Mobile Game Review: Neko Atsume

Game: Neko Atsume
Console: Mobile
Developer: Hit-Point
Release Date: 20th October 2014

Sometimes you need a break from games with a lot of action, or from playing 48 NES games in the past 2 weeks. Sure, there's Animal Crossing or Tomodachi life that you can dip into, but where are all the cats? The answer is on Neko Atsume, the kitty collecting game which is gripping the nation (well, sort of). I understand that some gamers would hesitate to call this a game, but I think we can safely say that despite very little "action", an enjoyable and entertaining piece of software which players interact with is a game.

Neko Astume is played in the player's yard where there's a food bowl and spaces to set down toys which will attract cats. There's a large selection of toys and food that can be placed down, and different combinations of the two will attract different cats. The currency of the game is fish; grey and gold, which makes it seem as if the game will be microtransaction based, but it's actually very easy to acquire fish of both types with very little effort.

Once cats arrive and begin to interact with the toys in the yard, players can take photos of each cat, or the scene as a whole, but unfortunately can't do much to truly interact with them. Once a cat has visited several times, there's a small chance that it'll give players a memento to signify their friendship. If players check the app a few times a day, getting most of the non-rare cats mementos is pretty easy.

A yard expansion is sold in the shop, allowing more cats to visit, and a second food bowl to be placed. There's also the option to decorate the whole play area in a few different styles, though this doesn't make a huge difference to which cats visit. There's a large variety of cats featured in the game, with a current total of 49.

Graphically the game is drawn in a cute cartoon style and each cat has a very similar body type (save for one food thief who shall not be named!). While the markings vary from cat to cat, perhaps a few size differences would also lend some interest to collecting the entire set. The music of the game is very much reminiscent of games like Animal Crossing, and gives the same relaxed and playful feel.

Overall Neko Atsume isn't a game for everyone; if you're after thrills or challenging gameplay then this isn't for you. It's also something that wouldn't work at all on a home console, or even a portable one, for that matter; it's such a perfect fit for mobile gaming, due to the nature of checking back every now and then for cats. It's cute, and a fun distraction from whatever it is you're doing and a different type of game to nearly everything we're used to.

Rating: 76/100
Grade: B

12 Days of NESmas Finale: Front Line, Tiger-Heli, Magmax and Star Force (#12)

Game: Front Line
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1st August 1985

Front Line is scrolling shooter game in which players make their way through a battlefield on foot to their tank and then drive their tank far enough into enemy territory to make them surrender. After this has been achieved, the game loops and so the total playtime for a single completion is around 3 minutes. For any game this is a very short amount of time to be looping around after, and it's really a shame there's not some more levels included at least with some different terrain.

One of the game's main issues is the lack of ability to aim in a different direction than you are moving; with just the single control pad on the NES, players are forced to turn wherever they'd like to shoot, making progress that little bit harder. As a twin stick shooter this game would have felt far better. Players have a choice of grenades or bullets from their gun to defeat enemy soldiers, which I suppose is better than only one weapon choice.

Graphically the game is very simple with most sprites and objects drawn in what I can only describe as somewhat of a wonky style. Soldiers look odd as they walk, and the tanks are very simple shapes which require a little imagination. As for sound, there's only the noise of the player's footsteps, grenades an gunshots to enjoy which get old pretty fast.

Overall Front Line could have done with some technological advances before its release to improve the playability and amount of content featured in the game. While the idea of battling both on foot and from a tank is a good one, it's not enough without tight controls, good music and sound or even a few looping levels.

Rating: 30/100
Grade: E

Game: Tiger-Heli
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Micronics
Release Date: 1986

Tiger-Heli is a helicopter based shooter game where players make their way through some bland and repetitive landscapes shooting tanks and trying to avoid being shot themselves. There are power-ups which can aid players in their mission, and most non-enemy objects are slightly destructible for some extra points.

The movement of the helicopter is a little stiff, and it can be difficult to avoid the tank shots as they occur, since the screen scrolls continuously. The worst feature of the game is the lack of proper checkpoints, with only a few landing pads where players recover briefly before taking off again and continuing. Because of this, the game becomes a slog and its runtime feels like far longer than it needs to be, and less exciting.

Graphically the game isn't much to look at, with simple effects for houses, water and grass. The sprites are slightly better but still aren't great, even for the NES era. The music which accompanies gameplay is surprisingly good and probably my favourite part of the entire experience.

Overall, a little more excitement would have helped Tiger-Heli to be less monotonous. With NES games it's important to present as many different levels, landscapes and enemy types as possible because with most games looping around after a short while, the enjoyment level will decrease with each replay of the game. Instead, Tiger-Heli is just an average shoot 'em up for the time.

Rating: 58/100
Grade: D

Game: Magmax
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nihon Bussan
Release Date: 1986

Magmax is an interesting shoot 'em up game which takes place on 2 planes; there's the above ground level where players can move freely around on the ground, dodging and shooting enemies and collecting parts to make their robot bigger, or the underground/sea level where players do just the same, but this time able to move around in a different 2 dimensions; up/down and right/left. Neither area is harder per se, but there's the option to swap between them at grey holes, though its possible to stay on a level if desired.

There's a boss which appears after a while, only requiring some persistent shooting and dodging to beat before the game loops. While it's fairly easy for a shoot 'em up of it's kind, whilst playing Magmax, you get a sense of fun that's often absent from far harder games of the genre. The upgradability of the your robot, added to the different game levels which occur concurrently make for a fresh experience for the time. A nice feature is that the parts of the robots which are collected act as extra lives, disappearing when they take a hit from an enemy.

Graphically the game isn't much to look at, with the overground level somewhat reminiscent of Exitebike, but the underground sections look much more like a contemporary shoot 'em up. The music isn't the best either, with some fairly experimental and ultimately grating tunes to listen to, but it's nice to see a different accompaniment for both the underground and overground sections as well as some boss music.

Overall Magmax is a breath of fresh air when compared to most other NES shoot 'em ups and as such is more enjoyable as a game today. Whilst there's not a huge amount of replayability and the game loops after an easy boss, the time I spent playing was far more pleasing than many of the other games I've played in the past 2 weeks on the NES.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Game: Star Force
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Hudson Soft
Release Date: 1987

Star Force is the final game I'll be looking at in this NESmas feature; a shoot 'em up with plenty of enemies, bases and bonuses to target, but one where the colours chosen for the player's ship and the background were too similar causing difficulties with actually being able to see the ship. The game features areas, each with their own boss which can be pretty easily dispatched with a few seconds of shooting and dodging.

Unlike many shoot 'em ups, it's hard to tell quite what you're meant to be doing, apart from shooting everything in sight. There are capital letters in boxes, and small letters in boxes which appear from time to time, and get counted at the end of each level. I assume the goal is to pick up all of them, but they don't seem to make a huge amount of difference to gameplay.

Graphically the game is pretty good, aside from the main issue of terrible visibility. The sprites of enemies, and general locations featured behind gameplay are interesting and work well with the space theme. As you can probably see from the picture above, this isn't much good when you can't see enemies or bullets flying towards you.

Overall the game is ruined by one of its few flaws, as game overs occur far more quickly when players can't see what they're doing. It's a shame that no-one in the development team caught this issue before the game's release, as it could have been far better of a game.

Rating: 49/100
Grade: D

As a final round-up of the games I've played in the last 12 days, here's a table featuring everything that's been reviewed, in score order. There's been some great games, and a few that were shockingly bad, but overall most games had at least some promise or sense of unique gameplay and fun.

#1	Adventure Island					B	80.05
#2	Balloon Fight					B	75.20
#3	Joust					C	73.38
#4	Hogan's Alley					C	73.02
#5	Pac-man					C	72.02
#6	Wild Gunman					C	70.35
#7	Magmax					C	70.15
#8	Mario Bros					C	68.80
#9	Binary Land					C	66.05
#10	Excite Bike					C	62.85
#11	Arkanoid					C	62.50
#12	Nuts & Milk					C	62.30
#13	Yie Ar Kung Fu					C	62.05
#14	Hyper Olympic					C	62.02
#15	Battle City					D	61.95
#16	Devil World					D	61.85
#17	Dig Dug					D	60.95
#18	Kung Fu					D	60.27
#19	BurgerTime					D	59.10
#20	Tiger-Heli					D	58.80
#21	Space Invaders					D	57.35
#22	Road Fighter					D	57.10
#23	Life Force					D	56.50
#24	Mappy					D	55.30
#25	City Connection					D	54.60
#26	Popeye					D	54.10
#27	10 Yard Fight					D	51.60
#28	Duck Hunt					D	50.90
#29	Circus Charlie					D	50.90
#30	Star Force					D	49.50
#31	The Legend Of Kage					D	49.30
#32	Flappy					D	46.85
#33	F1 Race					D	45.95
#34	Galaga					D	45.30
#35	Donkey Kong Jr.					D	45.30
#36	Karateka					D	45.05
#37	Spy Hunter					E	40.00
#38	Exerion					E	39.30
#39	Baseball					E	36.60
#40	Donkey Kong 3					E	34.20
#41	Zippy Race					E	33.60
#42	Galaxian					E	33.60
#43	Chack N Pop					E	33.60
#44	Golf					E	32.20
#45	Bird Week					E	31.10
#46	Bomberman					E	31.10
#47	Front Line					E	30.55
#48	Urban Champion					F	28.50

12 Days of NESmas: Balloon Fight, Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr. and Pac-man (#11)

Game: Balloon Fight
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1984

Balloon Fight is a classic NES title which is almost instantly recognisable, and is incredibly easy to pick up thanks to its concept. In the main game, players face-off against opponents with their own balloons, in an attempt to collide with them from above in order to pop their balloons and eliminate them. Once popped, enemies parachute down to the nearest platform and if they're not intercepted begin to take off once again with another balloon. In this respect, the gameplay is somewhat similar to Joust, but it feels far easier to control.

Balloon Trip mode is also very interesting, presenting a one hit game over journey through obstacles in the same vein as the main game. This mode has been featured as a Warioware microgame and is at least as fun, if not a little more than the main game, even if it gets pretty tricky very quickly. One of the best things about playing Balloon Fight is that each time I lost a life, it felt like it was truly my error, rather than bad game programming or design.

Graphically the game looks nice in both modes, despite its simple character sprites and black background. The music of the game however is almost unbearable in the main mode, between the almost random sounding bleeps and bloops and sound effects there's no semblance of a tune, and it'd be better off without most of the distracting sound. The music for Balloon Trip mode suffers no such issue, and has great music with balloon pop sound effects which are maybe just a little too loud.

Overall Balloon Fight is a solid and enjoyable NES game which deserves much of the praise and recognition it has had over the years. With two equally enjoyable game modes, great controls and classic music in the balloon trip mode it's certainly one of the best games of its type.

Rating: 75/100
Grade: B

Game: Mario Bros.
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1983

Mario Bros. marks one of the earliest appearances of Mario in video games. It's a simple title where he faces off against various enemies and defeats them by bumping the ground underneath them, to flip them upside down before kicking them off screen. Some of the elements in the game influenced parts of Super Mario Bros, the classic platformer released just 2 years later.

The game is very much in an arcade style and presents its levels and bonus levels as such. There's a few different types of enemies which appear throughout the game levels, and can become enraged if not dealt with quickly. Mario also collects coins for defeated enemies; yet another snippet of game which was later turned into a Warioware microgame.

Graphically the game is very much in the style which we recognise today as "Super Mario"-esque, but obviously was yet to be coined and ingrained into the public conciousness at its time of release. The music is generally pretty good, and with the big deal that Mario went on to become, it's not hard to see why Mario Bros. is considered a classic NES game.

Overall while simple, the game does play very well with only a slight bit of refinement needed on Mario's jumping, so that his momentum carries over properly. Other than this though, it's one of the better arcade style platforming games, and is definitely easy to pick up and fairly addictive.

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Game: Donkey Kong Jr.
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1983

The original Donkey Kong was a fun, albeit short platformer which saw players controlling Jumpman, later known as Mario across three levels in order to rescue his girlfriend. Donkey Kong Jr. turned this concept on it's head as players control the titular character in a bid to rescue Donkey Kong himself from Mario's grasp. There are a total of four levels in Donkey Kong Jr., each of them featuring a single screen with vines to climb and platforms to jump across.

The main issue with the game is that the climbing and overall moving speed of Donkey Kong Jr. is so slow that three enemy attacks can be launched by Mario whilst climbing a single vine. His small crocodile minions are at least twice as fast as the player controlled character. The levels aren't particularly hard to figure out, but putting your plans into practice with the control as it is isn't so easy.

Graphically the game is simple as can be, and eschews the early NES style of a black background with simple shapes and sprites. There's simple mono style music behind gameplay, with the first level's soundtrack being bearable, the second and third levels not so much, and the final actually resembling better music, despite being super repetitive.

Overall Donkey Kong Jr. is somewhat of a disappointment compared both to its prequel and the masses of better games that it was succeeded by. In the NES era, it wasn't long before this sort of game had an unacceptably low level of content and so represents the earliest period of NES gaming.

Rating: 45/100
Grade: D

Game: Pac-man
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 1984

Pac-man on the Atari 2600 was a hugely destructive blow to the game industry in America, with such a poor resemblance to the arcade original that millions of copies went unsold. Pac-man on the NES however is almost an arcade perfect port of the game, and plays really well. Everything from the way the game feels to how it sounds and looks is impressively similar to the original game.

Players make their way around the maze, collecting all of the power pellets and attempting to get a high score. There's a cutscene after every few levels which shows a plot of sorts, but really it's the arcade gameplay that players are after. Personally I've always found Pac-man somewhat repetitive after a while, but that's more of an issue with the game itself.

Graphically the game is almost identical to the simple but iconic stylings of the arcade version, with the instantly recognisable blue maze, coloured ghosts and fruit power-ups. There's not a lot in the way of music, but once again the sound effects are pretty classic and are reproduced well.

Overall if you're looking to play Pac-man on console, the NES version is as good a choice as any, since earlier versions didn't quite have the power to play like the arcades and later versions tend to overcomplicate what is a simple and enjoyable, if somewhat repetitive formula.

Rating: 72/100
Grade: C

12 Days of NESmas: Donkey Kong 3, Popeye, Spy Hunter and Burger Time (#10)

Game: Donkey Kong 3
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1986

Donkey Kong 3 is an arcade style NES game with very little content for a title of its time. Players control Stanley the gardener as he looks to take care of some plants, with only a giant ape and swarms of insects in his way. The game plays like a mix between a platformer and a shoot 'em up, with players able to move Stanley around the level and shoot upwards only.

The goal of each level is to force Donkey Kong up to the top of the vines he's hanging off before he comes down to attack Stanley. If any insects make it to the bottom of the screen, they can change one of the flowers into a flying enemy. The insects must be avoided whilst this is going on, and there's a shot power-up which makes Stanley's shots significantly more powerful. There's a few level layouts which repeat endlessly until players lose, as the speed of the game increases.

Graphically the game is simple but stylistically enjoyable. It's easy to tell that the game is set in a garden, but some insect sprites, and Stanley's own sprite aren't very detailed. There's music resembling Flight Of The Bumblebees at one point, but it's fairly standard for the NES. The sound effects can be a somewhat repetitive, as can the game as a whole, but each play session tends to be fairly short so it's not too much of an issue.

Overall Donkey Kong 3 seems to be a bit of a cop out when compared to the original Donkey Kong and especially when compared to later Donkey Kong games. Even its arcade style can't can't excuse the short length of the game; it's lack of content would be more highly criticised in any other franchise.

Rating: 34/100
Grade: E

Game: Popeye
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1986

Cartoons which got their own NES games are often unlucky in that during the NES era it was difficult to make a game which truly featured the events and concepts of the cartoon. Platformers were common in that it was easy to include characters from the series, and work with the simple concept of getting to the other side of the screen. Popeye however, is an arcade style game set on a single screen for each level.

Players attempt to collect various items dropped by Olive Oyl, whilst avoiding Bluto unless a spinach can has been collected, allowing Popeye to punch and stun him momentarily. Once all of Olive's items have been collected, the level ends and the game moves on. Moving around isn't particularly easy; there are stairs at the edges of most levels, which can't simply be climbed by pressing a directional button; easily trapping players if they're not careful.

Graphically the game doesn't look particularly inspired by the Popeye cartoon. Despite having the characters, the levels aren't based on any locations from the cartoon and are generally simple. A platformer might have been a better option for inclusion of more recognisible items. The music is very simple and bassy, with dissonant sound effects when items are collected.

Overall Popeye is a particularly average game which needn't have really featured the characters from the Popeye cartoon. The concept is generic, and the audio and visuals are fairly uninteresting and so as such the game becomes of interest only to hardcore Popeye and NES fans, who want to experience everything their chosen medium has to offer.

Rating: 54/100
Grade: D

Game: Spy Hunter
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Sunsoft
Release Date: 1987

It's no big secret that I'm not a big fan of the Spy Hunter games. I gave the arcade version of Spy Hunter II a score of 8/100, but what about the original game on the NES? The concept of Spy Hunter has been seen in many other games and it's hard to say which game first featured the "drive fast and avoid cars coming towards you" formula, but there's certainly better examples. Granted that in Spy Hunter you can shoot at cars that are in your way, but one hit won't clear them from your path, and some are even indestructible.

The main problems with the game are that the car moves way too fast onscreen with any application of the accelerator. The only alternative to this is to let off the gas and move at a snail's pace which is hardly exciting. The other cars on the road are divided between non-aggressive traffic, indestructible enemies who'll try and force you off the road and a variety of trucks, most of which have no effect, but some of which players can enter for a bonus.

Graphically the game is pretty average; the car sprites are fairly tiny and with the speed the game moves it, it's as good as impossible to tell what's actually going on. Soundwise there's not much to enjoy either, as turns don't tend to last particularly long, and there's very little in the way of music or good sound effects.

Overall Spy Hunter is a poor example of it's game type, with Road Fighter and Action Fighter being far better examples of the concept. Although the game was popular and well regarded in its time, it's aged pretty badly and can be consigned to the group of NES games that are more disappointing with each passing year.

Rating: 40/100
Grade: E

Game: Burger Time
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: SAS Sakata
Release Date: 1987

The concept of Burger Time is a good one; you're a chef traversing platforming levels, knocking the components of burgers down a floor each time you pass over them. Enemies run about the level too, who can be stunned with a quick shake of pepper, or beaten by trapping them underneath an ingredient. There are 6 levels in total, and a level is won when all burgers are completed at the bottom of the screen.

Unfortunately the game suffers from a few big issues; firstly getting on and off ladders can be very tricky; sometimes it'll look as if you're at the right level to dismount a ladder, only to get stuck and lose a life as an enemy makes contact. Secondly there's way too many enemies running about the levels; at one point I was being pursued by 8 enemies on level 1, and there's really nowhere to hide on any of the levels. Lastly the pinches of pepper used to stun enemies are finite and run out after a certain number of uses, leaving players effectively defenceless.

Graphically the game is pretty boring and definitely has a home computer feel to it, rather than the exciting look of a dedicated games console. I understand that the game came from home computers, but with the added power of the NES, something could have been done to spice things up a bit. Soundwise the game is decidedly average, there's no classic theme to keep players enticed or anything that'd make the game stand out.

Overall Burger Time could have been so much better as a game, despite having a solid and original concept. The difficulty level ends up being far too high as players are chased by many enemies from the outset, and the levels are set up in such a way that there's little room for error. It's a shame that these flaws drag down a game with such potential, but they clearly get in the way of player enjoyment.

Rating: 59/100
Grade: D

12 Days of NESmas: Nuts & Milk, Flappy, Devil World and Bomberman (#9)

Game: Nuts & Milk
Console: Nintendo Famicom
Developer: Hudson Soft
Release Date: 28th July 1984

As the first third party game ever released on a Nintendo console, Nuts & Milk had a lot to live up to. It's a puzzle platformer where players control Milk (oddly the latter character in the title), on a quest to collect fruit and then meet up with his girlfriend, Yoghurt. Only his rival, Nuts and some small airships can stop Milk in his quest. Also there's a level editor which is a pretty nice feature.

While the home computer versions of Nuts & Milk featured a top down view, Hudson Soft went all out on the Famicom version, as it's a full 2D platformer. Milk has the ability to jump across platforms and climb ladders to get to his fruit. Nuts and any other obstacles must be avoided or jumped over in order not to lose a life. It's pretty simple stuff, but across the game's 50 levels it works nicely.

Graphically the game looks nice for 1984, though the characters are essentially just coloured blobs. The screen is wrapped so that going off the left hand side will result in appearing on the right, which can be useful in evading Nuts and his allies. Musically there's not only a theme before and after levels, but to accompany gameplay also which is rare for such an early game; the tunes are enjoyable and add to the playability.

Overall while Nuts & Milk isn't technically or visually impressive, it does a lot of things right and would definitely have stood out as one of the better games of the time. To have 50 levels, even if they're just single screens is impressive and the bonus levels offer a nice change of pace every 3 or 4 main levels. For the cuteness factor and for being ahead of its time, Hudson Soft did very well with the little game.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

Game: Flappy
Console: Nintendo Famicom
Developer: dB-Soft
Release Date: 14th June 1985

Flappy is a simple puzzling platform game that's notable for having 200 levels, far more than nearly any other NES game I can think of. Despite the simplicity of most levels, there's a good difficulty curve throughout the game, and codes to continue to progress once all lives have been lost. The aim of the game is to get a blue boulder to the blue platform, avoiding enemies and using regular boulders to your advantage to transport and protect the blue boulder or to squash the roaming enemies.

While there's probably too much of an AI presence in later levels to adequately solve the ever more complex puzzles, the game starts out fairly simple and those who enjoy this type of problem solving have plenty of work to do here. Personally I got a little bored after 10 or so levels, thanks to the single screen nature of the game and little attempt to change the visuals as the levels progress.

Graphically the game is dominated by the brickwork, with its repetitive colour and pattern. While its clear enough to see what needs to be done, there's definitely a hint of home computer style graphics rather than those of a dedicated console. There's looped music of a decent length behind the levels, although it's a little high pitched for my tastes, and the sound effects are fairly inoffensive.

Overall Flappy fits into the early category of games before the NES had really found its feet with blockbuster titles, back when the world was starting to move on from home programmed titles and small software companies releasing games. It's stuck inbetween the two worlds and perhaps a little too puzzle based for my liking.

Rating: 46/100
Grade: D

Game: Devil World
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 15th July 1987

Devil World is a game that's as simple as you want it to be. If you can accept that it's a bit like Pac-man, except that players collect a cross to shoot enemies and at some point jam bibles into a central thingy then that's that. If you're looking for a deeper meaning behind it all then I'm afraid you'll have to come up with your own theory as to what's going on. The devil at the top of the screen points his finger in the way he wants the maze to go, and his minions shift it, meaning players must consider their movements so as not to get squashed.

Once all of the dots have been eaten in the first stage of play, there's then a round where 4 bibles, or books of some kind must be pushed into the central column. If this is done successfully then players move onto the bonus round where they collect more artifacts before the whole process restarts on a slightly more difficult level. The gameplay itself is pretty nice and easy to get used to, but there's no clue as to what we're trying to achieve.

Graphically the game is bright and colourful, with lots of things going on in all corners of the screen. At the top the devil directs the direction in which his minions (at the bottom) move the maze. Inside of the maze enemies patrol, and the light blue dots and crosses are there for collecting by the player who hatches from the green egg into a Bubble Bobble looking character. Soundwise the game has an interesting introductory tune, but sadly no music behind gameplay.

Overall Devil World is an interesting and somewhat unique game which incorporates many concepts and is, at the very least more fun than Pac-man. That said, there's still not a large amount of things to do and after a few levels the gimmicks will tend to wear off.

Rating: 61/100
Grade: D

Game: Bomberman
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Hudson Soft
Release Date: 1987

If you're a fan of slow and methodical gameplay which repeats over and over, then Bomberman is the game for you. I'm aware that this is where the Bomberman series started and that it's a popular games series, but I've honestly never seen the appeal. If the gameplay wasn't simply methodically bombing everything until you can find an exit, then trying to eliminate all of the enemies, then it might be more exciting, but the action here is almost non existent.

The controls aren't a problem; they're exactly as you'd expect, but the enemies are so slow and predictable in their patterns, it's almost too easy to avoid them. There are powerups for the player's bombs which make their range a little better, but even with the upgrade there's hardly any improvement in game speed.

Graphically the game is an unappealing mess of green and grey with a few red blobs moving around to signify enemies. There are unlicensed games which look better, and even Bomberman's own sprite is fairly unimpressive. The musical accompaniment develops somewhat as time continues, but the level doesn't end when the timer hits zero, so there's little point in building up to it.

Overall there's not a lot of reasons to enjoy Bomberman; the game is slow, the action is boring, the graphics are some of the least interesting on the NES and to complete the game takes at least half an hour at the slowest, and around an hour and a half at normal pace. This would be a good amount of content if there was actually something to enjoy.

Rating: 31/100
Grade: E

300th Review Bonus: NES ROMhacks, Unlicensed and Pirate Multicart games

The NES enjoyed an incredibly long lifespan in Japan and thanks to the relative ease of reproducing games on cartridges at the time, it's most likely the console with the most piracy and unlicensed games and hacks that's ever existed. Whilst playing NES games for the 12 Days of NESmas, I've been using a combination of a real NES console, a 100 in 1 Game Boy Advance Multicart with a variety of NES games on, and some Powerjoy Famiclone plug and play console which also accept Famicom cartridges.

(From top to bottom; NES console with GBA 100 in 1 cart, NES controller and Zapper, Twin LightBlaster Joypad
PowerJoy Famiclone console, Powerjoy 64 in 1 cart, Yoshi No Cookie and Mappy Famicom carts, 100 in 1 Famicom chip
Blank NES cart housing a Honeybee Famicom to NES converter and Rolling Thunder chip, and Castlevania for the NES)

Of course many of the games on pirate multicarts are indeed the games which they purport to be, and are exactly the same as their licensed counterparts. What I'll be covering here though is those games which aren't so legit. Some of these have already been covered in my 2014 April Fools review of the GBA 100 in 1 cart, but there's plenty of interest across the other pirate goodies. Notably in that review; Mario and Luigi was a ROMhack of Nuts & Milk, which I'll be reviewing later today. We'll begin on the Powerjoy plug and Play unit, which has 7 games built in. 6 of which are legitimate NES games.

Diamond Tetris

If you've ever felt that Sega's Columns was lacking in monuments to liberty, then look no further than Diamond Tetris. All the fun of Columns, with the Statue of Liberty watching over your every move, and taking up almost as much room as the entire field of play. On the left hand side there's what's presumably the New York skyline, but surprisingly the game plays pretty well apart from the random monument insertion. There's a definite theme in pirate games of wanting to play Sega's games on Nintendo or vice versa.

Moving on to the Powerjoy 64 in 1 cart, there's plenty of misnamed games and sprite hacks including Dig Dug ft. Hello Kitty, and of course at least 4 versions of Circus Charlie, cleverly disguised as Gladiators, Charlie and Pony and Big Top! But of course I'm only interested in legitimately ROMhacked or pirate games.

Aladdin III

Having missed out on hearing about Aladdin's apparent sequels, I was surprised to find Aladdin III on this cart, featuring a small turban-clad boy in shoot 'em up action against birds, ninjas and various other enemies. Particularly of note was the 3 second music loop which I can only assume represents the number of wishes a genie grants. There are actual bosses in the game if you can get far enough and it plays like a regular shoot 'em up, albeit with poor hit detection.

Pendamar

Have you ever wished Mario was a Panda? Ever think the music behind Super Mario Bros needed to be 1000% worse? Well then I've found the game for you. It's literally a horribly coloured, unnecessary and wholly offensive sprite hack of Super Mario Bros. This is the least fun you can have with the code that makes up a classic and enjoyable game.

Fire Dragon

The first truly enjoyable unlicensed game; Fire Dragon is only a simple port of Snake, but there's so little that can go wrong that the creators have actually released something that's at least playable. Unlike many other versions of Snake, the player is required to collect a certain number of 'things' (no clue what they're meant to be) before moving up each level. The controls are surprisingly responsive and for this sort of thing, it's best to savour the bearable titles.

There'd be a few more here since I have the Powerjoy chip as well, which contains even more games, however at least 60% of the games on that cart either feature a blank screen, Circus Charlie, Twin Bee, a random level of Adventure Island, or look like the picture below. Something that I've come to accept with pirate NES carts is that some things just won't work. Like 2 player mode.

The final set of games are from the Twin LightBlaster Joypad and seem to be a collection of Famicom ROMhacks amongst other things. Pendamar makes another appearance here, there's Circus Charlie with Bonk as the main sprite, and various versions of F1 Race. Unfortunately here I could only find two games of interest to round off this 300 review celebration.

Matching

Apologies for the picture quality on this one, but I couldn't find much on the internet simply searching for "Matching" so I can only assume this is a pretty specific pirate game. The aim is to match all of the cards in the time limit, and players are even treated to a nice 8-bit rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star whilst playing. The game sucks, but there's a cute anime witch girl on the left, so I guess it can have some bonus points.

Strange Pop Pop

I was intrigued by the title, and so slightly disappointed to find that Strange Pop Pop was literally just a version of Tetris where the bricks are nearly the same colour as the game background, making it almost impossible to strategise. The music is repetitive and annoying, and Tetris literally exists on the NES and every other console under the sun anyway, so someone choosing to play it on here would have to be so out of gaming options that even a Virtual Boy is not available. 

Overall from this experiment we've learned not to trust games by their name; lest we be surprised with yet another version of Circus Charlie, Adventure Island, Twin Bee or any other small game that can be crammed onto a multicart. We've also learned not to trust the amount of games advertised on the cart, 100 in 1 is more like 30 in 1, 30 that don't work, 30 that are the same game, and 10 which we just made up and programmed in the last 5 minutes. 

Still, if nothing else NES pirate multicarts are fun to look through, and that's what gaming's all about. Thanks to anyone who's read any number of my 300 reviews so far, we're going to keep going until there's no more games left to review!

12 Days of NESmas: Circus Charlie, Legend of Kage, Adventure Island and Mappy (#8)

Game: Circus Charlie
Console: Nintendo Famicom
Developer: Soft Pro
Release Date: 4th March 1986

Circus Charlie is a platform game where players control a circus performer through 5 different circus events; riding a lion, tightrope walking whilst jumping over monkeys, balancing on large balls, riding a horse and swinging on high ropes. Each of the events controls a little differently, but the controls remain the same, the control pad is used to move with the button used to jump. Stages 1 and 2 are particularly easy, and shouldn't trouble players too much once they've passed them a few times.

Stage 3 and 4 however are slightly poorly designed in that it's much more difficult to judge the jump length and what's required not to lose a life. The last stage in the game seems more like the first in its difficulty, so it's strange to see such a change in difficulty in the middle period of the game. If players manage to clear all 5 stages without losing all their lives then the game loops and each stage is played again.

Graphically Circus Charlie is simple, yet manages to effectively show off the theme of the game. The crowd are displayed as the classic NES repeating pattern, and flash to simulate applause. It's a shame that the background of the circus tent is simply black, but this does mean that the onscreen action can be displayed clearly. Soundwise there's some good music to accompany gameplay, but all other effects are white noise, which can become grating after a while.

Overall Circus Charlie is a simple game, but one that understands its own simplicity and offers responsive controls, a good concept and a fair level of difficulty, save for a single level. Having only been released in Japan, this game is part of the earlier crop of Famicom titles which bore a closer resemblance to home computer titles than post 1985 NES games.

Rating: 50/100
Grade: D

Game: Legend Of Kage

Console: Nintendo Entertainment System

Developer: TOSE

Release Date: 1987

As an arcade title, The Legend of Kage felt pretty great, jumping about through trees and throwing shuriken around at enemies. On the NES, the experience feels not only a little watered down but somewhat more difficult. Having definitely got a few levels into the arcade game, it took many tries to even clear the first level of the game, and it's not really clear when the first level ends; as far as I can tell there's an opponent that randomly appears who must be defeated to continue, but he seems to arrive when he likes. 

The other levels are also basically the same as the arcade version with slightly worse sprites and less detail overall. The controls are also somewhat irritating as the jump button has been mapped to up on the control pad, due to Kage having both a shuriken and a katana attack. Aside from this though, the game plays almost as well as the arcade version, though there were issues with that too.

Graphically the game features faceless sprites, basic shapes and a lack of interest in its backgrounds. Later on in the game there's some repetitive walls which are used as backgrounds and overall it's pretty unimaginative. Soundwise however, there's a nice track or two behind the game and it's refreshing to see an NES game with music all the way through the action.

Overall The Legend of Kage is pretty average as a game, the controls are a bit fiddly, the levels boring, the difficulty level somewhat uneven and the plot fairly cliché. It's something that most players should try once, and need never play again.

Rating: 49/100
Grade; D

Game: Adventure Island
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Hudson Soft
Release Date: 1988

Adventure Island had a strange start to life; originally supposed to be a port of Wonder Boy to the NES, Sega's license to the Wonder Boy series meant that the characters and story had to be changed in order to remove any similarities. What was left was a surprisingly solid platformer with some original elements and plenty of charm. Players take control of Master Higgins, who is on a quest to rescue a female on a pacific island.

With 8 areas of 4 rounds each for 32 levels total, and checkpoints throughout each round the game is pretty expansive for an NES cartridge and rivals Super Mario Bros. in terms of content. While the platforming isn't quite as spot on as in the Nintendo classic, Adventure island still manages to provide a good feel to the game, with an axe weapon which can be thrown, a skateboard power-up to speed through levels and some other fun goodies hidden within eggs across the game's levels.

Graphically the game is bright and interesting, featuring many different locations throughout the levels of the game, and providing a fairly relaxed feeling except for maybe the boss battles. The music changes as the levels change and the tunes featured are enjoyable and fitting for the game. The only real downside is the inclusion of a depleting health meter which must be topped up with fruit constantly throughout the levels, encouraging players to keep moving through the levels, when a simple timer would have sufficed.

Overall Adventure Island is a classic NES title, and probably the best game I'll be looking at within this 12 Days of NESmas feature. The platforming is solid, and the controls are great, allowing players to feel as if they're in full command of their actions. The levels are varied and plentiful, the enemies are inventive and brightly coloured and the boss battles are fun and exciting. If you like 8-bit platformers then this is definitely a game to check out.

Rating: 80/100
Grade: B

Game: Mappy
Console: Nintendo Famicom
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 14th November 1984

Mappy is an interesting game where players take on the role of a police mouse, collecting stolen property from around a house using trampolines of sorts to boost themselves up to each floor and doors to stun enemies. It's pretty quirky and takes a little getting used to, but having been an arcade game, there's some fast paced and fun action to be had.

Once all of the stolen goods have been collected for the round, players progress to the next house which is laid out a little differently to the last. This means that gameplay can become a little repetitive, as the game's main concept remains throughout with only the level layout changing. As a fairly early Famicom game, it's better than a lot of its contemporaries.

Graphically the game is fairly simple with each house laid out in a 2D cutaway view, with different roof and floor colours in each level. As the game progresses more and more stolen goods must be recovered, and there are more enemies also. The game's soundtrack is light hearted and fitting for the game, but can become a little repetitive as the only accompaniment.

Overall it's fairly obvious as to why Mappy never made it to American or European NES consoles; because it's such an early game, by the time the NES came out in the west, there were far better games and platformers to choose from. The unique concept can still be appreciated, and I personally enjoy having a copy of the Famicom cartridge, though it has no real rarity or value.

Rating: 55/100
Grade: D