Nanboku Shounen Papuwa-kun (1994)
by Enix
fan-translated by F.H. . (Download Patch)
A conversion of a rather weird anime (if the strange characters that turn up are any indication) into a platformer. The game is rather nice: good controls, very varied and good looking stages, even if each stage is far too short and the mechanics are typical platformer fare. The early bosses are easily defeated, the later ones are a bit harder. I’ve come as far as some giant octopus, which I think is the final boss, but I can’t say for sure, as I haven’t found a way to beat him (if anyone knows how to do that I would be thankful for any tip). It’s nothing outstanding, far too short and despite quite good looking too generic to leave a bigger impression, but it’s good to pass some time and have fun.
Castlevania: Sonata in Red (2007)
by Hardle . (Download)
plays fine on both Wine and Vbox on Linux
Castlevania SiR is a magnificent rendition of a Castlvania game (of the SotN-kind) as an old-school jRPG. It sports the same addictive gameplay as it’s 2d-cousins, the-one-more-room-and-then-I-stop-playing syndrome that makes you play until night has fallen and sleep deprivation set in. But what fun. There’s the ingenious level design (the game has around 21 levels) that isn’t fulled by a linear succession of different areas, but by a complex maze of interwoven areas. This is combined with a level-up-system that forces you to explore, since you can only level-up once in each area, after you’ve beaten a certain number of enemies.
While fighting (in short: grinding) is very much essential to the game, without it you won’t get the strength to beat the many bosses, there are no random battles that are part of so many jRPGs and can be quite annoying. You see enemies wander around and can confront them (or not) at will.
Another lovely aspect of the game are the countless secrets, for example there’s a boss rush mode whose final boss is much harder to beat than the final boss of the game. There are certain passages under water, for which you need an item to dive indefinitely. The sub-weapons you can collect and other stuff. Backtracking areas you’ve already traversed is essential to find everything, but that’s made easier by a teleport system. Another well done aspect, the story, is told in small pieces here and there and fits neatly with the whole Castlevania-canon of the official games.
All in all, an excellent game that perfectly captures the atmosphere of Castlevania games. Heartily recommended.
Rating: 5/5
Castlevania: Dracula X (1995)
by Konami
The first time I played this was shortly after I’ve gotten through Super Castlevania IV. At that time I was relatively new to consoles and gaming in general and somehow got the idea this was a sequel to the fourth part. What a disappointment. The game lacked the sophistication, the variety, the pure gameplay of the former. Especially the simple whip movement was annoying, after having such absolute control of the whip in the fourth part. Really, I wondered what had happened, how could a game devolve from such heights, not knowing that this was just a port from another system and not a sequel. Yet, despite being an inferior port and also far from reaching the quality of other Castlevania games, I somehow have grown to like Castlevania: Dracula X. Has taken me some years, but eventually I did. Even in its dumbed down state, the core Castlevania gameplay is there and can be fun.
Rating: 3/5
Super Castlevania IV (1991)
by Konami
For some people the best Castlevania game is Symphony of the Night, which is indeed a masterpiece of gaming. But for me the first SNES-outing of the Castlevania-series is still the best one. This is partly because it’s one of the first games I played on my SNES ages ago (when the world was young, yadda, yadda,…) and which seriously impressed me. It’s not just an excellent Castlevania game, it’s one of the best platformers I’ve played. It’s rather big and long, yet each stage has it’s own theme and style, there’s no repetition or boring parts, making this one of the most varied Castlevania games. Your whip allows you to do more than just a simple strike in one direction, you can whip in eight directions, you can let the whip go limp and spin, using it as a shield. There are plenty of boss sprites and excellent sound. This one is really perfect, at least for me. Ah, the memories. And I still have fun replaying it from time to time.
Rating: 5/5
Barbie Seahorse Adventures (2007)
by imitation pickles . (Download)
playable on Ubuntu via Python: python run_game.py
Since my recent move to Ubunutu I’m searching for some good freeware games for that system, but so far my search wasn’t that successful. I knew that when it comes to commercial games Linux-systems aren’t exactly crawling with the good stuff, but I had hoped it might be different with freeware games. Sad to say that most of the stuff you’ll find are simple arcade clones. One - maybe the major - reason is that Linux-systems seem to miss good game creation tools like RPGMaker, GameMaker, AdventureGameStudio and all the others, that have created a wealth of freeware games on Win-systems. But enough about that, I wanted to talk about Barbie Seahorse Adventures, which is platformer game playable on Ubuntu using Python.
First the good stuff. I really loved the style and graphics, reminds me of some good platformers I played in the past on my old, battered SNES. The controls themselves are also well done, making it easy to move around with precision.
Now the bad stuff, which also reminds me of some platformers of my console days and these are not good memories. I absolutely hate the level design. Most of the time while playing I was trying to figure out whether I could go a certain direction safely or whether I would plunge to my doom. Games with such a level design need a certain Trial and Error method to advance: Can I go there? I can’t see whether that’s the right way. Lets jump. Oh noes, killed. Maybe that direction. Arghh. No, that wasn’t good too. Ahh, he wanted me to go that direction. Repeat ad nauseam. That’s not funny and not a good way to design levels. But yeah, the art is nice.
Rating: 2/5
An Untitled Story (2007)
by Helix Games . (Download, Solution)
tried to play it on VirtualBox with a WinXP installation, didn’t work out, had to play it during Easter holiday on my sister’s WinXP-system
As difficulty goes, this one is slightly easier than the Jumper games. If you played those, you’ll know that this doesn’t mean much. Even on the easiest setting AUS will prove unbeatable for most beginners and the highest difficulty setting will chew up most pros as well. I haven’t beaten it yet, still searching for two more gold orbs. Since I haven’t finished Cloudrun and the Nightwalk yet, I have an idea where they might be, but I’m not actually sure I want to play on. Like I said, it can be really hard. At first I thought The Curtain unbeatable, with some annoying ghosts following me while I tried to make some difficile jumps, but when I actually met the Ninja at the top and stopped him, I thought nothing could be worse. My error. Helix games can always get worse.
So far I haven’t talked much about the game itself, which is a typical Metrovania-type of game, which emphasizes exploring and getting new abilities to enter new areas. Unlike most games of this type, it’s hard as hell, but unlike the Jumper games (which aren’t Metrovania games, but were made by the same guy) I thought it was much more addictive and actually made me want to finish it (well, unlike right now, I’m not sure I want to finish it anymore, having seen some of the difficult parts of Nightwalk). The graphical style is completely different than that of the Jumper series. Where Jumper was all straight lines, here everything is twisting and the landscape looks much more natural. The music is well done, as it was in the Jumper games. What I really like about the game are the inventive boss encounters. There’s a wide variety of bosses and beating them (hard as hell again) is as much about good skills as it is about finding out how to beat them.
Despite the difficulty, this one is even better than the Jumper games. Excellent game.
Rating: 5/5
Jasper’s Journeys (2008)
by Lexaloffle . (Download Demo)
JJ is an excellent 2d-platformer that combines perfect controls with nice pixel-graphics. I’ve only played the demo version, but what I’ve played really made me want to see more of the game. The style harks back to an era when 2d-games reigned supreme over consoles and even computers (think Amiga), but unlike some good looking examples of those times it’s also fun to play and not just a frustrating experience.
Rating: 4/5
Retro (2005)
by Cactus . (Download)
Retro is an Asteroids-clone where you control your spaceship via mouse. Like Insect Invade 2 this is something to play in between, when you’ll have two or three minutes free time. As far as Asteroid-clones go it doesn’t offer much more than just the basic concept, but the bare bones graphics, which still exhibit their very own style, and the fast action makes this one fun to play. And the music is excellent. That tune really enhances the gameplay experience.
Rating: 4/5
Insect Invade 2 (2005)
by Cactus . (Download)
The simplest things can sometimes be a source of great joy. Which is odd when you’ll talk about a game sporting a random naked guy shooting at strange creatures falling out of the sky. Sometimes they leave (after you killed them) more powerful weapons or other items behind, which allow you to kill the falling creatures even better. This is not a very complex or deep game, but as I said, it’s surprisingly entertaining for those few minutes when you need something to occupy your time.
Rating: 4/5
I Wanna Be The Guy (2007)
by Kayin . (Download, Playthrough by BikdipOnABus: 1 2 3 4 Final)
If Jumper is something of a standard for insanely hard but still fair platformer games, then IWBTG is the same for unfair platformer games. What do I mean with unfair? Unfair means it’s not obvious from looking at a screen what’ll kill you. Yet, unlike other games, in IWBTG it’s not because of bad game design, it’s part of the design. IWBTG is made to punish you. I can imagine the creator sitting before his computer designing these levels with a mean grin on his face. It’s sadistic, but strangely also very entertaining at the same time. If you know your gaming history, you’ll have many nostalgic flashbacks, for example incorporating Tetris or Arkanoid (or Breakout if you’re even older) in a platformer strikes me as a touch of genius. Or the boss sprites. Still, this game is hard, first you’ll have to learn every screen like a memory game, then you’ll have to jump precisely and well. Or you can watch the playthroughs on YouTube.
(if you want to see something funny, here is the final played by cloud9745, who has also made a very lengthy, but also very entertaining playthrough of IWBTG, his final shows the discussion between your character and the final boss)
Rating: 4/5
