Looking forward to your Simon's Quest post, that game is fantastic(think Castelvania 3 was by far the best of the NES games) but you need a walkthrough to get through it. My 8 year old self was forced to rent a video tape walk through in order to progress because who the hell knew you had to kneel by a cliff wearing a ring in order to generate a tornado??? Apparently there were mass translation errors that caused the NPCs to spout nonsense in English rather than give you real info.
Side note, when it comes to exploring and discovering secrets, one of my favorite games is actually Candy Box 2. It’s a free browser game made in ASCII. It starts out as literally nothing but a number counter going up, like Cookie Clicker if it was text-based and had no clicking. Or cookies. Maybe that’s a bad analogy.
But you let the ticker scroll. A new button appears. You click it. Keep clicking it. Now there’s another button. And more things start to happen as the game unfolds itself. And before you know it, there’s a whole adventure and all kinds of secrets to uncover. I really love games that unfold like that.
Never heard of this one. Sounds interesting, though! I've never explored the vast world of browser games. I don't think they appealed to me in the 2000s when they were big online, but I'd love to learn more about them now.
I admittedly only know about this game from the AVGN. I understand the limitations the NES had to deal with back then, but the castle would probably be more fun to explore if it was a matter of deduction and puzzle-solving, rather than raking through every single tile in every single room with the bubble beam.
I appreciate what they were going for—I love the idea of exploring all the nooks and crannies of a single building, hunting for secrets and traps. Perhaps the technology wasn’t quite there yet. Same thing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, another game infamously lampooned by the Nerd. Conceptually, Jekyll & Hyde is actually a really cool game. Psychological survival horror before it was a thing, deconstructing the side scrolling action genre and turning conventional game design on its head by trying to maintain your sanity and avoid outbursts of violence. It’s a phenomenal concept, but difficult to get across to young, naive players, and even more difficult to implement effectively. We wouldn’t have gotten better executions later on if the pioneers hadn’t experimented with the basics.
I do quite like the music in Milon’s Secret Castle, as well.
I think you nailed it. Bubble blowing your way through hidden walls or to make secret doors appear is just... strange. There's a reason this mechanic died with Milon. Deduction and puzzle-solving, presuming they were well done, would have helped Milon age more gracefully, methinks.
As for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, yeah I actually agree. It's a game that's held back by the limitations of the NES, but the concept is actually fantastic.
Just an FYI, I voted for “keep them coming” because I enjoy your retrospective look at the games I grew up with, but honestly, do what feels right to you. As long as you enjoy what you’re doing and are having fun, that’s what matters. I just love reading the insights of someone who started playing games around the same time I did.
Milon’s is one game that I heard of back in the day but didn’t know much about. I do like that box art though, which depicts an actual miniature they used in commercials for the game, at least in Japan. Too bad its sequel never made it out of Japan, that one looks pretty good.
The box art is solid for sure. If you're fiendin' for more Milon, there's always the Game Boy game, which I believe is slightly different from the NES version.
Thanks Thomas. One reason I like revisiting these old NES games is that, at this stage in my life, I feel like I'm not just influenced by the Internet (hello AVGN) in my opinions. Compared to the Questicle days, at least. I'm trying to find the good in each game, or at least the different. What makes each game stand apart.
I don't hate Super Pitfall either. I just don't think those sort of inscrutable action-adventures really worked here in the States, at least in the late 80s. Japan ate them up during the Famicom days, as evidenced by Milon's Secret Castle selling nearly a million copies there. I bet Japan had strategy guides for it, though, whereas even Nintendo Power didn't touch that game.
Yeah, what makes Zelda and Metroid special, compared to Deadly Towers or Milon's is indeed that sense of progression and getting stronger. Exploring is fun and all, and it's certainly Milon's strong suit, but you definitely feel like something's missing.
Whenever I look at Milon, I can't help but think of Mario as a wizard. I think it's his name starting with an "M" and his colors.
Huh, never thought about that. I’m really glad Mario doesn’t have that sort of swishy cap that Milon does, though.
Looking forward to your Simon's Quest post, that game is fantastic(think Castelvania 3 was by far the best of the NES games) but you need a walkthrough to get through it. My 8 year old self was forced to rent a video tape walk through in order to progress because who the hell knew you had to kneel by a cliff wearing a ring in order to generate a tornado??? Apparently there were mass translation errors that caused the NPCs to spout nonsense in English rather than give you real info.
I too am looking forward to playing Simon's Quest again. That game has phenomenal atmosphere, even if it is too obtuse for its own good.
Castlevania 3 is the best of the NES trilogy, though, no arguments there.
Side note, when it comes to exploring and discovering secrets, one of my favorite games is actually Candy Box 2. It’s a free browser game made in ASCII. It starts out as literally nothing but a number counter going up, like Cookie Clicker if it was text-based and had no clicking. Or cookies. Maybe that’s a bad analogy.
But you let the ticker scroll. A new button appears. You click it. Keep clicking it. Now there’s another button. And more things start to happen as the game unfolds itself. And before you know it, there’s a whole adventure and all kinds of secrets to uncover. I really love games that unfold like that.
Never heard of this one. Sounds interesting, though! I've never explored the vast world of browser games. I don't think they appealed to me in the 2000s when they were big online, but I'd love to learn more about them now.
I admittedly only know about this game from the AVGN. I understand the limitations the NES had to deal with back then, but the castle would probably be more fun to explore if it was a matter of deduction and puzzle-solving, rather than raking through every single tile in every single room with the bubble beam.
I appreciate what they were going for—I love the idea of exploring all the nooks and crannies of a single building, hunting for secrets and traps. Perhaps the technology wasn’t quite there yet. Same thing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, another game infamously lampooned by the Nerd. Conceptually, Jekyll & Hyde is actually a really cool game. Psychological survival horror before it was a thing, deconstructing the side scrolling action genre and turning conventional game design on its head by trying to maintain your sanity and avoid outbursts of violence. It’s a phenomenal concept, but difficult to get across to young, naive players, and even more difficult to implement effectively. We wouldn’t have gotten better executions later on if the pioneers hadn’t experimented with the basics.
I do quite like the music in Milon’s Secret Castle, as well.
I think you nailed it. Bubble blowing your way through hidden walls or to make secret doors appear is just... strange. There's a reason this mechanic died with Milon. Deduction and puzzle-solving, presuming they were well done, would have helped Milon age more gracefully, methinks.
As for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, yeah I actually agree. It's a game that's held back by the limitations of the NES, but the concept is actually fantastic.
Just an FYI, I voted for “keep them coming” because I enjoy your retrospective look at the games I grew up with, but honestly, do what feels right to you. As long as you enjoy what you’re doing and are having fun, that’s what matters. I just love reading the insights of someone who started playing games around the same time I did.
Thanks Fernando, I am grateful for your interest and support!
Milon’s is one game that I heard of back in the day but didn’t know much about. I do like that box art though, which depicts an actual miniature they used in commercials for the game, at least in Japan. Too bad its sequel never made it out of Japan, that one looks pretty good.
The box art is solid for sure. If you're fiendin' for more Milon, there's always the Game Boy game, which I believe is slightly different from the NES version.
Thanks Thomas. One reason I like revisiting these old NES games is that, at this stage in my life, I feel like I'm not just influenced by the Internet (hello AVGN) in my opinions. Compared to the Questicle days, at least. I'm trying to find the good in each game, or at least the different. What makes each game stand apart.
I don't hate Super Pitfall either. I just don't think those sort of inscrutable action-adventures really worked here in the States, at least in the late 80s. Japan ate them up during the Famicom days, as evidenced by Milon's Secret Castle selling nearly a million copies there. I bet Japan had strategy guides for it, though, whereas even Nintendo Power didn't touch that game.
Yeah, what makes Zelda and Metroid special, compared to Deadly Towers or Milon's is indeed that sense of progression and getting stronger. Exploring is fun and all, and it's certainly Milon's strong suit, but you definitely feel like something's missing.