Overall 9.1 Graphics 10 Sound 6 Addictive 9 Story 4 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
9.5
Little Samson: The Titan of 8-Bit Games! DracoRex
LITTLE SAMSON
A review by DracoRex for www.vizzed.com
Introduction:
Little Samson (called Seirei Densetsu LICKLE (聖鈴伝説LICKLE) in Japan, which loosely translates to Lickle: Legend of the Holy Bells) has to be one of, if not the, greatest side-scrolling game for the NES and, if you ask me, of all time. If I were to have a top ten list for best video games of all time this would make number 1 every-time! It's an amalgamation of all our classic gaming sensibilities and a combination of everything that makes the 2 dimensional side scrolling-platformer genre such an integral part of modern gaming. It takes grand genre forging classics like Super-Mario Bros., Megaman, and the good NES Castlevania games and wraps it all up with some of the best possible graphics the 8-Bit era can muster. It's a true gem and an underrated classic that has somewhat of a cult following online but other than that isn't all that well known due to being released at the tail end of the NES like some of the later Taito games like Bubble Bobble 2 and Panic Restaurant. But because of this the developers really knew what they were doing with this one as I think everyone in their mother could make an NES game by this point and the game is incredibly rare to find and real life and command pretty heavy prices of up to $200 at swap meets and flea markets, so get it where you can it's probably the best 200 bucks you might ever spend! So enough gushing let's get down to the bitty gritty....
Graphics:
Simply astounding. This game has some of the best looking sprites around and even modern day 8-bit styled games, like Megaman 9 and 10, don't hold a candle to it. Each character is distinct and expressive and the graphics accurately and expertly represent exactly what they're supposed to be. A funny quirk of the graphic design is that there's a strange disconnect between the majority of the game's characters, who are all cute and cartoony, and the game's bosses, who are all incredibly detailed and far more menacing.Take one of our heroes the dragon Kikira and the dragon boss in level 6 for a direct comparison as they're both dragons with radically different artistic styles. Even the game's box-art seems to exemplify this as it shows our heroes (depicted in a demented cartoon style as the enemies like that blue skeleton and that dragon have a rather Alex Ross-esque look to them). To go along with amazing graphics comes some pretty solid animations with many notable examples. Like many of the characters have a 14 frame rotation animation which is used on the main menu when selecting them, or when they`re spinning like in a tornado, and Samson uses it for his jump. Or how about the Wizard bosses and their over 30 frames for teleporting around the screen,the tidal dragon`s monstrous grin, the gremlin`s vomit attack, and the list goes on. It really compliments the detailed sprites when they move so well a perfectly express the actions the story wants to depicts. Overall there fantastic with the worst thing I can say is that some of the backgrounds are a little lacking but that's about it.
Sound:
While not as memorable as other games on the NES like Double Dragon or Ninja Gaiden, and isn`t as good as any of Capcom`s soundtracks (the Megaman games being particularly notable) Little Samson holds it`s own. The word that comes to mind when I listen to Little Samson`s soundtrack is "appropriate". The sounds and music fit like a pair of well-worn gloves, as in it's comfy and I couldn't imagine it anywhere else but here. See the game doesn't have individual stage music but plays a specific character theme depending on which of the 4 heroes you're using, as well as each boss having there own music (also the final levels have their own theme but that's it). Each hero's song matches them perfectly and is happy and upbeat such as Kikira's song invokes the feeling of soaring through the air (since she's the flyer) or how Gamm's theme is slow and lumbering (like he is!) and K.O.'s is sly and sneaky! It's all great and it really feels like an adventure with these tight tracks pumping in the background, but it can get a little stale seeing as how sometimes you'll use the same character for long periods of time and hearing the same song for long periods of time can get a tad grating. Now while the heroes themes are light and upbeat evoking the feeling of adventure and exploration, the bosses themes are slow and filled with dread and urgency creating a dooming kind of feeling, especially the final stages which almost feel like they're trying to rush you through the game by this point. While it can get a bit repetitive and may not be at the top of the charts Little Samson hold it's own with a unique and fitting selection of music perfect for such a grand adventure!
Addictiveness:
I play this game all time, and if I recall I mentioned it was my absolute favourite and I play it all the time trying to figure out the best combinations of characters to get through each level.
Story:
While little Samson isn't necessarily a deep, character driven narrative for an 8-Bit Sidescroller it certainly offers allot more than most. It's one of those games where the story comes more from the player's imagination than any in-game text or dialogue and this game does this very well. Here's a quick run-down: In opening scenes a bolt of lightning strikes a mountain as four orbs of light shoot up into the sky, in a far off castle a king sends his army off to do battle with a sorcerer cloaked in a vile green robe where all the kings men are defeated. In desperation the king sends away 4 doves holding glowing bells where one falls into the hands of some spiky haired kid. As I said before the game has not dialogue and everything seen in-game is all inferred and assumed by the player and any details you get are all from reading the back of game box and the game`s manual. This what the back of the box has to say:
"The Imperial Forgy has been invaded by Ta-Keed the Prince of Darkness! Only the owners of the Magic Bells can stop his forces from destroying the realm. Led by the mountaineering youth, Samson, a force of unlikely heroes sets out to banish evil forever! Become a fire-breathing dragon, a living statue of solid stone or a nimble and crafty mouse. Soar the skies and belch fire balls as Kikira the Dragon Lord! Crush enemy troops with fists of granite as Gamm the Rock Lord! Scurry past dangerous monsters while setting time bombs as K.O. The mouse! These creatures join Little Samson to form a unique and powerful alliance as the last hope for the Imperial Forgy!"
It's basically just details and specifics such as character names and locations, but you don't need it to understand the story as it's all semantics. It can actually cause a bit of confusion as none of the bosses are named or even mentioned and Ta-Keed isn't seen until you beat the game on the harder difficulty. I say this because the wizard I mentioned destroying all the King's soldiers in the game's opening? It's the first level boss, and when I read the box and saw that I thought that he was Ta-Keed. This description makes me laugh because this is exactly how I describe this is exactly how I tell people about this game. Also "The Imperial Forgy"? I think that might be some sort of translation error. Oh and poor K.O. I mean Kikira and Gamm get titles like "Dragon Lord", and "Rock Lord'! But K.O. Is just credited as "mouse". Despite everything I've written about the game's story this is only the first 5 minutes of the game and it's all just setup, afterwards it's just level after level of monster bashing action. It has a strong start but it's not like Ninja Gaiden or Final Fantasy II where it's got all these cut scenes and word balloons to detail the plot every level, Little Samson has a strong start with it's story but then the game play completely takes over for the other 90% of it. Overall Little Samson in fairly unique for being an 8-Bit title with an established storyline all told without dialogue.
Depth:
Oh boy, this game is deeper than the Grand Canyon. I may have mentioned this in the introduction but this game combines all the best parts of the genre and does it all so well! Let's see you've got smooth and tight controls that rally put you in control of the game, 4 unique characters you can switch between on the fly, a 4 character password system making it easy start back up whenever you want, health upgrades, branching game paths, a fair yet daunting challenge you can change to fit your skill level, and amazing graphics. What more could you ask for? But I suppose I need to elaborate....
When you boot up the game after the opening cut scene you go to main menu and press start where you can either start a new game or use a password (which I have mention again is only 4 character making it easy to remember). When you start a new game you're taken to a stage selection screen where you can select them in any order you want to start the game (but you must complete them all in order to continue). These serve a form of "tutorial" for you to get used to the way each character works with the stages specifically designed to be played with them (such as Kikira's stage requiring a good deal of flying, or Gamm's stage being covered in spikes he need's to walk across to pass). Each character has their own set of skills and abilities that will be used to make it through the game:
Little Samson: A young mountaineer who was out climbing one day when he found one of the 4 magic bells. He jumps with the A button and can latch onto walls to latch under platforms and climb up walls. He fights by throwing rocks and with a tap of the B button he fires off a burst fire of 3 at a time in a straight line. He starts off with 4 units of life and through upgrades can get up to 10 on normal and I believe 14 on easy.
Kikira the Dragon Lord: Queen of the skies she was roaming her windy kingdom when she came under attack by Ta-Keed's forces and was chosen by the second bell to combat him. She jumps with A and pressing it again causes her to hover in mid-air for a few seconds. She fights by launching an arc of flame that steadily rises into the air in a steady curve with the B button. By holding down B she can charge up her flame by two levels first turning blue then pink. Charge shots are bigger and faster and obviously do more damage which can be useful with some of the tougher enemies. She doesn't slip on icy services which the manual attributes to her razor sharp claws. Kikira is a little delicate as she's tricky to use with her awkward projectile and being unable to adjust her altitude mid-flight so you can get stuck if you mess up your jump and panic trying to save it by flying.She has the second lowest max HP starting at 4 and her max being 8 on normal and 12 on easy.
Gamm the Rock Lord: A sentient granite statue who lives in a big cave full of spikes. He was attacked by Ta-Keed's forces and met up with King's Soldiers to be given the third bell. Gamm is big and slow but he's most powerful of the 4 heroes with highest HP (starting at 8 and getting up to 16 on normal and 20 on easy). Gamm is essentially a tank being able to take the most hits and deal most damage but doesn't use projectiles, but he can punch things in 4 directions depending on which direction you press when your doing it (though he can't punch downward while jumping). He's really clumsy with the worst jump but he's able to just steam roll through most levels as he's immune to spikes and other hazards.
K.O. the Mouse: A tiny mouse lives in a mossy jungle and was chosen by the fourth bell to fight Ta-Keed. K.O. is obviously the weakest of the four starting off with only 2 segments of health with maximum of 8 in easy and 6 on normal. He can climb on all kinds of surfaces like Samson and attacks by leaving bombs everywhere (4 at a time) that explode 4 spaces across doing a decent amount of damage. In most of the cutscenes he's sitting on Gamm's shoulders so I like to think they're friends.
When you complete one of the stages your character meets one of the King's soldiers and are escorted to the castle (or the Imperial Forgy or whatever the game calls it). Afterwards each character is placed into a giant magical bell to be called upon when needed, all except for Kikira who becomes the game's first boss (she's a little tricky as she attacks exactly when you do). When you win you move onto the rest of the game which consists of moving from level to level and usually facing a boss at the end. While most of the bosses are one of the 4 wizards (who work like the villain from "Altered Beast" as they start the fight in a weaker wizard form and upon being defeated turn into far more powerful monster form), some of them are random monsters like giant crab, a water fall spirit, and a gigantic dragon! When you defeat the boss the level ends and you move on to the next stage and get a password to continue the game later with. Throughout the game you'll collect items either scattered about the stage or dropped by enemies. Picking up a heart restores a small amount of health depending on the size, small hearts heal about one segment while big hearts heal 5. A heart inside of a crystal increases the amount of maximum health a character has at any time by 2. And finally a beaker is a potion a character can carry to restore all their health when they so choose and work kind of like sub-tanks from the Megaman games. Levels in Little Samson are navigated by through, flying and jumping over pits, crawling through small crevices, and climbing on walls to avoid traps such as pits of lava and spikes as well as some of the games rather unique enemies. In the first real stage after the intro there are fat gremlins that follow behind you to spit up and roll their girth at you as a projectile as their shrunken selves run away in fear, or how about the fountain that is surrounded by souls and if it gets possessed by any one of them it sporadically fires projectiles in any direction. Some levels have branching paths such as the during the boss fight with the water spirit in stage 3 if you fall down one of the pits instead beating the boss, you'll fall onto a giant crab which you will have to ride through the rest of the stage before moving onto level 4. This helps give the game a little bit of replay value as you can play each stage with any combination of characters and difficulty settings and search for alternate paths to see where they take you each time you play. So overall Little Samson has top notch game-play that brings together the best tropes of the side scrolling genre and uses them to their fullest effect.
Difficulty:
Finally the difficulty. Little Samson has two distinct difficulty modes that alter the gameplay to two extremes both of which are selected while you're starting a new game: Easy and Normal. While enemy placements change depending on difficulty the main differences you'll notice or how it effects your characters. I may have mentioned this in the characters section of the Depths portion of the review but the health upgrades you pick have a distinct limit which gets lower on hight difficulties (Gamm get's 20 HP on easy and 16 on normal as his health maximums). The other main difference is when a character dies during a stage they're gone until you can complete the stage on normal mode and if you die with every character you'll be stuck as Samson until you can complete the level. So besides the obvious challenge, why would you wan't to play the harder difficulites? Well on easy mode you can't actually fight Ta-Keed, instead the game ends a full stage early after fighting the Gold Wizard. When you defeat the Gold Wizard on normal a castle rises from a nearby lake and reveal Ta-Keed's fortress. So it's kind of like the Contra games or Actraiser, where it rewards you for taking on the harder difficulties and gives you a reason to challenge yourself. But if your just not up to it the game does let you pick an Easy Mode to practice with until your ready.
Overall:
This game is great and I love it. I hope this review convinced you, the reader, to play because it totally deserves more love than it's getting right now. Bottom t's an 8-Bit gem and you won't regret giving it a try.
Graphics 10 Sound 6 Addictive 9 Story 4 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 06-30-12
Updated: 10-24-12
Review Replies: 1
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