Mega Man X (1994)

Genre: Platformer | Players: 1 | Developer: Capcom

Though they are related, the classic and X series are relatively distinct entities. X did not take up the torch, wholesale. Mega Man 7 saw release after this game, and eventually there was an 8, 9, 10, and 11. The defining differences are as follows:

Pros:

• The Mavericks, while still essentially Robot Masters, are animal-themed.
• X can wall-jump straight up singular walls.
• X can find Dr. Light capsules to power-up his legs, armor, helmet, and X-Buster.

Cons:

• X’s soundtrack is all screechy guitars and synths.
• Each entry attempts to shoe-horn in more and more story.
• Heavy emphasis on a new character, as the series progresses.

There’s an (ego-driven) reason that Zero is doted on, but that doesn’t mean it was done well, or was justified. It wasn’t. In fact, in a later entry, there exists a situation that clearly demonstrates that they were no longer bothering to play-test the games fully, FOR THE TITULAR CHARACTER. Zero is over-powered and there’s no weakness present in him to balance it out, as with Proto Man. How I love thee, my dear, sweet Proto Man 😍

If you’ve read almost any of my reviews here, or on the other Nut Blogs, you know that, in general, I play games for story. I play them for characters. There are times where skill is the primary focus, however, and the classic and Mega Man X series are two of those times, for me. If I found the story of the X series to be compelling—or logical—I would have been ecstatic. However, it’s not, and I find it completely and utterly obtrusive. The text gets longer and longer in each entry and quickly becomes unbearable. As I noted in my X3 review, the power-ups come to be detrimental, as well. It pains me, because this game is fantastic. X2 is acceptably worse, and I honestly kind of like X3, in spite of itself. That’s where the series ends for me. I tried my hand at X4, X5, and X6 and they are not pleasant. In my opinion, both series lost themselves when they jumped to the Playstation.

This game, though, this one has always been near-perfection. Zero’s role is minimal, the story is basic, and it controls like a dream. There are changes in the levels that occur depending on the order in which you take out the Mavericks. You’ll have to revisit some of them to collect the heart container in each (and the game's four sub-tanks), because of these ultimately beneficial changes. Those sub-tanks are innovation of the best kind, because you permanently possess them and you can fill them by collecting energy when you’re at full health. There’s even a level that starts with the perfect grinding spot. It’s not the kind of secret that you can intuit, but Ryu’s Hadouken can be learned and performed when at full health. It instantly KOs everything and I highly recommend using it to painlessly clear the first part of the Sigma fight. I really wish he had settled for simply being a serial villain like Wily. There was no reason he couldn’t have been all, “I got put back together and I’ve got another set of Mavericks, X!”

The elephant in the room is, fittingly, Maverick Hunter X, which I said did the near-impossible and improved this. It did. I stand by that. Numerical scores are a tricky thing and they can paint you into corners. Well, when writing reviews, YOU can paint yourself into a corner. While Maverick Hunter X improves quite a bit, it is a case of ICING. In terms of the original LACKING, I can only bring to mind the second Sigma level, which starts in a very ho-hum way as compared to the remake.

I can’t give this less than what I gave Maverick Hunter X, and I won’t. This is simply a consequence of the nature of the act of writing reviews. And, when you feel inspired to write them. Also, being human. If nothing else, it helps me call attention to a collection post wherein my fellow Nut Blog authors and I detail the pieces of media that we feel are equally worthwhile in multiple incarnations.

Buyer's Guide: Originally an SNES game. It's on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles, and the eShop (but, only if you're using a New 3DS, apparently). Damn your idiotic nomenclature, Nintendo. Your quarter-assed console iterations, too. It's on the SNES Mini, mobile phones, and oddly enough MS-DOS, as well. It's obviously in the Mega Man X Collection, which was on PS2 and GameCube, but is now coming to PS4, Xbox One (Did Nintendo name that one, too?), and the Switch.

4 Bosses Philip Finds Fascinating out of 5

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1988)

Genre: Action, Platformer, RPG | Players: 1 | Developer: Konami

This review is an experiment. Or, more precisely, this playthrough was an experiment. It had been decades since I last played Simon’s Quest, in any serious capacity, and I wanted to judge it as objectively as possible. Were the virtually universal problems with the game actually legitimate complaints? I was determined to find out. There were some solutions that I could not remove from my memory, however. In those cases, I set about determining if there was ANY way to intuit those things in the course of normal play, bereft of Nintendo Power and the strategy guide of its era that I had back then. I fully admit that there was an obscene amount of nostalgia in play, but I did my best to not let that determine the score.

No matter the outcome, I knew a singular truth would remain, one that outreaches its success or failure as a playable and enjoyable experience: this is the kind of game that I like. Honestly, it’s the first game I encountered that won me over with its ATMOSPHERE. I do enjoy the original Castlevania and Dracula’s Curse, and I now believe that those are very successful at creating atmosphere in their own right. This is because of my latter-day experiences with Castlevania IV. However, none of those are the type of game that I innately prefer. Simon’s Quest has you visiting towns, exploring the countryside, finding secrets, and collecting a set of special objects. The engine is very similar to the other two games in the franchise that were released on the NES, but the execution is almost wholly different. You aren’t traveling a fixed path. You have to backtrack and explore the world. Your progression is dependent on finding, buying, and trading items; it’s the first step towards Metroidvania! I love the world and I love the mythos. As a kid, I pored over Oriental Trading catalogues to find exactly the right toys to be Dracula’s body parts. As much as a ring can be a body part, at any rate… I still have my two copies of Christopher Howell's Worlds of Power adaptation! I even had the Tiger Electronics handheld.

Right, onto the game itself: Hearts act as currency and seemingly allow you to level up. There's an experience meter, but in my...experience, I've always leveled up when actually collecting a heart. You have three lives but this only really matters when you’re grinding to buy something. I.e., when you’re trying to buy something, park yourself on the closest screen with enemies and BE CAREFUL until you’ve reached your goal and made the purchase. Okay, okay, continuing does affect the ending you'll receive, as well. I'll get to that in time.

Frankly, this does everything right that Zelda II does wrong. Yeah, you're moving back and forth and up and down levels, but the areas look different. They're colored diversely. Different colored woods, different colored skies, different colored towns. There's as much back and forth in the entire game as there is in, I dunno, the first two palaces in Zelda II? That game is out of its mind. I should have scored it lower.

It is similar to that game in that if you're playing on an NES, you'll be placed back in Jova when entering the password you can ask for when you Game Over. They’re a little lengthy (16 characters), but they aren't the worst I've heard of, and Jova is fairly centrally located. If you're playing on the Virtual Console, just exit to the Wii Menu when on the Game Over screen, without resetting. That way, you can pick up exactly where you left off. You don't even have to write down the passwords thanks to this de-facto save state!

Alright, moment of truth: In my opinion, it's not badly translated. It's deliberately cryptic. The manual even says that some of the townspeople are tricksters! I had one problem, and it was the result of a lack of exploration and an assumption naturally made by the human brain given the specific visual stimuli on display. However, that decidedly is NOT the result of mistranslation. I was able to completely fill out the menu and do EVERYTHING, except proceed to the endgame. I acknowledge that not being able to find Castlevania is an intensely significant act with which to have trouble. However, it is nice to see that the greatest challenge was the final one. Someone more clever and thorough than me could easily manage it. I'm just over the moon that it didn't involve the translation or any of the puzzle-solving!

It was partially MY fault, and partially the designers being intimately aware of the intricacies of human perception and thought processes. I think it's a fair and intelligent challenge. You're free to disagree all you want.

You’ll have to play for speed if you want the 'better' endings, but that’s no different than other games on the system (e.g., Metroid). Also, the ending you’re almost assuredly going to get the first time is completely fine! I like it better than the 'middle' ending, to be frank. Also also, this really is obviously all about the journey.

I'm not sorry, guys; this is an ambitious, fully fleshed-out NES game, whose clue-dependent puzzles can be solved with the text as it was presented. If you'd like to see my justifications for the ones that I couldn't forget the solutions to, please check below the cut. More than anything, though, I'd like this to serve as evidence for my belief that, if you're truly interested in something, you should judge it yourself.

Buyer's Guide: Originally an NES game. It seems it was re-done for the PC. I know for a fact that it was on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles. It's also on the NES mini. It is not, however, on the Famicom Mini. They included Final Fantasy III, instead. Not VI, the real III. What were they thinking!?!?! There's a redacted version out there, available on actual carts, but it should be obvious that I don't think you need to bother with that sort of thing.

4 Deliciously Bloody Tears out of 5

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)

Genre: Platforming, Metroidvania, RPG | Players: 1 | Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo

Symphony of the Night is the quintessential example of a game that largely changed, and then subsequently dictated, the gameplay of its franchise, going forward. While most games of the era were focused on delivering early, pioneering 3D experiences, Castlevania instead dedicated itself to perfecting a sex-tight 2D platforming juggernaut. To my knowledge, this was the birth of the hybrid sub-genre, Metroidvania. Which, is famous for draping the former’s power-up driven exploration in the quaint trappings of everyone’s favorite (non-sparkly) vampire lord.

This incarnation of the castle mostly exists as one large, interconnected experience. The various wings and caverns are united by loading zones perfectly masquerading as short hallways the length of Mega Man boss-corridors. Yes, you will be backtracking through areas multiple times, but you’ll always have new toys and abilities to dispatch the endlessly respawning minions of the night. Many of the weapons have special attacks that can be discovered through simple trial and error. The same is true for the button combinations necessary to elicit the spells already lying dormant in your arsenal. Though, there are scrolls available to teach you the lengthier ones, on your first playthrough. They are exquisitely fitting, given the protagonist’s lineage. SOTN was actually Alucard’s second appearance in the series, debuting as he did in Castlevania III. Thankfully, his movement is infinitely smoother and finessed, here, aided by several, once again, entirely apropos transformations.

All of this is topped off by what is objectively the largest easter egg a game could deliver without wearing out its welcome. At this point in my life, I could admit that it can indeed sometimes test my patience. But, I’ve thought about it, and I feel like that would be roasting a sacred cow, just for the sake of it. Simon’s Quest always leaves me wanting more, upon finishing a run, but SOTN is like Thanksgiving dinner: you’re going to feel bloated, but by next year, you’re going to be itching to do it all over again.

I suppose the elephant in the room is the spoken dialogue. Some have blasphemously described it as hokey! It’s found throughout, but especially at the outset. I find it entirely iconic, and I absolutely refuse to play any of the versions that have done away with it. It’s one of the absolute best parts of the experience, and I promise you that if you like the genre, setting, and themes at play, you will love SOTN. You will.

Buyer’s Guide: Originally on the Playstation 1. The Saturn port allows you to play as, and fight, Maria. It also provides a handful of gameplay extras and two additional areas to explore. It’s known as Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight. The standard version is available as an unlockable extra in The Dracula X Chronicles on PSP. The version on Xbox live is said to remove much of the lag natively present in the game. However, it does away with the best video game song ever. I’ve got the PSN version installed on both my PS3 and PSP, and I’ve never noticed anything different from my PSX original. I.e., I absolutely recommend that release.

I have to imagine that the later ports are the ones that changed the voice acting. Look elsewhere for information on those. I will not be party to such treachery.


5 Miserable Little Piles of Secrets out of 5

Pokémon Moon (2016)

Genre: RPG | Players: 1-4 | Developer: Game Freak

"It is only when the balance of old and new is just right that you can create something original."

Are you listening, Toei? Unlike the demo, which skewed heavily towards Gen 1 (probably for the sake of players returning via Pokémon Go -_-), Moon actually abides by this mantra, to the letter. I’d argue that the mix is about 90:10, in favor of entirely new content. Instead of challenging gyms, you’re tasked with completing various trials. These activities vary and increase in creativity and appropriateness as the game progresses. Don’t get annoyed if the first one feels disappointing, like it did to me. After every trial on a given island is complete, you’ll face off with its kahuna, in the standard manner. In both instances, you’ll be awarded with their associated Z-Crystals, which allow your pokes to use Z-moves. If one of your pokes has a move of the matching type, they can equip the crystal and perform a corresponding special move, once per battle. Just as Mega Evolution grants a power-up form, a Z-move is essentially a hissatsu. Yes, one of the event pokémon IS an homage to Kamen Rider Ichigo and his unique Z-move is a Rider Kick!!! Many status moves can also be utilized as such for status related effects.

I’m not entirely sure how some folks flew through the game as fast as they did, given that the main storyline took me just over 140 hours to complete. I admit some of that time was a result of stopping to train up new pokes. I wanted to try out a good number of them! I’ll tell you right now, at the end of the series (Lockstin REPRESENT), I have found my preferred set of starters. That’s so fitting for me! A large chunk of the Alola dex is absolutely stellar. I even like most of the Alolan forms for Kanto pokémon. I only briefly used a Grimer, but that’s because I wanted to mostly use new pokes for my first run. I even used the GTS to get one that’s only available via an Island Scan. You can scan QR codes and build up to being able to encounter some that aren’t normally available in the wild, by default. This includes the Johto starters and the pre-evolution of my beloved Roserade.

Though, while I'll be able to bring my Mawile from Y over, it cannot arrive holding its Mega Stone, which is also completely absent from Alola. I’m made to suffer for the sake of keeping things balanced for competitive players. That’s bullshit. I came to like Mega Evolution once I had conceptualized it as a power-up form. I.e., it's fine that it's temporary.

There are some ½ health mechanics in play for a handful of new and “returning” pokes and while I feel they ruin the Wimpod line and Wishiwashi, I quite like it when it comes to Zygarde. This is because it works in reverse. After you find all 100 of his cells and cores, via a classic squee-worthy collection quest, he can assume his Complete Forme when he reaches ½ health, whereas the others escape and become useless, respectively. Plus, you can Dragon Dance every turn while you’re waiting to be whittled down. Also also, your HP is restored at the end of the battle. I adore Zygarde. Can you tell?

If you’re planning on using a Grubbin or a Crabrawler, know that they cannot fully evolve until almost the end of the game. This is different than not being able to get a poke at all until then, and the payoff WAS worth bringing a Charjabug with me across four islands.

Other new features include Poké Pelago, which mainly allows you to collect evolution stones and poké beans, which replace the puffs in X and Y. The mini-games of Amié were removed to streamline Pokémon Refresh, which now takes place in front of a background matching where you currently are, making it feel much more organic. You can also take pictures at designated spots if you’re a fan of Pokémon Snap. Poké Ride is a new system to replace HMs. While I am proud to be a distributor and love how that makes all of my pokes feel even more special, I have to admit that this was done exceedingly well. It maintains the spirit of everyone having a role to play in our exploration and progression, because the instantly summoned Ride pokémon feel like my own. The choices are incredibly sound and I already had characters associated with the vast majority of them. Because of Ride, I have a team of 13. Yes, 13. 

I want to mention that you should purchase a large number of pokéballs before doing the last thing in the story, and have a non-damaging status move on one member of your team. Trust me on this. As a final mechanics note, know that when pokémon feel they are in danger, they can call in reinforcements and this is helpful for leveling, getting pokes not otherwise available, and shiny hunting, as the chances increase as the chain does. It also makes it so you can get pokes with maxed IVs, but forget that sort of thing. Focus on the story!

It’s fantastic, on the whole, and several aspects just make MUCH more sense in Moon as compared to Sun. Development is intensely poured into one character in particular and I’m so sincerely fine with that. I adore her! Cause and effect, yo~ As with Y, my privilege as the playable character makes me feel like a douche, but unlike the previous generation, this one allows for a very concrete head-canon via the last image in the credits. 

One that makes everything perfect.

5 Chances to Go Out on the Highest of Notes out of 5