Gyromite (1985)

Preliminary: I thought this was going to be a passable one, or one unplayable without the ROB, like the other ROB game Stack-Up. But the 1-player Game A was instantly engaging!

Look: 7/10 Sound: 8/10 The Look is nothing special, but the Sound has that classic NES cute jingle and fun overall vibe. The sound of making the pipes moves gets quite old after doing it a bunch, but in doses, all the Sound is great and the Look is cute enough! Classic NES look, I suppose.

Play: 9/10 So I'm playing this without the ROB factor and... it's a fun simple action platformer. The quirk is you use the controls to move the pedestal pipe things up and down. You can squash enemies with that but you can also squash yourself... It also seems the turnip food looking things can distract the enemies/render them harmless? Well, that theory proved to be false heh... Ohhh what it is is, if the food is on the ground, it'll distract the enemies so you can walk past them, but only while they're munching on the turnip food thing heh. (Pro-tip: Multiple enemies can and will munch on the same turnip thing) While I wish you could jump, I recognize this is critical to the level design. And unlike a lot of games from this era, it doesn't overly abuse the lack of jump/make a bunch of impossible trapped situations that you just have to wait to die or restart the level for... (I'm looking at you, my beloved but also annoyed-by-that-factor Fairyland Story... but yea so many games loved to have impossible-to-escape-from situations in an attempt to add a puzzle element to the action game)... (I just had to jinx it, right after typing that there was a kinda-sorta-impossible-to-get-out-of situation where you couldn't return to a part of the beginning that had one of the needed collectibles. That was on me for not noticing it during the forgiving feature of previewing the level at the start. But indeed, as I got close to Phase 20 it was clear that, like Fairyland Story and other games from this era, the impossible-to-get-out-of situations as a faux-puzzle element was on the rise... Boo!

Feel: 9/10 Yeah, I totally jinxed it. As you get to Phase 20 and on, it's the usual obsession with inescapable areas/having to kill yourself to restart the level/calling it puzzle etc. But hey, it's to be expected. And lots of good things to say about this: Yay for no fall damage in a platformer!!! The NES really is rejuvenating and reinventing videogames as I end 1985. So close to Mario. Tho it's sad games like this go underknown because of the obvious sparks that were Mario and Zelda. It's funny how you can almost squash yourself but stop in time, your sprite just squishes a bit :-p It was undeniably funny when you accidentally would squash yourself (albeit a bit frustrating), and definitely great when you'd squash an enemy

Attachment: 8/10 I can't really rate the overall game since I didn't get to play with the ROB (Which seems to be a positive tbh), but I feel the 1player Mode A is enough to warrant boosting this above a passable 2 star. 40 Phases seems like a lot but I was flying through the first 10... Just unsure if the repetitive nature of the game, and forgivingly simple nature, may eventually backfire after so many phases...

I got to Phase 27 on the 2nd night. Tho I was disappointed to see the frequency of inescapable situations in guise of puzzle elements, the mid-20s Phases were quite enjoyable and fast-paced and straightforward, reinvigorating me. But it's time for movie and bed! Will have to try to finish this tomorrow! Good sign that I still want to, and that the Sound hasn't gotten completely annoying, nor the frustrating puzzle elements outweigh the fun of playing and dopamine of finishing a Phase :-p

On my third/final night of playing, I have to note how much more fun levels 25-40 were than 15-25 (heck, even Phase 40 was absurdly straightforward compared to some of the mid-game levels...) You still had the inescapable situations, and the fact you can't jump nor move at all mid-air etc etc was still frustrating, but it had a nice approachable and forgiving vibe while still being challenging enough! At last I was brought back to Phase 01, kinda disappointed no set ending, but finished nonetheless!

A great game to take in doses! I can only imagine with the ROB accessory and all the replayability with 2-player and the other features of the game, all this was just for 1P Game A... Rounding out 1985 is improving my perspective on 1985 videogames! Let's be honest, the advent of NES is a huge part of that... it's making me think I should add every NES game to my backlog! But the backlog is already so long! When I was a kid I definitely preferred SNES and PS1 over NES, but I am loving the NES sound and tight controls (so far).

Completion: All 40 unique Phases, Score 385,810 Playtime: ~2 hours

NOTE - this playthrough was done without ROB using the second player controller. I do not have a ROB and can only provide my experience without one.

Professor Hector is an old scientist who has to get the dynamite out of his lab before it's too late and before birdlike creatures called the Smicks eat him! In order to do so, you must move pillars called "Gyros" around and climb vines to avoid the Smicks and collect all the dynamite in time. By using the second player controller (without ROB), the player can move these gyros up and down.

The puzzle elements are straightforward and fairly simple without ROB, but still pretty fun to figure out - it's possible to end up in an unwinnable state for these levels, so the player must figure out the best path to collect each batch of dynamite. While Smicks can be lured by vegetables and squished by pillars, the professor can also be squished too. The initial mode has about 40 levels, none feeling too fiendish.

As for the other mode (Mode B), it's a little less fun without the ROB - the professor is sleepwalking and the player must use the Gyros to form a path to safety. He moves fairly slowly, making it a bit of a chore to wait for him to move.

Given the lack of ROB in my life, there's a bit of an experience missing but the Mode A version of this game is a genuinely charming and cute puzzler. Music is peppy and the professor and Smicks are animated just well enough. The colors on the Gyros also stand out so that managing them aren't too confusing. It's well worth a play as long as you have two controllers to work with!