Dragon's Curse

~ DRAGON'S CURSE ~

Westone / Hudson Soft / NEC

HuCard

1990

Dragon's Curse would certainly have no place on any sort of "unappreciated gems" list; it's received far too much recognition to pass for a "sleeper." Still, speaking in purely relative terms, I'm a little surprised that it isn't discussed more often amongst Turbo fans, as it's a very charming and extremely well-thought-out sidescrolling adventure game.

A large, secret-stocked realm for players to explore and a main character who transforms into various creatures are DC's finest assets. Some shapes come with expected proficiencies--that Piranha Man swims, Hawk Man flies, and Mouse Man sneaks through small openings should come as no great shock to anyone. But the rodent can also scale walls and tread upside down on ceilings, while Lizard Man breathes fire and Tiger Man attacks with sweeping sword swipes. Comfortable controls make even the more routine actions enjoyable, and putting all of your available skills to good use can lead to some astounding discoveries.

Many elements considered obligatory for sidescrolling quests are presented with twists here. Some of the hero's available forms prefer certain types of weapons over others, and their respective items of choice may surprise you. Slay enemies to earn gold for acquiring equipment, but be aware that merchants will be unwilling to deal if your character comes off as a hoodlum. Stumble around in the hideous Goblin Mail and a shopkeeper may be offended by your appearance, but get all dressed up in the Prince's Armor and the same fellow will be more than willing to assist you.

DC innovates, but at the same time, it remembers to do the most fundamental things well. You'll travel quite a long way, and backtracking will ultimately be required, but placed throughout the sprawling land are portals that allow you to warp right back to the town that serves as your hub. The similarly structured Shape Shifter gets a hell of a lot of things right but provides no such convenient method of returning to home base.

DC's appealing sounds and visuals contribute to its overall air of lightheartedness. The soundtrack, one of Duomitri's favorites, is generally fast paced and upbeat, while the graphics are quite colorful and cartoonish.

There isn't anything particularly flashy about Dragon's Curse. It doesn't feature much of a plot; and, unlike Shape Shifter, it won't treat you to any moments of high drama. Its limited-range attack mechanisms wouldn't be deemed acceptable in a straight-ahead action title. And for idiot collectors, it isn't nearly as desirable an acquisition as its inferior successor, Dynastic Hero. But DC succeeds by giving its players fun forms to assume and a world that requires mastery of said forms' capabilities. At the end of the day, without indulging in fanciness or pulling off anything mind blowing, it manages to thrash most other adventure games of its era thanks to the wise choices made by its creators in matters of world layout and concept execution.

Necromancer

~ NECROMANCER ~

Hudson Soft

HuCard

1988

Necromancer lets us know right at its unsettling title screen that it won't be taking us on some sort of lighthearted jaunt. It's a dark affair that conducts itself with an air of maturity, employing gloomy environs and tall, thin character models as opposed to pastel fields and typical old-RPG squat-folk.

It also stars a very bizarre cast of creatures. The animated abominations explode in bloody messes upon being slain.

As cool as those monsters (and their gory fates) are, and as quickly as fights are decided, combat is forced upon the player far too often to remain enjoyable, and the battle theme loses its luster early in the adventure. The game's other tunes hold up well, though, particularly the ominous cavern tune (which is reminiscent of another excellent piece, The Legendary Axe's eerie Stage 2 track, by the same composer).

The mature theme and well-presented battles make Necromancer an interesting, solid-if-not-fantastic RPG, though there's little to it besides linear field-desert-cave questing. The player partakes in but a few dramatic confrontations until a run of bosses at the very end.

As one of the best HuCard RPGs, it's worth a play, though there are a couple of things to bear in mind if you aren't able to read Japanese. The passwords are enormous and consist primarily of Japanese characters, and you simply won't be getting through the game without a guide in hand... so here are two very helpful ones:

http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~realrobo/game/necro/necro.htm
http://gamersparadise.fc2web.com/koryaku/necro/necro.html

Gekisha Boy (Photograph Boy)

~ GEKISHA BOY ~

Irem

HuCard

1992

I spent my first few minutes with Gekisha Boy wishing that it played more like fellow crosshairs-based blaster Operation Wolf. While OW essentially allows players to fire away at will, GB requires them to make sure that its camera-wielding protagonist (who's charged with taking photos of atypical sights and events) doesn't stumble into bouncing balls and other such crap as they try to "shoot" things and watch for "funny" stuff. I initially hated this element of the gameplay; and being that I'm an old grouch, I didn't find the goofy/"offensive" moments to be nearly as amusing as everyone else seems to.

But the second half of the game gets pretty tricky: the obstacles make bigger nuisances of themselves, and it becomes more and more important to make prudent use of a limited film supply. I couldn't help but respect and enjoy the play style after a while. And there's no doubt that Gekisha features good graphics and a nice variety of environments (haunted marshland, art museum, statue field, beach, ocean floor, slums, etc.).

Unfortunately, it concludes with a rather stupid "mini-game."

I'm glad I was able to get Gekisha on the cheap, and I'm glad it typically goes for a lot less than it used to. I wasn't thrilled with the adventure on the whole, though it did prove rewarding enough that I'm glad I got to experience it.

Psycho Chaser

~ PSYCHO CHASER ~

Naxat Soft

HuCard

1990

I thought Psycho Chaser would be just another nondescript vert, with its one "notable" aspect being that it has the player control a running robot guy instead of a spacecraft. And when I first started the game up, it seemed to be a slow, ugly affair that would live down to my expectations. To be honest, the ugly aspect doesn't really change, but man, the pace picks up big time. This is a really good, really tough title, an unexpectedly awesome blaster that rewards those who give it a bit of time to shine.

The challenge level is high, and there's a lot of strategizing required in that you need to know which guns to use when (as four very different weapons are perennially at your disposal) and decide which ones to power up with energy points earned during play.

Put in a little practice and make some wise decisions and you'll eventually survive the stages--and come face to face with interesting, well-designed boss creatures.

The music is very cool, especially the moody track featured in the fourth level, where the enemy's fastest forces initiate a merciless attack. The soundtrack reaches its apex just as the game decides to weed out the unskilled by deploying its greatest threats.

Each time I powered up Psycho Chaser, I made it a little bit further, came up with a few more effective strategies, and memorized a few more level segments until I ultimately beat the entire thing. I think that's what the idea of a "difficulty curve" is all about. PC understands and delivers on the concept, accounting for its sleeper-shooter status among those who've run its gauntlet.

Falcon

~ FALCON ~

Spectrum HoloByte / TTI

HuCard

1992

...

...

...

...

!!!

Whew.

...

???

Good grief.

Final Match Tennis

~ FINAL MATCH TENNIS ~

Human

HuCard

1991

There are those who swear by Final Match. They tell their tales of sleepless nights spent on FMT tournaments, of never-ending delight delivered by a tennis title that outclasses all others. I, on the other hand, haven't ever drawn up any FMT brackets. I haven't congregated with assemblages of fellow fans. I haven't even lost a second of sleep to the thing. I do like it well enough, but I view it merely as an example of what can happen when a design team puts together a product that excels in the one area that matters most. As for what that one area is... well, it's not visuals. From afar, FMT looks a lot like a number of archaic NES-era efforts.

In all fairness, the finest aspects of the art and animation simply don't shine through in screen captures. But I offer no such qualifiers regarding the audio, which is 8-bit fare all the way. And do not expect your default single-player FMT experience to be rewarding, as a good serve-and-volley game will have your computer-controlled opponents tripping over their own feet point in and point out.

Options at the onset are not aplenty, covering and extending not the slightest bit beyond a variety of court surfaces, a training mode, a number of selectable players, and tournament competition.

But FMT answers the call with its gameplay. It's a very fast, very lively affair that controls wonderfully, making it grand entertainment for friends in the mood for batting a tennis ball around sans any flaw in play that could possibly lead to frustration for either party.

But my friends and I... well, we prefer Davis Cup, which is more realistic action- and appearance-wise and deeper and more rewarding on the whole. Still, even those tennis-game fans who share my views on how FMT compares with its peers, on how much of its strange cult-hit-ish rep is truly deserved, probably won't for a moment consider it anything less than a viable alternative to everything else that's available, especially since it typically costs a mere four or five bucks.