Sunday, April 13, 2025

Goof Troop (SNES) Retro Review

While not the first review I had in mind for my return at SuperPhillip Central for 2025, Goof Troop ended up being an enjoyable romp once I finally knocked it out of my backlog. Let's quantify just how MUCH of an enjoyable romp it was with my retro review of the Super Nintendo's Goof Troop.

"A Goofy Game"

This past week saw the 30th anniversary of "A Goofy Movie", so I opted to dive back into the past and play a game sitting in my Super Nintendo backlog for decades now: Goof Troop. Interestingly enough, Goof Trip on the SNES was one of Shinji Mikami's (of Resident Evil fame, and many other Capcom classics) first projects. While it's a short experience, either alone or with a co-op buddy, Goof Troop is also quite a sweet one, too. Let's dig in because good GWARSH, is this game worth looking at!

Goof Troop's story is simple, and like the adventure itself, short and sweet. Spending a lovely afternoon fishing off the coast of Spoonerville, Goofy and his son Max spot a pirate ship of all things sailing towards them. Upon closer inspection, Goofy and Max spot their neighbors Pete and his son PJ aboard the ship. It's a regular pirate kidnapping! (Well, as regular as that is in Spoonerville, at least!) Goofy and Max hightail it into a small boat and paddle for all they're worth to catch up, but it's for naught. They arrive at an island where the pirate ship has docked, and now the search for their fellow neighbors and friends is underway!

Once the simple slideshow series of scenes with text is finished, the game proper begins and it wastes no time getting you into the action. I was immediately reminded of a cross between Nintendo's fabled The Legend of Zelda series and the oft-overlooked Shigeru Miyamoto Game Boy masterpiece Mole Mania of all games in what Goof Troop was reminiscent of gameplay-wise. You move in between different screen-wide rooms in a top-down perspective, defeating enemies in indirect ways, solving puzzles, collecting keys, and making your way to the boss of each of the game's five levels.

Everything in Goof Troop is better with a buddy, but solo play is enjoyable too!

Goof Troop features indirect combat, with Goofy and Max picking up objects like planters, vases, and barrels, for instance, and using those to chuck at foes to defeat them. Alternately, blocks can be kicked, sliding across the ground to slam into unsuspecting enemies in their path. This is also used for various block-sliding puzzles, too, which are a nice reprieve from the action.

There's no water in sight, but this particular pirate just walked the figurative plank anyway!

Of course, aiming is important when chucking objects, and evading foes' advances is paramount, too, as either protagonist only has a set amount of health in the form of hearts and lives to utilize. However, copious amounts of fruit not only add hearts to their overall health, but if you get over six hearts, your character earns an extra life. Pink diamonds flat out bestow an extra life, whereas rare white gems reward Goofy and Max with an extra continue, if all their lives get spent. 

One aspect of Goof Troop's health and lives system that I liked and disliked was rationing hearts. What I mean by this is that as stated, getting more than six hearts on health from picking up fruit means, yes, you do get an extra life, but your health goes back to zero hearts. Meaning that if you take damage afterwards, you immediately lose that life you just earned. This is fine while exploring levels, but in practice with bosses, dying means you come back with zero hearts, which means you're a one-hit wonder and death comes quickly, making it quite easy to fly through lives while battling bosses. 

Regardless, those aforementioned white diamonds handing out continues and a password system where you input five objects (diamonds, bananas, cherries, etc.) to return back to the stage you last left off at makes for a lack of headaches entirely. Plus, as mentioned previously, the game isn't a lengthy endeavor whatsoever--offering five stages that will take most players less than two hours to run through.

This room requires Goofy and Max to press down all four buttons in each corner of the room.
Time to put your thinking caps on and sliding-block-puzzle mastery to the test, friends!

Goof Troop can either be played alone or with a second player in some very fun co-op action. The former features the ability to play either as Goofy or Max, and the difference between the two is that Goofy is stronger and can defeat bigger foes in one throw, whereas Max requires at least two thrown objects to defeat the biggest of baddies in levels, but has slightly more speed than his ol' dad. 

In single-player fun, Goofy or Max have two item slots to pick up useful tools like grappling hooks that can pull objects and items from faraway locations, planks that can be used as bridges, bells that can be rung to lure enemies to their location, torches to light up otherwise incredibly dark areas, shovels to dig up treasure, and keys to open locked gates. In co-op, players each have one item slot, so there's some strategy involved between players to decide who takes what. Also, players can toss objects between one another. Pressing the pickup/throw button has either Goofy or Max hold up their hands. This is required to catch objects, either thrown by enemies or by their co-op buddy--otherwise they're either take damage or in the case of friendly fire, they'll get temporarily dazed.

Max plays a game of catch with this pirate while his proud dad Goofy watches on.

At the end of each stage and in the spirit of games of yore, a boss battle indeed awaits. These generally require moments of downtime between dodging a boss' attempts at attacks, while picking up objects to throw at the big baddie while they are vulnerable. These are the most action-packed and challenging places of moment-to-moment gameplay with Goof Troop understandably, so it's not uncommon to soar through lives during these encounters. 

This second-stage boss really cooks (especially if a torch hits poor Goofy or Max).

After the game's five stages are complete within the span of about two hours or less, the game's ending greets players and the adventure is complete. One aspect of Goof Troop that I can see players enjoying is speed-running stages and the game in general, as at the conclusion of each stage, the total time it took a given player or pair of players to get through the stage gets displayed--although not recorded for posterity or anything like that. The total tally of all stages gets shown at the end of the adventure, too, so attempting your best to speed through the game is something I can see for some much needed replay value. Otherwise, Goof Troop would have been a good "rental" back in the day, and nothing more.

That said, Goof Troop on the Super Nintendo's adventure is one where the gameplay holds up so remarkably well, it can be enjoyed either solo or with a co-op partner (and each playthrough is unique depending on the vibe and teamwork you display between your co-op buddy), and speed-running opportunities offer plenty of entertainment to be had. Is it a game you'll rack up dozens upon dozens of hours enjoying? No, not at all--but is it a stellar puzzle-adventure game all the same, worth checking out if you have the method or opportunity to do so? As the Goof Troop cartoon's theme concludes, "Ba-da-ba-bop-ba-doo-doo-bop! *deep voice* YEAAAAAH!"

[SPC Says: B]

LET'S PLAY - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

Hello, Central City friends. I started a brand-new Let's Play series with commentary--The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds! The first three episodes were published this past week and can be viewed right here directly on SuperPhillip Central!

We began our Hyrulean adventure together, and what turned into a simple sword delivery turned into our journey to becoming a hero! We met the sinister Yuga, the kindhearted Ravio (who promptly took up shop in our home!), we fought our way into and out of the Eastern Palace thanks to our new ability to merge into walls, and finally, netted the Power Glove and Zora's Flippers! 

A reminder that any help and support towards these videos go a long way and is appreciated--whether that's sharing to other people on social media, liking the videos on YouTube, and the most important, leaving the video on and watching as much as you can stomach so it's recommended to more people on YouTube! Ah, the fun of the algorithm!

New stuff is also headed your way here to SuperPhillip Central quite soon, too--so don't think I'm just focused on YouTube for now! Have a great one, all!
 

Friday, March 21, 2025

VIDEO PLAYLIST: SuperPhillip Plays: A Double Dose of Mario Kart!

 Hey, all! It's been a while, at least since we've seen each other on SuperPhillip Central! I tend to devote time and energy to various pet projects, such as SPC, my game dev hobby, my Twitch channel, and YouTube channel, in spurts nowadays. Speaking of the latter, I have two new video playlists to share with everyone. 

These are no-commentary, imperfect playthroughs of both Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and more recently Mario Kart: Super Circuit! A double dose of karting chaos, as it were! 

I hope you enjoy this taste of two fantastic kart racers from the Mario universe, and I hope you'll look forward to some new posts to SuperPhillip Central in the near future! I know I've kept you all waiting for a bit!



Monday, October 21, 2024

Nikoderiko: The Magical World (Multi) Review

We have a new game to review! It's an indie 2D/2.5D/3D platformer--a mix of all three, really! It's Nikoderiko: The Magical World, and the SuperPhillip Central verdict is here.

 Crashing the Country

Allow me to preface this review with something most likely obvious from glimpses of screenshots and/or trailers of Nikoderiko: The Magical World: I'm going to mention the words "Donkey Kong Country" and "Crash Bandicoot" quite a bit throughout this review. When the inspiration is so intense and palpable, it's somewhat difficult not to, especially since Nikoderiko wears its clear inspirations on the main character's rolled up sleeves. That said, does Nikoderiko: The Magical World do anything to cast aside as just being a clone of these two games rolled up into one unique title? 

Despite being derivative, Nikoderiko: The Magical World can be a wheel-y good time occasionally.

Nikoderiko: The Magical Journey has no intention of hiding where it's cribbing its ideas and concepts from. Between collecting letters in levels that spell out "N-I-K-O" to hidden barrels that blast its players into secret bonus areas to perform tasks such as "collect all stars", "defeat them all", or "find the key" for golden trinkets, you sort of have to admire the development team's chutzpah in how brazen and blatant it all is on the Donkey Kong Country side, particularly Tropical Freeze. Then, there's aspects like picking up barrels, treasure chests, and other objects to chuck at enemies or breakable walls, once more to reveal secrets. 

Two secret bonus barrels like this one are cleverly hidden away in each level. 

Not to leave out a certain former PlayStation mascot, Nikoderiko: The Magical World takes aspects from Crash Bandicoot as well, putting players into somewhat seamless transitions from 2.5D gameplay to 3D, either running away from the screen or towards it, Crash-style. There's also purple diamond collectibles, one in each level, to obtain as well, though these don't have asinine conditions like some Crash games where you have to backtrack through somewhat significant portions of stages to collect them. So, Nikoderiko has THAT going for it, at least.

Now, I might not be playing fair to Nikoderiko: The Magical World, as it's not necessarily a detrimental thing necessarily to be derivative. In fact, combining the gameplay styles and dimensions of a 2D/2.5D platformer like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze with Crash Bandicoot is unique all to itself. Most of the time in the levels, even, it's done in a clever enough way. 

Niko and the other playable character, Luna, play similarly to one another. Though it was preferable to play as Niko to hear all the voice lines and quips the mouthy mongoose had to offer in levels, whereas with Luna, she's silent as can be. That notwithstanding, it might be preferable for some players to control Luna if they don't want to hear dialogue whilst platforming. Your mileage may vary there.

Move over Donkey Kong--Niko is coming for your "king of swing" title!

Regardless, both characters have the same move set. They can jump, hold out a glider to float carefully to the ground or across chasms, they can slide, they can ground pound (though if you're holding a direction while smashing the ground, you'll end up sliding in the direction you're holding, which often results in unwanted hits, deaths, etc.), and they can also jump off walls--though this feels rather "sticky" for lack of a better term. 

True to the game's heavily-DKC-inspired form, couch co-op is available for two players to enjoy the game together. The pros are that players don't share a pool of lives (there aren't lives in this game to speak of, for one), and they have separate tallies of hearts, the health meter of the game. Thus, two well in tune players can say, "We both have one heart left, so while we have this moment of peace, why don't you take a hit so you can come back with two hearts?" It's harder in boss battles to cheese in this way, but still very much possible.

Co-op shows flashes of fun alongside flashes of frustration, too.

Nikoderiko: The Magical World is indeed a challenging game regardless. Sometimes checkpoints are further away from each other than I'd like in certain levels, and some levels in general go on for far too long. Whereas other levels feel like you blink and they're over. That said, levels are generally well designed, offering plenty of opportunities to display some platforming prowess with well telegraphed but also hidden secrets, too. Generally if something looked curious to me during my playthrough, checking it out would usually result in my being rewarded for said curiosity, which is seldom a bad thing in a game like this. 

The level variety is often enjoyable, as well, delivering plenty of unique ideas and creative concepts usually executed at the very least competently and at best really well. One level featured a Crash Bandicoot-esque scenario where a flying dragon chased Niko as I ran towards the camera in this 3D affair, while later in the level the dragon returned, though this time pursuing Niko as he rode a DKC Returns-style rocket barrel. Another level took our mongoose hero and heroine down into the ocean depths, giving both a black silhouette cast against the blue background--again, DKC Returns and Tropical Freeze-style. The deep waters of the level weren't too friendly, but they were remedied with a little help of a seahorse-like animal buddy that could fire a laser to defeat foes with ease.

This dragon doesn't wish to dance, so I suggest you keep moving forward, Niko.

Like Donkey Kong Country (are you tired of the mentions yet?), Nikoderiko: The Magical World sports an assortment of animal buddies as mounts. The aforementioned seahorse is one, while others include a frog that burps up fireballs to eliminate enemies, there's a bat that serves as a flapping-good time for flight, and also a Yoshi-like lizard that chomps up foes and can regurgitate them back at other baddies. Though, the latter is a bit janky to say the least in execution.

If you've seen it done in Donkey Kong Country, you'll most likely see it
(and done marginally worse) in Nikoderiko: The Magical World.

And really, that's a lot of what Nikoderiko: The Magical World is--a janky experience, or at least quite unpolished. Between glitches where my character couldn't pull out their glider for whatever reason, to camera chaos in co-op where the camera just wouldn't pan in an appropriate-enough position that would work for either myself or my co-op partner, the problems with Nikoderiko: The Magical World are plentiful. Small things like characters and objects on the world map not having their textures load quickly enough (at least on the latest Xbox Series S build) so they'd look incredibly "off" aren't immense problems, but put on a pile with everything else, they do--in fact--add up to be quite bothersome.

Otherwise (and that's not a play on the composer being David Wise--and the music is unfortunately just serviceable this time around, on that note), Nikoderiko: The Magical World is a jack of two trades and a master of neither of them. The Donkey Kong Country and Crash Bandicoot segments of the game are done better by the originals instead of this imitation of both. That isn't to say THIS game isn't worth your time. There are hardly enough Donkey Kong Country-inspired titles to exactly say that we're embarrassed with riches here in this department. Though, if you DO crave something of the DKC style and MUST play something, if you haven't already touched either Kaze and the Wild Masks, Marsupilami - Hoobadventure, or Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, look into those games first before trying Nikoderiko out. All three of those are preferable (and somewhat more original) experiences to at least me.

[SPC Says: C]

Thursday, October 10, 2024

[TOP FIVE] 3D Sonic the Hedgehog Games

Greetings, friends! With Sonic x Shadow Generations rushing towards release in a couple weeks' time, I figured it'd be the perfect occasion to look back at Sonic's 3D outings, picking my five favorites of the Blue Blur bunch! These picks are the creme de le corn dog of Sonic: possessing the most complete 3D packages possible, from gameplay to design! And this time around, it's another video upload rather than a written post!

I hope you'll enjoy this video, and I hope you'll tell me and the Central City community which 3D Sonic games you deem to be the best or at the very least--your favorites!