This has now become the shooter game I have spent the most time with. The bite size two minute runs and focusing on finding all of the scoring techniques for the first stage have really caught hold of my attention. I can only imagine what it was like in the past in the heat of battle with kids lined up around Famicoms making notes on others sessions, sharing tips and trying to outdo each other. First I was playing with turbo on after nuking my forearm in my initial runs through the 2 minute mode. Then people started submitting scores without turbo so I felt the need to actually hone my skills and summon the fierce fighting spirit of Takahashii Meijin and at least make an attempt to put up an honest to goodness hard fought score.
The 5 minute mode skips the horizontal scrolling levels and jumps from stage one to stage after finishing the first stage. This is a much harder challenge. The difficulty in this game really ramps up fast and furious after the first level. I might make an attempt to put some time into this mode but honestly it was wrecking me when I did try it for the first time.
The normal game is brutal. After spending so much time getting to know the first level in the 2 and 5 minute caravan modes I decided to make an attempt to go through the full game. Oh man. What an immediate spike in difficulty. Towards the 75% mark of the first stage I noticed some new enemies in the full version. The new enemies didn’t spike the difficulty but it was a difference and I wonder what other differences there are. Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to blow through this game. Then getting into the second stage you switch to a horizontal scrolling mode and the difficulty really ramps up. I haven't spent a ton of time trying yet but holy cow I have not even made it close to the end of the second stage. It is sad how quickly this title filtered me.
The graphics and presentation are solid. You can tell what's on the ground and needs to be bombed and what's in the air that needs to be shot down. A unique aspect of this title is the alternating between vertical scrolling and horizontal scrolling each stage. I'm not sure any other shooters do this. The game is very responsive and the controls are tight and I never felt like I died because the game cheated me. It's just a very highly difficult game with a ton of frantic enemies blasting a lot of projectiles. There can be some slowdown from time to time when there are a ton of enemies and projectiles but this is fairly common in a game on the NES with this much going on at once.
All that being said about this titles tremendous difficulty, I really had a great time with this shooter. Honestly this may be the most fun I have had with a shooter. Usually I get filtered by the difficulty and requirement for skill and reflexes and just drop this type of game. But with this caravan mode I have found a way to have a tremendous amount of fun with this affordable NES title. Starting the challenge and getting my online friends to post scores and compete for hi scores has also been an amazing new way to play and has really opened the door for me to enjoy this type of game without getting super frustrated. Maybe it will grow into a deeper appreciation for the genre and maybe I can develop those skills and reflexes needed to make some headway into shooters.
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Natsu-mon 20th Century Kid:This is what the kids refer to as a comfy game. You run around a turn of the century small town in rural Japan collecting bugs, fishing and trying to save the family circus by recycling cans and bottles you find in the river. It's absolutely captivating. You will run into characters and discover little subplots that unfold over the course of the month. You can spend a few bucks at the toy store to buy a watch to keep track of time or just let the day escape you until an adult tracks you down and drags you home for dinner. The woman that runs the boarding house you're staying in will cook up any cool fish that you've caught that day. The day and night cycle along with passage of time really reminded me of Shenmue but centered on daily life of a free and wild child. Another task I was enthralled by washunting mushrooms and looking for acorns to shoot out of my acorn shooter. There are mysteries to solve with the other kids you befriend around town. Turns out they're the ones letting the pigs out of the pig pen behind the Shinto shrine. Those rascals.
My kids also really enjoyed passing the controller around and exploring the world. Their self guided task was scaling every building and mountain they saw. As your collection of grody bugs and fish grows your ability to climb increases letting you get yourself into more trouble as you go. I'm not sure why but I want to financially support SpikeChunsoft and titles like these. I usually don't buy digital only titles but I really wanted to see this one succeed after playing the demo one afternoon with both of my kids. I'd definitely recommend this for anyone looking to have a chill experience and maybe relive some of the magic of childhood on a cool rainy day.
Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle +Hell Deluxe Edition (2023):
This game completely flew under the radar for me. I actually only learned it existed when I happened to see it on the publisher's website while looking up another title. Then a few weeks later I just happened to see it at the library. So I checked it out and sat it down and was distracted by life for about a week. Then I sat down with my Son and gave this game a shot. We were both hooked immediately. He's only 4 so a game this simple to pick is right up his alley and a game this hard to master is right up mine. He loves hopping and bopping around shooting enemies, especially the skeletons. Another thing we both love is earning coins from defeating enemies. The coins are used to unlock other characters. The characters all play a little differently and have various weapons with different movement patterns. I personally love the old school graphical style and the simple early 80's arcade game play, think Bubble Bobble or Mario Bros. Along the bottom of the screen is a progress bar giving you an idea how many enemies you have to beat to reach the end of the stage. Breaking blocks will allow you to jump to higher areas and occasionally give you some much needed power ups and items. Occasionally there will be a larger version of an enemy which is always fun to do battle with. There are at the end of the stages large bosses to conquer.
This is definitely a great game to play in either long or short bursts. Tonight at work in between calls I've been playing this excellent game and look forward to unlocking new characters and giving them all a shot. There is also a ranking mode for those wanting to compete for highscores. Unfortunately as much as I love games I am terrible at them especially amongst the wider world of competition but surprisingly I really enjoyed the ranking stage. No matter what mode you're playing, even if you die or fail a stage, you rack up coins and unlock items along the way so you always feel like you're making some progress. There are achievements which are pretty standard these days but I did enjoy unlocking them and seeing the cool pixel art. Oh, something cool is a power up that transforms you into the car from City Connection which is just as hard to control as it was on the Famicom. I'm sure there are other references like that to other Jaleco games and I'm excited to see them along the way.
This package also includes 5 other older Ninja Jajamaru games. I actually have some of the famicom titles on my shelf. These are a little antiquated which may or may not be your style. The best in that bunch is the Super Famicom game and the colorized gameboy title. The real star of the show is The Great Yokai battle This is definitely a neat little package which can still be picked up for $30 new or around $20 if you poke around a bit which is definitely worth your time. I will absolutely be buying a copy for myself after returning this to the library.
Shiren the Wanderer 6:The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island:The Mystery Dungeon series is a long running franchise of Rogue inspired dungeon crawling RPGs. The first game was a spin off of Dragon Quest starring Torneko the merchant from Dragon Quest IV. SpikeChunsoft wanted to make another game in this style but with their own unique character. Thus Shiren the Wanderer was born! This is the newest entry in the franchise. I just happened to catch a youtube video about it a day or two after it was released and had been playing the remake of the first Shiren on the Nintendo DS. I took it as fate guiding me to this most excellent game.
The game starts with Shiren and his trusty sidekick Koppa the talking ferret landing on an island to hunt a treasure.
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