Ankoku Shinwa: Yamato Takeru no Densetsu (March 24, 1989)
Platform played: NES Emulator (fan translation)
Date beaten: 6/1/26
Let's Play
Based heavily in Japanese mythology, this point-and-click adventure game suddenly becomes a 2D action game at the end of each chapter in which you must fight a huge boss. There is some excellent sprite work throughout the game, including these bosses. Probably the game has limited appeal, since fans of point and click adventures may not want these sudden action segments in their games. While I'm not against the idea, the actual combat is fairly bland and leaves a lot to be desired as you mostly just have to stand in the right spot and mash the attack button over and over. Still an interesting game and I would recommend it if you like games based in Japanese mythology.
Another peculiar thing about this game is that unlike most games, the bosses don't really progress in difficulty as you go on. The first boss isn't really hard, just time-consuming, and the next few go down very quickly. There are a couple harder ones in the middle of the game, but the final boss is most certainly not the hardest one in the game.
Incidentally, while this isn't the developer's fault, the translation in the fan translation patch isn't that good either. It's enough to be playable but there's a lot of errors and awkward phrasing throughout, and the translators weren't able to get around the character limitations of the Famicom either, so a lot of text options are prematurely truncated (e.g. "Dark G" instead of "Dark God," although at least that example is fairly easy to figure out...)
Super Mario Land (April 21, 1989)
Platform played: GameBoy emulator (I owned a physical copy of this as a kid, but I can't find it...)
Date beaten: Jan 20, 2024
A short and sweet, portable Mario that I played obsessively as a kid, but was never able to beat, so it was very satisfying to finally finish it. I really like all the music and sound effects in this game, and its unique, strange aesthetic. Instead of the Mushroom Kingdom, it takes place in "Sarasaland," and an alien named Tatanga (not Bowser) kidnaps the princess Daisy (not Peach). Daisy would return in future games, but Tatanga would not. The game's strangeness is attributed to it being developed by a different studio than the other Mario titles.
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (July 1, 1989) / Ys: The Oath in Felghana (2005)
Platform played: PC (2005 remake)
Date beaten: 1/22/24
I had some issues with the jumping physics at first, until I figured out that the game is supposed to run at 60 FPS. If the framerate is too high, it renders the game impossible. After capping the framerate to 60 FPS, I had no complaints. It's quite an enjoyable action RPG. This one has more traditional combat where you actually press a button to swing your sword, as opposed to the odd and unique "bump" system of the previous two games.
The story in this game is completely standalone and unrelated to the previous two games, with the only recurring characters being Adol (the protagonist) and his buddy Dogi. Dogi, it turns out, is originally from Felghana, and he decides to stay there at the end of this game, although I think I read on TV Tropes that he returns in future installments, due to fan popularity. The plot of this game involves a corrupt church (suspiciously similar to Catholicism) that apparently replaced the traditional animistic religion of the region (suspiciously similar to Shinto). The story and voice acting are decent, but nothing special in my eyes. The gameplay is where it really shines. I found the bosses to be well-designed and interesting, and a satisfying challenge to learn their patterns and beat them. I played on Easy since I wasn't sure what to expect, but I think with the framerate issue fixed, I could have handled a harder difficulty, so I might try that in future installments and/or if I replay this one.
Mother | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings (July 27, 1989)
Platform played: GBA Emulator (Mother 1+2; Tomato's fan translation, with easy mode added)
Date beaten: January 23, 2024