Fox 'n Forests Game Review!

I've been asked to review Fox n' Forests which first showed up on my radar when it was put onto Kickstarter in 2016 and I have been excited since I saw the screenshots and artwork.  It's the day before it officially comes out to download on Steam, PS4, XboxOne and Switch and I'm lucky enough to have been able to try it out on Steam.

You start the game off meeting Rick the Fox and Patty the Partridge.  Rick was about to have a little snack, which obviously made Patty quick angry as she was supposed to be the snack...
So instead she talks Rick into helping her defeat the green horde and promises him many treasures.  Though I'm sure Rick is thinking he can get some money and some easy food at the same time, but he promises to be nice so we will see.  Patty takes him to see the almighty Season Tree telling him that Rick is the selfless hero that will save them all.  The trees powers are withering and some strange force is taking over the forests and is trying for force a fifth season, so it is up to Rick to prevent this from happening and thus saving the Mighty Tree and forest.  He gives you the Magic Melee Crossbow which allows you to command the 4 seasons and save the forest.

As soon as you start the first level you see the beautiful graphics.  This looks like a gorgeous Super Nintendo game that would have come out near the end of the consoles run, at the point where the game developers knew how to push the console to it's max. The animations are smooth especially when you change the seasons. 

I played on Steam using the Xbox 360 controller, which is a little different compared to my usual SNES controller but it worked really well!  There was never a time where I felt the controls were clunky or hard to use.  There were buttons assigned for using your crossbow weapon, jumping, magic, changing the seasons and doing melee attacks.  There's a handy double jump that helps you reach higher areas and health and mana replenishing items.  The nice thing is by collecting coins you can go to the market/store area and buy new attacks, extended health and mana bars and magic potions.  Your mana bar is used up when you change seasons, so if you switch from summer to winter to free the ice to get across a hole you have to make sure you switch back to summer as soon as you cross so you don't use up all of your mana.  The nice thing is your mana recovers after time as long as you are patient, which is hard sometimes :) But it is so cool being able to switch the seasons to create leaves to jump across open gaps, freeze enemies or water by switching it to winter. It's the first time I've ever seen a game use changing seasons like this as a game mechanic and it works very well.  If you get stuck in a level, chances are you can just change the season and something will grow or change so you can get past the obstacles.  The first main boss fight has you using the season change option to free the enemies eggs and hit them at him.  It's really a cool idea and works quite well.

The music in the game is really good and almost hears like something you would hear in an RPG on the Super Nintendo.  Each level that you play though will require you to come back once you have other items like different colored arrows to unlock hidden areas.  Each level has 5 magic seeds hidden that you have to find so you can grow more trees to unlock new areas, so a few playthroughs may be needed.  The game has 3 difficulty settings so if you find it to hard you can make it easier, or if you really like a challenge you can always make it harder. They have even put a badger named Retro into the level as checkpoints.  If you want him to save your spot you will have to pay some money but if you happen to die you get to start off where he is.  It's totally up to you if you use the checkpoints.  I did just because I hit a few glitches and I wanted to be able to go back to try again.

It's definitely one of those games where you will just have to try it for yourself.  If you love retro platformers,especially on the SNES I highly recommend checking it out. Though I suggest getting it on one of the consoles where you are comfortable with the controller, as I found it a bit tricky to use the Xbox 360 controller on my computer since I'm used to my retro controllers like the NES and SNES.  Luckily it was just a little bit frustrating at first, but didn't take long to get used to at all since everything was laid out nice on the controller.  I hit a couple glitches, one that prevented me from completing the one level but luckily since I paid Retro to save my spot I was able to reset it and just try it again and it worked fine.  I played mostly on Easy mode just to make sure I would be able to experience as many levels as I could.  But even on Easy I found a few of the jumps they wanted me to make a bit harder than I thought.  Though it doesn't help that I'm not super familiar with the 360 controller so that may have been a bit of a handicap for me.  I am happy to tell you this game is definitely worth picking it! When I saw footage of this back when it was first announced it almost seemed too good to be true, but it's obvious they took their time with the gameplay which is so important.  It feels and looks like something that you would have played on the SNES which makes it so rewarding!

I give it 9.5 out of 10 just mainly because of some of the frustrating glitches/bugs I hit.  Definitely worth playing! I can't wait to play more and unlock more areas and items so I can find all the secrets! 

Check out my first game play video of Fox 'n Forests on YouTube and be sure to like and subscribe so you don't miss out on another other awesome game play videos!

Game Article - Kirby's Anniversary

THE SUPER TOUGH PINK PUFF CELEBRATES HIS 20TH BIRTHDAY

This article is from a couple years ago but is still relevant as Kirby Star Allies came out on March 16 of this year for the Nintendo Switch.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the super cute pink puffball Kirby.  I like many people have spent most of my life playing his games starting with Kirby’s Dreamland on the Game Boy.  I instantly fell in love with Kirby he was so cute, the music in the game was really catchy and the game play at the time (remember I would have been 8 at the time) was easy yet challenging enough to keep me engaged.  Ever since then I’ve owned all the other Kirby games.  Even though a lot of the games are quite easy there is always something in them that makes me smile and puts you in a good mood, the game play was rarely frustrating and with a lead character as cute as Kirby you can’t go wrong.  Plus the game appeals to a huge age range of game fans, not only can younger players enjoy it but older players can too.  The nice thing about the Kirby franchise is there are a huge variety of games out there, if you like puzzles they have Kirby's Avalanche, sports type games they have Kirby's Dream Course, they have pinball with Kirby's Pinball Land and even racing with Kirby's Air Ride.  Doesn't matter what you like there is a Kirby game for you!

Surprisingly enough I hadn’t played the NES version until a couple years ago, and I was surprised that Kirby could now steal abilities from the enemies that he would swallow, well I guess not steal “copy”.  Instead of just spitting them out now, he would copy specialized powers from each different enemy like ice attack, fire attack and even crazy ones like the needle attack that makes Kirby a walking pin cushion.  The game came out at the end of the NES consoles life, so like other games that came out around then it looks awesome.  Not only did the environments look great but all the baddies were unique, the main level bosses were cool and there was a huge selection of different themed levels.  They had even incorporated awesome mini games for the player to complete so Kirby would gain extra lives.  It was little details like this that really made the game, so be sure to pick up this game for your NES if you don’t already have it!

Kirby wasn’t always the cute pink blobby ball that we know him as now.  Apparently Kirby was originally named Popopo and his current “blob” design was created as a placeholder sprite as they were making the first Kirby game.  After a little time had passed Kirby’s creator Masahiro Sakurai grew to love the blob and decided to use the placeholders design instead of the original idea they had for him.  So why did Popopo become Kirby?  Well no one really remembers apparently lol.  Some people thought it was to honor Nintendo’s legal counsel who helped them through some copyright infringement problems they had with Donkey Kong or the other theory being because of Kirby vacuum cleaners.  I like this theory more, it makes sense considering how Kirby inhales everything in sight, can expand like a vacuum cleaner bag and can shrink down again when he spits it back out.

Besides a name change he also underwent another makeover.  Back on the Gameboy Kirby was shown as being White on the box art, this made sense at the time since the game was monochrome so he seemed white.  But Sakurai wanted Kirby to be pink, but Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario creator) pictured him as being yellow.  So because of this when the game was brought over to the west they just left Kirby white, whereas the Japanese box art has Kirby being a light red color.

So just in case you aren’t familiar with the Kirby games, I would be pretty shocked if someone wasn’t but you never know I’ll fill you in on the story.  In Kirby’s Dream Land, King Dedede (apparently a self made ruler) decided to steal everyone’s food and to be even more mean he stole the Sparkling Stars that they need to get more food.  Of course it’s up to Kirby the cheerful little puffball (a symbol of the light world) to get the food back along with the stars and teach King Dedede (dark world) a lesson.  For a lot of the games the story is similar, like in Kirby Squeak Squad, mice steal Kirby’s desserts and this makes Kirby mad, he loves his snacks and won’t stand for this.  This also explains his food related attack in Super Smash Brothers too.  It’s pretty goofy, but the Kirby franchise isn’t exactly known for its deep story arc :p  I would argue it’s more for the bright color scheme, cute graphics and catchy music.

Besides just video games Kirby has also had his own anime.  It used to air on Fox on Saturdays, but you can find episodes on Youtube now if you wanna check it out.  Kirby’s creator Sakurai was deeply involved so the way Kirby is portrayed in the way he envisioned Kirby’s character.  He preferred Kirby would not speak, so Kirby has a very limited vocabulary basically consisting of the word puyo!  The anime is a lot darker than any of the games Kirby starred in.  I can think of one episode off the top of my head that was really sad and dealt with death, there is also violence, war and some blood.  At times it’s a little cheesy but totally worth checking out just to see Kirby’s character.  He’s so cute it’s hard not to watch.  Plus it gives Kirby a fleshed out background so even just that part is worth watching as a supplement to the games.

So give it up to Kirby the super tough pink power puff and the awesome 20 year run he’s had so far, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him.  If you haven’t checked out some of the games and you have a 3DS check out the 3D remake of Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby’s Dreamland in the Game Boy section.   The really exciting news is that there has been a Kirby Collection for the Wii (which you can still play on the Wii U) that has some of the most popular games in the franchise on it and a soundtrack which is awesome if you can find it to pick up!

Game Preview - Castlevania (Gameboy)

Castlevania (GB)

Today I am looking at Castlevania on the Gameboy, this isn't a full review as I haven't gotten to play it a ton yet but more just a peek at it.  Since the Gameboy is region free I have the Japanese version of this game.  Since the game is in Japanese and my Japanese knowledge is pretty limited (took a class in University years ago) so story wise I’m not totally sure what’s going on so I did a bit of research.  This game isn't just a port of the version that is on the NES but it has a different story. The game takes place 15 years after the first Castlevania Gameboy game.  Dracula has returned and he has kidnapped Chris Belmont’s son named Soleiyu and turned him into a demon.  Dracula uses Soleiyu’s powers to retake a human form so he can rebuild his castle.  So once again Christopher must face Dracula, but this time to save his son.   

When you first start the game there are four initial levels.  Each level has a unique theme like earth, crystal, plant and air and takes place in a separate castle.  The cool thing is you can complete them in any order you like.  So if you get stuck on one of the large trap rooms you can try out another one. Which kind of remind me of a Mega Man game or something like Bucky O'Hare.
  

If you play the Japanese version you will notice that the axe will be replaced with a cross, instead of making the arching motion the cross moves in a horizontal motion almost like a boomerang when it comes back to you.  Which makes it very useful as it can go through walls to kill enemies, so you can take them out before they even notice you.

My only complaint is I wish Christopher would move a little faster, he seems to be going pretty slow at times especially when you are trying to make a bigger jump or avoid an enemy. Other than that it’s a really fun game!  It looks really good for a Game Boy game even with the limited screen space and the music has been done very well.  I haven’t completed the game yet, but if I discover anything else I will let you know.

I’ll have to try it out on the Super Game Boy tonight and see how it looks on there.  I’m guessing probably pretty good, so even if you don’t have a Game Boy you can always get the Super Gameboy, play it on a Game Boy Advance or the GBA adapter on the Game Cube will play it too :D

So make sure if you get a chance to pick up this game definitely do so!  Especially if you are a huge fan of the Castlevania series on the NES or SNES, especially since it's not just a port of an existing game. Don’t forget that the Japanese version is still playable on North American Gameboy's as they are region free.  I’m so glad Heidi from Retro Gaming Blog told me about this game, now I just have to get the other 2 Gameboy ones in the series J

Game Review - Ninja Gaiden (NES)

This week I have decided to challenge myself and review Ninja Gaiden.  This game has made me feel like I've truly proven myself as a gamer.  This game is hard, well not just hard, ridiculously hard.  But for some reason I'm a sucker for punishment and this game definitely deals it out.  The nice thing is you will definitely feel rewarded when you get through parts of the game.

When you first start the game you will be treated to an awesome in game movie/cinematic.  This movie is one of the most amazing things I remember seeing in a NES game.  You see 2 ninjas facing off in a field at night time, the one is defeated and you are introduced to his son Ryu Hayabusa.  Ryu has no idea what his father Ken was doing when he was killed, but he discovers a note his dad left behind telling him to go to America to meet up with Dr. Smith who is an archaelogist.  He learns of two statues that his father and the doctor had hidden as they have the power to end the world as they know it.  So when Jacquio the leader of a cult steals the one statue it's up to Ryu to carry on the Hayabusa name and protect the world.

GRAPHICS 9.5/10 The graphics in the game are some of the best on the NES.  According to G4 (when it was a thing :p ) it is also the first game to have cinematic cutscenes, which really gives it a movie like feel.  The story is suspenseful and leaves you wanting to know more of what happens to Ryu and what his father was up to before.  There is a huge variety of different enemies that will attack you ranging from other ninjas, huge guys, nuns and animals too which unfortunately includes the evil birds.  I think they are easily some of the most evil enemies ever.  Along with a variety of animals, there is a variety of levels too.  You start off in a city, then move to a mountain like stage with platforms and pits, by a lake, in a jungle and even on a building.

SOUND 9/10 The soundtrack in this game is simply awesome. I enjoy the soundtrack so much I have it on my MP3 player so I can listen to it whenever I want.  Each stage has it's own music, and all the movie cinematic scenes have the same song tying it all in together to make it all feel interconnected. The sound effects are pretty crisp and it's really cool to be able to hear the ninjas running through the field before their battle in the beginning.

GAMEPLAY 7.5/10 The controls are tight and responsive but there are a few things I really dislike. I hate how if Ryu gets hit by an enemy he flies backwards. This is especially frustrating on a little ledge and you get hit by a bird you will fly backwards and into a hole. I also hate how you kill an enemy and it will continue to respawn until you get past it.  It may be worth your while if you find this game too difficult to pick up the Famicom version if you can as it is easier than the version that was released on the North American NES. There's a huge variety of Ninpo attacks you can collect and use, but you have to be sure to keep collecting the power ups as you will run out fast if you keep using the attacks. It will take a lot of trial and error to figure out what ninpo works best for each situation, but it's cool you have something to supplement your sword attack.  A lot of your success in the game will rely on your ability to memorize what will come next, so this means you will die...a lot.  Once you memorize what exactly what will happen, where the enemies are etc. you will know how to avoid the hazards. I just wish the North American version had a choice of difficulty or at least a password system so you can continue where you left off.

REPLAY 8/10 I found myself constantly coming back to this game just so I could beat it, though once I did since it was such a hard and draining experience I haven't gone back to it.  Though I have played the Famicom version of the game since it was a bit easier, and I can definitely see me going back to that version before I would the NES one, particularily because of the feature in the Japanese version to continue with a password.

......BOTTOM LINE 8.5/10
The way that this story is told it makes you wanting more.  At any point in the game you only know as much as Ryu does as everything is revealed to you as he finds out.  With the beautiful looking cutscenes, you will keep coming back just to see if you can learn a little more of the story. I guarantee you it will be a very frustrating game, but the sense of accomplishment you get when you complete an area you couldn't get through before is huge.  Though make sure you are willing to leave your Nintendo on over a few nights as there is no save or password feature so if you wanna continue where you left off you will have to leave it on. It took many attempts over 2 years to finally complete it, but once I did I finally feel like I've proven my worth as a gamer as it is definitely one of the most difficult and frustrating moments of my life, though frustrating in a good way...
Though I will warn you if you are the type to throw your controllers when you get frustrated this may not be the game for you, but if you want a game that will challenge your skill as a gamer this is definitely for you.  Anyone who can get through this has definitely earned bragging rights!  If you are lucky enough to find this game on the Ninja Gaiden Collection for the SNES they do have a saving feature, or if you can get it onto your SNES Classic you can use the save state feature so you won't have to worry about starting over constantly!

Game Review - Batman (NES)

Batman is a 1 player game released by Sunsoft in 1989 along with the classic Batman movie staring Michael Keaton that came out at the same time.  Usually games based on movies aren't very good, but luckily for us this game is the exception.  This game is actually quite good.

Graphics: 9/10 The graphics in this game are quite dark adding to the atmosphere of the game.  At the same time it is also very realistic and it works quite well.  It's not like your usual comic book based game where the characters are bright colorful and cartoony.  The character animations are very smooth and there is no choppiness at all. The pleasant surprise is that even with a lot of enemies on the screen at the same time there was no lag and flashing sprites.  Not only do the individual levels look great we are treated to animated cut scenes between the levels. At the very beginning of the game you get to see the Batmobile cruising down the street and it looks awesome.  The only other game I can think of off hand that has cut scenes this good is Ninja Gaiden, which is an accomplishment for an NES game.

Sound: 8/10 The music in this game is quite good and very memorable and says a lot considering a lot of games just have the same music track playing constantly.  Every track in this game is memorable. Even to the point where you might find yourself mindlessly humming along with the music.  The sound effects work quite well with the soundtrack.  They aren't so loud they distract from the music they just compliment it.

Gameplay: 9/10 When you play Batman you aren't going to find anything brand new or amazing.  Batman is your typical platforming game but it does it quite well.  Control wise it reminds me of a mix between a Ninja Gaiden game with the precision of the Mega Man controls.  You have 4 different methods of attack, punching, dirks and your handy batarang. Luckily there are a lot of chances to get more ammunition from killing all the baddies on the screen so chances are you won't run out too fast.

The design on the levels looks really cool. There's a lot of jumping and a lot of vertical levels, so guaranteed you won't be stuck on the ground for the whole level.  This is cool yet can be frustrating if you constantly keep screwing up one of the jumps.  It's definitely a tricky game to get through!  But that is part of the fun, having to constantly challenge yourself.  Batman can luckily do wall jumps similar to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden so that will definitely help to get past some tricky parts.     

Replay: 8/10 Like I said before this game is very challenging.  Though the more you play it the more you will memorize about the levels so it will become easier to complete the more you play it.  The nice thing is when you die it doesn't feel like a cheap death, you can always tell what you could have done differently to avoid that situation which makes it very addictive to play and try to complete it.  Though you may get stuck on the first level for a long time and it may take a while to advance to the next stage, so hopefully you won't get too frustrated.

......BOTTOM LINE: 8.5/10 Batman is easily one of the best movie based games I have played.  Sunsoft did a really good job with the graphics, sound and gameplay and have created a fun, challenging game that any NES game fan, comic fan or Batman fan really should try out.  I never played this game as a kid but right now for me it's the best Batman game ever made, but keep in mind I haven't played Arkham City. So do yourself a favor and check this game out!