Starwing for the SNES

 

Starwing for the snes came out in 1993 and was the first of the starfox games series and was the first 3D game for snes.

The plot is fairly straight forward: Andross the mad scientist has fled to venom after banishment for Corneria and has declared war on said planet with his massive army. General Pepper decides to launch the "airwing"  so he summons you the elite mercenary team which you are a part of. You are the leader Fox Mc Cloud.

The plot of the game is fairly thin and not the most important thing. The most important thing in this game is the gameplay mechanics. Nintendo did an amazing job with the 3D mechanics as when you first start the game you can choose between four different types of controls the main differences being if the up and down controls are inversed. Personally I'm not a fan of the inversion but the fact that you have more than two control options in a early snes game is just fantastic.Now of course this game is where you get the infamous do a barrel roll. When you begin the game you can choose between several different routes. The first level takes place on Corneria and the boss is fairly easy. The second level no matter what takes place in first person mode which made me love the game even more but the problem with this is that it's really hard to manoeuvre around and dodge objects (such as rotating blocks, IN SPACE!!) because you have very little spatial awareness. The boss for this level is quite hard to beat due to the inability to dodge anything. Now on to level 3 which is the same as level two except now you have spatial awareness. The final level is planet Venom where you fight the boss a giant demonic face that vomits square blocks at you.

The graphics for this thing are fairly good for an old 3D game and is of course blocky.The game is great and starts of one the most famous series for Nintendo and it's not to see why, though the plot is as thin paper really it's all about the gameplay. The gameplay in this game is amazing for its time as the 3D mechanics paved the way for many Nintendo games to come. But one of the major problems is the first person perspective is just awful and just doesn't work. The bosses each look unique and that makes them enjoyable and fun but the fights with  the bosses can be fairly repetitive except for the last one. Now for all its faults I will give this game an 8/10 as it is a great introduction into this legendary series.        

Retrogamer will not be out until monday. But it will be every Sunday if possible.

Yoshi Story

 

Yoshi story is a game for the Nintendo 64 starring Yoshi and other different coloured Yoshi's. Now we open the game with an adorable song that the Yoshis are singing an adorable little song while they tell the tale of how their happiness was stolen by mean old Baby Bowser as all the older Yoshis start becoming depressed. Then a new generation of Yoshis is born who seek to help reclaim the happiness in the form of hearts. Now the gameplay mechanics in this game are possibly the most interesting as it isn't 3D. The mechanics are quite simple you can jump, slam, throw unborn Yoshis at your enemies, eat your enemies and turn them into unborn Yoshis and "eject them" and of course run. With its rather simplistic controls the game is easy to learn but hard to master each chapter has several other level choices. These are numbered and are different coloured indicating difficulty, blue meaning hard and red meaning easy. You must complete one level per chapter to move onto the next. After a few chapters you meet an adorable cotton candy creature who tries to kill you, so you must eat him alive to defeat him/her. So after going through a few chapters you go to Baby Boswer's castle and begin the final showdown. When you've beaten Baby Bowser you get some text saying that everything is back to normal and the Yoshis aren't sad anymore. This review is going to be quite short as overall there really isn't that much to comment on. This game is actually fairly good it's a game for the casual gamer as I've said the controls are really simple and make the game fun and enjoyable. The game also has its own unique look which is good as Yoshi is a Mario character and it is fun to see Yoshi in his own world and not being some Mario clone. Another great thing is the life system as instead of lives you have different coloured Yoshis Although one of the weaker points of the game is the story as it really doesn't really have one it's just Baby Bowser makes everyone depressed make everyone happy the end.Overall the game is ok as the look and  mechanics are fun but the story is practically non-existent. So this game gets a 7/10 as it's a fun but flawed game      

Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Rayman 2 for the Nintendo 64 and dreamcast.This is one favourite games from my childhood and it's not because of any game play mechanics or deep story it' because Rayman 2 the great escape doesn't take itself  seriously in any way. The jist of the game is this you are Rayman you are mystical being with no arms, legs or neck who can use his hair like helicopter blades to slow down his falls. You have been captured by robot-pirates. That is just amazing but for this review I will put my childhood away and be impartial. So lets begin: we open with text explaining to us that the pirates have taken over the world and destroyed the heart of the world and only Rayman can save the world. Now before I go any further I must say that for a game like this it has one the best soundtracks I have ever heard; The opening music just slowly builds up and when it reaches the climax you are very pumped for the game. Now we see a robo-pirate dragging Globox(Rayman's best friend and an annoying blue frog-man thing) through an area filled with cages. He is thrown into the same cell as Rayman. He and Rayman have a discussion on the loss of his powers. But don't be a downer Rayman for you see Globox has smuggled you something a silver lum* so you can regain some of your powers. With this you use your new powers to destroy a grate at this point you finally gain control of Rayman as you slide down you can collect red lums which heal you. Unfortunately before you can figure out a way down you are bashed into by Globox and sent plummeting to the ground below. You awake and begin the level when a giant constantly smiling fly named Murfy. Who gives you instructions on how to play the game. As you go through the level you must collect all the yellow lums and break all the cages to release the teensies. After you brake the final cage and release the three teensies who can't decide who is king but seem to know where Globox is open a portal if you have enough yellow lums. Now you enter the hall of doors which allows you to enter new worlds. As you go from world to world you learn more about where Globox is and he has been captured again. You then go to a world where Ly the fairy is being held and after you save her she gives you some of your powers back and tells you to get the four masks of Polokus and awaken Polokus.Now we have to unlock the gate to the guardian of the mask once you beat it you are transported to Polokus who says he will awaken once you find the other three. So you move on to the next world and it's a pirate training instillation where we find Clark another friend of Rayman who has fallen ill after swallowing something so now you must back track to a previous level and enter the cave of bad dreams to find the medicine and give it to Clark. After you've done this you will reach the canopy where our favourite blue frog abomination is being held. When you release Globox he uses rain dance to short circuit lasers although Globox also has another silver lum allowing you to charge your attacks. After a few more levels you reach the next sanctuary, thankfully though this guardian is pacifistic and doesn't wish to fight you and then you get the second mask and give it Polokus. Inter cut between the scenes of Rayman we see the pirate captain: admiral Razorbeard. In these scenes we see that they're getting more and more worried about Rayman. The next sanctuary is one of rock and lava in this level you get the super helicopter power and promptly lose it at the end of the level, anyway you must make the stalactites fall on his head then you get the third mask and once again give it to Polokus. Now for the final mask you must rescue a bunch of baby Globoxes as his wife tells you then have been put into forced labour(Globox is captured again), when you free the children one of them vomits the mask up and you give to Polokus. Now Polokus uses his magic to eliminate all the pirates on land but not in the sky. The final level is the crow's nest in which you fight Razorbeard in his giant robot suit. So he is a robot pirate in a giant robot suit fighting a limbless neckless creature on a flying pirate ship while baby blue frogs watch. For the first part you must use your powers to reflect his bombs until he breaks the floor now Ly gives you a flying rocket which allows you to shoot at the robo-pirate and eventually defeat him. Once the battle is over the pirate ship explodes and we see that everyone thinks Rayman is dead because they could only find his left shoe but from the forest a limping Rayman approaches and all is right in the glade of dreams.
Now this game is awesome because frankly it is just so damn silly and fun but first I will talk about the bad. First the camera doesn't seem to agree with you as it is hard to control and fairly frustrating at times.Secondly fighting can be really awkward as Rayman seems to really suicidal and hates you as the camera angle adds to problem of moving around and not being able to see what you're doing. One thing that really irrates me about this game is the constant back tracking because if you don't have enough yellow lums you have to go back to past levels. Now onto the good: the game just looks amazing not because of graphics but the art and each level has an atmosphere plus the enemies each enemy looks unique and some are just creepy. Another great thing about this game is the story it so damn enjoyable (I know I've said this five times) but this isn't even the craziest one sometime we'll look at Rayman 3. So this game is great but there is the problem of the game play which is quite a large aspect of the game it is somewhat forgivable so I award Rayman 2: the great escape 7/10 I recommend getting you can find it (if you're interested) on Gog.com
Lums are small bodies of magical energy*   

Super Mario 64:

 

Super mario 64 is one of the most iconic mario games in history as it was the first game starring mario in 3D. It was created for the nintendo 64 and released in june of 1996. This week I will taking a look and review this classic game. Now with regards to graphics  I will not be judging them from a modern standard.

Story: The story opens with mario appearing outside Peach's castle. Mario reads a letter from Peach inviting him for cake. As he enters the castle he is told by Bowser that he has captured Peach and locked away the stars and there's nothing he can do about it. So you must go through all the levels in an area collect the stars and of course beat the boss then go on to the next area then rinse and repeat. Until you fight Bowser in a final fight and win. When you beat Bowser yo get a little cutscene at the end where Peach congratulates then kisses you on your polygon nose and invites you inside for some cake. Now I don't think there is anything wrong with the story it's the kind of classic story you get from a mario game Peach is captured by Bowser you must rescue her which is fine and suprisingly doesn't get boring even after all these years.

Gameplay: Mario 64's basic controls are A=jump, B=attack, Z=crouch and C buttons control the camera. When you first start the game you appear outside the castle and are given a quick tutorial on the controls. When you enter the castle there is a door with a star on it. When you enter through the star door you must jump through a painting to start the level. Each level contains 6 stars and some contain secret stars and in total there are 120 stars. There are several areas a basement, a moat and a courtyard. Within each area there is a door with a large star on it that leads to the boss of the area, Bowser. Now the fights with bowser involve you on a small arena dodging his attacks then running behind him, grabbing his tail and spinning him round and round and throwing him into a bomb. After defeating the final boss, Bowser states that there are 120 stars. Within the game there are several hats that give you powers such as the metal cap which turns you into metal that allows you to withstand noxious gas, winds and walk underwater. There is the wing cap which allows you to fly and finally the vanish cap allowing you to become semi-immaterial and allowing you to pass through wire meshes. The enemies in this are very diverse and all look unique from the boos to the bom-ombs pink or black. And each enemy no matter what level provides a challenge.

Opinion: I personally love this game. It's really enjoyable as each level design is unique and even with the outdated just looks great. Also I enjoyed the design of the castle as each area looks different and sets the style for the levels to come. The game has a interesting control system with an easy to learn but hard to master controls, as the basic controls are just jump and attack but there are multiple combinations that can aid or damage your progress through the level as the wrong jumpat the wrong time can kill you. Another great thing about this game is the boss fights though they have same format the increased difficulty and the style of the level makes you forget the repetiveness. Although this game does have some problems such as camera controls as they can be quite awkward and when you're fighting Bowser and trying to throw him because of the angle of the camera you can't see the bombs and must make an educated guess of when to throw. Now another problem is that the controls aren't exactly perfected as like in most early 3D games the controls can be a bit sensitive and at certain times can cause deaths really easily. Now earlier I mentioned the flying cap the problem with the flying cap is that it can be really awkward to control the flying cap and you can't make accurate sharp turns.

Score: I will have to give this game a 9/10 because in spite of  the flaws this game is amazing for when it was released and has still some the best gameplay mechanics and design of the levels in any game I've ever played.