Man, I’ve got a backlog to update with! Let’s kick it off with a banger.
Saturn Bomberman - Saturn - 5/23
This is the best Bomberman ever made. FACT. I had never played this game before, but I’ve played a lot of the other Bomberman greats, like ‘93, DS, the OG, and more. Nothing can touch Saturn Bomberman, and I had no idea that was the case until I tried it out.
A lot of the superficial elements are simply excellent, like the FMV animations and fantastic soundtrack. But more so than that, the single player levels and bosses are just perfectly balanced, varied without too much deviation from the core gameplay, and just extremely fun.
My biggest criticism of this game is that it pulls that absolute bullshit “retro difficulty” shit, where for the entire game you’re able to save and continue your progress from anywhere, but once you get to the final stretch, it disables saving and makes you continue from the start of the world. I wasn’t ready for that, so it took me a few days of grinding to get to the point where I could finally beat the game. Still, it was the best single-player Bomberman game I’ve ever played. Of course, there’s an upper limit to how good Bomberman is, so it’s not like it was mind-blowing.
Overall, an excellent game!
Lords of Thunder - TurboGrafx-CD - 5/27
Gat DAYUM, this soundtrack is pure fuckin 80s heavy metal, and it is GLORIOUS. I felt like an absolute badass through this entire horizontal shmup adventure, and that was absolutely made possible by such an incredible and energetic heavy metal OST.
The actual gameplay goes from serviceable to great, making it a totally competent and enjoyable horizontal shmup experience. But everything is turned to 11 with the incredible soundtrack, and it truly elevates the entire experience. This won’t be the last time in this post that a soundtrack makes a game for me.
If you like shmups, it’s a must-play!
Sonic Advance - GBA/Analogue Pocket - 6/1
Sonic Advance almost has the opposite problem as Lords of Thunder. The soundtrack would be great if it weren’t for the muddy and low fidelity soundfonts of the GBA. The compositions are fantastic, but it’s completely ruined by how fucking shitty the GBA sounds. What a waste.
This is a Sonic game, and it’s
okay. In fact, weighted on its own merit, it’s probably just as good as the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Genesis, only without the benefit of nostalgia and an enjoyable soundtrack. But, as I’ve claimed many times before, Sonic’s 2D gameplay is antithetical to itself, mixing awesome rollercoastery sections with boring and mediocre platforming sections, which just kills the pacing entirely.
Still, it was fun. And I hope to god that someday someone will re-render out this soundtrack with higher quality soundfonts, because it’s genuinely great music, but it’s almost unlistenable.
Worth playing? I guess so.
Super Mario Land - GB/NSO - 6/5
Spoilers: “What the fuck, a 9/10???” Yeah, I know. This game objectively has probably the worst 2D Mario gameplay of any game, including the OG SMB. But what can I say? I’m not immune to my own biases and nostalgia. This was the first Game Boy game my family got, and it brings me pure joy. It’s a short and relatively easy adventure, but that doesn’t stop it from being creative and magical.
But it’s the absolutely fucking INCREDIBLE soundtrack that bumps it up to a legendary experience. This is arguably Hip Tanaka’s greatest achievement, composing some of the most memorable and enjoyable melodies in gaming history, all made with only four sound channels.
The overworld theme, alone, takes a fat shit every Mario theme that came before it, And don’t get me started on the Muda Kingdom. That tune is so good that I naturally made up lyrics to it when I was 6 years old, and I still remember them.
The gameplay and controls might be a bit jank, and some of the later level design is average in terms of Mario games, but the entirety of the experience—including the unexpected, but appreciated, shmup sections—is just so damn enjoyable. It’s easily in my top 3 Game Boy games, and I never get tired of it.
A portable masterpiece.
