Ayen's Video Game Reviews

[FFNut]

I remember playing this a while ago. Man was I a bad mayor!

[Ayen]

Welcome to the second week of Disney's Month! Today we're looking at The Lucky Dime Caper starring the one, the only, Donald Duck! The Lucky Dime Caper is a platformer that came out for the Sega Master System in 1991, and re-released on the Game Gear two years later. I have both copies of the game, but decided to focus on the Master System for this review. I'll look into the Game Gear version another time.

Okay, does NO ONE see the woman blatantly staring through the window?!

The game starts off with Uncle Scrooge giving each of his nephew a lucky dime before Magica De Spell barges in, takes the children, and Scrooge's lucky dime with her leaving it to Donald Duck to rescue the day! Don't call the police or anything...

I hope you're a fast reader because the text will just fly across the screen. You barely have enough time to finish a sentence before the next line appears, and there's no way to slow it down. There isn't even an options menu! You just go straight to the world map once the opening is finished.

Where did I put the bug spray?

After you select a stage to fly to you'll be taken to a 2D side screen to begin your advantage. At the start you have a hammer and a jump attack. You can get a secondary weapon that's like a Frisbee, but the hammer does a lot more damage.

Each stage has its own unique enemies to fight so you're never facing the same creature twice. This brings about a lot of interesting foils to Donald and shows a lot of creativity from the game makers.

The fish must be hungry.

There's a time limit on each stage that starts to change color the less time you have. The time limit is actually pretty slow and I can only recall it turning yellow once during my entire playthrough.

Be weary of enemies, because if you get hit two or three times you're done for. You start off with three lives and can find more by killing enemies. Another powerup you can find are little red stars. Collect five of them and Donald will receive a limited time invulnerability. Best thing about the game is unlimited continues. If you get a game over you won't start back at the beginning of the game. Once a stage is cleared it remains clear.

You aren't worth it, guys. You just aren't worth it.

There are only seven stages in the game with no parts to them, so it's actually a lot shorter than Mickey Mouse. You can do a run-through of the whole game in twenty-eight minutes if you're skilled enough. The first three levels are about saving the nephews, and the next three levels are spent tracking down the stolen dimes, and then you go off to face Magica De Spell herself.

The bosses are fairly challenging and can lead on to “duh” moments when you finally figure out what you're supposed to do. On the third stage I kept running away from boulders until I realized I'm supposed to smash the statues to the left and right of me. Never felt like a bigger idiot. Magica De Spell is the easiest of them all. Her crystal ball can be destroyed by the hammer in a few hits and she cowers. If it's so important WHY DO YOU HAVE IT WIDE OPEN WHERE I CAN GET TO IT?!

Stop! Hammer Time!

The graphics held up pretty well for a Master System game. At times I would have thought it was for the Sega Genesis. All of the stages are bright and colorful and characters like Donald are drawn exactly as they appear on TV. Bonus points for making the few cut-scenes in the game match the in-game graphics, also.

Everything is clearly defined and pleasing to look at, except the waterfall in level two. Do not stare directly into the waterfall on level two. I guess the bricks seen up above aren't better in that respect, but at least they aren't moving. There's a lot going on in each of the stages without it being too jarring. The game designers should give themselves a pat on the back, they did good.

Not worth the price of admission, dude.

After flying halfway across the world to get his nephews and the dimes back, we return to Uncle Scoorage's home where he bestows Donald Duck's reward. A lucky dime! Wow. You're rich and all you'll give him for his troubles is a dime? That's kind of dickish. Mind you, that was only for getting his dimes back after the nephews. If Donald actually needed a reward to save his own nephews he'd deserve that level of trolling.

Wait, if Donald is their uncle, and Scrooge is their uncle, then where are their parents? You only ever see them with Donald or Scrooge, I don't think their parents have ever made an appearance, have they? Did they just dump them on Donald's doorstep one day and split? What a bunch of assholes!

smurf this trout!

Donald Duck is what you would expect going in. Just a whacky, fun platforming game with a lot of creativity. If you love Donald Duck or enjoy platformers in general then it's worth checking out.

That concludes this week's edition of Disney's Month. Stay tuned because next week we're going to the Pride Lands!

Get it

[Rez09]

I've never played this one, though I did play Deep Duck Trouble, which I believe is the follow-up title. I'll have to give this one a try sometime.

[Ayen]

Originally published on 01.23.12

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue the video game was developed by Mass Media Inc (N64), Climax Studios (PlayStation), Natsume (GBC), and Red Sky Interactive (Mac/Win). THQ published a majority of the ports with the exception of PC, which was developed by Bandai America. Today we'll be looking at the PlayStation version developed by Climax Studios, but first a quick look into the history of Power Rangers.

Power Rangers is a popular action-hero franchise that began in 1993 by Bandai America, using stock footage from a Japanese show called Kyuryu Sentai Zyuranger. Needless to say, Power Rangers was a huge success, and despite complaints of violence and racism, Power Rangers went on to make series, after series, after series. Even making a featured film in 1995 and another movie that would start the Turbo Rangers series in 1997.

By 2000 we had Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue, adapted from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive. The video game was to come out in June and give us the ability to control all five Lightspeed Rangers with the Titanium Ranger being the secret unlockable character. We kick things off with the intro to the show before going to the title screen. Get used to having the Lightspeed Rescue theme stuck in your head because you're going to hear it a lot.

At the start of each stage you'll be shown a series of clips taken from the live action show. Before you can get to the action however, you receive a quick mission briefing by your commanding officer, Captain Mitchell and Miss Fairweather. The information they give you can be repetitive.

It's your pretty basic beat 'em up. You punch, block, etc. Until you clear an area you're unable to move on to the next one. The weird thing about that is even if it's telling you the area you're in isn't cleared, you can still trigger the next mini boss fight, but won't be able to reach him so he'll just be standing there. If the area isn't cleared why have the mini boss appear at all?

The game allows for single or multiplayer with your usual difficulty settings. What strikes me odd about the difficulty in this game, is that if you choose easy you don't get every level in the game. It leaves out the final level. It reminds me of Castlevania 64 where if you play it on easy you only get five of the ten levels in the game. This one isn't as bad as that, but why leave out a stage based solely on the difficulty setting? I understand wanting people to beat the game on a stronger difficulty in order to unlock something, but don't leave out a part of the game entirely because of it.

One positive note about the game is if you're a fan of the show, it has all the actors reprising their roles for the voices so it really does make you feel like you're a part of the team. This is more or less really a game for the fans of the show, if you're not a Lightspeed Rescue fan at all this isn't a game you're going to enjoy. Despite everything, it's not the most challenging game you'll ever play either, even on Hard Mode I was still able to beat it on my own without too much of a fuss. If you're one for challenges you wouldn't be getting too much here.

Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue is just a fun game for fans of the show to enjoy, but that isn't to say someone out there who's never heard of the show couldn't enjoy it. If you enjoy platformers, action, and beat 'em uppers, then you may very well enjoy this game regardless.

In other words if you have some time to kill, IT'S MORPHING TIME! LIGHTSPEED RESCUE!

No, they don't really say “it's morphing time” beforehand, but wouldn't it be so much cooler if they did?

Try it

[Ayen]

Note Italics represent action.

Do you like The Lion King? Of course you do, it's one of the greatest animated films of all time. I can still remember seeing it in theaters and having a good time with it. So, naturally, knowing there's a video game of the movie out, what kid wouldn't want to play it? Shouldn't be that bad, right? I mean, it's a kid's game. Stay away. Stay the smurf away. This is one of the hardest games I've ever played, and considering I gone through Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden, that's saying a lot. Let's pop this son of a bitch in.

Wouldn't it just be terrible if he dropped him?

Opening isn't too bad, you have the iconic birth of Simba scene with Rafiki and a 16-bit instrumental of “The Circle of Life” that sets the tone for the game pretty well. At least we have an options menu this time!

Your choice of difficulty is Easy, Norman, and Difficult. I guess Hard was too generic for their liking. Basically, the higher the difficulty, the lower the lives you have. What I found interesting is this game was developed by Westwood Studios, the same company who created Command and Conquer. I bet they were laughing their asses off with how hard they made this, well karma is a bitch, my friend, you were bought out by EA!

I'm the king of my castle!

There isn't much to say about the first level. You get to run around the Pride Lands killing enemies and finding bug items hovering in the air. There's something in it for you if you take the time to look around the stage instead of plowing right through it.

The meter on the top right corner is health, while the meter on the top left is your roar meter. Roaring comes in handy for stunning enemies so you can hit them. You can't paw people or have any other offense except the jump button until you're an adult. Certain bug items increase your meters, while others can take it away. Find the right ones and you can trigger a bonus stage where you play as either Timon or Pumbaa.

One thing I really like about the game is that it has pre-recorded lines from the movie in the cut- scenes, which was rare for that time. Especially on a system like the Sega Genesis that isn't exactly known for its voice acting. The first stage is good, it's the second stage and beyond when things start transitioning into bulltrout territory.

Gotta love it when the game assumes you're too stupid to figure out trout on your own.

Oh. My. God. This stage. I can't even hate on the design aspect of it, the level is designed beautifully like it was ripped straight out of the movie. If you're basing a game off a film then this is how you do it. The stage is very creative with jumping on rhinos, jumping on giraffes, and being swung around by monkeys. All with the familiar “I Just Can't Wait to be King” music.

You can't smurf around on this stage, if it even senses you're having a good time it will bite you in the ass. Try to get past the giraffes, fall in water. Swing from the rhinos' tails, fall in water. Jump on logs, fall in water. There are less people falling in water in public swimming pools! But that's not even the worse of it, oh no. As if to put a giant middle finger on this child hell we have the most frustrating part of all.

The mother smurfing ostrich!

I hate ostriches. In this part you have to jump and duck accordingly before getting hit. Straightforward enough. The challenging part comes when you have to make a double jump halfway through. You need to tap C twice at just the right time or you're hitting the ground. Even after I learned how to do it I still have trouble getting past this part.

Come on... get up there! Get the smurf up there! You're only level two! The second level of a game should not be this hard! GET THE smurf OVER IT!

AHHHHHHH!

If this is where gaming is headed smurf it, count me out! Out of playing, out of writing, I wouldn't hang about. You can't make me play another stage! Opens the door to his bedroom to leave.

Slams the door shut.

Anger is contagious, it seems.

If you can make it past one hellish musical number, we have another in the form of the Elephant Graveyard. Why do all the hyenas look like Banzai? At least when they're not performing the Ed salute. Was Scar experimenting with cloning or something?

Anyway, we have hyenas, we have flying birds wanting to kill you, and bones falling apart every which way. Some times it's not even worth stopping to take out an enemy, you're better off just running like a bitch. Occasionally, if you want to get past a blockade you do have to face the hyenas. It's nearly impossible to tell when they're going to jump, and you can only jump on them when they're tired.

Great, more water.

After you reach a checkpoint you need to wall jump while trying to avoid a rising stream of... green water? How did the water get polluted? No wonder these guys betrayed Mufasa, who could live like this?

Why do hard games always feel the need to have a wall jump? Is there a checkoff list I don't know about? “Making a hard game? Here are things to add for maximum frustration!” To their credit, they mended it to fit with the theme of Lion King. Simba hanging from the cliff with a scared expression on his face is a lot like when Mufasa was hanging off a cliff before Scar killed him. Now, if I can just get up this–!

smurfING HELL!

Takes the game out from the system and readies to bang it into the ground. Stops midway and cries out in frustration before putting the game back in and turning the Genesis on.

I hate my life.

You thought that last stage was bad? Get a load of this. The infamous stampede scene. Simba can be moved to the left and right of the screen in order to avoid the in-coming buffalo, and you need to jump to avoid rocks that appear in front of you. Give the devil his due, they managed to recapture the intensity of this scene from the big screen. You really do feel like Simba did when his life was on the line.

Gets hit by a buffalo. Goddamn! Gets hit by another buffalo. Allahdamn! Gets hit by rocks. Zeusdamn! Continues to get hit. Odindamn! Radamn! Yevondamn! Cthulhudamn! Flying- spaghetti-monster damn! There aren't enough gods in the universe to fully describe how aggravating this is! Takes out the game from the system a second time and puts it on a table, brings up a hammer over it, but manages to stop himself. Puts the game back in.

Don't fall! Don't fall! Don't fall!

Simba's Exile is no better. Just when you think it couldn't get any worse they drop rocks on you. Meanwhile, you need to make careful jumps like in the image above to get anywhere. Naturally, you'd want to take your time, but how can you with all these rocks falling from the sky!?

In one part of the level you're being chased by a boulder and there's an enemy in your way. You don't have the time to stun him fast enough before that boulder gets you. If the boulder hits it's an instant death. You have to get hit and keep running for dear life. That's another thing about this game, no matter how good you get you're still going to get hit.

What the smurf?

Hakuna Matata... More like Hakuna Mattrouta, you're better off cutting off your damn fingers! Look at this! Forget Mario 2 falling logs, this takes the cake. You know what's worse? When you're swinging from point A to point B. Simba doesn't want to go in the direction you want him to and ends up jumping the other way. Go left. Go left! Not right, left! Don't even get me started on the monkey at the end. He throws a bunch of bananas at you (at least I think those are bananas) and then slam his fist into the ground. Get used to jumping.

After the Hakuna Matata stage we're brought to the second half of the game where you play as Adult Simba. Okay, being able to slash things in the face is extremely satisfying. Makes fighting off hyaenas a little easier, too.

Adult Simba is all business.

While the slash helps a little bit, the game makes up for this by having the latter stages be even harder! Simba Returns is a damn maze! There are hyaenas everywhere! Where am I suppose to go!? If I never see another hyaena as long as I live it will be too soon.

Another enemy the game introduces by this point are leopards. I don't remember those being in the film, but at least it makes sense to the setting. They're not just adding robots and ninjas for the hell of it.

smurf you, Scar, you piece of trout!

On the last stage you get to go one on one with Scar himself on Pride Rock. The whole place looks like it's descending into hell as we speak. The fight itself is pretty reminiscent of the movie scene, they're swiping their claws at each other, Scar keeps pushing you back, and the animation on each sprite is well put together.

Scar's health is ridiculously high and your swipes don't do nearly enough damage. God help you if you have a three button Genesis controller like me because special moves are a million times harder to pull off. Maul! MAUL! If you're lucky enough to get to the top cliff you need to throw his sorry ass over the ledge, but that only works if you get his health down. So, get ready for tapping your fingers off because that's a lot of swiping.

Almost there... Almost there...! Yeah, you better back up, you son of a bitch! DIE! DIE! DIE! JUST smurfING DIE ALREADY–!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

smurf THIS GAME! I'd rather push out a golf ball sized kidney stone out of my dick than play another infuriating second of this 16-bits of ass! It'd be easier to run off to the jungle and punch the wildlife! This game is a piece of trout and I want the last seven days of my life back!

Takes the game out of the system and holds it up. Be prepared for an ass whopping! Bashes the cartridge onto the floor repeatedly while screaming. Brings the cartridge out to the kitchen's table and smashes it relentlessly with a hammer! Do you feel the love now, bitch? Takes the game outside, throws it into the dumpster, lights a match and tosses it in burning the game with the garbage.

UPS Man: Walks up to the scene. Package for a Mr. Ayen.
Ayen: Takes the box and opens it to unveil the Super Nintendo version of The Lion King … Tosses it into the fire with the Genesis version.

Skip it

[Ayen]

Originally published on 02.04.12

Monsters, Inc. Scream Team is based off of Disney PIXAR Monsters, Inc. which was scheduled to hit theaters just three days after the game was released in North America. The game was developed by A2M and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and acts as a prequel (naturally) to the events we would later see in the film. Knowing this, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anybody that the game opening would basically be a movie trailer before coming to the title screen.

Now unfortunately, with the exception of three actors, none of the cast members from the movie reprise their roles for the game, but the voice actors they get for Sulley and Mike aren't all that bad and in some cases Carlos Alazraqui does sound a little like John Goodman. The story is simple enough, Mike and Sulley want to become top scarers at Monsters, Inc. so they go to Scare Island in order to learn. The scene before the training level is pretty hilarious, but once you get to the actual training you may come to find it's a bit tedious. This is at a time where games just assumed you knew nothing and explained everything to you even if it's something simple, which older games would have taught you by just playing it. Instead, they stop you, show you, and tell you during, and after a while hearing Roz speak just gets tiring.

The main objective is to scare robot children called Nerves. Each robot child is color coded, and you have to stock up on ooze in order to charge up your Fright Meter. How making faces and poking your eye counts as scary is beyond me.

But beware of... TOYS!

In Scream Team you'll fight with various different toys in each stage. An attack by a toy cost one health point, but don't worry there are plenty of ways available to defend yourself.

In each stage you'll be looking for three medals that you need at least one of in order to pass. These medals, depending on your performance, can either be bronze, silver, or the beautiful, beautiful gold medal. To get a gold medal, you must get all eight Nerves that are in that stage, the silver medal can be earned by collecting all ten Monster Tokens, and the Bronze can be awarded with scaring a total of five Nerves.

One unlockable includes actual scenes from the film. At the time for those eagerly awaiting the movie and got the game first, this is a pretty nice extra, but now? You can just watch the movie so it's not an award that has carried on well with time.

Whether or not you like this game will depend on a few factors, one being age. Now I obviously can't speak for every gamer of all ages, and I won't even try, but this as you can imagine is a game aimed at kids and not something I can see many adults, especially old-time gamers, enjoying all that much both for it repetitiveness (though some kids probably won't like that either), and assuming you're an idiot.

Scream Team offers a fun experience for kids and fans of the movie, and if you're a parent with a child who wants to keep that kid distracted with something they can do with their fingers which doesn't involve collateral damage to your house, I'd recommend it.

Try it

[Ayen]

Ayen: We have an interesting one for you all today. Why do I say we? Because I'm being joined today by special guest, Maybee, from Eyes on Final Fantasy.

Disney's Aladdin was made by Virgin Games and Capcom for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo respectively. These games came out around the same time, but are vastly different to the point of unrecognizably. The question that remains is, which company did the better job? That's what we're here to find out.

Aladdin was an animated movie that came out in 1992 and became one of many Disney's classics. It was like The Little Mermaid for boys. I have a lot of fond childhood memories watching the trilogy and the old cartoon show they used to have. Unfortunately, I missed both of these games growing up. I didn't have a Super Nintendo and the Genesis version just past me by, so keep in mind this is my first time playing both.

Maybee: Aladdin SNES and Aladdin Sega are really two completely different games. One is more calm, Mario- esque styled platforming, while the other is hack' n slash with a times you have to slow down and take things steady and use tactics by throwing apples now and again, changing up the pace. I have no idea why they choose apples as a weapon for Aladdin, while his character is a orphan street rat who's starving for just a piece of bread. Doesn't he want to eat them? Shouldn't they be used as health, like how Castlevania uses food to keep up your strength, even if it's just rotten tossed away chicken hidden by a doorway?

Ayen: Well, the SNES version does replenish health with a turkey.

Hot potato!

Ayen: Yeah, this looks awesome. One thing to note is that Disney actually did the animation for this game, and it shows. Aladdin and the rest of the cast look exactly as they did in the movie.

We have two primary attacks and a jump button. You can even parry with the sword. There's some funny animation you can prompt when you hit certain enemies with apples, like a guard's underwear showing. Priceless.

All throughout each stage you can find apples, hearts, extra lives, and gems which are used as currency to buy more lives and continues. Genie and Abu heads can activate a bonus level if you get enough of them before the end of the stage.

Unlike The Lion King, Aladdin eases you into the difficult parts as you play through. It isn't until the halfway mark during the Cave of Wonders that things start to get harder for the player.

The Escape from the Cave level in particular was a giant pain in the ass! One part requires to jump on sinking lava platforms and wait for it to sink low enough to avoid the spikes on the ceiling, but jump too soon and the lava spits out fire to kill you. When I FINALLY made it through, I took more than a nanosecond grabbing hearts only for a boulder to kill me, so I had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN!

Oh, and bats. Damn every single bat in this game. Damn them to the lowest pits of hell where they can burn for an eternity!

And when that wasn't enough bulltrout? Genie balloons. You have to jump and grab onto Genie balloons one at a time before they pop and try not to fall to your death. Good smurfing luck!

The last level is a combination of every single challenge in the previous stages combined with the intent to make your life miserable, and at the end you face Jafar who is surprisingly easy all things considered. Honestly, all you do is throw apples at him. That's a reoccurring theme in this game. The bosses themselves aren't that hard, but the latter levels are certainly a pain in the ass

Maybee: However what tears apart one from the other is the beautiful graphics settings, amazing OST soundtrack which follows songs from the animated classic Disney flick, and the better gameplay. The Genesis version has better colors, better oomph, better excitement and playing through the game is a fun and action- packed adventure. The beginning level is the thrilling Prince Ali, a parading tune humming in the background as you brush through a vibrant Agrabah.

The SNES version however just feels dry, lacking and empty. The colors feel dry and depressing. For example take the Genesis version of The Cave Of Wonders level and the SNES's. The Genesis has a swinging, almost dangerous sounding tune, creative design, colorful fish, ancient Shiva Indian statues, and falling rocks you must avoid. The SNES' version of the level is just a very basic cave design, and a log that you must use to avoid drowning in the water. That's all.

Logs

Ayen: What happened to Aladdin? He looks pixelated as smurf! The guards in earlier levels are better define than he is. Also, Aladdin moves so slow that even the snails are telling him to get a move on!

There's no sword for you to use in this version, the only means of attack is throwing apples (which only stuns unless you're attacking lesser enemies) and jumping on them. Guys, you know you have four buttons, right? You can add some more attacks, you know!

On a positive note, the sound is good. Aladdin sounds like himself whenever he's hit. The music isn't half bad, either, as to be expected with the Super Nintendo. While the character sprites don't look the best in comparison with the Genesis version, I can't find much problem with the backgrounds and attention to detail. Seeing the palace for the first time is simply jaw dropping.

Another positive are the bosses. They're a little more challenging than the Genesis version. Jafar especially. He isn't just in the background zapping you. He's in the foreground with attack patterns to overcome and his serpent form is a lot harder, and at least you get to see him in his genie form even though you don't get to fight it. I guess since that scene was more about outwitting Jafar it made no sense to make it a boss fight. I still think it would have been awesome.

Maybee: The Genesis version feels more creative, alive, and like you're hanging out in a wild party- while the SNES version feels like you're sitting next to an alone, depressed guy who's so consumed by his awful life he's hasn't cleaned himself in days.
Things do improve for the SNES version, the depressed guy begins to take some medicine for his mental illness, while the Genesis version is when you have awoken up from the awesome party last night to find your self in the trash.

Yes, the last few levels on the SNES are quite incredible, while the Sega version- the last few levels are rushed. Music is even re-used for the final level. The last boss for the Sega is disappointing. It's just a small snake! However the SNES does the final boss right by having Snake Jafar take up most of the screen- he's large, powerful and makes Aladdin look small- and you feel small and gulp slightly in terror.

Let me show you how SNAKE like I can be!

Maybee: The SNES version also has a beautiful and calm A Whole New World level whereabouts you take Princess Jasmine on a gentle carpet ride through the starlight sky, while you take it easy for a while- a break needed after some tricky levels, and just sit back, relax and collect gems. Gems are needed if you want to unlock a little extra something in the SNES version. Though it's so small, it's basically worthless and it's not worth your time and effort. So there's no point to the gems.

The Genesis version uses the gem system quite well. They are actually good for something. If you collect a certain amount, you can buy extra lives or a continue.
The SNES gives you the promise of something great if you somehow manage to collect all gems, and then slaps you in the face.

Apu has just played the SNES version and collected all the gems. He's done. He's done.

Maybee: The SNES does have a Genie level bonus at the end- so does the Genesis, both of them depend solely on luck. You could end up with something fantastic like a new life or just win Jafar laughing in your face.
Even though the SNES version does improve things later on, it's not good enough and it doesn't save it from being a slightly average game. It's only the last level where things get bad for the Genesis, and the last few levels where things get good for the SNES.

Maybee: I love this level. Truly.
Ayen: It's a good level.


What is Grand Maester Pycelle doing here?

Ayen: In-between stages you get story based off the movie being told largely in the form of pictures and text. The Genesis version does take a lot of liberties with the story like having more interactions with Jafar's disguise long before Aladdin gets thrown into the dungeons.

The SNES version stays more true to events from the movie. Images have a lot more variety to them and even in-game cut-scenes and gameplay recreates the scenes from the movie a lot better. Now imagine if Disney did the animation for them, it'd be perfect! The only thing that really sticks out from the norm with the SNES version is this.

I don't remember that part of the movie.

Maybee: The Genesis is just a better game overall. I think that the thing that pushes the SNES version to the ground though, is it's downright terrible carpet level, compared to the Genesis. The SNES has annoying falling rocks that are almost impossible to avoid and it's just no fun. It's scream and toss away your controller frustrating. However the Genesis has a pressure test. How well do you work under pressure? The level starts off slow and steady, but picks up speed as you go along, and it gets crazy fast! You begin to hold your breath as you try and hope that you do the right thing (which is press up or down in time) and pray that Aladdin will make it to the end of the level. If you fail the test, it's alright. The game is forgiving and lets you skip on to the next level after a few attempts.

Fun. Good times. Heart-racing level.


Pain. Misery. Sorrow. Plenty of tears and not the happy tears. These tears are sad.

Maybee: Both games are pretty tricky and they're not really easy or simple for games aimed at children. Though, personally I feel like the Genesis version is the ten times better pick. It's fun, colorful, feels like your playing an actual Disney game, and it has the better soundtrack. The Genesis also uses more tracks from the Aladdin movie with Prince Ali, One Jump Ahead, Arabian Nights, Friend Like Me, and A Whole New World. The Genesis/Mega Drive version just feels more faithful and more Disney. Is the Sega version a perfect game? No, it's not without its flaws, though it's the better Aladdin game overall.

Ayen: In closing, this is actually a closer match than I thought it was going to be. While the Genesis version has heads over shoulders the best gameplay out of the two, SNES can become really fun once you get the hang of it and the stages are better put together than on the Genesis. The Genesis stages feel like they're all over the place and rushed as a result. Meanwhile, it feels as those Capcom took more time making their game and did their own thing with it, so props to them.

But at the end of the day, I have to give the victory to the Genesis version, even if it's just barely. You can't go wrong either way.

GEN Aladdin: Get it
SNES Aladdin: Try it

[Ayen]

The Little Mermaid. As a kid I loved this movie. It was one of my favorite Disney's films of all time, and since then it became my number one favorite from the company. The story is fairly straightforward with wonderful animation that holds up even today and a great soundtrack, but I'm not here to talk about the movie. I'm here to talk about the game.

This was another entry in Capcom's classics of the old 8-bit era before they went to trout. Originally came out on July 1991, two years after the movie. There's a version for the NES and the Game Boy. They're more or less the same game but with the limitations of the Game Boy affecting the latter. Since there aren't many differences, I'm just going to go ahead and review the NES version.

Kiss her already! You would've had to pry me away with a crowbar by now!

The game kicks off with some images explaining a little bit of backstory on Ariel and the plot of the game. Apparently, Ursula plans to take over the ocean and Ariel reverts back to her mermaid form to go rescue them. I like how she just transforms back at will. What the hell did she need the trident for in The Little Mermaid 2?

smurf you! I'ma save my friends!

You see these cut-scenes throughout the game in-between each stage, but there isn't much variety. They recycle the same drawing of Ariel in all the talking scenes and just change her clothes depending on which form she's in. There are a few different images at the beginning and the end, but that's it. Even Ursula cut-scene image is the same as her boss sprite. These were the NES years of gaming so I won't be too hard on it.

I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum!

Holy trout what happened to the colors? Did the designers not know what red looked like? You colored it in the cut-scenes okay. I don't know if they thought red would clash with everything else or not, but they made her hair and even the hearts a mix of purple. I know the NES is capable of having red colors. We've all played Mario.

I don't even get a full heart meter? What? Why even have two extra ones there if they aren't filled? You can find new hearts inside of seashells that act as weapons, but it's rare.

Ariel can trap enemies in bubbles and use them as projectiles. She can also swim faster underwater to help avoid obstacles. There are power ups found in treasure chests that can increase the power or the range of Ariel's bubbles. Some chests are easy enough to open, but others can be a little tricky and requires more than just the seashells. I never figured out how to do it.

Apparently, Ariel can dig through sand to find treasure, too, except I never done it. I don't even remember seeing anything that resembles sand! There are six levels in the game overall. Very little sand to be had in them.

Enemies ranges from fishes, seahorses, and annoying octopuses that shoot trout at you. Any enemy you can't trap in a bubble can be frozen for a time. Levels are loosely based on places from the movie for the first two, and then starts adding filler. There's a pretty fun ice level and an underwater volcano stage. The fifth stage is at Ursula's castle can be a bit of a puzzle, but once you figure out the pattern it's a piece of cake.

Queen, huh? Here's your crown! Throws fish at Ursula.

At the end of each stage you face the boss. First level has the all too familiar Glut the Shark. After that you face the moray eel, Flotsam and Jetsam, and then two filler bosses before Ursula herself. You have both regular size Ursula to contend with and then the giant from the end of the movie. Having Ariel be the one to take Ursula down is a welcome change of pace.

Bosses are pretty easy to whip. All you have to do is throw bubbles at them and avoid them when they zip across the screen. The second boss fight is a little harder because you have all these crabs falling from the sky that you need to trap. Third is mainly hard because you need to throw a seashell up at an angle to hit the boss. Fourth guy shoots enemies at you from canons that you need to hurl back at him.

Ursula started off as hard for me at first because you need to avoid multiple enemies she throws at you. This changed drastically when I realize you don't have to move to the left or right of her platform to hit her. All you have to do is aim straight up at her face and enough hits will do her in. That remains true for the next stage when she's a giant. The only challenge is fighting the currents, which isn't that hard. Next to The Lion King and Aladdin? The Little Mermaid is a cakewalk. You'll still get a fair amount of challenge, but it's a more forgiving kid's game than the other Disney games I played. I dare say the Game Boy version is even easier than this one.

Once Ursula is defeated and the day is saved, King Triton changes his daughter back to a human so she can marry Eric and that's it. The game is over.

Until the divorce proceedings.

And that's The Little Mermaid. Great game for kids. If you're like me and you absolutely love The Little Mermaid franchise I think you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Even the Game Boy version can be a lot of fun despite its many limitations. This is easily my favorite Disney game by far, which makes sense given my feelings on the movie.

This concludes Disney's Month. I hope you had a fun time reading all of my reviews and who knows we may do this again next year. I will see you guys in the month of August where I have even more amazing games laying in wait.

Get it

[Ayen]

Yeah, BattleTanx! This game was the trout for me and my friends back in the day. Four player action!

I reviewed the original BattleTanx back in 2012. It was the first N64 review I ever did when I mostly looked at PlayStation 1 games. To my surprise, BattleTanx is somewhat of a obscure game, so I thought it was long overdue that I shed some more light on the kickass sequel!

War. War never changes.

First off, the graphics. Holy smurf balls, can you believe this game only came out a year after the last one? Talk about an overhaul. The graphics are heads over heels better than the previous game, no question there.

Gameplay wise, not much has changed. You still have your regular ammo as well as your power-ups and the four basic color groups. Only thing that's different is that you can turn the top part of the tank by pressing the R button so you can shoot in different directions. The computer was able to do this in the first game, but for some reason you couldn't.

Choose your destiny – Oops! Wrong game.

BattleTanx Global Assault brings back a couple of the game modes from the first game, while introducing new ones and refining old ones. For instance, Annihilation has been replaced with Tank Wars, where you can battle it out with an army for three minutes, so it doesn't matter how many times you get blown up, the match will continue until those three minutes are up.

THEN it matters how many times you got blown up because you just cost your team the match. Feel good about yourself yet?
I love this version over Annihilation because it gives you more time enjoying each stage and blowing up trout. Just pick four opposing forces and go nuts!

Among the new game modes to be introduced in this game are Convoy, Frenzy, and Hold 'Em. Convoy is what the name implies, you can either protect a convoy crossing the map from attackers, or be the one to do the attacking. Needless to say the latter is easier. This is my least favorite of the game modes as it has limited maps, and only two colors to choose from. Games can be over rather quickly, too.

Frenzy and Hold 'Em are like Battlelords. With Frenzy you have to be the first to rescue ten people before your enemies do. Hold 'Em is even more like Battlelords with the bases and everything, only the person you're saving starts off in a neutral zone and has to be returned to the base and protected until time runs out. Since I already said Battlelords three times, that also makes a return in this game alongside Deathmatch (now you have to kill TEN enemies!) and Family Mode. They're all a lot of fun, except when you're losing. Then they're infuriating!

Wake up, San Francisco!

This time around the maps goes from the US to Europe, namely London, Paris, and Germany. You can even play around the White House, Eiffel Tower, and the Berlin Bridge as a level in the game. One of my all time favorite levels is Paris Crossfire. Great place to have a four-way Battlelord match if you ask me. What really stands out to me with this game after all these years is one simple fact.

You can blow up the White House.

You can actually destroy the White House in this game. You can't destroy the Eiffel Tower, but you can blow up the White House. Can you imagine if a game tried to do something like this now? People would flip!

The game's timeline takes place in 2006, so... I just killed Bush.

Give my regards to the devil.

Let's not forget the good old fashioned Campaign mode. Is it as hard as the first one? No. Not even a little bit. I'm not saying you won't get any challenge from it, but like playing The Little Mermaid after The Lion King and Aladdin, it's a breeze compared to its predecessor. Also, since Madison, Griffon's wife who you rescue in the first game, is with you, the Campaign is two- player.

The use of gray on tanks can get confusing at times. You're gray, your allies are gray, and some of the enemies are gray, and before you can spot the symbol letting you know if they're friend or foe, you either attacked your ally or got shot by the enemy.

Campaign combines all the previous modes together to give you an overall enjoyable experiences. You have to rescue people, escort convoy, eliminate enemies, and there are some stages that are original just for the Campaign. Like destroying objects or racing to safety while everyone is trying to kill you.

Edge?


No, Edge! Use the power of the Spear for life, not death!

Five years after the events of the first game, Griffon and Madison are living peacefully in San Francisco with their son Brandon when the evil Queenlord, Cassandra, who determines their son has a power simply referred to as “The Edge” and wants to abduct him to harness that power. In fact, she's even responsible for the virus that killed off the majority of the women population so only those with the Edge would survive. Diabolical!

While BattleTanx always felt like it could be a comic book story, Global Assault takes it even further and introduces a lot more Sci-Fi elements into it with Cassandra being able to take over the minds of entire armies, and Brandon more or less being a super child. The Edge is also brought in later as a power up you can only use once per level that causes mass confusion upon any tank you come across giving you a free shot.

Cut-scenes take place in-between each level offering a lot more story this time around to keep you invested. The final stage feels like you already won with the combination of the title screen music and Griffon and Madison getting control of their son back. It's also the most random stage I've ever encountered. The goal is to find Cassandra before she can unleash her evil plan, and when I first played it I won in a couple of seconds by just blowing up random tanks. Second time it took a lot longer. Seems like they put her in any old tank and the level has the potential to end before it even began. Luckily, you can replay it by loading up your game to get the most out of it. Minor inconvenience at best.

I've been hit!

As much as I enjoy the game, I've played it so much to the point that I get bored with it very easily. I'll come back to it after years, play with it for a bit, and then end up turning the game off. So it's definitely possible to hurt yourself through overexposure, even when it comes to your favorite games.

That being said, it's still a great game with a lot of fun to be had. If you never played it before and don't mind older games, I can't recommend Global Assault enough. Tanks, explosions, the destruction of real life places? What more can you ask for in a game? Pick it up and give it a whirl.

Get it