The Goonies (1985)

This review is originally from October 15, 2021 when the MSX and NES/PC-88/X1/Vs versions were all combined:

This is for the MSX version by Konami, which I can't seem to select on the Release drop-down. After playing through the first 3 Castlevanias, and now this, wow did I sleep on Konami!

Look: 7/10 Nothing special. I enjoyed the different colored areas, I suppose? Regardless, I oddly enjoyed them (oh, and the structure of the HUD).

Sound: 9/10 I overrated this just because it doesn't count toward total anyway, because it's an early game and I mostly had it muted. It's basically just one song so this deserves 7 or 8, but dang is that 8bit rendition of Lauper's track catchy and enjoyable. Because that track is striking, I gave this a false 9... but I mean, even it--as good as it is, and as short as this game is--got repetitive and old after a while.

Play: 9/10 Controls are tight, this is pure unadulterated gameplay: follow a map, try to get all items, good metroidvania vibes. Gotta love landing those jump-and-hits, as clunky as the controls sometimes are (never been a fan of Up as jump). I love that you can, in good Konami style, hit enemy projectiles with your "weapon"/fist. Considering this predated Castlevania, and I found this simultaneously similar yet more difficult, I bumped this from a 9 to a 10. Of course I would have loved more weapon power ups rather than defensive powerups, and some sort of bosses, but still a great fun game and ahead of its time. Oh Konami, surprising me left and right. I love how you had to actually explore the whole map, and no walkthrough really needed--just a map of the place since easy to get lost but otherwise just fun to explore. Oh, and love that there's no level timer. PS hot tip: You can fall from any height, which helps with shortcutting when backtracking, etc. (Adjusted back down to a 9 on replay, tho may bump up again someday. A bit too chore-ish and misses some of the niceties I look for from this era, now that I better know the era, like jumping from the vines etc)

Feel: 9/10 With the music track, the movie tie-ins (as silly as they are), and the pre-Castlevania Konami vibes, I wanted to play this game everyday till I beat it. I can honestly say I found this more difficult than the first 3 Castlevanias I just played--perhaps that's more so due to adjusting to a new paradigm/control set, e.g. up as jump, and since I played all Castlevanias in a row (& ofc they're all from same series). I keep thinking of Abe's Odyssey when playing old Konami games, but it definitely came to mind again when saving the Goonies throughout the game. Anyway, just a blast. Love that you have to collect ALL the gnome children things to progress to the end. Challenging but fun. Sure, the puzzles were simple, I always had the Fratellies popping up, putting on the heat (plus the respawning enemies). In many ways, this game is ahead of its time--I love the inventory screen built into the HUD (finally got the right phrase for that), and fresh off Castlevania, still a surprisingly high difficulty. For the record, there are no Zelda or Castlevania style secrets really. I mean there is, but--very solvable for fun if just wanna play a good, enjoyable early platformer someday. No need for a guide, I played most of it without a map but I enjoy these type games with a map, and yeah--definitely give it a shot (plus it's easily accessible). Oh, one negative though -- the ending was very disappointing, and the overall appearance drab. In many ways, it played and felt like an arcade game more than a console game (again, I played the MSX version). (Because, when I replayed this I didn't delve fully back into it, I had to push this down to a 9. This was very important to me and changed my backlog forever, now doing this Chronology Project, but it isn't quite worthy of a 10/10 Feel which should be very rare and special. Maybe some day

Attachment: 9/10 Yep, definitely will be replaying this. I am going to play it from the start with a map next time to ensure 100% completion. But besides that, a thoroughly enjoyable game, ahead of its time, that I plan to play at least a few times. I'm super excited to explore MSX versions of games and MSX-only games, I had never even heard of MSX before joining Grouvee. This really had great sound and graphics for its year. Oh, and I'm super excited for the second one that people often talk up far more than this one (indeed, I've already started the sequel--and my eagerness to play it each night when I finally get free time is the reason I didn't write this review till 3 days after I finished the game.)