by ESauced Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:01 am
Had a bit of time today to play a couple more games.
I started with Lion King (Game Gear). Playing this after Taz in Escape from Mars made it seem fantastic initially, but after the novelty of playing a game that was playable and didn’t make me ill wore off, I realized it’s a pretty mediocre game. It looks good for a Game Gear game, but the issue is once again the developer tried to mimic the Genesis version. It’s not exactly a port, but it uses the same mechanics and levels, just with bits and pieces cut out.
The issue with porting a game to a less powerful system is it exacerbates all the problems the original had. So the platforming in the second level with the monkeys throwing you around? Prepare to be even more annoyed in this version as the jumping is even more fickle. And with the worse graphics it was very hard to tell what branches I was able to jump on and which I would fall through. Similarly, in the third level it looks like you can walk on the elephant tusks but then you’ll just fall to your death once you try to step on them. That’s as far as I made it because I was running low on time and felt like I’d seen what the game had to offer.
Next up I gave Pocahontas (Genesis) a spin. I didn’t make it far in this one either as I put down my Nomad and I must have bumped the cartridge because it froze (it’s a very sensitive system). My initial impression though is that I judged this too harshly and gave up on it too quickly when I first played it years ago. Part of the issue I initially had with it is I didn’t understand some of the gameplay mechanics and so I quickly became stuck. This time I looked up a walkthrough which explained what I needed to know.
Pocahontas is a puzzle platformer, not an action platformer. You can switch between Pocahontas and her raccoon (there might be more animals to switch to further in the game) to solve puzzles and proceed through the levels. Along the way you can help animals which will grant you additional powers. For instance, helping the deer allows you to run, while helping the otters allows you to swim. The game helpfully has a hint mode to move you along, but some of the controls aren’t really explained. For anyone who plans to play, the A button is essentially the action button. If you want to do anything other than run or jump, try pressing A . I don’t own the manual so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt that it might explain the mechanics better in there. Heck, even having a hint mode is more of a tutorial than any Genesis game I can think of.
Overall the game has decent graphics, and feels unique among all the Disney action platformers. The OST, which uses the movie soundtrack, started to wear on me pretty fast, but otherwise I didn’t find much fault in the short bit I played. I definitely plan on revisiting.
The last game I tried out was Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (Genesis). I started this up on Easy difficulty as I’ve never played it before, and I usually like to give Genesis games—which typically are difficult—a go on easy mode the first time, before revisiting on harder difficulties. I only played the first world here but so far I’d say easy mode is unnecessary. I can’t imagine the game is that hard even on Hard mode based on what I’ve tried.
The OST is obviously great in this one, actually playing a MIDI version of Smooth Criminal in the first level. The sound effects and voice samples, however, are very repetitive, and get annoying fast. The graphics are good, and Michael is animated very well. With the volume turned down and no context, someone would still be able to identify that 16 but person as Michael Jackson. The gameplay is repetitive, you, as Michael Jackson himself, go around rescuing children and blowing pixie dust at any bad guys in your way. Unless gonna get very different later on, I’d say that the gameplay is mediocre, but it works well enough. Certainly the mileage you would get out of this one would depend on if you like Michael Jackson. As a fan, I am on revisiting this one.
Unfortunately with my circumstances this month I was only able to actually beat Duck Tales 2 for this TR, and I’ve already beaten that one before. I have such a vast library of licensed games that I’ve never seen the end of but it was fun taking about these games with everyone, and this theme will inspire me to try and tackle some of that backlog. I grew up on NES and Genesis and played a ton of licensed 2d platformers when I was a kid, so I really enjoyed this theme!