So, I found this game browsing through Itchio as I like to highlight to indie game and devs on my stream, being an indie streamer myself. Finding this game, I felt like I had uncovered a hidden gem - not only does the premise of GBC metroidvania sound promising, being a longtime shantae and metroid fan, but the art looks wonderful! Booting it up and hearing the soundtrack only made me more excited to play it. The first hour or so of wandering about only furthered my expectations, but after, I'm afraid to say things took a bad turn.
I found reptitive boss fights, in every sense of the word, where I was pitted against an enemy with seemingly tons of health yet only one attack I had to worry about. I found myself constantly lost, with the promise of a map somewhere (late game was certainly a choice. I understand not wanting to give every secret away but still). I found a timed escape with little wiggle room for error (PLEASE ACTUALLY PLAY A METROID GAME. THE ESCAPE TIMERS ARE FAIRLY GENEROUS. Also no health restore after the boss fight? Jesus, sis). I found an absolute SLOG of a three boss finale, with little to write home about. Constant lack of any checkpoints or niceties even games on this system would give.
This game wants to be a GBC game. It ties itself to the aesthetic and programming limitations. It gives little to no consideration however, to how it would actually play on the gameboy color. The two bosses before the final one can chip you so easily, yet the final boss gets no checkpoint, or heal, or even tell for what patter you're getting next, and some of them punish you instantly if you are poised to dodge most the rest. This would be par for the course in perhaps an arcade machine, looking to squeeze every last quarter out of my allowance, but a published game? In the late 90s/early 00s? It feels like you were so eager to make the game feel retro, you forgot not only what era you were making a game for, but also that we left a lot of these design choices in the past for a reason.
Art/Music/World: 10/10. Absolutely peak, this game just OOZES charm. Its what kept us going through the many rough patches. the enviroments were all wonderful and unique, and I adored them bit.
Writing 6.5/10: Feels kinda weird this is about Rosemarie and her sisters, and we get to see one early, but only once? Theres only one real character for the bulk of the game, but she does have interesting dialogue. Theres plenty of enviromental stuff to flesh out the world's feel, which is more important.
Actual Gameplay experience: 2/10. For the reasons noted above, It felt like the game was actively trying to sap out any enjoyment we had. Actively hostile to the player and the concept of fun. Might be good for the particularily masochistic, or those who don't mind abusing save states, but I feel for those trying to play on an actual cart. Just play Shantae, or Metroid 2. Or any other indie Metroidvania. I like Blasphemous a lot.
All said, I think I am glad I played this. It was an experience I don't think I forget for a long, long time. Might come back to post the maps here, to save the next person some madness.
