Rastan Saga (SMS, 1988)
Graphics-7 Sound-7 Control-6.5 Challenge-8 Story-5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Added wall jump (lets you quickly climb shafts)
Weapon and armor power ups (the most useful and interesting is a flaming sword which shoots fireballs) - see what you're carrying in the pause menu here
Permanent health bar upgrades here (goat heads)
Up- and down stab (can quickly spam the up-stab)
One good boss (final boss - second red dragon (added patterns and you can only hit its head here)) and some decent ones (flying level 2 boss - missing the shots from the cobra head statues though, level 4 - knight that jumps and shoots, the snake/hydra)
Sometimes intense action (decent amount of sprites on screen at once but not really on par with the arcade game+it causes some flicker)
Slopes (automatically slide down if you release the d-pad) - Snokie C64
A few alternate paths through the levels
Each boss has its own hideout (a cave or castle, nice build up for the battle)
Day to night cycle (but not back again) - levels always start at daytime. At night you'll get attacked by small, flying enemies and can't see ropes
Health refill after beating a stage
Some advanced enemy AI (cockatrice enemies can climb walls (looks silly though) as well as jump between some platforms later on, some humanoid enemies can jump up stairs)
High jump (press up while jumping) - Legacy of the Wizard, SMB2/Doki Doki Panic (although here it requires charging while still)
Non-lethal lava and other liquids here (they just do a bit of damage over time). Spikes also don't kill instantly from the side here
Tighter scrolling when moving left or up here
Can destroy some enemy projectiles
Slower falling boulders here (perhaps too slow)
Decent ending cutscene
One large and multi-jointed boss (level 6) - unique to this version but it's very easy
Shows bosses' health bars
Added smart bombs (cloth/map item - trigger when touched only though and it's a random drop) - Defender
A few destructible blocks - SMB1
Fewer bats
+/-
Forgiving hit detection when downstabbing and for your fire projectiles
Frequently respawning enemies (semi-random) - can farm for health but if you stick around for long enough there will only be flying enemies
Some enemies will disappear if you move away from them until they're off screen
Your swings also hit enemies right behind you (see Castlevania)
Don't need to hit weapons to pick them up here unless they are too far away to touch them without doing so
Hidden time limit on upgrades and weapons besides the default sword. The rod item increases this limit for defensive items and the necklace for weapons
You can move backwards in a sub level all the way to the beginning here (only a couple of screens in the arcade original)
Can't move while crouching (Rastan doesn't take a step backwards if hit here)
No momentum mechanic to attacks here (it seemed to increase damage a bit in the arcade version and let you keep moving forward while attacking if standing)
Some negative power ups (poison bottles dropped by enemies - sometimes hard to avoid them)
Short level 4 castle sub level
Slower movement
-
Only three continues here and no lives (however the health refills and upgraded life bar along with other tweaks make the game easier)
No checkpoints here besides at bosses (means you can't go get better gear before the boss if you die to it)
Some unavoidable damage (spike trap in level 4 for example, some cheap enemy spawning)
Somewhat primitive/odd jump controls (Rastan suddenly stops moving forward after a certain length when doing a regular jump+loses his momentum pretty quickly after the apex of a high jump which takes some getting used to, Rastan also falls straight down when moving off a ledge (which looks silly in some cases where there's a chain you can climb right next to where he falls, no mid-air control besides turning around - if you jump straight up you can't nudge to the side afterwards, jumping into the ceiling makes you drop rather than slide forward, bad hit detection when attacking an enemy from a higher platform - looks like you should hit but you don't, somewhat unforgiving hit detection vs small flying enemies, can't dodge/move backwards right after attacking here)
Uneven difficulty (different and very easy first boss here, very easy first red dragon boss, much easier level 3 boss (teleporting sorcerer), sometimes enemy patterns/spawning points are different due to the randomization)
Repetitive (repeats enemies, gimmicks and backgrounds over and over)
No sense of weight/impact to most of the action (so-so sounds and kind of poor (or no) death animations, enemies aren't stunned at all when hit)
No words of encouragement or Rastan artwork after each boss fight here
Enemy drops disappear after a few seconds
No pumping heart sfx when near death
Trial & error (can't reach the fire sword in level 2?, boss patterns, some of the platforming, finding the exit in level 7, it seems best to hit the back of the neck vs the final boss rather than the head)
Some tedious platforming sections later on (some of the castles)
Some poorly defined sprites and sometimes odd colour choices (the hydra boss only has one head here), So-so animation, Some backgrounds could've had more detail and/or variety
The ring doesn't increase attack speed here (instead it doubles points gained which have no effect on gameplay)
Can find a safe spot vs the level 2 boss and use an easy but slow tactic vs the level 4 boss (crouching and swinging works here)
Bugs:
-The humanoid enemies sometimes die or fall into pits for seemingly no reason
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Added wall jump (lets you quickly climb shafts)
Weapon and armor power ups (the most useful and interesting is a flaming sword which shoots fireballs) - see what you're carrying in the pause menu here
Permanent health bar upgrades here (goat heads)
Up- and down stab (can quickly spam the up-stab)
One good boss (final boss - second red dragon (added patterns and you can only hit its head here)) and some decent ones (flying level 2 boss - missing the shots from the cobra head statues though, level 4 - knight that jumps and shoots, the snake/hydra)
Sometimes intense action (decent amount of sprites on screen at once but not really on par with the arcade game+it causes some flicker)
Slopes (automatically slide down if you release the d-pad) - Snokie C64
A few alternate paths through the levels
Each boss has its own hideout (a cave or castle, nice build up for the battle)
Day to night cycle (but not back again) - levels always start at daytime. At night you'll get attacked by small, flying enemies and can't see ropes
Health refill after beating a stage
Some advanced enemy AI (cockatrice enemies can climb walls (looks silly though) as well as jump between some platforms later on, some humanoid enemies can jump up stairs)
High jump (press up while jumping) - Legacy of the Wizard, SMB2/Doki Doki Panic (although here it requires charging while still)
Non-lethal lava and other liquids here (they just do a bit of damage over time). Spikes also don't kill instantly from the side here
Tighter scrolling when moving left or up here
Can destroy some enemy projectiles
Slower falling boulders here (perhaps too slow)
Decent ending cutscene
One large and multi-jointed boss (level 6) - unique to this version but it's very easy
Shows bosses' health bars
Added smart bombs (cloth/map item - trigger when touched only though and it's a random drop) - Defender
A few destructible blocks - SMB1
Fewer bats
+/-
Forgiving hit detection when downstabbing and for your fire projectiles
Frequently respawning enemies (semi-random) - can farm for health but if you stick around for long enough there will only be flying enemies
Some enemies will disappear if you move away from them until they're off screen
Your swings also hit enemies right behind you (see Castlevania)
Don't need to hit weapons to pick them up here unless they are too far away to touch them without doing so
Hidden time limit on upgrades and weapons besides the default sword. The rod item increases this limit for defensive items and the necklace for weapons
You can move backwards in a sub level all the way to the beginning here (only a couple of screens in the arcade original)
Can't move while crouching (Rastan doesn't take a step backwards if hit here)
No momentum mechanic to attacks here (it seemed to increase damage a bit in the arcade version and let you keep moving forward while attacking if standing)
Some negative power ups (poison bottles dropped by enemies - sometimes hard to avoid them)
Short level 4 castle sub level
Slower movement
-
Only three continues here and no lives (however the health refills and upgraded life bar along with other tweaks make the game easier)
No checkpoints here besides at bosses (means you can't go get better gear before the boss if you die to it)
Some unavoidable damage (spike trap in level 4 for example, some cheap enemy spawning)
Somewhat primitive/odd jump controls (Rastan suddenly stops moving forward after a certain length when doing a regular jump+loses his momentum pretty quickly after the apex of a high jump which takes some getting used to, Rastan also falls straight down when moving off a ledge (which looks silly in some cases where there's a chain you can climb right next to where he falls, no mid-air control besides turning around - if you jump straight up you can't nudge to the side afterwards, jumping into the ceiling makes you drop rather than slide forward, bad hit detection when attacking an enemy from a higher platform - looks like you should hit but you don't, somewhat unforgiving hit detection vs small flying enemies, can't dodge/move backwards right after attacking here)
Uneven difficulty (different and very easy first boss here, very easy first red dragon boss, much easier level 3 boss (teleporting sorcerer), sometimes enemy patterns/spawning points are different due to the randomization)
Repetitive (repeats enemies, gimmicks and backgrounds over and over)
No sense of weight/impact to most of the action (so-so sounds and kind of poor (or no) death animations, enemies aren't stunned at all when hit)
No words of encouragement or Rastan artwork after each boss fight here
Enemy drops disappear after a few seconds
No pumping heart sfx when near death
Trial & error (can't reach the fire sword in level 2?, boss patterns, some of the platforming, finding the exit in level 7, it seems best to hit the back of the neck vs the final boss rather than the head)
Some tedious platforming sections later on (some of the castles)
Some poorly defined sprites and sometimes odd colour choices (the hydra boss only has one head here), So-so animation, Some backgrounds could've had more detail and/or variety
The ring doesn't increase attack speed here (instead it doubles points gained which have no effect on gameplay)
Can find a safe spot vs the level 2 boss and use an easy but slow tactic vs the level 4 boss (crouching and swinging works here)
Bugs:
-The humanoid enemies sometimes die or fall into pits for seemingly no reason