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Trailblazers vs. MultiColoredWizard
Trailblazers I love this death beam. It pisses me off so much, but it helps make sure I keep my ass moving. You don't know it, but the Fleshthorn(this boss) is chasing me up this tower, and if I fall, SPLAT DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
Retrogamer
Download: 368 KB
V.S.
MultiColoredWizard
Play Time: Noriko: 2 hours, Brinks: 1.3 hours and for S.Kikraizer: 30 minutes
Review # 4 for MultiColoredWizard I love this death beam. It pisses me off so much, but it helps make sure I keep my ass moving. You don't know it, but the Fleshthorn(this boss) is chasing me up this tower, and if I fall, SPLAT DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
Them's Fightin' Words
    Ah, Trailblazers. A great game that has gone too un-noticed for so long. Several people played it, but none ever mentioned it to the people of the OHR. On #Paradoxlounge Retro-G gave it out to people to playtest. They never said anything. Sadly, it seems as though these are about the only ones who ever played it.

If you didn't know, which you should, Trailblazers is a sidescroller. Not like the game Me(or whatever ZzFenix's 48 hour contest entry was three years ago), where there is no movement. In this game, you JUMP, you move around platforms. You actually hit enemies out of battle.

Like most sidescrolling games on the OHR(There are only 4 that I know of to date, counting this one. Two for the 168 Hour Contest(One is Siv). Also, It Came from Beyond the Moon), they're made by Retro-G. It's truly disappointing that no one has tried to do this as well. James released a sidescrolling script. People need to use this to make more sidescrolling games.

Just a little note. YES, this game is hard. I won't go into why at this point. See a later section. Also, yes, this review probably is a bit biased because this game is made up of things I love(8-bit graphics, platforming, and difficulty).

Graphics
    Brilliant! Just, brilliant. The game is entirely in 8-bit. If you're a hardcore NES fan like I am, then you will automatically want to rub Retro-G's body down in oil and caress his warm bon-- er(crap, that's still wrong)...



Of course, like Retro usually does, he makes scripting improve his graphic work. Basically, every sprite is two tiles high. It looks really good. Not only that, but he also added 3-framed walking. The walking isn't really 3 frames. The sprite just cycles through 3 different pictures, even when in place.



Sometimes the animation is a bit choppy, like in Brinks's animation. The top stays flat and it looks ooooooogly. I don't like to look at it.
 
Storyline
    Considering that this is a game that relies on you having fun(hard to word), its plot is unimportant. However, since I've got an entire section devoted to it, I'll explain what I know so far.

Apparantly, Lord Biius has to finally get off his ass from watching TV for 500(or 5000, forget which) years. After he does this, he sends some map out to a random planet at random coordinates. Apparantly, this map is haunting and evil. It "draws in" anyone who finds it.

So.. I'm guessing this is where your three characters come in. S. Kikraizer, Noriko, and some Brinks.

Only problem I have with the plot/dialouge, is that there's no Engrish(See: www.engrish.com ). Come on man, how are you supposed to emulate the NES without engrish!? ENGRISH ARE GOOD SIR.

 
Gameplay
    Um, it's a sidescroller with multiple characters. I'll explain everything in later sections.


 
  Battle
    Enemies



Enemies aren't too special. Most of them just pace around back and fourth. The fish over level four hop out of the water at you, which is very surprising to me. There are also these fairies in level 2, I really want to murder them. They cause several of your deaths, I guarantee it. They shoot these 3 red fireballs in different directions at you and spread. It's hard to dodge, and sucks if you get hit.





Bosses



Bosses are just.. incredible. Their AI is very good, as they always face the player.



The Halfmoon has an easy pattern, but it's a pain to get an idea of how to stop it. You have to shoot its antennae which fires fire at you. It's hard to hit, as it's about 5 pixels tall. Noriko is bad to use for it, because more than likely you suck with shurikens, and the sword requires being right next to him. Youch, I always get scorched.



Fleshthorn... Wow, this guy is.. incredible. It has four eyes, and they all change to different forms, 1 at a time. One section turns you into a snake, one is a homing ying yang, and one fires a laser beam across its path, one shoots two stones at you that fly straight in two directions, and the last one is a sensitive eye, which you hit.



Sound easy, huh? THEY'RE NOT.


 
  Map Design
    Although the earlier stages are fairly straight-forward, they do have some neat things.



Stage 2 has moving platforms, which is a really cool idea. Unfortunately, there's a specific area where the jump is practically impossible. I still miss it a veces.



Actually, the maps are only so difficult due to jumping being a bit off. I don't know why in particular, but it's a real bother. Most NES games usually have slow jumping(SEE: Castlevania 1-3), where as this is very fast.



Stage 4 is amazing. There are these crates that you have to break from ropes, and ride them for a bit. It's really hard, as there are fish in the water that plop out at you. At later points, there are vanishing and reappearing blocks you have to jump onto at special(like Heatman's stage from Megaman 2, but without the annoying sound effect and the differening times in block appearance. It's all at once or none at once.).



Stage 5 is similar to the second boss fight of Metal Slug 2. Fleshthorn is chasing you up his tower. Basically, you're supposed to keep jumping the platforms, while Fleshthorn eats everything in its path. The difference, is that you're not constantly being shot at. Instead, Fleshthorn fires a beam from his eye, sort of like the "final" boss of Sonic 3.


 
  Balance
    T-Blazers isn't particularly too balanced. For example, S. Kikraizer is obviously a better choice over Noriko. For some reason, I found Brinks a better choice than Kikraizer. This I only find awkward due to the fact that the Character Select screen lists Kikraizer on Easy mode, and Brinks on Normal mode. Of course, since some of these changes are intentional, I probably shouldn't whine. He does a good job with statistical balance.

S. Kikraizer

Kikraizer is like Megaman, Pre-Megaman 3. All he can do is shoot, jump, use a special, and walk. However, he doesn't need much to get his ass going. He's really well made as is. Although his weapons are weak, he makes up for it in amount of health. This guy can take about 6 hits. Not too shabby, there.

His weapons are pretty good. The regular shot goes on and on, but the problem is you can only have one shot onscreen. His super bullet is good too, does nice damage, but sadly, he can only use about 3.


Noriko

Noriko, yucky. Noriko is veeeeeeeery hard to play as. She's a bit like Sypha Belnades of Castlevania 3, only instead of being a weak as christ mage(my favoritist classic class evar), she is a strong as christ Ninja(second favorite). The MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR drawback, is that 2 hits, and, well, you're a dead [wo]man.

Her weapons are good, though. Her main weapon is a sword, which does GREAT damage. Her sub-weapon is the Shuriken. You have about 6 shurikens, so it's pretty good. However, at times I find myself and cheating by running through the level holding CTRL and hitting the sword out.


Brinks

Brinks is the most balanced. He's weaker than the other two in terms of strength, but can take 3 hits and use 3 special weapons. Not bad, as it's better than the others. I, myself, find him the easiest to use, and reccomend him to beginners. Not bad for a giant walking mushroom, eh?

His weapons are good. His main weapon is a rock. When he first fires it, it flies forward, then ARCHS downward. Nice. It works really well, as it makes it easier to take out enemies below you(specifically, the fairy in the pit of level 2). His subweapon is relatively useless. It's only a white puff that appears next to his face. I admit it, I never used it until I came to writing this point of the review. Baaaad design there, Retro needs to change that.


 
Music
    The music was nicely placed, and is original(MAJOR POINTS). I don't particularly like the style of music, but I say it's perfect for the atmosphere.

However, the theme for Fleshthorn's tower was brilliant. I loved it. I wish I could have stayed screwing around to listen to the song, but the deadly bastard was chasing me, so I have no way to describe it besides "totally awesome."


 
Enjoyment
    Trust me, you'll be hooked. It started another one of my obsessive cycles over a certain thing. That only happens if I REALLY like something.

 
Final Blows
    Retro-G deserves a million dollars for making this. Everyone should play this game, NOW. It's a breakthrough in OHR using-ness and stuff.

This is something I saw about 300 times in my Noriko game.

This is something I saw about 300 times in my Noriko game.
Final Scores
Graphics: 10/10.0
CONGRATURATION SIR, I WILL NOW MAKE LOVE TO YOU.

(A ten because they REALLY are top of the line graphics)
Storyline: 5/10.0
Blah blah, plot's unimportant. Next, please.
Gameplay: 10/10.0
Excellent, I only have one gripe, and that is the lack of saving. However, this is tradition, so it is let go.

(Still want a WORKING password system.)
Music: 9.5/10.0
Not particularly what I'd like. I'd probably give this a higher score if I liked the music style in it. However, one point for the Fleshtorn's Tower theme. That was awesome.

Of note: All original. This is what practically perfects it.
Enjoyment: 10/10.0
YES.
Overall Grade: A+
Final Thoughts
    Seriously, Retro, you totally need to keep making this and the NES-OHR junkies will love you fo-eva. There are also the plotscripters who will work for endless hours trying to figure out things like how long it took you to code this or how many variables you used.

An OHR great, and I reccomend it to all of you.
 


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