Games Beaten 2017

[marurun]

Well, Matrix (Alundra devs) were formed by former Climax and Telenet staffers, so there might be some staffing ties. But Matrix was formed before Climax went under, and Timestalkers was released after Matrix was formed and had released a couple Alundra titles. So I think any ties are informal and unofficial.

[Exhuminator]

That and the Alundra games have some ties to Landstalker, so I wanted to play it first before playing the other ones.

I have an unpopular opinion for you.

I don't like Alundra, despite getting about 70% of the way through it before quitting. I'll say some positive things first. Alundra has a cool plot with interesting characters, it has a very somber atmosphere that I enjoyed, and decent music. It controls okay, and some of the enemy design is interesting. What I didn't like is how tedious Alundra is to play. The further you get into it, the more aggravating it becomes. Enemies are often damage sponges to an annoying degree, and bosses especially so. But most of this game's challenge comes in the form of platforming puzzles. These platforming puzzles eventually become infuriatingly ridiculous to solve and time correctly. To the point at which they cease being any fun at all, and you start to wonder if the designers are intentionally torturing the player. Level design starts to become a slog as well, with unnecessary backtracking coupled with "gotcha" moments forcing the player to re-traverse previous areas due to pitfalls and such. So ultimately while Alundra has great aesthetics and an intriguing concept, the end result is a vicious bucket of tediousness this gamer did not enjoy.

As for the other "Stalker" games, I wasn't trying to say they are bad. What I meant to say, is that if you still find the base concept of Landstalker interesting, there's other games in the series to investigate.

[marurun]

I kinda think the Stalker games have tedious and frustrating platforming elements as well. Dark Savior almost made me flip out.

[alienjesus]

Games Beaten:
1. 3D Power Drift 3DS
2. Maze Hunter 3-D 3DS
3. Hyrule Warriors Legends 3DS
4. Icarus Proudbottom's World of Typing Weekly PC
5. Paper Mario N64
6. Catherine PS3
7. Glover N64
8. Blast Corps N64
9. Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! Switch eShop
10. Pullblox 3DS eShop
11. Pokémon Picross 3DS eShop
12. Bare Knuckle III Mega Drive
13. The Legend of the Mystical Ninja SNES
14. Alisia Dragoon Mega Drive
15. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master Mega Drive
16. Dynamite Headdy Mega Drive
17. Runbow Wii U eShop
18. The Mystical Ninja starring Goemon N64
19. 3D Puyo Puyo 2 3DS
20. Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa 3DS
21. SteamWorld Dig 3DS eShop
22. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Switch
23. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped PS1
24. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time GC
25. Pilotwings 64 N64
26. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones GBA
27. Puyo Puyo Tetris Switch
28. Life Force NES
29. Bionic Commando NES
30. Bonk's Revenge TGCD
31. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia 3DS
32. Splatoon 2 Switch
33. Shantae & The Pirates Curse 3DS eShop
34. Devil May Cry PSN
35. Team Kirby Clash Deluxe 3DS eShop
36. Blaster Master Wii U VC
37. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes GC
38. Wario Blast! featuring Bomberman Game Boy *NEW*
39. Astro Boy: Omega Factor GBA *NEW*
40. Daiku No Gen-San: Ghost Building Company Game Boy *NEW*
41. Kirby: Planet Robobot 3DS *NEW*
42. Noobow Game Boy *NEW*
43. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Game Boy *NEW*
44. Mario Golf N64 *NEW*
45. Akumajo Special: Boku Dracula-Kun Game Boy *NEW*
46. Rockman World 5 Game Boy *NEW*
47. Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! GBC *NEW*

Replays!:
1. Bare Knuckle III Mega Drive
2. Die Hard Arcade Saturn
3. The World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Mega Drive
4. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble 3DS VC *NEW*
5. Trip World 3DS VC *NEW*

OK, because I'm never going to catch up if I don't add them soon, here's mini-reviews of all the stuff I haven't updated with. I hope you like Game Boy games, because I sure do!

Wario Blast! featuring Bomberman

Wario Blast, despite the name in the spotlight, is basically a Bomberman game but with Wario in it for some reason. In Japan I think it's just a straight up Bomberman game in fact. The game takes place over 8 stages, each containing 4 rounds. Each round is pretty much a straight up Bomberman multiplayer match vs computer opponents. The first round has you facing one Bomberman or Wario (depending who you chose) with rounds 2 and 3 increasing the enmy count by one each time. The 4th round is a boss fight.

After defeating a boss, you gain power ups which make the game much more fun and fluid, but also serve to keep the difficulty low. Kick bombs and line bombs are standard Bomberman fare, but the new dash functionality and the ability to jump over solid blocks is new and makes the last rounds fly by - especially when you get the ability to ram enemies to stun them, make for easy kills.

Visually, the game is pretty sparse and underwhelming, but the music is pretty great, especially round 7. The game has Super Game Boy support for multiplayer too, which is nice.

Wario Blast featuring Bomberman is a basic game, but a fun one. It's totally worth it at the very low prices it tends to sell for.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a beat-em-up of sorts by Treasure for Game Boy Advance. You take control of Astro Boy as he tries to stop a war breaking out between humans and robot kind, and you do so my punching dudes in the had, laser beaming them, flying around with your jet boots, and poking a machine gun out of your ass to fill their ass with lead.

Combat is very simple in the game, with limited options available to you. You can use your boots to dash about to dodge hits, up and B shoots a weak but piercing laser beam, down and B kicks enemies away from you to create space, and doing enough damage fills a meter than can be used for 3 supers - a super pwoered version of the laser, the aforementioned ass-gun which does low damage but hits the whole screen, or a super dash attack which lets you ram through opponents, which I mostly never used.

Along the adventure, Astro can encounter other characters from Tezuka's comic universe, and doing so icnreases his abilities, allowing him to icnreasde his health, punch power, laser power, gun power, number of boosts or his sensors, which let him see in the dark and some other things.

Although the combat is simple and enemy variety is relatively low, it's complicated by many boss fights, Treasure's fondness for scaled down and up enemies (little ones are weak but harder to hit, big ones tend not to flinch and hit like trucks) and the games plot, which whilst basic is fairly intriguing to watch unfold. Mild spoilers ahead, the game goes on for longer than you might expect too, with the game requiring at least 2 full runs through the quest and a lot of backtracking between levels to see it to it's end.

Like most of Treasure's output, Astro Boy is pretty great. If you own a GBA, you should own this.

Daiku No Gen-San: Ghost Building Company

Daiku No Gen-San is slightly better known as Hammerin' Harry in the west, and is a sidescrolling platformer by Irem for the original Game Boy. It's also an absolutely stunning game for the system, featuring rich background, impressive effects and large well animated sprites.

In Hammerin' Harry, you chase after ghosts who have stolen your missus, and whack them over the noggin with a mallet in order to take revenge. Your quest takes you through the consturction site, under the ocean, onto a blimp and a a few other places besides as you adventure after your missus.

Hammerin' Harry starts off as a light and breezey romp, with the first two stages being fairly easy-going and fun, but from the stage 2 boss onwards, prepare to get your ass handed to you. 3-5 health hits doesn't seem as much as it did at the start of the game, and you'll be super thankful for the unlimited continues the game offers, as you'll see that game over screen frequently.

Despite the challenge, Hammerin' Harry mostly feels fair, a few mean enemy placements on the last few levels besides. And despite the frustration, the game very much has that 'one more go' feeling that drives you on try and finish it.

Hammerin' Harry only came out in Europe and Japan, and the PAL copy costs an absolute fortune. If you want to play it, give the import version a go like I did. The language barrier isn't an issue, as there's very little text in-game, it won't make you bankrupt, and you'll get an impressive and fun, although somewhat brutal game to enjoy.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Kirby Planet Robobot is a typical Kirby platformer for 3DS, so if you've played any of the recent games you'll know what to expect. Kirby can run, jump, float and inhale enemies to steal their powers. Most of the powers here are returning from Return to Dream Land and Triple Deluxe as this game is built on the same engine, but there are a few new abilities, such as the psychic energy wielding ESP skill, and the pill throwing, potion mixing Doctor.

The story this time is that Kirby's home, the Planet Popstar, is invaded by an alien corporation who want to steal the planets resources, and they begin mechanising and urbanising the planet. Waddle Dees even drive cars in this one. The futuristic tech of the alien army also introduces the games new gimmick, the Ride Armour Magitek Armour Robobot Armour. Kirby can jump in this suit and steal powers as before, offering new powerful abilities to utilise, sometimes for puzzle solving, but mostly for stomping cute pink enemies into smithereens.

The frequent availability of the overpowered armour, plus the shorter than usual length of this game (only 6 worlds) means the game is an easy and speedy experience, and I did feel like I wanted more by the time it ended. The Robobot Armour was a fun gimmick, but by the end of the game I looked forward to being able to just play as Kirby normally. That's no bad thing really, because Kirby is as good as it ever was, and it's been pretty good from the start. Robobot is by no means an essential 3DS purchase, but if you buy it you probably won't regret it.

P.S. Thanks to Mas, who sent this to me as his gift for this years Secret Santa. Much appreciated dude!

Noobow

Noobow (or Nu-Bo or various other romanisations of the geezers name) is an adventure game by Irem for the game boy, based off of a mascot for a Japanese confectionary company. Noobow is a pudgy yellow guy with a big smile and not a lot else to set him apart as a video game hero.

In Noobow, you slowly walk around the world putting things right (what exactly isn't always clear thanks to the language barrier) - I think in order to get back to your family on time for Christmas. Hoorah! Noobow, as described before, is not exactly the shape of physical fitness, and that is reflected wonderfully in his animation - he trots around slowly, pulls his flabby body up ladders in a wobbly fashion, and climbs down steps backwards, lowering his pudgy form one step at a time. Noobow can pick up and use items scattered around the world to solve basic puzzles, in a manner similar to a simplified Dizzy the Egg game. For example, in the first level you use a block to cross a gap, pick up a pogo stick to ascend some steps, throw a stick for a dog, and use a bucket to scoop up a whale to escort it back to it's mother.

Noobow is not a particularly challenging game, nor a particularly long one (it has 10 stages, but none are too long). It is however an [img]incredibly%20charming[/img] one. Noobow trots around with the happiest, hopeful-est, derp-iest expression, and his goal is to help make everyone happy. He's not very good at much, but dammit, he's going to give it a go anyway. The music chirps a pleasant tune, the graphics are cute and cartoony and round, and the whole experience puts a smile on my face.

However, Noobow is far from perfect. Other than the length, it features some other issues too - Noobows default walk cycle has some bizarrely stilted animation, that almost looks like frames are being skipped. One or two of the tunes are kind of annoying after a while (especially the last stage) and the last stage itself is a bit of a nightmare - I managed to get myself into unwinnable situations 4 times on that level, none of which seemed to be intentional on the developers part.

Despite these quibbles, Noobow is just a fantastic time and it makes me very happy to have experienced it. I'd say it's a must own for Game Boy, but unfortunately it's not. Noobow has gotten a bit of attention in recent years and the price has spiked considerably. I got a good deal on mine and it was still £35, with £50+ being the usual range for the cartridge only. For a simple and short licensed game, it's just hard to recommend spending the money to import this. I don't regret buying my copy though, it really brightened up my day. Thanks Noobow!

Now I need some chocolate...

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

Donkey Kong Country 3 is my vote for the best game in the series. It's also my vote for the best platformer on the SNES. It might be up there for best game on the SNES in general. It's definitely in consideration for my 'best platformer of all time' crown.

So, I like DKC3. Let me tell you why. The music is amazing. Many people prefer the soundtracks of 1 and 2, but they're delusional, because the thick atmosphere of exoticness and exploration on display in the audio here is stunning. Everywhere sounds exciting but intimidating, and like you never know what's around the next corner.

And you don't! The level design here is often called 'Gimmicky', yet when similar tactics are used in modern platformers they're praised for constant creativity and introduction of new elements. Every level feels completely unique, and all of them feel memorable for it. I don't remember what most of the worlds in Mario World look like, but I can picture every world in this game by heart.

And there's so much to do - 8 full levels and a collectathon quest that is long enough to offer replayability, but not too long as to feel overly padded. I got everything in this run through of the game for the first time.

People also rag on Kiddy Kong, but mechanically, him and Dixie are the best duo in the series. There was little reason to use Donkey over Diddy in DKC1, and even less to use Diddy over Dixie in 2, but here the value of Kiddy is much higher - he can't fly like Dixie, but he can skip over water to find secrets, he carries barrels in front of him as a defence, he can throw her to high places or be thrown to smash the floor, and he can crush enemies who dixie just bounces off of. Not having Kiddy often leaves you at a disadvantage, whereas not having Diddy in DKC2 was no big deal because Dixie outclassed him in every single way.

I adore DKC 3, and this 103% completion replay of the game (P.S. I know there's a cheat to get 105%, but I didn't use that) further cemented it in my eyes as one of the most perfect platformers ever made. If you haven't played this one because everyone told you it sucked compared to the first 2, then get on it. People are wrong and stupid, this one is the best

Trip World

Trip World is very very expensive and very very beautiful game for the original Game Boy by Sunsoft. It's pretty short and mostly quite easy, besides a few challenging bosses, but it's an absolutely technical marvel for the system. Graphics are stunning, the world feels magical and yet lived in, and the inhabitants of it are kooky and interesting. Most of the game's enemies appear only once in the entire game, so there's something new around every corner. I also like that the vast majority of them don't even attack you unless you attack first - it also makes you think about whether an enemy is hostile or friendly before charging in and kicking them in the face.

Your hero Yakupo can run, jump and kick enemies, but can also turn into a flying form or a fish. The fish form can swim and spit projectiles udnerwater, but flops uselessly on land. The flying form cannot attack but can fly indefinitely - however, the he can't turn around mid-flight or he'll fall to the ground, as he will also if he collides with a wall or enemy. Yakupo can also pick up power ups to turn into other forms, including a tail whipping mouse and a seed kicking form with a flower on it's head who disables enemies by planting them with flora.

As stated before, Trip World is very expensive, having only been released in tiny numbers in Europe and Japan. Luckily for me, it's on the 2DS eShop in Europe, but last I knew it never arrived on the US version of the service. In this situation, your best option might be to make use of an emulator if you ever want to give it a try - cartridge copies of the game easily go for £130+ and often for well over £200. The game is great, but it's not worth that kinda money.

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

I have a mixed history with the Wario Land series. I enjoyed VB Wario Land well enough, and I thought Wario Land 4 was decent. Wario Land 3 I liked, Wario Land Shake Dimension I adored, and Wario Land 2 I detested. The only one I had yet to play was the original, so I figured now was the time.

Being that my favourites in the series tended to be the more action-y ones, I had a good feeling about Wario Land 1. The stuff that annoyed me in later entries - mechanics that sent you abck to the start of levels if hit for example, were not present. The focus was more simple and hopefully more fast paced.

Well, I was wrong. Wario Land is a slow and clunky experience, and one which at times I genuinely thought was actually bad. Not 'I don't like this, it's not for me' bad, but 'I actually legitimately think this is a poorly designed game' bad. Clearly I'm alone on that though, because everyone else seems to adore this game.

For me, the pace was way too slow. The power ups were bad - I hated getting the dragon power up and losing the ability to run. Searching for treasures was boring and too often involved getting a key near the end of a level to a lock back at the start.

The game improved later on, with the last half of the game feeling more fun than the first half somehow. Maybe I'd adjusted to the games pacing more. But for me, the impressive 40 levels of content that this game offers just made it even more of a slog.

I'm glad to have finally played this whole series, but overall I'm not convinced most of the games are for me. I'll stick to the amazing Shake Dimension and the rest of you can enjoy being outsped by the snails back here on Game Boy. Stick to the real Mario Land series, they're better.

Mario Golf

Mario Golf is a sports game for Nintendo 64. As you might expect, it's a golf game, but contrary to what you might expect, Mario doesn't feature all that much. This was clearly intended to be something else and had Mario & Co added at the last minute. You don't even unlock Mario until near the end of the unlockable character list! I beat the game and haven't even seen the guy yet

Mario Golf is a very well amde golf game though, with shot accuracy and power working on the standard power bar mechanic. The speed of the bar is just right to allow decent accuracy without guaranteeing a perfect performance by being too slow. The precision of the shots you can make is impressive, and it's easy to read the win, height, terrain and everything in order to adjust your shot accordingly.

From the start of the game, only 4 characters and one course is available, but you can unlock more characters as you go, as well as an additional 5 courses. Unlocking more courses can be a pain - getting a gold on the previous course gives enough exp to unlock it, but actually doing so can be very, very challenging. The only other method is just to play the game a lot to slowly accumulate the needed experience for the next course.

The characters you unlock are generally better than the early character in every way, which is sad. You might want to play as Princess Peach, but once you unlock Yoshi, she's entirely outclassed and you might as well 'upgrade' to him. This is made even more annoying by the ugly generic human characters presence in the game which feels both out of place ('Who the fuck is Sonny and why is he in my Mario Golf?) and annoying due to them often outclassing the characters I'm here for. For example, Maple (as generic human bint) is the best straight shot character in the game, so if you want no curve to your shot, she's better than Yoshi or Peach and you won't end up with any Mario universe in your Mario game.

Despite the odd presence of alternative characters and the slow grind to unlock stuff, Mario Golf is a fantastic game. It offers enough depth to really let you refine your shot, but enough simplicity to let you pick it up quickly. It's Graphically pretty standard for N64, but looks ncie enough, and the music is fun but basic Mario fare. The amount of content on offer is also very impressive, with 6 18 hole courses, loads of characters to unlock and a good selection of alternate modes to play too. Mario Golf is a very good game for N64, and I'd recommend it.

Mario Golf was also the 10th game I played for my summer marathon, making this the first year I've ever managed to finish 10 games for the challenge. Hooray!

Akumajo Special: Boku Dracula-Kun

Boku No Dracula-Kun, better known as Kid Dracula in the west, is a Castlevania spin-off and platformer for the original Game Boy. It is a sequel of sorts to the first game on Famicom, and it's a cracking game for the Game Boy.

Taking the role of the titular Kid Dracula, who is probably Alucard but it's a little unclear, you go to beat up the evil Garamoth who wants to prove he's more evil than you or something. You do this by platforming through a bunch of quirky levels, riding rollercoasters, going into space and more besides. In the first game Drac learned a whole bunch of useful spells, but here he has forgotten them all. However, after each level you are introduced to a new ability which can be used to progress. These are activated by holding b to charge it up and then releasing, with select switching which one you have selected. At first you can only use a charge shot or turn into a bat, but later you can reverse gravity, shoot himing bullets, throw bombs and more. The only downside to playing Japanese for me, besides missing out on the fairly bad dialogue in the cutscenes, was the fact that the power ups are written in Japanese - so it takes some trial and error figuring out which one is which. Luckily, in a crisis you can switch between the power ups whilst paused to give you some time to figure things out.

Kid Dracula is fairly easy overall, with a few challenging moments. Extra lives are plentiful though, easily obtainiable via mini-games after each level. I had over 80 when I finished the game. However, it's well designed, looks and sounds great and plays really well (with some minor slowdown in busy moments). It's also uttely charming.

Kid Dracula is a little pricy these days, but not yet in the really crazy money as far as I can tell (maybe it's different in the US). I'd recommend picking it up and playing it, because it's worth the higher price. I had a great time with Kid Drac, and I think you will too.

Rockman World 5

Rockman World 5 is the Japanese title for Mega Man V on the game boy. Obviously, I picked up the Japanese version because it's much, much cheaper - it cost me £15 instead of £150. Mega Man V on Game Boy is often described as the best of the handheld Mega Man titles and even one of the best Mega Man games in general. I mostly agree.

The story is that some robots from outer space have attacked and yada yada yada, Wily's involved somehow, who cares, it's Mega Man. The game features the same format as usual - 8 robot masters, a castle, final boss. There are a few extra things following the GB format - Robot Masters come in 2 groups of 4 and there are intermediate stages between them. In terms of new mechanics Mega Man now has a cat named Tango, who I never used, and shoots hist fist instead of a charge shot - this hits super hard but prevents him shooting whilst it's out. There's also a shop where you can buy upgrades, and some of these are excellent - the magnet hand that lets the fist shot grab items is great, as is the pummel hand which grips enemies for continuous damage. I also love the energy balancer as I did in the later Mega Man 9, allowing you to power up your weakest subweapon without switching.

Mega Man V looks, sounds and plays excellently, but it's not perfect. It's rather easy for a Mega Man game, a fact not helped by the ridiculously overpowered nature of the rocket fist. The subweapons are OK, but they're so thoroughly outclassed by the fist that I never used them, and that's sad as it takes something away from the Mega Man formula. The same was true of other entries with the charge shot too, but perhaps not to this extent. However, the easier difficulty here isn't unappreciated after the rock solid Mega Man 1 and 3 on Game Boy, it's a nice change of pace.

Overall, if you don't mind importing or selling off your car to buy the English copy, this is a pretty great little game, and generally deserving of it's high praise.

Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!

As you can see from the rest of this list, I've been enjoying a selection of cute and visually impressive Game Boy games lately, so here is another. Hamtaro is an adventure game for Game Boy Color where you are tasked with gathering the ham-hams (read: hamsters) to return to the ham-ham clubhouse. Doing so requires you to explore several environments solving puzzles, helping out other Hams, and learning how to talk the talk (literally) to get your own way.

The main gimnmick of Ham-Hams Unite is hamchat, the hamster slang dictionary. Every time you hear a new hamchat word you are taught it's meaning, and the corresponding gesture that accompanies it, and in the right situation you can reuse these words to help solves a problem. Sometimes this is a simple as learning the word for cute and telling a girl hamster shes Coochi-Q, and sometimes the word is important but the corresponding gesture causes you to make the correct movement to solve a puzzle. It's not all about being nice either - sometime being a dick is the way to get the outcome you need, and I've tackled hamsters off of 5th story buildings, bit them, urinated on them and more in my quest to find all my hammos.

Hamtaro is a very late era GBC game, and was published by Nintendo themselves, and as such, it's quite an impressive looking title. The graphics are chunky, vibrant and colourful, and the animation of the ham-hams is uttely charming throughout. The game is obviously aimed at kids, as the IP would suggest, but it never feels like it's talking down to you, and some of the solutions will evade you for a little while. Luckily, trial and error is enough to overcome pretty much anything the game throws at you, so you won't get stuck like many other games of this ilk.

Ham-Hams Unite is an utterly charming, surprisingly long and fun title for Game Boy Colour. If you don't mind a good dose of cute in your games, you should absolutely pick this up, it's a fun time.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I kinda think the Stalker games have tedious and frustrating platforming elements as well. Dark Savior almost made me flip out.

I totally understand. For whatever reason I love the isometric view and it clicks with me spatially. I absolutely believe I am a minority in that aspect. It can be challenging for a bunch of people and rightfully so. Just for whatever reason, it clicks

[ExedExes]

1. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - PC (March 9)
2. Saints Row IV - PC (June 22)
3. *NEW* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - PC (October 5)

Finishing games seems to be a quarterly theme for me this year, and this latest game is no exception.

Most of the FPS fans remember my experience with the first GRAW. Brutal in every way. Difficult. Precision required everywhere. Fortunately, GRAW 2 let up a little bit and made improvements to the frustrations that were all over the first game. The crosscom communication system and tactical map were greatly upgraded, your squadmates weren't nearly as dense, moving and shooting far better, and the missions were shorter and way more forgiving. I really had a better time with this game! The final mission however brought back a few of those issues I had with the first game (a teammate getting killed in the middle of insertion, no quicksave on a long critical section, no ending cutscene when I fulfilled the final objective!)

Despite that experience nearly souring the whole thing and making me swear off ever completing it, I persevered and added another skull to the pile, as they say. GRIN really lives up to its company logo. It's out to get you!

[Markies]

Hey markies! Sorry Landstalker didn't click with you on the Genesis. It is one of my all time favorite games on the system. For whatever reason, the isometric view never was an issue for me. I always had an understanding of where the platforms were and combat was never an issue. I can see where people can experience frustration in those departments so it is understandable.

I don't get the Zelda clone comment though. It in no way tries to imitate Zelda. The game has a large focus on linear story and platform elements. I am curious to know what elements of the game you felt made it a Zelda clone?

You are right on one thing though with Landstalker, the music is killer. Climax knows how to do music. Their work on shining force and shining in the darkness are proof as well that their music is top notch on the system.

I really wanted to like the game because you had mentioned it being one of your favorite games. Unfortunately, it just did not and I think it was because of the isometric viewpoint. It has never clicked with me and has always been difficult. A shadow underneath the main character would have helped a ton as well in that regard.

By the way, if you are looking for an isometric title, try the 'Strike' series on the GEN/SNES, if you have never played them. It's a semi-SIM Apache Helicopter game that is quite fun. It can be a bit difficult, but I think it mixes the sim and action very well.

For Zelda references, I thought it was all over the place. An elf boy with a fairy companion are going out on an adventure together. He collects pieces of heart to grow stronger and take more hits. He collects items throughout dungeons to help progress in the dungeon. One of those items is a candle that lightens a room from pitch darkness. He swings his sword like Link to the Past. There was a Princess to rescue.

I think those elements are prevalent in many games, but I feel like Zelda was at least an influence or an inspiration in the development of the game.

I would say the music was my favorite part. I loved the music in Shining Force and they did a great job in here as well. I was happy to find out they made a Soundtrack, so I will be picking that up as well. So, the game will live on in that respect.

As for the other "Stalker" games, I wasn't trying to say they are bad. What I meant to say, is that if you still find the base concept of Landstalker interesting, there's other games in the series to investigate.

I watched some reviews for Time Stalkers and Alundra and I can see what you mean. Even though you didn't like Alundra, I can see how both companies took the idea and the concept of Landstalker to make much better games. If Landstalker helped in that way, then I'm glad to see that it did some good.

I can say for certain that I will be giving both of those games a shot in the future.

[Sarge]

Thank Working Designs for the enemies taking a ton more hits.

I still enjoyed the game, thankfully, but it does get really tricky with some of those puzzles, and there are some ridiculously precise jumps necessary at spots.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2. Gyromite (NES)
3. Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
4. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
5. Radical Dreamers (SNES)
6. Video Games 1 (TI-99/4A)
7. Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
8. Exile (TurboGrafx CD)
9. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (TurboGrafx CD)
10. Xak (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
11. Xak II (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
12. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
13. Captain Silver (Sega Master System)
14. Märchen Veil (Famicom Disk System)
15. Vanguard (Atari 2600)
16. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)
17. Front Line (Atari 2600)
18. Mario Bros. (Atari 2600)
19. Harmonia (Steam)
20. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
21. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
22. Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (TurboGrafx CD)
23. Gorf (Atari 2600)
24. Neutopia II (TurboGrafx-16)
25. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2, Taito Legends 2)
26. The Lost Vikings (SNES)
27. Blue's Journey (Wii Virtual Console)
28. Wizard Fire (Wii, Data East Arcade Classics)
29. Super Mario Run (Android)
30. Dragon Warrior II (NES)
31. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (GOG.com)
32. Witch & Hero (Nintendo eShop)
33. Phoenix (Atari 2600)
34. Emerald Dragon (Super Famicom)
35. Sky Skipper (Atari 2600)
36. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
37. Cadash (TurboGrafx-16)
38. Cadash (Genesis)
39. Popeye (Atari 2600)
40. Mega Man 2 (NES)
41. Mother (Famicom)
42. Scramble (Game Boy Advance, Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced)
43. Super Cobra (Atari 2600)
44. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (GameCube)
45. Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo (Steam)
46. Donkey Kong (Wii Virtual Console)
47. Donkey Kong Jr. (Wii Virtual Console)
48. Donkey Kong 3 (Wii Virtual Console)
49. Donkey Kong Jr. Math (Wii Virtual Console)
50. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Nintendo 64)
51. Xak: The Art of Visual Stage (Super Famicom)
52. Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)
53. Super Mario Bros. (Famicom)
54. Super Mario Bros. 3 (Famicom)
55. Yoshi's New Island (3DS)
56. Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

Just some quick thoughts... I really start phoning in my "reviews" this time of year.

Yoshi's New Island is alright. Sort of a mediocre experience overall, which makes it difficult to talk/write about. It plays very similar to the SNES original, with the crying baby Mario floating away if damage is taken. Graphics are utilitarian (the SNES Yoshi's Island looks better), level design is pretty blasé, and the game is shockingly easy overall. I believe all of my deaths (three or so) were due to mistimed jumps, as the Baby Mario system is akin to Sonic's rings but 100 times more forgivable. Controls are pretty solid, but there is some gimmicky system-tipping nonsense required for "vehicle" sections.

Now, I thought Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World was a sequel to Wii U game. It's not. It's a port. Thankfully I like the original game; this was quite enjoyable as well. In fairness, there are apparently a bunch of differences here, but they all exist within the realms of extra content, multiplayer options, Amiibo, and so on. In other words, stuff I don't care about. Other than that it's a straight port with a slightly zoomed in view and persistent status screen at the bottom. As such, I'd say both the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game are equally good - it all depends whether one wants to play the game on a TV or not.

I still need to track down Yoshi's Island DS sometime.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I'm particularly fond of Yoshi Touch N Go on the DS. For real they need to re release that on mobile or something. It is a genuinely fun runner game that doesn't suck and is full of charm. It predates any of the popular runner games that are, in my opinion, terrible and one dimensional.

Oh that game would be so good in hd on the switch!