Tag: Game Boy

Kid Icarus: Of Myths And Monsters

That mixture of failed attempts at improvements, lackluster technical enhancements, missed opportunities, and blatant copying makes Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters be notably unremarkable. Perhaps, to those who did not go through the original, there is some fun to found in how the game combines platforming and shooting while underlining those elements with an RPG component that works in nice synergy with the title’s core gameplay. However, even to those players, the NES debut of Pit’s saga is far more recommendable, for – regardless of its higher difficulty – it feels more full-fledged. There is little that Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters does better than its older brother, and the adventure does not show a lot of effort when it comes to growing past its predecessor. The result is underwhelming, as the game lands on a weird ledge that stands between the land of uninspired sequels and the realm of unimproved remakes.

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by Matt

Metroid II: Return Of Samus

Metroid II: Return of Samus is, quite obviously, not the point when the property matured into the gaming juggernaut it is today, for that moment was still in its future. Nevertheless, the progress it achieves in relation to its prequel is noticeable. The adventure carries an overall design that is much smoother; introduces abilities that would go on to become major staples; puts together a larger world of equally intricate setup; and implements small improvements that, when added up, create an experience that is more pleasant and fun to go through. Consequently, although it is hard to deny the Game Boy’s limitations and the lack of a map considerably hold the quest back, the title also represents a weird instance when the translation of gameplay from a console to a portable resulted in a superior product. And thanks to its distinct premise and ultimate goal, which give birth to a different sort of progression, Return of Samus stands as a somewhat unique take on the Metroid franchise, and its position as an overlooked entry in the series ends up being unfortunate not just to the game itself, but also to those who miss out on playing it.

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by Matt

Wario Land 3

Simply put, the scope, ambition, content, and wild creativity of Wario Land 3 cannot be denied. Its status as an improvement over its predecessor may be questionable. After all, not only does such an assessment heavily depends on how one perceives the very different gameplay styles they employ, but it is also hard to clearly surpass one of the greatest sidescrollers of all time. Its position as a masterful platformer is, however, forever written in stone, for rarely has a game combined two seemingly heterogeneous genres so finely while remaining true to the essence of both. And although Nintendo has gone on to produce many other handheld systems and games since Wario Land 3, seldom will one come across a portable adventure that is as large, bold, and constantly clever. The title infuses the relatively simple bones of a sidescrolling platformer with the complex meat of a Metroidvania quest, and what comes out of it is an experience that, though not for all, will certainly awe anyone with a love for intricate design and challenge.

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by Matt

Wario Land II

Wario Land II is, therefore, a tremendous success. And with its abundance of quality and originality, there is simply no reason why it should not rank among the best sidescrollers of all time. Its many levels are creative and intricate; its mechanics, inherited from its predecessor, are expanded and polished; its secrets are so numerous they will support at least a dozen hours of gameplay; its visual and musical presentation is still solid; the importance it gives to the collection of coins makes its wide stages be a joy to explore; and the way it organizes its content is so smart and unique it is somewhat shocking it has not been copied frequently. While some games struggle to strike a thread of identity, Wario Land II finds at least a handful of them, and it implements every single one of those quite well. The fact it stands miles apart from all Mario sidescrolling efforts and that it carries an experience that is handheld-exclusive, hence running away from any sort of unfavorable comparison to home-console counterparts, is the cherry on top of it all. For it makes the game stand as an isolated entity; one where players will find an unforgettable treasure trove of gameplay.

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by Matt

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Needless to say, absolutely none of those problems leave a considerable mark on the thick creative coat of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. Its release marks not just a moment of discovery, when Nintendo came across a gameplay format that would give birth to its most consistent handheld platforming saga; it is also the point when the Super Mario Land series gained a firm purpose. After all, while the two entries that preceded it felt like lesser products that were, for obvious reasons, having trouble to replicate what was being achieved on consoles; Wario Land drops those pretensions to the floor and proceeds to do its own thing. In a character that is the antithesis to Mario, the company uncovered a sidescrolling quest that was, simultaneously, similar to what the plumber was used to pulling off and also quite different in every way. As it turns out, that is exactly what the Game Boy needed: an adventure that could not be experienced anywhere else but on the small screen, and that only had to live up to the bar set by itself.

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by Matt

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

In spite of both the big and small steps it takes in the direction of getting away from comparisons to the giants that Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World are, the game simply cannot escape them. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is fun, and it occasionally exhibits signs of great originality and excellence, as it does in its stunning scenario variety and in its absence of linearity. Still, the fact that it does not really shine where it matters the most – that is, in its level design – and that its focus lies on gameplay that is way too similar to that of its console counterparts holds it back considerably. It is, by all means, a major improvement over the content presented in its prequel; and it appeared as a sign that the Super Mario line of handheld games was advancing quickly. Nonetheless, a major burst of creativity was still missing in order for the saga to truly find its footing in the portable world.

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by Matt

Super Mario Land

Based around a format that, throughout history, has time and time again proven itself to be quite efficient, it is hard to call Super Mario Land a bad game. And its mesmerizing commercial success at the time of its release certainly shows Nintendo did quite well in bringing the world’s most popular platforming series to a handheld system for the first time ever. Nonetheless, although its status as the game that opened up the floodgates for that sort of transition is preserved, the value of its gameplay has been heavily eroded as time has passed. In spite of how it is certainly thematically weird, its oddity is not enough to make it remarkable; and despite featuring a couple of noteworthy detours, they have neither the prominence nor the frequency to turn Super Mario Land into a must-play. For those reasons, the plumber’s first portable entry stands solely as a curiosity for the character’s most avid fans; because anyone else is bound to be rather unimpressed by it.

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by Matt

The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons

Similarly to its counterpart, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons is a considerable step-up for the franchise’s handheld line of games following the impressive Link’s Awakening. And that is because even though it is built over the same framework as that game, which proved without a drop of doubt that the adventures of the hero in green could work in a smaller scale, it is not merely satisfied with achieving greatness through similar means. As such, it chooses to evolve and take risks by bringing puzzle-solving into its overworld via a remarkable mechanic that allows Link to control the seasons; by exploring new items that are smartly used in the creation of refreshing challenges; and by giving its impressively designed dungeons an action-focused touch in filling them up with rooms where killing enemies and avoiding traps work as the main course. And those pieces come together to form a unique and charming quest that still stands as one of the series’ strongest outings.

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by Matt

The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Ages

Perhaps understanding the stellar quality of the 2-D efforts that came before it, Oracle of Ages is – therefore – not satisfied with being just another The Legend of Zelda game that uses a top-down perspective to give players a glimpse into its world. Given that Link’s Awakening had already solidly proved that adventures as big as those of the hero in green could work on a handheld system, it is clear that Oracle of Ages sets out to expand upon that game’s achievements. And it does so marvelously well not only by utilizing its time-traveling mechanics to bring puzzle-solving out of the dungeons and into the overworld, but also by magnifying the testing nature of its mazes in shifting the focus of individual rooms from combats and switch-pressing to riddles of a more demanding nature. And through marrying this inclination for puzzles with the joy of exploring the colorful world of Labrynna and the pleasure of meeting the many amusing characters that are involved in its time-related conundrums, the greatness of Oracle of Ages is fully realized.

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by Matt

The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Link’s Awakening has eight dungeons, a great overworld, an amusing tone that fits its simplicity like a glove, a plot that can be mysterious and touching, and a good amount of extra content. Therefore, it is unquestionably a worthy portable reproduction – one that cannot be missed – of The Legend of Zelda experience found on consoles. And it achieves such while sporting visuals and music that, easily ranking among the system’s best, are worthy of the franchise. In fact, Link’s Awakening is so impressive in its handling of the constraints of the system it was made for that the hardware limitations of the Game Boy are hardly felt at all. However, despite the resounding and undeniable conquest of marking the first time ever a Nintendo franchise was effectively and greatly translated to a handheld, Link’s Awakening fails to reach the same stature of the saga’s most remarkable installments for the simple reason that it lacks a truly defining trait.

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by Matt