Ghosts 'n Goblins (NES review)

Developer: Micronics

Publisher: Capcom

Released: 1986

 

Ghosts 'n Goblins is a side-scrolling action game that was first released in the Arcades in 1985.

 

It supports 1-2 players (in turns) and your mission as a Knight is to defeat the Devil and rescue the Princess. Your main weapon is a Javelin but jars can be broken to upgrade to either a Torch, Sword, Axe or Cross. There's seven levels and at the end of each you battle a demon in an attempt to obtain a key to open the gate. The levels involve battling enemies, climbing ladders and jumping across moving platforms, and all are well designed with a nice mix of vertically and horizontally scrolling areas; there's also multiple platform levels for choosing your preferred path. Each weapon has its own characteristics (e.g. some arc when thrown, while others have greater speed) which encourages you to work out the best strategy. However, the controls are stiff and the inability to fine-tune when leaping in the air leads to no end of problems, especially when you're expected to make tricky jumps and an enemy suddenly appears from off screen. Not only does your Knight frequently get stuck in a ducking position, you'll also experience cheap hits due to enemies that rise from the ground directly below your sprite. While there's a good range of enemies, the Red Devils are much faster than you and their relentless attacks cause much frustration. The Ghosts also have an ear-piercing sound effect that slowly drives you insane! Absurdly, if you beat Level 6 without the Cross weapon you're penalised and thrown back to Level 5! The bosses aren't very interesting but I do like the swooping Dragon that requires eight head shots to kill. Music-wise, the tracks are atrocious and sound out-of-tune.

 

I really like the concept and theme behind Ghosts 'n Goblins but the implementation is lousy. It reminds me of Kid Icarus (1987, NES) in that the core ideas are fun but the control issues and enemy placement result in some brutally hard (and unfair) gameplay that's not very appealing in the long run.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The game has to be beaten twice in a row to see the real ending.

Ikari Warriors (NES review)

Developer: Micronics
Publisher: SNK
Released: 1986

Ikari Warriors is a vertically scrolling run 'n' gun game that takes inspiration from the Arcade classic Commando (1985).

It supports 1-2 players simultaneously and the objective is to infiltrate and destroy an enemy nation. Your basic weapons are a machine gun and grenades although you can occasionally take control of tanks and helicopters. As soon as the action begins it's startling how jerky the scrolling is and how slow your character moves. Enemies can shoot further and faster than you can retreat so cheap deaths are a common occurrence. Unless you collect an L power-up your range of fire is incredibly small so you have to put yourself in harms way if you want to kill anything. Your character always shoots to the right-hand-side of his sprite and it takes a long time to adjust to moving further than you normally would to hit an enemy. The controls are laggy and I didn't like that your character doesn't automatically turn in your chosen direction; instead he first has to spin around which, while realistic, allows enemies to advance on you with too much ease. Also, if you want to quickly run backwards to avoid a projectile your soldier will advance forward a few paces first which puts you in harms way. Whenever you die the game doesn't place you back in the same spot and frequently you'll end up wading through the water or getting stuck in a rock! There's only four levels but they last forever and outstay their welcome by around 10 minutes each! There's tons of flicker and the animation is poor, especially when you kill an enemy, as they jump backwards and flap their arms as if they're performing ballerinas! The music is appalling with repetitive tracks and annoying beeping sounds.

Ikari Warriors on the NES isn't enjoyable in the slightest and playing it through to the end is a test of endurance that rivals the Desert Bus mini-game in Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors! (Mega CD). Do yourself a favour and stick to Super C instead as it's a much better example of the genre on the NES.

Random trivia: The game was also released on numerous other platforms including the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Amiga and ZX Spectrum.

Elevator Action (NES review)

Developer: Micronics
Publisher: Taito
Released: 1987

Elevator Action is a vertically scrolling action game that was originally released in the Arcades in 1983.

 

You play a spy and your mission is to traverse 30 floors collecting secret documents from the red doors and continue until you reach the ground floor. At this point your character runs to his car and zooms off to the next level where you repeat the same objective. Most of the time you'll be riding lifts that can be manually controlled but sometimes you'll need to use escalators if your path is blocked. Pressing A jumps while B fires a bullet from your pistol; you'll need to use this weapon frequently as guards enter through doors and try to shoot you. The game is a high score affair and there's a couple of interesting ways you can take out enemies. Firstly, you can squash them with a lift if you time it correctly; you can also shoot the lights and if a guard is standing directly below it will kill them. Things start off well and the AI isn't too difficult in the first couple of levels. You'll constantly need to be alert and it's fun strategizing the best way to get to the next red door. However, before long nagging control problems start to dampen the experience. Making split second decisions isn't easy, especially when you're trying to access a red door with several guards surrounding you. You must be facing the correct way and have your character placed exactly on the doormat otherwise nothing will happen; usually this leaves you wide open to incoming bullets and instant death. There's also a real lack of gameplay variety and every level looks the same with only minor colour pallet variations. The animation is very poor and the music only consists of one short, annoying loop.

 

Elevator Action is a decent game for around ten minutes but then you'll probably get annoyed by the limited gameplay and stiff controls that are usually responsible for your deaths. The core mechanics are briefly enjoyable but more variety and polish was needed to make this an acceptable purchase, especially in 1987.

 

Random trivia: A version for the Nintendo Game Boy was released in 1991 and it added extra weapons such as a machine gun with rapid fire.

1942 (NES review)

Developer: Micronics
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1985

1942 is a vertically scrolling shooter that was originally released in the Arcades in December 1984.

The game consists of 32 stages and your task is to reach Tokyo and destroy the Japanese air fleet. To do this you have to take down wave after wave of enemy planes and use your reflexes to dodge incoming fire. You can perform a barrel roll by pressing the A button (which comes in handy for when you find yourself surrounded) and you fire your plane by tapping the B button. I’d definitely recommend using the NES Max controller for rapid-fire – otherwise you’ll have to keep taking breaks to get your finger strength back! The stages are just the right length and your plane is very responsive to control. There’s also a few power-ups to use including extra side-planes and screen exploding bombs. However, that’s where the positives end. There isn't a great range of enemies and I found the stage design to be dull and repetitive. You’ll occasionally take part in a boss fight but it involves seeing the same sprite every time with no variation in attack patterns. There’s also the occasional slowdown and times when enemy planes blur into the same coloured backgrounds. Minimal effort has been put into the music and the only thing you’ll hear is the same short jingle before you start each stage. Also, who on earth decided that it’s a good idea to have a non-stop beeping sound while you’re trying to play – it’s really distracting! Compared to the rock-hard C64 port, this NES version is a breeze. Very rarely did I struggle to avoid incoming fire and I never felt any of the intensity that the genre is known for. While I don’t believe that a game has to be challenging to be fun, it must have characteristics that make it enjoyable or memorable; unfortunately 1942 is devoid of these and it’s just a bland shooter that you’ll probably play on autopilot while thinking about what to have for dinner. Even the final level is surprisingly easy and it’s really not worth completing the game as all you get is a shooting percentage score and a ‘Congratulation‘ (sic) message.

1942 is a lackluster port of Capcom’s arcade hit. I’d recommend avoiding this and skipping straight to it’s sequel (1943: The Battle of Midway) as it presents the player with more of a challenge and has greater depth and better gameplay mechanics.

Random trivia: 1942′s success in the arcade led to a number of ports including versions for the Amstrad CPC and Game Boy Color. However, it also featured in the Capcom Classics Collection on the PS2 and Xbox (2005) as well as the Wii Virtual Console (2010).