Hammerin' Harry (ARC, 1990)
Graphics-8 Sound-7.5 Control-7 Challenge-8 Story-5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5
+
Comical (slap stick, quirky)
Funny voice samples (LET'S GET BUSY!, HAMMER TIME!, some are scratchy sounding though)
Good art direction and anime style animation with expressive characters
Some large sprites
Ground pound (stuns some enemies - for some reason can't be used after eating the pepper which lets you punch faster and in a circle)
Good variation (somewhat better than in the NES version)
Difficulty options (harder modes have some new enemies and more resilient bosses)
Decent dialogue (very light hearted and naive, somewhat improved in the NES version along with the cutscenes in-between levels)
Good bosses overall
Armour (lets you take only up to one more hit despite picking it up several times) and jump upgrades
Good environmental interaction with some decent physics for the time (boxes, bags, bricks, spike ball and chain, pipes, breakable walls, some enemies will stand on your hammer if you hold it above your head)
A decent platforming puzzle in stage 5
Less scrolling issues (can't look up/down though but it's never a real issue)
+/-
Short attack range (can't be increased)
Mini-bosses before the main bosses
No hidden items?
Some bosses make Harry bounce back hitting them
Holding the hammer above your head halts concrete bricks (for half a second or so) but not the pogo enemies (relevant on harder modes)
Sometimes forgiving hit detection (around some larger enemies)
Time limit is more of a problem than in the NES version
No bonus stages (they sucked on NES anyway)
One stage is obviously influenced by Shinobi
-
So-so jump controls (can only change direction in mid-air after jumping straight up, no jump height adjustment, jumping down through platforms is done by pressing down which clashes with the ground stomp move)
A bit short (six levels)
Somewhat uneven difficulty (stage 4 boss)
More trial & error heavy than the NES version (for example the spike ball traps in stage 2 and 6 or some of the bosses, figuring out which part of the spike ball and chain hurts you, the hooks in stage 3)
Power ups such as the helmet don't carry over to the next stage
The death sounds get annoying after a while
Can't scroll the stage backwards (except for in the above mentioned puzzle segment)
You can only use five credits in the final stage
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5
+
Comical (slap stick, quirky)
Funny voice samples (LET'S GET BUSY!, HAMMER TIME!, some are scratchy sounding though)
Good art direction and anime style animation with expressive characters
Some large sprites
Ground pound (stuns some enemies - for some reason can't be used after eating the pepper which lets you punch faster and in a circle)
Good variation (somewhat better than in the NES version)
Difficulty options (harder modes have some new enemies and more resilient bosses)
Decent dialogue (very light hearted and naive, somewhat improved in the NES version along with the cutscenes in-between levels)
Good bosses overall
Armour (lets you take only up to one more hit despite picking it up several times) and jump upgrades
Good environmental interaction with some decent physics for the time (boxes, bags, bricks, spike ball and chain, pipes, breakable walls, some enemies will stand on your hammer if you hold it above your head)
A decent platforming puzzle in stage 5
Less scrolling issues (can't look up/down though but it's never a real issue)
+/-
Short attack range (can't be increased)
Mini-bosses before the main bosses
No hidden items?
Some bosses make Harry bounce back hitting them
Holding the hammer above your head halts concrete bricks (for half a second or so) but not the pogo enemies (relevant on harder modes)
Sometimes forgiving hit detection (around some larger enemies)
Time limit is more of a problem than in the NES version
No bonus stages (they sucked on NES anyway)
One stage is obviously influenced by Shinobi
-
So-so jump controls (can only change direction in mid-air after jumping straight up, no jump height adjustment, jumping down through platforms is done by pressing down which clashes with the ground stomp move)
A bit short (six levels)
Somewhat uneven difficulty (stage 4 boss)
More trial & error heavy than the NES version (for example the spike ball traps in stage 2 and 6 or some of the bosses, figuring out which part of the spike ball and chain hurts you, the hooks in stage 3)
Power ups such as the helmet don't carry over to the next stage
The death sounds get annoying after a while
Can't scroll the stage backwards (except for in the above mentioned puzzle segment)
You can only use five credits in the final stage