Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear
PUBLISHER: Acclaim
DEVELOPER: Rare
RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1990 (US), 1990 (EU)
How long do you play a game that hates you?
For me and Wizards & Warriors X, it was Level 3.0. By this time in the game, my poor knight Kuros had already endured a multitude of off-screen projectiles flung towards him, enemies that took off multiple hit points when they touched him, precarious platforming that required extreme precision, and many hit points removed after falling from great heights. I had walked with my knight through all this pain. Kuros and I had overcome together. But once I hit Level 3.0, our patience well ran dry. Multiple minotaurs barraged us. Waves of axes, thrown from unseen hands, overwhelmed us. Dragon statues breathed waves of fire onto our skulls. Shame about the Crown Princess being kidnapped by the evil wizard Malkill and all, but this Fortress of Fear isn’t worth traversing to the bitter end.
Which is a shame because Wizards & Warriors X’s presentation is solid for early Game Boy. The title screen that showcases the titular Fortress of Fear while haunting music plays is the most cinematic intro the Game Boy has provided thus far. The prison-bars-as-level-transitions are a unique and unsettling way to show Kuros is moving deeper into the disturbing fortress. The skeletons in chains or the aforementioned dragon statues watching in the background are rewarding little details. And lastly, when you press pause, the “Pause” letters bounce up and down at different times; a small touch, but a welcome one.
The Wizards & Warriors NES trilogy combined action with adventure and exploration elements, but Fortress of Fear is pure action platforming. You move forward, you stab enemies, you jump from tiny platform to tiny platform over gaping pits, and you collect treasure for points, extra lives, etc. Intense trial-and-error will eventually win the day, but only with extreme perseverance. Here, you will fail and you will like it.
Compared to fellow spooky action platformer Castlevania: The Adventure (which arrived only a month before Wizards & Warriors in the States), Fortress of Fear feels like the more fully realized game and certainly the more difficult of the two. Still, I imagine if you could only pick one of them to take with you on a long boring car trip, Castlevania would be the obvious choice. Brand recognition, superior atmosphere and incredible soundtrack? Gets ‘em every time.
1990: B-
2026: C-
Motocross Maniacs
PUBLISHER: Ultra Games
DEVELOPER: Konami
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 20th, 1989 (JP), Jan. 1990 (US), 1990 (EU)
Motocross Maniacs is not a sequel to Excitebike, but it may as well be. It takes the foundation of Nintendo’s iconic NES game - intense speed, time limit, hilarious spills, bumps and ramps, ridiculous AI – and amplifies it. Nitro boost, tire upgrades for extra grip, loop-de-loops, sand pits and more await you, all while the core racing feels comfortable and familiar.
There is no story here. Get on a bike and start moving. Options ‘A,’ B,’ and ‘C’ are at your service, and the only difference between any of these is the amount of time you start with. You can play by your lonesome, against the CPU, or against a friend with that most precious of Game Boy accessories, a Link Cable. Choose from any of the eight courses on the menu screen, although they do progress in difficulty and more outlandish design. The gentle, comforting contours in course one eventually give way to the insane, over-the-top theatrics of course eight.
Nitro Boost is your best friend here. You start each course with four of these, with plenty of additional ‘N’ item squares scattered around the track for replenishment. Basically, if you don’t Boost wisely on the ramps and loop-de-loops and if you fail to collect more as you progress, you may as well start the course over.
The necessity for Nitro Boost is where Motocross Maniacs falls short of Excitebike for me. With the latter, all you need to succeed in harder tracks is to use your turbo well and hit the markers that lower your bike’s temperature so you can continue to use turbo. With Motocross Maniacs, you just won’t be able to proceed without Nitro Boost in certain sections of later courses. Your poor little biker will start his journey up the loop before crashing flat on his face; funny, yes, but also frustrating.
Sure, one could argue that Konami wants you to memorize the track layouts, memorize where Boost replenishment is scattered throughout the track, and use it accordingly. And indeed, this is the only way to progress through the game. Something about always needing one specific item for your bike just to complete later courses feels cheap to me, though.
Motocross Maniacs does play like a solid upgrade to Excitebike and a portable one to boot. If you can use Nitro Boosts wisely and sparingly, as the game demands, you’ll have a good time.
C
So the knight on the game's cover is wearing a loincloth, while he's in full armor in the actual game? Unless there are multiple characters to select from this seems slightly suspicious.
Agreed on Motocross Maniacs. Seems to me that upgrades should make your life easier, not be generally required to complete a course/level. Not that I ever played it, as far as I remember.