Trojan (1986)

Preliminary: The last of my 1986 backlog! Finally on to 1987! The year the great NES games came to North America, and the year of Final Fantasy! Ah! Not to mention the year of the sequels most people dislike but I like (Zelda II and Castlevania II haha). I was nervous cuz these late 86 games have been complicated, almost necessitating a guide or at least a map. But the StrategyWiki for Trojan says "very straightforward" and the Wikipedia says it's a successor to Kung Fu Master. Straightforward indeed. Fingers crossed. (Oh wait, I was all prepped to play the NES version, I started defaulting to that, but the arcade version came first so arcade it is)

Look: 7/10 Oh wow! This looks like a true beat em up game!!! I know I have played some precursors but wow. I love the post-apocalyptic setting with the beat up stores.

Sound: 7/10

Play: 7/10 Wow the beat em up genre progressed a lot in a couple years. This looks and feels like the 1990ish ones I think of. Then again, it's arcade. Still a bit clunky, not in love with how the jump mechanic works, but it's that classic arcade joystick feel to the jump.

Feel: 7/10 I really wanted to finish 1986 tonight but this was feeling a bit long since it's already 9:30! But then, before I knew it, I was already at the third stage! And there's only 6! Some definite difficulty here, but was disappointed (and happy) to see how the Continue function works: definitely a part of the rise of the coin eater arcade games. Pay to win, to an extent, heh.

Attachment: 6/10 Butttt it was on the third stage that I also decided I wasn't in love with the game enough to deal with the difficulty. Those spiders were annoying. And as nice as that Continue function was, I wasn't in love with the game enough to use it. Maybe it's that I never reallllly get into beat em ups (and I more so enjoy interacting with the level design than the enemies). Whatever it is, I will note this is a huge precursor to a genre I do enjoy to an extent. But it doesn't have that same effect platformers and action-adventures have on me where it's hard to put down despite difficulty or frustrations. Maybe if it had a truly spectacular Sound or Feel (the Look could have been it, but really only the first level was striking)

As far as good games on the NES, I'm having a hard time trying to differentiate the early NES games (as most of them are Garbage to fairly mediocre)

The 1987 games are starting to stand out and become something different than what was released before in the American region.

A short, not too hard not too easy, Fun, fast paced Action game, and TOTALLY not cheap like Ghosts 'N Goblins, although it was hard on the last stage, It was very enjoyable and a pleasure to play. Of course it's not the best, but what was offered here was much satisfying.

Very, very short game. Incredibly easy once you grasp the concept of the controls and the hidden items. The boss battles are a cinch, the enemies mundane and predictable. Not a bad game by any means, the controls are fluent and work very well, but there could have been more to the game to make it more enjoyable. 20 minutes tops to beat this one start to finish.

Score: D