• This is another one of those games where it seems like the creators knew that a lot of the levels are really, really annoying, and you’re going to die a lot, and therefore the game is required to have an awesome soundtrack. As many times as I got fed up with certain levels, the music kept me going.
• The WORST of the design decisions (Eggplant Wizard, the enemies that steal your items) are made up for by really, really good platforming.
• That said, this game has TERRIBLE balance. The first world is the hardest by a long shot. But, if you power yourself up correctly in those early stages, the rest of the stages get easier, and the game is actually a lot of fun.
• I found that the key to success was making sure to rack up 50k points in world 1-1. There’s no timer in this game, but the process of doing that takes FOREVER. It’s definitely worthwhile though.
• For such a simplistic game, the story is very coherent. There are 3 worlds (plus the final boss fight). World 1 is an escape from Hell, which is why you’re constantly climbing up. World 2 is on Earth and is a side scroller. World 3, you’re in the sky, climbing up again. Each world feels unique and entirely its’ own.
• Overall I see the flaws in this game and understand why people would have no patience for it, but if you can spend the time it takes to get through those first few levels the right way, the payoff is really good.

• I have played through this several times before, but this was the first time since beginning this little catalog of games beaten, so the result of this run is what’s posted.
• Didn’t go for 103%, so obviously got the bad ending and a bad spot on the leaderboards
• These games are famous for so much, probably not a lot new to say. I think the music on this one is almost as good as DKC2. Especially the later “factory” style levels, which at times are genuinely high-tension and scary.
• The levels themselves I think are the hardest in the series, but this iteration of K.Rool as the final boss is the easiest. I struggled much more with the last few levels leading up to K.Rool than I did with K.Rool himself
• The trade chain with the Bears is too simplistic and too irrelevant. They could have cut that entire aspect of this game, it does nothing at all. Would have been nice to feel rewarded for talking to them all, like completing a trade chain in Zelda.

• This game is truly incredible, and one of the best games I’ve played on any platform in a long time. It seems like Konami were experts at developing for the GBA at this point, since this is the third entry in the series
• There is literally nothing to complain about. Everything is perfect. Especially, as always, the music.
• I haven’t played enough Castlevania games to know where this one sits difficulty-wise, but it’s definitely harder than SotN and easier than the original on NES.
• Not entirely sure how they pulled this off, but it really seems like even though there’s a “leveling” system, it’s not easy to just grind your way out of your problems. Plenty of bosses are still really hard (the “Death” fight is really, really brutal)
• Replay value on this is huge, and I just might do it. After getting the “good” ending (pictured) once, you have the option to play in “Julius Mode,” which allows you to go through the entire game again, this time as a Belmont. (the first run through is a character who is played Alucard-style, where you’re collecting powers and equipping items and such)
• There is also a ‘Pokemon-like’ element to this game where you’re incentivized to collect as many enemy souls (thus absorbing their power) as possible. There’s even a reward for getting all of them.

• The premise of switching between a side scrolling action game and a civilization simulator doesn’t really sound like it could work, but it worked really well in this case. Especially for such an early SNES title.
• City building mechanics are a little wonky, but you eventually get the hang of it. There is definitely a lot of reward in getting deep into this game and all its’ menus and actually understanding it
• For some reason has a reputation for being kinda hard, but it really isn’t. The controls take some getting used to, because you can’t change direction while in midair. Some of the level design is also pretty brutal. But the continue system is very fair, and battery saves are supported.
• The narrative, character design, and music all go extremely well together. There are times before a big boss fight where the music cranks up that “80’s action hero” feeling, it’s very satisfying.
• Nothing in this game is so complicated or cryptic that it’s hard to understand today. This definitely belongs on the list of “still worth playing.”

• To be clear, this is only here because I played through ALttP. I’ve still never played Four Swords at all
• The GBA port of this game is…. Fine. There are some really nice quality of life features, and it seemed like a couple dungeons were changed so that you can’t get the game in an unwinnable state. And happily, nothing was cut from the original game; all the content from the SNES is here.
• But, the sound design is extremely, extremely annoying. Giving Link the same voice from OoT/MM is such a head scratcher. Of all things to change, why that?
• Not as annoying but very insulting: After you rescue the woman in the crystal at the end of each dungeon, she does her usual speech, just like on the SNES, but at the end of it, you’re prompted with the “did you understand all that?” question, and have to select between “yes” and “not at all.” I understand that this is an OoT reference but I thought it was annoying every time I saw it.
• There are some areas in the later dungeons with puzzles which were clearly designed for having more vertical viewing area. For example, hookshot targets which were on screen on the SNES, but which aren’t visible on the GBA. Same thing with some red/blue switches. There was probably no way around this, but it would seem a little unfair to someone playing this for the first time.
• I hate to just talk about the quality of this port and not say anything about the game itself, but surely everyone who wants to play this has played it by now. It’s an abject classic, it has that status for a reason, and GBA weirdness around the edges does NOT make it less fun overall. It is still worth playing today.

Nothing can possibly be said about the quality or content of this game. Everyone knows it is a masterpiece. For me, this and the original Legend of Zelda evoke such strong emotions, have such fleshed-out worlds, and feel so complete, it doesn’t even seem possible considering the years they were released. Instead of trying to do some kind of “review,” here is a description of how I did this particular run. I think this run strikes the right balance of fun, challenging, and not so time-consuming that you can’t do it in one sitting.

• Complete worlds 1 and 2 as normal, and DO NOT FORGET to get all 3 whistles.
• In World 1-2, do the ‘infinite lives’ trick if you think you might need them. This is the one where as Raccoon Mario, you can lure Goombas out of one of the ‘unlimited Goomba’ pipes, and bounce off their heads indefinitely. Repeat this enough times without touching the ground, and eventually they will become 1UPS instead of points. The Raccoon tail is needed so that you can slowly float down off one jump while waiting for the next Goomba to fall out of the pipe. In just 1 run, I was able to get my total lives up to 21 or 22 before the time got tight and I ran on to the end.
• Whistle locations reminder
  • Whistle 1: World 1-3. Do the trick at the end where you drop through the white block, then run ‘behind’ the goal area
  • Whistle 2: World 1 Fortress. In the area with the leaf power-up, stomp the dry bones, run as far as you can to the right, then run left to build up P-speed. Fly up and to the right, off screen, and you’ll land on a platform. Go as far right as you can, and you’ll get to a door. Go in the door to find a treasure box with Whistle 2
  • Whistle 3: World 2 secret area. Fight the Hammer Bros until you find the hammer. Use it in the upper-left-most corner of the map to reveal a secret path. Beat one more Hammer Bros in here to get Whistle 3. The group of Hammer Bros in the secret area are fireball bros, and I like to use a starman before going in here just to make sure there are no mistakes.
• After beating World 2 and landing in World 3, use a Whistle to go to the Warp Zone. From the Warp Zone, go to World 5
• In World 5, go as far as it takes to beat both Hammer Bros. If you want, you can also do a few more levels to rack up points, play the match game some more, and get more items. By this point, I was almost full of items and had to start dumping some.
• After at least beating both Hammer Bros in World 5, play the whistle 2 times. This will land you in World 8.
• Play through all of World 8 as normal. You should have plenty of lives and plenty of power-ups to get through it. For the really annoying fortress level, I used the Cloud to bypass it. For the really annoying fast-scrolling level (I think this is the hardest level in the game) I used one of my extra P-wings.

• This is the Ghostbusters II game which was made by HAL Laboratories, and never released in America due to licensing problems. America got the Activision ones, which are in no way like this game
• Pretty short game, especially if you know what you’re doing. I did not know what I was doing at first, and kept hitting a wall at the next-to-last boss. The continue system is pretty brutal: If you lose 3 lives, 3 times, you have to start the entire game over. There is no form of checkpoints, saving, or password system. Fighting all the way back to the boss where I was stuck did get pretty annoying, but I have persevered.
• Note for posterity: There are 3 game modes for Easy/Normal/Hard, and I just played this one on Normal.
• The soundtrack to this game is WAY better than it has any right to be. I had to look up who was responsible, and of course it’s Jun Ishikawa. It looks like this was one of his earliest jobs at HAL. He’s also still making Kirby soundtracks today, which is pretty cool. If not for the great music in this game, grinding back to the last place I got Game Over would have been a real chore.
• It’s a shame there were no other Ghostbusters games made in this style, because it has a LOT of potential. Would have been nice to be able to collect items or powerups or flesh out the ‘exploration’ aspect more. The only thing really to ‘collect’ is points (there is a system where you get an extra life at certain points milestones). You do get bonus points for meeting certain conditions like clearing rooms fast though.
• Interesting footnote of history: When you clear a room, a giant white arrow appears onscreen telling you which direction to go next. Very forward-looking of the developers to include things like ‘affordances’ and ‘ux design’ way back when this came out.

• If you are predisposed to be a fan of older sci-fi (Neuromancer, Blade Runner, etc), this game is extremely for you.
• Seriously, you will know within the first 45 minutes or so whether this game is “for you.”
• Everyone knows there are TONS of massive, sprawling, story-driven RPG’s on the SNES; this one is especially ambitious, and I think it really works. In general, I like this setting more than, say, a high-fantasy type setting.
• When you first sit down to play this game, the first thing you will notice is how wonky the controls are. There is no papering over this. They are not good. However, stick with the game for an hour or so until you get used to the controls. The payoff is worth it.
• It’s a good thing that story and exploration (and even a little grinding) is there to keep you going, because the pacing of this game is very strange. There is a ‘Magic’ mechanic that you don’t get at all until the end game
• There is also a “computer hacking” mechanic which is absolutely core to the end game, but which you aren’t even able to do until you’re halfway there.
• Artwork, setting, and aesthetic are just perfect once you’ve been playing for a while and you give yourself over to it.
• The named enemies (bosses etc) are all interesting, but other than that, there is not much enemy variety. In fact, this describes pretty much everything about the combat. Other than the last 2 levels, combat is never difficult, but that doesn’t really matter because that isn’t what this game is about. The only reason to grind for cash to get more armor and guns is because you want to go to new places to move the story along and find more information.

• Before I got started on this game, it was one of those things that I was always brushing up against, but never made direct contact with. A great many posts about the history of horror games cite this as one of the best early ones (predecessor to Resident Evil, etc etc)
• In addition, prior to getting started on the game, I was afraid (possibly due to the point above) that it would be kinda boring, or not hold up, or that the earlier-mentioned writers and youtubers and self-appointed ‘historians’ were just wrong.
• As it turns out, those people are not wrong. This game is not just one of the great horror games. It’s one of the best games on the platform, full stop. Someday, maybe I’ll go through and somehow tag these reviews to say which games legitimately, fully hold up today, and are not dragged down by the low tech consoles. This is without question one of those titles.
• The setting, style, music, colors & aesthetics are all completely successful in what they’re setting out to do. I don’t know whether the music came from the movie that the game is based on, but it works extremely well.
• Sweet Home is, however, asking a lot of you the player, in terms of learning curve. Not that the game itself is hard; the game play is completely fair, unlike a lot of these early games. But it is asking a lot in terms of learning the interface, how to control characters, inventory management, etc.
• Most of this is down to the fact that you are playing as 5 characters at once. You can move items around between them all, and group them up in different ways, because they each have a tool exclusive to them. Different groups of tools are needed for different puzzles. I was also ready to believe that this is a ridiculous gimmick which can’t possibly work, but it becomes more and more important as the game goes on, until it’s something that (A) you can do fluidly without thinking about the controls and (B) you are strategizing for, all the time, in every little room you walk into.
• Some of the puzzles are definitely designed such that you can put the game in an unwinnable state. Character death is also permanent. But, you are allowed to save anywhere, and there’s even a menu item for resetting to your last save, right there in the interface. You don’t have to reset the console at all. I’m assuming this means they plan for you to save before going in to a questionable situation, try a lot of different things, and reset if you fail. I like the system and it makes it feel fair; you’re never afraid to touch the wrong thing or go exploring in the wrong area just because the game expected you to “know” something that you in reality had no way of knowing.
• There are several English translation patches for this, and I don’t know which one is considered the “best.” I used the one which refers to the Amulet as “Tool,” though I have seen versions which call it the “Amulet.” All translations seem to have their own advantages and disadvanteges; it doesn’t look to me like there’s a canonical one.
• You would think that an unofficial translation, and not having access to the manual, and the complicated interface would drag the whole experience down a peg or two, but it really just doesn’t. Every little shortcoming (all of these old games have some obvious ones) is more than compensated for by the pure fun of it. This is one of the rare titles that I can see myself coming back to and playing through again (maybe I’ll put together some big Halloween bonanza this October?)