Go! Go! Ackman (SNES, 1994)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-7 Story-5.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-6.5 Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
+
Many mini-bosses
Branching paths between some levels and some alternate paths within sub levels as well
Extendable health bar
Some hidden items and detours for optional goodies
Run button (running also makes you jump further)
Item drop magnet in the little flying devil familiar (about 6 months after Sonic 3 and a few months after EWJ; technically magnet abilities have existed since Adventure (1980))
Some interesting sub weapons (boomerang which you can jump over to make it spin around you - similar to Ninja Gaiden NES)
Smart bombs (can carry up to 3)
Play as a bad guy for a change (however he doesn't act particularly bad after the intro)
Decent cutscenes
Gain a jetpack in level 4 however it's very slow and on a short timer (and after a couple of levels it breaks)
Some good bosses (final boss - two phases) and some decent ones (second to final boss, fish man, the aliens)
Difficulty options (easy and normal, have to unlock hard mode)
+/-
Unlimited continues
No save feature (pretty short game at 6 levels)
No sub level checkpoints (they're not that long though)
Play as a demon looking to take people's souls and face an angel parody that hires hitmen, monsters, strippers and witches to stop you
The sliding is kinda pointless since there's no invincibility time and it's pretty short - rarely needed for dodging
Lose your sub weapon after taking a single hit and some of them are pretty rare
Infinitely respawning enemies if you move away from and back to where they spawned (see Ninja Gaiden NES) - can be good here since each enemy drops either a coin (100=1-up) or a bomb
While you can make the tiny angels fall over and then kick them to make them slide like Koopa shells, you can't keep jumping on them to kill them
Short default attack range which can't be upgraded
Various death pits
One song is a ripoff of Danger Zone
-
Some control/interface issues (somewhat unforgiving hit detection, somewhat high default jump height, can't jump down through platforms that you can jump up through - no puzzle reason, single item inventory (whatever you pick up replaces what you were carrying and you can't switch), can't turn off the optional double tap to run, can't use the jetpack after bouncing on a small enemy)
Mostly easy bosses
No health refill from bosses (health drops from enemies are also very rare though they can be farmed)
Some meaningless dialogue choices? (first one)
Trial & error (no good way to tell which enemies you can and can't bounce on (seems like in general you can bounce on enemies smaller than yourself though), some boss patterns, autoscrolling car segment, a few leaps of faith into pits or hazards)
Somewhat bland backgrounds overall and not enough variety or creativity in the level gimmicks
Some tedious boss fights (the ones that make you wait a long time in-between their vulnerability periods)
Cheap hits at the lightning summoning angel boss fight?
Picking up more than one of the same weapon won't upgrade it nor will it let you keep it after getting hit
Level Design-7 Frustration-6.5 Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
+
Many mini-bosses
Branching paths between some levels and some alternate paths within sub levels as well
Extendable health bar
Some hidden items and detours for optional goodies
Run button (running also makes you jump further)
Item drop magnet in the little flying devil familiar (about 6 months after Sonic 3 and a few months after EWJ; technically magnet abilities have existed since Adventure (1980))
Some interesting sub weapons (boomerang which you can jump over to make it spin around you - similar to Ninja Gaiden NES)
Smart bombs (can carry up to 3)
Play as a bad guy for a change (however he doesn't act particularly bad after the intro)
Decent cutscenes
Gain a jetpack in level 4 however it's very slow and on a short timer (and after a couple of levels it breaks)
Some good bosses (final boss - two phases) and some decent ones (second to final boss, fish man, the aliens)
Difficulty options (easy and normal, have to unlock hard mode)
+/-
Unlimited continues
No save feature (pretty short game at 6 levels)
No sub level checkpoints (they're not that long though)
Play as a demon looking to take people's souls and face an angel parody that hires hitmen, monsters, strippers and witches to stop you
The sliding is kinda pointless since there's no invincibility time and it's pretty short - rarely needed for dodging
Lose your sub weapon after taking a single hit and some of them are pretty rare
Infinitely respawning enemies if you move away from and back to where they spawned (see Ninja Gaiden NES) - can be good here since each enemy drops either a coin (100=1-up) or a bomb
While you can make the tiny angels fall over and then kick them to make them slide like Koopa shells, you can't keep jumping on them to kill them
Short default attack range which can't be upgraded
Various death pits
One song is a ripoff of Danger Zone
-
Some control/interface issues (somewhat unforgiving hit detection, somewhat high default jump height, can't jump down through platforms that you can jump up through - no puzzle reason, single item inventory (whatever you pick up replaces what you were carrying and you can't switch), can't turn off the optional double tap to run, can't use the jetpack after bouncing on a small enemy)
Mostly easy bosses
No health refill from bosses (health drops from enemies are also very rare though they can be farmed)
Some meaningless dialogue choices? (first one)
Trial & error (no good way to tell which enemies you can and can't bounce on (seems like in general you can bounce on enemies smaller than yourself though), some boss patterns, autoscrolling car segment, a few leaps of faith into pits or hazards)
Somewhat bland backgrounds overall and not enough variety or creativity in the level gimmicks
Some tedious boss fights (the ones that make you wait a long time in-between their vulnerability periods)
Cheap hits at the lightning summoning angel boss fight?
Picking up more than one of the same weapon won't upgrade it nor will it let you keep it after getting hit
