Preliminary: Finished the first boss and though the controls take a little getting used to, 8 stages seems doable! I hope it remains a straightforward arcade action game. (Oh and to be clear, this review is for the original arcade version)

Look: 8/10 Cute, feel-good arcade colors and look. Nice array of settings. Lol I love the eyes when you squat down

Sheesh the princess is not only stone but like hanging?

(I had to pause, savestate, then loadstate in order to screenshot cuz things moved so fast ha)

Sound: 8/10 Nothing special, functional, matches the cute vibes when cute and the more sinister/dramatic vibes when dramatic. It borderline got annoying but not too bad. And that ending jingle was great. I gave this a slightly higher rating than it probably deserves, but that's because it was slightly more than just functional/7--it matched that classic arcade sound even when it got somewhat annoying/repetitive, and that ending song was great.

Play: 8/10 This is a very approachable game, which I always like. Maybe there was more to it--I see there is a StrategyWiki--but it remained playable without all the context. I was able to figure out all the boss mechanics without looking them up (well, until the last 2). The controls aren't perfect but their quirks are learnable. And at least they are responsive so once you get used to them you can be swift in your dodges and turn-around-and-attacks (which is used a lot in the mechanics)

Pro-tip: the collision masks aren't as good as you might expect for a 1986 arcade game, but it's mostly in your favor. Use that very broad collision mask for the spiraling weapon you have to your advantage! You can often hit things above or below you with it even if you don't actually hit it with the sprite!

On second play session, I was thinking how remarkable it is that this was run on the same Irem machine as Kung Fu Master. Things improve so fast in the world of technology! The platforming elements were a bit clunky and felt inferior to the fun action gameplay otherwise. I'm usually not a fan of one-hit-kill games with no armour/health power-ups, but this does it mostly well. Thankfully when you die you start back where you were for the most part, like even in the boss rooms instead of having to start all the way over. That being said, I had to start using savestates for the last 3 levels, but I think if I had this at an arcade near me back in the day, I would've played it enough to get through it without such conveniences.

Feel: 8/10 Lol was the boss of Round 5 a creepy guy who yells curse words at you? And sends little versions of himself at you? Anyway, I lovvvvve when arcade action games have "world maps" for your levels, like in a lot of NES and SNES platformers Donkey Kongs Marios etc. Like you're traversing but it's in set levels instead of open world. Love that. Was hard to get a screenshot of it though.

Attachment: 8/10 Welp, I just got to Stage 6 on my first night playing. At first I was kind of unsure because it was a bit clunky, and I wanted to boss on OldSchool RuneScape. But I'm glad I pushed through. Michael had a really rough work day, 6th 14 hour day in a row--the post office is in its peak season and he's lowest on the totem pole. He's home now, so I will have to stop for tonight. I hope I enjoy this tomorrow as much as I did tonight! (I just now realized the start of each stage gives you a hint for the boss mechanics lol I just learned them with trial and error :-p )

Interesting! Apparently there are Secret Areas! That's how I like it: a straightforward action game that you can beat without a bunch of convoluted secrets, but with optional secret areas for extra points or easter eggs to encourage replays! Perfect!

Uff that final boss is quite frustrating, but I pushed through. Love that there is a set ending, not to mention the secret areas for replayability plus the option to chase higher scores. Nice. Great jingle for the ending text too. I could see this going up to a 5star if I ever return to it.

Completion: Main Game, forgot to get high score number Playtime: ~ 35 mins