Astyanax - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

    

    Astyanax is a port of an arcade side scrolling adventure game with rpg mechanics. You play a high school boy who is isekai into a fantasy world, to save a magical princess from a dark sorcerer. Yes, even then, isekai was a common storyline trope. A companion fairy name Cutie guides you on your journey, as you venture across six treacherous levels of brutal platforming and an endless onslaught of enemies. The graphics are awesome, and well designed and detailed. This is one of the best looking games on the NES. You have a magical weapon named, Bash. Bash can transform from a Battle Axe, to a Spear and a Sword. Each form is stronger in strength, but weakens your magic abilities. It’s a good counter to not make the player overpowered. It’s a standard affair. Transverse the stages, defeat the boss and advance onwards. What gives this game its charm is its detailed cutscenes. Excellent anime illustrations present a compelling narrative as you play. Considering the limitations of the NES, these scenes are well executed. I was surprised and became motivated to beat this game on stream. It feels as I am watching one of my mom’s old VHS OVA Anime tapes, only in game form. 

    Astyanax is very difficult…for new players. As a new player myself, this was a gauntlet. I was just brute forcing my way through the levels, until I advanced. Nothing trial and error with perseverance can’t handle. You know what we always say on this blog: GIT GUD. 

    My only complaint is the unfair enemy placement and the endless respawning of them. You have to look before you leap at every platform, because an unexpected enemy can just spawn from the ground and knock you back into the death pit. This game had to take inspiration from Castlevania, because the enemies are relentless and the dreaded knock back is your common demise. Don’t even get me started on the flying drone enemies, known as the “Medusa Head” clones to gamers. Still, despite the enemies and the occasional unfair challenges, it’s a nice feeling of accomplishment to beat the stage boss and progress. The bosses are so cool looking too. The sprite work is so detailed and imaginative. Very Heavy Metal kind of Vibe. 

    With an awesome and compelling presentation, excellent sprite designs, and fun game mechanics, I highly recommend this game. It’s really short too, if you know what you’re doing. You can just cheese the difficult parts with the time freeze spell anyways, including the boss fights. It’s a little unfair, but overall a fun time for challenge lovers like myself. Play this game. A Melody Hayashi Approval 🐰👍🏻 

The Cyber Shinobi - SEGA Master System

     This game is not very good. The controls are very stiff and the movement is slow. I struggle to move my character accurately to avoid danger and hit an enemy. The music is not very good too. Lots of unfair traps with no hints for avoiding them, unless I didn’t see it. And worst, when you die and get set back, your time does not restart. You need to beat each level flawlessly. That is a very game breaking oversight. 

     Nah! Skip this one. It’s so broken and unfair. Clunky controls, bad level design and bad programming. I can’t recommend this one. 

Arkista’s Ring - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

     Arkista’s Ring is a top down action-adventure game exclusively published for North America by Sammy. It can also be found on Famicom bootleg carts, like my Mother’s own copy of the game. You play as Christine on a quest to find the magic Artiska’ Ring. Traversing the lands, collecting power ups, penetrating fortresses, defeating monsters and bosses to save her world. 

   It’s a simple and short, but charming game. It’s pretty easy too, with the power ups and the continues you have. Nothing really to it. There’s only 32 Levels and the game loops. So I guess this is ideally for gamers who like collecting points. My only complaints is that the controls are stiff and the music is really high pitched. 

     This game is fine, and it was one of my mom’s favorite games to play in a boring afternoon. You can beat it in less than a hour and go for multiple loops. I know there’s secret jewels I missed, so try to find them all. 

Cool Spot - SEGA Master System

      Cool Spot is a 90’s 7Up mascot, that was popular enough to get his own video games. This game is an actual commercial to a soda brand. But, it’s not shovelware. There’s actual effort put into this. You play as Spot, the “Cool” tiny Red Dot of the 7Up soda logo. You’re on a mission to rescue all your Red Dot friends, that was put into cages by a villain named Wild Wicked Wy Will. The villain is trying to prove to the world that the Red Dots exist by exposing them. It’s up to Spot to save all his friends to keep their lives secret from humans. 

     This game is fun! The controls are tight. The level designs are fun and challenging. The music sounds really good. Especially the chiptune cover of “Wipeout” played during the game’s opening and the trance dance bonus song. If this music sounds good on the Master System, it must be great on the other consoles. My only complaint is the enemy placement, which is a little unfair. But, nothing a GIT GUD attitude can’t overcome. I got better and better with every retry of a level. 

     You definitely need to play this game, at least for the curiosity of it. It’s an excellent platformer, despite it being a glorified soda commercial. I still had fun with it. Can't review the 16-bit version.   

Arkanoid - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

     Arkanoid is an Arcade port of the Taito classic. You control a paddle ship called Vaus. Your mother ship was destroyed by an evil entity called DOH. While fleeing your mothership’s destruction, you are trapped in a warp zone fully controlled by DOH. Your mission is to escape the warp zone by completing all the levels and defeat DOH. Break all the blocks of each level with the ball to advance. Use power ups to break the blocks faster and easier. Watch out for enemies that crawl in and attack. Use the ball to destroy them and rack up more points. 

     Well, I highly recommend you play this game with the designed “Vaus Controller”, if you want tight controls. There is a oh so slight delay when you use the standard NES controller, and the precision is very awkward. Honestly, the biggest difficulty I had was controlling the ship to not miss the ball. I often overshoot my position and can’t seem to keep pace with the ball. It is not impossible though. With will power, I’m sure someone can adapt to the NES controls. I was able to beat a few levels. 

     Yeah… this game is simple, but it’s charming and can be fun. It’s just the controls holding it back to be fully appreciated. You can play it without the special controller, but it is much more difficult. If you like challenges and mental strength adapting, give this game a try. And if you can find the Vaus controller meant for this game, absolutely play it. It is a good time, with the right controller. A whole other challenge, with the standard controller.

Columns - SEGA Master System

  Columns for the SEGA Master System. Yup, Columns. Match three or more of the same color gems in a row to eliminate them. Try not to overflow them to the top. Wipe out enough and move on to the next stage, with increased speed. 

     It sure is Columns. The controls are tight and the music is ok. Columns. It’s Columns on the SEGA Master system. 

     What can I tell you? It’s Columns. It’s a good puzzle game on all SEGA consoles. It’s so good, it warranted two sequels. If you like dropping block games, and Tetris is not available to play, Columns is an ok alternative. Meh…