Circus Charlie (Famicom) Review

This week's game is Circus Charlie for the Famicom. It is a action/adventure game originally released in the arcades then ported to the Famicom.

Personally, me and my brothers played this endlessly, trying to finish this game, getting farther and farther in to game, trying to finish it every time we play it.

Choujikuu Yousai Macross (Famicom) Review

This week's game is Choujikuu Yousai Macross for the Famicom. The game was made by Namco and was released in Japan in 1985. Let's find out how good this game is.

Ikki (Famicom Review)

This week's game review is Ikki for the Famicom. This is probably the most legendary game in the Famicom library. Not because it is a good game, but it is a bad game.  This is the legendary "kusoge" or shit game. But what makes the game bad? Is it really bad? Or is it one of those misunderstood games, or even flawed but harshly criticized game? 

Well read more about the game after the jump.

Contra (Nes, Famicom) Review

This week's game is Contra for the Nes and Famicom. Contra is a shooting action game for the NES in America and the Famicom in Japan. It was released in February 1988 in America and Japan, and Europe version in 1990 by Konami. It must be noted that Contra is originally an arcade game ported to the NES and Famicom systems, but the home system version is the far more popular version of the game. Contra will probably be on a lot of gamers' minds as one of their favorite games.

In this game, you control one of the two commandos, Bill "Mad Dog" Rizer for the player one and Lance "Scorpion" Bean for the player two, who are sent to destroy the evil terrorist organization Red Falcon Organization. The players must guide the commandos through levels, shooting everything in the way. At the end of the level, the players must confront the stage boss and defeat it to go to the next stage.

1942 (Famicom)

Our game for the week is 1942 for the Famicom. It was released in 1985 by Capcom. It is a vertical shooter game, but not a very good one at that. One main draw of this game is that it doesn't have spaceships, aliens or whatsoever. The enemies and the player are all World War 2 planes.

The player controls a WW2 plane, and then try to shoot the enemies down. The controls are quite tight, but the movement is slow. The player press the B button to shoot and the A button to dive to safety. However, the player can only perform dive 3 times.

The player can get powerups, but it is limited. However, the enemies are quick to be defeated and does not pose a lot of threat. Bullets are quite easy to evade, but in later stages, bullets will hail from different directions. Difficulty comes from the slow movement of the player's plane.

There are 32 stages in all and no passwords, so whenever the player has to play, he/she has to start from the beginning.

Graphics are quite bland but the background is mostly sea with some islands that appear sparsely. It is serviceable because the great contrast between the planes and the sea background, but the background can get dull very quickly.

Sound is very very grating to the ears. There's no music either.

Good Points:
+ Easy
+ Responsive controls
+ Solid Gameplay

Bad Points:
- No music, bad sound design
- background is repetitive and dull
- slow movement of player plane

Screenshots:

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


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