Got another one bagged. Or rather, two stinkers and a hit.
I decided to follow up Power Blade with the sequel...
Captain Saver, because PB1 didn't exist in Japan. There's no mistaking it's a genuine sequel though. It's the same character from the westernized power blazer, your attack is the same, and the powerups are exactly the same.
Lots of interesting additions, though. Most importantly going through the stages feels a lot "heavier" this time around, which was something I missed in the first game which just has you flying through willynilly and without worries. It feels more like playing something akin to Kage or Ninja Gaiden 3.
Instead of an OP power armor that doesn't go away until you've taken three hits, you now unlock different suits by fighting optional fights with a robot dragon on each stage. This actually feels like it would have been a much better usage of PB1's open ended stage design, but rather the door is just easily visible on your path through a completely linear stage. Usage of the suits is limited by an energy meter, so the game makes you think about when and where you want to use them, which is nice. Each suit gives you useful skills like wall climbing, swimming or even a jetpack.
Unfortunately the stage design is just really bad. Or rather, it fluctuates between being nice and serviceable, and areas where you are constantly forced to stop up and wait, or sit through loooong slow autoscrollers. Lots of things will insta-kill you, and often it's not really obvious when or why. I hope you enjoyed that one short section where you have to wait for crushers to retract in PB1, because that's half the game in this one. It's just exhausting to play, and it's really too bad, because the game's high points are still quite good!
Pictured above: Agent nova's favourite pastime is sitting around waiting on a huge fan so he can time his jump right when it starts, only to get caught in the air currents having to wait for them to let him back down. Oh, and don't touch the fans of a stationary fan - it goes without saying it'll kill you instantly.
Next one was
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns.
I don't know what I was expecting from this one. It's supposedly a Tose game, but it plays more like stereotypical American kusoge. And I'm guessing it will not shy from pissing off anyone who's a fan of the source material. It starts out putting a TM after Frankenstein on the title screen (I could have sworn the name is public domain), but I don't know which Frankenstein this is. Not only is Frankenstein (of course) the name of the monster, he is also evil incarnate, interested in nothing aside form destroying villages, kidnapping maidens, and sending crazy monsters after our hero. Awesome!
The game feels like the typical AVGN NES experience that so many people have come to associate with the platform, complete with endless "what were they thinking?" moments.
Enemies coming at you constantly from both sides, with no real thought about how you're supposed to combat them. Your attack has a very short and very specific hitbox that's nearly impossible to aim and requires perfect timing to connect. Compare Monster in My Pocket where anything standing in front of your character would get obliterated. Every encounter with an enemy involves crossing fingers and hope you get your hit in first, and several bosses are safer to just play as a DPS race.
I think it wants to be Splatterhouse, but ends up being a cross between Sword Master and Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde.
Yet, there's something weirdly alluring about this game. I made it a couple of stages in, and it does get more manageable already on the second stage when you're given a sword to fight with. It has so much stuff going on constantly that I'm kind of intrigued to see what happens next. But make no mistake, this is a
bad game.
EDIT: Lol nevermind, looks like AVGN actually already
did this game. I'm not surprised.