Hi, I'm Dranzerstorm
Welcome to the Video Game & Music Lounge
This world is dedicated to Video Games and Music as I'll be showcasing the following.
Video Game Reviews set to the same tones as Retro Retrospective's Anime Reviews
Music reviews of Anime Openings & Closings
Western Cartoon music
Vocaloid Classics.
We may even have some Top Tens
I hope this World entertains you.
Today we look at handheld titles.
The Rub Rabbits
Sega were pretty experimental during the DS era, more so when Sonic Team were involved, so during the time where Sonic was finding it's late 00s audience following the Sonic 06 fallout, Sonic Team made a bizarre dating game for DS called Rub Rabbits, unlike most dating games, in Rub Rabbits you have to constantly flirt and save the girl you are dating by using your stylus in mini games, rubbing if you will, the actual Rub Rabbits are your wingmen, it's a bizarre game but unintentionally hilarious.
B-Tier Game
Bubble Ghost
The Gameboy was a surprisingly versatile console even during it's early brick shape era but very few games could be considered that hard, even Megaman feels easier, enter Bubble Ghost, a puzzle game where you blow a bubble through increasingly difficult mazes, it's legacy as a speedrun classic has kept it alive, long after the Gameboy and DS family had been retired.
B-Tier Game
Pokemon Red and Blue
You'd think this game would be an easy S-Tier but rose tinted lenses are pretty common among my age group but having stuck with Pokemon up until today, going back to play the original is really rough as red and blue is a glitch filled mess, stuff like the Missingno trick, the Mew trick, catching safari pokemon outside the park and positioning yourself in certain pixels to trigger completion without even leaving Pallet Town are just a few of the glitches you can trigger in the average playthrough, even the mechanics allow you to cheese the game with just one Pokemon.
Back then it was revolutionary but now it's unplayable.
D-Tier Game
Who says that this feature has to be just recent games, I've been gaming for decades and there are way more games that make you ask WTF am I Playing? All three are N64 titles and all fighting games.
Fighters Destiny
Fighters Destiny is unique in that you could pretty much finish each match with one attack, instead of traditional defeat you get scored on how you defeat your opponent whether it be throwdown, ringout, counter or special, perhaps the reason it didn't come back was that you could cheese the game with one move if you were skilled enough, it's fighting roster highlights include a French clown with a giant nose, a old master whose outfit and hairstyle sort of makes him look like a rapper and a fighting cow, the style may not be up to much but the music is fantastic.
B-Tier Game
Clayfighter 63 1/3
A Mortal Kombat game if it were entirely made of clay, clayfighter takes a variety of unique and now very offensive looking characters considering that at least two of them are a witch doctor and a kung fu guy with exaggerated accents and puts them in a fighting game, the game is janky, slow and disgusting in places, any wonder when you've got Sumo Santa and Boogerman who use farts as a fatality, Santa's one being particularly nasty.
D-Tier Game
Mace The Dark Age
I'm baffled why this didn't catch on, Soul Calibur was still at least a year or two off and Samurai Spirits was hardly going to fill the void, so why didn't Mace catch on? It had Mortal Kombat's team.
Might be because it's notoriously hard, the object is to obtain the Mace of Tanis by defeating Asmodeus (knowing what I know about Asmodeus in demon lore, this is a far cry compared to other versions) the cast includes the likes of Lord Deimos an overlord in fancy red armour and a large sword fighting against, samurai, vikings, sorceresses, ninja, monks, undead soldiers from the crusade and my personal favourites a dwarf in a wooden mecha and a chicken. Lots of fun even if the lore can be exhausting to follow.
A-Tier Game
Four this special, were talking about different takes on Tetris.
Settris
With music far too pop like with an aquarium like backdrop from the people who brought you cheap achievements, East Asiasoft comes Settris, a puzzle game where you are given select tetriminos to complete a jigsaw like puzzle, pretty easy, no puzzle ever felt too hard to complete.
C-Tier Game
Tetris 99
Off the back of the battle royale craze comes Tetris 99, as the name suggests, 99 players all play the same time with one left standing, brutally hard to win where the average opponent reacts faster than most normal people, the amount of focus required is exhausting and very draining especially if that elusive win never comes.
C-Tier Game
Puyo Puyo Tetris
Collaborating with Sega's own puzzle game Puyo Pop comes the colourful puzzle extravaganza that is Puyo Tetris, having played to near completion, the addictive puzzle games mix well with a very colourful cast of characters in a variety of modes to keep you entertained, Sega's magic touch is plain to see, even if at times it can be notoriously hard to complete the game.
A-Tier Game
Tetris Effect Connected
I honestly believe this to be the magnum opus of the franchise, a carnival of sound and visual masterpieces combine to give you the greatest Tetris experience ever witnessed, it's like watching Disney's Fantasia on a Star Wars budget.
S-Tier Game
Taking a break from the grind of Xbox achievement hunting to explore some of the just as weird games on the Switch, in fact alot of the future Xbox entries started on the Switch.
Cruis'n Blast
Leave it to legacy companies like Raw Thrills to revive all the best 90s racing titles, and you can't get more 90s than the Cruis'n series from the N64 era. This current version takes all the madness and loudness from the arcade cabinet version giving you short bursts of arcade madness as each race can last as little as three sometimes one minute as the ridiculously fast pace of the game shows often in environments with giant set pieces, much better in multiplayer.
A-Tier Game
What the Golf
This game does everything with the concept of golf physics except actually play real golf as each level adds a twist to the formula everything from a video game reference to driving the actual golfer into the hole, cleverly made if a little absurd in places.
A-Tier Game
Smashing the Battle
Yes, I'd certainly like to Smash, robots are running riot in a giant industrial complex as you take command of one of two large powerful ladies, Sarah O'Connell the Survivor with a giant spanner and Mary Lucy the Chaser with a giant hammer, while the game is certainly very appealing, it is just a typical hack and slash more akin to a slower, jankier Bayonetta.
B-Tier Game
I know what the box art says, just the European boxart is boring and name changes are pretty common in localisations.
Released in 1998, Fighters Destiny was an unusual take on the fighting game genre as it uses a points system based on whether you Knockdown, Counter, Timeout, Ringout, Throwdown or Special Move which if you see Olympic Martial Arts is similar to that scoring system where better move execution scores higher points. You can also learn new moves in the master mode and even fight a Cow.
It's development title was "Struggle Hard"
Pros
Fantastic music.
Learning new techniques gives the game more depth.
Joker is the most intense opponent you'll ever fight.
Mechanics work surprisingly well.
Some of the specials are incredible.
Cons
Very unimaginative fighter roster.
You'll be punished very quickly for trying the easy method every time.
The sequel made no innovations and has an even worse fighter roster.
No story modes or endings.
Verdict
With a bit more care it would've succeeded, where it lacks is it's poorly designed characters apart from Ushi the Cow, Joker and Master. Also I would love to see the concept of learning new moves come back in fighting games.
