Mega Man X5 (PS1) Retro Review

We continue this month of Mega Man--MEGA MAY--with the fifth entry of the X sub-series. Mega Man X5 was meant to be the end of the X sub-series, but as we know, that did not come to pass. Was that good thing or a bad thing that X5 wasn't the final note from the franchise? Let's find out with the SuperPhillip Central review!

To X or not to X; that is the question.

It's decidedly a difficult challenge to review games in a vacuum, particularly games within a franchise's own series. When you've reached the fifth installment of a series, or in Mega Man X's case, sub-series, you have certain expectations you have to live up to. Mega Man X5 was originally planned as the finale of the X sub-series. For better or worse, the games continued after X5. With that and with reviewing games in a vacuum in mind, Mega Man X5 delivers a stellar and steady amount of action that one would want from the X sub-series, but it also stumbles as a sequel to even its most recent at the time predecessor. 

An encounter with Sigma after the intro level of the game sets the stage and events that transpire in Mega Man X5. The Eurasia space colony is headed towards Earth, which would result in the spread of the Sigma Virus at best, and the annihilation of the planet's population at worst. With little in the way of recourse and options, the Maverick Hunters hedge their bets on two plans: 1) a lunar cannon to destroy the colony before it can make contact with the Earth, and 2) having someone pilot a shuttle to crash into the colony, again before it destroys Earth. Either way, both plans require Mega Man X and Zero to enter into one of eight stages to secure the necessary materials for either operation to get off the ground, both figuratively and literally. 

Better Eurasia than Uranus heading towards us! (...I'm SO sorry.)

Mega Man X5 indeed takes a different approach to its formula. Yes, you still have eight stages at first to choose from, but the game highly encourages you to play the Maverick stages containing the necessary equipment to be used for the Lunar Cannon first. There's also a time limit, too. Every time you beat a stage or get a game over and switch stages, an hour ticks down until the colony is set to crash into Earth. The time limit given isn't too taxing or much of a concern, as you really have to try to have the countdown hit zero (the number, that is, not the Maverick Hunter). 

It's hard not to be reminded of Mega Man X4 when a starting select-able armor for X is
the Fourth Armor, directly from, you guessed it, Mega Man X4!

Even still, upon collecting the first four supplies needed to launch the Lunar Cannon, there's no guarantee it will work. In fact, most of the time you'll find the Lunar Cannon plan fails, thus it goes to plan B which is the manned shuttle option. The latter plan requires X and Zero to, of course, enter the other four Maverick stages. Generally, the shuttle will work, but there still is a chance of failure, however slight. 

Mega Man X5 is an interesting game, for sure, with its structure and story, but it's also a game that when coming off the superb, excellent Mega Man X4--one of my favorite entries featuring the Blue Bomber, period--it feels like an immense downgrade. Taken by itself without X4 in the equation, it's a quality entry to the franchise. However, most of Mega Man X5's players probably won't jump directly into this entry, thus X4's baggage will always be there.

X marks the spot for action, and you get plenty of that in Mega Man X5.

Essentially, Mega Man X5 is a case of "what if we took Mega Man X4... and made it worse?" Because that's what Mega Man X5 feels like. Level gimmicks and mechanics from Mega Man X4 such as Dark Necrobat's gravity flipping was seen in X4's Cyber Peacock stage, and it was done better there. The bike segment seen at the start of Volt Kraken's stage was done already in X4's Jet Stingray stage, and yes, it, too, was done better there. In fact, with the latter example, you can actually die in Volt Kraken's stage before the word "Ready" disappears! Whoever decided to have a bottomless pit that players have to manually jump over to start a stage before you're actually asked by the game if you're "ready", needs a lesson in acceptable game design. 

Other stages incorporate their own unique and exclusive to X5 mechanics and gimmicks. Burn Dinorex's stage, for instance, takes place in a volcano, where players start descending down into its depths. Eventually they stumble upon intermittent eruptions in the form of walls of instant-death flames. The only salvation here is to hide behind clearly marked sections of wall to avoid them. It's a clever mechanic and one that is quite exciting to contend with.

Other mechanics don't fare so well. Take Tidal Whale's stage. No, seriously, please take it, as it's not good. It's a tedious auto-scrolling stage where you're at the mercy of the auto-scroll and the sunken battleship either pursuing you or you giving chase to. Either way, it's a slow, plodding pace, and that'd be okay if it was a one and done deal. Instead, if you want to collect everything in the level, you have to play through the majority of this stage no short of three separate times! One to beat the stage normally, another to reach Dr. Light's capsule, which of course requires the special weapon you earn from this stage's boss, and a last run-through to climb the spikes housing where the stage's Heart Tank rests. 

Tidal Whale's stage plays a remix of Mega Man X2's Bubble Crab's level music... 
Unfortunately for Mega Man X5, it's another reminder of a better X game.

Mega Man X5 changes up how Dr. Light's capsules function, the first time in the X sub-series, as well, and also how future entries would handle them. Instead of getting a part for a new piece of armor and being able to use it immediately, you have to collect all four parts of the armor first before being able to assemble and use it as needed. There are two armor sets in Mega Man X5, and the first, the Falcon Armor which gives X the ability to temporarily fly over short distances, is required to get a fair number of pieces of the second armor, the Gaea Armor. This Gaea Armor can climb and touch spikes without the instant death that any other character would succumb to by touching a spike, but X also cannot use special weapons when equipped with the armor. Needless to say, there are plenty of places that require the Gaea Armor and require backtracking to previously completed stages to reach otherwise inaccessible goodies and items.

Instead of supplying X with a usable armor part immediately, Dr Light requires all 
four pieces of a given armor set to be obtained before using it.

Outside of capsules, there are the standard eight Heart Tanks (these bolster the amount of your maximum health) to optionally obtain in Mega Man X5, one hidden in each Maverick stage, and usually each require a special weapon or armor to reach. There are also two Sub-Tanks, which serve as health-restoring items that must be manually used within the menu, one Weapon Tank (weapon energy-restoring tanks), and some other collectibles that can add to the replay value as well of the game. Not only do they serve that purpose, but they also come in clutch for making this difficult game less so. Or, rather, they at least give the more novice or inexperienced players more of a fighting chance.

One of the eight Mavericks to battle, Burn Dinorex (I refuse to use the absurd North American names) heats up!

Let me interrupt my griping by saying that I know I'm giving a lot of crap to Mega Man X5, and that is purely because it's coming off such a phenomenal entry in the franchise, X4. Trust me when I say that X5 is still a highly competent and capable entry... even as I now continue to bash it some more. 

Coming off of Mega Man X4, you can't help but see how much the budget took a hit with Mega Man X5 as well. Long gone are the beautiful, cheesy-voiced anime cutscenes that were quite impressive for the time--heck, still are. Instead, what you get are slideshow cutscenes, with next to nothing in the way of animation. There's limited voice work, which further disappoints. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of interruptions to the gameplay as well. Alia is a character that serves as an operator of sorts to X and Zero while they're on the field, and she is sort of a quasi-Navi (a la The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) in how she interrupts you from figuring out things for yourself. But instead of a "hey, listen" and optionally see what Navi has to say, Mega Man X5 just stops you dead in your tracks to have slow text boxes of mostly obvious information pop up. 

What's a guy-a gotta do to get-a this Gaea armor? Well, find all four Dr. Light capsules, of course!

That said, with all of those gripes (and yes, there were many), Mega Man X5 is indeed a worthwhile entry. It did introduce some good things to the sub-series, such as the ability to crouch, for one, which makes dodging and avoiding enemies and their attacks much easier. There are also wires of both the vertical and horizontal variety that X and Zero can cling to in order to cross otherwise impossible chasms and reach higher heights. Awesome stuff, truly! These two added abilities put together with the tried and true run, gun, jump, and dash gameplay of previous Mega Man X games makes X5 almost play better than ever. X and Zero have far more utility available to them.

X and Zero can cling to similar ropes/wires like these to move up and down them for some added mobility.

This doesn't make the game any easier than past installments, though. Mega Man X5 is still very much a challenging game even on one's best day. But things like collecting Heart Tanks, Sub-Tanks, the lone Weapon Tank, and Dr. Light's generous armor upgrades, make for some things that definitely level the playing field, so to speak, in X and Zero's favor. 

On its own, Mega Man X5 is another X-cellent entry in the series, and the last entry in the series until X8 that was of a high quality, in this fan of the Blue Bomber's opinion. Of course, it's difficult to ignore X5's predecessors and review the game in a vacuum. With the sub-series' past as a point of context, Mega Man X5 did let me down back when and somewhat does now. As time has gone by and gone on, I've come to appreciate Mega Man X5 more, flaws and all. It may be a bit of a step down from past entries, but it also can stand on its own two feet as an enjoyable game all the same. 

[SPC Says: C+] 

Mega Man Legends (PS1) Retro Review

We're beaming down into a planned month of Mega Man retro reviews here at SuperPhillip Central. It's Mega May, and first we're exploring Kattelox Island with Mega Man's very first full 3D outing: Mega Man Legends. A PC port and a Nintendo 64 version called Mega Man 64 would later release, but this particular retro review covers the PS1 original. Let's get to it and kick this month of Mega Man off right!

Dig into a legendary mega-sized adventure

It's no secret that Sony wanted to distinguish itself from the competition upon entering the console market with its original PlayStation. It's also no secret that 2D games, such as the ones that Mega Man proudly was prominent in, weren't exactly welcomed with the most open arms on Sony's highly capable 3D gaming machine. Instead, Sony and PlayStation greatly encouraged and pushed for developers and publishers to enter the realm of 3D games. 

A year prior to Mega Man Legends, we saw Mario super successfully make the literal and figurative jump to 3D with Super Mario 64. Just under a year later, Capcom's Mega Man would attempt to do the same. No doubt making the leap to 3D for a lot of gaming franchises saw plenty of growing pains. I'm looking your direction, Sonic, but others did so with amazing gusto. 

1997's Mega Man Legends saw the Blue Bomber dive into full three-dimensions for the first time, and it's one of those games that stands somewhat at the middle of the road successes in properly transitioning from 2D to 3D. That said, it's certainly more of a success than a failure.

After a mission to pick up a rare Refractor Shard goes swimmingly, Mega Man Volnutt, Roll, and the rest of the small but loyal crew of the Flutter airship find themselves crash landing on Kattelox Island. Seems the lack of maintenance and TLC on the Flutter finally caught up with the little ship that could. In order for the Flutter to take to the skies again, another Refractor Shard is necessary, but in the meantime, Mega Man and friends have to contend with a group of pirates known as the Bonne Family, as well as deal with a hidden danger underneath Kattelox Island itself.

One such Refractor Shard that Mega Man and the Flutter crew of Diggers search for high and low.

Right away I was incredibly impressed by how well the story was put together. The voice acting in cutscenes and interspersed here and there is superb, though the sound balance can make some voice quieter comparatively to everything else going on. The lack of subtitles here is a downside, for sure. On the music end, Mega Man Legends contains a lot of catchy themes, with Apple Market, Uptown, the Support Car, Main Gate, and the Ending Credits' themes being my personal favorites of a lovely soundtrack in general. Conversely, the ambient soundtrack for the underground sections of the game do a fantastic job of making you as Mega Man feel intensely isolated.

The character models are relatively simple, but boy, does Mega Man Legends do a lot with so little!

For a game released in 1997, before The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set a new standard for 3D action-adventure games, Mega Man Legends is darn impressive for what it does with what little it has. For instance, even though the game utilizes a limited amount of polygons, it does so in a way that characters are surprisingly well detailed, and moreover, they're exceptionally expressive. The way characters express emotions and have different looks on their faces is just amazing. Draw distance is equally impressive, with environmental objects and geometry in the distance using a mist-like cover that goes away the closer Mega Man approaches.  

From a gameplay point of view, this was before Ocarina of Time's Z-targeting, and while Mega Man Legends has its own form of locking on to enemies, it must be done while Mega Man stands in place. Further, the lock-on targeting in Mega Man Legends will automatically lock on to the closest enemy, so if you're targeting a faraway foe, and another one enters closer into your range, Mega Man will target that one. Frustrating, for sure, especially depending on the scenario and situation. That said, this feature can be turned off and on within the options menu at the player's leisure.

Run and gun, Mega Man! Run and gun like your life depends upon it.

Additionally, the lack of a second analog stick for camera control and aiming makes things feel clunky, even at the time of release. Instead, the left and right front shoulder buttons are used for moving Mega Man's focus left and right respectively. Pressing the Circle button will quickly turn the camera to where Mega Man currently faces, which is paramount in certain contexts. 

Mega Man Legends follows a different approach to its structure compared to pretty much every non-RPG Mega Man game. There are no levels that can be chosen in any order, there's no ability to copy or learn defeated enemies' powers--it's an action-adventure game at its heart instead. It starts as somewhat linear, but opens up soon enough, allowing players to access more parts and portions of Kattelox Island, including the interconnected underground, the most dangerous part of the island itself.

The underground connects to the surface of the island in multiple ways. It's a network of labyrinthine rooms and passages full of mechanical enemies known as Reaverbots, as well as plenty of treasure to seek out. After all, that's what treasure hunters known as Diggers do, and that's what Mega Man Volnutt is! As players progress through the story, new parts and pieces of the underground open up, either because of access to new surface level areas or new equipment for Mega Man is earned.

Under Kattelox Island rests a maze of rooms, halls, enemies, traps, and treasures. Dig carefully.

Mega Man gets plenty of help from his crew throughout his adventure. Data the Monkey serves as a talking save point and recovery spot, as well as a hint-giver if players get confused on where to go next in the game. Meanwhile, Roll helps out by outfitting a busted van into a support car, able to fast travel to already unlocked locations around Kattelox Island. She also can turn discovered items and combine them into new weapons and gadgets for Mega Man.

This latter aspect of Roll's abilities is absurdly awesome. There are just over a dozen different weapons and pieces of equipment Roll can create with her whiz kid know-how, from rocket launchers and grenades to boots that allow Mega Man to jump higher or an adapter that grants Mega Man the ability to equip more custom parts that can increase his attack, energy, range of attack, and firing speed as long as the parts are equipped to him. The weapons can also be upgraded in various ways like attack power, energy, and special abilities, though this of course costs Zenny, the currency of Mega Man Legends (and a lot of Capcom games at the time, for that matter) to perform.

Even though Mega Man's got some serious explosive firepower courtesy of Roll,
sometimes it's best to retreat and fight another day.

Mega Man will need these new weapons, equipment, and upgrades as well, as he'll contend with all kinds of enemies and bosses in his adventure. Between giant inventions from the Bonne Family pirate group, the main villains for most of Mega Man Legends, to massive Reaverbots within the underground and at points that guard Refractor Shards, Mega Man and furthermore players will need to be properly outfitted for the battles that lay ahead.

This boss is all "bombs away" while Mega Man is all "I'm going away" from all those explosives!

Going back to the camera and auto-targeting, it can be quite difficult to jump and move around to avoid attacks while setting up spots to engage in Mega Man's own style of offense, all the while attempting to position the camera by holding the L1 or R1 shoulder buttons to spin the angle around just right. Really, it's like rubbing your tummy while patting your head... while juggling! It's rather clunky, completely convoluted, and can get mighty frustrating as well. This isn't a Mega Man game where you can just pelt foes with Mega Buster fire as you stand around. You have to be delicate, you have to get the right angles, and you absolutely cannot be greedy. It will cost you and by extension Mega Man otherwise.

Bad doggies! Don't you dare bite Mega Man's shiny new helmet!

Outside of following along with the story, reaching specific plot points, and battling bosses, Mega Man Legends features ample amounts of side activities to optionally take in and accomplish for some nice rewards. Various shops, especially the parts shop, house wonderful parts for Mega Man's Mega Buster, as well as jackets to increase his defensive capabilities (though these can be prohibitively expensive Zenny-wise) and items that can increase his maximum health. Side quests open up as the story progresses, such as saving downtown from a bomb threat, helping a trio of kids build up a makeshift hideout, and assisting a museum curator with museum donations. All of these and then some reward players with Zenny, new parts, items that Roll can used to build new weapons and gadgets, and more.

Mega Man Legends isn't too lengthy of an adventure, lasting about 6-10 hours depending on how much you try to complete, whether that be side quests or earning Zenny to purchase the more expensive items and upgrades within the game. Upon rolling credits, you have the option to play through the game in Hard Mode, boosting the amount of hits and damage enemies take and give respectively. If you manage to beat that mode in under six hours, an "Easy Mode" unlocks where Mega Man gets many of his upgrades immediately and all Zenny earned is massively multiplied. Thus, if the idea of beating the game twice to unlock an omnipotent Mega Man sounds enjoyable to you, that option for some added replay value is there. Otherwise, the standard game is more than fun and interesting enough as is.

Despite its growing pains, especially when it concerns the camera, targeting, and somewhat stiff movement, Mega Man Legends serves and served as a successful first 3D outing for the Blue Bomber. The amount of charm within the cast of characters, Kattelox Island and its inhabitants, and game in general is off the charts. I'm still amazed by how emotive characters were for a game released in 1997. If you can deal with some occasional jank, some periodic clunkiness, and some frustrations every now and then, you'll get great and charming action-adventure game featuring Capcom's famous super fighting robot.

[SPC Says: B-]

Review Round-Up - April 2026

If bookending every other review this month with two Donkey Kong Country games was wrong,
you know what? I don't want to be right!

April showers brought... uh... review powers (?) to SuperPhillip Central! Six more reviews were published this past month, and it's time to quickly recap them with the Review Round-Up for April 2026.

We monkeyed around and had a blast all month-long, starting with two classic franchises with games of varying age: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (A-) and Bomberman 64 (B-). Both brought their respective stars back into the spotlight, and both succeeding to different degrees. We continued the bombing theme from our retro review with indie game Bombun, blasting away with a B-.

From there, another two classic series got their turn on SPC with the latest in the Ys series, Ys X: Proud Nordics, setting sail to a satisfying B grade, and the original Dreamcast Sonic Adventure, which didn't do as well decidedly, stepping into a D grade.

Lastly, Donkey Kong Country started the month, and also finished the month with a look back at Donkey Kong Country on the Game Boy Advance with a retro review. The port received a C+ grade. 

April was a month of classic franchises for the most part, and that will most likely continue into May, as SuperPhillip Central participates in Mega May for the first time--a celebration of all things Mega Man! Look forward to reviews on classic Mega Man games, some more classic than others!

Until then, the SPC Review Archive is your home for all past reviews on the site, and it was very recently reorganized into categories by platform holder (e.g. Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, Mobile, etc.)! Enjoy, and thanks for your continued support, everyone! 

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (NSW) - A-

The very recent additions of Dixie Kong, Turbo Attack mode, and fixes to the co-op (the latter of which Returns HD introduced as a problem) make for a platformer in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD that is a superb, stellar, and banana slamma' of an experience.

Bomberman 64 (N64) - B-

While I certainly don't lament Bomberman 64's requirement for mastering bomb jumping or otherwise having a frost bomb's chance in Hell at succeeding at completing the Adventure mode, I do love this game to this day. It gets frustrating, it gets difficult, and it gets annoying at times, but with enough practice, enough patience, and enough perseverance, players will blast on through without hopefully blowing themselves up too much in the process.

Bombun (PC) - B-

Short but relatively sweet, Bombun is a brief blast of a 3D action-platformer. If you're looking for an extensive romp or the idea of replaying levels for speed-running purposes does not appeal to you, you'll quickly discover that Bombun has an unremarkable and short fuse, then. For everyone else, the platforming is so tight, the stage design executed well enough to make speed-running a blast, and the game overall enjoyable all in all to make for a game that is far from a dud.

Ys X: Proud Nordics (Multi) - B 

...new players to Ys X should definitely check out Proud Nordics while previous players of the tenth installment should wait for a discount (or a deep discount, at that) before that dive back into Obelia Gulf's waters. The Proud Nordics package as a whole is a fantastic one, and while the game doesn't hit the same highs for me as my favorite games in the series: Oath in Felghana and Lacrimosa of Dana, it certainly offers a majestic adventure full of heart and fun. 

Sonic Adventure (DC) - D

Where Mario jumped into the realm of 3D with absolute grace, Sonic failed and performed a faceplant in the process. There is a lot to love about Sonic Adventure, to be fair--the ideas are well intended and somewhat clever, the music is some of the series's absolute best and one of my favorite soundtracks in gaming, and the presentation, especially for 1999, is terrific--but as a cohesive package, the game flails and otherwise fails. 

Donkey Kong Country (GBA) - C+

If you've played the original Donkey Kong Country countless times through the years like I have, and you want a different take on the original DKC, then the Game Boy Advance port of Donkey Kong Country is worthwhile and serviceable enough. The new additions in the form of new story elements, increased replay value through collecting all of the gallery images in the game, and some of quality of life changes don't exactly make up for the lackluster implementation of the presentation or the camera issues, but it does make for a fresh take on Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's first adventure together. 

Meanwhile, some highly explosive games both retro and indie were simply the bomb, both literally and figuratively!

Donkey Kong Country (GBA) Retro Review

I must be in a monkey kind of mood this month, specifically with Nintendo's grand gorilla, the mighty Donkey Kong! Earlier this month we took a look at the updated HD remaster of Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Nintendo Switch. Now, we're going further back in time with the OG Donkey Kong Country, except this time the Game Boy Advance version. How does it shape up? Let's find out with the SuperPhillip Central review!

Jungle Hi-Jinks in the palm of your hand.

1994 saw a wonderful partnership between Nintendo and Rareware blossom fully into something truly beautiful with their collaboration and the birth of Donkey Kong Country. It was an exciting time for platforming fans, and the rendered visuals of the game and sophisticated (and damn terrific) music helped set the Super Nintendo apart from its fierce competition at the time. Rare was on a tear back then, coming out with two sequels the following two years, and the quality was arguably even greater. 

In some ways it still blows my mind that today we get console-quality games in handheld/portable form, so you can bet it was earth-shattering to me that a home console game like Donkey Kong Country could be ported to a tiny handheld like the Game Boy Advance. Nowadays, we wouldn't get anywhere as near as many concessions as this version of the game has, but back in the day, it was really neat... in theory. That said, after finally playing the Game Boy Advance port of Donkey Kong Country, no doubt there are better examples of Super Nintendo games that successfully made the transition to handheld form. Though certainly not for a lack of trying.

Donkey Kong Country's Game Boy Advance port immediately brings something new to the table upon starting a new save file--that of an opening. The Super Nintendo original's story was limited to that of reading it in the instruction manual (I miss those), but in the GBA version, we see that Donkey Kong asks his main man--er... monkey, Diddy, to watch over his banana hoard while he takes a nap. King K. Rool's Kremling army shortly enters into the cavern where the hoard is located and promptly takes Diddy down, pilfering the potassium-rich goodies in the process. 

Cranky Kong, who by the by, has lost a lot of his fun, snarky bite when compared to the SNES original, wakes Donkey Kong up, reveals what has transpired, and sees DK shoving off to locate his bananas all over DK Isle. 

The opening does give some added context to the game, but even still, the Game Boy Advance saw its games include instruction manuals where the game's story and background could have easily been displayed regardless. The added story elements don't end with the opening, as there are dialogue scenes post-boss battles, too. These aren't very worthwhile either and do best in just slowing down the pacing of the game. 

Immediately getting into some jungle hi-jinks within the first level of the game.

Regardless, the tried and true gameplay of Donkey Kong Country is here and accounted for. You play as Donkey Kong and quite quickly save Diddy Kong from inside a DK Barrel. Said special barrels will bring back either DK or Diddy into the fold. Since it's one-hit KOs for each character, if both characters are together, it's essentially like the original Super Mario Bros., where taking damage loses a power-up, or in DKC's case, either DK or Diddy. If another hit is taken (in SMB's terms, you're hit as small Mario, or in DKC's terms, you're hit by your lonesome without your platforming partner), a life is lost and you have to continue from either the start of the level or a checkpoint barrel.

These Kremlings certainly know how to hop to it.

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can tag each other in, changing which character the player currently controls. This has its use cases. For example, Donkey Kong is much heavier than Diddy Kong, so while DK may not be as agile or quick on his feet, his weighty presence does allow him to defeat enemies that Diddy simply bounces off of or would require throwing a barrel at them to beat. 

While many games house poor swimming stages, I enjoy them within the Donkey Kong Country series.

Another difference is in how the characters hold barrels. DK holds them over his head, whereas Diddy holds them directly in front. This might seem like a negligible difference, but it's important when trying to carry a barrel through a horde of enemies. If enemies are overhead, DK's held barrel will most likely burst open, defeating the enemy, but also losing the barrel, of course. 

I mention this part because levels house plentiful secrets in the form of bonus areas. Many of these bonus areas can only be accessed through throwing or running a barrel into a special wall, blasting it open, allowing DK and Diddy to enter inside. New to the Game Boy Advance version is that of intros to the bonus stages, briefly detailing the goal of each bonus stage, such as collecting prizes in the form of bananas, reaching the exit, etc. Barrel cannons that launch DK and Diddy to bonus areas have the letter "B" on them, much like the SNES sequels have, a change compared to the OG DKC on the same platform.

DK rolls out the steel barrel for this Kremling. What a gracious host!

There is also an incentive to collect the four K-O-N-G letters in each level. Unlike the SNES original, these are tracked in the level list accessed from the pause menu. You can also see how many bonus areas are in each level and how many you've discovered. Doing these tasks in all levels unlocks artwork in the gallery. You also unlock new artwork by finding blue camera collectibles in levels and from defeating enemies in certain ways, such as beating the strongest normal Kremling, Krusha, while riding Rambi the Rhino, for instance. There are over 50 unique pieces of artwork, so this adds some longevity and added replay value to the game.

K-O-N-G letters: Not just for 1-ups anymore!

Another new aspect to Donkey Kong Country's Game Boy Advance port, and related to the aforementioned artwork in the gallery, is that of mini-games. Both Funky Kong and Candy Kong host their respective games. Whereas Funky Kong's locations on the world map still grant the ability to fly between already-played worlds, Candy Kong's stall is all about her mini-game, as saving can be done any time on the map. This is of course helpful for portable play, where you can play a level and then put your game down for a bit for some bite-sized fun when possible. 

Funky's mini-game involve moving your Kong along Enguarde the Swordfish as you fish up specific catches in the water within a time limit. Fishing up the wrong catch takes time away from the clock, while fishing up the same catch in batches is how to succeed. Meanwhile, Candy Kong's mini-game has you pressing buttons in time to the music, and if you genuinely lack a satisfactory level of rhythm like I do, you can just watch the proper button or D-pad direction move along the screen and press it when it enters the target range. Successfully completing each mini-game in each world unlocks new artwork for the gallery as well. Cranky Kong also sets up his cabin in each world, and he basically serves a similar role like the Super Nintendo original, providing hints, though this time to not just bonus stage locations but how to obtain new artwork images as well.

Are we in the groove, or did we all just step in some Kremling poop?

While all these bonuses and new additions are indeed nice, an issue, though, and the Elle the Elephant in the room is that the game is massively compromised on the Game Boy Advance hardware and watered down in presentation, which was arguably one of the most impressive aspects of the Super Nintendo original when it launched in 1994. What you have is somewhere graphically between the Super Nintendo original and the Game Boy Color port, with the Game Boy Advance version coming in much closer to the GBC port than anything else. The level of detail is nowhere near its SNES brethren, which is understandable since the GBA is not exactly a portable SNES in tech, but where things get super disappointing is with the soundtrack. The Game Boy Advance's weak soundchip does little justice to the original SNES music. It's a pale imitation in some aspects.

The visual and audio experience on DKC's GBA port is definitely a downgrade.

Furthermore, there is a gameplay issue that was not in the Super Nintendo version either. In the SNES version, the camera was generally locked to certain parts of levels. In the Game Boy Advance version, the camera focuses on DK and Diddy, meaning that when they jump, the camera follows them. This means that if you make a high leap, you basically have initiated a blind jump, as the camera scrolls up and doesn't show where you're about to land until it's close to too late. This was not a problem in the Super Nintendo original, so it makes for some cheap moments where death by pit happen more than I would have liked and more than the developer probably intended with the Game Boy Advance version.

Not going to let this monkey make a monkey out of Diddy! 
Well, technically, Diddy IS a monkey, but still! You know what I mean!

Otherwise, this is a very similar game to the Super Nintendo version, offering the familiar fun gameplay and superb level design brimming with secrets, iterating on mechanics, gimmicks, and concepts, and bringing with it a usually fair challenge, as well. Yes, the start of the fourth world in the game, Gorilla Glacier, remains an incredible spike in difficulty that quickly resolves itself and settles back down, but overall, the difficulty curve is otherwise gentle. This is still a challenging platformer, but not to the level of say, Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii, the 3DS, and recently the HD version on the Switch. 

If you've played the original Donkey Kong Country countless times through the years like I have, and you want a different take on the original DKC, then the Game Boy Advance port of Donkey Kong Country is worthwhile and serviceable enough. The new additions in the form of new story elements, increased replay value through collecting all of the gallery images in the game, and some of quality of life changes don't exactly make up for the lackluster implementation of the presentation or the camera issues, but it does make for a fresh take on Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's first adventure together. Back in 1994 it was the beginning of a beautiful new direction for Donkey Kong, both to look at and obviously to play, and the Game Boy Advance doesn't do a horrible job at emulating that; it just doesn't exactly do a great job either.

[SPC Says: C+] 

Sonic Adventure (DC) Retro Review

The 35th anniversary of Sonic continues, as does SuperPhillip Central's look back at the series in both good and bad forms! We're moving on to Sonic Adventure, and this is notably not just for being Sonic's first fully 3D adventure, but also being for SPC's very first Sega Dreamcast review! I know, I know--we just got under the buzzer on that one! At any rate, here is a retro review of Sonic Adventure.

"Can't hold on much longer..." 

I never had the pleasure or privilege of owning or even much less playing a Sega Dreamcast growing up. The system might have had an early demise due to a one-two punch of various fumbling by Sega, as well as the PlayStation 2's launch, but even in its short lifespan, the Dreamcast certainly left a positive impact on gaming. 

My experience with Sega's lead mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, dates back to the blue blur's debut on the Sega Genesis, but I wouldn't get to dabble with the 3D version of the franchise until Sega went third party and released Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on Nintendo's GameCube. I recall greatly enjoying my first full-fledged 3D Sonic that I played; even going as far as getting all of the emblems in that. Then, a year or so later, Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut hit the GameCube, and I remember liking that, too, though not as much as its sequel. 

My point in traveling down memory lane and talking a bit of my past experiences with Sonic the Hedgehog is that opinions change over time. Call it youth naivete or whatever you'd like, but back in the day, I found Sonic Adventure, at least on the GameCube, to be a competent enough game. Now, that I played it on its original version on the Dreamcast, well... I refer back to my previous statement of "opinions change over time."

You can't have a screenshot of Sonic Adventure without this set piece on display.

Sonic Adventure is comprised of six individual campaigns, though you start with only Sonic's unlocked. As you play through his story, the other five characters' campaigns become available. The campaigns themselves are interrelated, crossing over with each other multiple times. You'll consistently see familiar scenes, but you'll get the perspective of the other characters, or learn some backstory and character motivations.  

There are three hubs or Adventure Fields in Sonic Adventure: Station Square, Mystic Ruins, and the Egg Carrier. These connect the game's numerous stages together and are able to be explored. Needless to say, while these Adventure Fields offer some nice ideas, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I feel it's a great thing that most future Sonic games trimmed the fat, so to speak, and removed these entirely. 

Sonic gets the most amount of action stages in his campaign, coming in at ten total.

As for the individual campaigns, Sonic's story is understandably created as the longest in the game, made up of ten stages. He does get top billing after all. Sonic's stages are speedy thrill rides through obstacle-laden, loop de loop-filled, enemy-infested romps where the goal is to simply make it to the end of the stage. This was before the boost formula made its way into the 3D series. There is no boost gauge to be found. It's running around at the speed of sound... if the speed of sound isn't too terribly fast by comparison to future games, and jumping and spin dashing your way through stages. The homing attack debuted here, and it doesn't always hit its intended target--like the Sonic series itself, there were some growing pains involved. 

The intermittent boss battles are mostly harmless, but the ones that stink (not pictured) really stink.

The stages themselves offer plentiful shortcut opportunities, though a lot of these can be difficult to pull off on first blush. Part of that, and this is no matter the campaign you play as, is because the camera is absolutely atrocious. While it's intended to be left untouched--serving as an automatic camera of sorts, where it follows along the player and gives you its opinion of the most ideal camera angles--sometimes you have to turn it with the shoulder buttons, or else you're really at a disadvantage, needing to make ridiculous blind jumps. Unfortunately, upon doing this, you'll discover the camera loves to fight you, forcing itself back into position when all you want to do is get a proper view on where you're going.

Another playable character with his own campaign is that of Sonic's trusty friend and sidekick Tails. Tails has the power of flight, though its not infinite flight unlike the cutscenes he's featured in would have you possibly believe. Tails' version of stages are races against Sonic, who no doubt is holding back to give his foxy buddy some confidence. Sonic's a good pal with a good heart through and through. Tails plays through a given section of Sonic's stages instead of the entire stage itself. This is pretty much true for every characters' campaign in the game when they venture into locales already ventured by Sonic. 

Though in his final stage of his campaign, Tails is in a race against Eggman (and time, for that matter).

Knock-knock, it's time to talk about Knuckles and his campaign. The watcher of the Master Emerald, when a mysterious creature shatters the oversized green emerald into pieces, Knuckles glides and otherwise wanders about to find three pieces in each of the stages he visits. These are essentially scavenger hunt games of "hot and cold" where there is a beep as Knuckles gets close to a Master Emerald shard. The closer he gets to one, the more the beeping intensifies. These were nice changes of pace, instead of just rushing from point A to point B like most other characters' stages--moving about an open, non-linear area in search of Master Emerald shards.

Search high and low for those Master Emerald shards, Knuckles.

Next, we have Amy Rose, whose stages see her pursued by a giant green mech who seeks to capture her--or at least the Flicky bird she's taking care of. Her stages have her running away from this mech at intermittent intervals, evading her chaser while making progress through the levels. Amy--as well as the other two characters--get an exclusive stage venue within the Hot Shelter, a place Sonic doesn't get to explore in his campaign. Amy's Piko Piko Hammer is meant to not only bonk foes that stand in her way, but she can also run and slam it down in order to somersault, giving her the ability to reach higher places.

Amy and her Flicky friend can hardly get a moment's peace from their mechanized stalker.

The penultimate character is that of E-102 Gamma, an Eggman robot who comes to question its programming upon seeing its fellow robots destroyed by Eggman for their mission failures, as well as meeting Amy Rose. Its levels see Gamma marching through stages, having the player hold down and release the action button to target and launch missiles at enemies respectively. The more targets that are hit, the more seconds are added to the level timer which unlike every other campaign in the game, it counts down instead up. If it hits zero, the stage is failed. It is pretty difficult to fail stages this way, but it changes things up all the same.

Finally, and coming in with just four or so stages mercifully, is that of Big the Cat. Like the aforementioned Adventure Fields, there's most likely a reason Big's focus on fishing for his campaign was not made as a requirement for future Sonic games. Heck, it wouldn't even be a gameplay mechanic again until Sonic Frontiers, though as something optional. Big's stages feature fishing. You slowly saunter around as Big, avoid the minimal amount of enemies in each level, and cast your line to attempt to fish up Froggy, Big's friend. I appreciate the mechanics being there and capable enough--having to pay attention to the tension of the line and how fast or slow you reel--it's just not fun and not what I want as mandatory to do in a Sonic game.

After the initial six campaigns are completed with credits rolled for each--by the way, I did not particularly care for having to sit through the credits six separate times since you can't skip them (nor any cutscene, for that matter)-- you unlock the final campaign, that of Super Sonic's. This wraps up the individual stories and puts Super Sonic against the final boss of the game. It's quite a spectacle of a boss, and one that I can't say failed to impress me, especially when considering the time of the game's release. Sure, like everything else in the game, there's plenty of jank in this battle, but it's fun all in all. Having Super Sonic rushing along Station Square's flooded city streets, collecting rings, evading the boss's attacks, and boosting with enough speed into the boss makes for some cool moment-to-moment action, and ends the game on a fairly nice note. 

When the battle is done, Tails unironically (at least the voice direction makes it come across that way, in my defense) utters, "I guess all's well that ends well!" This is all the while as Station Square is now a flooded wasteland, and who knows how many of its denizens perished from the now-defeated boss's arrival. Then, of course, the unskippable credits roll for the seventh time. The final "FIN".

Even still, while the Adventure Mode was complete for me, I periodically entered into the Trial mode, which gives new takes on each stage and characters' missions. Whereas each character's Mission C is simply to complete their respective stage, and this is done within the Adventure Mode itself, other missions, B and C, are more challenging. For Sonic, his B and C missions require him to collect 50 rings while reaching the goal and clearing a stage within a strict time limit respectively. 

Time to go up and down and all around in Speed Highway.

Each mission completed earns a Sonic Emblem, of which there are 130 total to earn and collect. However, unlike Sonic Adventure DX, which added an incentive to do this, there really is nothing earned from collecting all 130 Emblems in the OG Sonic Adventure. I'd say other than a job well done, but it's less that and more... "a job well done for not throwing the game in the garbage after suffering through the game so much." Because it's through these missions and attempting to clear them where the biggest flaws and worst aspects of Sonic Adventure come shining through. I'm talking about the junk camera, jank platforming, buggy glitches, and having to contend with the Chao Garden and its pain in the patootie races--the latter of which are horribly explained within the game.

Sonic's bouncing about at Emerald Coast.

After 17 hours and 115 Emblems, I definitely had my fill of Sonic Adventure. Heck, I feel a bit vindicated in my opinion after playing through the game much more than I had to, if only because it furthered my thoughts that--at least with this Dreamcast original version of the game--Sonic Adventure is a terrible offering. 

Where Mario jumped into the realm of 3D with absolute grace, Sonic failed and performed a faceplant in the process. There is a lot to love about Sonic Adventure, to be fair--the ideas are well intended and somewhat clever, the music is some of the series's absolute best and one of my favorite soundtracks in gaming, and the presentation, especially for 1999, is terrific--but as a cohesive package, the game flails and otherwise fails. Sonic the Hedgehog said a mouthful when he uttered, "that's NO good." He wasn't talking about Sonic Adventure, of course, but if the red sneaker fits...

[SPC Says: D]