When I was a kid, Game Boy was a pretty big deal. At least until my birthday in 1993 when I got my Game Gear and that thing felt like a technological masterpiece. But from December 1989 until May 1993, Game Boy was the only place to get any serious portable gaming done. The Lynx certainly looked cool, but the library was limited. The Turbo Duo seemed absolutely incredible, but the price was a nonstarter. Game Boy was everywhere and had entries of every major console series you could think of that wasn't made by a competitor.
The Game Boy I got for Christmas in 1989 came with Tetris of course, along with Super Mario Land. But the first game that I actually picked out for the system myself was Castlevania: The Adventure. And I remember the game fondly for being a portable take on the series that I loved so much. Of course rose colored glasses really are a thing. And sometimes nostalgia can be a mysterious enchantress. I've always heard that the legacy of The Adventure was that it was a pretty poor installment. But I didn't remember it that way. Of course I also haven't played it in a very long time. But my lord, as much as I love Castlevania as a series, The Adventure has aged incredibly poorly. Or maybe it was always this bad and I just didn't see it. I remembered Christopher moving slow, just not quite this slow. And it just goes downhill from there, as The Adventure really feels downgraded to the point of stripping out so much of the complexities of the classic NES games. There's no stairs, which is weird. Instead you climb ropes. But whatever. There's no sub-weapons which is lame and takes so much strategy and variety out of combat. The controls are way too tight. It can sometimes be hard to just jump forward as I end up jumping straight up instead. Heck, even turning around quickly to hit an enemy behind me feels like more work than it needs to be. And as clunky as the controls feel, the game decides to push tight platforming way too much. Too many pixel-perfect jumps to small platforms. Too many jumps to and from falling platforms. It just feels like a mess. I have to be honest, I rage quitted pretty quickly in this one. It's a shame because my nostalgia is so high for this game. And I love the series and wanted to give it another real go. But the truth is this game in its original form really just made me wish that Konami had had a way to include Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth in this collection instead. Sigh.
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I was the exact right age for Ducktales. The show first aired in 1987, the same year as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This was a pretty strong year for animated shows. And two years later, Capcom decided to capitalize on the success of Ducktales by making a NES game. This was long before the cliche that all licensed games were shovelware. And so it made sense that one of the biggest third party NES developers would team up with Disney to make such a game.
Given the developers who had a hand in Ducktales, it's no surprise that it feels a whole lot like Mega Man. And I think back in 1989 when it was released, that was pretty much a selling point. You'd basically just tell your friends that there was a Ducktales game and it was a lot like Mega Man, and that was enough word of mouth to move another unit. It's not exactly like Mega Man, though. I mean, graphically, sure. And you can pick the order in which to complete levels. But gameplay-wise, it stops there. The goal of each level is to find a specific special treasure. There's no bosses to steal weapons from. And in fact, there's no projectile weapons for Scrooge either. Instead, he has his cane. While you can use it to hit blocks, the main attack is the pogo. Basically, when Scrooge jumps you can hold the attack button and down on the d-pad and he'll pogo. This can knock out enemies, or make him jump extra high off of things. That gives the game a very unique feel. I've been a fan of this game since release. The controls are tight, and the levels are interesting. Each level is based on a different locale, ranging from the Amazon to the Himalayas to the Moon. It also really nails the source material well. But maybe the most enduring thing about this game is the music. I mean, my god. The moon theme alone is worth the cost of admission. I can't even guess how many times I've replayed this game. The original NES game was a staple in my lineup as a kid. I also played the Game Boy port numerous times. And this time I'm playing the Disney Afternoon Collection on PS4, which is really just an emulation of the NES game with some added modern niceties. It's still a great game. Having said all that, I have to admit that I'm a sucker for Ducktales Remastered that was released to modern systems in 2013. I don't feel like it was universally loved, but I personally adored the HD visuals, the remixed soundtrack, and the updated controls which made everything just feel more fluid. It's not like the controls in the original were ever bad, but they do feel slightly clunky by comparison. But whichever way you play it, Ducktales is still a gem. |
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