Legend! One of the hidden gems of the Super Nintendo. I found my copy of this game in Toronto recently – it was cart only with barely a label on it (which I prompt reattached with super glue). The cartridge looked like it had gone through a “legendary” journey of its own just to make it into my possession.
This game is a cooperative beat’em up set in a fantasy setting complete with stereotypical buff main character, henchmen, bow and arrow goons, and attacking mega-trees (see bosses slideshow below). If you like beatem’up games, you will enjoy this one. You take your hero through a number of stages whacking bad guys with a sword or axe, jump kicking, and using screen-clearing magic. A unique mechanism found in this game is the ability to block enemy attacks, although it is very slow and ineffective.
While I always played this game two player (and never got far) – for this review I gave it a try on one player and surprisingly beat it! I found that using the jump kicks and conserving magic for the bosses was the boon of my journey. Overall, its not excessively hard and is usually fair. The enemy bosses on the other hand can be quite challenging (especially the first and second bosses) – they can sometimes grab you and break through your shield which makes it almost impossible to evade attacks.
There are six or seven levels total (outlined in the map below). While the stages look decent, the assets are reused over and over. The first area in the first level is used three or four times throughout the game within the six or seven stages – albeit with a change in the time of day (e.g., morning, night, dusk). Most levels have unique areas to them too alongside the reused assets like castle areas, prisons, towers, or swamps. These unique areas look great. The enemies are also somewhat generic looking (and overused) but are interesting enough and are fun to bash in!
Between levels, there are bonus rounds where you can use keys that you pick up throughout the levels and unlock as many as possible! I usually picked up a few one ups, some health, and some magic. In terms of sound and music, its pretty standard if not somewhat repetitive. One thing I found funny was that the death scream for enemies is the same for every enemy, ranging from little henchmen to skeleton warriors!
When I finally beat the game, this image below popped up; I was like “who the heck are these guys!” Turns out they are the two developers who created this bad ass game! Thanks guys -and keep the 90s alive with that awesome hair!
Overall this is a fun cooperative beatem’up game on the Super Nintendo. There are a couple times where I felt annoyed by bosses but for the most part enjoyed my time playing. The unique feature of being able to use a shield could have added some depth but it was not executed well enough. While I was really thinking of giving this game a 6/10, because it was fully created by two dudes with awesome hair, I settled with a 7/10 for effort and a laugh (when I saw the pic at the end).
FINAL SCORE 7/10
RetroGame Man 