Dragon Quest II (Super Famicom, 1993)

Time for the second half of the Super Famicom remake double-header. To put it bluntly, I don't like this one as much as the first. It makes heavy use of mountain ranges to constantly block you off from exploring the overworld at your leisure, so it loses a lot of the open world feeling... even though it is, technically, a pretty open game. Aside from that, the game seems poorly-balanced in general. But if you like fighting baboons on the overworld for 80% of the game, it's a good time.

Regardless, it's fun in a classic sense, and this version has improved graphics. Let's get to it. And if you haven't, check out my posts on the NES version of the game.

Dragon Quest (Super Famicom, 1993)

 

Time for the original Dragon Quest. Wait, didn't I cover this game already? Yes, but I covered the English NES version, Dragon Warrior. This is the Super Famicom remake that came along later. It's awesome.

Lufia: The Legend Returns Finale - Sundown

This is it, the grand finale of the trilogy. Mega-spoilers abound, as well as Milka being a Thai hooker. Read at your own risk.

Lufia: The Legend Returns #8 - Bangkok Heel Turn

 I fly to the latest tower to confront Daos, this time with my full army. He isn't impressed.

Lufia: The Legend Returns #7 - AM Stalker

Previously on Lufia III, Daos killed Conas. NEVER AGAIN will he provide anyone with a Conas Hint. NEVER AGAIN DAMMIT!

Best of Corona Jumper 2014

Time for the selected best of the past year. And by "best" I mean "wholly subjective best". Your mileage may vary.

While we're at it, check out last year's Best of Corona Jumper for more of the razor wit that is Corona Jumper.

Modern comments will be bolded.

Lufia: The Legend Returns #6 - Terror Squad

"FEED ME MORE [Lufia III] FEED ME MORE [Lufia III]"

Lufia: The Legend Returns #5 - Blades of Amon

Copley Forest... no relation to Boston's famed Copley Square. I played this game in Boston, coincidentally.

Previously on Lufia III, Rudo tamed some of that strange. Today... he battles Amon.

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy, 1993) (Game Boy Color, 1998)

I just finished Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the first time ever. It wasn't particularly enjoyable, but it had some good moments. Looking back on it now I don't think that it was a very good -Zelda- game, but as far as games in general go it was solid. I'm going on to Skyward Sword next and I really hope it's better.

Playing Twilight Princess made me want to revisit an older game in the series, so I'm digging into my screenshots from Link's Awakening back in the day. Specifically, the DX version for the Game Boy Color, which added a nice color scheme to the game. I'm not sure whether to label this a Game Boy game or a Game Boy Color game, so I labeled it both. This is probably my favorite original Game Boy game of all time, no joke.

Lufia: The Legend Returns #4 - Sea Legs

Previously on Lufia III, our heroes arrived on a new continent after defeating Gades. Somebody also had sex on a boat. It was really disrespectful to the other passengers.

Lufia: The Legend Returns #3 - Monkly Business

I resume the game only to find myself fighting MORE RED SLIMES. I'm like five hours into the game and I still primarily get attacked by the same enemies that hit for 1 damage. What gives?

Lufia: The Legend Returns #2 - Running Up That Hill

Previously on Lufia III... I got crushed by Gades. After much Hi-Bomb farming, now I go back and try to win. Will I succeed, and will Seena be something resembling tolerable?

Lufia: The Legend Returns (Game Boy Color, 2001)

Five years after Lufia 2, we finally got the third installment in this series. Originally, this was supposed to be a Playstation 1 game. One can only imagine the possibilities there. It would have likely been much more like the previous games, and perhaps we would have found out what the deal was with Arek. Instead, for various reasons we got a portable Lufia 3 for the Game Boy Color, and... it isn't very good. It certainly isn't at the level of the previous games, though it gets decent enough to be considered passable for a portable RPG.

The system downgrade may have had a negative effect on the design team's inspiration, as the design of this game seems like it was meant for a series gaiden rather than the next numbered installment; the developers even avoided putting a "3" in the official title.

This game takes place a hundred years after Lufia 1, and two hundred years after Lufia 2. Let's get to it.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals Epilogue - The Ancient Cave

Today on Lufia II: Jericho is bad at Ancient Cave.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals Finale - Balder and the Mistletoe

Previously on Lufia II, our heroes killed Gades several times. Unfortunately, he then became more powerful than they can possibly imagine. Also, we learned the truth about Iris: The carpet does not in fact match the drapes.

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals #8 - Ominous Power

 Today on Lufia II, our heroes go to Dragon Mountain to rob Smaug find a missing elder. The end is near!

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals #7 - Maxim the Hormone

PHOWA PHOWA PHA! PHOWA PHOWA PHA! PHOWA PHOWA PHA!

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals #6 - Jolly Carousers

 Today on Lufia II, there is much carousing. Jolly carousing. Featuring Dekar's Superdriver.

Blazing Lazers (Turbografx-16, 1989)

The final game of Shooter Week is a legendary, revered, beloved retro shooter. It's from Hudson Soft rather than Compile, but it sure does have a lot in common with the Aleste series. Mainly Super Aleste, which this game is closer to than any of the other shooters that I've played this week. That's right, I had to go to the Turbografx-16 (a system I've never played anything on before) to find a game that might be on par with my beloved Space Megaforce. I'd still put this game in second-place, but it isn't far off.

Super R-Type (Super NES, 1991)

Time for one of my favorite SNES shooters. The R-Type series, from Irem, was sorta the Ross Perot of the shooter universe circa the 1990s. Not as popular or well-known as Gradius and not as beloved by the hardcore as the vertical Compile games. It spans five games (that I know of...there may be more) and while it's side-scrolling, it has a number of innovations that set it apart from (and even surpass at times) the Gradius games.