Hi hi all, summer is about over, school is starting again, so I figured I’d recap the games I’ve played over the summer, most were for the first time but a few were replays to affirm my opinion on them. I may get around to doing longer reviews of some of these eventually, but those take an insane amount of work, so I decided to do some shorter reviews instead. I'll do a few games in this post, and might make another for the other games I played
Thunder Force IV (known in the US as Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar)
System: Genesis, also has a Switch port (but I played on Genesis)
Release Year: 1992
Genre: Shmup
Completion Notes: 1CCed Normal Mode, thinking of going back and playing Hard and possibly Maniac mode at some point.
Let's get the most well-known aspect of this game out of the way: Thunder Force IV's OST is fucking INCREDIBLE. The Genesis's FM Audio soundchip is a bit controversial since it's more obtuse and less versatile than the SNES's sequenced audio, but composers Takeshi Yoshida and Toshiharu Yamanishi (had to look them up since I don't know their names :/) expertly use it to produce some killer rock music, reflected in the game's most iconic track, Metal Squad. Like seriously, if you don't think the Genesis is capable of amazing music, LISTEN TO METAL SQUAD. The thing is though, TFIV’s soundtrack isn't limited to the composers flexing their technical mastery of making unique video game music, but it’s all legitimately well composed and catchy too: the game straight-up has good tunes. Metal Squad's roaring guitars are mindblowing the first time you listen to it, yes, but once the initial excitement wears off it still holds up because of how enjoyable that melody is; I still find myself humming the song's hook and love the lead-in to it. You can find similarly excellent rock in the heroic start to the game, Fighting Back, Sea of Flames, which fits well with one of the game's most intense stages (not hardest mind you), and the awesome credits theme Stand Up Against Myself. The soundtrack isn’t even just limited to this sound; TFIV still has plenty of less metal tracks like the wonderful melodies of Space Walk and Sand Hell, the intense Battle Ship and The Danger Zone, which perfectly complement the game's most climactic moments, and the beautiful tune you hear at the end of a run, Because You’re the Number One. The one disappointment in the OST is the boss themes, as a lot of them feel very same-y, or at the very least short/repetitive, though not bad (Phantom, however, is an extremely well-fitting song for the game’s toughest boss fight). Ultimately, while I don't necessarily love EVERY song, none of the songs are bad, and the excellent stuff very much outweighs the decent/meh stuff.
Much like Plok and Streets of Rage, I think people focus a lot on the game's OST and end up forgetting that Thunder Force IV itself is still a damn good game. Thanks to its faster processor (BLAST PROCESSING if you will) alongside its more hardcore appeal, the Genesis tended to be a much better system than the SNES when it came to Shmups, considering how the likes of Gradius III were quite prone to lag, and Thunder Force IV is quite possibly the best Shmup to come out on 16-bit consoles. Its greatness really comes down to its excellent production values and how they complement the gameplay. We've already established how good TFIV's OST is, but alongside that is the incredible sound design. The sound of exploding enemy ships, bullets hitting bosses...the swift yet brutal sound of your own death, it all helps make for an exhilarating experience. The graphics too are damn good, from the design of bosses, to the detailed backgrounds and parallax scrolling (although they get less interesting in the 2nd half of the game), to even the sprite effects and animations used to explosions and bullets. While it may seem minor to bring this stuff up, they subtly help make the game incredibly satisfying to play compared to most other Shmups of the time. TFIV generally has a steady framerate, but unfortunately, it does have its moments of lagging like crazy, and you can make the game lag on the fly by using the sprite-intensive Blade or Hunter weapons, which can feel a bit cheap, but sometimes you need that edge in gameplay.
The actual gameplay is a tad standard, though it's so well-polished that it really doesn't matter. Each level has some great midbosses, set-pieces, and/or gimmicks. Obviously your ship is plenty of fun to control, with an adjustable movement speed and a good number of fun weapons that you can switch between on the fly. However, two weapons stand out as particularly centralizing: Hunter, which you get in Stage 2, shoots out a ridiculous amount of homing bullets that will invalidate pretty much every enemy besides bosses and mid-bosses, and even then it's still useful on a few boss fights, and the Thunder Sword, a close-range charged attack you can use starting at the halfway mark that is stupidly powerful and can be used to quick-kill bosses. That does bring up one of the other issues with the game: A lot of the bosses are just way too long when you're lacking in weapons, which makes for some fights that are rather tense and unnerving, since you'll really feel the tension of trying to win the fight without hitting the Game Over screen, but for the easier boss fights that you know how to win with the right weapons, it can just serve to be a frustrating drag.
But, there’s really no beating around the bush on what the game's main point of contention is: the difficulty. If you're inexperienced with Shmups like I was, be warned that, like a lot of classic Shmups, Thunder Force IV is HARD. Like, really fucking hard.
I think I’ve been playing this game on and off for over 2 years and I only finally managed to finally beat the game earlier this year, and then it took a few more tries to 1CC it. Unlike Ninja Gaiden, which eases players in with its surprisingly easy opening stages before entering bullshit territory, TFIV has no issue sending unassuming players (i.e. me) to the Game Over screen partway through Stage 1. Also, as with most shmups, TFIV has one-hit kills and limited continues if you hit the Game Over screen, so expect to be replaying the same levels over and over until you've mastered them, only to get stuck on whatever comes next and be prepared to do everything all over again. Considering how short TFIV is, at around 45-60 minutes, I guess you could compare it to a Roguelike in that sense...though obviously the repeat playthroughs are static. Additionally, whatever weapon you have currently equipped is lost upon dying. After Stage 2, the next time you can get Hunter is on Stage 8, so you better not die while using it or else Stages 3, 5, and 6 are going to much harder. While there are frequent Shield power-ups that give you a few extra hits before dying, death still comes swiftly in TFIV. While dying almost always feels deserved, part of that feeling comes down to just how clearly unrelenting the game is. There is unfortunately still a noticeable amount of cheap deaths, and there is a BIG focus on memorization and replaying the game constantly to learn of ideal strategies to finishing the game. I personally really like this tactical aspect of challenging games, it's one of the reasons I think Katana ZERO is so excellent, but because of its limited continues and just how tough it is, Thunder Force IV is a particularly daunting and sometimes frustrating experience. It also doesn't help that some of those tactics boil down to "don't lose Hunter" or involve purposely shooting with Hunter or Blade to lag the game so that it's easier to dodge things.
And yet, I still managed to get through it all. As hard as Thunder Force IV was, fact is that the game was also satisfying as hell to play. When you are in a winning position, it simultaneously feels like a power fantasy, and yet you're also just barely gliding over the hand of Death. I definitely felt accomplished being able to say I beat the game considering how much effort it took to get there. Still, at the end of the day, Thunder Force IV is a 16-bit Shmup, and you can only make a 16-bit Shmup so good. The game's difficulty is honestly not that bad once you know the game front-to-back (well okay, what game isn't) but it takes an insane amount of time just to get to that point, and that's only on Normal mode. I've tried playing on the Hard and Maniac difficulties, and they are noticeably tougher than Normal, I can't even cleanly beat the first few stages on those modes. As great as it is, Thunder Force IV isn't a game I can give a general recommendation given how hard it is (even on Easy), but if you're a fan of Shmups/Bullet Hells or are looking for a challenge, then I'd highly recommend you go check it out. Be aware that if you're playing TFIV on an older emulator like Kega Fusion, the game will be less lag-prone than on console, which seems good on the surface, but it will often result in the game being a tad harder than it should be.
High 7 to Low 8 / 10 (Legit good).
System: Genesis, also has a Switch port (but I played on Genesis)
Release Year: 1992
Genre: Shmup
Completion Notes: 1CCed Normal Mode, thinking of going back and playing Hard and possibly Maniac mode at some point.
Let's get the most well-known aspect of this game out of the way: Thunder Force IV's OST is fucking INCREDIBLE. The Genesis's FM Audio soundchip is a bit controversial since it's more obtuse and less versatile than the SNES's sequenced audio, but composers Takeshi Yoshida and Toshiharu Yamanishi (had to look them up since I don't know their names :/) expertly use it to produce some killer rock music, reflected in the game's most iconic track, Metal Squad. Like seriously, if you don't think the Genesis is capable of amazing music, LISTEN TO METAL SQUAD. The thing is though, TFIV’s soundtrack isn't limited to the composers flexing their technical mastery of making unique video game music, but it’s all legitimately well composed and catchy too: the game straight-up has good tunes. Metal Squad's roaring guitars are mindblowing the first time you listen to it, yes, but once the initial excitement wears off it still holds up because of how enjoyable that melody is; I still find myself humming the song's hook and love the lead-in to it. You can find similarly excellent rock in the heroic start to the game, Fighting Back, Sea of Flames, which fits well with one of the game's most intense stages (not hardest mind you), and the awesome credits theme Stand Up Against Myself. The soundtrack isn’t even just limited to this sound; TFIV still has plenty of less metal tracks like the wonderful melodies of Space Walk and Sand Hell, the intense Battle Ship and The Danger Zone, which perfectly complement the game's most climactic moments, and the beautiful tune you hear at the end of a run, Because You’re the Number One. The one disappointment in the OST is the boss themes, as a lot of them feel very same-y, or at the very least short/repetitive, though not bad (Phantom, however, is an extremely well-fitting song for the game’s toughest boss fight). Ultimately, while I don't necessarily love EVERY song, none of the songs are bad, and the excellent stuff very much outweighs the decent/meh stuff.
Much like Plok and Streets of Rage, I think people focus a lot on the game's OST and end up forgetting that Thunder Force IV itself is still a damn good game. Thanks to its faster processor (BLAST PROCESSING if you will) alongside its more hardcore appeal, the Genesis tended to be a much better system than the SNES when it came to Shmups, considering how the likes of Gradius III were quite prone to lag, and Thunder Force IV is quite possibly the best Shmup to come out on 16-bit consoles. Its greatness really comes down to its excellent production values and how they complement the gameplay. We've already established how good TFIV's OST is, but alongside that is the incredible sound design. The sound of exploding enemy ships, bullets hitting bosses...the swift yet brutal sound of your own death, it all helps make for an exhilarating experience. The graphics too are damn good, from the design of bosses, to the detailed backgrounds and parallax scrolling (although they get less interesting in the 2nd half of the game), to even the sprite effects and animations used to explosions and bullets. While it may seem minor to bring this stuff up, they subtly help make the game incredibly satisfying to play compared to most other Shmups of the time. TFIV generally has a steady framerate, but unfortunately, it does have its moments of lagging like crazy, and you can make the game lag on the fly by using the sprite-intensive Blade or Hunter weapons, which can feel a bit cheap, but sometimes you need that edge in gameplay.
The actual gameplay is a tad standard, though it's so well-polished that it really doesn't matter. Each level has some great midbosses, set-pieces, and/or gimmicks. Obviously your ship is plenty of fun to control, with an adjustable movement speed and a good number of fun weapons that you can switch between on the fly. However, two weapons stand out as particularly centralizing: Hunter, which you get in Stage 2, shoots out a ridiculous amount of homing bullets that will invalidate pretty much every enemy besides bosses and mid-bosses, and even then it's still useful on a few boss fights, and the Thunder Sword, a close-range charged attack you can use starting at the halfway mark that is stupidly powerful and can be used to quick-kill bosses. That does bring up one of the other issues with the game: A lot of the bosses are just way too long when you're lacking in weapons, which makes for some fights that are rather tense and unnerving, since you'll really feel the tension of trying to win the fight without hitting the Game Over screen, but for the easier boss fights that you know how to win with the right weapons, it can just serve to be a frustrating drag.
But, there’s really no beating around the bush on what the game's main point of contention is: the difficulty. If you're inexperienced with Shmups like I was, be warned that, like a lot of classic Shmups, Thunder Force IV is HARD. Like, really fucking hard.
I think I’ve been playing this game on and off for over 2 years and I only finally managed to finally beat the game earlier this year, and then it took a few more tries to 1CC it. Unlike Ninja Gaiden, which eases players in with its surprisingly easy opening stages before entering bullshit territory, TFIV has no issue sending unassuming players (i.e. me) to the Game Over screen partway through Stage 1. Also, as with most shmups, TFIV has one-hit kills and limited continues if you hit the Game Over screen, so expect to be replaying the same levels over and over until you've mastered them, only to get stuck on whatever comes next and be prepared to do everything all over again. Considering how short TFIV is, at around 45-60 minutes, I guess you could compare it to a Roguelike in that sense...though obviously the repeat playthroughs are static. Additionally, whatever weapon you have currently equipped is lost upon dying. After Stage 2, the next time you can get Hunter is on Stage 8, so you better not die while using it or else Stages 3, 5, and 6 are going to much harder. While there are frequent Shield power-ups that give you a few extra hits before dying, death still comes swiftly in TFIV. While dying almost always feels deserved, part of that feeling comes down to just how clearly unrelenting the game is. There is unfortunately still a noticeable amount of cheap deaths, and there is a BIG focus on memorization and replaying the game constantly to learn of ideal strategies to finishing the game. I personally really like this tactical aspect of challenging games, it's one of the reasons I think Katana ZERO is so excellent, but because of its limited continues and just how tough it is, Thunder Force IV is a particularly daunting and sometimes frustrating experience. It also doesn't help that some of those tactics boil down to "don't lose Hunter" or involve purposely shooting with Hunter or Blade to lag the game so that it's easier to dodge things.
And yet, I still managed to get through it all. As hard as Thunder Force IV was, fact is that the game was also satisfying as hell to play. When you are in a winning position, it simultaneously feels like a power fantasy, and yet you're also just barely gliding over the hand of Death. I definitely felt accomplished being able to say I beat the game considering how much effort it took to get there. Still, at the end of the day, Thunder Force IV is a 16-bit Shmup, and you can only make a 16-bit Shmup so good. The game's difficulty is honestly not that bad once you know the game front-to-back (well okay, what game isn't) but it takes an insane amount of time just to get to that point, and that's only on Normal mode. I've tried playing on the Hard and Maniac difficulties, and they are noticeably tougher than Normal, I can't even cleanly beat the first few stages on those modes. As great as it is, Thunder Force IV isn't a game I can give a general recommendation given how hard it is (even on Easy), but if you're a fan of Shmups/Bullet Hells or are looking for a challenge, then I'd highly recommend you go check it out. Be aware that if you're playing TFIV on an older emulator like Kega Fusion, the game will be less lag-prone than on console, which seems good on the surface, but it will often result in the game being a tad harder than it should be.
High 7 to Low 8 / 10 (Legit good).
To the Moon
System: PC, Mobile, Switch (I played on PC)
Release Year: 2011
Genre: Adventure, Walking Simulator
Completion Notes: Beat it before back in 2017, beat it again recently to confirm my opinion on it.
To the Moon is not a good game. It sucks saying that to a much-adored indie game, but I honestly did not like this one, and that's coming from someone who's played a fair share of Adventure/Visual Novel games.
Let’s tackle the basic problems. The graphics: They are bland as hell due to the game being built in an old version of RPG Maker. By extension, the game’s interfaces and controls are very clunky and the game also lacks much in the way of settings on PC, resulting in the game always being fullscreen in an incredibly low resolution. The soundtrack is boring, some of the songs feel cliche, but most are moody piano tunes that are largely forgettable due to bleeding together. The gameplay basically boils down to running around a clunky RPG overworld to find certain interactables and solving some extremely basic tiles puzzles, hell even the tile puzzles disappear after Act 1, and your movement speed varies depending on what part of the game you are on, making some sections incredibly slow. There is an interesting puzzle in Act 2, but I’m pretty sure I solved it with an incorrect solution.
That leaves the game’s narrative. It is true that To the Moon is a narratively driven game, but it is NOT a good narrative. The story itself is compelling enough and has a cool setup: Look through a terminally ill patient’s memories and change them so that they remember themselves being an astronaut and going to the moon before they die. It’s pretty melodramatic and bland, but it has a very moody atmosphere and is fairly fleshed out, as things set up in Act 1 do have a pay-off. The more consistent problems, however, are the characters and writing. The characters are bland as hell and lack much in terms of personality or anything interesting; I can’t recall the names of most of the cast let alone describe them. The two playable characters have personality, but they also totally break the game’s serious tone with some really cringe-inducing writing that sometimes devolves to just referencing things; it occasionally becomes a little too obvious that this was an indie game made in 2011 (Doctor Who references? Really?). I know it makes sense narratively for these characters to act this way, since this is just another day of work for them, but it doesn’t make for an entertaining experience. The story is enjoyable enough for Act 1, but Act 2 is largely a waste of time and the developments at the start of Act 3 are eye-rolling. But then we get to the climax and ending, which are awful. The finale doesn’t make any sense narratively (How the HELL is River the one preventing Johnny from going to the Moon, the loss of his brother is the fundamental reason) and is INCREDIBLY emotionally manipulative considering that sappy song during the disappearance sequence and how it back-pedals on all of that right afterwards.
When I took all of this into account, I realized something…To the Moon has nothing going for it. The graphics are mediocre, the gameplay is mediocre, the soundtrack is mediocre, and they even managed to botch the story. At least with other flawed Adventure games that I've played, there was something they had going for them. Time Hollow was also kinda bland and had lackluster gameplay, but it was a more solid experience overall, had some interesting ideas, and a half-decent ending. Snatcher also suffered from a massively disappointing finale, but the rest of the game up to that point was great across the board. Metal Slader Glory's plot was messy, contrived, and had mostly weak characters, but for a 1991 NES game, it still had one surprisingly good character in Elena, and the game itself had some extremely impressive (and at times forward-thinking) gameplay sequences and graphics. (I should talk about this game some time lol). While I hesitate to call To the Moon outright bad, since it wasn’t a straight-up pain to play, I can’t say I came out of this game with a positive outlook.
High 3 to Low 4 / 10 (Not Good). Might do a full review on this one…though I’ll need to replay the game again uggggh
System: PC, Mobile, Switch (I played on PC)
Release Year: 2011
Genre: Adventure, Walking Simulator
Completion Notes: Beat it before back in 2017, beat it again recently to confirm my opinion on it.
To the Moon is not a good game. It sucks saying that to a much-adored indie game, but I honestly did not like this one, and that's coming from someone who's played a fair share of Adventure/Visual Novel games.
Let’s tackle the basic problems. The graphics: They are bland as hell due to the game being built in an old version of RPG Maker. By extension, the game’s interfaces and controls are very clunky and the game also lacks much in the way of settings on PC, resulting in the game always being fullscreen in an incredibly low resolution. The soundtrack is boring, some of the songs feel cliche, but most are moody piano tunes that are largely forgettable due to bleeding together. The gameplay basically boils down to running around a clunky RPG overworld to find certain interactables and solving some extremely basic tiles puzzles, hell even the tile puzzles disappear after Act 1, and your movement speed varies depending on what part of the game you are on, making some sections incredibly slow. There is an interesting puzzle in Act 2, but I’m pretty sure I solved it with an incorrect solution.
That leaves the game’s narrative. It is true that To the Moon is a narratively driven game, but it is NOT a good narrative. The story itself is compelling enough and has a cool setup: Look through a terminally ill patient’s memories and change them so that they remember themselves being an astronaut and going to the moon before they die. It’s pretty melodramatic and bland, but it has a very moody atmosphere and is fairly fleshed out, as things set up in Act 1 do have a pay-off. The more consistent problems, however, are the characters and writing. The characters are bland as hell and lack much in terms of personality or anything interesting; I can’t recall the names of most of the cast let alone describe them. The two playable characters have personality, but they also totally break the game’s serious tone with some really cringe-inducing writing that sometimes devolves to just referencing things; it occasionally becomes a little too obvious that this was an indie game made in 2011 (Doctor Who references? Really?). I know it makes sense narratively for these characters to act this way, since this is just another day of work for them, but it doesn’t make for an entertaining experience. The story is enjoyable enough for Act 1, but Act 2 is largely a waste of time and the developments at the start of Act 3 are eye-rolling. But then we get to the climax and ending, which are awful. The finale doesn’t make any sense narratively (How the HELL is River the one preventing Johnny from going to the Moon, the loss of his brother is the fundamental reason) and is INCREDIBLY emotionally manipulative considering that sappy song during the disappearance sequence and how it back-pedals on all of that right afterwards.
When I took all of this into account, I realized something…To the Moon has nothing going for it. The graphics are mediocre, the gameplay is mediocre, the soundtrack is mediocre, and they even managed to botch the story. At least with other flawed Adventure games that I've played, there was something they had going for them. Time Hollow was also kinda bland and had lackluster gameplay, but it was a more solid experience overall, had some interesting ideas, and a half-decent ending. Snatcher also suffered from a massively disappointing finale, but the rest of the game up to that point was great across the board. Metal Slader Glory's plot was messy, contrived, and had mostly weak characters, but for a 1991 NES game, it still had one surprisingly good character in Elena, and the game itself had some extremely impressive (and at times forward-thinking) gameplay sequences and graphics. (I should talk about this game some time lol). While I hesitate to call To the Moon outright bad, since it wasn’t a straight-up pain to play, I can’t say I came out of this game with a positive outlook.
High 3 to Low 4 / 10 (Not Good). Might do a full review on this one…though I’ll need to replay the game again uggggh
Super Mario Galaxy
System: Wii, Wii U eShop (I played on Wii)
Release Year: 2007
Genre: 3D Platformer
Completion Notes: Beat this over 10 years ago as a kid, but I didn't get all 120 Stars at the time. Got 60 Stars, and was working on getting all 120 before the announcement
Welp this is a coincidence, I was revisiting Super Mario Galaxy for the first time in 10 years and they announced the Switch port xd
But really, this game is excellent. The planet gameplay and physics system still makes for one the most magical gameplay experiences I've ever had. There really is nothing quite like leaping off the edge of the planet and feeling gravity take its course. Sure, the non-planet levels are more standard Mario fare, but they're still very fun, and they at least help break up the pace from the more grand and serious levels. Soundtrack obviously has stellar peaks as well. Really my main complaints are the non-timed Purple Coin missions, which are a massive slog to get through, especially if you end up dying, and the low-res graphics, which are really starting to show their age on modern TVs, so I'm really excited to play the game again in HD :D . I've also noticed the game's levels are shorter and easier than I remember, but I guess that's just what happens with the passage of time, and they're a blast to play regardless.
Yeah okay I don't have much to say about this Galaxy 1; this game's awesome, you know it, I know it, I'm probably going to play this again on 3D All-Stars, let's move on.
Low 9 / 10 (Amazing.)
System: Wii, Wii U eShop (I played on Wii)
Release Year: 2007
Genre: 3D Platformer
Completion Notes: Beat this over 10 years ago as a kid, but I didn't get all 120 Stars at the time. Got 60 Stars, and was working on getting all 120 before the announcement
Welp this is a coincidence, I was revisiting Super Mario Galaxy for the first time in 10 years and they announced the Switch port xd
But really, this game is excellent. The planet gameplay and physics system still makes for one the most magical gameplay experiences I've ever had. There really is nothing quite like leaping off the edge of the planet and feeling gravity take its course. Sure, the non-planet levels are more standard Mario fare, but they're still very fun, and they at least help break up the pace from the more grand and serious levels. Soundtrack obviously has stellar peaks as well. Really my main complaints are the non-timed Purple Coin missions, which are a massive slog to get through, especially if you end up dying, and the low-res graphics, which are really starting to show their age on modern TVs, so I'm really excited to play the game again in HD :D . I've also noticed the game's levels are shorter and easier than I remember, but I guess that's just what happens with the passage of time, and they're a blast to play regardless.
Yeah okay I don't have much to say about this Galaxy 1; this game's awesome, you know it, I know it, I'm probably going to play this again on 3D All-Stars, let's move on.
Low 9 / 10 (Amazing.)
Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (known in PAL as Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies)
System: Wii, Wii U eShop (I played on Wii)
Release Year: 2010
Genre: Rail Shooter, Ultra Crazy Action Game
Completion Notes: Beat Normal Isa and Hard Kachi once each, then did several 1CC runs of Easy Isa and Easy Isa+Kachi
Developed by Treasure, a team of Ex-Konami employees known for making crazy and unique action games (Basically, they're the 90s and 00s equivalent of PlatinumGames, albeit without as much commercial success), and published by Nintendo, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor is the sequel to a Japan-only N64 title and was released to meh sales but critical acclaim. Unfortunately, Star Successor was completely forgotten by the time of end-of-year awards, as it was not only a niche title, but it released very close to Super Mario Galaxy 2. Even nowadays I rarely see it even mentioned, let alone meaningfully discussed. Star Successor has been sitting on my shelf for a few years now and having played it several times to completion over the past few months, I can confidently say that not only did I have fun with it, but…this is one of my favorite games of all-time. It’s a very short game, a deathless playthrough will last just over 2 hours (though if you’re playing on Normal or Hard mode death is pretty inevitable), but those 2 hours are nothing short of an incredibly paced roller coaster ride of action. The sheer amount of stuff crammed into these levels is insane, I am still finding new level details and enemies with my most recent playthrough. The boss fights are incredible, and the sheer amount of them is insane; in Stage 2 (the tutorial level is considered Stage 0), there are THREE multi-phase boss fights and two other bosses that are still very well fleshed out. You’ll constantly feel like you’ve reached the end of a level when you beat a boss, only for the game to not only keep going, but to somehow top it with an even more incredible boss fight. And it all culminates in a spectacular finale; Stage 7 is definitely a contender for my favorite video game level at the moment thanks to amazing fights, and the bosses at the end of Stage 6 were fantastic too.
And yet, even after you’ve beaten the game, you can replay it on Hard Mode. While Normal Mode is already decently tough, Hard Mode is nothing short of brutal, as every section past Stage 2 is very well capable of killing you, and it demands that you get well-versed with the game's boss fights. And yet, Hard Mode is still plenty fair thanks to its lenient checkpoints. You can attempt to go for a high score, though it requires you to beat the game deathless in one sitting (no save+quitting), hence why my later playthroughs were on Easy, as beating even Normal Mode deathless in one go is a daunting task. It's when going for high scores that you quickly realize Star Successor has an utterly insane skill ceiling, as an optimal score is based on you shooting everything (reminder, there is a LOOOT of stuff that you are capable of shooting at)…and never ever taking damage…and killing bosses quickly (or beating them at the last second for a small bonus)…and staying on the ground rather than the air to get a bonus for how long you’re staying…AND collect hidden medals in each stage obtained for accomplishing secret tasks. Even if you TASed the game, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find the maximum possible score. To top it all off, the controls and combat of the game are surprisingly simple and yet have a shocking amount of depth thanks to your melee attack, which doubles as a parry for enemy projectiles (and yes, hitting enemies with reflected projectiles also gives bonus points), and the game has a wonderful OST by Treasure mainstay Norio Hanzawa, with Arcade game-inspired EDM bangers like the menu theme System, Stage 2, Stage 3 Part 2 [unofficially called Saki], Stage 4 Part 3 [aka Abyss], the Nebulox Boss theme, and the later Major Boss theme [aka War], just to name a few, as I really liked pretty much every song in the game. While there are two particular songs that stand as my favorites, they are unfortunately very spoiler-y due to playing at the very end of the game, but if you’d like to listen to them, they are Morph, which plays in the brilliant final 2 minutes of gameplay, and Anokoroe, the main credits theme.
As much as I'm gushing, and just on a surface level at that, I know Star Successor is not a perfect game. While Star Successor runs incredibly well technically and rarely lags, considering just how much is on-screen at any given time, the graphics themselves are not the most impressive by 2010 standards. Stage 6, as good as its ending is, drags on for a little too long, has sparse checkpoints, and has some relatively subpar and gimmicky bosses. The game is probably too short and content-lacking to please those who don’t care about a high score, since all you get is playing the game or individual stages with 3 difficulties and 3 fundamentally similar characters, there's little in the way of unlockables and it's so disappointing that this game lacks any sort of Boss Rush modes. Those that play for high scores may find the game extremely long by Arcade game standards (which are usually around an hour at most) and may be annoyed at the lack of options for practicing the game. The Wiimote + Nunchuck, as great as it is, is also the only viable control option, as Dual Analog is too slow for how demanding this game's combat gets. But ultimately, these flaws don't hold the game back much in my eyes, as I could just as easily go into extensive detail about how amazing each part of the game is.
It’s depressing how overlooked Star Successor is, especially since it effectively serves as Treasure’s last game. But at the very least, Treasure’s developers can be proud to have ended on the highest note of their careers, at least based on what I’ve played from them. Fans of Action games in general, especially Rail Shooters, Bullet Hells, Character Action Games, and 2D Action games, NEEEEEED to play Star Successor. The physical copies are not even that expensive and it's also available digitally on Wii U eShop. Hell it even plays pretty well on Dolphin with Keyboard + Mouse, just play it any way you can. Please.
Low 9 to Mid 9 / 10 (Amazing.) I REALLY want to do a more extensive review of this game some time, hell I kinda want to do a Youtube review.
System: Wii, Wii U eShop (I played on Wii)
Release Year: 2010
Genre: Rail Shooter, Ultra Crazy Action Game
Completion Notes: Beat Normal Isa and Hard Kachi once each, then did several 1CC runs of Easy Isa and Easy Isa+Kachi
Developed by Treasure, a team of Ex-Konami employees known for making crazy and unique action games (Basically, they're the 90s and 00s equivalent of PlatinumGames, albeit without as much commercial success), and published by Nintendo, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor is the sequel to a Japan-only N64 title and was released to meh sales but critical acclaim. Unfortunately, Star Successor was completely forgotten by the time of end-of-year awards, as it was not only a niche title, but it released very close to Super Mario Galaxy 2. Even nowadays I rarely see it even mentioned, let alone meaningfully discussed. Star Successor has been sitting on my shelf for a few years now and having played it several times to completion over the past few months, I can confidently say that not only did I have fun with it, but…this is one of my favorite games of all-time. It’s a very short game, a deathless playthrough will last just over 2 hours (though if you’re playing on Normal or Hard mode death is pretty inevitable), but those 2 hours are nothing short of an incredibly paced roller coaster ride of action. The sheer amount of stuff crammed into these levels is insane, I am still finding new level details and enemies with my most recent playthrough. The boss fights are incredible, and the sheer amount of them is insane; in Stage 2 (the tutorial level is considered Stage 0), there are THREE multi-phase boss fights and two other bosses that are still very well fleshed out. You’ll constantly feel like you’ve reached the end of a level when you beat a boss, only for the game to not only keep going, but to somehow top it with an even more incredible boss fight. And it all culminates in a spectacular finale; Stage 7 is definitely a contender for my favorite video game level at the moment thanks to amazing fights, and the bosses at the end of Stage 6 were fantastic too.
And yet, even after you’ve beaten the game, you can replay it on Hard Mode. While Normal Mode is already decently tough, Hard Mode is nothing short of brutal, as every section past Stage 2 is very well capable of killing you, and it demands that you get well-versed with the game's boss fights. And yet, Hard Mode is still plenty fair thanks to its lenient checkpoints. You can attempt to go for a high score, though it requires you to beat the game deathless in one sitting (no save+quitting), hence why my later playthroughs were on Easy, as beating even Normal Mode deathless in one go is a daunting task. It's when going for high scores that you quickly realize Star Successor has an utterly insane skill ceiling, as an optimal score is based on you shooting everything (reminder, there is a LOOOT of stuff that you are capable of shooting at)…and never ever taking damage…and killing bosses quickly (or beating them at the last second for a small bonus)…and staying on the ground rather than the air to get a bonus for how long you’re staying…AND collect hidden medals in each stage obtained for accomplishing secret tasks. Even if you TASed the game, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find the maximum possible score. To top it all off, the controls and combat of the game are surprisingly simple and yet have a shocking amount of depth thanks to your melee attack, which doubles as a parry for enemy projectiles (and yes, hitting enemies with reflected projectiles also gives bonus points), and the game has a wonderful OST by Treasure mainstay Norio Hanzawa, with Arcade game-inspired EDM bangers like the menu theme System, Stage 2, Stage 3 Part 2 [unofficially called Saki], Stage 4 Part 3 [aka Abyss], the Nebulox Boss theme, and the later Major Boss theme [aka War], just to name a few, as I really liked pretty much every song in the game. While there are two particular songs that stand as my favorites, they are unfortunately very spoiler-y due to playing at the very end of the game, but if you’d like to listen to them, they are Morph, which plays in the brilliant final 2 minutes of gameplay, and Anokoroe, the main credits theme.
As much as I'm gushing, and just on a surface level at that, I know Star Successor is not a perfect game. While Star Successor runs incredibly well technically and rarely lags, considering just how much is on-screen at any given time, the graphics themselves are not the most impressive by 2010 standards. Stage 6, as good as its ending is, drags on for a little too long, has sparse checkpoints, and has some relatively subpar and gimmicky bosses. The game is probably too short and content-lacking to please those who don’t care about a high score, since all you get is playing the game or individual stages with 3 difficulties and 3 fundamentally similar characters, there's little in the way of unlockables and it's so disappointing that this game lacks any sort of Boss Rush modes. Those that play for high scores may find the game extremely long by Arcade game standards (which are usually around an hour at most) and may be annoyed at the lack of options for practicing the game. The Wiimote + Nunchuck, as great as it is, is also the only viable control option, as Dual Analog is too slow for how demanding this game's combat gets. But ultimately, these flaws don't hold the game back much in my eyes, as I could just as easily go into extensive detail about how amazing each part of the game is.
It’s depressing how overlooked Star Successor is, especially since it effectively serves as Treasure’s last game. But at the very least, Treasure’s developers can be proud to have ended on the highest note of their careers, at least based on what I’ve played from them. Fans of Action games in general, especially Rail Shooters, Bullet Hells, Character Action Games, and 2D Action games, NEEEEEED to play Star Successor. The physical copies are not even that expensive and it's also available digitally on Wii U eShop. Hell it even plays pretty well on Dolphin with Keyboard + Mouse, just play it any way you can. Please.
Low 9 to Mid 9 / 10 (Amazing.) I REALLY want to do a more extensive review of this game some time, hell I kinda want to do a Youtube review.
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