Spyro the Dragon is one of those early 3D platformers from the 1990s which helped to make the genre become very popular. At the time of it’s release, I did not own a console which could play it, so it was only very recently that I first played Spyro. A part of me worried that it would seem dated and the fact that I had not played it at the time would mean that I could never enjoy it to any large extent. Thankfully, these fears turned out to be ungrounded.

The story is a relatively simple one. The dragon citizens of the Dragon Kingdom are suddenly turned into statues as the result of an unprovoked attack from an evil monster called Gnasty Gnorc, who also stole all of their treasure.  Spyro then heads out across the lands in order to turn the dragons back to normal and recover the treasure.

So, basically, this has you travelling to several different open 3D areas (caves, swamps, mountains) and exploring them to find all of the collectables.  These levels are generally quite linear (with a set exit and check points along the way) but they all have lots of secret paths and areas. Completely clearing a level out of its treasures and enemies is actually very, very satisfying. It is occasionally very hard to find some of the secrets though.

The worlds all have a whimsical, fantastical feeling to them. It felt like exploring a fairy tale world, in fact, and I liked that a lot. The music does a lot to help capture that enchanting, mysterious feeling too. However, there are occasionally Gnorcs (a species of monster who are the enemies in the game) who use items of modern technology (like machine guns and planes) and I enjoyed the weird humour that this contrast provides. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Banjo-Kazooie – a game from the same era and an all-time favourite of mine.

However, as much fun as I did have with it, there were a couple of setbacks. For example, I don’t think that the game’s control scheme is bad, but it does take a little while to get used to. I think it’s because Spyro moves on four legs and most game characters don’t, I’m not sure. It only took me an hour or so, but at first, it did seem tricky to move around properly.

Overall, if you’ve played other games in this style, you’re sure to like it. Something about being put into a 3D world and being left to find/defeat everything in it is really appealing to me. I suppose some people might think of it as too simple, but I think it’s a formula which can lead to hours of fun. Indeed, once you’ve completed the main story, there’s a kot of incentive to keep playing. Spyro himself is pretty loveable too.

Rating: 8.8/10

Buy it here.

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

EarthBound Beginnings (a.k.a. Mother) is the first game in one of my absolute favourite video game franchises. Originally it was only released in Japan (in 1989) but then in 2015, it was released internationally, which is a very pleasant turn of events. In fact, it was my favourite piece of news from E3 2015.

The Mother series has three installments and, ironically enough, this was the one which I played last. Considering that the second and third games were on the SNES and Game Boy Advance, I was a bit worried that the first game might seem less good due to the fact that it was on the technologically inferior Famicom.

Thankfully, while the game does show its age in some areas, it is still very fun and evokes the same magical, sentimental and surreal feelings as the other two. Just like the later installments, it takes the JRPG formula (usually associated with fantasy settings) and applies it to 20th century America. It works really well.

You play as a young boy named Ninten (who is very, very similar to the better-known Ness) who suddenly finds strange paranormal activities occurring within his home. His father then tells him that his grandfather had investigated psychic powers and Ninten sets off on an adventure to save the world from similar paranormal anomalies which are happening elsewhere. You soon find out, that to do this you must find the “eight melodies” which merge together into one long piece of magical music.

Then, after that, you’re basically left to just figure out what to do by yourself. You can head out into the world and pretty much go where you please – interacting with strange, comical people in towns who will tell you things and ask you to do things for them. You’ll end up exploring cities, desserts, caves and even bizarre dreamscapes on your quest to find the eight melodies. The world isn’t as big as the world of the later games, but it’s still fun to explore and there are lots of strange and interesting things to find. You don’t have to do things in a set order either, which is nice.

As you explore the world, there’ll be random encounters with various creatures, ranging from regular animals to weird and wacky aliens and robots. You then face them in a turn-based fight. The fact that the world is generally quite normal (other than the strange creatures in it) means that it can sometimes be quite creepy. There’s that feeling of 1950s America, UFOs and Roswell.

One of the only problems the game has is that sometimes I think the graphics just look kind of bad. I’m pretty accepting of retro graphics, but this game sometimes feels too minimalist. I also felt that the lack of direction made the game a bit too hard at times, because I did spend quite a while just wandering around trying to figure out what to do. You also need to do quite a lot of level grinding at times – which I actually enjoy, but I know some people hate it.

But, ultimately, for a game of its age, it is very, very good. I’d say that it is one of the very best NES/Famicom games. It might not be quite as good as the other two, but it’s still a great start to the series and something which I think fans of Mother/EarthBound and fans of retro games should definitely try.

Rating: 8.9/10

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