Nightmare Busters (SNES, 1995/2014)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-7 Control-6.5 Challenge-8.5/8* Story-?
Level Design-7 Frustration-9/8.5* Fun-7/? Originality-5
Overall Score-6.5
*w/ auto-fire on Easy
+
Good art direction
Ghouls 'n Ghosts/Contra inspired gameplay
2-player co-op
Three different smart bombs which can also be switched between (the fire blast kind of sucks though)
Difficulty options (pretty hard even on easy)
Stills between levels (small pics though and no text)
Some good bosses
Pretty intense action at times
Pretty good variety overall
Some large and detailed sprites
Pretty satisfying sfx overall
Play as leprechauns?
Cling to ceilings
Mini-bosses
Sometimes in-game cutscenes between levels (not particularly interesting though)
+/-
Can't move while ducking
Invincibility time during and after the chargeable dash attack and while charging it (when it's near fully charged, auto-activates after a few seconds but still, can be used in mid-air)
Dash move (no invincibility time though)
Items disappear after a few seconds
Enemy drops disappear if they leave the screen at all (happens when they bounce upwards off screen here and there)
Near constantly spawning enemies coming from both sides in many segments
Starts out pretty tough
Several points only items
Limited continues regardless of difficulty
Respawn on the spot but with no bomb or dash replenishment until you use a credit
No intro
Fairly easy to gain extra lives (100 dice per life)
No control options (not really needed though)
Boss gauntlet for the final level
-
Somewhat slow movement and jumps
No jump height control
Get knocked over for a bit each time you take a hit despite having 2 HP
No auto-fire unless you use a cheat code
Can't shoot diagonally unless you have the blue double shot
No weapon inventory and you can't wait for or shoot at a weapon to make it change
The "blast" icons don't do anything?
Loading times before bosses (5+ seconds)
Some dead space (particularly in the beginning part of level 4)
Trial & error (a bit hard to tell what will hurt you in the fiery segment of lvl 1, boss patterns, shots from off screens, some traps, very cheap falling segment in lvl 3 where you can't use the dash properly)
Uneven difficulty (very easy first boss, very hard to dodge the second boss (werewolf) normally)
No "level complete" music
Somewhat forgettable music overall
Somewhat short (5 levels, ~35 min if you play well in 1 player mode)
Repeats the first boss without making it harder
No fourth level boss
Lame ending
Notes:
-Unreleased until 2014
Level Design-7 Frustration-9/8.5* Fun-7/? Originality-5
Overall Score-6.5
*w/ auto-fire on Easy
+
Good art direction
Ghouls 'n Ghosts/Contra inspired gameplay
2-player co-op
Three different smart bombs which can also be switched between (the fire blast kind of sucks though)
Difficulty options (pretty hard even on easy)
Stills between levels (small pics though and no text)
Some good bosses
Pretty intense action at times
Pretty good variety overall
Some large and detailed sprites
Pretty satisfying sfx overall
Play as leprechauns?
Cling to ceilings
Mini-bosses
Sometimes in-game cutscenes between levels (not particularly interesting though)
+/-
Can't move while ducking
Invincibility time during and after the chargeable dash attack and while charging it (when it's near fully charged, auto-activates after a few seconds but still, can be used in mid-air)
Dash move (no invincibility time though)
Items disappear after a few seconds
Enemy drops disappear if they leave the screen at all (happens when they bounce upwards off screen here and there)
Near constantly spawning enemies coming from both sides in many segments
Starts out pretty tough
Several points only items
Limited continues regardless of difficulty
Respawn on the spot but with no bomb or dash replenishment until you use a credit
No intro
Fairly easy to gain extra lives (100 dice per life)
No control options (not really needed though)
Boss gauntlet for the final level
-
Somewhat slow movement and jumps
No jump height control
Get knocked over for a bit each time you take a hit despite having 2 HP
No auto-fire unless you use a cheat code
Can't shoot diagonally unless you have the blue double shot
No weapon inventory and you can't wait for or shoot at a weapon to make it change
The "blast" icons don't do anything?
Loading times before bosses (5+ seconds)
Some dead space (particularly in the beginning part of level 4)
Trial & error (a bit hard to tell what will hurt you in the fiery segment of lvl 1, boss patterns, shots from off screens, some traps, very cheap falling segment in lvl 3 where you can't use the dash properly)
Uneven difficulty (very easy first boss, very hard to dodge the second boss (werewolf) normally)
No "level complete" music
Somewhat forgettable music overall
Somewhat short (5 levels, ~35 min if you play well in 1 player mode)
Repeats the first boss without making it harder
No fourth level boss
Lame ending
Notes:
-Unreleased until 2014