Toughest Tasks in Gaming History - Volume Four

How good of a gamer do you consider yourself to be? For several years now, SuperPhillip Central has documented some of the toughest tasks to accomplish in gaming. Perhaps you'd be interested in taking up some of these gaming challenges to show your skills, test your meddle, or reveal more of your masochistic side! These particular gaming tasks can be hard due to time-commitment, needing luck, or just purely because of difficulty. Either way, the timid need not apply.

To take a look at a past installment of Toughest Tasks in Gaming History, look no further than these links:

Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three

Now, let's move on to the newest taxing tasks added to this ever-expanding list!

Beating Oxide's Ghosts in Time Trial - Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (PS4, XB1, NSW)

We begin this look at tough gaming tasks with a recent release--Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. This is a remarkably challenging game all on its own. Heck, I could easily pick completing Hard Adventure Mode as one of the toughest gaming tasks alone, but I feel that excelling in the Time Trial mode by beating each and every one of Nitrous Oxide's times is the most difficult feat within CTR's wonderful remake.

It's a bit of a grind to unlock N. Tropy's time trial ghost, and then beating that just to unlock a chance to beat Oxide's own ghost. You have to go through this process in each and every track--all 31 of them. Regardless, Oxide's ghosts themselves use every trick in the book--power sliding and drift boosting at every opportunity, keeping a boost throughout entire laps, nailing shortcuts in each and every track with almost effortless ability, and generally making you feel like you have no business being on the same track as these ghosts. "Ghost" is a perfect term for these fast time trial pests, as they will haunt you as you try to overcome and outrace them, constantly coming within split seconds of doing so but failing. It will take a true CTR expert to accomplish this task, and a lot of practice as well. Good luck, racers.

Obtaining All of the Mii Maker Outfits - Super Mario Maker 2 (NSW)

We continue with another recent release with Super Mario Maker 2, which contains a pretty stiff challenge for completionists: Obtaining each and every one of the outfits that your maker Mii can wear. These range from full-body gear like the Propeller Suit to clothing like shirts, shorts, dresses, and more.

The more time-consuming costume pieces will require you to grind through levels, playing as many as you possibly can to reach the 10,000 level threshold for but one of the outfit unlocks. Then, there's playing through the currently lackluster online multiplayer, where you must get to a certain rank to earn outfits--one of which requires you to win 10 consecutive matches, while another requires you reach the highest rank in general. Finally, there's the luck of the draw of hoping one of your created levels gets popular and viral enough to get enough plays and get enough likes to put you on the leaderboard. Only the most popular creators will ever reach the very top where an exclusive outfit is available.

It seems obvious Super Mario Maker 2 isn't exactly meant to be 100% completed when it comes to outfits, as these tasks have shown, but that isn't stopping intrepid players and makers alike to try. Nevertheless, I would sincerely applaud anybody who is able to successfully unlock every possible Mii Maker outfit within the game.

Clearing Spelunker Mode - 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)

We go from a Mario game to a Zelda game. Well, not an official Zelda game, but one clearly inspired by the classics in the franchise. 3D Dot Game Heroes lives up to FROM Software's penchant for truly tricky and challenging games. While the main adventure is no real cakewalk, the unlockable Spelunker difficulty cranks up the difficulty dial past "11".

In Spelunker Mode, you have 1 HP. Any damage you take will result in a "Game Over". With traps and enemies that can you take you out easily--especially in dungeons--and said dungeons having it so dying returns you to its very beginning, playing carefully and cautiously is paramount to success in this mode. While there is a means to cheese Spelunker Mode's difficulty by running into walls to allow yourself five seconds of invincibility frames, it's still quite the challenge that requires patience, perseverance, and plenty of luck to complete.

Earning the Big Boss Emblem - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS4)

Obtaining the Big Boss Emblem is the single-most challenging objective to accomplish in any Metal Gear game. Heck, it's just a challenging objective in gaming in general! To acquire this emblem, you must do a checklist of arduous, hair-pulling tasks.

For one, you must beat the game on the hardest difficulty. Okay, that might be enough to separate the Solid Snakes from the Johnnys of the series any day, but there's more! You have to do so without dying even once, without sounding an alert from the guards, without killing a guard or any other character, and without recovering health via items. So, not only is this pacifist run with the proverbial deck stacked against you daunting enough, but this must all be accomplished in five hours or less. Is Solid Snake Tom Cruise all of a solid because this mission sounds impossible!

Beating the Game on the "Mein leben" Difficulty - Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PS4, XB1, NSW, PC)

Now, it's time for another task featuring a hard gaming difficulty! Take the already immensely challenging "I am death incarnate!" difficulty where death comes quickly--a couple shots and it's game over, and one mistake means a certain and swift death--and make it so if you die, you have to start from the beginning of the game all over again. Oh, and you can't save at all either. That's what Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus' "Mein leben" difficulty delivers to the most masochistic of its players.

In a mode where one good shot can take you out, this seems like a--forgive the play-on words--"colossal" challenge to overcome. Preparing for such a herculean task means playing through the already arduous "I am death incarnate!" difficulty, practicing runs at a near-obsessive pace, and then hoping for the best when you finally tackle your "Mein leben" run. Permanent death is bad enough, but the aforementioned lack of saving makes things even more taxing and seemingly impossible. It's a gaming challenge that will make you hate Nazis even more than you already do/should.

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Shorter Days, Wondrous Nights Edition

This past weekend in Central City was the time where all citizens turned their clocks back one hour. That means sunset arrives much earlier than it did previously. Regardless, SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs' sleeping pattern is unaffected, and the good tunes that I share with you go on unabated! This week you and I can listen to songs from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Okami, and Drakengard 3! If this week's selection of VGMs isn't enough for you, check out my VGM Database for over 700 more individual themes from an abundant array of video games!

v736. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) - The Price of Freedom

Played at a pivotal moment in the Final Fantasy VII prequel Crisis Core on the PlayStation Portable, this emotional rock guitar-driven theme really makes the moment it occurs in all the more special. Of course, if you've played Final Fantasy VII, the moment really isn't a spoiler at all. No more than Aerith dies... *gasp*

v737. Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (DS) - Their Own Brand of Justice

We move on to the PSP's rival of the previous handheld generation with the Nintendo DS and the final boss theme from one of its games, Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City. Yuzo Koshiro is one of the best in the video game music composition biz, and examples like Their Own Brand of Justice proves just why!

v738. Okami (PS2, Wii) - Ryoshima Plains

Okami is a great Zelda in wolf's clothing. The team at Clover Studios really knew their stuff with each and every game they put out, and for many fans of the now-dissolved studio, Okami is one of their most revered works. A Wii port was put out on the system years after the PlayStation 2 original, adding some Wii Remote brush mechanics into the mix for some novel uses.

v739. Drakengard 3 (PS3) - The Final Song (Boss Theme)

If you don't quite understand why this boss theme of Drakengard 3 is so good, perhaps this little nugget of information will help you. The composer of Drakengard 3 is also the one who composed the music for the fantastic Nier soundtrack. Has your mind been blown? ...What do you mean you already knew that!? You clever, clever reader!

v740. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) - Aqua Temple

Our final VGM of this week's edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs comes from 3D Dot Game Heroes. While Okami was modeled after 3D Zeldas, 3D Dot Game Heroes was built on the 2D Zelda foundation, mostly the classic NES original. It goes into the soundtrack, too, with its retro feel and boops and beeps! Like the original Zelda, 3D Dot Game Heroes was also a game that could take you to the proverbial woodshed and give you a mighty good spanking!

Bad Levels in Gaming History - Volume Three

Level design has always been a feature of games that we've marveled at. There's a big difference between a level that is frustrating due to challenge and a level that is frustrating due to design. Now, we aren't going to pretend that we are masters of creating excellent levels. No, we're very much not. However, we believe we've had enough experience playing games that we can weed out the good levels from those that are bad. This series of articles talks about the latter, where we focus on those levels that either poorly designed, frustrating for all of the wrong reasons, or just boring in general. (We have a series of articles dedicated to great levels anyway.) After we've exhausted our picks for this third edition of Bad Levels in Gaming History, help us come up with some more levels for future installments and your reasoning as to why your chosen levels are so bad.

Miss out on Volume One and Volume Two? Click those links, then!

Poochy Ain't Stupid - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)

...Oh, yes he is! Poochy Ain't Stupid is the unlockable level found in the first world of the SNES classic Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It is unlocked by scoring a perfect 100 points on each of world one's eight levels. If one were to unlock this level without venturing into the next world, then Poochy Ain't Stupid would be the player's first encounter with the adorable-looking dog. It's also important to note that these extra unlockable levels do not contain any mid-stage checkpoints, so if you perish in the level, you must start over from the very beginning.

Poochy Ain't Stupid is a thorn in many players' sides, and that can really be said about any of Yoshi's Island's six extra stages. However, what makes Poochy Ain't Stupid so unbelievably frustrating is actually a combination of things. First, the level is almost totally auto-scrolling, a game convention that doesn't make any sense but is usually used to present a fun challenge. The second part of Poochy Ain't Stupid that makes for frustration is that dying is quite easy, what with all of the one-hit kill lava inside the cave.

You're really at the mercy of the titular level character Poochy. Looking at his cute but not very bright mug certainly doesn't help things. In the level you must ride on the back of the pooch for the majority of the level. When you are on top of Poochy, which way Yoshi is looking is the way that Poochy will move. Simply completing the level is an already arduous task, but combine that with the 100% completion goal (having 30 stars, collecting all 20 red coins, and nabbing all five flowers) and you have a really tough, really aggravating challenge.

We do love how the level is much different than others in the game, and that its premise is very clever. However, it's not really the execution of it more so having to deal with the ever-hyper Poochy's movement eccentricities, but the forced auto-scrolling and erratic behavior of Poochy make this level quite despised.

Pistons - Super Monkey Ball 2 (GCN)

Like a fair share of levels in Super Monkey Ball 2, although the game is still very much recommended and enjoyable, Pistons is one that is a crap shoot. The level features a ramp that leads to a hexagonal platform made up of multiple thin paths that intersect one another. Of course, that isn't the entire level. As the title of the level suggests, in the triangle-shaped holes that surround the paths a series of same-shaped pistons shoot upward. They quickly rise upward in a methodical pattern, one row after the other.

The crap shoot comment here comes from the fact that unless you are incredibly quick and precise with your movements, you will be launched up into the sky. Strategy is pretty much thrown out of the window, as t's more hoping that you somehow land near the goal to finish this masochistic level than precise planning. Many players gave up on trying to do Pistons "legit", instead parking themselves on a given piston, being shot into the air, and trying, however fruitlessly, to aim for an area nearby the goal. A popular criticism with Super Monkey Ball 2 is that a disturbing number of later levels require less finesse and more luck to overcome them. Pistons is just one example of such a level.

Burnt Rubber - Gears of War (360, PC)

Welcome to a poor level in an otherwise competent third-person shooter. Why, it's none other than Chapter Seven's Burnt Rubber from the original Gears of War. This level is all about driving a heavy junker vehicle through dilapidated city streets. This is all the while needing to shine the junker's UV turret on swiftly approaching Kryll, bat-like creatures that crave darkness and will mercilessly shred their prey alive.

This wouldn't be so bad if you could drive and fire simultaneously. However, this is somehow impossible, even with having the rest of the Gears crew inside the junker with you. Perhaps they're too busy painting their nails... With warnings of Kryll coming from 6 o'clock, 12 o'clock, from the right, from the left, etc. This level is nothing but an inconvenience, a pain, and changing the game into something it shouldn't be, just to create some kind of unwanted variety.

Mercedes Showdown - Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)

This is it. You've driven past the competition in every race so far. You've outperformed beyond anyone's wildest dreams. You've earned your victory lap countless times. Now, are you up for the final challenge?

Well, get ready to be frustrated and disappointed. Why, it's Gran Turismo 4's final challenge, the Mercedes Showdown! While it might sound awesome taking control of the seemingly omnipotent Mercedes SLR Mac Laren, the actual vehicle has been fine-tuned to handle as well as butter on a sizzling pan. This level of artificial difficulty (a big reason why it's on this edition) is only made more irritating by the fact that you're racing against three lower end Mercedes vehicles. However, these cars have a three minute head start on your vexing-to-handle vehicle. Add in the fact that you're racing on a track whose real life version causes upwards of a dozen deaths per year, Germany's Nürburgring Nordschleife, and you have to wonder who the sadistic psychopath created this event was.

Flame Temple - 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)

Ah, the Flame Temple... This dungeon from the excellent and old school Zelda-like PS3 game 3D Dot Game Heroes is a notorious one among fans of the title. It's not even just the dungeon itself that is difficult and irritating (and it very much is), but the labyrinth that precedes it, a very obnoxious cavern full of falling rocks, is essentially the harbinger of what lies ahead.

The Flame Temple itself has a plethora of enemies that do a lot of hurt on heroes. There's the Gray Magi, a wizard that only one specific spell will defeat it, it can drain your magic quite quickly with one successful hit, and it vanishes across the room like it was on fire. How about the Dark Ropus, a spider that scurries speedily along the dungeon's floor. If it comes in contact with the player, it completely drains your magic and it leaves you will only a half of a point of health. Let's not forget about the Darknut-inspired Knight, which can only be attacked from behind, has a fair amount of health, and is pretty strong to boot.

But all of that doesn't make for a bad level; it just makes for a really challenging one. No, what makes 3D Dot Game Heroes' Flame Temple a bad level is its premise, which has the player needing to press certain switches to advance through the dungeon. However, if you were to save, quit, and then later reload the game, the switches will revert back to the way they were upon entering the temple, essentially removing all of your progress. Oh, but that's not the kicker. The kicker is that upon dying, which will occur as many times as there are months in a year, maybe more so, the switches will do the same thing. Have fun retrying this temple over and over again, and your prize for reaching the dungeon's furthermost room is a seriously difficult boss. There's old school difficult, and then there's the more ridiculous "Nintendo hard" difficult. This is the latter, and it's not that much fun.

Sequels, Please! - New Installments We'd Love to See

Similar to other segments such as Localizations, Please! and Remakes, Please!, Sequels, Please! is another segment at SuperPhillip Central where we more often than not fruitlessly beg for games that we desire. Although we do not get what we want most of the time, we've gotten what we begged for several times, such as a new Donkey Kong Country or localization of games like Bravely Default, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and Tales of Xillia. Obviously we had nothing to do with these games being released, but we'll take what we can get.

Sequels, Please! delves into individual games or franchises that we would absolutely love to see new installments for. From a Smash Bros. inspired fighting game to an intense stroll through the zombie apocalypse, these games are ones we'd greatly enjoy seeing sequels for. After you've read our picks (we have plenty more in mind, but we gotta make this a series of segments somehow!), please let us know what sequels you've always been dreaming of. The wilder, the better!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

We start off with a game that we cannot believe didn't do as well as we (and Sony) were hoping. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was without any question the PlayStation brand's answer to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. While the games did have their obvious similarities, PlayStation All-Stars altered how points were made. We realize that this caused much criticism, but we can't help but be thankful that SuperBot Entertainment tried something different to distinguish this party fighter from its point of inspiration. With some fine-tuning of the formula and better roster choices, we'd love to see Sony return to this series with a title and cast that definitely are worthy of the PlayStation name.

LEGO City Undercover

Here comes a game that we had no problems declaring it as the best LEGO game yet. It's not even a close race. LEGO City Undercover introduced Wii U owners to a sprawling city with myriad activities to take part in, things to collect, and tasks to complete. While the Nintendo 3DS saw a prequel to its Wii U bigger brother, that game was a technological mess and did not possess even half the charm and wit of the Wii U game. We would absolutely love to see Tt Games return to Chase McCain's world and deliver yet another hilarious and addicting LEGO City game for Wii U. Heck, it doesn't even have to take place in LEGO City!

The Wonderful 101

Give thanks to Nintendo's horrible handling of this game commercially, which funnily enough is a prime reason why the Wii U is a sales disgrace, as to why The Wonderful 101 did not do gangbusters at stores. Quite the opposite actually. The demo, with its lack of a real tutorial, infuriated and turned off many players. However, those of us who have played the final version of the game experienced an increasingly escalating game that continued to dial up the crazy from start to finish. Oh, that ending sequence! On his Twitter (if you don't know the handle, ask your mom), Hideki Kamiya has expressed interest in a possible Wonderful 102, but that's up to Nintendo. Seeing how risk-adverse and safe they have been with their game announcements lately, we're less than hopeful. Still, we'd love for our pessimism to be unfounded.

3D Dot Game Heroes

For a series that is so popular, The Legend of Zelda series has seen very few imitators, much less ones that can hold a candle to any installment. However, the PlayStation 3's 3D Dot Game Heroes is an homage to the classic game, The Legend of Zelda proper, offering an abundance of NES-related game references and a nostalgic take on the action/adventure genre. The game used blocks for characters, enemies, and settings, delivering a world that was as fun to look at as it was to explore. While 3D Dot Game Heroes sold poorly in Japan (less than 20,000 its first week), U.S. sales were more than admirable, exceeding Atlus USA's (the publisher) expectations by six times. We'd be grateful for another trip down memory lane in an adventure that blends old and new with another 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles

In our review yesterday, we gave a relatively glowing review of the GameCube's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Since the original 2003 release, the Crystal Chronicles sub-series has spawned new iterations, two similar dungeons crawlers on the Nintendo DS, a duo of city-building games on Nintendo's WiiWare service, and a completely different take on the series with the Wii's Crystal Bearers. However, we'd be most interested in seeing Square Enix return the Crystal Chronicles line of games back to basics with the enjoyable dungeon crawling, treasure finding, monster defeating, boss beating, multiplayer action that games like the original GameCube Crystal Chronicles and the DS games contained. We don't care if it's on Wii U or Nintendo 3DS-- we just want our dungeon crawling thirst quenched! Plus, it would take the bad taste out of our mouths from the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. Couldn't hurt, right?

ZombiU

The Wii U launch title, ZombiU, sold poorly. As a result, Ubisoft opted to delay Rayman Legends and port it to multiple platforms. That's a shame, not just the Rayman game being sent to die in September, but because ZombiU is still one of those Wii U games that makes the greatest use of the GamePad, something that Nintendo can hardly design creative ideas for. It's safe to say that without the GamePad ZombiU wouldn't be the same, wouldn't be as scary, and wouldn't be as much of an experience. Using the GamePad in real time to check your backpack's inventory while making you vulnerable to zombie attacks made things all the tenser. Solving puzzles with the controller and doing so much more made ZombiU more than just another shooter. Add in permanent death, and you have an original and criminally overlooked Wii U exclusive that should have gotten more attention. The hope of a followup is pretty low, but even if Ubisoft needs to make a sequel multiplatform, we'll take it. We need our zombie fix!

Puppeteer

Severely overlooked by PlayStation 3 audiences, the insanely charming and whimsical platforming adventure known as Puppeteer was a game that released to no pomp, no circumstance, not even a little "hey!" Instead, Puppeteer was relegated to bargain bin status quite quickly. We are of the minds that Kutaro and the rest of the gang deserve another chance; this time for redemption. Whether it be on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation Vita as a retail or downloadable title, we don't want to see the immensely interesting world of Puppeteer vanish when there's so much potential to it.

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Overworld Edition

Welcome to the start of SuperPhillip Central's work week! As is customary around these parts, we have SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs to share with our readers. If you like video game music as much as us, you're sure to enjoy the songs we have this week. Such titles included this edition are Secret of Mana, 3D Dot Game Heroes, and Persona!

v551. Secret of Mana (SNES) - Into the Thick of It

We kick off this edition of the Favorite VGM with a Super Nintendo classic, Secret of Mana. This game was released at the start of Squaresoft's golden age, where they kept releasing quality product after quality product. The music of the game fills us with such warmth, and perhaps that's nostalgia talking. Regardless, there's no questioning the greatness of this composition.

v552. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) - Wilderness

3D Dot Game Heroes is a very retro-inspired Zelda-like for the PlayStation 3 that had all the old school charm one would expect. The music combined classic 8-bit sounds with more modern instruments to create a soundtrack that is still quite unlike anything else out there.

v553. Persona (PSP) - Let Butterflies Spread Until the Dawn

An overworld theme from the PSP port of Persona, Let Butterflies Spread Until the Dawn is a vocal pop song fitting for the urban world players explore in Persona. The series itself has had a lot of installments on PlayStation platforms, but Nintendo 3DS owners will have a chance, at least in Japan, to try out a spin-off in the form of Persona Q.

v554. Ar Tonelico (PS2) - Green Lands

Green Lands is a very Asian-centric sounding piece. The pan flute plays the melody as the accompaniment backs it up with lovely harmony. Ar Tonelico is as niche as you can get, at least here in the West. Still, if you haven't checked out the Ar Tonelico series, definitely do so!

v555. Crystalis (NES) - Wild Fields

Let's go REALLY retro with this last VGM of this edition. Crystalis was an NES action RPG made by SNK, better known for their work on series like Metal Slug, Fatal Fury, and King of Fighters. There's some similarities in control to The Legend of Zelda, but while Zelda had combat and puzzles as its focus, Crystalis was more combat-driven. The music of Crystalis is some of the NES' finest, really pushing the sound card of the system.

3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) Review

As promised, here's my review of 3D Dot Game Heroes, a game that owes a lot to the work of one Shigeru Miyamoto. Do you think the creators of this game spent their childhood playing inside caves and adventuring? Me neither, but that doesn't stop this homage from being a good one!

A Chip Off the Old-School Block
All Screenshots by SuperPhillip

Nostalgia is a many splendored thing. Many of us now in college or even older hark back to a time where boops and beeps reigned supreme, where arcade high scores were that era's trophies and achievements, and where gaming was just much simpler. Atlus and From Software have teamed up to recreate such a game for current-gen hardware, 3D Dot Game Heroes. While it borrows heavily from a certain Nintendo franchise featuring a mythical princess and a triforce, 3D Dot Game Heroes offers a unique twist on the Zelda formula. What the game lacks in originality, it makes up for in sheer fun and charm.

The kingdom of Dotnia is in serious need of a hero. Legends tell of a young warrior who gathered the six fabled orbs to vanquish an ancient evil, sealing it inside the dark orb. It is many eons later, and a new evil has arisen, stealing the dark orb. It is up to your custom hero to seek aid of the six sages, conquer foe and beast alike, and reclaim the six orbs to take the fight back to the sinister Fuelle. It's nothing we haven't see before, but the simple story works. There's numerous game references and humor thrown in to keep what small amount of story there is fresh.

As you begin the game, you're opted to choose a pre-made hero or create your own from scratch using the wonderful character creation tool. If neither of those options suits your mood, you can always edit a preexisting character and animate them from walking animations to celebratory movements. The creator is simple enough to use, so anyone can start churning out character after character as the game allows you to choose a new hero to play as once you boot up the game.

One of many friendly locales in Dotnia.

Progression in 3D Dot Game Heroes is relatively simple. You traverse a sprawling world map, picking up clues from NPCs on where to venture off to next. As you acquire new items, you can access previously unreachable areas of the world map to explore even further in the kingdom of Dotnia. The main focus are the six temples where the six sages keep their six orbs. Inside these dungeons are your standard Zelda fare. There's rooms where the goal is to eliminate all of the enemies in the room, block-pushing puzzles, switch-throwing puzzles, and the occasional use of a special item to be found. Each dungeon has keys to unlock new rooms and further move along your progression in said dungeon, a special treasure that endows new abilities or a new item, and a boss key which opens up the door to the big bad boss' chambers where the battle for one of the six mystical orbs takes place.

Use the Paralax spell to discover
which statue needs to go where.

Boss encounters are the highlight of the game as fighting wave after wave of normal enemies can get a tad tedious. Unlike more recent Zelda games, all that is needed to slay each boss is your normal sword instead of the item found within the monster's dungeon. You'll match sword and shield with giant worms, a laser-spewing rock golem, dragons, a tentacle-slamming octopus, and many, many more. The trick here is to study the patterns of each boss as there are several trophies available for beating each boss completely unscathed.

From worms to golems, the bosses here are no pushovers.

A hero is nothing without their arsenal of cool weaponry. As you progress through each game's themed dungeons, you'll unlock new skills and items to wield. They can be as simple as bombs to destroy cracked walls to unveil hidden caverns and passageways or more complex such as the hookshot-like item used to cross chasms by attaching itself to a post and pulling the player across. Once again, these items are very akin to the Legend of Zelda. There's even enemy-stunning boomerangs, bows and arrows, and magical shields thrown into the mix for good measure. If you're going to take the weaponry of a game, why not take it from the best in its genre?

Thankfully, there's also an abundance of helpful sub-items and swords to obtain. Each sword has its own set of stats and can be upgraded a finite number of times at the local blacksmith. Finding all of the swords in the game is no easy task as not only do you have to participate in long-winded trading sequences, but there's also several mini-games to play for your prizes. For instance, one has you dashing through an obstacle course to achieve the best time while enough is your typical tower-defense game. The variety here is more than welcomed as questing through dungeon after dungeon slaying foes can make a hero grow weary in a hurry! There's also life up and magic up trinkets scattered all around the world of Dotnia for players to discover. As yet another nod to the Zelda franchise, gathering four of these will up your hero's maximum health. You can opt to collect empty bottles and fill them with helpful potions to recover health as well. The Zelda influences don't even end there. All the way up to the hidden fairy fountains which restore your health to maximum and the cave that if you bomb the resident inside demands you to pay him to fix the door, there's a multitude of similarities between 3D Dot Game Heroes and the Legend of Zelda.

This is but one of many available camera views.

Playing 3D Dot Game Heroes is like an acid flashback to a simpler time in gaming, only this time we have many more buttons to work with! Players can cycle through their inventory with the shoulder buttons, guard attacks with a flick of a shield, and slash enemies into oblivion. With full health, your sword is strong and versatile taking up a huge portion of the screen. When your hero is damaged, the sword's swipe becomes increasingly weaker, almost flaccid when you approach death's door. By gathering red apples, the health-restorers of Dotnia, your sword's attack becomes stronger.

He's overcompensating for something with that big sword!

3D Dot Game Heroes uses a stellar art style where everything from the houses to the townspeople to the monsters are made up of blocks. When a monster is vanquished, they explode in dozens of dots. The game offers several different camera views for playing such as at a 45 degree angle to your hero to an isometric view to a purely over-the-head perspective. There's something for everyone here when it comes to camera control. Things up close appear bright, colorful, and crisp whereas things in the background end up all blurry. There's seldom any stutter in the framerate, and load times are kept to a minimum. (You can opt to install the game on your PS3 for faster load times.) The soundtrack on one hand is very simplistic and old-school. To me, most of it just comes off as grating to my ears. I appreciate the ode to 8-bit music, but a little goes a long way for me personally.

Overall, 3D Dot Game Heroes makes no attempt to hide its copying of the original Legend of Zelda. Would I call it a rip-off? Not by any means. Homage is the better word for it. Most players will plow through this game within 10-15 hours. Then there's all the optional side content, hard-as-nails trophies to unlock, and miss-able events to watch. Players can spend literally dozens of hours in the character creator alone much more the actual game. Those yearning for an old-school Zelda game in Atlus clothing will absolutely fall in love with this title. Everyone else may be put off by the now archaic game design to give this game a second glance. Those that stick with it, however, will find a game that is definitely worth owning and Dotnia a kingdom worth saving.

[SuperPhillip Says: 8.0/10]