Black Belt - SEGA Master System

    Black Belt is an Americanized sprite swap video game of the classic Anime Fist of the North Star. It’s your standard arcade style game play of beating enemies and progressing to a boss. It’s fine, until you reach a boss fight. The hit detection is terrible. The bosses are completely unreadable of their actions. It’s a guessing game of avoiding attacks and some how making hits. I tried so many times to beat the first boss, just to win by luck. There is no strategy. It’s all random. Swing away as much as you want, the game decides if your attack counts as a hit. You will waste most of your lives away on the first boss beating it, and have nothing left to experience the second boss. I can’t learn how to beat a new enemy, when it’s impossible to not lose on the prior one. 

    Uhh!!! Terrible!! Just play the arcade classic Kung-Fu Master instead. Fist of the North Star is a classic anime, but this game sure isn’t. Avoid at all cost! 

Adventures of Lolo 3 - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

    Lolo and Lala are back! And this time, they team up on a warpath of vengeance. The son of the defeated King of Eggerland has turned their friends to stone. It's up to Lolo and Lala to defeat the son of the king, to cure their friends. A journey full of puzzles, enemies and traps. All from the great devs of Hal Laboratory. 

    Another great Lolo game in the franchise. Now with an over world and interacting none playable characters. You can even switch to Lala in the over world screen. No two player co-op though. Which is kinda lame, but understandable. Too many things can go wrong with the puzzles. This game will stump you. Believe me, I only played it twice and it's tough. Any false moves and you're done. It's difficult. but very fair. This is a thinking person's game. So, turn on your brain and eat your healthy breakfast, before you take this game on. 

    I highly recommend this game. The entire Lolo trilogy on NES is so worth your time. If you're only going to play one, play this title. It is peak Lolo, before he was put aside to make room for Kirby. If you like brain games, definitely try Lolo 3 anytime.     

Battlemaniacs - SEGA Master System

 

    In the country of Brazil 🇧🇷, the SEGA Master System is still an active and popular console in their market. Games for the Master System are being produced and sold. A company named Tec Toy is developing, malfunctioning and publishing them. It is quite the rabbit hole of history for the Master System. 

With that said; STAY AWAY FROM BATTLEMANIACS!! 

    It is a buggy mess. The controls are really fluid. Your character feels so light without any traction. The hit boxes for enemies are so bad. Especially for the first level boss. Your damage from enemies is game ending. You take a hit, there is no recovery time. You will be left vulnerable until your health is relentlessly depleted. The traps are too precise. When a fireball comes at you, it is guaranteed to hit you. 

    This game is infuriating to play! If you have the patience and will power to complete it, well more power to you. I can understand if you’re a Brazilian and this game is the only one you have at the moment. But, there are better games out there. Play Battletoads in Battlemaniacs on the Super Nintendo / Famicom instead. TERRIBLE GAME!! 

Adventures of Lolo 2 - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

     Lolo is back! Princess Lala has been kidnapped, again! It’s up to Lolo to conquer the puzzles and mazes of the Evil King Egger. With the same principle gameplay as the first title, but now you can push captured enemies into moats and float on them to cross. Neat. 

     Well, it’s Lolo, again. Hal Laboratory’s poster boy, before the Pink Star Warrior came to be. Controls are tight and fluid. Puzzles are challenging. Difficulty is tough, but not impossible. A thinking person’s kind of game. Just play in small sessions, because the music is very repetitive and droning. 

     I really enjoy these games. I highly recommend them if you’re into puzzle gaming. This series won’t hold your hand too. I only played this game twice. I played it a month later and completely forgot the puzzle solutions. I was just as stumped as I was the first time. So, you can absolutely enjoy this game for years. Play it on a boring rainy day for some cozy fun.