Retro of the Week Logo
Top 5, 4 and 3: Actraiser, Gun Hazard and Kirby Superstar
Posted by Swifto
Posted on 19 November, 2012 at 1:09PM ↑ 0 ↓ 0
Top 5, 4 and 3: Actraiser, Gun Hazard and Kirby Superstar

I really need to work on this daily thing. So, triple dose for the missed days!

 

So; Actraiser. I've already done an article on this game. What more can I say? I didn't exactly have a close, personal experience with it. I didn't play it on cartridge until I was well into my adulthood and was collecting old games of my own accord and pocket, before that I had only played it on emulator. I hadn't even played it on my grandma's old SNES, though that woulda been badass.

And yet, I still love it a lot.

I guess it's the blend of genre's. Not only are they well executed on their own, but they tie together nicely. You fight in the side-scroller to clear the worst of the monsters in an area out, then zip to the city-building sim perspective. The bigger and better you make your city, the more power you get when you go and do the side-scroller parts. They're intrinsically tied together, in a way that makes sense, and are very useful for one another in both ways.

Idunno what it is. I just really goddamn like it. It isn't something we've really seen before or since, certainly not of these two specific genre's (not even in the damn sequel) and I don't know if anything that will be made will work out this damn well.

So yeah. I just really like it. MOVING ON.

 

Front Mission: Gun Hazard
Remember Assault Suits Valken and how amazing I thought it was?

When playing it, I was always thinking "Man this game would be even better if it was more like Mechwarrior and let me customize stuff!"

Well. That's basically what happened here.

That's the factor that initially drew me to Front Mission: Gun Hazard. However, what made it stick is the storyline. Yes, the gameplay is great, having improved on the Assault Suits Valken formula in almost every way. And while the mech customization isn't exactly in the league of Mechwarrior or Armored Core, it still strikes a nice balance between in-depth and simple, with just a sampling of RPG aspects.

But again; what made me stick to this game was the story.

And oh man, is it a good'un. Within the first ten minutes, I was loving the protagonist. A simple soldier, not very high ranked, who is one of so absolutely few soldiers that remains loyal to the president, even amidst a violent coup d'état, and even when he's hopelessly outmatched, he still stands by the man he believes in, willing to defend him to the death.

Of course, the story goes up from there, and other characters come along, and it's all very well crafted and weaved together, but... The protagonist remained my favourite. The usual case for me in RPG's is I think the protagonist is alright, but other characters are more to my liking. Gun Hazard is one of those rare cases where the protagonist is my favourite, and all throughout the game, when he's given more and more development, he remains such.

It's just one of those little things that cemented this game in my favourites. It wasn't even something I quite realized over the years. This game was originally in the number 6 spot on my list, but after replaying the game a bit, to refresh my memory... I remembered all the things I loved about it.

Some day I'll do a full and proper article on it.

Until then; MOVING ON.

 

KIRBY SUPERSTAR
I had first played this game alone. It was amazing.

Years later, I played it with a friend. It was doubly so then.

This isn't likely to be some great in-depth analysis or anything insightful. Kirby Superstar is just a goddamn good game, no matter how you slice it. Everything revolves around sheer polished gameplay. Do you notice the story? The art design? The music? The locales? The characters?

.......Yes, you do, of course you do! And they're all excellent, very much in the upper tier of Super Nintendo capabilities.

And that's what makes Kirby Superstar kinda hard to write about. There isn't all that much that it does in a groundbreaking fashion, it's just.... Nigh-perfection of a very well established and familiar formula.

There is one area it invents very nicely, though: The friend system.

Get a power from an enemy, push the A button, and bam, you have a helper that's related to that power. Either the AI takes control of it, or a friend with a second controller can take the reins. It's a simple, yet brilliant system.

If you have a little sibling that wants to play, they can just take the second controller and play around, with little-to-no consequence to your own playing. But if you have a friend who's great at the game, you can both work together to great ends, and the second player doesn't feel like a tag-along with limited power.

It's just a really well made game. What more can I say?


Hopefully tomorrow I can remember to post something.

Comments
Lazlo Falconi
19 November, 2012 at 9:46PM ↑ 0 ↓ 0

I thought you said you had these all ready to go...

Swifto
19 November, 2012 at 9:55PM ↑ 0 ↓ 0

When I'm at a friends lacking internet and when I do have internet and forget, well... Yeah.

Add a Comment
Name: