, this, and many other series' like it, retain only a small niche in America, not enough for a company to domesticate a video game for it. In 1995, Tomy came out with an RPG based on the series in Japan, which never got to see the light of day on western shores. However, thanks to the good folks over at RPGe, there is an english ROM available to english speaking folks like us, so that we can see what we are missing.First off, I have to admit: I have never had the chance to watch any of the Rayearth animes, so I have no clue how close the game's story is to the anime's - all I can say is that from looking at the back of video boxes in the video store, the main characters are the same. In the game, you control three teenage girls that have been transported from Tokyo to a world called Cephio, with the idea that these girls are the Magic Knights of legend, there to save Princess Emerude from the evil Zagato and his henchmen. Tried and true plotline, nothing too imaginative. Along the way, the girls are given weapons and armour that grow in level as you gain more expierence (in addition to the old fashioned way of leveling up). As they move along, the girls' weapons and armour will get better, until they become full out Magic Knights. They will also add people to their party for a quick time, though there is really no one of any real use until very late in the game. The gameplay here is much like any other RPG from this era: random, turn based combat. You can attack, cast magic, defend, move forward/back in ranks, and run - standard shit. Magic effects are pretty plain - almost like something out of Mystic Quest. Your party makes little grunting noises when they attack, which is a minor plus. Your party members all have blatent strengths and weaknesses, congruent with their personallities: Hikaru is the reckless one, so she's the best swordswoman; Umi is all around, good at attacking and magic; and Fuu is the basic healer; however, there really isn't much different between the three, and they can all be used for any purpose. All around, this is your basic, cookie-cutter RPG, cut right from the mold. The only real difference is in Mokona, a cute little animal that resembles a rabbit.... kind of. The thing that makes Mokona really different is that you can use him/her/it anywhere on the world map to recover your life and magic, and to save the game, free of charge. Of course, this isn't exactly the kind of game that is going to require this service very often; it's basically a convience. Graphics: 6 The graphics here are very bright and colourful in a pastel kind of way - they resemble the anime well. However, there is really nothing special here, and there is almost no animation to speak of. The best game that I can compare this to is Lufia - and that's really not saying much. Gameplay: 4.5 This game suffers from one major flaw: it's incredibly easy. As in, it's almost like they intended this to be beaten by your average 13 year old girl. And while that may not be a bad thing, considering the average audience for the anime, most American gamers that have been weaned on Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior will eat this like a light snack and ask for more. For such a short quest, your entire party levels up incredibly quick, and you'll never be hurting for curative supplies, not only because you'll always have the gold for them, but also because until late in the game, you won't really have a need for them. I never even got close to dying until the very last dungeon, and the final battle - just like the other boss battles - are very dissapointing. Even the ending left something to be desired. However, the patter between the characters is entertaining, and one fight will test your devotion to your party (I actually won a battle, just to find that I shouldn't have done that, and the game ended). All in all, any serious gamer will plow through this with little resistance, but there is little reward at the end, and almost no reason to go back. Music/Sounds: 7 The best part of the game by far; the music is actually pretty good. Every tune is lively, and fits the tone of the game nicely. Sound effects are also good, punctuated by the girls exasperated grunts when swinging their swords. However, when it comes to 16 bit games, good audio doesn't exactly make a classic.Fun Factor: 6.5 Since the game is so easy, there is really no chance for frustration. Add to that the general light hearted feel of the game, and it makes it pretty enjoyable while it lasts. Just don't expect to be talking about this one for years, or even days, afterwards. Overall: 5.5 Magic Knight Rayearth serves more as a diversion than a serious RPG - like something to wind down with after battling through a more serious game like something from the Final Fantasy series. While a generally good time, the pedestrian difficulty can not be ignored, along with a weak ending. I recommend this to fans of the anime, or younger players that want to get into playing RPGs. However, older, more expierenced players might not find enough here to make them stick around.REVIEWER'S NOTE: The latest copy of the patch that comes from The Whirlpool has a patcher that makes you level up slower, which will make the game slightly harder.
08:24 am - Review - Mega Man **TITLE: Mega ManDeveloper: CapcomYear of release: 1987Genre: Action/Shooter**Back in the mid to late '80s, gamers didn't really have much expectations for their games. As long as it was colourful, controlled well, and had some personality, most people were happy. Granted, games have evolved, some for the better, others... not so. For instance, if a game were created nowadays, from scratch, and gamers were told they could only shoot straight, they couldn't duck, and that they were going to be controling a blue robot with trunks, they would laugh, and the game wouldn't move off the shelves. That's a shame, because if that were the case, the gamers of today would miss out on the gem that is the Mega Man games. This is the daddy that started it all.The story here, basically, is that Dr. Wright (later to become Dr. Light, to make him seem like an even better good guy, apparently) and his assistant Dr. Wily (as if you couldn't tell who the bad guy was...) were so encouraged by their first humanoid robot (Mega Man) that they created six more robots, all to perform specific tasks, on the planet "Monteropolos": Cutman the Lumberjack (and he's okay, he sleeps all night *shot*), Gutsman the Bulldozer, Bombman the Demolitions expert, Iceman the subarctic worker, Fireman the... uh, fire guy, and Elecman, the electricity maker. Naturally, Dr. Wily, probably trying to live up to the family name, reprogramed all of his robots for his devious intentions, which are to control the world via it's resources. Mega Man - apparently being a "good" robot, resisted his reprograming, and is now the universe's only hope. I dunno; the last time I saw a computer resist a reprograming, it was asking me if I wanted to "play a game"...If you thought that plot was dumb, think of it this way: Mega Man plots only get worse from here. Gameplay wise, normal Mega Man can fire his "Mega Buster", and jump, and... that's it. If the game consisted of only this, there wouldn't have been as many sequals as there were. But the kick to Mega Man games is that whenever he defeats a robot boss - always after going through a themed stage (like, in Iceman's stage, he can slip on the ice and fall into a pit) - he would aquire the weapon of said boss. This weapon could then be used on his enemies in future stages, with some bosses being weaker to some weapons than others; for instance, Fireman is weak to the Ice Beam (and if you couldn't figure that out, welcome to Kendergarten!). This means that you can get one weapon, go to that weapon's weak boss, and go from there, until you defeat all of the bosses, and get sent to the Dr. Wiley stages, from where you can defeat Dr. Wily once and for all... until the next Mega Man game, that is.GRAPHICS: 7 Not the pretiest game on the market, but for 1987, the graphics were very good. They wouldn't improve too much over the years, so if you've seen one game, you've pretty much seen them all. GAMEPLAY: 8 The controlls are very responsive, which is pretty much a requisite for an action shooting game like this. The extra weapons from the bosses add a lot of depth to the game, and in the first game, the weapons were pretty simple and easy to figure out. However, the difficulty is something to be reckoned with; newer players will probably get smoked their first couple times through, which will cause them to lose hope. However, if you can beat one boss and get his weapon, and you know where to go after that, you'll have no problem getting to the Wily stage, as all of the bosses have a pattern to their attacks, all of which are relatively easy to figure out after a try or two.MUSIC AND SOUNDS: 7.5 The tunes in this game are very catchy, as would become the norm for the Mega Man series. However, the sound effects aren't that great, and sadly, they wouldn't improve much over time, either; it's nothing but coarse blips and beeps. FUN FACTOR: 7 This rating is hurt by one major thing, which is the biggest difference between this Mega Man game and all of the older ones: this one does not have any sort of save feature; no password, no battery, nothing. This means that if you can't beat it in one sitdown, you're not going to beat it. What this also means is that unless you're using an emulator with a savestate, or you're playing Megaman Anniversary Collection, you're likely not going to have the patience to sit though this game, unless it's something you did as a child.OVERALL (NOT AN AVERAGE): 7.5 Compared to newer games in the series, the first Mega Man seems a little archaic in terms of enemies, sprites and options (no password?!?). However, that doesn't change the fact that Mega Man, as a series, hasn't changed much in 17 years, and that said series still kicks ass.As far as history lessons go, you can't get much better than Mega Man, as it not only still retains the goodness of the newer games, but it also isn't so far behind it's sequals that newer players can't get into it.
**07:46 am - Welcome to Old Guy Games Reviews**If you're here, it's basically because I, superbus, basically led you here. Basically, this is the review section of my upcoming site, and by upcoming, I mean whenever I get some time. A little bit of background as to why I can write reviews in the first place: I started out leaving reviews at VIMM.net, which got me noticed by the guy that used to run SNESzone, which was an all-Super Nintendo site. He asked me to write reviews for him, which I agreed to, so I started writing reviews for him exclusively, becoming one of the top reviewers on the site, despite being out to sea for long periods of time. Well, long story short, he started doing too much for the site, and it cost him; he merged with another site, and took on the reviews and staff of the entire place, which brought our reviewer staff from about 10 to about 45 people. Soon after, the hits stopped coming, and his bandwidth became harder to pay for, so he dropped the site altogether. And although most of those old reviews are gone, my style remains. A quick review of my style (which, if anyone wants to submit reviews, I'm asking to please at least keep in mind): I try to write something about the game itself first; maybe a historical perspective. Then, I describe the story, and in the third paragraph, a review of the gameplay. After that, I go into the ratings (all on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the worst):GRAPHICS: This rates how attractive the game looks. Bland colours, breaking up of images (or polygons, for games that use them), and other unattractive features decrease this score. GAMEPLAY: This rates the game's overall playability, and is the most important rating nine times out of ten. This includes how well the game controlls, what kind of playability options there are, and the game's overall difficulty; too easy or too difficult hurts this rating.MUSIC AND SOUNDS: This is more important than most people would give it credit for, especially for systems like the NES. Good music sets the right mood for the game, while bad music makes you want to put on a CD, destroying said mood. Likewise, good sound effects won't have you plugging your ears. FUN FACTOR: Basically, how fun is the game to play? All the bells and whistles in the world don't mean a thing if the game itself is a chore to go through.OVERALL: This is an overall score as to how good the reviewer thinks the game is, compared to other games on the same system, in similar genres. **THIS IS NOT AN AVERAGE!!!**Just one thing: we do have forums, so don't be shy about posting; sign up, and post away! We're still fledgling, but business is picking up, and if you like the reviews put forth here, then check out the forums, and see what else we have to offer.I'll start off our reviews with a look back at the Mega Man series, starting within the next couple days.
superbus, basically led you here. Basically, this is the review section of my upcoming site, and by upcoming, I mean whenever I get some time. A little bit of background as to why I can write reviews in the first place: I started out leaving reviews at VIMM.net, which got me noticed by the guy that used to run SNESzone, which was an all-Super Nintendo site. He asked me to write reviews for him, which I agreed to, so I started writing reviews for him exclusively, becoming one of the top reviewers on the site, despite being out to sea for long periods of time. Well, long story short, he started doing too much for the site, and it cost him; he merged with another site, and took on the reviews and staff of the entire place, which brought our reviewer staff from about 10 to about 45 people. Soon after, the hits stopped coming, and his bandwidth became harder to pay for, so he dropped the site altogether. And although most of those old reviews are gone, my style remains. A quick review of my style (which, if anyone wants to submit reviews, I'm asking to please at least keep in mind): I try to write something about the game itself first; maybe a historical perspective. Then, I describe the story, and in the third paragraph, a review of the gameplay. After that, I go into the ratings (all on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the worst):GRAPHICS: This rates how attractive the game looks. Bland colours, breaking up of images (or polygons, for games that use them), and other unattractive features decrease this score. GAMEPLAY: This rates the game's overall playability, and is the most important rating nine times out of ten. This includes how well the game controlls, what kind of playability options there are, and the game's overall difficulty; too easy or too difficult hurts this rating.MUSIC AND SOUNDS: This is more important than most people would give it credit for, especially for systems like the NES. Good music sets the right mood for the game, while bad music makes you want to put on a CD, destroying said mood. Likewise, good sound effects won't have you plugging your ears. FUN FACTOR: Basically, how fun is the game to play? All the bells and whistles in the world don't mean a thing if the game itself is a chore to go through.OVERALL: This is an overall score as to how good the reviewer thinks the game is, compared to other games on the same system, in similar genres. **THIS IS NOT AN AVERAGE!!!**Just one thing: we do have forums, so don't be shy about posting; sign up, and post away! We're still fledgling, but business is picking up, and if you like the reviews put forth here, then check out the forums, and see what else we have to offer.I'll start off our reviews with a look back at the Mega Man series, starting within the next couple days.