Hagane (SNES, 1994)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-8 Story-5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Good art direction and animation (similar to Thunder Force IV and Shinobi)
Sometimes fast paced (air dash and slide moves)
Solid amount of moves and weapons (climb ceilings - your avatar lets go when you reach a slope though, grenades and shuriken, grapple hook (draws you towards a ceiling), somersault moves, air dash, wall bounce)
HP increase power up
Weapon inventory (you can switch while pausing the game)
Some good bosses (5-1, final bosses)
Mostly fair checkpoints (sometimes puts you right at the boss making the fight harder since you can't upgrade you HP bar)
Smart bombs
Decent variation (except for regular enemy types)
Nice intro
Unlimited continues
+/-
Time limit
No run move (your character does run during in-game cutscenes)
Invincibility to some projectiles during a somersault
Start with only 3 HP after death
Mostly ammo based weapons
Most weapons can't be targeted upwards
Air dash has a certain timing to it (Shinobi-style)
Somersaulting/wheeling takes some getting used to (forward movement makes you perform a three step charge while jumping progressively higher, backwards movement can be continued until hitting a wall)
Borrows heavily from Shinobi
Move/slide/somersault through enemies when they're not attacking
Can't cancel a charging somersault move (makes it cumbersome to time correctly)
Air dashing into a wall makes you wall bounce automatically (takes some getting used to)
Fairly easy to rack up lives
-
Odd jump controls (slows you down horizontally, contra-style vertical emphasis)
Uneven difficulty (randomized power ups (missing HP upgrades is an obvious disadvantage), stage 5-4, some checkpoints, using the triple somersault charge move kills some bosses instantly (cave snake, 5-3 boss))
Some clunky to use abilities (somersault charged moves - pointless backwards move after you pull one off (level 1 charge) which can't be canceled)
Trial & error (enemies shoot through walls, leaps of faith, boss/enemy patterns)
Can't move while crouching
Some scrolling issues (wall bouncing)
Frustrating part in stage 5-4 with a rising spiked floor - touching the ceiling cancels your ability to to air dash and the area is very cramped
No difficulty options
Level Design-7 Frustration-8.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Good art direction and animation (similar to Thunder Force IV and Shinobi)
Sometimes fast paced (air dash and slide moves)
Solid amount of moves and weapons (climb ceilings - your avatar lets go when you reach a slope though, grenades and shuriken, grapple hook (draws you towards a ceiling), somersault moves, air dash, wall bounce)
HP increase power up
Weapon inventory (you can switch while pausing the game)
Some good bosses (5-1, final bosses)
Mostly fair checkpoints (sometimes puts you right at the boss making the fight harder since you can't upgrade you HP bar)
Smart bombs
Decent variation (except for regular enemy types)
Nice intro
Unlimited continues
+/-
Time limit
No run move (your character does run during in-game cutscenes)
Invincibility to some projectiles during a somersault
Start with only 3 HP after death
Mostly ammo based weapons
Most weapons can't be targeted upwards
Air dash has a certain timing to it (Shinobi-style)
Somersaulting/wheeling takes some getting used to (forward movement makes you perform a three step charge while jumping progressively higher, backwards movement can be continued until hitting a wall)
Borrows heavily from Shinobi
Move/slide/somersault through enemies when they're not attacking
Can't cancel a charging somersault move (makes it cumbersome to time correctly)
Air dashing into a wall makes you wall bounce automatically (takes some getting used to)
Fairly easy to rack up lives
-
Odd jump controls (slows you down horizontally, contra-style vertical emphasis)
Uneven difficulty (randomized power ups (missing HP upgrades is an obvious disadvantage), stage 5-4, some checkpoints, using the triple somersault charge move kills some bosses instantly (cave snake, 5-3 boss))
Some clunky to use abilities (somersault charged moves - pointless backwards move after you pull one off (level 1 charge) which can't be canceled)
Trial & error (enemies shoot through walls, leaps of faith, boss/enemy patterns)
Can't move while crouching
Some scrolling issues (wall bouncing)
Frustrating part in stage 5-4 with a rising spiked floor - touching the ceiling cancels your ability to to air dash and the area is very cramped
No difficulty options