Post by soop on Oct 10, 2018 9:10:35 GMT
Ninja Spirit was an early coin op conversion by Irem, released on the PC Engine 2 years after the games 1988 Arcade debut. Despite being released early in the console's life, it shows a mastery of the Engines palette. The colours are spot on for the broody, atmospheric look of the game, and some of the spritework is quite lovely. The game itself is a quick almost run and gun platformer that sees you move from left to right, dispatching enemy ninja until you get to the obligatory boss. But it has some neat ideas thrown in there too. You can gain power ups, notably in the form of "shadows" of your character, that follow you and effectively double and triple your firepower. There's also a lot of verticality in this game, there are often platforms high into the screen, and your characters excellent jumping control means you'll spend a lot of time in the air. There are also enemies which attack from above, just to keep you on guard. The last thing to mention, is that unlike other straight arcade ports, this one features both an arcade-accurate one life-one hit mode, and a slightly easier version where you can take multiple hits. This is a good call, since Arcade games are designed to take your money, and home console games of the time were starting to trend away from high scores, and towards things with a finite ending to be reached. Good call Ninja Spirit.
Dungeon Explorer is exactly what it says on the tin: You explore dungeons. This game succeeds in taking Gauntlet, a top-down arcade dungeon crawler, and rounding it out for home systems. Gone are the brutal timers that sap your energy just for playing (one might argue a good choice for the arcade), and that changes the game from a quarter-munching frenetic dash, to something more refined and thoughtful. It allows the addition of simple puzzles, and bolts on an RPG-lite element, where you can choose different characters with different stats, and talk to villagers between quests.
Graphically, I feel it looks kind of dingy (apt for the theme?) and it's hardly the most impressive sprite work. But sonically, the game is widely held to have among the best chip tunes on the system.
Dungeon Explorer is exactly what it says on the tin: You explore dungeons. This game succeeds in taking Gauntlet, a top-down arcade dungeon crawler, and rounding it out for home systems. Gone are the brutal timers that sap your energy just for playing (one might argue a good choice for the arcade), and that changes the game from a quarter-munching frenetic dash, to something more refined and thoughtful. It allows the addition of simple puzzles, and bolts on an RPG-lite element, where you can choose different characters with different stats, and talk to villagers between quests.
Graphically, I feel it looks kind of dingy (apt for the theme?) and it's hardly the most impressive sprite work. But sonically, the game is widely held to have among the best chip tunes on the system.
