Contra III: The Alien Wars - Wall-walking boss in level 3

I've been looking forward to playing this for awhile since the Contra games on the NES are definitely among my favorites. They are so well done in terms of level design and enemy placements and attack patterns. So I was excited to put this into my Super Nintendo. I was a bit disappointed.

It is enjoyable, but it just doesn't feel quite as good as the NES versions. I can't quite put my finger on what it is about it. Then again, Contra's sequel, Super C wasn't quite as good as the original either. And, at least for Super C I know that isn't nostalgia talking.

One really nice thing about this game is the weapons. The crush and homing missiles are very good additions to the Contra power-up arsenal and being able to have two different weapons and switch between them is great too. I would say that makes the game significantly easier, but then I've only gotten up to the third level. Still, all that is something I think the game does well.

What I think the game doesn't do as well is the platforming. The first two Contra games had different platforms that you could jump to, but it was rare that you had to constantly jump from place to place just in order to survive the environment. Contra III has that in the first level when the ground gets fire-bombed. There are various spews of fire and lava that you have to time your jumps to avoid and it just comes off as annoying. Contra's jumps were never meant to be as precise as those in Super Mario Bros.

The big addition to Contra III is the overhead stages that take advantage of the Super Nintendo's sprite-scaling mode 7 effects. Your character is centered on the screen and you use the L and R buttons to rotate the screen around you to effectively changed which way you are facing. It is certainly interesting and novel, but I don't think it is handled with as much care as the side-scrolling stages. I like that they are breaking up the action, but I think I prefer the behind-the-shoulder base stages from the original Contra.

I'm currently stuck on the wall-walker boss in level 3. I have to assume I'm just being dumb about it and next time I play, I'll be able to hit him while his eye is open without taking damage.

Super Mario World - Defeated Bowser with 96 Exits

Well I have seen and done all that this game has to offer. I managed to find 93 exits on my own, only having to look for help on Chocolate Island 2, Valley of Bowser 2, and... Donut Ghost House. Yeah, I feel like a dolt for missing that last one.

The final battle was rather anticlimactic. The levels leading up to it in Valley of Bowser were fairly challenging. And most of Bowser's castle (the front door section) was tough as well. But Bowser? I guess I died the first time I got to him, but after that it was a piece of cake. I guess he wasn't that difficult in Super Mario Bros. 3 either, but in my mind he put up a little bit of a challenge there.

I'm really glad I finally made myself play this game. Even though I think I will put myself in the camp of people who say Super Mario Bros. 3 was the best in the series, it is hard to find much fault in this installation either. It is a lovingly crafted platformer with a great difficulty curve and a great variety of things to do. I think after stewing on this for a day or two I'll write up a review here. Thank you GameSpite fun club!

Super Mario World - Defeated Larry's Castle

Some levels can legitimately be said to have hard to find alternate exits. Forest of Illusion 3 is not one of them. I am just an idiot for not checking a pipe at the end.

The ramp up in difficulty in this game is very good. I think I may have died twice before I got to the Vanilla Dome. Then it gradually increased until, by Bowser's island, it was taking me about three tries to beat a level. That's just good game design.

I also took on all of the special courses. Clearly they are meant to be the ultimate Mario challenges, yet still be beatable by anyone with practice. Tubular, Way Cool, and Mondo (I think - the one with the pipes, the ice surface, and the forest level) were clearly the most difficulty. And then, once I finally completed them all the transition to fall and the enemies is a nice touch. Even though I find I prefer the original look - the gimmick of enemies that look similar to Mario has worn off.

My exit count is at 90 and looking at the map, I think I can see every area that I need to find the alternate exit for. This assumes beating Bowser's castle gives you one. Now finding all the rest of these exits without a FAQ will be a feat. Especially Chocolate Island 2 where it has something to do with my coins and time.

Super Mario World - Forest of Illusions 3

I have a confession to make: I have never played Super Mario World before. That isn't completely true as I played a few levels of the Game Boy Advance version and also a few levels just to test the game when I picked up a SNES a few years ago. But I have never played a significant amount of this game. Certainly not much beyond the first area. My other secret shame is that I have never beaten the original Super Mario Bros..

So I finally got a chance to put some good play into this game and I it definitely live up to expectations. The game is so well made and so well put together. It is just amazing for a launch game and contributes to the Super Nintendo having the best launch in console history. The level designs have such thought and detail put into them with placement of blocks and koopa shells to placement of hidden exits to even background elements. Beyond just great level designs and tight play control, there are a lot of details that Super Mario World does very well. The way that the overworld changes and evolves when you beat levels is something I absolutely love. The relative non-linearity and sense of exploration is great too.

That said, I think I'm going to fall into the camp that Super Mario Bros. 3 was a more innovative game. Not that it's better. They are both very well done and near-perfectly executed platformers. But the raccoon tail and different suits in 3 seem a lot more exciting to me than the Cape and Yoshis of World. I do like that the cape has subtle flying controls, but I'm just not that into Yoshi. Both games have some great level design, but so far lack of giant world and Kuribo's shoe gives 3 the nod for me.

I decided to play through the game, attempting to get all the exits, without looking at a FAQ or anything. In a few hours the other night, I had gotten to Forest of Illusions 3, reached the Star Road, and unlocked the path to the Special World. I was having trouble finding the alternate exit to Forest of Illusions 3. I then got extremely frustrated attempting to reach the alternate exit of Cheese Bridge - I guess I need to master using the cape. I guess I could also take on Gnarly, but I want to save that for later.

You also may notice the fun club label at the bottom of this post. That is because Super Mario World is this week's alternate selection at the gamespite fun club. The point of fun club is to create a shared group experience of playing a game. Each week, Jeremy Parish picks a major game and an alternate selection. There is also a monthly RPG (which this month is the beyond awesome Chrono Trigger). Check it out!

Super Metroid - Review

The original Metroid was a grand experiment in making an open-ended, exploratory game. It had a huge world where you could go almost anywhere from the beginning. There was no direction given to you, you just wandered around, ocassionally discovering hidden passageways and different items. It felt wonderful - almost no game was quite like it. It was truly atmospheric.

It also had three major flaws. The first was that there was no automapping system and mapping by hand was an absolute pain. The corridors and passageways were of all different size, so typical graph paper wouldn't do. You had to figure out where rooms connected to each other, especially when there were secret passageways. Since so many of the corridors looked similar and it was hard to map (either on paper or in your head) it was easy to get lost and just wander around randomly in frustration. The second is that there was no way to save your progress. There was a password system which would have sufficed except for the fact that you only got one when you died. So when you started over, you had to not only start from the beginning, but also had to spend the time defeating enemies in order to refill your energy tanks (and possibly missile reserves). The third flaw was less prominent than the other two, but was just that some of the passages you needed to get to were a bit opaque - they were hard to get to or completely unobvious with no hint that there is even a passage there.

Metroid II: Return of Samus corrected some of these flaws, but made the way in which you progress defeating various Metroids and causing earthquakes that lowered lava/acid. So, pretty weird.

Super Metroid, though, gets it right. Absolutely.

Once again, you play Samus Aran, a bounty hunter on a strange planet - the same planet actually from the original game. You start off with just a blaster and limited energy. As the game goes on, you acquire new weapons and abilities. These weapons and abilities allow you to access new areas of the map. This is pretty much the way that all non-linear 2D platformers went and Super Metroid is the ultimate example of them. As you explore, you can see other areas, but you can't quite get to them because you don't have the right weapon or ability. You remember then and when you get a new ability you come back to see if you can now pass them. It really strikes the perfect balance in allowing free-form exploration around a large game world, but cordoning off certain areas that the player will have to return to.

The game world (which is fortunately and necessarily automapped for you) is massive and is divided into different areas. Even though you generally move fairly seamlessly from one area to another, each area has a distinctly different feel. Areas have enemies that are distinct to them. They also have a design aesthetic that is unique. One areas are lush with vegetation, another is cold and metallic, and a third is filled with lava and igneous rock. The finally have music that perfectly sets the mood for where you are. The music can be subtle - you often don't notice it, but it absolutely reflects where you are.

The new weapons and abilities you gain really add to the sense of who your character is. While the super missiles and super bombs are pretty much just upgrades on the regular ones, they also have their unique effects. Your weapon goes from just being a pea shooter to a charged up, wavy beam that splits into three, freezes enemies, and can go through enemies and walls. Most abilities from the original game, like morph ball, bombs, high jump, and varia suit are kept. The space jump and sping ball are brought over from Metroid II. Two new abilities absolutely shine, though. The speed boost allows you to reach hyper speed while running. With this, you can plow through enemies, certain walls, and store up the hyper energy in order to make amazing jumps. The grappling hook gives you all the fun of Bionic Commando, swinging from block to block and sometimes enemy to enemy.

Speaking of enemies, they feel as much a part of the environment and the blocks and platforms. This game is much more about exploration than shooting things and many enemies can just be ignored. They most just seem to be the natural denizens that inhabits the caverns and corridors you go through. Some do come after you, but rarely are the natural enemies you encounter very tough. The game wants to encourage you to explore and swarming you with enemies that kill you would inhibit that. This can sometimes make the boss encounters a little jarring as these guys will often kill you. Boss encounters are also generally long affairs with a kind of attack, counter-attack mentality between you and the big bad you are fighting.

Super Metroid makes me nervous at times. This is a good thing. Many games, even ones that are supposedly open-ended, lead you by the hand and show you where you need to go next to progress. Super Metroid never does this and so you need to figure out where to go on your own. When you take one door instead of another, you wonder if you made the right decision. When you take the passageway you found through bombing rather than the door, you wonder if this is the way to go to find the next item. When you go back to one area after acquiring a new item, you wonder if this is where you see more of the game or if it is the other area you remember that requires use of that item. Sometimes the lack of direction can be a bit frustrating - you turn back because you don't see an obvious way to progress and go to some area that uses the new item you acquired. Even when this happens, you always end up blaming yourself. You second-guessed yourself into going somewhere else and that was the wrong move.

All of the above is the heart of Super Metroid. The free-form exploration with new areas begging to be explored after acquiring something new. The world feels truly organic with everything adding to the level you are in. Many games that I enjoy have additional modes or different ways of beating the game after doing it once and I say to myself that I should do that. With this game I actually did. The Super Nintendo has a great library and I've played several games for it. I would probably even still put Chrono Trigger ahead of Super Metroid on my personal top SNES games list. But while I would hesitate before I recommended Chrono Trigger to anyone with a Super Nintendo, I would feel no such hesitation about recommending Super Metroid.

Rating: 10 / 10

Super Metroid - Beat the game in under 3 hours

How awesome is this game? So awesome that I wanted to replay it and finish it in under three hours to get the "best" ending. The ending totally wasn't worth it. You just get to see Samus Aran out of her armor and for less than five seconds. The real enjoyable part in doing this was seeing how I could exploit thing like wall jumps and morph jumps to get to areas I probably wasn't supposed to get to until later in the game. That is another (probably unintended) aspect that makes this game stellar. I also failed to get 100% items despite using a walkthrough. Odd.

Super Metroid - Beat the game

After the vast expanse that was Maridia, tackling Ridley in Norfair was a piece of cake. It was all relatively linear (though I did end up inadvertently going back to the beginning of the level and having to do it again) and I went through, killed Ridley, then had my final confrontation with Mother Brain.

I'm very satisfied after beating the game. It gave me the chance to go where I want and choose what to do next. I attempted to explore everywhere and still finished the game with only 96% of the items. I also came in just over the ten hour mark (Was it really that short? It seems like so much longer) and am sorely tempted to try again with a speedy run to come in under three hours. The game is truly that good.

Yes, it is that good. As I was playing through it, I kept looking for little flaws. I found them, but after finishing the game, I realize just how inconsequential they were. Super Mario Bros. 3 wasn't perfect, but it was still the epitome of 2D platforming on the NES. Similarly, Super Metroid stands out as the 2D exploratory platformer.

Super Metroid - In Maridia after acquiring Gravity Suit

The "wrecked ship" portion of the game, which I just went through was neat, though flawed. The concept is that the power is out when you go there, so the map and save point don't work. Once you find and beat the boss, the power goes on and new places open up to you and you can save and get a map. Before that, you have to figure out where the boss is. It isn't too hard, but it also isn't obvious. I was slightly annoyed in having to search for it.

I think my main problem is that I second guess myself. When an area seems like the one you are supposed to go to, it generally is. That is the genious of Super Metroid - it can be played non-linear, but there are plenty enough clues to nudge you in the right direction. Twice, for me, when something wasn't obvious in an area, I went back to all the other possible areas.

Super Metroid - In Norfair after acquiring Grapple Beam

This game makes me nervous... and I like it.

There are always options about where to go. Should I continue exploring the current area or move on to a new one? Should I go back to a previous area with the new item I acquired, or contnue exploring? In general, I like to explore everywhere in a game and want to find everything. In Super Metroid, with no clear "correct" direction to go in, I feel like I may be missing things. Perhaps I'll progress too far without picking up the things on the side. Maybe I'm just going to lead myself in a big circle and accomplish nothing. I love it!

I also had my first negative experience in this game last night. I got to the part where you learn that you have the ability to wall jump. While learning how to do the speed booster jump from the ostrich was fairly self-explanatory, the guys who show you wall jumps weren't helpful at all. They made me aware that I could do wall jumps, but how wasn't exactly clear. I kept attempting to do them in a NES Batman way and was only occasionally successful, thus frustrating me greatly. Eventually, I just looked up the right way to do them.

I also had a fairly difficult time figuring out where to go. I thought that going back to Norfair seemed reasonable, but I couldn't successfully make the jump to get back there. With the high jump I now had that I didn't have the first time there, I would hit the ceiling and lose momentum. Fortunately, after twice exploring other areas for awhile, I went back for a third try and managed to make the jump (I think with the help of a wall jump). This and the above negative experience were minor setbacks, but I am still fairly in awe of this game.

Also, every time I have a grappling hook ability in a game, I expect it to work like Bionic Commando. Not that other ways of working are wrong, but, well, Bionic Commando just has so many awesome memories for me.

Super Metroid - In Brinstar after acquiring Ice Beam

Man, how do you describe where you are in a game like this? I guess listing the last item you acquired is probably the way to go.

A few days ago, I decided I wanted to play an all-time classic game. One that either inspired future games or stands up today as still amazing after all these years. Since I most trust the opinion of those on the Talking Time forum, I asked them. Super Metroid was the clear winner out of the eight choice, garnering a near-majority. After playing it, I can see why.

When I played Metroid: Zero Mission, I thought to myself, "This is a great remake of the original Metroid, but the fact that it tells you where to go next ruins some of the fun of exploration and makes it a bit too easy. I bet if it just gave you the map and didn't tell you where to go, it would be perfect." Lo and behold, that is what Super Metroid does. Having a map (and being able to save) means you don't get frustrated like the original Metroid, but you still get the wonderful sense of freedom and exploration.

In a sense, this game shows what the apotheosis of the non-linear 2D platform game is. You see things that you can't get past now, and later acquire new abilities that will let you pass them, so you want to come back. But there are plenty of other places on the web you can go to hear about "Metroidvania" style games, including this week's Retronatus Bonus Stage which neatly puts them to rest.

Also, it is Metroid so you get the awesome bounty hunter in space theme. So far, I have found nothing to complain about and am having a blast.

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - One Credit Challenge, Level 3

This is definitely an old-school game where you can memorize the sections and, in that way, find the best way to get through a level. The randomly spawning enemies just make it that much more difficult.

I greatly impressed myself by getting to level 3 on one credit. Getting the right weapon helps tremendously. For pretty much all of Level 1, I like the bow. For stage 2, the axe is probably the best weapon in the beginning, though just about any weapon but the bow will do (unless you have one of the armors that powers it up). In the second section of level 2, the dagger is definitely where it's at. The dagger remains pretty good for the beginning of stage 3, in the second section you want the bow again.

After losing my last life toward the middle of stage 3, I continued and kept playing until I beat the stage. Stage 3 actually isn't that difficult and I have hope I can make it to stage 4 on one credit before the week is out.

Super Castlevania IV - Review

Castlevania's first foray onto the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was a fascinating one. It was a remake of the original game. Well, remake may not be quite the right word, perhaps reimagining is more correct. There are several more levels and few follow the layout of the levels in the original. The bosses from the original are pretty much all there, but not on the same levels. The "story" as it is, is the same: Dracula is terrorizing the countryside and only Simon Belmont can take him on. The gameplay, though, is quite a bit difference due to one major change.

Since the story in Super Castlevania IV is nonexistant, the gameplay is what drives it. Like previous Castevania games, you jump and whip. Candles in the levels give you points, health, hearts, subweapons, and a few other goodies. The subweapons (knife, axe, holy water, cross, and stopwatch) are (with the exception of the stopwatch) all distance weapons that let you hit heart to reach enemies. They deplete your hearts (which are not health) when used.

The control innovations in this game over is predecessors are twofold: First, you have some some control over your jumps. You can turn around during them and have some influence on how far you jump after you are already in the air. Second, and most hugely, you can now whip in any of eight directions around you. For those who didn't realize how huge this is, previous Castlevanias only let you whip horizontally. Which meant that a good part of the challenge of the game was figuring out how to get next to enemies and hit them without getting hit/falling. In a way, the omnidirectional whipping makes the game much easier. You can take out foes above (and to some extent below) you without quite getting to their level. It really changes how levels and enemies can and should be designed. Along with the omnidirectional whipping, they decided to take a page out of Bionic Commando's book and provided certain hooks in the game that you can latch onto with your whip and swing from.

The levels you trek through are very reminiscent of older Castlevanias. The first few levels are outdoors as you work your way toward the castle. Then you head indoors and move through various parts of the castle. Finally, you climb the tower and approach the final battle with Dracula. The levels have the block platforms and stairs familiar to older veterans. Many levels, though, involve more organic elements. The ground you walk on and paths you tread aren't always discrete blocks. There are gears, conveyer belts, spiky mashers, decaying platforms, and flipping platforms that return from earlier games. There are new environmental hazards, like quicksand-like ground, falling rocks/spikes, and large moving portions of the levels. There are also the new hooks that you must whip onto and swing from and many levels have unique elements such as huge swinging chandeliers you cross, a spinning razor blade that chases you upwards, and a room that rotates around you.

The enemies generally show less innovation than the levels. The bats, skeletons, axe knights, and medusa heads all return from previous installments. There are some new enemies such as slimes, ghosts, and gargoyles. Since most enemies are dispatched by a crack or two of the whip and since you can whip in many directions, it is generally not difficult to defeat them. Still, there are quite a few sections that combine precise platforming and enemy killing that work very well, even if there is only so much inspiration in the enemies. The bosses, though, show great inspiration. The remakes of the original Castlevania bosses all have very nice touches added. Frankenstein's monster now hurls potions. The giant bat is now made of gold and gems. The new bosses are all very bright and colorful. Some are not much bigger than you and are just expert swordsmen or axemen. Some are huge, taking up a good portion of the screen. Some take advantage of SNES effects to grow and shrink or appear and disappear. Like many games of this ilk, the bosses are the highlight.

Largely because of the omnidirectional whipping, this game is much easier than its NES counterparts. I didn't really start to have any trouble until level 7. Level 8 is where the levels start being downright difficult and level B made me pull my hair out. Fortunately, despite the initial challenge, the game is quite fun. You feel accomplished when you are taking down enemies and jumping from platform to platform.

Part of what makes this game so entertaining is the amazing graphics and sound. The enemies are all crisp, clear, and detailed. The bosses especially so. The levels are crafted with care, with details and animation in both the foreground and background. The game makes great use of transparency in both enemies and backgrounds to achieve amazing effects. There is also plenty of Mode 7 (sprite scaling) used. To complement the beautiful graphics, the soundtrack is, as usual, wonderful. At first, I was a bit put off by the music. Not because it wasn't good, but because it wasn't the gothic style of the NES games. Many of the levels sounded like they would be dungeon or cave music in an RPG. They are extremely well done compositions and once I got used to them, I greatly appreciated them. The remixes of music from previous games at the end also worked well.

It really amazes me that this was one of the early releases for the Super Nintendo. Konami must have put all their programmers into figuring out how to get the most from the SNES. While the gameplay has its downsides, especially the uneven difficulty, the entire package of the game is quite impressive. Super Castlevania IV is still great to play today.

Rating 8 / 10

Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - One Credit Challenge, Level 2

The GnG series (Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and newcomber PSP game Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins) is notorious for its difficulty. Really notorious. The games are fair, but they are frustrating because they require such precision. Hence it is this week's one credit challenge.

So what makes these games difficult? Well they pretty much all have these play features:

You start out in a suit of armor. One hit from any enemy removes that armor and reduces you to your boxers. Another hit kills you. Also, these games require you to fully commit when you jump. Once you hit the jump button, you are jumping and will land in the place decided by your direction at the time, facing the way you were when you jumping. This isn't a Mario game - there is no way to adjust the trajectory or direction of your jump mid-air. Also, there are always randomly spawning enemies on a level so you cannot purely memorize where everything is, but must be cognizant of where the randomly spawned enemies are.

The game is bright and colorful. It has great music and a variety of weapons you can use. It is fun, but it also makes you throw your controller at the wall in frustration.

Super Castlevania IV - Beat the Game

I finally passed the hell that is level B-2. It is a totally a Battletoads level. You just have to memorize exactly what to do and when.

After beating it, there is an end of game boss rush where fortunately when you continue you generally only have to beat the boss you just died fighting.

The Dracula fight was interesting. It wasn't hard to figure out what to do (his pattern is pretty easy to see), it was just hard to execute. Sort of like the fight with Paula Abghoul and Fred Ascare, except there you feel like the way jumping works hinders you a bit where versus Dracula, it is pretty much all your fault when you get hit. Really, only when I got greedy did I take damage.

After you beat the game, it starts over in "hard mode". I played it a bit to see the differences. Basically, it seems that enemies are tougher, do more damage to you, you have less time, and there are some additional enemies in places. I enjoyed this game, but it is definitely not worth going through it again.

Super Castlevania IV - One Credit Challenge, Level A-1

I really shouldn't always die on this level. I generally have at least 3 or 4 lives left when I get here. I just always do something stupid like miss a jump on a rotating gear, or mess up when swinging from the moving whip holds. Oh well, at least I can get most of the way through the game on one credit.

Super Castlevania IV - Level B-2

Unfortunately, I didn't get any further in this game on one credit than the last time I played, so I cannot count this in that category. I did want to see what else the game offered, so I continued playing.

One thing I discovered is that levels apparently count in hexadecimal. After level 9 comes level A. Kind of funny.

The awesome thing is that once you get to level A, the music starts being remixes of classic Castlevania tunes. Yeah, that rocks.

The not awesome thing is that while level A is hard, level B is downright ludicrous. At the beginning you are climbing down stairs and have a slim hope of dodging the guys. After that you cross a crumbling bridge with bats chasing you (but there is a trick to passing this without taking a scratch that took me a while to figure out). Level B-2 is where the hell starts. There is a spinning razor at the bottom of the screen that moves upwards so you have to always be moving upwards faster than it. This wouldn't be so bad if the way to do that were not to have to jump on stairs the start crumbling as soon as you set foot on them. Even if you pass this section, you get to a section where platforms appear from the bottom of the screen moving diagonally up and to the left. You have to move between them without jumping too high so you don't hit the spikes on the ceiling as you are working your way up. This section of the game reminds me much of Battletoads.

Super Castlevania IV - One Credit Challenge, Level 9-2

This week's one credit challenge over at gamespite.net's talking time forums is Super Castlevania IV. So far, it seems there is a good chance I can beat the game without continuing, just like Kid Icarus.

Yeah, I had never played this game before, but man it is so much easier than the NES Castlevanias (with the possible exception of II). One big thing that contributes to this is omni-directional whipping. In every other Castlevania (including future ones from all I've read), you can only whip horizontally in front of you. In this one, you can whip in any of 8 directions around you. This makes things like bats and the flying medusa heads so much easier to deal with. You also start with more lives and, well, it just takes awhile before there is too much challenge.

Still, it is a very good game. The play control is tight and the jumping is a bit easier to handle than previous Castlevanias. It also has taken a completely different musical direction than the previous games in the series. While previous Castlevanias had a kind of gothic hard rock vibe to them, this one moves to a much more classical feel in its music with more light instruments. Many of the levels sound like they are from a 16-bit era role-playing game, rather than Castlevania. I still like the music, indeed it is quite good. Just different from the Castlevania music I expect.

Apart from taking me forever to figure out what to do when the room spins around you, I had no real trouble with the game until level 8. That level is full of pits, spikes, deadly liquid, and tough enemies. If you aren't killed immediately, it is pretty easy to be taken down. There is also a part with a bunch of platforms that appear and disappear that you must cross. I couldn't figure out any real pattern to their appearing and disappearing and so feel pretty lucky that I passed that.

At some point, I'll just continue after where I left off so I can see more of the game, but it was already past midnight when I got up to level 9-2.

Cybernator - Review

It took me a little while of playing this game to realize that its closest video game analog was that of Contra. The game has a lot of spit and polish and so many things you can do, it is almost overwhelming. Underneath it all, however, you are basically moving around on platforms and shooting at guys which makes it fall in the much-beloved category of run and gun.

In Cybernator, you play Jake, the pilot of a large mechanical humanoid robot (or mech). You are on one side of a war for the dwindling natural resources of earth. Your side isn't necessarily the "good" side or "right" side (though apparently you do adhere to the rules of war and attempt to minimize civilian casualties) which is an interesting twist. Your role is that of the weary soldier, loyal to his side but not fanatical and really just wanting all the fighting to be over. At least, that's what comes through in the dialog. This game's plot was notoriously clipped. Apparently there is also a romance between you and the communications officer, a kinship between you and your fellow mech pilots, and more of a rivalry between you and Beldark, but none of that really comes through. In essence, this kind of makes you feel like you are watching a badly dubbed Gundam anime.

Your mech is chock full of maneuvers. In addition to being able to move left and right (and up and down in zero gravity environments), you can jump, apply booster rockets after jumping to lift you up more or keep you from falling, and dash. The play control isn't precise, but it seems intended that way. You are controlling a multi-ton machine and your inertia logically carries you forward, making it impossible to turn or stop on a dime. The somewhat-sluggish control seems logical and works well. You won't be deftly jumping over all the bullets, but rather have to plan your moves to avoid where the bullets will be. Fortunately, you also have the ability to shield yourself from minor projectiles in the front (though I rarely used this) and you can take a few shots before you are destroyed.

You have multiple weapons which you can shoot in any of 16 directions. You use the D-Pad to determine where you shoot which can also mean that you accidentally move while aiming. This is solved by the ability to use the L button to lock your gun pointing in its current direction so that you can move about and still shoot in the direction you want. This ability is absolutely necessary in frenetic boss battles where you need to dodge projectiles and still want to be pointing toward the boss. You start with two weapons - the vulcan cannon which is relatively weak and can fire across the screen and a punch which is stronger but can only hit enemies in front of you. You can pick up other weapons such as missiles and a laser throughout the game and you can also pick up pods to upgrade the power of your existing weapons (each weapon has three power levels).

Most levels consist of moving from left to right, destroying enemies, and occasionally moving up or down to a platform. They are all well-designed and pretty much feel like the futuristic space station, asteroid field, or militarized city that they represent. Some levels are very bare bones and just involve straight left to right movement with enemies interspersed. Others involve more exploration and have multiple paths. These paths all eventually lead to the same place, but the more out-of-the-way ones involve weapons and health power-ups. Some levels take place in a zero gravity environment (or with your booster rockets permanently attached) meaning that you can move up or down at will and jumping becomes less important. There are even a few levels that automatically scroll, making them like shoot 'em ups. The variety is nice and really elevates the gameplay experience.

The enemies are also well-designed. They are what you would expect for a futuristic mech game like this, being robots, turrents, other mechs, or occasionally even people. They take a different amount of damage to destroy depending on what they are (people die in one shot, mechs take multiple). For the most part, they are cannon fodder, but every so often an enemy has an interesting movement or shot pattern that gives it some personality. Every level ends with at least one major boss. These bosses are one of the best parts of the game. They are all huge, taking up at least a good portion of the screen if not multiple screens. They each have their own individual quirks and patterns. Sometimes they are rockets or engines or large structures and at other times they are other mechs. They are pretty uniformly awesome. Except perhaps for the first boss, it takes at least one death to figure out the pattern and be able to survive your way through it. The multi-part last boss is a particular treat.

The game in general is fairly difficult, as run and gun games should be. It adheres to the old school philsophy that you get to a new area, try a few things, die, and then next game get to that area and do better because you are more aware of what you are doing. You have one life, so once your energy runs out the game is over, but you get three continues so you can think of it as having three lives. I have to admit that I used the cheat to get the napalm for the second level and even with this super-weapon, the game was still challenging. I can't really imagine how difficult it would have been if I had to destroy early enemies with a weak vulcan cannon or punch.

One place where this game really shines is the attention to detail. The graphics are big and bright and anime-inspired. The levels, especially those that take place on space-ships or space stations have highly-detailed background graphics that show thought was put into the design of these structures. Additionally, the movement of your mech and enemies is well-animated. Other little details, such as your bullets leaving marks where they hit the wall or pilots ejecting from vehicles that you destroy add to the feel and there are several mode-7 explosions to liven it up. If you have seen the detail of Metal Slug, this game is quite similar.

Remember how I said above that the story feels like a badly translated Gundam anime? The music adds to that mood. It is very Japanese giant robot anime-ish if you know what that means. If not, know that it doesn't stick with you, but feels appropriate to the game. The sounds tend to be minimal. They are limited to industrial, futuristic, robotic things like tank treads, metal clashing on metal, and explosions. They are quite nice and generally complement the graphic detail without distracting from it.

This game is well-designed and has a spectacular attention to detail. It is also ridiculously difficult and not terribly innovative. Most of the time, I really had fun with the game. It isn't too long and I had a constant sense of progress, never getting stuck on one level for too long. The ridiculous graphic detail can totally pull you into the world and for several days I had fantasies of driving my own giant mech and blowing stuff up. It definitely impressed me enough to want to check out its Genesis prequel, Target Earth. So, I generally had quite positive feelings toward, but the game itself didn't seem that special.

The issue is with the number. In my head, a 7 means that the game is good and recommended if you like that genre. An 8 means that a game is very good and something to check out if you get the chance. I gave Soul Blazer a 7, and I think that is appropriate. The game is fun, but isn't something I would recommend to everyone. Cybernator feels about the same way to me and yet I feel like it might deserve an 8 as it would be probably be on a list of top games for the system, albeit at the bottom. I'm guess I'm not too clear in my mind on what the difference between 8 and 9 in my mind is. I'll have to sit down and think about this. I also find it silly that I am spending so much time on picking the right number when I could have made this much easier for myself by cutting the ratings to a 5 point scale. It is an obvious 4 on that scale, but once I expand it, I have to decide what slot it fits into. I guess I'll just give a disclaimer that numerical ratings given up to this review are subject to change.

Rating: 7 / 10

Cybernator - Beat the game

This game really grew on me as I played it. At first, I just found it kind of average. Of course, at first I played it without realizing what all the controls did. So at first I was just playing around with a limited subset of the game. Once you realize that the game is much more than jumping and shooting, what with rushing, being able to hold your shot angle while moving, shielding yourself, etc. That along with the different weapons you can use and the fact that while you don't have tight play control, it makes sense because you are controlling a huge mech and the momentum should keep you going and prevent you from stopping on a dime.

The final boss was especially very cool - so huge it took up three screens, different parts to destory, and patterns that are learnable but not too easy to dodge.

One thing I do wish is that the story hadn't been so obviously cut on this game. Yeah, too much talking can be frustrating in a game like this, but the half-assed translation and obvious cutting of dialog makes it more annoying. I want more of the romance behind Crea and Jake. I want to care more about Apollo when he dies. And I would love to see the ending seen that was cut from the US version, but I've heard it was too violent to make it past Nintendo's censorship policy at the time.

Anyway, this is the second solid SNES game I have played since starting this journal. Never having had a Super Nintendo, I'm really loving the system. The graphics are crisp and sharp (especially in S-Video) and there are some quality games I missed out on. Yes, I still haven't played some of the big ones like Super Metroid or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, so I have a lot to look forward to.

Cybernator - Final Boss

So I do this whole long post about classifying games and then immediately the next game I play is one that's hard to classify. In Cybernator you pilot a giant mech with various weapons and capabilities. You can jump and fly. It is close to Contra in gameplay, but there is a bit more jumping and moving around. I guess if I had to put it in one of my current categories then Platform would be the right genre for it, but all the shooting and blowing stuff up makes that seem a little off. Plus there are 2 or 3 sections that are like a shoot 'em up. I could just lump it in Action and that's what MobyGames does. Or I could give it multiple labels (that's what they are there for) like Digital Press does (Action/Platform/Shooter). Or make up a new one for Contra-like games (typically called "run and gun"). I like the Digital Press method the best, but the whole point of giving these genre labels to games is so that people can search for all games in one genre. I don't see any way to show all posts with both labels "shooter" and "platform" with blogger, so I'll abandon that and just create a new Run and Gun label. Typically, overhead shooters like Commando and Ikari Warriors also fall into this category and even though I find them quite a bit different from side-scrollers like Contra and especially Cybernator, I guess I'll live.

Ignoring that whole aside, Cybernator is a pretty slick game. The graphics and attention to detail are pretty amazing and it just feels smooth. For whatever reason, most mech games totally suck, but this one really works. I thought I read once that this was based on an anime, but can now find no corroborating evidence of this, so I will assume I am misremembering. The game certainly feels like some Gundam cartoon, right down to the bad dubbing (the translation is notoriously chopped and censored).

Anyway, I dig it quite a bit and it is certainly a difficult game. Despite doing the trick to get the napalm at the end of the first level, I still have not beaten it. Like any good run and gun, you practice and learn the patterns and make it further. I made it to the final boss this time (so my first entry on the game is not me beating it - yay!) who is, predictably, a huge mech. The fight it pretty awesome and I got close to beating it, but couldn't quite do it. I have a fair bit of confidance that next time I play, I will beat the game.

This game is totally recommended if you like run 'n guns and/or giant mechs.