Hello readers,
1992 continues in strong fashion, with one franchise making its debut with a Game Boy game and another breaking new ground and setting an example that would jumpstart a whole new genre. Here are the next 5 games on the play-list.
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| KIRBY'S DREAM LAND |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: April 27, 1992
- Platforms: Game Boy
- Genre: Platformer, Action
- Developer / Publisher: HAL Laboratory / Nintendo
- Series/Franchise: Kirby
- HowLongToBeat: 1 hour
- MOBY RATING: 7.5 (#6,627)
It's the debut of Kirby! Always exciting to see the origins of a new character/franchise. I've never played a Kirby game before either, so this is a debut in two ways. The game sold over 5 million copies since its release, and a million within the first year, so it is quite a successful initial release in the Kirby series.
The developers, specifically director Masahiro Sakurai, wanted to make an easy pick up and play game for those unfamiliar with games, so this is a rather easy game, something, from my understanding, that would be a mainstay in the Kirby series.
This game is also very short at just roughly 1 hour.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
None, since this is the debut of Kirby.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
The year 1992 didn't start as well as I would have hoped. 2 of the first 5 games I've played received solid or better ratings, the others meh to very bad. A very short palette cleanser and an introduction to a new, cute character seems like the perfect game right now.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
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| FLASHBACK |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: 1992
- Platforms: Amiga, MS-DOS, SNES, Sega Genesis
- Genre: Platformer
- Developer / Publisher: Delphine Software International / U.S. Gold
- Series/Franchise: n.a
- HowLongToBeat: 6.5 hours
- MOBY RATING: 8.1 (#1,191)
Flashback is a cinematic platformer. It was a commercial and critical success at release, initially for the Amiga, then for a variety of other platforms. It has not only a sequel that released in 1995, but also has been in the news rather recently because of a direct sequel titled Flashback 2 that is currently in development and set to release in 2023. This original game also got a remake in 2013.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
None.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
Flashback was listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling French game of all time at one point. That should the proper expectations, right? The game got a GOTY award by Game Informer and multiple Action Adventure of the Year awards. It has a Moby rating of 8.1. So yes, expectations are relatively high for this one, and I've heard some good things about the game before starting this challenge, so I'm intrigued.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
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| WOLFENSTEIN 3D |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: May 5, 1992
- Platforms: MS-DOS, PC-98, SNES, Atari Jaguar
- Genre: FPS
- Developer / Publisher: id Software / Apogee Software
- Series/Franchise: Wolfenstein
- HowLongToBeat: 10 hours
- MOBY RATING: 7.9 (#2,370)
Here we go. With Wolfenstein 3D, we're looking at a critical success, a commercial success, a highly influential game jumpstarting a whole new genre of boomer shooters, a game capturing and contributing to the zeitgeist of the 90s and a game that helped finance bigger projects that id Software would work on from here, such as, oh I don't know, Doom and Quake maybe. This is a big game and the sort of game that made me want to start this challenge in the first place.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
No history as part of this challenge, meaning I didn't play the other two Wolfenstein games that released in 1981 and 1984. I did play Wolfenstein: The New Order and it's definitely among my favorite single-player FPS games ever.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
I think I will enjoy this because I did enjoy the hour or so I've spent with Catacombs 3-D, a game that only showed what was possible with the 3D game engine prototype that will now be used for Wolfenstein 3D. Catacombs 3-D was, other than this, a very basic game. So I can't wait to see how Wolfenstein 3D builds on that and what further foundations it lays for Doom and all the other id Software games to come in this decade. It's definitely going to be something special to experience.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
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| INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: June 1, 1992
- Platforms: Amiga, MS-DOS, FM-Towns
- Genre: Graphic adventure
- Developer / Publisher: LucasArts / LucasArts
- Series/Franchise: Indiana Jones
- HowLongToBeat: 10 hours
- MOBY RATING: 8.2 (#816)
I've enjoyed all LucasArts graphic adventures I've played so far, so Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is a happy sight. This game features three unique paths you can select, which sounds pretty interesting, and it received multiple Game of the Year awards. It's the 10th best rated non-sports/fighting game of the entire year by Moby Score, 6th if we exclude games that only released in Japan or didn't release outside it until 1993 or later. So yeah, this game is pretty well-rated.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
None. There were 8 Indiana Jones games released before this one, which I didn't play. On top of that, I never watched an Indiana Jones movie. Yeah, I know. I will rectify this before playing this game though.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
Getting a reason to watch the original three movies in the Indiana Jones franchise is a plus. On top of that, LucasArts graphic adventures have been fun so far, and a game that is this highly rated should be near-guaranteed to be enjoyable as well, so I'm looking forward to it.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
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| GARGOYLE'S QUEST II: THE DEMON DARKNESS |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: July 17, 1992
- Platforms: NES, Game Boy
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developer / Publisher: Capcom / Capcom
- Series/Franchise: Ghosts 'n Goblins
- HowLongToBeat: 4 hours
- MOBY RATING: 7.8 (#3,688)
We are going back to the Ghosts 'n Goblins series. This time, we're back to the Gargoyle's Quest sub-series, where the first release occured in 1990 with Gargoyle's Quest. That one was a Game Boy exclusive, while the sequel also released for the NES. You once again control Firebrand, an iconic character from the series who someone is rage-qutting over in 85's Ghosts 'n Goblins or 91's Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, I assure you.
The first Gargoyle's Quest game was somewhat unique in that you would traverse an overhead view in one gameplay part, and would enter platforming levels in the other. It got both the action-adventure and platformer tags, and based on its description, it sounds like the sequel is going for something similar.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
I played and beat the original Gargoyle's Quest game, as well as Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, though that one is pretty different. I rated the original at 56, praising the somewhat enjoyable platforming and good difficulty balance, whilst also disliking the repetitive random battles in the overworld and in general not enjoying the two-types of gameplay approach, which is the type of "unique"/"innovative" that is not necessarily of positive nature.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
Overall, I found the original Gargoyle's Quest to be just fine. I'm not the biggest fan of the Game Boy, since it had clear limitations that for the most part don't translate well to me like the home console games do, so that might have been a part of it. The sequel having an NES release is a nice thing in that regard. Otherwise, I'm expecting to play more of the same. It's been 2 years since the original, which is a somewhat long time for this time period in gaming, and I'm not sure if this means the devs got a relatively long time to develop a more enjoyable game or if this game was made by pretty much the same team as 1991's Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which would mean the game actually only had a 9 month development time frame, which would reduce my expectations quite a bit. It's probably that, isn't it?
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- Gargoyle's Quest, 1990 (Game Boy)
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, 1991 (SNES)
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