Märchen Maze/Meruhen Meizu (ARC, 1988)
Graphics-8 Sound-7.5 Control-6.5 Challenge-8 Story-5?
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+
Balloon power up (saves you once from a pit, a bit slow though and you can't choose where to land)
Charge attack (longer range, goes through a few enemies)
Good art direction and use of colour
Some alternate paths through levels and some detours for power ups
Temporary charge shot power up (rare though)
Pretty nice intro and outro cutscenes
Pretty large boss sprites
Temporary spread shot and speed (including jump length) power ups
Difficulty options (coin worth, lives per continue, A-D rank (default is A) however the default is like hard mode for a console game of the time and there's no lower difficulty rank
+/-
The charge attack bubble pops if you charge for too long
No run or dodge or block moves
Fairly forgiving hit detection around enemy projectiles
Can't die from enemy hits in and of themselves (only get bumped back until you fall into a pit which kills instantly - however see below) - similar to what Super Smash Bros. does later on
Isometric view platforming
Overall time limit (usually pretty short though there are watch power ups that increase it)
Second music track sounds like joe jackson's steppin' out
Some enemies can push or even carry you
"Free play/continues off" toggle
No actual maze levels
Fairly frequent checkpoints
-
Some control issues (no invincibility time after taking a hit and each knockback is pretty big (leads to situations where you'll get thrown very far and into a pit just from one mistake), knockback length is inconsistent and some enemies will pull you far back at a high speed for some reason, no strafing, the charge attack also cancels if you jump (which you need to do a lot of), while there is a jump shadow it disappears over pits (where it would've been useful))
Very steep difficulty curve (third level comparable to late-game Gremlins 2)
Jumps are too tight and numerous after just a couple of levels
No permanent alternate weapons or upgrades
Repeats some enemies and foregrounds
The useful power ups are too rare
Slowdown (levels 8-9 mainly)
Uneven difficulty (spikes at lvls 6 and 8-9 (including the final boss), easy lvl 5 boss, lvl 7 is easier than lvl 6)
The blue snake-like enemy is really annoying (can't avoid it by not shooting the item container)
Trial & error (better to skip most enemies in level 8, bombs still go off if you move close (which you'll generally have to do)
Tedious final level (tons of enemies and projectiles causing slowdown and almost no power ups)
Notes:
-Press F2 on boot up for the options menu
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+
Balloon power up (saves you once from a pit, a bit slow though and you can't choose where to land)
Charge attack (longer range, goes through a few enemies)
Good art direction and use of colour
Some alternate paths through levels and some detours for power ups
Temporary charge shot power up (rare though)
Pretty nice intro and outro cutscenes
Pretty large boss sprites
Temporary spread shot and speed (including jump length) power ups
Difficulty options (coin worth, lives per continue, A-D rank (default is A) however the default is like hard mode for a console game of the time and there's no lower difficulty rank
+/-
The charge attack bubble pops if you charge for too long
No run or dodge or block moves
Fairly forgiving hit detection around enemy projectiles
Can't die from enemy hits in and of themselves (only get bumped back until you fall into a pit which kills instantly - however see below) - similar to what Super Smash Bros. does later on
Isometric view platforming
Overall time limit (usually pretty short though there are watch power ups that increase it)
Second music track sounds like joe jackson's steppin' out
Some enemies can push or even carry you
"Free play/continues off" toggle
No actual maze levels
Fairly frequent checkpoints
-
Some control issues (no invincibility time after taking a hit and each knockback is pretty big (leads to situations where you'll get thrown very far and into a pit just from one mistake), knockback length is inconsistent and some enemies will pull you far back at a high speed for some reason, no strafing, the charge attack also cancels if you jump (which you need to do a lot of), while there is a jump shadow it disappears over pits (where it would've been useful))
Very steep difficulty curve (third level comparable to late-game Gremlins 2)
Jumps are too tight and numerous after just a couple of levels
No permanent alternate weapons or upgrades
Repeats some enemies and foregrounds
The useful power ups are too rare
Slowdown (levels 8-9 mainly)
Uneven difficulty (spikes at lvls 6 and 8-9 (including the final boss), easy lvl 5 boss, lvl 7 is easier than lvl 6)
The blue snake-like enemy is really annoying (can't avoid it by not shooting the item container)
Trial & error (better to skip most enemies in level 8, bombs still go off if you move close (which you'll generally have to do)
Tedious final level (tons of enemies and projectiles causing slowdown and almost no power ups)
Notes:
-Press F2 on boot up for the options menu
