Mitsume Ga Tooru (NES, 1992)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-8 Challenge-7* Story-5
Level Design-8 Frustration-7.5 Fun-8 Originality-4
Overall Score-7.5
*Easy (default mode)
+
Mega Man/Wonder Boy-style gameplay
Fast paced
Good animation and use of colour
Great art direction
Large and detailed bosses
Shoot coins to make them bigger
Use coins to buy new weapons and HP refill/1-ups (once per shop)
Difficulty options (easy/normal)
Decent cutscenes
Good variation
Some interesting ideas (use a trident as a platform, some innovative level design such as the geysers in stage 2 or spinning heads in stage 3/4)
Detours with hidden shops and money stashes (an invisible bird appears and farts (?) out money while flying away)
Decent bosses overall
A bird carries you out of pits once per level
Forgiving knockback (fall over on the spot)
Unlimited continues
Forgiving checkpoints
Inexpensive shop items
+/-
Weird ending (the girl you rescue puts a patch on your eye, something you've been trying to avoid throughout the game)
Long stages (good variation though)
Somewhat forgiving hit detection
Linear structure
Trident is overpowered when used right (stop it inside bosses and keep jumping on it)
Life refill after each level
-
Short (5 stages)
Repeats enemies a lot
Uneven difficulty (difficulty spikes in stage 3 (spiked ceiling) and parts of stage 5, some very easy segments (sometimes depending on which weapon is used))
Some trial & error (boss patterns, using the right weapon for a given situation, stage 5 upwards moving platforms + wall of heads enemy)
Can't duck
Can't walk while shooting (can jump though)
Can't move while charging the trident
The trident isn't used that much (which is kind of a good thing as it's so clunky)
Can't grab coins until they're falling downwards (see Wonder Boy 2-5)
Pretty lame narration between levels ("you beat X, but there's more ahead!" X4)
Starts out a bit slow with resilient enemies that you can't move past
Level Design-8 Frustration-7.5 Fun-8 Originality-4
Overall Score-7.5
*Easy (default mode)
+
Mega Man/Wonder Boy-style gameplay
Fast paced
Good animation and use of colour
Great art direction
Large and detailed bosses
Shoot coins to make them bigger
Use coins to buy new weapons and HP refill/1-ups (once per shop)
Difficulty options (easy/normal)
Decent cutscenes
Good variation
Some interesting ideas (use a trident as a platform, some innovative level design such as the geysers in stage 2 or spinning heads in stage 3/4)
Detours with hidden shops and money stashes (an invisible bird appears and farts (?) out money while flying away)
Decent bosses overall
A bird carries you out of pits once per level
Forgiving knockback (fall over on the spot)
Unlimited continues
Forgiving checkpoints
Inexpensive shop items
+/-
Weird ending (the girl you rescue puts a patch on your eye, something you've been trying to avoid throughout the game)
Long stages (good variation though)
Somewhat forgiving hit detection
Linear structure
Trident is overpowered when used right (stop it inside bosses and keep jumping on it)
Life refill after each level
-
Short (5 stages)
Repeats enemies a lot
Uneven difficulty (difficulty spikes in stage 3 (spiked ceiling) and parts of stage 5, some very easy segments (sometimes depending on which weapon is used))
Some trial & error (boss patterns, using the right weapon for a given situation, stage 5 upwards moving platforms + wall of heads enemy)
Can't duck
Can't walk while shooting (can jump though)
Can't move while charging the trident
The trident isn't used that much (which is kind of a good thing as it's so clunky)
Can't grab coins until they're falling downwards (see Wonder Boy 2-5)
Pretty lame narration between levels ("you beat X, but there's more ahead!" X4)
Starts out a bit slow with resilient enemies that you can't move past