Seirei Senshi Spriggan
Another Super CD-ROM2 game, it has voiced narration for its opening sequence. And just to disclose, I'm really starting to suffer from shooter fatigue right now, so if you're offended I'm not as excited about these shooters as you are, don't take it personally. With that said, Spriggan is actually a pretty fun shooter, yet, there are times where there's just too much going on. I feel that the frequency of getting pigeon-holed is a bit too high for me, and the power-up system leaves me at times with the wrong combination that does more harm than good. For instance, when I have one line of homing laser things that decide to attack something else that isn't right in front of me, that becomes a problem. I try to avoid certain power-ups when I have a combo I like, but sometimes there's so much being thrown at me INCLUDING power-ups that I end up flying right into something I don't like. I do like the game, though, and enjoy the bosses, so I'll return to this game when I'm not so burned out from shooters.
Snatcher
I wonder how Kojima feels about one of his game being on this machine... Anyway, this is another Super CD-ROM2 game. There's a lot of voice acting for the opening narration, and from what little I played, there's a lot more voice acting as well. Justifies the CD. The problem is, this game is entirely in Japanese and it's a graphic adventure meaning there are dialogue options everywhere. Since I can't read Japanese, I've no idea what I'm selecting. I just kept selecting options until the game progresses, but since there's not going to be any real gameplay aside from some shooting sections later on from what I've heard, there's no real reason for me to play anymore. Shame, I would have loved to play this game in English.
Spriggan Mark 2
Third CD-ROM2 game in a row for this entry. The PC Engine side of the Mini sure has a lot of these. Like the first game, there's a lot of voice acted narration for the opening cinematic, which tells your typical story of a world at war. Once you start the game, a rather lengthy animated cutscene begins. Now, I was expecting a top down shooter like the first Spriggan, which I actually liked, but I got something entirely different. I got a side scrolling shooter instead, which I'm not against. I'm also not against the regenerative shield either, but what I don't like is so far there haven't been any power ups. Instead, you'll get periodic help from someone on your team. What I REALLY CAN'T STAND THOUGH, is the constant interruption of chatter that pauses my game until they're done speaking! YOU DON'T DO THAT IN SHOOTERS! YOU DON'T INTERRUPT THE GAMEPLAY IN SHOOTERS! They were even interrupting me during the fucking boss fight! Couldn't even be bothered to finish the first level. Fuck this game straight up.
Star Parodier
Look at that, ANOTHER Super CD-ROM2 shooter! But, this is what I really need right now, a shooter that is light-hearted and relatively easy. The game features three selected ships, each one with their own sets of power-ups. One ship is a cartoony version of your archetypal space shooter. One is actually a Bomberman Mech, and the other is a PC Engine! It's so fun playing as Bomberman, who has options that are also mini Bombermen, and his power-up icons are straight out of the Bomberman franchise. The PC Engine has power-ups that are Hu cards and one of the things it can shoot out is CDs. I really appreciate the levity this game brings right now. The game's graphics are also very colorful and fun, and the gameplay is really smooth as well. This is one of my favorites on the system so far, and I'll definitely return to finish it!
Super Darius
Fifth Super CD-ROM2 game in a row... and it doesn't really seem to need a CD. Anyway, I consider Darius in the same family of shooters as Gradius. There are some differences, but they're largely the same to me, except Darius doesn't seem to have very good power ups. No options, no angle shots. Just increases to your forward shot and missiles. What it also has is branching paths. After every boss battle, you can go north or south. This promotes replayability. I'm not too fond of the game overall, so I'm not sure if I'll ever come back to it.
Super MomotarÅ Dentetsu II
Another game with menu options entirely in Japanese, I have no idea what I'm doing. What I can make out about this game is that it's some kind of train board game. It seems like you can scan the board for spots where passengers are waiting to be picked up and then deliver them to their destinations. Your movement is based on dice rolls and you play against the computer. But that's as much as I can make out. So, the rest of the game's pretty much unplayable to me.
Super Star Soldier
I believe this is the predecessor to Soldier Blade, which I feel was the better game. This one's a top down shooter, has your typical spread shots, missiles, lasers, etc. It has options, but they act as shields and don't add to the offensive array at all, which is kind of a disappointment. After having played so many shooters so far, I'm really reaching the end of my rope here. There's not much else I can say about this one. It's just another shooter.
The Genji and the Heike Clans
This is a samurai hack and slash game where you fight all sorts of enemies. Loads of cheap shots await you here. It does have this cool mechanic where you reach a point in the level and you enter another part of it as a much bigger version of yourself. Later on, you'll reach another part of the level where it looks like it shifts to a top down perspective. I'm not really liking the game. I think the graphics are pretty sloppy, and I just don't like the hit detection. No reason for me to come back to this one.
The Kung Fu
Not just Kung Fu, THE Kung Fu! Now, I watched a ReviewTechUSA video where Rich was talking about how bad this game was. It was basically NEC's answer to Nintendo's Kung Fu thinking they could pulverize Nintendo based on the graphics alone. And Rich is right. It is pretty dumb. The basic gameplay isn't very good at all. You can't kick when crouched, which is weird. Jumping is awkward. Boss fights involve finding a dead spot and exploiting it. Hit detection's wonky too. This is the perfect example of graphics aren't everything.
The Legend of Valkyrie
This is a fun little adventure game. You play as a Valkyrie and you go about killing all sorts of enemies. The problem is, it's in Japanese so I can't understand anything that's being told to me. Thankfully, the gameplay's vague enough that I can just press on. Go somewhere I haven't been to yet, kill everything, move on. There's also power-ups and I love power-ups, and I beat a couple of bosses that took some observation to learn their patterns. I have a feeling future bosses are going to get really brutal later on. Again, I just wish I knew Japanese so I could know what the story's about. I may play more of this should I revisit my Mini.
Ys I and II
This is the Japanese version of the English game. No need to play it.
Overall Thoughts
Now that I have five mini systems, where do I rank this one? I'd have to say in the middle; behind the Sega Genesis and SNES Minis and ahead of the NES and PlayStation Minis. I had a lot more fun with the TurboGrafx 16 side of games than I did with the PC Engine. The PC Engine had way more shooters it seemed, and some questionable inclusions. Five PC Engine games are just the Japanese versions of TurboGrafx 16 games, which seems pointless. One PC Engine game is the Japanese version of Bonk's Adventure, which doesn't make any sense, and we have the English Splatterhouse instead of the uncensored Japanese PC Engine version. There are a handful of PC Engine games that flat out REQUIRE understanding Japanese to play, such as Necromancer and Snatch, and the latter is incredibly frustrating. I get they were trying to remain as faithful to the emulation as possible, but it doesn't help. Some of these games needed to be in English plain and simple when releasing the system statewide.
Regardless, though, I don't regret spending 100 dollars on it. There are lot of fun shooters, even though I've been complaining about shooter burnout lately, some awesome action games like Ninja Spirit, cool puzzle games like Chew Man Fu and of course one of the best Bombermans I played being Bomberman '94. I really dug the presentation and appreciated the little touches like showing the game cards being inserted and the CD-ROMs booting up. Ultimately, though, I just wish the line up was a bit more varied. Still, if you love old-school games, you'd do well to add the TurboGrafx Mini to your collection of classic consoles.
No comments:
Post a Comment