Game #73: Dungeon Master (SNES) - Dungeon Meat of Doom!

I've changed my capture setup.

Game 73

Title: Dungeon Master
Released: June 1993 (December 1991 JPN)
Platform: SNES
Developer: FTL Games / Software Heaven, Inc.
Publisher: JVC Musical Industries, Inc.
Genre: RPG
Exploration - First-person
Combat - Active time battles
Series - Dungeon Master

Unfortunately, SD resolution looks terrible now. So enjoy 1080p. (it's the best I can do.)

Well, it happened, again. Put off writing a post turned from one week into two, and ballooned from there after losing my save file. Another glitch, in another game, and my save got wiped. This is definitely the biggest drawback to playing on original hardware. I thought I might get back through it quickly since I had maps already, but the lag of the game has me averaging more than an hour per level. So, I took some time away. Let's get back into it, first with a post covering up to the glitch.

The opening sequence has me questioning my decision to play Theron's Quest on TG-CD

There's a small intro sequence that plays as the game waits for input. Theron's master, the Grey Lord, unleashed the power of Chaos while trying to retrieve a Power Gem from Mt. Analas. Theron, granted with an ethereal form, must stop Chaos by assembling a team of four champions whose souls are locked behind mirrors in the starting area.

Our first look at Chaos as he interrupts our master's message

The manual goes into a lot more detail. In fact, the first half is all backstory. That's 18 pages expanding on the summary above. Actually, I confess, I haven't actually read it yet. I should probably do that at some point; maybe by the end.

*Plop*

For those unfamiliar, Dungeon Master is a popular genre setting game that won critical acclaim on several personal computer platforms. I assure you, the SNES wasn't one of them. My main complaint is the input lag, where it can take up to a second for the game to respond to a command. Don't mash the button though, as the game does well enough to buffer the inputs, and executes them in sequence. Next up is the cursor interface, which strangely was not supported by the SNES mouse. Those arrows in the bottom right can be used to move, but thankfully the game has a movement mode where the d-pad switches from controlling the cursor to moving the party. These two states can be toggled between easily.

Scoping out a character before deciding how they should join the party

Four characters can join the party by either resurrecting them (characters retain their previous class levels) or reincarnating them (levels are wiped, but stats start a bit higher). In either case, each character comes with a select amount of HP, MP, and stamina--some even have starting equipment. Each character can train (use abilities) to gain experience towards one of four classes. I'm guessing those without MP can never gain any as using it is the only way I've found to gain more and earn healer and wizard experience.

Current experience is a mystery, but the game tracks levels as pictured

Fighter experience is gained by attacking, although there's a war cry ability that can be grinded without enemies around. Ninja experience is mostly gained by throwing, although punching and kicking are good ways as well. Healer experience comes from mixing potions that heal, buff, or cure ailments all of which require an empty flask. Wizard experience comes from casting wizard spells, the most basic of which is light, but the most useful is fireball.

My only full party wipe--I underestimated the power of these early mummies by trying to go toe-to-toe

Combat isn't quite real-time, it's more like an MMORPG or Final Fantasy's active time battles. Each action has an inherent cooldown before the character can act again. Enemies are subjected to the same wait cycle, but for them it also applies to movement. This allows the party to duck and weave around enemies given enough space. In hallways this means backing up slowly after each swing. It's not a perfect tactic to avoid damage, but useful in tight situations. Strangely, being inside a character's inventory seems to speed up the cycles (probably reduced lag from not having to draw the enemies), so ducking in to drink a potion of healing can result with coming out hurt more than healed. Potions, food, and water are consumed by take the item to the character's mouth icon.

Chests provide a nice extension to a character's inventory

Food and water are necessary to consume, but as far as resources go both are plentiful with regular water fonts and edible monster meat. Sleep isn't required, although it's a quick way to recover MP and doesn't cost much in hunger or thirst. There are four slots for thrown weapons, which equip automatically when thrown or ammo shot from bows or slings. It's not clear which weapons are better, but each character has a hidden proficiency stat that unlocks better attacks after some use. Armor is fairly standard, and I've just been cycling through both based on how deep in the dungeon I find something. Some consideration is necessary for a character's strength as some armor will wear out stamina quickly, usually not a concern.

Found a compass early on the second floor in a side passage... it's been helpful to avoid spinner traps

Combat is mostly a side act for navigation puzzles. They start out slow on the first floor with a variety of singular keys that open specific doors, levers, and pressure plates that require a combination of weights or a single press (or avoidance). Some doors require nearby switches, magical unlocking spells, or even need to be bashed.

Here I pushed a button to activate a teleporter for a couple seconds, then threw some robes into it to land on a pressure plate on the side that disabled the pit

After choosing the champions, there was a simple corridor that introduced the revive alcove: just bring a dead character's skeleton back to the shrine--there doesn't seem to be any cost. The first proper floor starts the simple key and switch puzzles. There was only one door I didn't quite understand how to get through, with only simple message that none shall pass. The second floor branched into six easy challenges, each rewarding the party with a gold key that opened the path further down. The third floor was a long grind through multiple new enemies. It was fairly straight forward though.

These faces confound me, but they might be just decoration

The new monsters had some variation: flying bugs that attacked quickly, large worms that hit hard, and even some that poisoned. Poison wears off after some time, but it's easier to create a potion to heal it. The final area on this floor required killing a mummy stuck on a switch, and I opted to do so by magic so the fallen ammo didn't continue to trigger it. This caused a lot of worms to spawn, but it was required to unlock the staircase down.

Red takes a hit while Pat lands a blow leveling up his fighter class, a second worm already defeated left a roll of meat behind

The fourth floor's main hallway lead directly to the stairs down to the fifth, but I thought it best to explore the side passage that branched into four large rooms. The first room I entered had an invisible field that teleported the party back without any indication, making the room seem larger than it was. To detect it I threw something ahead, and had it hit me from behind. I found a notch in the wall that when pushed enabled a single path through the room. There were a lot items beyond, but nothing that seemed necessary.

These notches aren't hard to miss as they stand out from the normal texture

The second room had some amulets, a gem, and a few more notches that opened different walls. In the end though, I didn't understand what the final notch might have opened. The third and fourth I put off until later as one had a teleport maze I wasn't keen on mapping, and the other had a pit trap puzzle. Pits have two varieties, both damage the party, but they can push the party back a space, or drop the party down a floor. The fifth floor has the most riddles to solve.

One of the more clever riddles in the starting room

The first room contained four riddles and four alcoves to place an item answering the riddle:

• I am all; I am none (  Mirror  )
• Golden head and tail, but no body (  Gold Coin  )
• I arch yet have no back (  Bow  )
• Hard as rock; blue as sky; twinkle in womans eye (  Blue Gem  )

The only way to progress further is to place the items for each answer. They can be retrieved once the door has opened. Following this was a combination puzzle with four notches, and no obvious hint I could find to the answer. I brute forced it and found a key that allowed me to move on.

Right before the stairs down to the sixth floor is the second revive alcove

Before moving on I decided it was best to return to the two rooms on level four. The pit maze provided a shield, and the teleport maze had a dart in the maze as well as a store room on the other side with some additional items (another blue gem, more darts, and a poison potion bomb). The sixth floor is locked down, and I don't have access to it yet. I collected a Ra key earlier, which opened one lock, but there were multiple of these to access the Tomb of the Firestaff.

A new enemy type introduced on the 7th floor was immune to physical attacks

The seventh floor is filled with wraiths that require non-material attacks. A spell exists for that, but the Vorpal Sword I found earlier can unlock an attack called disrupt that destroys them in one hit. The floor is filled with teleport squares, and fireballs flying through them. Turning off the fireball mechanism makes the floor much safer to navigate. There are some pits that lead to treasures not otherwise accessible. Many hidden passages here hide some nice loot as well. Another enemy here steals items from the party's inventory, and runs away laughing. Luckily they drop everything when they die, but they can even steal a sword someone is currently holding.

The most annoying enemy to kill, they're fast little buggers

The eighth floor starts with a strange riddle, a message on a wall that asks "when is rock not rock," which meant one of the nearby walls wasn't a wall. Walking into walls does some slight damage, so I opted to throw things at every wall. New strange monsters were introduced; they were tough, but didn't have any unusual attacks. There weren't many new puzzles: some dodging fireballs, some finding the correct switches to progress, and accessing one section by placing in an alcove a strange mineral weighing nothing where I found the stairs down to the ninth floor. Items can be checked by using them on an eye of a character.

Sometimes equipment turns red; not sure what it means, but it goes away after healing

The ninth floor has a symmetrical layout that requires me to choose one path over another until I reach the point where they converge. I then went back and explored the second half. I found another key of Ra, and return to the sixth where I found I needed at least a third key. I felt like the end of the game was nearing, although I'm not quite sure how deep the dungeon goes. Unfortunately I never did find another stairway down.

Something you never want to see, especially after experiencing a glitch

So, I was making my way through enemies as always. One the thieving enemies stole many items from my inventory as I beat it down. It finally died, dropped everything, and as I picked up a drumstick with a chest open in my inventory, this happens:

First sign there might be a problem is that the drumstick seems to be hovering over the sleep button

Wait... what's that other drumstick doing there? Did my eyes and mouth just turn into drumsticks?

Everyone is a drumstick!

No... no

Please no

Drumstick...

And that's where my game progress has been sitting for two months. Back to square one. Well, not quite since I have my maps, but I've put in five more hours and only have just reached the fourth floor. It's not a hard game, but it's going to take at least another five to recover all that progress all while the idea of a game ending glitch looms over my head as a possibility. I'm hoping if I avoid switching into my inventory with an open chest it'll help, but I'm unsure how it happened in the first place.

Elapsed Time: 18h38m (Total Time: 18h38m)

Game #71: Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (SNES) - A Glitch in Timing

Game 71

Title: Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
Released: Jan 1995 (1993 TG-CD)
Platform: SNES
Developer: Iguana Entertainment (New World Computing [PC])
Publisher: FCI
Genre: RPG
Exploration - First-person
Combat - Turn based
Series - Might and Magic

I might be playing this game, at the very least this version, a bit early, but I have a good reason. I have a policy of playing any version at the time of the first release, and that's what I'm doing here. The TurboGrafx-CD version is incredibly expensive and difficult to find, and I couldn't confirm it had mouse support (or if the TG even had a mouse released in the US). As one of the few SNES games to support the mouse, I felt this would be the better experience. I'm not sure why then I decided to use a controller instead, but I'll attribute it to trying out a different experience.

Only one save game is allowed

Like most Might and Magic titles, the majority of the story is in the manual. It follows a band of adventurers as they seek ancient ruins where a scroll was said to reside. Sheltem was once again behind some brewing evil about to unleash on the world. As I began, it was unclear what this story had to do with the party I controlled. Starting year is 500, this game appears to be a prequel.

*Plop*

Every new game begins with the premade party standing in front of the inn in Fountain Head. It's not a bad group, but I always feel better creating my own characters. The roster is restricted to 10, so I deleted the original (getting their items beforehand) in order to create a new full party. To create a character I selected character portraits (race and sex that are locked to these), stats rolled randomly with the option to swap them, and alignment (good, neutral, evil) that only comes into play with equipment in this series.

Unless gnomes are supposed to be green I have a feeling they mixed up the portraits

Available class is determined by the character's current stats. Classes come in a normal variety of fighter (barbarian), cleric, thief (robber), mage (sorcerer), and druid in this game with the addition of hybrid classes of each one with a fighter for knight, paladin, ninja, archer, and ranger. I don't know if it'll become necessary to have one of each. There are also mercenaries in each town. They take up one of the six positions in the party though, so I'm not quite sure what use they are at this time.

I'm not sure if it's just this version, but the party begins in an obscene amount of gold and gems

With the party fully formed (knight, paladin, cleric, robber, druid, sorcerer), I set out exploring the first town. I quickly found Fen's Fineries, which sells additional equipment. I bought a second bow, and outfitted everyone with additional armor (so far I know of helms, gloves, boots, chests, cloaks, and shields--there may be more). The manual is light on information about equipment; about the only thing it covers in any detail are spells.

Noting the location of the temple before I need it

Fountain Head also has a tavern, training ground, bank, and magic guild operating on a day/night cycle. Time progresses only when taking actions, which remains true even when distant monsters appear on the display. There are also fountains throughout that ooze green slime. At a prompt I threw a coin into one, and a group of three bubble men appeared assaulting the party. I fear some sinister force is behind this. Not too difficult, I repeated the process until I had enough experience for level 2.

Getting a tip from the tavern keeper--make sure not to "eat" too much otherwise the character gets "stuffed"

While exploring, the party has options in the side panel to shoot arrows, cast a spell, rest for 8 hours to replenish HP and MP, bash forward, dismiss a character, consult quest log, view the auto-map (if a character has cartography--which is easy since there's a skill teacher near the bank), check the time, and get a status overview of the party. Selecting a character portrait brings up additional details on that character and their inventory. The gem on the bottom of the main display opens the system menu to save and load the game. The gems in the corners indicate elemental resistances for the party, and the gargoyle faces in clockwise order from the left indicate an active levitate spell, nearby enemies if a character has danger-sense, and likewise secret doors if a character can sense them.

HP of characters and enemies are displayed as colors: grey > Max HP, green = Max HP, yellow < Max HP, red = near 0, blue <= 0 HP

Characters that drop to 0 HP or lower are potentially only unconscious. They're only dead once their portrait is replaced by a headstone. There are gates throughout the city that only open with a good bashing. Bashing down a door takes a skill check of the first two conscious characters to succeed, and whether successful or not damages them in the process.

It took me way too long to find the exit as I thought it was merely another door to bash down

The menu changes to combat options when enemies are within melee range: attack, cast, use item, run (per character), and block. There is also an option to set a default choice for each character to streamline combat a bit. During these early battles I haven't found a need for anything other than attack. Unlike previous Might and Magic titles, gold and item rewards from combat are given automatically once all enemies in the area are vanquished. Some enemies, like the bubble men, don't give any reward. So far, these early enemies drain resources far faster than I'm rewarded. Hopefully things balance out eventually. Unfortunately, I haven't made much progress in the game due to a strange bug. I had trouble determining the cause as I couldn't find anyone else that wrote about it online.

The game can potentially lock up and wipe the saved game

At first I thought it was the cart, but I tried the same cart again.

I had to go back through the videos before I noticed it always happened after the same action

I ordered a second cart. It happened again, which had me thinking it was my SNES.

I wonder which part of memory this is...

I then tried on emulator, and reproduced it there.

I definitely wasn't expecting this, but it helped determine it wasn't related to my hardware

It was then I went back to the videos and confirmed it always happened when I used the shoot command after moving, but not every time. I think using a mouse prevents it completely due to timing differences with the input, which would explain why there's no info about it online. So, because I decided to try something different by using controller, I lost weeks of progress, but uncovered a bug no one seems to have discovered or at least bothered to log online. Word of advice for anyone playing this version: use mouse, it's faster and doesn't have this issue (so far).

I re-rolled my party for hopefully the last time as I consider just burning the whole place down

Having some more experience with the game I adjusted my party to knight, ranger, archer, ninja, cleric, sorcerer. I feel like this combination will serve me a bit better. I've already been taking down enemies quicker with arrows fired by the archer. Burning the goblin infested wagon rewarded me with experience and some magical equipment (including a belt of luck).

I wonder how necessary the quests given by the fortuneteller will become as they aren't logged in the quest log

One of the biggest changes to the series is the addition of quests tracked in a log. The game begins with one regarding Fountain Head and the cleaning up the green ooze, and I've been focusing on clearing out the caverns below town to rid it of the ooze. As I explored I found two other quests: ultimate orbs of power are requested by King Righteous of Castle Whiteshield, and 5 silver skulls are necessary for some ritual by an aged man named Skull Miser. As I've been clearing out the caverns below the town I've found those skulls slowly, and expect to have all five by the time I finish.

There are also some vague quests such as this... I'm sure I'll learn more about them as I proceed

Inside the caverns below Fountain Head were bats that poisoned, barrels to search, and completely visible unavoidable traps that taunted me as I had to walk through them . The bats were fairly weak yet quick, and often acted before I could. Their poison, and possibly all poison, drains stats rather than hit points. Cure poison is an 8th level spell, far out of reach. Barrels usually have gold, although some have permanently increased stats, and still some are damaging or instant death. Wanting to ensure the increased stats went to the relevant class, I started saving before the barrels and loading if, say, my knight gained wisdom. A potential problem presented itself, doors I had bashed were shut again when I loaded. This, coupled with poison that drained my might, meant I could "soft lock" myself behind one of these doors leaving the only way out my last resort of contacting Mr. Wizard. Calling on this power returns the party to Fountain Head at the cost of 1 level per character, not too bad at this low level yet still a pain. I think now I'll avoid the possibility by only saving in towns.

I have 20K gold and 300 gems in the bank accruing interest

By the end of this last session I've finally caught up to all I did through all the other false starts, and then some. A game can go so quickly when you have a little knowledge. Like knowing my sorcerer can't forgo a weapon and hold both a mind whistle and fast horn.

Identifying an item is the only way to know exactly what it does, and costs 10% of the price of the item

Now with all that trouble out of the way I can start enjoying the game. This is the first where auto-mapping is so prevalent that I'm risking not making my own maps. I am taking notes of interesting locations, but the auto-maps seem to stick around indefinitely. Making my own maps, while enjoyable, would take up even more time.

Elapsed Time: 2h32m (Total Time: 12h57m) [yes, that's 10h25m of false starts--I'm not sure if I should continue to count the full time.]

Game #69: Super Ninja Boy (SNES) - Dragon Ball Gaiden (Finished)

Game 69

Title: Super Ninja Boy
Released: 1993 (December 1991 JPN)
Platform: SNES
Developer: Culture Brain
Publisher: Culture Brain
Genre: Action-RPG
Exploration - Top-down
Combat - Action side scrolling
Series - Ninja Boy (Super Chinese in Japan)

Hopeful yet cautious about this new iteration I curbed my enthusiasm with low expectations. In the end, I wasn't disappointed with it. It's nothing to write home about, but I'll try to anyway. Super Ninja Boy continues to star Jack and Ryu (as second player). At any time a second player can be enabled in town to join in on the action sequences. There are three difficulty settings, and I went with the middle one (normal). I didn't have the manual, and struggled a little for it, so I don't know what the difficulty changes (if it's even explained). I passed on the password entry for now, but noted that I'd need to write them down when I wanted to stop for the night.

Totally not photoshopped

The story begins in Chinaland when an alien race visits, proclaiming universal peace. Their leader, Rub-A-Doc, visited the emperor to discuss plans for the future. Months later, the aliens and Rub-A-Doc decide to leave. That's when some trouble started brewing in the city of Yokan. Jack and Ryu set out to investigate the disturbance.

*Plop*

I gained control just outside of Yokan. Most of the men were missing, and the emperor told me his jewels were stolen as well. The kidnappers were from Mt. Sanpin to the east, but first I was told to venture north to Horizon Gate for some training, and given an escape leaf magic from an old sage. There are three different style of stages: random battles, special field stages, and boss fights. Random encounters require a number of enemies defeated before passing, and Jack is rewarded with experience and money (called sen). The active battle system the series is known for is used here.

Jumping on enemies is safer, although not as powerful as it was in the previous game

There are stationary blocks in most random encounters that can add M balls, which are used for special powerful attacks. Ninpo is used to cast magic. Some enemies drop weapons that can be used during that single battle, and once equipped with a sword it can be drawn and used to some effect. Once I arrived in Horizon Gate I needed to train with Rick and his master to advance.

Someone in town mentioned a super jump... I never did figure it out

The two trials were special field stages, and both required what seemed like impossible jumps. I'm fairly sure I was just missing a mechanic, but after trying all the buttons and combinations of them I still didn't see how to clear those gaps. I built up some money and bought nearly everything from the item shops. Towns also offer free inns to recover HP and NP, convenience stores to add or remove a second player from the party as well as save progress and get a password, and item shops that offer equipment upgrades and helpful items.

Using a dragon egg, which doubles as an extra try if the hero falls in a pit

For my trouble I gained a throwing star and spider shoes, which allow me to climb on ceilings during the special field stages. The kidnappers were found to the east, and easily dealt with. I obtained a yellow auraball from them. Emperor Chin congratulated me, but my task was far from over as more bad tidings arrived from the south near Edo City.

Every once in a while a cave along the path will offer a mini-game, but with only 3 misses I never completed this one

All the samurai in Edo city were kidnapped, and returned as lazy bums. I set out to discover the cause through a cave to the west. It was the magic of Bongoman that made them idle about. This was the first boss battle, which unlike other battles is turn based. In 1-player mode, the actions of Ryu are controlled by an AI... an AI that rarely picks the best attacks. The fight command either punches or kicks at random, item gives the option of using the sword or another inventory item, and magic is for special abilities like the throwing stars and mighty ball attack.

The cupsule item always failed, so I'm not sure what its use was

I picked up a red auraball for my trouble, and dispelled the enchantment over the samurai. Princess Tamago rewarded me with her undying love and a hovercraft. I took the hovercraft and ran off to the next adventure. The king of Edo City suggested I stop by Satoon as he recalls seeing another strange ball there. I met a fisherman and his family along the way west of Yokan. Satoon was a distant goal as I passed through Kingland and Fairy Town to learn of some strife between King Romel of Satoon, and the king of Fairy Town. Princess Julia told of a parcel delivery project called Project-3F. The fairy king grew despondent, and took the prototype to a nearby tower to the southwest. So, I headed southeast, crossed a desert, and went to completely different tower.

Through the whole game I think I collected 2 medals

I gained the hyper vision ability from the magician Airosche after completing her trial, which included some trick mirage platforms. She also told me I needed a special vehicle to pass the acid lake surrounding King Romel's palace. I found the fairy king, talked him into returning, and picked up the errandbot that could shop for me while I'm in the field. I also got the magiport spell, which takes me to the last convenience store I received a password. Dying in the game restores Jack at the same location, but with half money. I was able to afford all new equipment as soon as I arrived at a new town; I don't see a lack of money as a problem.

Oh, you mean that thing I've already done, will do

The invisible enemies are rather annoying to fight, and the hyper vision ability costs 5 NP while the escape leaf spell costs 4 NP. I opted to escape nearly every time. Even with the foreknowledge of the acid lake, and the inventor Dr. Justice visiting from the previous game, I still needed to trek all the way out to the lake in order to trigger the dialogue where Jack asks for a device to cross it. I crossed the lake with the kite he provided. I confronted Romel about the project, and a strange poisonous gas smell. It turns out General Konk of a gang called the Galands was posing as King Romel, and going to use the parcel delivery service to deliver poison gas to everyone.

Unfortunately I underestimated Konk's damage potential the first time

On the way back I grinded an extra level. Hyper vision was required at one point as Konk became invisible. Once defeated, the real Romel was freed, I picked up a green auraball, and delivered Julia's love letter. While the two planned their wedding, they had time enough to direct me across the sea to Mysteryland, and dropped a purple auraball in my pocket on the way out. I hit up Dr. Justice again for a way to cross the sea this time.

Every once in a while a mini-boss type monster will appear during random battles; I never beat one

I traveled southeast from the fisherman's hut, then followed some rocks jutting from the sea shaped into arrows to a landing next to some stairs. I passed on the stairs looking for a town. Skirting the island I found myself in Arcadia town. As I made my usual rounds talking to everyone, resting, and purchasing the latest equipment I realized just how little stats and levels played into my decisions. Since most battles are action based, equipment was the deciding factor, and I never noted enemies becoming easier once I leveled up. Mainly they became easier as I gained experience with the controls. Of course, all that didn't help with the bosses.

I smell another wild goose chase cooking

Prince Lama, in Arcadia, who called the land Anca, told us of the Pitts Gang holding up in Temple Bayon. Jack deduced it was actually the Galands. I visited SlowPo, the wise man, but he sent me off to Yokan to ask Nostradamus. He also gave me magic called Serenitech, which I hoped would eliminate random encounters, but if it even reduced them I didn't notice.

Maybe I can just punch a hole into Bayon Temple

Nostradamus saw in the future I would be accompanied by a man currently drilling at Mt. Kyojin, and sent me off with some magic that was necessary to reach there. I had a clue that the mountain was south of Sealand, but I hadn't found that town yet. I did discover the city of Moo, built underwater, but there were no mountains to the south. Talking to one of the leaders there I was told that an auraball had been captured, and the Pitts Gang responsible was in an underwater area. Even though I was then told Dr. Justice could help with a submarine, he didn't actually give us one when I visited.

I randomly found this whale though, able to travel the ocean without random encounters helped a lot

Sealand, as it turned out, was below the stairs I had passed when I first landed on Mysteryland. From there it was an easy matter to get through the mountain caves that led to Mt. Kyojin. I found Dr. Archeo excavating a site he believed contained a giant machine. Turns out that would be important later, but our immediate need to get into Bayon Temple was solved by taking the good doctor with us to drill a hole in the wall.

The micro ninja magic necessary to reach Dr. Archeo

I cleared out the temple without any trouble; the Pitts Gang fights were all action battles. Prince Lama gave me a blue aruaball, and then told me to go to Moo. I did so, confirmed I still needed a submarine from Dr. Justice, and this second time I visited Jack finally told him what we needed. The undersea boss, Nargi, had plot armor on that required a scroll to learn how to attack through it. The man living inside the whale told us to seek Slowpo as he knew where Ghouland was. Slowpo told us that the only way to the island of Rockhenge, an entrance to Ghouland, was reachable by the giant robot hidden under Mt. Kyojin. Once I got the robot though, and gave it the order to take us to the island, I just found myself sitting outside Mt. Kyojin. I had the robot in my inventory, but seemingly no way to use it. I wondered around the world for a good hour trying to find something I may have missed.

The Y button, apparently that's what I was missing

The scroll in Ghouland land told me to seek out the Feather Sword from Horizon Gate. Returning there, I was challenged again by Rick, this time to recreate his face from a shifting portrait broken into five parts. There was no drawback to failing. The Feather Sword allowed me to defeat Nargi, even though the brothers hardly used it in the actual battle. Next was General Bismol, and defeating him rewarded Jack and Ryu with another auraball. King Antla of Moo told me to head to Futureland next where some clones of Jack and Ryu were causing trouble. Actually finding an area in the giant walled city to land was difficult.

Different sections of Futureland are connected by this magtrain, which takes a long time to traverse, and the battles are annoying to deal with

I arrived in Futureland only to be told to train more at Horizon Gate as Jack and Ryu weren't strong enough to face the clones. Jack and Ryu learned the fire punch from Rick, and returned via the magiport as they had a save point right before the clone fight. Fighting the clones required hyper vision as some were invisible.

I eventually found a place to gather medals, but forgot where to turn them in

The clones seemed unstoppable. I had to leave again to ask Dr. Justice for an electricity based attack since they were apparently robots. As usual he provided just what we needed at no charge. With the clones destroyed, I entered the sewers, and continued to make my way deep into Futureland. Bad News Boss was waiting for me, and beating him allowed me to recover the gold aruaball, the final one in the set. With them I could now put an end to the Galands.

Hey, let's just give them all to this guy since he asked for them so nicely

As I continued on I heard a rumor that Rub-a-Doc was kidnapped by the Galands. I rushed off to save him, answering some trivia about Japanese vocabulary along the way, and found him alone in his room with the marvel box. After Jack handed the balls over, he changed his tune a bit.

Hmmm, why are you laughing so funny?

Turns out he's actually Robo-Doc, the evil genius scientist working with the Galands. He had two forms, and was the hardest fight in the game since most of his attacks did more than a single sweet bun could heal. Still, luck was with me, and I took him down first try.

We win!

Of course that's not quite the end as we have to wrap up the nonsensical story with the auraballs. We took the marvel box with the auraballs back to someone named Apax, placed them on an altar, and then watched them float into the sky. A voice said something about the box going to another world where a miracle would happen. I'm pretty sure the miracle was another sequel, or this sequence was just poorly translated.




Elapsed Time: 10h22m (Final Time: 10h22m)

Time for some of that sweet, sweet world peace!

Combatant - Always a mixed bag with this series, I felt that equipment more than anything else outweighed combat ability. This meant there wasn't a lot of challenge to be had. There are a good number of spells and abilities, but they don't contribute a lot. Enemies differed enough to keep things interesting, although bosses tended to feel very similar. Rewards for combat were satisfactory. The number of random encounters could probably be cut in half without much downside.
Rating: 5

Final boss time

Admirer - There's no customization at all, and character appearance doesn't change to show new equipment. The controls were well done, although it would have been nice to have the manual as I'm sure it mentioned that holding punch allowed Jack to run, which I didn't learn until more than halfway through the game after all the points it would have been useful to know. What is it with me, and not finding the run button until hours into a game?
Rating: 2

This is my angry smile

Puzzler - The main quest is clearly laid out, so there's no chance of getting lost. Side quests are strangely sprinkled across the world in the form of mini-games. Some reward with items, others medals, and I believe one was even required to beat the game. All of them seemed more random than strategic, as I remember all of them were just a form of flipping over cards.
Rating: 3

There was a sequence of faces shown at the end, and I'm not sure who this was

Instigator - The ninja brothers once again sense evil and defeated it. The wackiness of the whole adventure isn't of a type I usually enjoy. Maybe it found its audience though as we continue to see sequels coming out, the last of which comes up soon. NPCs do well at providing hints, the most important of which usually live in a house in each town. There aren't any decisions to be had, and descriptions are somewhat lacking.
Rating: 3

This definitely screams sequel

Collector - Aside from gear, which is upgraded by comparing prices (stats for gear aren't actually displayed anywhere), there are a small number of other items, and not much in the way of collectibles. Magic is about the only thing tucked away for the finding, but I didn't find a lot of use for the hidden ones and there's no way to know if they've all been found. Each item has its own limited capacity, but there isn't one of the total number of items.
Rating: 3

Now the game is confused about where the marvel box is going

Explorer - It's not a bad little world, although exploration is rather linear most of the time. Even when a new transportation method opens there aren't a lot of new places to branch out into. There wasn't anything offensive about the graphics or music.
Rating: 4

Final Rating: 20 [33%]

Amazing how the credits fit on a single screen

With only a single point above Little Ninja Brothers, I have to wonder why I remember the previous title with such disdain. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I recall. Maybe it was the extra five hours I spent with the game. As bland as this was, putting up with it for only 10 hours didn't sour the experience. It helped that it wasn't overly difficult either.

Before we get to the sequel, I'm going to give myself a small break with Great Greed and Might & Magic 3 just after. (Well, maybe it won't be that small.) I've never played, or even seen, Great Greed, so I'm eager to see what it has to offer. From the little I've read, it has some kind of environmental theme going for it. But, Might & Magic 3 is what I'm really looking forward to next, so I hope Great Greed is either short, or incredibly interesting.