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)I popped
Neutopia II into my console, turned 'er on, and was greeted by a rather impressive scene of flashing lightning and some distinctly familiar music. Hey now, that's just a variant of the
Neutopia title screen music! I began playing and encountered several more recognizable tunes. Yup, Hudson Soft recycled and remixed a bunch of
Neutopia tracks for this game. That's kind of genius. The old favorites, combined with a plethora of standout exclusive tracks, give
II the upper hand in the soundtrack department.
Graphically,
Neutopia II is about identical to its predecessor as well. The hero sprite may just be the same one from the first game, but here it's explained that he's actually a different dude (some sort of descendant). The overworld and dungeon scenery is strikingly familiar, though Hudson Soft was kind enough to include a new enemy roster. Everything still looks bright and bouncy and colorful and "12-bit." In short, this is what you could call a "mission-pack sequel", or, to give a comparison,
Neutopia II is to
Neutopia as
Super C is to
Contra. And much like that first game, this one apes
heavily from
The Legend of Zelda.
There are admittedly some changes to the formula that need to be addressed. Alterations that make
Neutopia II the superior series entry. First, the overworld is one large seamless area. No more "spheres" connected to a central hub. Additionally, there are towns containing shops, save points, and advice-doling NPCs. Said towns drastically improve the flow of the game. They provide "home bases" to retreat to after each rigorous dungeon outing, and there's no more hunting for shops and save points hidden under random trees and rocks.
II's hero has a greater range of movement: eight directions. There's still no Link-esque lazer sword, but some additional staves are available. Once again, the emitted projectiles vary depending on health. Having a wide range of projectile weapons is handy, but the staves have this annoying quirk of sometimes bouncing enemies back into you. Unacceptable. Then there's the boomerang (wonder where they got that idea), which can actually fly off the screen never to be seen again. I used it twice. There's a hookshot that deducts a whopping
ten gold per use. I used it once.
Dungeons are way more complex this time around. They span multiple floors and are littered with traps and switches. Once again, they're disappointingly generic: just nondescript stacked boxes of gray stone. Many of
Zelda's dungeons were undeniably spartan, but their garish colors and bizarre shapes supplied a massive dose of charm and particularity. Bosses are mediocre. Inconsistently difficult HP tanks.
Speaking of
Zelda, there are some elements of
Neutopia II that are strangely reminiscent of
A Link to the Past. There's a goddess mythology slowly revealed by NPCs, as well as a sleeping princess that looks much like Zelda under the spell of Agahnim. I'd chalk this up to coincidence, or perhaps these are common tropes, as
Neutopia II hit shelves two months before
ALttP. Or maybe Nintendo took revenge and ripped off Hudson Soft!
Neutopia II has a markedly better flow compared to its predecessor, and is unquestionably more entertaining to play. And, honestly, they're so similar that playing both is not entirely necessary.
II is probably more than enough. Both
Neutopia entries are worse than
The Legend of Zelda, and
Neutopia II looks downright amateurish stacked up against the closest chronological
Zelda entry (
A Link to the Past).
One final caveat: the American release of
Neutopia II is stupidly expensive. Like, $175+ for the TurboChip alone. Go for the import if you must have a physical copy, or hit up the Virtual Console.