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James Pond II: Codename Robocod (MD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 04/06/2016 Written by deKay

Robocod was one of my favourite Mega Drive games in the 90s. I loved the silliness and the stupid things you could collect, the themed levels, and the penguins. Sadly, over the years when Playstation, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS remakes were released, they ruined the memory of a once great game.

Going back to the original (well, the Mega Drive version of the original anyway) I was hoping to show how awful the more recent versions have been, but unfortunately it hasn’t held up too well itself. Of course, it’s still far better than the others, but it isn’t quite as good as I recall. Too many instant unforeseen deaths (things dropping out of nowhere on your head, for example), dodgy collision detection, and even falling through floors – all things I’d either not cared about back then or have forgotten in the meantime.

Robocod is still wonderfully nonsensical though, with creative baddies (busses that spit out grannies being my favourite) and some decent bosses, but it perhaps isn’t the best Mega Drive platformer that isn’t Sonic any more.

It didn’t take very long to complete either, so even though I died a lot clearly there was an abundance of extra lives (not to mention the ten minutes semi-invincibility you get at the start for collecting items in the right order). I got stuck on a level in the “transport” world trying to find a missing penguin, but eventually located it. Most of the rest of the levels were pretty straightforward. Fun but dated.

Click to view slideshow.

The post James Pond II: Codename Robocod (MD): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Teddy Boy (MS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 04/06/2016 Written by deKay

Teddy Boy was one of the first Master System games I owned, mainly because it was under ten quid new, but I actually quite liked it. I’d never completed it though, and in fact I didn’t think you could complete it – I just thought it went on forever like arcade games of this sort generally did. However, over on RetroCollect someone posted they’d just completed it and I asked how – and it turns out the levels just loop round after level 50. Technically beating that level would count (to me) as completing the game then.

Way back when, I think a level somewhere in the 40s was about as far as I ever reached, so imagine my surprise when I managed to reach – and finish – level 50 on just my second attempt. On the first attempt I only made it to level 12 or so, but I quickly learned to be slow and cautious where possible, keep an eye out for the crocodiles especially, and always collect the little token things that come out of the baddies when shot otherwise they gobble up the time after a while. And the yellow bread things? You can’t take on more than one at a time.

Click to view slideshow.

I found Teddy Boy to still be fun game, much to my surprise. It’s very jolly and cute, even if very simple.

The post Teddy Boy (MS): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Star Fox Zero (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 03/06/2016 Written by deKay

A confession: I’ve never really enjoyed Star Fox games before. The SNES original looked very impressive at the time but it didn’t really interest me, the N64 game bored me, the Not Zelda Honest Gamecube mis-step was awful, and so on. But there was something about the videos for Star Fox Zero which interested me. Not when first announced, of course, as it looked rubbish back then, but when Nintendo came back a few months later with more information my interest was piqued.

And when I came to play it, it was a lot of fun! Not too taxing, and although the dual-controls (on screen and on the pad) are initially confusing, it didn’t take too long to get used to them. I think that most of the time I ended up just relying on the GamePad in the end, but that worked out fine for me.

The levels were surprisingly varied, with standard “on rails” into the screen shooting sections, some bosses where you fly around an area freely, dogfights in space, levels where you have to dodge a load of stuff, some slow paced bits with a robot you deploy and control, and more. In fact, almost every level is different in how you play to those previous.

Now to go back and unlock some of the alternative routes, I think!

The post Star Fox Zero (Wii U): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Candy, Please! (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 29/05/2016 Written by deKay

And that’s all four games in the collection done! Candy, Please! involves you needing to create various Halloween costumes so you can con your neighbours out of sweets. There’s a new mechanic where you combine items in your wardrobe to create these costumes, and some are easier than others to find the parts for.

It felt a bit longer again than the previous game, but there’s no arcade games this time around, sadly. It’s also a return to the house from the first two games but at least this time you can venture out into the street when off Trick or Treating.

Like the other three games, it’s pretty short, isn’t especially difficult (although a couple of the puzzles had me scratching my head for a while – getting a gun for the cowboy costume for one!).

Click to view slideshow.

The post Candy, Please! (Wii U): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.