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Legend of Illusion (MS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 19/03/2016 Written by deKay

And with that, the 8bit Mickey Mouse trilogy is complete! Well, I say it’s a trilogy, but apart from having Mickey and the name Illusion in it, Legend of Illusion isn’t really part of the series.

At first it seems like it is, but as well as how the story isn’t remotely linked, there are also a few things which set it apart. The main one of these is that Mickey can no longer bum-bump on baddies’ heads to defeat them. Instead, he throws soap (no, really) a feeble distance, a massive step back for the series and similar to one of the reasons I dislike the Mega Drive Castle of Illusion, where you throw apples. Further steps back include no more finding new routes through previous levels (like in Land of Illusion), no more power stars to find (you’re just handed the equivalent item instead), some rubbish bosses which require you to repeat the same attack some 10 times or so (in previous games it varied or was about 5-6 maximum, final boss Pete here was terrible), and the whole game is a complete walkover.

There’s also an additional issue where it isn’t a proper Master System game. It’s a back-port of the Game Gear version, and suffers from a much smaller viewport than the earlier titles (it’s bigger then the Game Gear one, but is badly implimented), and some odd glitching in the top “block” of the screen which I’m pretty sure isn’t related to the emulator I’m using.

It’s not quite all bad though. There are some nice new platforming gimmicks (like north and south magnets that repel or attract other as you’d expect), but they’re underused as the levels are pretty short. The rainbow level is very, very pretty and appears to squeeze more colours than is possible out of the Sega system, but again, is short and actually very dull to play.

What a shame a pair of excellent games had such a mediocre followup.

Click to view slideshow.

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Strider (MD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 17/03/2016 Written by deKay

Strider was always a nonsensical game. Set in 2046’s Russia but with giant robot gorillas, Amazonian warriors, wolves, an entire senate which transforms into some sort of caterpillar, and dinosaurs. There’s no cohesion, and levels flit from organic to techno and back with gay abandon. It’s utter nonsense.

The Mega Drive version, which was the first Mega Drive game I ever bought having received the console for Christmas a couple of months before, was fun at the time but still a bit janky. The collision detection is miles off, Strider himself has about four frames of animation, and the sound effects randomly vanish. Periodically, usually as a giant boss is about to appear, the screen just pauses. I’d like to say it’s crap, because all signs point to crap. But it’s not.

Click to view slideshow.

There’s just something about Strider’s acrobatic prowess and the baffling list of baddies that makes it enjoyable. Even if there’s the SuckySuck Bit(TM) to end all SuckySuck Bits(TM) on the final level. Heavy boss after heavy boss. That was tricky.

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Midnight Resistance (C64): COMPLETED!

Posted on 17/03/2016 Written by deKay

Yes, I know. It’s the same damn game again. Or is it? This time it’s the C64 version which has a great soundtrack and less slowdown than the Speccy one, but the sprites are much less impressive. The level layouts are, again, much the same, and all the bosses are represented even if the final boss was a complete walkover.

I actually had to complete the game twice, because the first time I struggled to take screenshots (there’s no quick way in VICE on the Raspberry Pi) and so I used a cheat mode for the second run-through in order to get some – hence my bullet counter remaining at 500 the entire time. This had the bizarre side-effect of trying to skip a level every time I pressed down, so I actually had to play through it again as I missed stuff. The things I do for my single reader. Sigh.

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Land of Illusion (MS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 16/03/2016 Written by deKay

Oh, spoilers I suppose. It was all a dream! Remember when seemingly half the games ever made were “all just a dream”? Land of Illusion is one of them.

It’s just like Castle of Illusion, only more! The levels are more varied and there are a lot more of them, for starters. You also have to return to earlier levels to find new routes once you’ve finished other levels: You gain various powers which allow access to previously unreachable areas, such as being able to climb walls, or shrink to get through narrow gaps.

It makes for an even better game than the original, although it isn’t really any harder (only longer). Legend of Illusion next? You knows it.

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Midnight Resistance (Spectrum): COMPLETED!

Posted on 15/03/2016 Written by deKay

Hey whoa what what what? Didn’t I just completed this only a few days ago? Well actually, yes I did! Fancy that!

After doing so, I was curious about the Spectrum version. And, since RetroPie (which isn’t half getting a lot of use at the moment) does Spectrum games too, I gave it a go on there as well – completing it in the process.

I was quite amazed at it really. Certainly, it isn’t as good looking or sounding (or controlling, sadly) as the Mega Drive version I played the other day, but what was impressive is just how much of the game was the same. The levels, the bosses and the weapons were all present and correct, with only a few slightly shortened sections in the whole game. Even some of the bits I’d have considered pretty hard to manage on the poor little Spectrum, like the ascent into the tree, the massive several-screens-wide gunship, and the huge final boss-head with all his brains and worms were present and well represented. Just look at the screenshots and compare with my other post!

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