Banana Prince/Bananan Ouji no Daibouken (NES, 1991/1992)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-? Control-5.5 Challenge-7 Story-4
Level Design-6 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6 Originality-5
Overall Score-6?
+
Decent initial variation (mini-game and shop rooms, bonus island - board game mini-game with quizes), expressive sprites, slide move (down + a), create ladders (down + b), speed up dialogue text, decent art direction (similar to Bonk), pretty good bosses overall, password save (relatively short), get shot out of cannons
+/-
Odd how the "grow plant" move lets you do a long and fast jump that can hit enemies (best attack in the game?) - you want to use it all the time but it causes a bit of a break in the gameplay flow, moving in and out of a room respawns the items in the level, time limits, odd how shop rooms sometimes also work like tunnels to the next part of the level, can't move backwards in a level (creates pits in upward scrolling vertical levels?),
-
Jumping normally slows you down considerably, short and narrow default attack range (and even the first two upgraded weapons (that cause short beams to appear when swinging the club) are kind of inefficient because of the delay), trial & error (going to the bonus island and doing quizes too soon, no explanation of what the hovering old man power up does, saying no in a room in the hub between levels takes you to the next level instead of letting you choose a different room), sliding into a wall causes a fairly long delay/loss of control while a knockout animation is shown, can't cancel a slide move (leads to tedious situations because of the aforementioned issue and where there are long narrow passages that make you skip parts of the level with items in them), can't turn around or move normally while crouching, often nonsensical english fan translation, chest items bounce upwards before you can grab them (breaks flow a bit), board game part would've been more fun with more players, sometimes odd color choices, some annoying enemy placements near water, character moves slowly between selections in the start menu and in-between level hubs,
Level Design-6 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6 Originality-5
Overall Score-6?
+
Decent initial variation (mini-game and shop rooms, bonus island - board game mini-game with quizes), expressive sprites, slide move (down + a), create ladders (down + b), speed up dialogue text, decent art direction (similar to Bonk), pretty good bosses overall, password save (relatively short), get shot out of cannons
+/-
Odd how the "grow plant" move lets you do a long and fast jump that can hit enemies (best attack in the game?) - you want to use it all the time but it causes a bit of a break in the gameplay flow, moving in and out of a room respawns the items in the level, time limits, odd how shop rooms sometimes also work like tunnels to the next part of the level, can't move backwards in a level (creates pits in upward scrolling vertical levels?),
-
Jumping normally slows you down considerably, short and narrow default attack range (and even the first two upgraded weapons (that cause short beams to appear when swinging the club) are kind of inefficient because of the delay), trial & error (going to the bonus island and doing quizes too soon, no explanation of what the hovering old man power up does, saying no in a room in the hub between levels takes you to the next level instead of letting you choose a different room), sliding into a wall causes a fairly long delay/loss of control while a knockout animation is shown, can't cancel a slide move (leads to tedious situations because of the aforementioned issue and where there are long narrow passages that make you skip parts of the level with items in them), can't turn around or move normally while crouching, often nonsensical english fan translation, chest items bounce upwards before you can grab them (breaks flow a bit), board game part would've been more fun with more players, sometimes odd color choices, some annoying enemy placements near water, character moves slowly between selections in the start menu and in-between level hubs,