Armadillo (Famicom)

The game of the week is Armadillo. Armadillo is a platforming game released for the Japanese NES or Famicom in 1991. It is published by IGS. Players control an armadillo with a hat. Players are put in a board style map similar to Mario Brothers 3. The player must clear the stages to proceed. In each map, there is a boss in the board that roams around that you have to fight in order to finish the current level to move on to the next. You can actually finish the boss and move on to the next map without finishing all the stages in the map!

Players can move left and right. Pressing the A button makes the player jump while pressing the B button makes the player transform into a ball. Players can also slide down the wall slowly. In
later stages, the player can get some powerups that gives an additional transformation such as
bird and snail and more.


The main feature of the game is the ball transformation. When the player transform into a ball, the player can defeat the enemies by jumping on them. Also, the player can jump even higher on ball mode by making himself bounce up and down on the ground.

As for the controls, its quite dodgy yet not so unresponsive. The player moves slow and the jumps are quite floaty, you need some time to get used to it, but the controls are not so frustrating that it is unplayable.

The graphics are quite colorful and bright. But sometimes the background can get in the way. There are also sushi bars and restaurants in the background that the player can enter for some hints and tips.

I remember this game widly as a kid as I tried to finish game and failing. Many weekends are wasted trying to finish the game.

The game is not quite as good as Mario but way better than most of the platformers that can be found in NES or Famicom. It has solid gameplay mechanics, workable controls, and elements that are not found in other games, Armadillo is a good classic game.

Pros:
+ Good gameplay
+ Bright graphics
+ Lots of secrets
+ Medium difficulty

Bad:
- Controls need getting used to
- Difficult platforming in later stages
- Bosses are very easy


Screenshots


Ending: