Game #1299: WarioWare - Get it Together!

 I can barely get my life together.

 Welcome to WarioWare: Get it Together!, one weird take on an already weird game. WarioWare on the GBA is probably one of my favorite games on the console, which is surprising considering it's the only game in the series I owned... until now.

 WarioWare is a collection of mini-games, called microgames in-universe, in which you are given a single sentence "Trim the hairs!" or "Avoid!", for example, and must figure out what to do and how in just a few seconds. And it's game after game after game until you run out of lives, while games slowly get harder and faster. It's a perfect handheld game, and the you can pick from various different sets, divided by theme or what gives you. That's WarioWare... but this one has a twist. 

 Now you play as different characters. Pretty much every character in the series is now playable, and each one has different characteristics. Wario has a jetpack, so he can move anywhere and perform a tackle. Mona doesn't stop moving, instead you can either select if she moves left or right, but holding down the A button roots her in place and now you control her boomerang. 5-Volt can't move at all, but he can shoot in any direction, and when he is at play, rings appear on screen, and shooting at this rings will teleport him to them. There's Kat and Ana, both can't stop jumping, and Kat shoots left, while Ana can only shoot right. There's a ton of different character with different characteristics, which means that how you tackle a game can be wildly different depending on which character you get. And some challenges may be a complete cakewalk with some character, while very tough with others.

 Before each set of games, or 'stages', you have to pick between 3-4 characters, beating the game allows you to put everyone into the rotation at the same time in case you enjoy CHAOS, and the game will randomly pick one of them for each game. It's an interesting take on the games, although I think it was better before... this new take isn't bad at all. Plus, it allows for multi-player! You can play any stage in 2-P, and some games are actually tweaked to factor both players together.

 As per WarioWare tradition, it's got a very peculiar sense of humor, which I think works really well with the gameplay itself. If anything, I feel that the new character-focused microgames end up a feeling a bit samey. Curiously enough, when you the game gets too fast... the Switch starts struggling and starts dropping FPS, which is kind of a bummer considering the game doesn't look like a resource hog and how the increased speed is part of the challenge.

 You can also unlock a few minigames, which are fine, but they've got nothing on the Pyoro games, Dr. Wario or the other extras you could get in the original WarioWare. On the other hand, you can customize the colors of every character, which is a simple but enjoyable feature! I mean, I pretty much painted everyone in yellow, but whatever.

 I really enjoyed this new WarioWare game, however, I kinda wish it was a bit more like previous entries. However, I won't fault Nintendo for trying something different, and the end result was pretty good nontheless.

8.0

Game #1298: Dragon Ball Z - The Legacy of Goku

 Not all legacies are worth keeping.

 I was browsing through GameFaqs forums and I came across some people saying that Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku hasn't aged well but was good for its time. I want a hit of whatever they are smoking, 'cause let me tell you, I played this game the day it released, and even though I was younger, and even though I like Quest 64, I could tell that it was garbage.

 The Legacy of Goku is an isometical Adventure-dash-RPG in which you play as Goku throughout Z's first two Sagas, the Saiyan Saga and the Namek Saga. While many people think that Goku is Dragon Ball protagonist, they are wrong, as Gohan became the main character pretty much after Raditz, and proof of this is that, since this game is set on Goku's point of view, and only his since in this first game only Goku was playable, is very short. And they even added filler into the adventure, like Goku falling from the snake road, which never happened in the manga, and Goku... helping the Namekians and going into their temple...? Yeah, they had to add filler. And it gets ridiculous, because Nappa and Vegeta get pretty much no introduction since Goku arrives to kick their butts, and we never see what happens when Goku isn't there. Same goes for the Ginyu Force and Frieza, you just arrive there as Goku. And, y'know, in a way, it's interesting seeing just how much information you'd miss out if the series was seen exclusively through Goku's eyes, but it also makes for a horrible adaptation of the story that could only work if you are familiar with the source material.

 At the start of the game, Goku can only walk, very slowly, shoot ki blasts and punch with the world's shortest punch. You can also fly for 9 seconds, and can only restore these 'fly points' by finding feather icons. And so, at first, you'll be training to fight Raditz by fighting, um... snakes and squirrels. No, really. Eventually, if you are feeling ballsy, you might try your luck with wolves or Dinosaurs, but be careful, as Goku gets creamed in seconds. This means that combat becomes a tedious game of kiting your enemies with projectiles. No, really, Namek becomes ridiculously hard if you mean to clean house with your punches, instead, you have to move around and Kamehameha your enemies to death. It's boring. And bosses, oh boy, the bosses, the hitboxes are all outta whack. That said, the strategy for dealing with bosses is charging a Solar flare for about half your energy bar, then punch them until they wake up, rinse and repeat. That's it.

 And even though it's a hour long game that feels like a 3 hours slog, and even though the combat is horrible... that's not to mention how vague sometimes the game is. Before you can face off against Raditz you are supposed to finish every sidequest in the city. Your only hint? An old man, that you may miss, tells you "come back to me once the forest has calmed down" or something like that. What the hell? But sure, y'know, I'm a completionist, so that wasn't an issue... until Namek. A guy tells you to find 3 tree saplings. I did. But he'd claim that there were more to find, what he actually meant, was that I had to interact with the holes around him to plant them. And the hitbox is super spotty, so it's easy to think that they are just decoration since nothing happens. You have to be standing on just the right spot. Ridiculous.

 But, whatever, neither of those compare to the Green Artifact. The game's third, and final, zone is Namek. Before entering the temple, unless you want to go through the maze again, you are told about three artifacts. Hopefully you decide to explore the surrounding area, since there you'll find two of them. But the NPC said three, so what gives? Out of ideas, I enter the maze, maybe it's there.  In each room you get various transporters, and if you take the wrong teleporter you'll be sent back to the area's entrance. So, somehow, you make it to the end... only to discover that you are still missing one.... well, tough luck, back to the start. You are supposed to realize that the hands are pointing towards walls that you can go through, and behind one of these is the green artifact. Lame.

 You know, there's actually a happy ending to this story. As terrible as The Legacy of Goku was, somehow, Infogrames gave WebFoot another chance. A chance they didn't deserve, but one they took and ran with it. While I never played Legacy of Goku 2, not more than a few minutes anyways, it garnered a very positive reception, and I did play Legacy of Goku 3/Buu's Fury to completion, and that one is, believe it or not, great, and it plays very similarly to this one, albeit much better in every single way.

 2.0

Game #1297: Malice

 A tramp-stamp has never felt so awkward before. 

 Malice has a bad rep. When people talk about Malice, and considering barely anyone did at the time you can imagine just how little people would talk would talk about Malice now, it's often in a bad light. As for me, I remember playing this game when I was younger but didn't care too much about it, honestly, I was more interested in the story of its development, since as far as I knew it was an Xbox exclusive, and yet, I was playing it on PS2.

 When it comes to stories I tend to like them weird, and Malice is weird alright. It starts off with a giant dog-thing eating Malice's head, and she gets sent straight to hell. And she discovers that she's actually a goddess. It's a weird game alright, and it gets even quirkier, as Malice's weapon of choice is a giant club. I loved how quirky the game and its world are, and this is aided by the silly character models. I really liked it, and I liked Malice, the character, quite a bit. On the other hand, I found the mechanical guide calling Malice 'my dear' all the time was sorta creepy.

 The game is rather simple, as it's divided into very small stages in which you either have to bash every enemy or find every cog or keycard, sometimes both. Of course, there's platforming in-between, but save for a few dedicated instances of platforming challenges, it's usually all about bashing enemies. There are a few sections that are a bit different, like a very tedious stealth stage, and another one in which you must guide a tiny robot, but otherwise, it sticks quite close to its formula. It's a very brief game too, shouldn't take over 3 hours to beat.

 Every level has 5 Crystal hearts to collect, and you should, as there's no backtracking, and by every 10 crystal hearts that you collect you gain an extra hit point. By the end of the game you have about 15, which means the game is quite easy. As you advance through your giant club eventually turns into a giant lance, and you also obtain multiple spells. Some, like gliding, are useful to explore the environment, but you also get a spell for bonus strength, a must to make the boring bosses go by faster.

 I found Malice to be a perfectly palatable adventure romp. There's nothing ground-breaking about it, but I liked Malice, I liked how edgy she was at times, clearly a creature of the 2000's, and the art-style reminded me of Okage, albeit not as charming, but quite close! It was decent, it really doesn't deserve the bad rep it's got.

 6.0

Game #1296: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Cowabunga Collection

 Turtle soup has never tasted so good before. 

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is a collection of pretty much every single classic TMNT game Konami ever developed. Everything they made for the NES, SNES, Arcades, Genesis and the Arcade games are here, and it's oh, so good.

 Every game here can be swapped for its Japanese version, if you wish to check some regional differences such as Aska in the SNES version of Tournament Fighters. Pretty much every game offers some sort of Enhancement that can be toggled, from something as overpowered as God Mode, to something more functional, such as eliminating slow-down and sprite flickering or enabling Bosses in the Tournament Fighters. Pretty dope! As per usual with these collections, you get Save States, one per game, and a rewind function. They also went the extra mile with the "Watch" mode, in which the CPU plays the game for you... and you can drop in mid-watch and play the rest yourself at any time! About the only gripe I have is that you can't toggle options in the Arcade games.

 And before I get into the games, which are ordered in the order I played them, it's also worth mentioning that the game has a ton of scans, from ads of the games to the instruction booklets, so there's a lot to see in between games as well.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project

 I used to play this one a lot back when I was younger with my family, so I'm probably biased towards it. Regardless, it's a brilliant beat'em up, it has many distinctive stages and a lot of variety in the enemy department, thanks to color-coded Foot Ninja. It's 7 stages long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome either.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters(NES)

 I already wrote about this one a few years ago, and there's not much else I could say about it. It's a fighting game on the NES, of course it doesn't work very well... but considering the hardware? It's an admirable effort. And it IS a bit of fun.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan

 This one is very boring. It's a 2-D sidescroller in which you very slowly move to the right defeating everything that comes your way. All four turtles seem to play identically.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers

 Another disastrous sequel to the previous game. It's pretty much identical, but each Turtle has a separate lifebar and you can swap between levels. The second to last level is a mess, you have to move up and right, and it's hard to know if you are making any progress. It's way cheaper than the first due to some honestly cheap enemy placement, as well as some sections having enemies respawning quickly and indefinitely. Not looking good for the Handheld TMNT games, to be honest.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue

 Just as things were growing grim we get Radical Rescue, this one is a sort of Metroidvania. You start of as Mikey, and only Mikey, thrown into a large map. Your objective is to rescue the other turtles, by defeating bosses and collecting keys to open their cells. Each turtle has a unique ability to help with exploring the world, for example, Mikey can glide, Ralph can crawl, Leonardo can smash fragile block beneath him and... and it's Donnie, not Ralph, who can somehow cling to walls and climb them. The map is a bit hard to understand, since it doesn't show how everything connects, but you can add map icons, via game enhancements, to help you. This one is rather good, surprisingly so considering the two previous games, but it can get a bit tedious when it feels like you are trying to find your way someplace.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters(Genesis)

 I wrote about this one a few years ago as well and I hated it. I don't know if they changed something, but this time around it was much easier to get to the end... not that it matters, as the game is still not very good. The sprite-work is very subpar, the proportions are kinda wonky, the Turtles' heads just look wrong, and the animations should've had more frames of animation. And even if it's easier, the AI is still insufferable, and it can get downright unfair when the Triceraton can get over half of your life bar out of a grab.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(NES)

 I had never played this one more than a few minutes before. It's kinda interesting and kinda weird, because you get an overworld to explore, and it only turns into a sidescroller when you enter buildings or sewers. Each turtle has different range for their attacks and their own lifebars. It's not awful, but it hasn't aged very well, and you'll only get the most out of it using the built-in rewind and save states options.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game(NES)

 A port of the original Arcade game, it's similar to The Manhattan Project, which would come out later, but slightly not as good. The gameplay is basically identical, but Manhattan project has more interesting locales, enemies and sections, such as surfing. It has more stages than the Arcade original, but less attack animations and the graphics are, obviously, not as good.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)

 The first TMNT game by Konami, it's pretty good. It's a by the numbers beat'em up game, so you know the drill, move right and bash everyone in your way mashing the attack buttons. The graphics are really nice, the game is very colorful and the sprites captures the look of the show quite well, even if it looks a bit rough at times. It's a bit weird in some ways, for instance, there are no grabs, but randomly, when mashing the attack button, you'll instantly grab the enemy, only applies to basic enemies, and throw it, for an instant kill. The game is so basic that it's probably more fun with other players, but I found it entertaining even though when I played it I had just finished the NES port, which could've made me grown tired of it, but it's better enough as not to feel like I was replaying the game again.

 Funnily enough, I went back to my original write ups of these two last games and... it turns out I preferred the NES version back then! But I was wrong!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

 Another TMNT game I played but never too much of. Well, I finished it now, and it was a step up from the previous game. It has way better graphics, as the sprites look prettier and less rough now, the colors are brighter and now it features more baddies from the show. The game is more dynamic, as now we get more and better attack animations, and now the random-grab that happens sometimes as you bash on enemies may lead to different results, including throwing enemies towards the camera.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time(SNES)

 So, you'll be playing this game and thinking that it's a pretty good port... until you reach level 3 and you find yourself fighting the Rat King. Weird, this level had no boss in the Arcade version! But then, instead of going back in time.... you visit the Technodrome and fight Tohka and Rahzar, as well as an early bout with Shredder, and then, and only then do you go back in time. Yes, sire, this is an expanded version of Turtles in Time. There are a few new enemy types, and the move in which you throw enemies towards the screen can be done at will. Lastly, the game is a bit slower, but it's also less slippery, which makes it feel better to play. It sounds like very small additions and tweaks, but it all adds up to make it a better game, despite not looking AS good. But hey, in the visual department its pretty close as well! It has a bunch of bonus modes, like VS player, as well. 

 Having played both versions of the game to completion... now I get it, I understand why people prefer this version over the Arcade original.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist

 Weight and speed of the SNES version, but you can't do the grabs on command. But... what is this? After an intro sequence that is similar, but different, to the one from Turtles in Time, the first stage starts off in the sewers, completely new, then you move up to the streets, Turtles in Time's second stage, but instead of ending on a boss... you move back into the sewers, where you'll meet TiT's Pizza aliens. Eventually you fight Leatherhead, who uses the same sprite as in the SNES version and fights exactly the same way. But afterwards it turns into a different game. New environments, new bosses, similar gameplay. Stage 4 is a bit lame, as it makes you fight every boss you've fought again. I'd say it's superior to the Arcade TiT, but not as fantastic as the SNES port.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters(SNES)

 I wrote about this one before as well, it's an absolute gem of a game, it looks way better than the other Tournament Fighters versions, and it plays leagues better as well, with responsive controls and decent gameplay. It's a hell of a game, and I'd say the best game in the collection, although that may vary depending on your tastes.

 The Cowabunga Collection is a fantastic collection for any Turtles fan or anyone who played and enjoyed beat'em ups back in the day. There are plenty of bells and whistles to make replaying these oldies more enjoyable, which should be a must, but considering how some collections skimp on the features... yeah, it does everything right, and the games themselves range from mediocre to great, mostly on the latter camp.

 9.0

Game #1295: Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles(Switch)

 Time for a rerun.

 Well, considering I already wrote about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles, I'll keep this strictly about the port and not the game itself.

 So, what's in the cart? You get the entire game, dual audio and everything, as well as all the free DLC, which is nice, since you don't depend on a patch to get the 6 demons. The bonus characters are nice 'n' everything, but it's still very skimpy roster. Even though Kanao won't get to fight until the final arc, which is a long way from being animated, they could've given her some sort of provisory moveset. I mean, they made Murata a playable character, as well as the two kids from the beginning of the series, and they barely fought if at all. But at least it's a better showing than the game was at launch.

 ...that said, I really don't like what they did with the demons. Unlike Slayers, who fight in pairs, Demons are by themselves and they get an extended moveset and more HP to make up for that. I think that's lame. I should be able to fight with Slayers by themselves or make up Slayer/Demon character pairs. I understand being faithful to canon, but there are better ways to do it. Naruto Ultimate Ninja didn't prevent me from fighting Sasuke as Karin, so what gives? It's a horrible idea for videogame, fun should come first.

 On the technical side, the game looks fantastic, and it ones up the PS4 version in another way, besides content, as their is absolutely no input lag. You press the button, the action happens on the screen. 

 Coming back to The Hinokami Chronicles wasn't half bad, the game does a really good job at adapting the first season of the anime. It's a shame that the character roster is still a bit of a sour point, and I really don't like what they did with the demons, but hey, it's a great port of the original game, that even surpasses it in some way.

5.5

Game #1294: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Shredder's Revenge

 No Turtle Soup for you!

 As if it wasn't clear enough that beat'em ups are back in vogue, now we get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, a gorgeous pixelated 2-D beat'em up that plays homage to the beat'em ups of olde. 

 The game has two ways of being played, a more traditional Arcade Run and a Story Mode. Both games have the same stages, but in Story Mode you don't start off with all your moves or maximum health gauge, instead slowly obtaining those as you defeat enemies, as some sort of very basic RPG element. There are also some basic sidequests that involve you finding items and NPCs... for more experience points. About the only gripe I have with this mode is that each character must be leveled up separately.

 The game does a lot with very little, you have your basic attack string, an anti-air by pressing attack+jump, two different aerial attack buttons, you can dash, you can grab enemies(And throw them towards the screen!) and an energy gauge that lets you use super moves or Radical Mode, which makes you faster and stronger for a little while. The super gauge refills as you land attacks or by using the taunt. In co-op, there are a few extra moves not mentioned in the how to play bit, since we were landing some sandwich-shell-attack against enemies sometimes, and you can also share HP with your partner or revive each other!

 While the game is about 2 hours long, which is slightly longer than what you would expect out of a game like this, it's filled to the brim with stuff. There's a total of seven playable characters, sadly Casey Jones must be unlocked by finishing the game, all of them have unique animations, even the four turtles, and there's a ton of enemy variety, with large bosses and all sorts of colored Foot soldiers with different weapons. Environments are quite distinctive too, and if you've played TMNT beat'em ups back in the day you'll probably spot tons of references. I'm only disappointed that this game is inspired on the worst version of the Ninja Turtles, the ones that are little more than a walking joke, but what can ya do? Hopefully, if they even make a sequel, they go for the much superior 2003 version. A man can only dream.

 Shredder's Revenge is a ton of fun, but if you don't like beat'em ups you might not 'get it', which is totally fine. The game does a perfect job at paying tribute to the genre, while still standing out thanks to good it looks thanks to all the work that went into making SO many sprites for so many characters and enemies, as well as the tight gameplay, that while very basic, allows for some simple, enjoyable enemy-bashing.

 9.0

Game #1293: Arcade Paradise

  Arcade Infernum

 Equal parts mini-game collection and laundromat simulator, Arcade Paradise was a surprisingly good... until it broke. 

 I purchased the game thinking it was just a collection of retro Arcade-style games, but it wasn't. As I waited for the game to arrive, I learned that you actually had to take care of an Arcade and buy new machines and my interest for the game waned a bit.

 Then the game started, and you're actually given a laundromat to take care of. You have to go through rooms collecting garbage, and you can't pick up everything since the bag gets full, and dump it into the dumpster next to the building. You also have to remove chewed gum from walls, through a timing minigame, and clean the toilet if it gets stuck. You have to hold down the A button to put clothes inside a washing machine, wait three minutes, the hold down A to take back the clothes, move to a dryer, and hold down A to place it there. Three minutes later, take it out. And you need to to it quickly if you want the most money. To get money from the Arcade Machines, you have to go from hopper to hopper, and you can't use the money until you place it in a safe.

 I thought the whole game was a big joke and this laundromat simulation would stop after the first day. It didn't. But eventually I got into the groove and I fell in love with the game. After a while, the Arcade Machines will make enough money so that you don't need to do the laundry anymore.... but it was fun. I'd sneak in some game time, playing the numerous Arcade games, while waiting for clothes to wash or dry. And as you play, not only do you earn money to buy more machines and upgrade the room, but you'll also get tasks, tasks that rewards you with pounds, another currency, which you can buy for upgrades: Make days last longer, get someone to remove the money from the hoppers for you, let you dash, etc. I know it sounds tedious, but it's a load of fun.

 And what's even better, not only are there a ton of games, but they are also fun. Sure, none of them could stand by their own, and sure enough, some may feel a bit janky... but they are fun. And each one has a set of goals, fulfilling the goals makes them more popular, and thus, helps them generate even more money. The progression feels so good. The game is SO good.

 It's a shame it's a buggy mess. A few times, after pausing the game, it simply froze. Sometimes it'd just freeze after a day. And you can only save between days.... and then it happened. I had invested over 10 hours in the game, I adored it... but the game crashed on the day I received a new arcade machine. Upon restarting the game, the tutorial telling me how to place new machines popped up and the game froze again. I restarted the game and... this time it didn't freeze, but I noticed that I lost all my arcade machines and my room expansions. I was devastated. I almost gave up right then and there.... but, I didn't lose all my pounds, and I had some money saved up, plus, the game was so much fun... fine, let's get everything back again.... except that there was a tiny issue now. I had an extra Arcade Machine. Whatever, I soldiered on, and then I got the new machine.... the game just crashes now, 'cause it doesn't know what to do since there isn't enough room for a new machine. And I can't buy the room upgrade until I've gotten every Arcade Machine... basically, my file is ruined.

 The game is brilliant, it is, I'd give it a 9.0 or so, because it's a blast. But all these crashes? My ruined save file? Inexcusable. 

 4.0