Imagine a field in the middle of the night – it’s quiet and atmospheric with a light mist hanging over everything. It’s quite a beautiful scene, isn’t it? And you may not think that the Super Nintendo would be the best platform on which to present this scene, but you’d be wrong. Super Castlevania IV is one of the most beautiful and ambient games I’ve ever played, which it’s all the more impressive when you consider the technical limitations of the time. There’s one moment in particular, where you can see living horse skeletons in a field in the distance and it endears me so much every time I see them. The little details make all the difference.

Essentially, this is a reimagining of the first game in the series. On the one hand, it does mean that it doesn’t do anything new in terms of story, but on the other, it also means that it’s very accessible. All you need to know is that Simon Belmont is travelling across the lands in order to kill Count Dracula.

This was the first main instalment in the series to not be released on the NES and you can see a pretty significant improvement over the last three games. The others were all very hard, in part due to the fact that you were very limited in your movements. Now you have much more control over your jumps and your whip (which, for those who don’t know, is your primary form of attack) which makes a huge difference. If you’d been put off of playing the series due to these issues in the previous games, know that they have now been resolved.

Honestly, Super Castlevania IV is a real classic. If you love 2D platforming, then you’re sure to have a very good time with it. It may be a little on the hard side in the later levels, but never unreasonably so (except maybe on the final boss, who is much more mobile than you) and I feel as though they’ve really refined the Castlevania formula by this point. Plus, the soundtrack is absolutely sublime – not only do all the tracks perfectly suit the places they’re played in, but I feel like all of the game’s sound effects play a big role in setting the tone just right too.

So if you wanted to get into classic Castlevania, make this the game you try. It’s one of the best games on the SNES and something which holds up to this day.

Rating: 9.4/10

Buy it here.

I had somewhat enjoyed Mario vs. Donkey Kong on the Game Boy Advance and I remember being quite excited when I heard that it was getting a sequel for the Nintendo DS. I was curious to see how they’d improve the formula on superior hardware.

As it turns out, they did not improve the formula. They didn’t worsen it, either. They actually just made something completely different. While the first game had been a sort of successor to Donkey Kong for the original Game Boy, this game had you guiding Mini-Mario toys to the exits of little 2D levels. On paper, it might sound like a change for the worse (and I know some people were unhappy with it) but I actually like it more than those previous two games.

The Mini-Marios actually made their debut in the previous game, but I found them quite annoying in that one, since you just had to lead them to safety with Mario and they often died because of things which felt like they were out of your control. This time, you do feel in control. You can turn the Mini-Marios on and off by tapping them and swipe them left or right to make them go in certain directions. Along the way, they’ll encounter Shy Guys, Piranha Plants and other enemies trying to destroy them. They can’t really defend themselves (unless you lead them to a hammer) so you need to keep an eye on all of them to keep them safe.

Winning a level feels very satisfying and it’s one of those DS games which made good use of the touch screen controls. It wouldn’t really work without them. You go through several worlds along the way and they’re all styled after famous Mushroom Kingdom locations (and one is styled on Donkey Kong Island.) Very nicely, you get remixes of famous Super Mario and Donkey Kong tunes along the way (though I wish they had more Donkey Kong music…)

I also appreciate this game from a story perspective too, which I can’t really say for its prequel.  It starts with Mario opening a theme park based around Mini-Marios and he has Pauline there as a special guest. For the first time, she has a 3D model and it’s pretty cool that they brought this retro character back after all those years. Donkey Kong gets mad when she favours a Mini-Mario over a Mini-Donkey Kong, grabs her by the arm and drags her away. Cue Mini-Mario based chase. There’s a wonderful twist ending to it all and I shan’t spoil it, but let’s just say that I enjoyed Donkey Kong’s characterisation here.

It’s a nice, simple game and it doesn’t have too many problems. I will admit though that one or two of the game’s levels were on the frustrating side and, to be honest, the concept as a whole might not be “meaty” enough for some players. Plus, I do wish that they had incorporated more elements from the Donkey Kong series – other than Pauline and DK himself, it feels more like a Super Mario game which just happens to feature Donkey Kong, rather than a merging of the two series.

Nonetheless, it is an enjoyable puzzle game and something which I would recommend adding to your DS collection.

Rating: 8.6/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

Rayman is a fondly remembered gaming icon of the 1990s and early 2000s and while he might not be considered as much of a big deal these days, his games are still fun to play. The original Rayman was released in 1995 and it’s an enjoyable 2D platformer which has aged quite well.

The story isn’t really much of a focus (even less so than other games in this genre.) All you really need to know is that he’s travelling through a strange and surreal world in order to rescue something called the Great Protoon from somebody named Mr. Dark. It sets up the game and it’s really all you need.

What I like so much about this game is that the worlds all look very beautiful (the art is very nice, especially for its time) and there’s a great soundtrack to accompany it. The music is often quite ambient and I sometimes get the impression that a lot of the strange and bizarre things I’m seeing are supposed to symbolise something more meaningful, though they’re almost certainly not.

Sometimes you’ll be going through jungles and caves, which are obviously fairly standard video game locales, but they’re portrayed really well here. Other times you’ll be walking through levels made of art supplies or musical notations, which is very unique. I have a personal preference for the ones which are grounded in reality (they have a certain fairy tale charm to them) but I basically like them all.

There is one main area where the game could be improved, however: the difficulty. It’s far too hard. Now, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate finely tuned platforming which is tough, but fair – it can be nice to really perfect your approach to a level so that you can win. Sadly, a lot of the tough sections in Rayman don’t feel fair to me. There’ll be obstacles flying all over the place  and everything that hits Rayman, pushes him back, often into deadly bottomless pits. It’s really infurating sometimes, especially near the end.

Speaking of the end, you need to find all of the collectables hidden in each world to access the final world… considering the difficulty in finishing some of them even once, this was not something I was willing to do. I usually like to complete every game I review but, sadly, finishing all but the final world will have to count as “completing” in this case.

But, overall, I’d hate to leave a negative impression of this game. The difficulty can get frustrating, sure, but I still had a good time with this game and genuinely enjoyed many of its levels. Plus, it was the game that gave us Rayman: iconic and limbless creature that he is. I’d say it’s worth a try.

Rating: 8.1/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)