MSX Games worth playing not by Konami.
May 18, 2015 1:56:20 GMT -5
Post by wyrdwad on May 18, 2015 1:56:20 GMT -5
Bumpity bump bump!
Got a new MSX game in the mail yesterday that I almost forgot I'd ordered (that took a long time to get here!). It was a random splurge purchase, made because it was cheap and looked decent in the few videos I could find of it, so I wasn't expecting much... but what I wound up with is basically the Neutopia of the MSX! It's a Zelda clone, but a damned good one, and I definitely recommend it.
Its title translates to "Borfes and the Five Devils" (yes, Borfes), and you can find out more (Japanese) info on it (but with screenshots!) here:
www.geocities.jp/galfned/borfesu/borfesu01.htm
Apparently, as you progress farther into the game, you actually unlock the eponymous devils and gain the ability to play as them instead of Borfes, and each one has unique abilities (one can repair broken bridges, for example), which sounds really cool.
Graphics and music are quite appealing as well. It's got the whole "all sprites are one solid color" thing that you often see with MSX games, but the sprites are all designed and animated really nicely, and the effect of them respawning is actually really neat-looking (they kind of warp in via elaborate black energy balls). And in lieu of the usual flip-screen mechanic you see in most Zelda clones (and MSX games!), Borfes elected to do kind of a... half flip-screen half scroll? Basically, when you approach the edge of the screen, it scrolls in that direction, but only by about half a screen's width. So you're flipping a lot more than you would in a typical flip-screen game, which seems like it might be kind of distracting, but it's actually used pretty well and can work in your favor strategically -- at the beginning of the game, for example, you learn quickly that the enemies that spawn in the water are far more dangerous than the enemies that spawn on land (since they can shoot you from a distance, and VERY QUICKLY at that!), so you can basically use the half-flip in your favor and make sure there's as little water as possible on the screen at any given moment, minimizing the chances that one of them will spawn.
Here's a little bit of the game in action, sans music for some reason:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9rBJ-FKi3E
The music won't be winning any awards or showing up on anyone's playlist anytime soon, but it's pleasant and catchy PSG fare -- I like it!
All in all, this seems like a really good purchase, and if you're collecting MSX games, this definitely seems like one you should seek out (judging by my first impressions of it, at least!).
If you do, though, here are two quick tips:
- Esc opens your inventory.
- In order to get a password, you need to equip a crystal ball item and then use it on a screen with no enemies spawned. The crystal ball can be purchased from a dude in the very first dungeon for 10 coins, so saving up 10 coins should be the very first thing you do.
Enjoy!
-Tom
Got a new MSX game in the mail yesterday that I almost forgot I'd ordered (that took a long time to get here!). It was a random splurge purchase, made because it was cheap and looked decent in the few videos I could find of it, so I wasn't expecting much... but what I wound up with is basically the Neutopia of the MSX! It's a Zelda clone, but a damned good one, and I definitely recommend it.
Its title translates to "Borfes and the Five Devils" (yes, Borfes), and you can find out more (Japanese) info on it (but with screenshots!) here:
www.geocities.jp/galfned/borfesu/borfesu01.htm
Apparently, as you progress farther into the game, you actually unlock the eponymous devils and gain the ability to play as them instead of Borfes, and each one has unique abilities (one can repair broken bridges, for example), which sounds really cool.
Graphics and music are quite appealing as well. It's got the whole "all sprites are one solid color" thing that you often see with MSX games, but the sprites are all designed and animated really nicely, and the effect of them respawning is actually really neat-looking (they kind of warp in via elaborate black energy balls). And in lieu of the usual flip-screen mechanic you see in most Zelda clones (and MSX games!), Borfes elected to do kind of a... half flip-screen half scroll? Basically, when you approach the edge of the screen, it scrolls in that direction, but only by about half a screen's width. So you're flipping a lot more than you would in a typical flip-screen game, which seems like it might be kind of distracting, but it's actually used pretty well and can work in your favor strategically -- at the beginning of the game, for example, you learn quickly that the enemies that spawn in the water are far more dangerous than the enemies that spawn on land (since they can shoot you from a distance, and VERY QUICKLY at that!), so you can basically use the half-flip in your favor and make sure there's as little water as possible on the screen at any given moment, minimizing the chances that one of them will spawn.
Here's a little bit of the game in action, sans music for some reason:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9rBJ-FKi3E
The music won't be winning any awards or showing up on anyone's playlist anytime soon, but it's pleasant and catchy PSG fare -- I like it!
All in all, this seems like a really good purchase, and if you're collecting MSX games, this definitely seems like one you should seek out (judging by my first impressions of it, at least!).
If you do, though, here are two quick tips:
- Esc opens your inventory.
- In order to get a password, you need to equip a crystal ball item and then use it on a screen with no enemies spawned. The crystal ball can be purchased from a dude in the very first dungeon for 10 coins, so saving up 10 coins should be the very first thing you do.
Enjoy!
-Tom