Castle of Illusion (MD, 1990)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-7/7.5*
Level Design-7/6* Frustration-7.5/8.5* Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Hard
+
Has an old school Disney feel to it
Balanced difficulty curve
Difficulty options (less ammo and some bosses have more HP on hard+you start every level with 2 HP)
Hidden items (bonus points, energy)
Good use of colour (could've used more of the palette at once though)
Introduces many mechanics found in Sonic (springs, elevators, slopes, waterfall traps)
Some innovations (gravity shift mechanic, some enemy attacks also hit other enemies such as the unicycle)
Controllable bounce height when bouncing on enemies (hold the button down) and you can bounce pretty high
One hidden shortcut
+/-
Lose ammo in-between stages
Can't choose your own path unlike in the SMS ver.
No block throwing unlike in the SMS ver.
No life refill between stages (hard mode puts you at 2 HP at the beginning of each stage)
Jumping is a bit faster than walking
-
Some tedious segments (waiting for the tidewater in the temple - one unavoidable hit here unless you have ammo)
Slow paced (kinda slow walking and jumping speed)
Simple bosses (third boss is easier than the previous ones)
Leaps of faith (due to not being able to look down/up)
Somewhat floaty walk control (try turning around)
Throwing mechanic is inconsistent (delay when on ground, no delay when in mid-air)
Fewer secrets and branching paths than on SMS
Some cheap enemy placements (bats, fishes - bats wouldn't be a problem if ammo carried over between stages so you could shoot them when they appear as you're jumping)
Some trial & error (bosses, can't bounce on boulders, falling traps)
Some bland sound effects, No DAC (sampled drums)
Some bosses take too many hits on hard and there's not enough ammo which leads to more cheap hits
Level Design-7/6* Frustration-7.5/8.5* Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Hard
+
Has an old school Disney feel to it
Balanced difficulty curve
Difficulty options (less ammo and some bosses have more HP on hard+you start every level with 2 HP)
Hidden items (bonus points, energy)
Good use of colour (could've used more of the palette at once though)
Introduces many mechanics found in Sonic (springs, elevators, slopes, waterfall traps)
Some innovations (gravity shift mechanic, some enemy attacks also hit other enemies such as the unicycle)
Controllable bounce height when bouncing on enemies (hold the button down) and you can bounce pretty high
One hidden shortcut
+/-
Lose ammo in-between stages
Can't choose your own path unlike in the SMS ver.
No block throwing unlike in the SMS ver.
No life refill between stages (hard mode puts you at 2 HP at the beginning of each stage)
Jumping is a bit faster than walking
-
Some tedious segments (waiting for the tidewater in the temple - one unavoidable hit here unless you have ammo)
Slow paced (kinda slow walking and jumping speed)
Simple bosses (third boss is easier than the previous ones)
Leaps of faith (due to not being able to look down/up)
Somewhat floaty walk control (try turning around)
Throwing mechanic is inconsistent (delay when on ground, no delay when in mid-air)
Fewer secrets and branching paths than on SMS
Some cheap enemy placements (bats, fishes - bats wouldn't be a problem if ammo carried over between stages so you could shoot them when they appear as you're jumping)
Some trial & error (bosses, can't bounce on boulders, falling traps)
Some bland sound effects, No DAC (sampled drums)
Some bosses take too many hits on hard and there's not enough ammo which leads to more cheap hits