Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (PSP) Retro Review (2026)

This week I'm planning to back-load, as it were, my roster of reviews for October. We'll see how that goes, but to kick things off, we have a retro review. I previously touched on this tennis title in 2010 with an older review back when the game originally released. Now, I return to it with a brand-new review. Do I still enjoy the Hot Shots crew taking to the court for a second time with this PSP outing? Let's find out with my second review of Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip.

For the Love of the Game

When the Hot Shots crew isn't playing golf for everybody, they're serving up some intense rallies in tennis. Of course, the Hot Shots Tennis sub-series isn't as prolific or well-known as Hot Shots Golf, as it's only had two titles to date with none going to happen for the foreseeable future. Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip on the PlayStation Portable from 2010 is the most recent entry, and looking at my current calendar, it seems "recent" is a bit of misnomer. Either way, what a wonderful installment to [hopefully temporarily] conclude the franchise on, as Get a Grip took to the court with both loads of style and lots of substance, making it one of my favorite tennis titles to this day.

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip features what I believe to be one of the most comprehensive and enjoyable single-player campaigns for a tennis title. It sees you joining the Love Tennis Club as two characters: Emily and Hugo, as you jet-set around the world to various locations to revive other characters' joy of tennis. Some folks are going through the motions with tennis, while others simply don't care for the sport anymore. It's your duty to help them get back their tennis spirit.

Emily is about to show Troy here some tough love by beating his butt at tennis.

Each of the ten chapters in Get a Grip's story mode takes place at a unique global destination with a specific client in mind, whether that be small beginnings at a tennis club where a student struggles to enjoy the game, or a college campus humorously known as Jocksford University, where a popular cheerleader seeks something more out of her tennis. Each locale has its own court and series of opponents to take on while venturing through and exploring the rather linear locations.

Be sure to examine all corners of these areas, not just for opponents to battle but treasures to discover, too!

There are over 75 different opponents in total in Get a Grip's story mode, spread across the ten chapters. Battling the required opponents in a given chapter leads the way to facing that chapter's character in hopes of reviving their love of tennis, as well as having them join your team as a playable character.

The story mode's numerous battles reward you with not only money to purchase new cosmetics (that also serve as stat boosters when equipped) in the in-game shop, but also a piece of equipment that the faced character wears. Different matches feature different rules: such as being two, four, or six games, forgoing the traditional deuce rules (players need not win a game by two points in this case), offering a one-serve rule, and even making it so players can only hit the ball with the X button. 

You can see what shot type via button press you and your opponent(s) performed, like Hugo's X serve here.

Each match against an opponent rates you up to 100 points. If you completely dominate a match--as in never relinquishing a point whatsoever in any game of the match--you get a complete, epic victory. Losing a game means you lose your opportunity for an epic victory, and thus bonus experience points earned for your character. Fortunately, you can replay opponents as much as you'd like. However, getting 100 points against each and every opponent in Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is possible, but it's certainly a daunting task. 

This is not only because certain singles matches against specific opponents are just tricky in general, but also because sometimes you'll also deal with doubles matches as opposed to typical singles ones. Here, you'll be partnered with a CPU player of your choosing. Now, don't get me wrong, your CPU doubles partner is hardly incompetent, but they, like a human player, will occasionally make mistakes, and seemingly at random. Occasionally you'll find yourself losing a point or two due to one of these CPU player mistakes, through no fault of your own.

Don't let Hugo down, Emily! We're going for a win this game! 
(Writer's note: The CPU-controlled Emily totally let Hugo down.)

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip's gameplay blurs the line between arcade-y and simulation. It's somewhere in between. It's not necessarily as accessible as say, Mario Tennis, particularly the more recent entries, but it's also nothing like a Tennis Elbow or Virtua Tennis, either. 

A significant amount of Get a Grip's gameplay is about timing, whether that's with your serve or returning the ball. Early on I found myself routinely hitting the ball into the net, or even more obvious to my fault, hitting the ball out of bounds. That's because Get a Grip requires you to not just time hitting your shots, but also focusing on your character and the ball's position as well. Hitting a ball when it's low or when you're on the move will lower your accuracy, meaning that it's more likely to hit the net or be hit astray. If you're attempting to hit the ball with your character's non-dominant hand via backswing, the maximum power of the hit will decrease. 

Thus, it's important to always move to where the ball is going, plant your feet firmly in place to hit the ball while not moving, ideally, use your dominant hand when possible when hitting, and use the correct shot type. 

Lunging for the ball like this is possible, but so is setting up your opponent for a smash ace by doing so!

There are three different shots you can hit in Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip, from slices and spin shots, executed with the X and Circle buttons, the latter is a slower hit shot, but it offers more control than the faster X button shot. There's also the Triangle button, which delivers a lob that is great for opponents who storm the front of the net, though it's not always foolproof. 

I won't lie and say that I ever perfected playing Get a Grip. Far too many times I'd be playing well only to fall into the trap of foolishly hitting the ball too low and it frustratingly jettisoned into the net, giving my opponent a point. Now, it's seldom anything but user error when that happens, but combine these moments with difficult CPU opponents as the story mode wears on. Needless to say, later tennis matches can be utterly aggravating when you're dealing with opponents that can mercilessly outplay you while you're making idiotic plays of your own.

Deuces are currently wild in this doubles match, so let's hope for an ace when we serve next!

That said, I never wanted to give up while playing. In fact, every loss only strengthened my resolve to do and play better next time. Did that always work out that way, where I did play better? Absolutely not, but at least my resolve was there. If I felt the game proved too taxing, I could also always lose three story mode matches when a row, thus unlocking easy mode. Which to be fair, can still be a bit of a challenge in later matches. 

As I stated earlier, each of the ten locales in Get a Grip's story mode features its own court, and with the three courts already available from the start of the game, to the three "unlockable through other means" courts in the game, there are 16 total courts. These aren't just different locales to play tennis matches on, either. While there aren't any gimmicky courts like you'd fine in Mario Tennis titles, there are distinctive properties to some of the courts that keep them fresh and unique, other than the environments around them. Some courts feature pebbles on the courts that can influence how a ball bounces upon hitting them, while others feature aerial hazards like Dubno Tower's helicopter blade that hovers over the court. Hitting this is the same as hitting the ball out of play, so mind those lobs!

Hot Shots Golf: Get a Grip is filmed before a live studio audience... at least on this court.

What truly amazed me about each and every court in Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is something that other tennis games of this type don't even think about: the interactivity with the environment. All of the courts in Get a Grip feature interactive elements from hitting the ball and seeing it bounce into the background. This can be as simple as scaring off a dog who was just trying to take a nap in its doghouse, toppling over a piece of the environment like a standing surfboard at the Laguna Beach court, or worse yet, knocking off a tightrope walker (seemingly murdering him in cold blood with an ill-timed tennis ball strike) from the top of the aforementioned Dubno Tower court. I'm sure the ground broke his multiple-story fall...

There are over a dozen characters to join your tennis club and roster of playable tennis stars. In true Hot Shots fashion, a PlayStation all-star joins the roster in this installment of the series as well. In this case, it's one of Killzone's Helghast soldiers. Each character can be equipped with one of hundreds of cosmetics for their head, body, and up to two accessory slots. You can mix and match to your heart's desire, and many of these piece of cosmetic equipment boost stats, such as control, impact, and stamina (oh, the dreaded stamina!). Like other Hot Shots games, using characters routinely, whether you win or lose a match, awards them with experience points that raises their loyalty level. This can be raised up to nine levels, with each level rewarding the character with different upgrades, like new locker slots to try out other costume combos, unlocking the ability to use flat serves, utilizing air shots, and much more. 

The fear of every Helghast: a peppy cheerleader.

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip is a great looking tennis title that plays at a smooth frame-rate, and feels and looks marvelous in motion. It's superb in how colorful it is to look at. Plus, the previously described interactive nature of the courts and also how well the characters emote and animate only heightens how full of personality Get a Grip is. The sound, too, delivers, offering delightful voice acting and music that I couldn't help bopping my head to while playing. Heck, I enjoy listening to it outside of the tennis fun, but I'm a bit of a game music nerd, to be fair!

In the end, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip certainly serves up a heavy and hefty amount of fun. It certainly balances the line between arcade experience and simulation really well, but that's not without lowering the level of accessibility for every type of player out there. Those accustomed to tennis in Wii Sports or even Mario Tennis might find a bit of a learning curve if they're transitioning to this particular tennis title. Either way, the rallies are heated, the amount of content is immense, and the level of enjoyable tennis gameplay is off the charts, all making for a tennis game that is one of my favorites to date. So, if you have the chance, you're more than welcome to join the Love Tennis Club, too. I saved a spot for you!

[SPC Says: A-] 

Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP) Retro Review (2026)

It's time for something a little extra special as we approach the end of MEGA MAY.

While Mega Man: Powered Up is a remake of the very first Mega Man game, this review is essentially a remake of the very first review I ever wrote. This was before SuperPhillip Central even came to be back in June 2008! And while I only published my original Mega Man: Powered Up review on SPC in 2009, the review itself is indeed older than the site, debuting around 2006 or so! 

Here's the old review as posted on SPC in all its "glory" (for lack of a better term)! We all have to start somewhere, and I'd like to think I've become a better writer and moreover a reviewer since then.

That all notwithstanding, I wanted to revisit one of my favorite Mega Man games, and in turn, that found me revisiting my reviewing past. All the same, here's my 2026 review of Mega Man: Powered Up!

Powered Up, and ready to Rock.

It was at one time where in every direction you looked, boom! There was a Mega Man game in sight. We didn't know how good we had it, really, as nowadays, Mega Man releases are limited to the sporadic retro collections and the even rarer brand-new release. One Mega Man game that hasn't been included in such a retro collection is one that definitely has fallen through the cracks over the years: Mega Man: Powered Up, a PlayStation Portable release.

Mega Man: Powered Up is a remake and somewhat of a re-imagining of the original Mega Man. The most apparent difference is the chibi aesthetic applied to the game, but there is a lot more added to this spirited remake. In fact, there is SO much more to it.

Right away, upon starting the game and a save file, you get the choice between three difficulties: Easy, Normal, and Hard. Easy provides additional makeshift platforms to allow the more challenging jumps in the game to be less stressful and difficult. Normal is the default difficulty, of course, and how someone who isn't a beginner with the Blue Bomber should enter the game. Finally, Hard Mode adds to an already challenging game by boosting the damage Mega Man takes from enemies and hazards. 

See how a boy became a Mega Man in Powered Up's brand-new opening stage.

Mega Man: Powered Up introduces an opening stage, not present in the OG Mega Man game. This is a glorified tutorial, sure, but it also shows how a boy named Mega became a super-fighting robot named Mega Man. It also shows the comically evil Dr. Wily stealing all of Dr. Light's robots to be commanded under the balding villain. 

Levels feel more compact due to the PSP, but they're just as enjoyable.

From there, the traditional Mega Man way reveals itself. That is, you select between one of eight Robot Master stages to begin with. Each stage houses its own theming, locale, challenges, hazards, enemies, and of course, at the end of a given stage, the Robot Master you must do battle with in a boss fight. Due to the wider real estate of the PSP screen, as well as the larger character models incorporated into Powered Up versus the NES original, stages are more compact and scrunched in appearance. They're still designed similarly across both games, but visually they're a little different due to the above reason.

Special effects like these cute explosions add to Powered Up's chibi-style charm.

The original Mega Man only included six Robot Masters before the standard eight would be featured in future installments. Mega Man: Powered Up adds two brand-new Robot Masters into the fray: Time Man and Oil Man, each with their own stages. Whereas Time Man's stage takes place in a clock tower with electric pendulums to avoid, as well as the possibility to frustratingly fall to a previous level of the stage, Oil Man's stage occurs in an oil refinery, complete with slippery puddles of oil that will send Mega Man falling on his butt if he's not careful.

Oil Man and Time Man are the new Robot Masters on the block, 
and their stages are just as wonderfully designed as the original Robot Master stages.

The Robot Master battles that occur at the end of each of the eight initial stages are more complex than the NES original. Each battle plays out similarly at the start to the battles seen in the original Mega Man, but as a Robot Master's health enters low territory, a new move will be added to their arsenal. From Cut Man throwing a massive boomerang, to Bomb Man chucking a big bomb with a large, explosive radius to it, these moves add some fun, albeit dangerous curve balls to those who think they know the OG Mega Man like the back of their hand.

Cut Man's living on borrowed time, so his desperation attack cuts to the chase!

Furthermore, and one of the coolest additions to Mega Man: Powered Up among a host of many awesome additions, is the ability to play as all eight Robot Masters, each with their own unique abilities. Bomb Man tosses bouncing bombs, Fire Man launches pillars of flames, Ice Man lets loose freezing chunks of ice at foes, etc. These Robot Masters become playable if you defeat them as Mega Man with his Mega Buster only instead of any special weapon. 

Playable Robot Masters like Bomb Man? It's an absolute blast!

Yes, true to the series's penchant, defeated Robot Masters give Mega Man their primary special weapon. For instance, Guts Man's Guts Arm allows Mega Man to lift up certain blocks and chuck them away at baddies. These can be cycled through with the PSP's shoulder buttons or selected from the pause menu, in case you'd rather take a breather and select a weapon when you're not inundated with enemy attacks. 

Also, true to the series's penchant, there's generally a recommended order for taking on the Robot Masters due to all of them being weak to a given other Robot Master's special weapon. Whereas Cut Man's Rolling Cutter slices through Bomb Man's bombs (and Bomb Man himself) with ease, Ice Man is no match for and gets quite the shock from Elec Man's Thunder Beam. Though, I found the order to fight the Robot Masters initially didn't matter since I wanted to unlock each Robot Master as a playable character. Thus, I took each on with Mega Man's Mega Buster exclusively. You can imagine how much of a challenge this could be, however!

The playable Robot Masters each have their own version of the game's story to play through with different voiced dialogue as they meet each other Robot Master in their stage, which was something I did not expect but was positively surprised by. Furthermore, the stages in general have all-new areas and alternate paths that only specific Robot Masters can reach.

Not only that, but unlike the original Mega Man, where once you beat a stage, you couldn't return to it, Mega Man: Powered Up's stages encourage you to replay them with obtained special weapons and Robot Masters due to the fact that they contain brand-new items in them called construction kits. These come in pink and yellow forms (enemy and scenery packs, respectively), and these unlock new customization and construction options in Powered Up's coolest feature: the stage creator.

Construction kits are housed and hidden in all manner of locations in levels, encouraging replays.

Yes, with packs earned throughout Mega Man and his friends' adventures, you can create your own stages within Powered Up. It all starts with choosing a specific enemy pack and scenery pack and then letting your imagination take over. The included tutorial is a great help, and the tools to design your own stage are really intuitive, too, and easy to use. You can even select which character or characters you can play as, which Robot Master awaits at the end of your custom stage, include how much health your playable character starts with at the beginning of the stage, what special weapons they have to utilize, and of course, you can give your stage a name. At the time of release you could even share your stages online and play others', which was a mighty cool aspect of the game.

Make your own masterpieces come to life in Mega Man: Powered Up's in-depth stage creator. 

Mega Man: Powered Up is an immensely meaty Mega Man game. With the dozen or so replayable stages to play and beat on all three difficulties, including as each Robot Master (and the game keeps track of this for completionists out there), the in-depth mega-cool stage creator, a slew of special challenges focusing on different special weapons and abilities, and a multitude of unlockables, Mega Man: Powered Up will keep you playing for a looong time. 

It's also a dang difficult game. Despite taking a lot of influence and inspiration from later Mega Man games, what Mega Man: Powered Up does not give the player is that of E-Tanks. Those wouldn't be introduced until Mega Man 2. These health-restoring tanks made a lot of future Mega Man games more manageable, but in Powered Up, they're not present at all. Thus, while you do have an inviting, cutesy chibi anime aesthetic with Mega Man: Powered Up, the difficulty of the game couldn't be any less welcoming comparatively to the art style!

Mega Man: Powered Up is positively flooded with chibi-style charm!

That said, the challenge is always fair. Sure, sometimes you'll be thrown for a loop and a given stage or boss might present a "gotcha" moment to you, but through determination, perseverance, patience, and little bit of rote memorization, too, you'll find a way to overcome the myriad challenges and obstacles thrown in your path. 

All of the additions, from the lovely art style, voiced characters, stellar presentation, awesome remixed tunes, to the gameplay inclusions like playable Robot Masters, new areas and alternate paths in familiar stages, and the superb stage creator, prove that you can teach an old robot new tricks. And you can do so in a mega magnificent way, as Mega Man: Powered Up does. The level of difficulty might be off-putting to a fair amount of players, but for me, I absolutely adored nearly everything about this re-imagined remake. It's a damn shame the game was not a success for Capcom, as I would have definitely loved to see later installments get the remade Powered Up treatment.

[SPC Says: A-] 

MediEvil: Resurrection (PSP) Retro Review

Earlier this year, Sony officially shuttered Guerrilla Cambridge, which particularly hurt us at SuperPhillip Central since they made what we consider the best handheld FPS ever made with Killzone: Mercenary. Before that, however, the team, under the name of SCE Cambridge Studio, worked on an early PlayStation franchise known as MediEvil. Since the news of Cambridge closing, SuperPhillip Central wanted to look back at one of the studio's earlier works. What we ended up agreeing on was checking out MediEvil: Resurrection, an early PSP release. Here's our retro review of that game!

Make no bones about it, there's some wicked fun to be found here.

MediEvil originally released on the very first PlayStation, and it soon saw cult classic status among owners of Sony's big break into the home console market. It seems only fitting that the same game that was part of Sony's establishment as a first-party for their first home console would be a part of Sony's first-party offerings for their first handheld system, the PlayStation Portable. While many years have passed since MediEvil was first released, MediEvil: Resurrection shows that what was wonderful on the PS1 isn't as great now.

That notwithstanding, something that remains just as great now as it did then is the brilliant dry English humor that MediEvil; Resurrection exudes. The dialogue is a positive delight to listen to, though for some it might enjoy its own presence and prattle on a little too long at some points, occasionally outwearing its welcome. The characters each possess different quirks to them, all voiced excellently. There were no pulled punches on the script.

The script and story itself begins with an evil sorcerer named Zarok, who was assumed to be defeated, rising up and using his sinister mystic arts to arise ghosts, ghouls, and zombies from the kingdom of Gallowmere's local graveyard. In the process, he resurrects Sir Daniel Fortesque, who is well known as the hero who put a stop to Zarok's plans in the past in a mighty war. In actuality, Sir Daniel was a coward who was taken out early in battle by a stray arrow to the eye. Newly awakened and mocked by both a genie living in his empty eye socket as well as various gargoyles who all know the truth, Sir Daniel sees Zarok's revival as a way to prove to himself and all his doubters that he can be a true hero, deserving of the townspeople's respect.

Zombies and a cemetery go together like peanut butter and jelly... though not as delicious (like, at all).

MediEvil: Resurrection stands as an action-adventure game. Levels  are quite pleasant to look at with their visual design and artistry, something that should be very much commended, but on a level design basis, there is a lot of linearity to be found. Well, that's not totally true. To be fairer to MediEvil, most levels have some degree of secrets to be found, but at the same time you're pretty much doing the same thing in each level: beating up enemies, solving simple environmental puzzles, hitting switches to unlock doors, and getting runes which are essentially the fantasy genre form of keycards to open specific gates.

While levels aren't massive endeavors that take an hour to complete, they do take 10-30 minutes to complete. Unfortunately, there are no checkpoints to be found in them, meaning that if your health meter runs out and you have exhausted your supply of health potions or vials that serve as spare health, then you must restart the level. Thankfully, you can save your progress mid-level, so if you do die, you can just load your game from that point. That said, you're stuck at whatever health amount you were at, so sometimes it's just better to start fresh with full health.

However, MediEvil: Resurrection most feels dated through its combat. Sir Daniel is no master of offense and as a character is quite the clumsy one, but the developers didn't exactly have to make him play clumsily as well. A surefire tactic when facing one enemy is to observe them, attack when an opening is there, retreat, attack, retreat, repeat. Unfortunately, you're seldom ever facing off against just one enemy. It's usually a group of ghouls or whatnot you're taking on. Sir Daniel's swipes, whether it's a sword or a club, swing rather wildly without much precision. This makes attacking with any sort of continued accuracy a pipe dream. It also results in many cheap hits to Sir Daniel. As health is very valuable in MediEvil, due to the rarity of health items found in levels and the cost of health vials from the gargoyle shopkeep who appears occasionally throughout the game, this becomes a problem rather quickly.

With better combat, Sir Dan could make these frogs croak much more easily.

In one level based in an asylum, it's basically room after room of hordes of enemies. Simply staying put and mashing on the attack button isn't a smart stance of survival as enemies will attack from all sides. Plus, Sir Daniel can't swing his weapon repeatedly with any consistent speed. So then, you try to run away from enemies, but as soon as you turn around, they're on top of you. Thus, the main means I used to take out foes for this and every other encounter I was faced with, I held down the Square button to unleash an attack that spins Sir Daniel's torso around, slicing all enemies around him. This proved to be a better solution that worked rather well, making the overall game an easier experience.

Ah, the enemy mob, a scorn to every MediEvil player!

Then, there's the camera, which is set a bit away from Sir Daniel, making it a tad difficult to see how far he is in relation to other enemies. You can reset the camera behind Sir Daniel with a tap of the R button, but this is a small Band-Aid to a foot-long gash. It's hardly a remedy. The camera gets quite spastic in indoor sections, especially cramped ones.

Despite these issues, I still felt lots of enjoyment playing through MediEvil: Resurrection's campaign. Perhaps a lot of that was the aforementioned humorous story and dialogue, but a lot of it was also slowly building up an arsenal of more powerful weaponry to take on enemies and bosses with. You see, a totally optional task in each main level has you filling an icon of a chalice, seen at the top right corner of the screen. As you defeat enemies, the chalice fills more and more. Once it reaches 100% and you have found the actual chalice to hold that energy in, usually hidden rather well in the level, you can beat the level and enter the Hall of Heroes. Here, one of the actual heroes of the war that saw Zarok's defeat, will give unto Sir Daniel one of their weapons, be it a crossbow, hammer, sword, or something else. Unlike most other weapons in MediEvil: Resurrection, these weapons don't degrade after use, so you can use them as much as you want. They are also much stronger than regular weapons, resulting in faster encounters with enemies.

New to Resurrection that the original MediEvil didn't have is a full-fledged level for the Pumpkin Gorge as well as some fun mini-games to pass the time. These include activities like a Whack-A-Mole inspired game, two different shooting gallery games, as well as more combat-oriented ones where Sir Daniel is tasked with protecting the ringing of a central bell from a mob of enemies spawning from all directions. These games can be played via wireless connection with a local friend. The games are worth playing solo as well, however, because the strongest weapon in the game is only unlocked by completing them all.

Pumpkin Gorge is a full level in Resurrection while it was just a brief spot in the original MediEvil.

MediEvil: Resurrection is a marked improvement graphically over the original MediEvil, offering more complicated textures and environments. The frame-rate can chug to low numbers on occasion, but it's overall not too much of a bother. Load times are about 10-15 seconds between entering and exiting levels, but you at least get a witty British narrator saying something funny about the level you're about to enter, such as "Dan's Crypt; A good place to go to find a dead Dan..." or something to that effect. The music is absolutely riveting, delivering a whimsical Danny Elfman-inspired score. Just as hum-able too!

In many ways, MediEvil: Resurrection is an antique from a long gone generation of early 3D games with its clunky combat and camera. In others, it's still an enjoyable adventure filled with delightfully dry humor, charming characters, and levels that while linear offer plenty of clever ideas. It's a game I thoroughly liked despite all of its obvious problems. I certainly did have some bones to pick with MediEvil: Resurrection, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dying to have some more from the game after I completed it.

[SPC Says: C+]

Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins (PSP) Retro Review

The final review of the month of July is a retro review for a PlayStation Portable game, a re-imagining of the Ghosts 'n Goblins series from 2006. It's Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins, and here is my review.

Fun for all the right reasons, challenging for all the wrong reasons.

When the PlayStation Portable originally came out, Capcom was one of the biggest third-party proponents to the system, releasing everything from Mega Man to Monster Hunter on the system. As the success of its titles wasn't to the publisher's liking on the PSP, Capcom soon invested much less game-wise to the system. However, before just contributing loads of Monster Hunter games on the PSP, Capcom released a new version of its classic Ghosts 'n Goblins series in the form of Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins. While an overall worthwhile game to play, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins shows that a developer can stray too close to antiquated old school sensibilities.

One of the biggest problems with Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins is how controlling Arthur feels as antiquated as back in the '80s and '90s. Arthur's jumps are extremely stiff, not even allowing the player to control the undead-slaying knight while in midair. This makes for an amazingly frustrating experience, especially as there are many times when precision jumping is required. Furthermore, Arthur can only attack in four directions whereas enemies can in from all 360 degrees. Arthur's movement is slow and prodding, even when he attacks, and while it's nice that Capcom decided to stay true to the Ghosts 'n Goblins series' roots, this would have been one area where improving the controls to something out of the year this PSP sequel was released instead of back in the '80s would have been very much appreciated. Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins is always difficult as a game, as you're ambushed constantly by hordes of monsters; it didn't need to be artificially more frustrating because of its controls.

Yikes. This doesn't look like it is going to end well for Arthur.

Thankfully, this edition of Ghosts 'n Goblins comes complete with multiple difficulties for beginners as well as those who hates themselves. Novice/Standard mode gives you a number of lives to use, multiple hits to your armor, and the ability to re-spawn nearby from where you die, whether if you take damage while Arthur is in his skivvies or fall into one of the many bottomless pits in the game. Meanwhile, Ultimate mode is a nightmare-level difficulty where no matter what level of armor Arthur is wearing, one hit results in him breaking out into his boxers, and death means you have to start back at the beginning of the level you're currently in. Novice and Standard modes are recommended for all players, as there is still a great level of challenge posed. The inclusion of a helpful save system, allowing you to save your progress after each level, gives this hard game more semblance of fairness.

Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins has the boxer-toting knight Arthur setting out on a quest to take down the kidnapper of a princess, a nefarious emperor of the Dark Realm. The tale is as simple as "beat the big bad, save the princess", and the narrative doesn't expand from the opening cutscene, but that is just fine for a game of the platforming genre, especially one hearkening back to the classics.

Starting off on his quest, Arthur has a suit of armor, the ability to jump, and an unlimited arsenal of lances to throw. Upon coming in contact with an enemy, Arthur's armor falls into a pile off his body, revealing nothing but him in his vulnerable heart-covered boxers. Taking damage then results in Arthur turning into a skeleton and falling down into a collection of bones. However, there are multiple levels of armor to be collected, granting Arthur the ability to be hit more than once before entering his skivvies. In addition to that, the ability to double jump is earned early on in the game, a feature that you won't know how you lived without after getting it.

Even just down to his heart-covered skivvies, Arthur is brave against the forces of evil.

Besides using a myriad of sharp, pointy lances, Arthur can grab a wide assortment of weapons. When one is picked up, the weapon Arthur currently has is replaced. These range from old standbys like daggers and bombs to new weapons like rose whips and scythes that fly in a boomerang pattern, allowing Arthur to scoop up faraway items in the process.

From lances to whips, Arthur's arsenal can be ever-changing.

The five worlds of Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins throw the book at you in terms of challenge, sights, and obstacles. From venturing through the traditional Ghosts 'n Goblins-style graveyard teeming with the undead to exploring the inner workings of a castle, full of moving platforms and deteriorating staircases, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins keeps you on your toes.

The initial time it takes to reach the final level for players will take but a couple of hours or so. Then, the game throws a wrench into things, making note that if you haven't collected 21 gold rings, a collectable that most players would think nothing of on their initial journey through the game, you aren't getting through the final door to face the game's boss. This results in you being thrown back to the beginning of the game, tasked with not only acquiring 21 gold rings (there are over 30 to collect, and collecting all of them gives you the best ending of the game), but acquiring various spells hidden in levels to acquire many of these hidden rings.

This can make for a tedious time for some players, as the idea of playing through the same levels repeatedly, picking up new spells and rings might not be the most appealing. Plus, many rings and spells are hidden in secret treasure chests that only trigger and spawn upon touching a specific space in a given level. Unless you're a masochist, very determined and unrelenting, you'll most likely need to take up a walk-through posted somewhere on the Web to find the locations of all the hidden "goodies" to be found in Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins.

One thing I haven't yet mentioned regarding Arthur's most recent adventure is that of the boss battles. These feats of bravery and strength have you taking on demonic entities both small and large, each with their own patterns to be on the look out for. Predictable, yes, but challenging all the same.

Speaking of bosses, this bony baddie is the first Arthur comes up against.

The presentation of Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins features 3D models and environments, bringing a sense of depth to the visuals. The amount of detail in the environments and levels is astonishing, and it's all done without looking or being too busy. The performance of the game is solid, offering seldom occurrences of slowdown. Meanwhile, the music features glorious remixed music from past Ghosts 'n Goblins games as well as all-new arrangements. Overall, Capcom went all out with the presentation of Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins.

Without question, if you're a lover of immensely hard old school games, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins will give you lots to love and lots of monsters to maul. What it won't give you is tight platforming, controls that aren't stiff, jumps where you can always see where you're going to land, enjoyment from playing the same levels over and over again, and an easy time of things. This is where some gamers might absolutely love Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for these things while others will only get the cold shoulder.

[SPC Says: C]

Review Round-Up - April 2016

Star Fox Zero, reporting in as SuperPhillip Central's featured game of the month.

It's the beginning of a new month, so why not take a look back at the past month's list of reviews? That's exactly what the Review Round-Up does, a longtime recurring monthly segment here at SuperPhillip Central.

There were a tremendous amount of reviews for the month of April on the site, all starting off with one of my favorite mobile games I've played so far, Adventures of Mana. It scored an A-, one of the best grades ever given to a mobile game thus far. Then, I tried out Lovely Planet on the Wii U eShop, but its cuteness couldn't save me from hours of frustration. Hence the D+ score. Then, another fantastic mobile game was enjoyed by yours truly, the iOS exclusive Goblin Sword, slashing its way to an A-. I then picked up some Pug's Quest, but its randomized level order soured me on absolutely loving the game, giving it an average C.

Apparently April was a month of PlayStation Portable goodness, with me checking out four PSP games: Bomberman (B-), Twisted Metal: Head-On (B-), Secret Agent Clank (B-), and Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (C+). Aw, I couldn't keep up that B- trend!

Aside from my deluge of PSP release reviews, I checked out Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, as a Better Late Than Never review, speeding its way to a C+. Next up, Disney Crossy Road delighted, getting a superb B+. Finally, the featured game of the month here at SuperPhillip Central, Star Fox Zero, barrel rolled its way to a B+ score.

May is shaping up to have quite a few interesting games reviewed, including looks at Fire Emblem Fates, Hyrule Warriors Legends, and Star Fox Guard. There will be plenty of surprises as well, so please look forward to the goodness I have to deliver here at SuperPhillip Central!

Adventures of Mana (iOS, Android) - A-
Lovely Planet (Wii U eShop) - D+
Goblin Sword (iOS) - A-
Pug's Quest (iOS) - C
Bomberman (PSP) - B-
Twisted Metal: Head-On (PSP) - B-
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (iOS, Android) - C+
Secret Agent Clank (PS2, PSP) - B-
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (PSP) - C+
Disney Crossy Road (iOS, Android) - B+
Star Fox Zero (Wii U) - B+

Run, don't walk, to check out SPC's in-depth Star Fox Zero review!

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (PSP) Retro Review

The month of PSP retro reviews continues with something from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away. It's the PSP exclusive entry in the Star Wars Battlefront series, Renegade Squadron! Let's join Han Solo's ace team with this review.

Renegade squadron, begin mission!

Let's come to terms that the new Star Wars Battlefront isn't the game that everyone was wanting. It's seriously lacking content, and many fans of the old Battlefront games feel disappointed and let down by what EA offered this time around.

Thus, I decided to take a look back at a release in the Battlefront series that didn't get a lot of attention due to the fact it released on the struggling PlayStation Portable. This game is Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, and considering the limitations of the hardware it was released on, the game is mighty impressive overall.

The main campaign of this PSP Battlefront game has you assuming the role of a soldier in the Renegade Squadron, a fighting force led by Han Solo within the Rebel Alliance that did most of its operations in secret. However, now that the Empire has fallen, an archivist for the Jedi has begun compiling information to shed some light on the Renegade Squadron's helpful but not well known assistance in the fight against the Empire.

Outfit your character with a blaster rifle, rocket launcher, or even a jet pack.

The campaign is the recommended first stop for first-time players of Renegade Squadron. It gets you used to the controls. You move around with the analog nub of the PSP, lock onto enemies with the right shoulder button, and shoot with X. Locking on to foes allows you to strafe them as well as roll to break free of their lock-ons onto you. Your secondary weapon is used with the Square button, while pressing up on the d-pad allows for entering and exiting the various vehicles used in the game.

Play in the Galactic Civil War era or the Clone Wars in Instant Action mode.

Your customized character (though the options for customization of your looks is rather limited) has 100 points they can use. Each weapon, health boost, command post capturing boost, and what have you costs a certain amount of points. Thus, it's important to ration your point values to your particular play style in battle. Want to take down AT-STs and other vehicles more easily? Then equip a rocket launcher as your primary weapon. Want to destroy multiple enemies with one shot? Then equip a thermal detonator.

The Alliance troops run into these Empire-infested ruins.

The campaign has eleven missions spanning both traditional ground and what was introduced in Star Wars Battlefront II, space combat. Missions have you taking on a wide array of enemies, taking care of different objectives, such as capturing, claiming, and holding strategic command posts, repairing and commandeering a turret, defeating a specific boss character, and planting explosives at tactical locations on the map. The campaign is short but sweet, offering about two sittings' worth of content.

Speaking of space combat, flying around is quite simple, and each ship allows you to press down on the d-pad to lock onto an enemy ship while you go into auto-pilot. If you're locked onto, you can break free by doing some skillful evasive maneuvering. You have both regular shots and homing missiles that both recharge after a brief period of time. In normal mode, the game can offer you the ability to auto-dock on home or enemy bases, while the elite mode requires you to dock your ship yourself.

"Bogey on my six! Or seven? I don't know! I never learned how to use an analog clock!"

The elite mode offers a greater, stiffer challenge than normal mode. Enemies are smarter (well, as smart as the AI in Renegade Squadron can be), deal and take more damage, and are much more aggressive than how they behave in normal mode. As the normal difficulty AI is a bit of a breeze to beat, switching to elite mode is recommended. This also makes it so in the campaign you have a limited amount of respawns available to you before the mission is deemed a failure.

After you've indulged in everything the campaign has to offer, Renegade Squadron contains a Galactic Conquest mode, a mixture of turn-based strategy and traditional Star Wars Battlefront gameplay. You purchase new infantry from the funds you earn every turn, move your forces to planets to confront and battle enemy forces, and try to take over all of the planets within the galaxy to win. The game does a poor job of explaining the rules (read: it doesn't explain at all), so you might find yourself wondering what in the world you're supposed to do your first go-round with this mode.

Instant Action allows you to pick a side, the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, and engage in traditional Star Wars Battlefront gameplay, where you run or ride around maps (since this is the PSP, the maps are much smaller than the home console entries), taking out enemies, capturing and holding command posts, and trying to whittle the enemy down in numbers. Victory is achieved by defeating every enemy or holding all command posts for a specific amount of time. This mode will have every Battlefront fan feel right at home. It's a lot of fun.

In Instant Action, you'll eventually get the chance to control one of the Alliance's or Empire's heroes.

Renegade Squadron isn't that much of a looker. The characters are blocky, the environments are filled with fog and low draw distance, and everything is rather bland in color. The frame-rate can slow to the speed of a Bantha, especially when the action heats up. Still, for a product of the PSP's hardware limitations, Renegade Squadron could run much worse. The sound is your typical "the Empire has taken a command post" utterances and John Williams-composed tunes, but it's pleasant to listen to all the same.

Conquest is all about shooting down foes and capturing command posts such as this one.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is good fun for the short time you'll probably be spending with the game. The removal of online multiplayer stings, but Ad Hoc is still available if you can somehow find another PSP owner with a copy of the game. The main campaign is varied enough in its objectives and short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome; and the Galactic Conquest and traditional Instant Action play well, too. It's not a triumphant victory for the game, but all in all, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron's mission is an overall success.

[SPC Says: C+]

Secret Agent Clank (PS2, PSP) Retro Review

Ratchet & Clank's remake on the PlayStation 4 launched a couple of weeks ago. While SuperPhillip Central can't cover that game just yet, the site can take a look at a game in the series that is quite underrated. It's Secret Agent Clank, and he's got the bad guys' number, for sure.

The Spy Who Clanked Me

When he's not essentially Ratchet's talking backpack, Clank moonlights as a secret agent. Seriously. He's got the tuxedo to prove it, too. When his friend seemingly steals the most valuable gem in the galaxy from a museum and gets placed in jail for it, Clank feels something is awry. Thus, he goes on a mission to clear his good buddy and find the real culprit behind the crime. What you get with Secret Agent Clank is the same trademark humor, wit, and hilarity of the series in well done cutscenes and story sequences. Many familiar characters make their return in the game, and overall, the story had me smiling and engaged from beginning to end.

Clank, your mission-- should you choose to accept it-- is to save your buddy Ratchet and clear his name.

The game name may be Secret Agent Clank, but Clank himself shares the spotlight with numerous characters. For one, there are Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal-style arena battles as Ratchet as he goes through hard times in the slammer. However, I found most of these portions of the game highly repetitive, even with some creative objectives like trying to keep Ratchet's towel on him during a shower battle sequence. Then, there are multiple outings as Captain Qwark who is having a biography written about him. Of course, true to the Qwark name, Qwark's tales of his heroics are highly fictional, taking credit for things that Secret Agent Clank had done.

They say you want to stand up to the toughest guy in prison. Ratchet seems to be that guy/lombax.

Finally, there are the faithful helpers to Clank when our robotic spy needs some inside help, the Gadgebots. There are a trio of helper robots that follow one another, solving environment puzzles, hitting switches to move platforms in position, and interacting with various devices to make progress. 

Captain Qwark is as wacky as ever in Secret Agent Clank.

Secret Agent Clank's gameplay sections offer lots of variety, too. When Clank isn't stealthily making his way past guards, using sneak attacks to take enemies down with their back to him (a randomized four button press done just in time will take them out; else Clank will notify the enemy of his presence), and navigating through laser fields, he can be seen snowboarding,  driving a vehicle down a sluice, solving Tetris-like lock-picking puzzles, and engaging in rhythm mini-games.

Sneak behind an enemy, and they won't know what hit them!

There is a lot of gameplay styles in Secret Agent Clank, and while this does keep the experience fresh, some of it simply feels like filler content to lengthen the game. I would have personally liked to see more of the traditional Secret Agent Clank gameplay: moving through levels, participating in enjoyable platforming, dishing out damage in combat, and things of that ilk. These parts of Secret Agent Clank were the most entertaining for me, as the while the stealth gameplay is rather basic, when done right, it's the difference between smoothly taking down foes and alerting an entire room to your presence, thus resulting in a precarious firefight situation.

Both Clank and Ratchet have an arsenal of tools and weapons they can use in their sections that level up upon continued use. As a weapon levels up, it gains more power and strength to take down gobs of enemies. Ratchet's repertoire of weapons is mostly made up of callbacks to past games in the series, but there are plenty of new goodies to take down foes as well.

Meanwhile, Clank's library of weaponry is all in the form of spy gadgets, whether bow ties that serve as sharp, killer boomerangs or cuff links that act as powerful bombs. There are a plethora of non-weapon gadgets Clank uses as well, such as a pen that can blackout points where lasers project out of them, jet boots that allow Clank to double jump and glide across large gaps, and a monocle that when an enemy has been scanned, Clank can become a hologram image of that foe, perfect for slipping past defenses. 

The Tie-A-Rang is not only perfect for taking out faraway foes, but it's also mighty fashionable.

I was worried how Secret Agent Clank would control with the lack of two analog sticks, or in the PSP's case, nubs, to utilize. However, the game handles rather well considering the input limitations of the hardware. You use the nub to control Clank usually, but you can also use the d-pad to strafe, excellent for maneuvering around foes and their fire without taking much in the way of damage. The shoulder buttons, normally used for camera controls, can be used in combination with the d-pad to always keep foes directly in Clank's sights. The Quick Select menu is easily accessed with a hold of the Triangle button, granting a safe way to swiftly switch between Clank's various weapons and gadgets.

Like typical Ratchet & Clank adventures, upon beating the 6-8 hour campaign, you have the option of replaying through the story with all of your current weapons, maximum health, and more. The difference here is that enemies deal more damage and have more health. However, at the same time you earn more bolts for use to purchase new, more powerful weapons. 

Clank can use the Blackout Pen to blot out some of these lasers.

Alongside the Challenge Mode, there are myriad skill points to earn, received by completing certain tough in-game tasks like getting through a portion of a level undetected, as well as Titanium Bolts to collect that are generally placed in well hidden locations. Earning skill points unlocks new cheats to use in-game while collecting Titanium Bolts unlocks new skins for Clank, Ratchet, and Captain Qwark.

If you're familiar with Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, then you probably know what to expect visual-wise for Secret Agent Clank. Like Size Matters, Secret Agent Clank puts the limited power of the PSP hardware to good use, offering nice looking geometry, a good frame-rate, nice character models, and an excellent field of view. The sound effects, especially for using the high powered weaponry of the game, gives every shot that added sense of impact. The voice work is as excellent as ever in Secret Agent Clank, and the music is very spy-like, offering jazzy riffs, high octane beats, and catchy rhythms.

Secret Agent Clank is overall a capable spin-off title that gives Clank the starring role he may or may not have been waiting for. Though the game offers a robust amount of gameplay types, not all of these have the same amount of entertainment as the main, most fun Clank platforming sections. If you're looking for a bite-sized adventure that plays to the strengths of the PSP hardware, then Secret Agent Clank should be your next mission.

[SPC Says: B-]