Circus Charlie Review by: Eddy88 - 8/10
Circus Charlie (NES/Famicom) Review.A Day at the Circus!Back when Arcades used to be very popular, and when the games that these had used to be simple, but pretty good... It was common to see various kind of games with different kinds of protagonists. The most part of these protagonists used to be workers... Yes, Workers, everyone with a different work. For example: Donkey Kong, in where Jumpman (now better known as Mario) was a Carpenter, or Tapper (also named "Root Beer") in where we take control of a Bartender. There were a lot of games with this style, so, when the game we're talking about was released... It wasn't very suppressive. However, it had a big success though... Enough success to be ported to other systems. Including the Famicom (or NES), made by Nintendo. The name of that game is Circus Charlie, and it was ported on 1986. If you never heard of it, then keep reading!
Story: Charlie is the star of it's own Circus, which is pretty succeful... But, apparently, Charlie is suffering from a minor lack of circus artists. So, Now he must please the assisting crowd by doing the most dangerous Circus stunts ever made... Here's where we enter in action, we must help him to accomplish all of the stunts, without getting hurt in the process! (5/10)
Graphics: Pretty good... These doesn't look like the ones in Arcade, But compared to other games of that year, these are excellent... There aren't much details to tell, on every stage you see the same background: The Crowd watching the stunt, the ground, a few details proper from a Circus, and an Elephant. (Yes, an elephant, wow) (7/10)
Sound: If I'm not mistaken, the Arcade version had more tracks than this version. (Which has only 4 tracks.) However, the music is still good and it has a good quality, and of course, it's also Circus-themed. SFX is good... Not much to say about it, sounds like the SFX you'd rather hear in other games: Simple. (7/10)
Addictiveness: For being a simple game... It's addictive, I must say. Every stunt is original, and even if they are similar one each other, you'll still want to play them again. As usual in this kind of games, the Hi-Score also helps with the addictiveness. You'll play this game over and over trying to beat your previous score. (7/10)
Depth: Since every stage has it's own stunt, you can imagine how deeper is this game. Let me explain every one of these: On the 1st. Stunt, Charlie will be riding a Lion, the objective here is jump through the Fire rings that slowly scroll at you. Also, you must be careful of not falling in the pots that have fire inside. As a bonus, a smaller fire ring with a money bag will appear, if you want, you can try to catch it. On the 2nd. One, Charlie must walk on a rope, being careful of not hitting any of the monkeys that appear on it, on the 3rd. Charlie must walk over giant Beach balloons, jumping from one to another. On the 4th. Charlie will be riding a horse. Here, we must help him to jump over the trampolines that appear on screen, being careful of not crashing against it, or falling to the ground... On the 5th. The last stunt, he'll have to jump from trapeze to trapeze... If you miss it, you'll fall to the ground, but if you're lucky... You maybe end up falling over some of the trampolines on the ground... As you see, this game offers a lot of depth. Like a real Circus. (8/10)
Difficulty: This is not a very difficult game... However, the last stages could be a bit harder. But, generally, isn't that hard. (Unless you pick the game mode B... Which raises a bit the difficulty.) (8/10)
Final Rating: 8
Konami, you did it again... A good port of a good Arcade game. That's what they made. If you have the chance, play this game... I'm sure that you will enjoy it.
-Eddy Out-
Graphics
7 Sound
7 Addictive
7 Depth
8 Story
5 Difficulty
8