Received: January 15th, 2021 | Written: March 11th-18th, 2021
Published in 2013 by: Super Fighter Team
I am not going to repeat 2018 by going several months until my newest review comes up (as I write this it's only been four months since I published my last review, Iguana Entertainment and Iguana UK's Aero the Acro-Bat 2), for I am still here... I simply do not want to do a halfhearted job at reviewing games. Anyway, to start off StarBlog in the year 2021, let's dive into something interesting (well, a different kind of interesting than the varying kinds of interesting games I cover).
Image from MobyGames
Founded by former Loriciel and Titus France SA employees Carlo Perconti and Lyes Belaidouni (with a little help by Gabriel Guary), French video game developer Arcade Zone (named due their affinity for the format) was a very short-lived company found in London that was self-financed in 1993 (after having completed commissioned work for Loriciel) with the goal to make the kind of game they wanted to play: traditional sidescrolling beat'em ups.
Image from GameFAQs
Their big break came in the form of the simply named Legend on the SNES console (obviously not based on Ridley Scott's 1985 fantasy film that bears the same name), a fantasy slash'em up influenced by the likes of Sega's Golden Axe and Capcom's The King of Dragons and Knights of the Round coin-ops, which was released in 1994 in America the first time around by Seika and in Europe by Sony Imagesoft (as both it and Arcade Zone were located in London). Legend, it's worth pointing out, was only worked on by Perconti and Belaidouni in a reasonably speedy development process of two to three months under very tight conditions and was (according to the duo) the first game in the genre to be developed by French people, a distinction they are most proud of.After Legend came out Arcade Zone began work on a couple more Nintendo 16-bit games: Iron Commando: KΕtestu no Senshi, originally a 1995 Super Famicom-exclusive beat'em up published by Poppo before seeing a physical localized SNES rerelease over two decades later courtesy of Piko Interactive (who would also physically rerelease Legend on the SNES around the same time), and Nightmare Busters, a run'n gun action platformer conceived by Jean-Christophe Alessandri and Christophe Gayraud in the vein of Konami's Contra/Probotector series and Treasure's Gunstar Heroes which ended up never coming to fruition at the time.
Images from MobyGames
After the dissemination of Arcade Zone the two ended up founding Toka (which was among the first video game companies to use Motion Capture technology) whose games comprised of Burning Road, Soul Fighter, and the PlayStation One-based sequel/remake(?) to Legend,... Legend (well that's not confusing at all π) and years later French-Japanese company HyperDevbox Japan whose more notable work consisted of ExZeus and the Nintendo Wii conversion of Compile Heart and Idea Factory's Sharuui * Takoron/Octomania.If you're into retro gaming I recommend reading this 2008 1UP interview I discovered recently as it's a real fascinating insight behind Carlo Perconti and Lyes Belaidouni's short-lived tenure at Arcade Zone as well as their reminiscence and inspiration behind their first game. I can't help but feel bad for them having to shut down their first company so soon and not having the best of luck (especially with Sony Imagesoft post-Legend), but I'm happy they did what they loved as they clearly had a passion for it. π Plus the interview references Occean Software's Mr. Nutz (another game done by French people) and they said it was a good game, therefore they have excellent taste (and I am not just saying that because of my affinity for that platformer)! ππ
So, you'd think that would be the end of Nightmare Busters, but strangely enough it popped up in 2004 in the form of In-Fusio's variant Flynn's Adventures on the DoJa, ExEn, J2ME, and BREW mobile phones in Europe and Israel in the last case.
Images of the ExEn and J2ME versions from MobyGames: not entirely the same game as Nightmare Busters as there are differences such as limited card usage, different layouts and enemy placements, and all visual references to Flynn's brother Floyd being removed as it was one player only based on what screenshots I've seen
Yes! Mobile phones (as in pre-smartphones), you read that correctly! π€― I can't think of another instance where this happened where a game was originally conceived for the Nintendo 16-bit console and gets cancelled due to unfortunate circumstances, then less than a decade passes and all of a sudden it pops up in some form via phone format (an outdated phone format by today's standards, but still), it's actually kind of remarkable. Though I'd really like to know how In-Fusio got Alessandri and Gayraud's clearance to work on Flynn's Adventures in the first place, as Nightmare Busters was their baby after all... π€ Regardless, this was the people who gamed on their phones' first real exposure to this IP.Fast forward to 2010 and the prototype of Nightmare Busters had been leaked on the internet which drew praise and intrigue from gamers who tried it, so much so that Arcade Zone resumed development of it and those that played it wanted to be officially and physically released.
Please revive this incarnation of Frogger, Konami, it's been less than sixteen years since Frogger: Ancient Shadow and Frogger: Helmet Chaos... and no, I don't own Frogger on the SNES
This was a pretty big deal: the last SNES game to officially see a release outside of Japan was Morning Star Multimedia's port of Konami's 1981 coin-op Frogger... in 1998... still an odd pick. But the fact that there was going to be a new official SNES cartridge in the coming after so many years was cause for excitement.
Image from MobyGames
Enter Super Fighter Team, a company founded in 2004 by Brandon Cobb devoted to producing and publishing new games for classic systems (including previously Asian-exclusive MegaDrive games C&E's Beggar Prince and Gamtec's Legend of Wukong, as well as localizing Hot-B's 1991 MegaDrive turn-based RPG Blue Almanac exactly twenty years after its original Japanese release in 2011 as Star Odyssey), to handle producing and publishing duties for this game.
Image from GameFAQs; the package design was done by Cobb and Derrick Sobodash (both of whom have also done the manual and package design for Star Odyssey)
And so, after all this time in limbo, Nightmare Busters finally saw the light and got released for the SNES thanks to Super Fighter Team on December 23rd, 2013 (designed by Alessandri and Gayraud with the latter also responsible for coding), becoming the first official SNES game in fifteen years.
Left: Greeted to an onslaught of enemies | Right: Crow infestation
In the dark fantasy run'n gun action platformer Nightmare Busters you take control of a leprechaun clad in purple named Flynn (player one) or his twin brother decked in green Floyd (player two, but only if two people are playing) whose end goal is to stop the Nightmare King from spreading nightmares to all the children in the world, which means you'll have to contend with his legions of monsters along the way.
Left: Attacking the ogre who just dropped down | Right: Sliding under a barrage of forcibly unstacked barrels that could hurt if they touched you at that rate
As the leprechaun you're playing as you can move left and right, look up, duck down, and latch onto a platform by holding up the moment you get to it which you can climb left and right; with the B button you can jump with your altitude dependent on how hard you pressed the button, slide across by holding down and B (provided it's not on a peculiar platform you can slide down from), and as you're holding onto a platform from below you can get right back on it by simply pressing B or leap upward by holding up and B; with the Y button you can toss your unlimited array of projectile weapons ahead you, while ducking, in midair,
Left: Attacking grimacing enemies born from flame while occasionally contending with falling pieces of burning wood | Right: That fire breath can't hurt me at that distance π₯
downward when you're in midair, across from or above you while you're hanging on to a platform, and above you which you can repeatedly tap at a moderate or fast rate depending on how fast your thumb is; you have a limited number of dash attacks at your disposal which you can utilize by holding down the X button until the gauge fills up, and once it's full you can let go to dash across an enemy or boss which can cause a little bit of damage; and in the game is a small number of magic spells you can toggle between with either shoulder button and press the A button to use (but only when you really need to as they too, like the dash attack, are very limited in number).
Left: Gathering the explosive magic power-up | Right: Shoot at that totem pole
When you first start the game, or whenever you use up a continue, you can begin simply by tossing playing cards but throughout the game you'll switch over to a much more powerful projectile weapon which might vary in terms of swiftness and/or potency (e.g. a spread shot, a two-sided projectile weapon that simultaneously flies the opposite direction you're tossing, a large energy beam, a small spherical light projectile, a wave beam, et al) once you touch the icon inside treasure chests; the moment you touch the icon you'll be stuck with that weapon until you get the next one. Inside treasure chests you must shoot open or out in the open you might come across a potion to replenish your lost health (out of two), an additional magic spell, a dash orb to augment your dash count by one, a "Blast" icon, and dominos for which you'll get another life after you either gather a hundred of them or after accruing every 50,000 points.
Left: Quickly, slide past Erik the Swift before he quashes you with MjΓΆlnir | Right: Greeted by a horde of butterfly moths
After losing a life Flynn (or Floyd) will explode which will cause a potent eight-way projectile to spread apart from him potentially damaging any and all enemies around him, after which he'll be carried back into action at the spot by a couple of pixies and the moment they let go of you (because you either press B or because you took too long to do so) the eight-way will activate one more time causing damage to nearby foes. Using up one of your limited continues after losing your last life will not only restart your weapon to regular playing cards but also reset your domino count and score to zero.
Left: Constantly alternating between forcing the totem pole to crumble down and dealing with goblins | Right: Shooting at the hammer as long as I'm hanging there while still also contending with goblins on occasion
Nightmare Busters has got a very interesting and fascinating visual aesthetic in terms of its dark fantasy settings you traverse through by Jean-Christophe Alessandri with some additional graphics work by Lyes Belaidouni for they are designed and drawn with some nice attention to detail. When you start proper you begin in a burning village which occasionally glows vibrantly red especially in the section engulfed by flame (and even when a particular enemy tosses a flaming torch on the ground), the dark forest is filled to the brim with trees and foliage including ones in the obstructing foreground to add a sense of visual depth, the cavern is ominously atmospheric, the dungeon has a got a creepy atmosphere especially with the bricks that pop out and recede back in their slot and wall dΓ©cor faces that occasionally spew fire at you depending on what angle you are at in relation to them, and the final stretch has got a neat starry background that moves at a fast rate.
Left: Simultaneously trying to evade falling holly while also dealing with goblins | Right: You would not believe how many fall down at you at once on hard mode
Flynn has got a solid and endearingly cartoony design (I can't say I've seen a leprechaun wear purple before, and his brother Floyd is a green palette swap), I like his intense expression as he shoots his infinite supply of projectiles towards his foes and bosses, and the way he raises and lowers his shoulders up and down as he remains in his idle stance as he prepares for action is a nice touch. In the enemy roster departure there are hook-wielding goblins who leap or climb down chains or rise from the ground like zombies (including torch-wielders), intimidating crows, flames with grimaces that sprout from a large body of fire, ugly ogres, butterfly moths, and pesky bats (several of these enemies palette swapped on occasion), et al. The bosses are also intimidating in terms of size and design, especially the Weretomcat in the second stage with his intense fur and at the end of the third stage it has you contend with a levitating cloaked figure who alternates between having flying enemies sprout from his open cloak or attack you through fire this way.
Left: Dash-attacking the Weretomcat | Right: Collecting five giant dominos (each worth 5) after defeating the boss
Occasionally at the end of each stage, and when you start the game, there are stationary cutscenes used to progress the story which are drawn and shaded well, good use of perspective too. Both Jean-Christophe Alessandri and Lyes Belaidouni have had art experience with Titus France SA's Prehistorik franchise prior to Nightmare Busters in some capacity, but Alessandri wound up playing one of the major contributing players in Ubisoft's successful Rayman franchise (which is also French-based) as a graphic artist for the Ludimedia-developed original and its direct 3D sequel Rayman 2: The Great Escape and would serve as a concept artist and artistic director for Ubisoft Montpelier's Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends respectively. Awesome! π
Left: Falling down resorting to shoot at airborne stalagmites below you | Right: Leaping goblin
Providing the music and sound effects for this game are Michel Golgevit (whose other music credits comprise of Titus France SA's Prehistorik, some of Toka's games such as Burning Road, Explosive Racing/X.Racing, and Soul Fighter, as well as Wanadoo Edition's Castleween/MahΕ no Pumpkin: Anne to Greg no daibΕken/Spirits & Spells) and Olivier Rabat (who on top of working on much of the music for the aforementioned games with Golgevit also acted as audio project manager for Revolution Software's Kickstarter-funded point-and-click graphic adventure Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse), with Carlo Perconti working on the music code, and the sound is certainly... peculiar-sounding.
Left: Staying in place until the Gateway Arch-like flame runs its course | Right: Jumping over an oncoming fireball
That's not to suggest that the music is bad, necessarily, in fact it complements the various locations well therefore lending the game a sense of atmosphere, it's just that it works best when heard in conjunction with the game more than it does when listening to it without the visual accompaniment and sound effects. Some of the music can be a bit anxiety-inducing to listen to after awhile, such as the cave theme which sounds intimidating, the theme for when you fall down during said cave stage, the theme for when you descend down the cliff riding the lift, and the castle theme with its brooding sense of foreboding.
Left: Fighting against a fireball-lobbing ogre | Right: Vanquishing more ogres along the way
The village theme at the beginning sets the tone for the severity of the situation. the forest theme is my favorite theme from the game as it's weirdly engrossing as all the action unfolds, the boss theme is riveting, and the ship deck theme in the end is relentless in its sense of urgency and finality until eventually it hits the triumphantly epic notes at a certain point. The sound effects are decent, such as the sound for when you collect the dominos and power-ups, the Nightmare King has a creepy chuckle, and I like how each boss has got a different moan after they have been defeated. Annoyingly the sound mode is set at mono whenever you turn it on, so always switch to stereo before beginning the game... and it could just be a coincidence, but the sound effect for when you select between options reminds me of Ark's jump sound effect in Quintet's Tenchi SΕzΕ/Terranigma (which was also made in 1995).
Left: Now it's time to shoot at airborne stalactites above you | Right: Just let the screen push you so you can use your spread shot against the leaping goblins and unstable falling bricks
Nightmare Busters has got three different difficulty settings, each with their own noticeable variation: on easy you begin with two of each magic's spell at your disposal and you've got four continues, on normal you begin with one count for each of your three spells and have three continues, and in hard mode you have two continues but interestingly enough you only begin with the explosion and sawblade magic until you pick up the twister magic icon which will no longer be available in this mode after using up a continue as opposed to having all three magic spells available at once like in the first two difficulties. There's also less enemy activity on easy which naturally gets progressively busier with each difficulty, including the rate at which the crows and butterfly moths fly towards and certain obstacles fall down towards you.
Left: Shooting at the cloaked wizard while also minding the ricocheting ring of fire | Right: Collecting the loot following said wizard's demise
There are a couple more options you can access in the options provided that during the title screen you press the Y, right shoulder button, left shoulder button, down, down, right buttons which will signal that you input it correctly once you hear a cue afterward. The hidden options in question are a turbo shot which you could enable or disable and a stage select; the former doesn't really make one dent or another as the projectile tossing rate is more or less the same only you don't have to repeatedly tap the button and the latter is very optional but can be a good way of practicing how to do very well in these stages on hard mode specifically without resorting to starting over.
Left: Did you think the stage was over after defeating the wizard boss? Oh no, there's still a little more of it left as you must shoot at and/or evade falling rocks at a pitstop | Right: And in the following pitstop you must do a rematch against that owl midboss from the preceding forest stage π¦
I first learned of Nightmare Busters around 2010 after watching a gameplay video of the first stage on YouTube by Gonçalo "ShiryuGL" Lopes if I recall correctly, and I remember thinking that it looked interesting and that it was neat to see footage of a Nintendo 16-bit that never got a proper release the first time around, and then years later I learned that it had gotten physically released thanks to Super Fighter Team. For the past several years I would check once in awhile to see if this game was available in repro cart form on eBay, and it is... but usually it was either too costly or not by an American seller. This January I got very lucky and managed to procure an affordable copy, finally quenching years of curiosity and would be the seventh NTSC SNES repro cart I got.
Left: Holding on to a slip-on/slip-out platform | Right: Shooting at a door while occasionally alternating between slip-on/slip-out platforms
It was great to finally play this game for myself after so many years of curiosity, and given that it's the first game officially released for the SNES in a very long time there were some expectations to be had (especially with the hype behind it). Admittedly Nightmare Busters is one of those games that takes some time to warm up to, especially once you figure out how to defeat the enemies and bosses and when to time certain jumps and movements accordingly, and how to get through with less lives lost; though once you figure it out it's a pretty solid bit of fun while it lasts, though not without its share of caveats.
Left: Using sawblade magic to eradicate onscreen enemies | Right: Just simply climbing onto a perpetually rising and lowering elongated platform entrenched between a bed of spikes
That Flynn (and/or Floyd) have a health of two as opposed to one is pretty unique in the run'n gun genre (especially when you consider most of Konami's Contra/Probotector franchise), but that in no way means that the game will go easy on you because there are plenty of moments where if you're not careful you'll be reduced to your most vulnerable status unless you procure a potion along the way. Much like Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels, and Super Mario Land before it, this is one of those titles where the screen will scroll only when you move towards the right direction (but never when you decide to backtrack, even as you near the left edge of the screen).
Left: Firing at the face cannons on the wall (those who naturally fire at the position you were at so you know exactly how to dodge their fire) | Right: Eliminating bats protruding from that hole in the wall π¦
In terms of aesthetic it's very intriguing in terms of its dark fantasy visual style (given Jean-Christophe Alessandri's involvement in it, you can kinda sorta tell he also worked on Ludimedia's Rayman... even though that one had a vast multitude of artists behind it, but never mind) and what got my attention was how filled to the brim with enemies and obstacles it would become (especially on hard mode) and not suffer from any graphic slowdown for one instant (except when the first two bosses bite it for dramatic effect) which is impressive considering the Nintendo 16-bit console's slow processing capabilities.
Left: Dealing with bats and chain-sliding goblins | Right: Rematch against the first boss
Nightmare Busters is relatively simple in terms of overall gameplay but throughout you'll be challenged in a variety of ways especially during pitstops: some goblins you face will sprout from the ground and you must remain vigilant because occasionally in certain stages some will try to sneak up on you from behind (mainly the torch tossing ones); during a fight against the first ogre miniboss it'll drop down so hard that it causes a group of barrels to fall down which you must shoot at above you, and after said fight you must shoot at the stack of barrels which will collapse so you must slide out of the way when it happens;
Left: Using the sawblade magic against the Weretomcat rehash | Right: Shoot your projectiles at that blue ogre
there is one moment in the forest stage where you must contend with goblins either sprouting from the ground or coming from the side while simultaneously evading and/or shooting at falling holly; early in the volcanic cave segment the ground will give way which will have you freefall shooting at airborne stalagmites below you while trying to stay below the falling rocky spikes above you, then immediately after landing on the ground there are stalactites you must shoot at above you after large rocks fall down while sometimes dealing with goblins along the way;
Left: Staying clear from the wizard rehash's flamethrower magic | Right: Jumping down from the platform ambushed by goblins
at one point the lava slowly rises so you must focus on moving forward while avoiding getting burnt by balls of flame falling down towards you and rolling boulders; there are spiked logs which if shot at enough times will turn into a horde of bats (with the numbers varying depending on the difficulty); et al. You know how in that one segment of Quintet's Actraiser/ActRaiser or Virgin Interactive's adaptation of Disney's Aladdin there were platforms that slipped in and out of walls that you had to get on with precise timing as you scaled upward? Well in this game rather than getting on top of them you hang onto them heading off to the right, and at one point you must shoot at a door while alternating between two slip-on/slip-out stones because the spikes below you will culminate in an insta-kill.
Left: Sustained damage | Right: Must obtain the potion to replenish lost health
And speaking of insta-kill spikes, one auto-scrolling portion has an elongated platform sandwiched between spikes which continuously gets raised and lowered meaning you have to switch between sliding down and hanging on to it and getting back on top (remember, simply press B, don't hold up and B unless you wish to use up a life quickly) when called for it while also dealing with chained balls (and the harder the difficulty, the faster the platform will move itself). If it seems like it's a lot to deal with all at once, that's because at certain points it can be (though that is only truly felt during this aforementioned sequence and the final stretch leading to the Nightmare King, especially since all the action unfolds without any graphic slowdown no matter how hectic things get). The first and third bosses have got a very simplistic pattern, though the magic spells I usually reserve for the Weretomcat and Nightmare King fights, but if you're not a fan of boss fight rehashes (albeit with a different palette), then you might not like what's coming in the final two stages...
Left: *evil bobblehead chuckle worthy of Dingo Pictures* | Right: Interestingly you can hang on to the arm of that armchair
The game also ends on an abrupt note without any segue, but to be fair that could be contributed to the fact that it wasn't finished being made before it got cancelled back in 1995, but it's nice that it eventually got a proper release eighteen years later. Nightmare Busters isn't exactly the most polished game of its ilk (that would be Konami's excellent Contra Spirits/Contra III: The Alien Wars/Super Probotector: Alien Rebels or Treasure's Gunstar Heroes, though things end just as abruptly as in the latter classic) but for what it's worth I think it is enjoyably solid, and given it's an Arcade Zone game it is appropriately arcade-length at thirtysomething minutes. If you can find an affordable copy and are into fast-paced arcade action I recommend you play it, just don't expect the most spectacular game out there and you'll be fine. Finally getting to play Nightmare Busters was a dream come true. π
My Personal Score: 7.0/10
● Let's hope 2021 is an improvement over 2020.
● So in recent days my family and I got to watch the Marvel Studios series WandaVision on Disney+, and oh my God it was so good! π As part love letter to classic television (I love that it's composed by Christophe Beck with theme songs written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez of Frozen fame), part continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this was a spellbinding (and occasionally heartbreaking) way of beginning the MCU's Phase Four. Elizabeth Olsen was already my favorite interpretation of the Scarlet Witch thanks to the movies but this series devoted to her has really cemented it as she was so compelling she was excellent, and it was so nice to see Paul Bettany's Vision and Kat Dennings' Darcy again. The last two episodes were so incredible and so emotionally deep as well, I loved it! I want to see it again (the finale has got me excited for what the future holds for her), and I can't wait to see The Falcon and the Winter Soldier next! π
Thank you for reading my review, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW allowed); hope you have a great day, be a nice human, keep yourself protected during this pandemic, and take care! π
