Magical Taruruuto-kun/Magical Taluluto Adventure (MD)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-6.5 Control-7 Challenge-6.5 Story-?
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7 Fun-6.5 Originality-4
Overall Score-6.5
+ Expressive sprites, good use of the palette, good art direction, decent bosses overall, minor puzzle elements, some nice effects (object warping), gain new spells as you beat certain bosses, steal abilites from some enemies by destroying them or picking up a certain part (for example the top of the tank can shoot while you can ride the bottom over spikes) - unfortunately it's a bit underused, air gliding, running affects jump length, spikes don't hurt from the side, some hidden items, one or two alternate paths
+/- Magic doesn't carry over to the next level, no time limit, fairly easy to rack up extra lives, somewhat forgiving hit detection overall, can't jump down through platforms which you can jump up through (used in some platforming puzzles), optional encounters with hidden NPCs (not sure what the purpose is, pretty sure I found them all), can't attack upwards, enemies don't respawn (a good thing overall), one maze segment
- Somewhat slow paced (can't run by other means than the air dive move or moving down a slope, can't keep running while changing directions, can't move while crouching, air dive move doesn't hurt enemies, can't jump on enemies or use the wand to bounce on them), so-so feedback from hitting or destroying regular enemies, choppy and loose vertical scrolling, scratchy voices, some trial & error (some boss patterns, need to press up to go into the whole in the tree on stage 3 (at the edge of a branch platform so you'll fall down and have to redo the jumping segment before it if you just move into the hole), can't change direction while air gliding (or start air gliding in the other direction after cancelling the move), no difficulty options, long knockback after taking a hit, frustrating autoscrolling cloud riding segment (despite knockback not affecting you there), safespot in the dracula fight, minor slowdown, short (4 stages though the last two are longer than the first two)
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7 Fun-6.5 Originality-4
Overall Score-6.5
+ Expressive sprites, good use of the palette, good art direction, decent bosses overall, minor puzzle elements, some nice effects (object warping), gain new spells as you beat certain bosses, steal abilites from some enemies by destroying them or picking up a certain part (for example the top of the tank can shoot while you can ride the bottom over spikes) - unfortunately it's a bit underused, air gliding, running affects jump length, spikes don't hurt from the side, some hidden items, one or two alternate paths
+/- Magic doesn't carry over to the next level, no time limit, fairly easy to rack up extra lives, somewhat forgiving hit detection overall, can't jump down through platforms which you can jump up through (used in some platforming puzzles), optional encounters with hidden NPCs (not sure what the purpose is, pretty sure I found them all), can't attack upwards, enemies don't respawn (a good thing overall), one maze segment
- Somewhat slow paced (can't run by other means than the air dive move or moving down a slope, can't keep running while changing directions, can't move while crouching, air dive move doesn't hurt enemies, can't jump on enemies or use the wand to bounce on them), so-so feedback from hitting or destroying regular enemies, choppy and loose vertical scrolling, scratchy voices, some trial & error (some boss patterns, need to press up to go into the whole in the tree on stage 3 (at the edge of a branch platform so you'll fall down and have to redo the jumping segment before it if you just move into the hole), can't change direction while air gliding (or start air gliding in the other direction after cancelling the move), no difficulty options, long knockback after taking a hit, frustrating autoscrolling cloud riding segment (despite knockback not affecting you there), safespot in the dracula fight, minor slowdown, short (4 stages though the last two are longer than the first two)
