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Publisher: Natsume Developer: Jaleco Genre: Side Scrolling Action Author: MrCHUPON

 

FIMP: Shatterhand [NES]

"Shatterhand is a gem. It's sad that I, among many other gamers I'd assume, either forgot about or missed out on this game at the outset of its life." I don't know where this game showed up from, but I picked it up on a whim. Of course it suffered the plague of getting drowned out by other NES classics such as my beloved Mega Man games. Playing it now makes me regret I had missed out on this experience before. After going through two stages, here are my impressions so far. Shatterhand is incredibly fun in the way only old school NES games can be: a fun action romp with solid play mechanics and tight control. Your only consistent weapons are, well, your fists. But they're incredibly strong and can fell barriers and large creatures and the like. Of course just punching your way through a game might be boring, so Jaleco included "bots" not unlike the companions that follow you like the familiars in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. To get these bots, you must acquire three icons, of which there are two (alpha and beta). Different combinations net you different bots whose attacks include dropping grenades and firing a diagonal laser, to swinging a mechanical sword. The levels aren't designed supremely, but they do afford you a nice open area to run through as enemies assault you from left, right and above. The difficulty is very balanced, with some difficult sections to test your ninja-skills. The control is tight and responsive, as said above, and feels similar to Ninja Gaiden in that respect. I thought I'd get bored of the game quickly, but I now desperately want to play all the way through and see it to the end. The different bots give me a sense of variety -- which bot will I get, I ask myself, as I collect the different symbols. Even without them, the punching action is so refined in that old-school classic way that just romping through the levels would be fun in and of itself. Let's not forget the cool boss designs, with your traditional NES pattern-based attacks. Shatterhand is a gem. It's sad that I, among many other gamers I'd assume, either forgot about or missed out on this game at the outset of its life. However you can, find it and play it. I'll be back with a full review when I finally finish this beast.

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