- Has for sure earned its’ status as “hidden gem.” I have tried (though never finished) Gargoyle’s Quest (GB) and Gargoyle’s Quest II (NES) and this is the best one of the bunch.
- Collecting the power ups, exploring the world, slowly getting further and further into each level, is very rewarding. It’s a little bit of a Metroidvania except for the fact that Demon’s Crest has an overworld.
- Kinda short, but this is way more than compensated by the difficulty curve. 90% of the game is easy-medium challenge, and the last 2 bosses (Phalanx and the secret final boss) are brutally hard.
- Getting to the real final boss is sort of a pain because you’re required to collect every Life increase (i.e. max out your health), and the final Life increase is hidden behind a mini game that is EXTREMELY annoying. In general, I played this game for maybe 1-2 hours /night for a few days. There was one day when I did nothing other than work on that mini game.
- The music is shockingly good, and perfect for comfy late nights here in October. It always puts you in the mood of the level; I wish there was a lot more music in the game.
- Level design is good, monster/boss design is GREAT, though I did notice a lot of slowdown when there are tons of sprites on the screen.
- If you play this game, do not bother with any potions other than Ginseng, and do not bother with any spells at all. Every spell which seems like it might not be worthless, has a bug which makes it not work.
- The password system is a little annoying, since restoring from password does NOT save any of your gold (it does save the rest of your items) but I guess this is offset by a pretty generous Continue system (you can restart from not just the level you’re in, but the section of the level where you died)
サーフィン CLASSIC VIDYA REVIEW
Demon's Crest
(Completed on 6 Oct 2023)
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サーフィン CLASSIC VIDYA REVIEW
Dragon Warrior I&II
(Completed on 24 Aug 2023)
- This review only applies to Dragon Warrior I - have not yet played DWII on this cartridge
- It’s interesting to go back to the very, very beginning of the JRPG, considering what the term “JRPG” means today. This game is not that long, not that hard, and not too annoying and grindy.
- I don’t play that many ports or remakes of existing games, but this is another one where I made an exception out of pure curiosity. I did not know, going in, that the art style had been totally changed to look more like the Dragon Warrior Monsters style. DWM was my first ever Dragon Warrior game, so I enjoyed this change a lot and thought it was very nostalgic.
- There isn’t much replay value, and the story is pretty linear, but if you are interested in playing DWI as a historical artifact, this is a pretty good version. The music sounds awesome, the colors look good, and if you’ve played just about any other DW game then you have seen references to this one without knowing it.
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サーフィン CLASSIC VIDYA REVIEW
Mega Man Battle Network 2
(Completed on 18 Aug 2023)
- This particular completion is only good for 1 star; I have not done any of the postgame stuff or been to the WWW at all.
- For me, BN2 is the sweet spot of Battle Network games. The first one is too simplistic, and later ones are too complicated. It is, however, easy to see why so many of these got made. The gameplay is so, so, so much fun.
- In the last levels (Gospel computers in the Apartment) there’s even a throwback to old MegaMan music.
- The funnest way to play this game is to build a Gater folder as soon as possible, then use that to go around collecting all the chips you actually want. The entire game can be as hard or easy as you make it.
- I had this when it was released, but could never even get to the FreezeMan fight. Feels good to come back and get all the way through it.
- The only part which can be a little annoying is how long some of the fetch quests are. The world of this game is really, really big, and getting between all the areas can be time consuming. For me, this isn’t a dealbreaker, because the artwork, settings, people, and stuff to interact with all keeps the world interesting.
- Overall, belongs in the “still worth playing today” list. Highly recommend.
