Price = 5-10$
Players = 1
'The player controls Keith Courage. Struck by a giant meteor, the world, in the game, has been invaded by creatures from another planet. Burrowing deep within the Earth's surface, the planet of B.A.D. (Beastly Alien Dudes) seeks to take over the world. As a member of N.I.C.E. (Nations of International Citizens for Earth), Keith's mission is to defeat B.A.D. and bring peace to the world. Armed with a sword, Keith must first defeat the outpost guards. Then, enter the Underworld. Here Keith activates the awesome Nova Suit. A secret force left to him by his fallen father, he is half man, half mechanical monster. Nearly invincible, his sword cracks with the power of lightning, as you wreak havoc on the fearsome Dudes. His goal is to reach the Robo Zone (the seventh Alpha Zone), headquarters of B.A.D. Succeed here and the player will win the game, recapturing the Earth and restoring humanity's place in the universe. Four friends offer Keith advice, swords, bombs, and extra lives. The player's goal is to collect the stolen riches left behind by the invaders and buy your way out of trouble with money.'
(Pulled from Wiki)
Note: The box art section will take a difficult route with Turbo Grafx games. They are very expensive complete, and don't leave much information other than the front image without them. (insert sad face) but! luckily we have the internet!! yay!
HOW DOES THE GAME LIVE UP TO IT'S EXPLANATION/BOX ART? (6/10)
Unfortunately the box I have for this game has no description at all as to what it is. If you have purchased Turbo Grafx 16 games and don't get the original slip case. It's just kind of a guess. But from the cover.. It looks pretty awesome. Flaming sword in a prince's hands (He's not a prince), with a giant mech robot, and some demons. That would get my attention. But, Like I said if you find a Turbo Grafx game they generally do not have the original slip case, and the backs of the boxes without those are just black. The Hu Card itself is just blue and says Keith Courage, so if you just found that. You'd probably just buy this game because you didn't have it and it's very inexpensive in comparison to a lot of games for this console.
HOW IS THE GAME PLAY? (8/10)
At first glance, I wasn't that surprised with the way the game looked, and the normal clunky bounce physics of most older style games like this. This, as most of you know, is very annoying when there are pitfalls to instant death, But after some play time you get used to it pretty fast.
The game is actually a lot of fun if you like platformers. It plays like most 16 bit games, but it feels more like a 16 bit Sega Master System game upgrade. NEC made this title, which gives it a very chibi cartoon style. But, I feel like it's lacking in some of the HEY! I'm NOT 8 BIT! section. Not that this takes away from the gameplay at all.
I'd have to say that the normal areas with weak enemies play very well. It has the RPG store element. Where you can buy your new upgrades, heal, and so forth. But it moves a bit more smooth in these areas. One of the neat things, and one of the slight annoyances, is in the underworld area when you are in Mech form. Now this is a cool change up to the other area. Because now you can attack faster, but you move REALLY fast in comparison to Keith's normal speed, and fall down into instant death areas. Because of.. yes. Bounce physics. It doesn't hurt the game that much. And after you get the hang of that speed it's not very difficult.
HOW DOES THE GAME LIVE UP TO IT'S GENRE? (10/10)
As older style platformers go. It is very reminiscent of a more colorful and slightly upgraded Sega Master System game. It is fun to play, but it doesn't really add anything we wouldn't have ever seen at the time. (Depending on what you played as a kid) It's not difficult to get all your powerups because of the screen respawner. ( you can farm the crap out of money, but if you die it takes half or so away from you) So getting the new items is not a problem at all.
I wouldn't give it any bad marks for anything that isn't uncommon in platformers. You fall down holes and you die. That's pretty much all of them.
THE 'GAME OVER' ALL? (80%)
I'd have to say being the most affordable game on the system and it actually being a fun play through. It's a great purchase for the almost nothing I paid for it, I enjoyed the play through, and I've always enjoyed platform style games, BUT... I'm a sucker for anything that reminds me of sega master system.
This is pretty much a must have (if you didn't get it with your purchase) for the system. It is the most over produced game on the system. It's basically the Mario/Duckhunt for the console.
arbitrary credit for gore and nudity = 0
Felix the Brett
2/13/13
