Preliminary: I'm playing the original arcade version, which was really a cartridge based Neo Geo arcade system from what I understand. Anyway, the Look and Sound are of course impressive, a great tune. The controls are a bit clunky and you sort of skip ahead sometimes while moving and jumping, which reminds me of the upcoming PS1 era. But I still oddly like it. I read that it gets ridiculously difficult tho, so far I haven't had to use savestates at all. I hope it doesn't get un-fun-ly difficult. It seems there are only 8 levels, hopefully that'll be manageable?... :-p
I like how quickly you move up and down on ladders, and for the most part the controls aren't too bad with the clunkiness despite the large sprites (which usually results in clunkiness in late 80s/early 90s games). I was a dragon which I really liked for the continuous fire attack, but now I'm a ninja and I have Power 2 so I'm feeling pretty powerful :-p It seems the ninja's attacks go farther is why it's an upgrade?
Pretty lame that I can't jump off ladders or attack from ladders... that's like, a basic feature on even console platformers let alone arcade ones of 1990. Plus, most projectiles can't seem to be hit away. We shall see if this warrants a full playthrough despite the impressive Look and Sound.
Day 1
Proud to say I figured out the first boss's trick on my own (well, at least my trick for it, stand close till it attempts a melee attack back away quickly and get a hit in then step under her as it jumps). And haven't had to load a savestate at all. So that's a positive, at least the first level is doable even if the difficulty is known for climbing to ridiculous levels. (Oh lol that wasn't the true first boss, but I also quickly figured out the true first boss and am officially on the 2nd stage)
Oh no, I'm now some guy who shoots lightning in a circle around me? Seems like a downgrade from the Ninja imo. But I do notice I can jump better and that seems needed in this level. Ahhhh and I can, like upgrade my version of myself by only getting that same color, neat neat.
Okay yeah nah that 2nd stage boss was just obnoxious. Did wayyyy too much damage. Moving on
Look: 8/10 Impressive, but nothing sentimentally amazing.
Sound: 8.5/10 Tons of good tunes, and it was the main thing I was curious to keep experiencing into the later levels.
Play: 7/10 Has a lot of features I love, but also lacks some basic expected features from a 1990 platformer. Focuses too much on the difficulty, but at least the first level is a nice, balanced and fun level to play.
Feel: 7.5/10 Looks and Sounds ahead of its time, tho decidedly Plays very much of its time.
Attachment: 7.5/10 I have an urge to return to it and just abuse savestates ha, but I'm trying to shake away that mindset since I'm almost to the era of games I played and Lord knows I didn't have those growing up, so games should be balanced enough to give a good 30 mins+ of gameplay before they get ridiculously hard (imo). But then again, arcade games will always have the added factor of moneymaking through deaths.
Overall: 7.7/10
Completion: The boss of Stage 2
Playtime: ~20 mins
