Genre: Action RPG

Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Year: 1987

Basic Idea: Come here to buy, come here to sell, and come here to kick some dwarf ass.

Review:  When I first put together my list, I had Faxanadu ranked in the #7 spot.  Last week I decided to play it.  Needless to say, my memory of this game was significantly stronger than reality. It’s still a strong game, but there are enough flaws that #24 seemed like a more accurate place for it.

Like Zelda II, it’s a game that requires too much level-building and has townspeople who are almost completely worthless.  I know this argument could apply to nearly every RPG, but it’s ridiculous that the king and the townsfolk all pray that you will help destroy the evil dwarves and keep their cities from dying, yet they charge you insane amounts of money for weapons, magic, and keys.  There is not a town you can reach in the game where you don’t have to sit right outside it and kill enemies for twenty to thirty minutes just to get enough gold to buy things.    However, compared to a lot of RPGs at the time, twenty to thirty minutes actually seems short.  The game is also not terribly long, either, so the pain is minimized.

A unique aspect of this game is that when you gain enough experience points you are assigned a rank.  The rank doesn’t increase your abilities in any meaningful way; however, when you die with a certain rank, you are revived with a base amount of gold attributed to that rank.  Thus, dying can be convenient if you just want to warp back to the last town you saved at, especially if you have less money than your ranks gives you.  Where this gold comes from and why you’re given it is a mystery, but it can make dying less painful than in other RPGs of the era.

As for the gameplay itself, it’s alternately a blast and frustrating.  There are many times where it is simply impossible to avoid enemies.  Thankfully, though, there are no pits of death to fall into so once you get over the fact that you’ll get hit no matter how good you are, the enemies are generally fun to fight.  Most of the dungeons have a fight or two that requires planning, and the bosses are incredibly well-detailed, especially for 1987.  The most irritating aspect of the game is that there are doors that require keys, and that the doors always re-lock themselves once you’ve used your key.  There is at least one spot in the game that requires you to significantly backtrack to buy a key, because there’s no indication you need to buy an extra one for later.

It mostly sounds like I’m complaining about the game.  To be honest, if you haven’t played this game before, I can’t really recommend it.  It’s far too frustrating when there are way better action RPGs out there that have stories that have more depth and intrigue.  I also don’t think I’ll ever play this game again.  But I had so much fun playing this as a child and it was great entertainment in 1987.  I still enjoyed myself last week, though a lot of that was nostalgia.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  Come back on Monday to see what game falls in at #23.

Genre: Action RPG

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1988

Basic Idea: Wonder how you can help a poor man named Error while trying to wake princess Zelda.

Review:  There’s video proof of how insanely excited I was to receive this game for Christmas in 1988. Our family had spent countless hours with the first game in the series, and we were primed for more. Imagine our disappointment when we realized that the sequel was virtually nothing like the original game.  It took a while, but I eventually got over it.  It’s a flawed game, but  certainly still worthy of play.

The game’s map is epic.  Zelda II introduced towns to the series, a much welcome addition that makes the game world actually seem believable.  Granted, many of the town denizens speak so cryptically that there advice is worthless, but there’s still fun to be had.  You can learn new spells by visiting new towns, and sometimes you have to puzzle-solve within the town to find certain people.

What’s not so welcome is the RPG like level-building.  Much time is needed fighting the same enemies over and over again to be able to withstand the onslaught in each dungeon.  And the level-building is even more annoying than in your standard RPG, because you have to be more careful (since it’s an action game) and you actually have to seek out your enemies on each action screen. See, the game map is from a bird’s eye view, but when an enemy touches Link, it transports you to a battleground.  This is similar to several SNES RPGs, but each scene takes significant time to wade through, making the game stupidly longer.

The dungeons is where this game shines.  Each one is sprawling, but not maze-like.  The enemies are colorful and gradually get harder throughout the game.  Like the first game, there’s a treasure to find in each one that enhances Link’s ability.  Problem-solving is abundant, sometimes using spells (like turning Link into a fairy!), sometimes using guile.  And the boss battles are a ton of fun.  In fact, the bosses make those in the first game seem like Goombas, not only because they’re more difficult, but because they’re more unique and fun to fight against.

The main downfall in this game, at least for me, is the insanely difficult endgame.  Reaching the final castle is almost impossible, as the final caves have so many lava pits that Link’s Castlevania-like jumping ability often isn’t enough.  The final castle is also complex and difficult, but at least it’s fair. Of course, if you don’t have any lives left, it’s a daunting task.  The final enemy, Link’s shadow, is a worthy opponent unlike Ganon from the first game.  I’ve never won the game without cheats, but I can see how one could do it with enough dedication.

Zelda II is unlike any other game in the series.  Nintendo took a chance, and while I’m glad they went away from this formula for their next game, I appreciate what they tried to do.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Takeru
Publisher: Taito
Year: 1992

Basic Idea: The ultimate tag-team.

Review:  I had never heard of this game until I began doing research for my countdown.  I’m glad that mistake was corrected.

The game begins with four separate characters taking a journey to meet up to defeat some evil thing. You play as a human, a dragon, a rock, and a mouse.  Each has their own specific strengths and weaknesses.  Once they all meet up, you tackle each level with the ability to switch between any of the characters at any time (much like in TMNT).  Need to reach a hard-to-get to spot?  Switch to the mouse.  Need to traverse through spikes without taking damage?  Switch to the rock.  I love the concept, and considering how different the four protagonists are, there is often a big benefit to strategically planning your way through the level rather than just bum-rushing through.

The concept alone is worth a top ten ranking, but the execution isn’t always perfect.  Stage difficulty is seemingly random as you progress, even within stages.  The enemies and bosses are repetitive and uninspiring.  There are some issues with RAM.  There are no power-ups other than increasing your life bar.  And the graphics and music are pretty meh.  Despite how impressed I was at first, I wasn’t terribly sad when the game was over.

Still, it’s a marvelous idea and if you’re looking for a new platformer to play, I can strongly recommend Little Samson.

Genre: Shooter

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Year: 1988

Basic Idea: Gradius, with better graphics and less dying.

Review:  My favorite shooter of all-time, Life Force is basically perfect.  It can be played alone or with a friend.  The power-ups kick ass.  The backgrounds are creative and visually stunning.  The music fits the mood.  The boss battles, while relatively easy, are great fun.  And the final level, frantically trying to escape the alien your plane has just destroyed, is really intense.

Granted, I’ve never won this game without the Konami Code.  But I have gotten pretty far without it, and there’s only a couple times where the game feels unfair at all.  If you only play one shooter on the NES, it has to be Life Force.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Year: 1990

Basic Idea: Kill Dracula again with Simon Belmont’s grandfather and some bad dudes you recruit.

Review:  This game often makes top ten lists, and it certainly retains the awesomeness of the original game and adds some great features.  Unfortunately, it also retained the incredibly awkward jumping with cheap falling deaths.  It’s not any less annoying in this game.  The final level has an awesome section that has you jumping across pendulums.  Did I say awesome?  I mean maddening as hell because bats keep sending you to hell.

The added features that help this game include alternate paths and recruiting bosses you defeat to come along side you to help you navigate through certain levels.  You don’t need to retain their services, but with their special abilities (e.g. wall-climbing) it can make things easier if you do.  The level designs are also immensely more creative. It’s impossible to get bored while playing.  The music and graphics are still mind-blowing.

If it weren’t for all the stupid ways to die, I would probably worship this game.

Genre: Arcade

Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Year: 1987

Basic Idea: Breakout on steroids.

Review:  I always had an affinity for games in this vein, and Arkanoid is near-perfection.  More than just your standard paddle-destroy-blocks game, many blocks drop super powers for your paddle. Power-ups include increased length, sticky paddle, multiple balls, free balls, lasers, and even a warp zone.  Some levels require increased strategy to complete, as enemies fly around and gold bricks are not destroyable.

There are two minor annoyances.  The balls can sometimes end up at breakneck speeds.  This is generally not an issue if you have the Arkanoid controller (we did) as you can move from one side of the screen to the other instantaneously.  But the paddles moves at a rather leisurely pace while using the regular NES controller.  So when those balls are going fast, kiss your life goodbye.

The colors are amazing.  The game is really a joy to watch.  And, if you can make it to the 36th and final level, there’s a pretty sweet boss battle.  I also recommend the sequel for the SNES which is even better.

Genre: Action

Developer: Square
Publisher: Acclaim
Year: 1987

Basic Idea: I’m guessing the inspiration for Forrest Gump.

Review:  A truly unique game, this is a must play by pretty much anyone, at least once.  The game is in third-person perspective and you run away from the screen.  You have no choice really, as the dude runs no matter what you do.  You can speed him up or slow him down,move left or right, and you can jump.  Avoiding enemies and chasms is pretty much all there is besides some perfunctory boss battles.  It sounds simple, but each level brings increasingly difficult challenges and is quite addicting.

The graphics are fairly drab, but well-detailed enough that there’s little confusion.  And, like Rad Racer (released a month later), the game has a 3-D mode that works if you have the glasses.  I never had a chance to do this (as it doesn’t work on emulators), but if it’s anything like the 3-D in Rad Racer, I hardly doubt it makes the game more enjoyable.  Unlike Rad Racer, this game doesn’t suck.

In fact, this is the only game Square made that I’m aware of in the non-RPG division that hasn’t sucked (King’s Knight — shudders).  It’s well known that Final Fantasy saved the company and I certainly can’t argue with the company’s direction.  But I wonder if they gave up on other genres too quickly.

Genre: Puzzle

Developer: HAL
Publisher: HAL
Year: 1990,1991

Basic Idea: Add hand-eye coordination to your crazy difficult puzzles.

Review: It’s impossible to review these games without also reviewing the first or revealing that the first game will rank higher on the list.  So, there you go.  If you haven’t played any of these games, the basic idea is as such: collect all the hearts in a room to open up the treasure chest which has a button that will open the door.  Rinse and repeat.  On each level there will be various enemies that get in your way.  Some just literally stand in your way.  Some will breath fireballs that you have to dodge. Some kill you instantly if you walk within their line of sight.  There are others as well, but you get the idea.

So why are these two games ranked lower?  Their graphics are somewhat better than the first game, and the third game adds some boss battles.  The third game even has an overworld map and a partner who has the exact same abilities and is only there for…well, I don’t know.  Thing is, these are just frills that were added.  The main issue I take with the final two games is that so many more puzzles involve agility.  There’s nothing more annoying that knowing exactly how to escape a room but not being able to do it because you can’t move fast enough.  And since the play control isn’t that fantastic, it just makes some levels needlessly frustrating.

Both games are still fun and definitely worth playing if you enjoyed the first game.  If you don’t enjoy the first game, however,  there’s nothing to see here that will change your mind.