2025 Special - Crusader of Centy

Warning: There will be spoilers ahead.

During your 14th Birthday party, your mother gives you a gift. It's your father's sword and shield. Sometime ago, he died saving the town of Soleil from monsters. Though your mother is hesitant, knowing that she could lose her son the same way she lost her husband, there are traditions that have to be followed. All young men are obligated to take up arms in the ongoing fight against monsters. Without a word, we set off on a journey to protect Soleil and its surrounding lands, using our father's weapon to strike down anything that get in our way. Even if it isn't immediately obvious, there is something off about Crusader of Centy.

This 1994 action-adventure by Nextech is filled with conscious decisions. If you ever feel unsettled by your adversaries being cute or even outright comical, that's because it's intentional. Underneath the almost nauseatingly fluffy aesthetics is an introspective and often poignant game. It's also making for a surprisingly difficult review, if I'm being honest. Part of the problem is that I'm attempting to write this when I had only just finished the game last night. It usually takes at least a couple days for my brain to neatly organize everything. Everything right now is still a jumbled mess. Further complicating matters is that this just had to be one of those games that required me to think about it. Imagine the nerve! I have to take into consideration the themes. Themes!? I've written what feels like a thousand reviews. I don't look for themes! I look for whether or not the sword hits things good.

While I figure out whatever it is that I'm trying to say, let's start with the basics. Right from the jump, Crusader of Centy is one of those titles that just feels good to play. The protag's walking and sword-swinging abilities are on point. Near Soleil, there's the Rafflesia Training Grounds, where newbies can get accustomed to the controls. Rafflesia. That's a pretty-sounding name, isn't it? While looking it up - to make sure I had spelled it right - I discovered that it also goes by the name "stinking corpse lily". Odorous, parasitic, and nowhere near as pleasant as the name makes it sound. Huh. Could've sworn I just said something about conscious decisions. Anyway, the controls are nice and snappy, but also unique. The player-character doesn't immediately turn when changing directions, so if you're facing north and move east, then he'll face northeast for a split-second. This is something to keep in mind when throwing the sword.

The first technique you learn - after spending the requisite 20 malins - is sword throwing. Hold down the attack button to charge up, release to throw the blade a short distance. I complained about the noise this technique makes in my Crystalis review, but I guess it isn't such a big issue now. The sword throw is required for puzzle-solving and boss-battling, but otherwise there's no real reason to be in a constant state of charge. It's not like monsters are going to ambush the protag at any moment. In fact, unless you're absolutely desperate for cash or want that overpriced health upgrade, there's little incentive to fight. The number of instances that require malins can be counted on one hand. Monsters don't drop health restoratives either, those are usually found in bushes. Nature provides, I guess.

It quickly becomes apparent that the sword throw is meant for puzzle solving. Striking switches that can't easily be reached, and so on. This is around the time the game introduces its other main mechanic: animal friends. The protag can have up to two animals follow him at every time, and they all have talents or special abilities. They're comparable to the items that clog up so many inventories in The Legend of Zelda games. Circumstances that require switching animals occur pretty often but expect to have Flash the Cheetah along for most of the adventure. He doubles walking speed and jumping distance.

Oh! That reminds me. Crusader of Centy has a great jump! Over the past months' worth of these action-adventure games, I've grown increasingly disdainful of jumping. A jump should feel freeing, not a tool of artifice that's required to navigate platforming challenges. Over the course of many other games, I've felt like some poor show dog jumping through hoops. That is absolutely not the case here. Nextech totally gets what makes jumping work. Leaping over obstacles is effortless. Leaping over nothing in particular is natural. I'll also dole out some extra credit to the developer for ensuring that the player can't accidentally walk off of most platforms. It's astonishing how few games in this genre utilize such a feature. 

The first half of your journey is filled with fun and adventure. I don't just mean fun in the sense that it's a fun game (which it is). The fun is in visiting strange new lands, making numerous friends, and getting involved in quirky situations. There is a lurking undercurrent though. One, the "hero" that you'll often run into. This single-celled brute rushes around attacking indiscriminately. You're his target at one point. Initially, you brush it off. After all, you were a monster at the time. A completely harmless slime, but still... a monster. Other events occur that you might not give too much thought to. Their significance doesn't become apparent until visiting the floating land above the Tower of Babel.

With some newfound insight - and a pair of time-traveling shoes - you'll find yourself revisiting previously explored lands. Gone are the thrills of discovery. Instead, you bear witness to some painful truths about this world's history. The second half feels much more like an adventure game, where that sword you were throwing with reckless abandon has become a tool made exclusively for solving puzzles. Granted, some of those puzzles involve striking an archfiend's weak point, but the intent is still there. The main point is that there is a lot less fighting and a little more introspection. You'll learn to depend more on your friends, making full use of their abilities to progress. It's a very thoughtful take on the hero's journey. 

Crusader of Centy isn't especially difficult. If you make an effort to seek out all of the health upgrades, your chances of even approaching death are pretty slim. Again, this is all by design. Nextech cast their net wide in the hopes of reaching players of all skill levels. I'd say they did a remarkable job there. Hell, everything about this game is remarkable. It's a unique and wonderful piece of work. The localization is pretty rough though; dated 90s references and misspellings galore. 

Highly recommended.

2025 Special - Crystalis

I can't remember if it was 1990 or 1991 when I played Crystalis for the first time. Thankfully, I can remember the first time I completed this game; April 1st, 2025. Yet again it's taken me over thirty years to finish a classic. How embarrassing! It's not a particularly long, difficult or complex game either. If you'll allow me to indulge in an obsolete term, SNK's sole Action RPG is what would be classified as the perfect rental. Or, for the kids who can't wrap their heads around ancient history, then it's the perfect weekend video game. The kind where you can immediately pick up its basics, be transported into another world filled with adventure, and obtain at least one pleasant memory to hold onto. I have some serious guts making such a claim, especially considering I just finished it for the first time a few days ago.

The earliest SNK games on the NES were... bad. Awful, even. Maybe there's somebody out there who had a fondness for Athena, or the terrible port of Ikari Warriors by Micronics, but that somebody positively wasn't me. Their output changed dramatically from 1988 to 1990. Iron Tank, Ikari 3, Guerilla War, and naturally, Crystalis. I might be missing one or two titles, but that is one solid lineup. Iron Tank is a superb adaptation of TNK III, with added features such as multiple paths. Ikari 3 took a terrible arcade brawler and made it work. Guerilla War almost feels like a new game, one that I prefer over the arcade original. I'd like to imagine some alternate timeline where SNK never created the Neo Geo. Instead, they'd find success in the Crystalis franchise as well as other original products for consoles.

Seeing as how I've covered 25 action-adventure games over the past month, one would assume that I'd have gotten sick of them by now. Seriously, just how many sword-swinging dudes can I put up with before the walls start crumbling. Quite a few apparently, provided they maintain some level of quality. The subject of today's review is one of them. Crystalis works on multiple levels. It's instantly engaging, with a tinge of depth to keep the maniacs enthused. The power fantasy extends beyond stabbing slimes to incorporate mastery of the elements; summoning screen-filling explosions, waves of tornadoes, all that other fun stuff. Though there is quite a bit of cave exploration, the game knows when to get creative. Players will see and do a lot in a short but sweet period of time. Again, a perfect rental weekend video game. 

This game has controls that'll instantly activate anyone's neurons. Moving around is smooth with a weapon that is sufficiently punchy. The protagonist stabs very quickly, rewarding fans of button-mashing and auto-fire. Most important is the charge attack. You're going to be charging almost all of the time, and yet there's just the right amount of audio and visual feedback to keep it from being annoying. You'll see and hear the cues, with neither getting in the way of your experience. It's a little detail, but one that I really appreciate. No really, I've been playing Crusader of Centy, a game with a charge move of its own, but it makes this "wruhwruhwruhwruhwruh" sound that drowns out the fantastic music. If only Nextech took a lesson from SNK, am I right? Anyway, the charge attack in Crystalis is great. There's this wonderful rhythm to firing off several projectiles in succession. There's also something of a meta wherein a level 2 charge is maintained just enough to avoid reaching level 3 and potentially wasting MP. I'm a maniac for this sort of stuff.

There are a couple points of contention to this game that I want to visit right now. First is the mandatory grinding. Well, maybe it isn't grinding depending on how you approach it, but it's definitely mandatory. The protagonist will be locked out of one area if they aren't the sufficient level. There could also be an instance where they can't damage a boss if their level isn't high enough. It has annoyed enough people to see a romhack or two, but truthfully, I didn't have a problem. There are a couple primo spots for getting the grind over and done with, my favorite being the plains near the Goa Fortress, where I can unleash blizzards on all of the hapless bow-carrying soldiers. This is one of the few instances of grind time that I don't get tired of.

The second is that enemies are often immune to one or more swords. There are four elemental-themed blades to swap between, and you'll find yourself doing just that to utilize their wall destroying or bridge-building powers. That's all well and good but having to switch weapons to deal with regular enemies might be a sticking point for some. Understandable, but it works for me. Swapping swords never takes long, and enemies still can still be pushed back by a weapon they're immune to. Towards the end of the game, I was running past a lot of monsters anyway (being max level probably contributed to that).  

With those two out of the way, let's get back to the stuff that unequivocally works. The world of Crystalis has caves and castles, but it also has dolphinback riding. There's a toxic forest, mountains to climb, a town where you have to disguise yourself as a woman, etc. Something creative is always happening. You see what the game is going for, spend enough time with it for the "oh that's nice" feeling to settle in, and then just like that it's over. Pristine design. Dungeons are also kept at a very manageable length. Paths branch and there are a couple dead-ends, but nothing too nasty. I'm sure the word pacing has lost all meaning by now, but it's so good here that I have to use it.

There's more to the enemies you'll face than just their elemental immunities. The variety here is really good, with some skillful usage of status ailments. Mutants in this world can poison, paralyze, or petrify. A couple particularly cruel fiends can turn the protag into a monster, greatly hindering their survivability. I prefer this to some games that have a poison dungeon or something and then just forget ailments ever existed. Enemies always having some means of getting under your skin keeps fights interesting. 

Boss-battles tend to be uneven. The toughest nemesis in my play-through was probably the first General, though that could be attributed to the path to his lair being filled with resource-dwindling encounters. Most of the other battles merely consist of dodging a few attacks and then responding with some level 3 charged blasts. This becomes extremely apparent towards the end of the game. The final bosses do tons of damage but can be killed with a couple bolts of lightning. Yeah, not the unequivocal good that I would like to have seen, but the faster something dies, the less I have to complain about. Let's chalk that in the win column.

Crystalis is a classic, a must-play for afficianachos or whomever can appreciate a good-ass game.

2025 Special - Ys 5: The Lost City of Kefin

Over the past couple of nights, I've spent more time thinking about Ys 5 than Falcom has in the past thirty years. Alright, I'm being unfair here. At the very least, there had to have been an arranged album that featured some music from this game. It's one of its few qualities that is universally recognized as good. Am I still being unfair? Maybe a little. The deal is, Ys 5 probably should've been given a different name, because there's not much here that I'd associate with the series. In other games, Adol cuts through multiple goons like a shuriken made out of chainsaws. In The Lost City of Kefin he stops moving to stab at a bug. It's functionally mundane. A working product, but with none of the spice that makes Falcom's works so enticing. 

Now I could end the review right here and now, but I have an idea that's been coagulating in my skull for a minute or so. Could Ys 5 be a poor fit for the series, but a good game in its own right? A valid question. Though the SNES isn't hurting for admirable Action-RPGs, there's nothing wrong with having another. I did say that this was "functionally..." and "A working product", which has to count for something, especially compared to the likes of Lagoon and Xak. The soundtrack is damn nice, and good music elevates any product. Controls? Perfectly adequate. Adel walks and strikes at monsters with as much as ease turning one's own palm. Aside from the obligatory platforming sections, his jump isn't an entirely unwelcome maneuver. The block button is also nice, though I never found a use for it. Odell is built like a tank, capable of soaking up plenty of damage from the mightiest bosses. This becomes especially apparent if players take the time to grind out both his physical and magical traits. 

The magic system is an interesting feature in The Lost City of Kefin. Elementally themed stones are hidden throughout the land. Alchemists can combine three stones to create a magic spell, which is then slotted to Abel's current weapon. Unfortunately, interesting is all this feature amounts to. Despite having a lot of potential combinations, almost none of them see any practical usage. Fusion Blast is the first spell everyone will acquire. Constructed from a fire, water, and earth stone, this spell shoots a basic fireball. There's hardly any reason to experiment in the hopes of finding anything as good, let alone better. There are two pools of experience, depending on whether enemies are struck down with swords or spells. Since magic is useless against bosses, that's even less of an incentive to use anything besides fireballs. Players are better off just settling for the nominal gains to HP to magic defense and getting on with the adventure.

It's awfully strange that the magic system is a large part of a small game. The average play-through hovers around 5 hours. I can't lie, that is pitifully short. The lack of variety in both locales and monsters doesn't help. Later SNES releases tend to look very good, and this is no exception, but the visual fidelity is wasted on dull caves, washed-out overworlds, and a lot of sand. Fiends are a constant presence, but they're nothing you haven't seen before: crabs, salamanders, skeletons, same old, same old. Maybe adversaries get more creative and grotesque towards the end of the- Nope! In the final dungeon, Adull fights nothing but soldiers. Human soldiers! At least, I don't know, make them sand demons or something. Instead, the greatest horrors beyond comprehension are... just men. I suppose that's a fair point, but it gets in the way of my escapism.

The boss fights get more imaginative. Shame that they never get threatening. There is some ambition to their attack patterns, but it never translates to danger for the person holding the controller. I suppose I'm partly to blame here. One of my nastier habits is that I tend to take what I'm given. If I'm given tons of experience points and healing items, there's nothing I can do to refuse that generosity. Another game, perhaps an entry in the venerable Ys series, would've imposed some sort of limitation that'd require me to learn a boss battle inside and out to win.

I'm sorry, I can't handle this rigmarole any longer. No matter how one chooses to engage with Ys 5, they can't escape what could have been. Replacing the bump combat is a fine idea, but its replacement is lethargic and cold. The more modern Ys entries strike a better balance, giving Adol several attacks that carry him through monsters, always with a sense of momentum that made the classics so exciting. Over the course of my entire play-through, I believe I used one spell besides the fireball, and it required standing still for several seconds before firing off a projectile that might miss entirely. Gah! How repulsive! A small realm to explore that's populated by the most typical of fiends certainly doesn't help. If you could somehow tear the Ys name away, you'd still be left with a humdrum adventure that lacks the flavor found in so many other Action RPGs.

If you care to continue reading, then here are a couple zingers that I had previously planned to include in the review.

- Ys? They should've called this game Zs because it puts me to sleep.

- It's called Ys 5 because it only takes 5 hours to complete.

2025 Special - The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls

I watched the Switch 2 presentation, and my first thought was "Maybe I should buy one." Seconds later I had a second thought, and that was "I definitely won't buy one." No disrespect to Nintendo's latest, but I've realized that I've got no business owning a $450 dust magnet while I spend the rest of 2025, 2026, and potentially beyond playing retro games. Assassin's Creed: Shadows, which I picked up at launch, has already fallen by the wayside. At least it got a couple days of playtime, which has to count for something. Point is, it's only been a few weeks and I'm already back in "review-mode". Awhile back, I posited to the void that is social media that reviewing 75 to 100 video games a year changes a person. It definitely changed me. My review schedule didn't allow time to enjoy games. Eventually, the culmination of hundreds of thousands of man-hours became as disposable as dental floss. After I quit being a critic in 2019, the next several years were spent learning to love video games again, without the need to summarize my thoughts and tack a made-up number at the end of them. 

I say all of this only to turn around and write 22 reviews in less than a month. Let's be real here, there is no way back for me. The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls or Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru is game review #23. Released in 1992 for the Game Boy, this adventure-action game utilizes the engine that became the framework for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Play both and you'll see a lot of similarities, including their usage of both overhead and side view sections. However, let's take a second look at its genre "adventure-action". I just made this up seconds ago, so no apologies if you think it's dumb. In a break from tradition, battles are entirely automated, with your stats being almost the sole determining factor whether you win or are hospitalized. The action is often found in jumping across platforms or avoiding fights entirely. You'll also be solving problems, just with a Zelda-like interface. To put it another way, you're essentially being taught multiple genres all at once: adventure, action, and RPG. 

Oh right, I should probably explain your role in this game. You are the Prince of Sable, the lone example of a good billionaire. He'll give up every last dime to help people in need, so don't get too attached to the 10,000,000,000 bucks he starts the beginning of his journey with. He's on a quest to find Princess Tiramisu, who went missing after the dastardly King Delarin invaded her kingdom. His journey to become a hero treads a little familiar ground, but any other expectations are bound to be subverted. I mean, you saw that part about "avoiding fights entirely" right? Storming the castle is out of the question.

Since battles are automated, there's absolutely no path forward for you if you skip out on heart containers and equipment upgrades. If finding goodies is what draws you into the Zelda games, then there's a lot to like here. Exploring the world is handled in a similar fashion. Hidden passages are found throughout the kingdom, though some require special items to open a path to them. Bear in mind that while being thorough is rewarding, it's not required. The game doesn't expect you to hunt miles away from your objective just to find the one stat-boost needed to pass the next boss. The pacing remains fairly smooth throughout your adventure, though some backtracking is expected. 

There's something else that I keep forgetting to talk about. What is it again? Something something bell tolls for the frog that- oh right right right. I should probably explain the whole frog business. Prince Sable, who is a little too trusting at times, drinks a potion that transform him into a frog. Frogs are unfortunately not much for fighting, but they can survive underwater and reach a lot of platforms that a prince can't. Later on, our hero can transform into a snake. Snakes have their own powers, like turning weaker enemies into climbable platforms. Switching between forms is a simple matter, and also a constant one. You'll have to utilize all three on your princess-finding journey. I want to stress however that these instances of problem-solving aren't particularly complicated. This is a game intended for as wide an audience as possible, so don't expect to find excessive puzzles. 

Do note however that the consequences for falling into spike pits are often harsh. Spikes tend to erase every last heart, and Sable gets hauled off to the last town he visited whenever he's exhausted his life. This is a teaching moment for the few out there who don't know about savescumming. This game features the option to save anywhere. You can save as much or as little as you want. Before boss-fights, in-between jumps, anywhere and anytime. This is an unexpected feature to have, at least by 1992 handheld standards. I really appreciate its inclusion, since it allows for Nintendo to get a little creative with late-game platforming sections. 

The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls succeeds in creating an adventure that is quite unlike anything else on the platform. I'm shocked (but not that shocked) that it never received an official localization. There is a charming little story here that's packed with quirky characters. The replay-value is practically nil, but I suppose that's not too big a deal. Fond memories usually last longer anyway. 

Give it a try if you haven't already.

2025 Special - Daikatana

Let me go ahead and say it outright, Daikatana for the Game Boy Color was a disappointment. I had heard about this port for quite some time. Everyone claims that it's better than the PC original, and maybe they're right, but that doesn't make the GBC port good. I'm going to try and keep this review as short and sour as possible. There's not a whole lot of game here anyway. The average play-though takes two or so hours, and there isn't any real exploration or sidequests to engage in. In some ways, this felt like a scaled-back port that follows the same basic storyline but squishes entire levels into a handful of screens. It's like Kemco was trying to push me towards buying the "full version" available wherever PC games are sold. That's never going happen.

I suppose in the loosest sense this could be considered a Legend of Zelda-like. Hiro Miyamoto is a man on a mission to stop Mishima Zaibatsu and Team Ninja from using the Daikatana to conquer the world. He infiltrates Mishima's base and steals the legendary blade. Along the way, he rescues Superfly Johnson and Mikiko Ebihara. The three are then caught by Mishima and launched into a time warp. A cyberpunk game with cool swords and time travel should've been the greatest thing ever, but... well that's enough picking on the PC game. Much like the early days of Zelda, Hiro and his allies move from screen to screen, engaging enemies and puzzles along the way. The concept is sound, but mechanically there's little enjoyment to be had.

Aside from the titular weapon, Hiro can use a large variety of ranged or melee weapons. These are found throughout each level alongside limited ammo pickups, healing items, and armor. A menagerie of adversaries stalks the halls, typically in groups of two or three. The combat is... not great. Enemies that use guns try to keep their distance, but anyone with a sword will rush the protag. It's a sensible strategy for the enemy but fighting them always comes off as sloppy or mushy. There's none of the deft gameplay seen in other sword-centric overhead games. Even a little hit-stun would've gone a long way. Gunning baddies down with projectile weapons is probably the better idea, but ammo is limited. Everything that would benefit the player is in limited supply, disincentivizing combat encounters. This is drilled into the player's head once they realize that enemies respawn when changing floors. Basically, fighting isn't fun, and it wastes resources. Not a good look. 

Did I mention that there wasn't any exploration or sidequests? Yes, I did. Hunting for weapon and armor upgrades would've been a cool feature, except there's nothing of the sort here. The player receives a boost to their maximum health when a boss is defeated, but the damage scaling renders that boon awfully pointless. Over the course of a play-through, my HP went from 100 to 450. The final boss could still kill me in five hits. Sure, whatever. There are a few puzzles interspersed throughout. The most I can say about them is that they don't take up too much time.

Since I've already mentioned the final boss, I may as well talk about the final level as well. This place is awful. Hiro has to navigate a circle of rooms, turning dragon statues in multiple directions, all to open stairways to four mini-bosses. A fine concept but notice that I said stairways. Indeed, all of the enemies respawn every time Hiro returns from a mini-boss battle. The lack of resources and unfun combat make this entire level a painful slog. 

If you absolutely must play every top-down action-adventure game that stars a guy with a sword, then I can only hope that you're actually me from the future. Maybe future me will realize that he was wrong and go back in time to stop past me from having such insipid ideas. 

2025 Special - Illusion of Gaia

Warning - Before proceeding with the review, know that there will be spoilers aplenty, all unmarked. I recommend playing through the game before continuing onward.  

Got it? Good.

I'm not sure if it's the censored localization or my poor memory, but it turns out that I didn't know Illusion of Gaia at all. The second entry in Quintet's "Soul" trilogy, I had thought this to be a sometimes poignant but mostly cheery adventure about a kid who transforms into a kickass swordsman whenever there's danger. Saturday morning fare that's ideal for selling action figures or comic books. I didn't even notice all of the slavery going on, including children being forced to work in a diamond mine. Impoverished nations ravaged by starvation and disease being exploited by corporations. One slave outright says that there can't be a God when social status exists. I must've been too enthralled by the simple thrills of killing all of the monsters in an area for those sweet, sweet stat-boots. Everything clearly flew over my head like that "Wow!! Cool future!!" cyberpunk meme. 

Needless to say, a replay of the entire game was necessary. Rather than reattempt the official localization, I opted for Illusion of Gaia Retranslated. This romhack serves multiple purposes. It features a translation that doesn't plaster over the game's bleak themes and dark storytelling. While this may be an adventure designed for kids in mind, it doesn't shield them from the horrid truths about our world. The hack also adds a number of QOL features. The most significant of them, in my opinion, is the addition of a sprint button. Running is already possible (and required) in the original, and the button makes it a little more user-friendly. Besides that, none of the changes affect gameplay. 

Unlike Soul Blazer, which had its players rebuilding towns one monster generator at a time, this successor opts for the more traditional town > dungeon > town > dungeon > boss method of progression. It works quite well for this story and character driven game. You'll be spending a lot of time with a small group of friends, all of whom have their own arcs, and will even leave the protagonist when their goals no longer intersect. There is a surprising amount of growth shown by everyone, though considering the circumstances, they never had much of a choice. One early game example has the male and female leads being stranded at sea for several weeks. Another character reunites with his missing father, only to discover that he's lost his mind after an expedition went awry. I know the console gaming landscape has changed dramatically since 1994 but let me tell you that nobody else was doing coming-of-age stories back then. Quintet took on a very ambitious idea and the results are nothing short of impressive.

Towns in Illusion of Gaia are atypical. While there are NPCs that lament the uncertain fate of the world, and a few even drop hints for upcoming dungeons, everyone else treats the protagonist as just a kid... which he is. The towns are rarely the bastion of an idyllic society either. You're treated to a lovely facade that quickly falls apart the second you begin prodding. The beautiful city with the cherry blossoms flying freely in the wind has a slave market hiding in its backstreets. Though the protagonist is never in any real danger, he is witness to serious issues that his magical swordsman transformation can't even begin to address. It's a sobering feeling. There were times that I was more comfortable in a monster-infested dungeon than in a town. 

The dungeons are often landmarks of cultural significance distorted by the fiends that have taken them for a home. Your objective is to find mystical statues to prevent the world-ending calamity, but your immediate concern will always be the surrounding monsters. Each area is filled with anywhere from 5 to 40 fiends. You'll want to destroy them all, since clearing an area will award you a stat bonus. There is no other means by which to level up, so trying to rush past everything will make for excruciating boss battles. Traversing the increasingly complex dungeons will often require the protagonist to change back and forth between the Kid and Freedan forms. The swordsman's extra power is always welcome, but only the Kid form can slide through narrow passages or clamber up slippery hills. Much later on, a third form is introduced with its own skillset, resulting in even more switching around. It's practically impossible to get lost, but navigating each lair will require more from its explorers than merely running from point A to point B.

Slaughtering the plethora of monster that accost the hero doesn't take a lot of effort. I won't say effortless, because there is still a very real possibility of death. Each area typically has two or three types of monsters, all with their own behaviors and quirks. Learn them quickly, because these adversaries will be fought in more extenuating situations, such as in greater numbers or near traps. The Kid's abilities have a decent amount of i-frames, and Freedan can take out faraway enemies with powerful ranged attacks. Healing opportunities are limited to the few save points in each dungeon, or whenever life-upgrade is earned. All the more reason to kill everything in sight. I've mentioned it a thousand times already, but any game with constant fighting has to have a good combat system with solid mechanics. Again, this one delivers.

While exploring the dungeons, be sure to hang onto any herbs that you find. In fact, hold those herbs as tight as possible, even if it means having to retry a few boss fights. Illusion of Gaia allows you to carry more than one herb at a time, but they are limited, with no shops where the player can purchase more. In other words, whatever you use is gone for good. The game has a small number of bosses, but a few of them can be difficult, but keep saving those herbs. There is a boss rush at the end of the game, featuring multiple fights with no save points in sight. Is that a good time to use an herb? Well... maybe. Try to save a handful for the final battle anyway. The limited herb system might trip up some players, leaving them in a position that they may struggle to overcome. It's not a knock against the game, but something to be mindful of all the same.

Once again, we have an Action RPG that's a very easy recommendation. Illusion of Gaia is often dark, featuring moments that left me taken aback. Its moments of humor are understated. Sometimes they're how the friends cope with all they've seen and been through. Take this bit of dialogue for example. A young girl just watched her would-be assassin burn to death, and... I think she was making a joke here, a little gallows humor. 

On a sidenote, I believe players are more familiar with Black Panther's name in the official localization: Jackal. I prefer that name as well. I'm thinking that it might've been a reference to The Day of the Jackal, the 1973 movie about - you guessed it - an assassin. Anyway, it's really neat how there's this entire subplot about The Jackal stalking the main characters, leaving hints of his presence in every corner of the world. Neat stuff. 

Be sure to check this game out whenever you can. It doesn't have the gameplay depth of some of the Super Nintendo's most beloved classics, but a lot of thought went into its story and world. One could even consider the possibility that all of the game's fantastical elements are imagined by the protagonist, their escapism from a very painful reality. At least, that's my 2:00 AM interpretation.  

In any case, you're certain to have a memorable experience.

2025 Special - Beyond Oasis

Rather than waste a bunch of time writing up a review, I'll just refer to my previous Beyond Oasis write-ups that can be found here, here, and here...? Oh.

Oh no. 

Unbelievable! I've been singing the praises of this game for nearly thirty years but never wrote anything down. That's pretty damned foolish. Well, to be completely honest, I wasn't exactly head over heels in love with this game when I originally bought it ages ago. Let's go back to that ancient time, when the newest game by the Streets of Rage 2 team shared a shelf with the astonishingly expensive Phantasy Star IV. Beyond Oasis was a "much more reasonable" $70, and that's what I came home with. A $70 Action RPG that I finished over a single weekend. I can't recall Sega ever claiming that this game offered "hundreds of hours of adventure gameplay" but somebody out there had to have inflated the numbers to get my broke self to part with a dime. Not that it matters, the money was long gone, and my idiot self was stuck with an already finished game.

How does Beyond Oasis go from being a waste of money to one of my favorites on the Genesis? I suppose the simplest answer is because I kept playing. The replay-value isn't immediately obvious. There aren't any alternate routes or additional characters. I replayed the game many times over because it just feels good to play. I'll even go so far to claim that the movement and combat are some of the best the genre has ever seen. Ali is an exceptionally mobile character. He walks and runs in every possible direction, with none of the stiltedness that sometimes occurs in similar titles. Jumping takes a little practice, but the midair control is perfectly realized, allowing the developers to devise some nightmarish (and optional) platforming scenarios. The complete lack of contact-damage is a massive boon, and leads to appreciable details like standing on the giant rat's tails to keep them from moving. 

The combat ties everything together in a manner most perfect. Obviously, my expectations from the Streets of Rage 2 team were pretty high, yet they met them with effortless aplomb. There is a fluidity to every encounter that rivals classic beatemups. Ali's various techniques all serve a purpose and effect his enemies in ways beyond draining their health. You can hit someone with a charged attack, and their body will knock down anyone it collides with. Several foes have their own reactions when hit by fire. Giant rats are instantly roasted, often leaving behind delicious meat. Every interaction carries a weightiness to it, especially if there's violence involved. Inflicting pain and eventually death never gets old. The excellent movement ties into fighting in subtle but rewarding ways. Being able to move while performing a jumping slash attack adds a dynamic feel, allowing the player to maintain an advantageous position when dealing with mobile creatures. 

The bulk of this game's puzzles revolve around the four elements that Ali controls through his golden armlet. Most solutions are pretty basic, like using a water bubble to put out a roaring fire, or the long reach of a shadow to help the player cross gaps. This simplicity keeps the game moving at a brisk rate, especially when you consider the means to summon help are always nearby. Efreet, the fire elemental, can appear from a campfire, a torch, or... if your timing is right, an explosion. Summon the water element Undine from a slime if you're desperate for a healing. It's clever but not so clever that it becomes overbearing. You're not required to know intricate details just to progress or find secrets. It's all for the sake of efficiency. 

I think efficient is a good word for describing Beyond Oasis, and I'm not just talking about how it can be completed in a few hours either. There is efficiency in knowing where to position oneself in a fight, tapping the jump button at cliffs to quickly leap off of them, and even using the six-button controller for quicker menu navigation. This is a speedrunning game, every aspect designed to assist the player in cutting minutes and seconds off of their completion time. Dungeons start at just a few rooms in size, and though they eventually become larger, there is always a momentum to them. Backtracking is a welcoming surprise instead of a tiring norm. The same can be said for puzzles. They're quick and to the point, never requiring the player to push multiple blocks onto multiple switches. Perhaps I love this game simply because it doesn't have sliding block puzzles or "simon says" riddles or rhythm-based minigames or... let's move on.

What wasn't obvious to me in my first couple play-throughs is that there is actually a lot of optional content. Let's call them challenge dungeons. The first anyone will (literally) stumble into is behind a tree in the forest. It consists of 100 floors, all involving fights with the many denizens of Oasis. The benefits of efficiency are definitely felt here, because not once in my absurd number of play-throughs has this challenge dungeon ever felt like 100 floors. Enemies have slightly less health than usual but remain a threat due to enhanced aggression and reaction time. The aforementioned platforming dungeon features everything that has ever moved or disappeared under Ali's feet, with some added obstacles like powerful winds or obnoxious gargoyles. Another challenge dungeon involves false treasure chests that must be avoided to obtain the real reward. There's even a racetrack for Efreet to dash around. A neat idea, even if I'm not a fan. 

In spite of having one difficulty setting, Beyond Oasis has multiple ways for players to limit themselves for a greater challenge. The most obvious is to stop eating. Food is everywhere and Ali has incredibly deep pockets. Refraining from snacking makes encounters much more dangerous. Leveling up raises rank, increasing both strength and survivability. Avoid the hearts that occasionally drop from enemies to keep rank as low as possible. Other methods might require some serious planning or resource management, but the point is that you'll always have a way to push yourself further.

My initials thoughts on Beyond Oasis are long past irrelevant. Now, I recognize it as one of the greatest games of the 16-bit era. Maybe that is saying a lot, and maybe I've just grown more attached to it than most internal organs. Still, I have returned to this adventure too many times to count and have never found myself bored or merely going through the motions. Every aspect is exemplary, with hardly a wasted second or questionable design decision. It's a very lean game that know when to demand the most out of its player to keep them engaged and entertained.