Nintendo Classic Mini Console Review

Back in the early 80s when the crash of gaming industry had been starting off in between 1983 and 1985 where several of companies had declared with bankruptcy which causes them to stop producing their home computers and video game consoles in their region. Due to poor reception of Atari 2600's title such as Pac-Man 2600 and E.T the Extra-Terrestrial are the biggest examples of failures that damages the company's reputation which led Atari, Inc. to decline in 1984, there are one of the game console that saved the gaming industry was Nintendo Entertainment System is a Japanese 8-bit game system created by Nintendo was released in year between 1985-86 for western release and it is considered to be not only being one of the greatest game console of all-time, but it is also being one of the best-selling console of 80's which sold over 60 million worldwide. It was known for being technically impressive 8-bit graphics filled with colourful and advanced looking game design, the controllers are fully well-designed for the quality of gameplay style, it has memorable 8-bit soundtrack that defined video game music genres, with all the help and support of third-party developers making their titles for the Nintendo's system, and spawns numerous of killer games that defined gaming like Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Kirby's Adventures, The legend of Zelda and of course the Nintendo's biggest landmark title Super Mario Bros which is highly successful video game franchises in history.

The success of Nintendo Entertainment System had inspired several of manufacture companies such as SEGA, Atari Corp, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, and Microsoft in later gaming generation of 90's to 2000's. With the legacy of NES, the company Nintendo had decided to make a smaller version of their successful 8-bit console called Nintendo Classic Mini (AKA NES Classic Edition in US and Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer in Japan) was released in November 2016. It's a miniature game system which features 30 licensed NES library and ability to use save state for all of them. It sold 2.3 million of game system during the release and got discontinued in April 2017 which causing confusion to consumers and leading with higher price among sellers. Due to console demand, Nintendo had finally re-release the system on June 2018 till December 2018.

Back in my gaming nostalgia days when I grew up playing several of classic game systems such as SNES, Megadrive, N64, PS1, Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox original, and GBA, but I never had a chance to play the original NES until in 2016 I had finally got hands on with the Nintendo Classic Mini because I f***ing love Nintendo with passion, so I had to get this bad boy setup on my HDTV and start playing several of great NES title in over 3 hours a day. I was super surprised with the mini system had turned out to be a successful which did not disappoint me at all as I really enjoyed playing Super Mario Bros, Kirby's Adventures, Punch-Out, Donkey Kong and many of games to play on this tiny little system. I love several of the NES games titles which I felt this is a great choice to fit well on the NES library and I also liked the NES controller which is simplistic and comfortable to hold. The graphics and sound design are so far well emulated on HDTV standards offering much tidier and neater display and all of the sounds were still present for most of the NES titles. Despite the positive aspects of this system, it also had some minor drawbacks such as short length wire, missing posters and plug adaptor for European releases, and some favourites NES titles weren't featured in the classic mini such as Batman, Blaster Master, Ducktales and Battletoads in which I will discuss these further later while reviewing this product. I'm very glad that it was manufactured by Nintendo themselves because I didn't want to buy any of crappy third-party companies like how AtGames, a companies who was known for making their piss poor clones consoles, totally destroys their clone version of SEGA's beloved console from early 90's such as SEGA Genesis/Megadrive, so looks like SEGA got their lesson learned because Nintendo just got their own dedicated console right where it should be and knows how to make the console properly before the release. 


So without go further do, lets start the review.



Hardware and Design

On the box set of Nintendo Classic Mini, it has nicely made front cover art of this package that has the image of the game system and controller with 30 games pre-installed that really adds the public attention to consumers. I also liked the gradient background colour of black and blue adding with white doted on the front of the box set, while the side of the box shows the person's hand holding the NES mini console and the back of the box shows the selection of NES library which I think it's pretty look good for its box art design meaning it gives a significant feel of the original NES from the mid-80's.
After unboxing things, it comes with one manual which has a guidance instructions to help you how to set up the game console correctly which comes useful, it comes with one controller which you will need it in order to play NES game by plugging into the console ports, the USB power supply cable are used for powering up your console where you can plug it on the USB port, but unfortunately the European release doesn't come with the USB plug adaptor so unlike the US release you have to buy a USB adaptor separately from the store, the HDMI cable are for connecting from back of game console into the HDTV which allows system to display the game in the HDTV screen. So far the actual game box are packaged nicely well especially with the brand new condition that keeps the overall product well neatly without any signs of damage.

The design of the mini console is just about the size of the human hands which feels quite lighter to hold as the build quality of the system are quite acceptable which Nintendo has done properly right meaning that it doesn't feel any cheap and clunky on the system which I'm glad that the NES Classic Mini is looking spectacular to see how they managed to make a perfect quality console. This console obviously resembles to 80's original NES which I really liked the overall design with orangy red font style on the front of the console and the whole console mixed with light and dark grey surfaces with vertically black rectangular shaped on the top-right side of the console. It has two button on the front-left side of the console where you can able to turn on or reset your console and the front-right side of the console has two controller ports which is very identical to Nintendo Wii Remote's port which is different from the original NES controller port from the 80's has only 7 pins connector. The back of the system has USB power supply port which you will need to connect from the system into the USB port of devices or adapter, while the HDMI output port connects from the system into the HDMI output port of HDTV.

While testing the NES mini console for more than the week, I felt the hardware emulation is responding well as the original NES which I don't see any sign of game crashes and major slowdowns meaning that this system is quite flawless with no sudden mistakes when using the NES system for 3 hours a day. There are some minor glitch for some NES game (such as Super Mario Bros 3, Megaman 2 and Kirby's Adventures) was present on the original NES version which I don't think it would effect the gameplay overall as I say that it plays absolutely fine with no sign of display lags when playing these awesome game on HDTV.
It is good to see that most of the NES titles on the European NES Classic Mini system are running on the forced NTSC region meaning that the NTSC version has better emulation speed than the slower PAL version.
For example, I've began to research by watching the video comparison between the NTSC and PAL version of the original NES console where most of the TV technologies from the 80's had different two encoding systems on each countries such as the NTSC are originated from Americas, while PAL are originated from Europe. I started to notice that the NTSC version of original NES console runs on 1.79 MHz allowing the games to have better overall frame rate and screen resolution, while the PAL version of original NES console has 1.66 MHz which is slightly slower compared with NTSC, but still remains playable. So far, the NES Classic Mini had worked positively which I barely see any of problems on this hardware meaning that the Nintendo had done successfully well on making this piece of technology as being a highest quality of all dedicated console.


Overall, it has sleek console design, great build quality and responsive hardware emulation.



Presentation

On the menus, you can see how good the user interface looks such as icons, images, colours and designs. I really liked the dark blue backgrounds and the grey layouts of menus which presenting really well for the NES theme. I felt that the menus are easier to navigate things because it has highlighted blue box which allows you to navigate things as the navigation in the menus felt really smoother to control these selectable options. I really liked the icons on the top menus which helps me able to recognising these options easier such as display which has TV display icon, options has tool icon, languages has letter symbol, manuals has question mark icon and legal notice has paper icon, and I also liked the wings animation and size of box screen on the save state options. On the front of the NES menu screen which has selection of games to choose as these games title has image of game's front cover, four smaller circles for save states and player icon for number of players.

I believe these numerous of NES titles were included on this system are seems to be pretty wise choice for NES mini console such as Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, Ninja Gaiden, Super C, Castlevania, Kirby's Adventures, Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Final Fantasy, Punch Out, and Megaman 2 which really fits well for the NES categories, while I think Tecmo Bowl and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest are kinda seems to be bizarre choices for NES collection because I'm not good at playing the American Football type of game and it would have been better if Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse were included on this than the Simon's Quest in my opinion, but still it wasn't a bad thing to have it on the NES Classic Mini library. There are some fewer missing games that aren't present on the NES classic mini such as Contra, Ducktales, Batman, Battletoads and Blaster Master which should have been a much fun choice to add it on the NES mini system.

So far, I really liked the overall presentation and the game choices of NES console mini as it appeals to all retro gaming fans who liked the old-school style gaming may going to enjoy playing these games on the modern HDTV.


Overall, it has simple UI design, easy to navigate menus and great selection of NES games.



Controller

The original NES controller is remarkably legendary when it comes with the classic 8-bit gaming was known for innovative gameplay which heavily utilises the NES controller meaning it has ability to add more commands for its gameplay style such as allowing character to move, jump, shoot, and etc.

Going back to this controller for NES console mini which is exactly the same as the original NES controller, but there are notable differences from the original. It has the rectangular shape of the controller with d-pad, 2-buttons, and Start and Select button just like the original, but it has different wired plug which is identical to Nintendo Wii's Classic Controller which fits into the Wii remote's port so I can able to use NES classic mini controller plugged into the Wii remote to play Virtual Console NES titles which is sounds pretty cool. The overall design itself is definitely spot on because the button layout on the controller is well designed and I liked the shape of the controller which is comfortable to hold and play many of the NES games, but the problem on this controller is that the wire is lot shorter than the original NES which is harder for gamers when trying to bring their controller near them as they preferred sitting on the couch far way from TV over sitting on the floor near too close to TV unless getting the third-party extension cord is the best option to make the wire much longer. So far, I really liked the controller because its one of the most inspiring video game controller ever created by Nintendo themselves. I have no issues with the controller while playing some of the NES titles such as Super C where I can able to shoot anywhere in different direction and on Super Mario Bros I can able to dash and jump at same time which works absolutely fine with no annoying input lags whatsoever meaning that the controller is still fantastic overall.


Overall, it has impressive design and responsive controls.



Graphics and Sounds

The graphics in each NES titles are looking spectacularly on the HDTV due to use of HDMI output can able to run on 720p/1080p making it look more cleaner and neater without any signs of blurry ness and messy images. You have the options to select any of three graphics filters such as CRT which is more of the old-school style filters from CRT TV of 80's and 90's, the 4:3 resolution has normal size screen which is more balanced looking pictures with simple filters, and the pixel perfect has smaller screen but has better graphics filters which I preferred more of this better over the previous displays options. I see no signs of display lags on the HDTV which I believe Nintendo knew how the classic gaming console worked properly when testing several of NES games to see if works properly done on HDTV.

The sounds on the NES classic mini has catchy 8-bit tunes on the menus which kinda reminds me of jingle tunes from Wii Shop Channels. The soundtrack from the NES titles had worked really well meaning it hasn't missing out the melodies whatsoever making it a near perfect music when listening some memorable tunes such as Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Punch Out and many of games, and the sound effects are also present on every NES games with no sudden sounds delays meaning that all sound effects are working fine as normally on original NES.


Overall, it has cleaner graphics and perfect sounds design.



Special Features

What really made this mini system cool that aren't present on the Original NES console was the ability to use save states that allows you to save game as a bookmarks so you can able to continue the game where you left off makes very easier for newcomers to save whatever they want and other cool features is that your Wii classic controller are compatible for this system meaning that you can able to play NES games with your Wii classic controller which I finding it a wise choice by Nintendo because now I can use my Madcatz Arcade Controller (Wii) on this system which worked really well when playing most of the NES titles. It's a shame that they didn't include the poster from the US release which is kinda bummer for those who have NES Classic Mini from European release because I really wanted to stick the cool looking poster in my bedroom, but oh well that's Nintendo to you guys. 


Overall it has cool save states and compatible controllers.



Advantages

Sleek looking old-school console

Great controller with no input lags

Magnificent selection of games to play

Game looks fantastic on HDTV with much cleaner graphics filters

Perfect sounds emulation

Cool special features


Disadvantages

Some few games are missing such as Contra, Ducktales, Castlevania 3: Dracula Curse, Batman, Blaster Master and Battletoads (Why Not?!)

Short length of wire

The poster and DC plug adapter were missing on European release


Final Verdict


Hardware and Design 9.5/10 - sleek console design, great build quailty and responsive hardware emulation.

Presentation 9/10 - simple UI design, easy to navigate menus and great selection of NES games.

Controller 9/10 -  impressive design and responsive controls.

Graphics and Sounds 9.5/10 -  cleaner graphics and perfect sounds design.

Special Features 9.5/10 -  cool save states and compatible controllers.


Overall 9.5/10 - Nintendo Classic Mini is got to be one of the best dedicated console ever I've bought it for my gaming collection. It has tons of NES games to play, great controller, options to change filters, having Wii Classic Controller compatibility and everything that this system has to offer. I had such fun of playing this system over a 3 hours a days with zero flaws and not making any of issues meaning this things works brilliantly for the fans of the retro gaming.

This system cost originally £50 at the release which unfortunately when the mini system went out of stock quickly that causing to increase cost higher than the original price meaning that it makes lot harder for consumers to buy it from online or retail store because it may be harder to find as it goes fully rare and expensive now of days, unless find something cheaper from any of local video game store or flea market for less than the original price. Despite the ridiculous high price due to out of stock units, I'm very glad that I had thing thing in time so I can able to spend time more playing on NES system and I highly recommended to all the collectors to go pick it up and play all your favourite classics to bring back your gaming nostalgia, so if you are able to master all your favourite classics NES titles then now you're playing with the power.
                                                             

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Shantae: Half-Genie Hero: Ultimate Edition PS4 Review

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a 2D Side-Scrolling Adventure game for PS4, PSVita, XBONE, Wii U, Switch and PC and it is a sequel to previous titles of the series. It was first originally released in 2016 as digital title for all version, while Switch version was later released in year later. The game was finally get a physical releases in 2018 as Ultimate Edition which packed with fully completed content included on game disc, soundtrack CD and official artbook.

I got very impressed with previous game title that I've played on my PS4 such as Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, so I'm definitely look forward to play with Shantae's new title as I'm a huge fan of playing several of 2D side-scrolling games. This game comes with brand new adventures with more exploration and discoveries, great storylines and cast of characters, complex gameplay with 2D metroidvania-style, and fluid looking animation as I had a fun spending time playing this game for more than an hours which kept me more motivated to enjoy this awesome title. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a remarkable game that the series is kept getting better with numerous of sequels really shows how much the game had improved upon from the previous titles.

So without go further do, lets start the review.



Presentation

The game takes place after the event of the previous title. The story focused on Half-Genie girl named Shantae, who been awoken from her dream experience after discovering the Genie Realm. She began to visit her Uncle named Mimic who is working on a new invention known as the Dynamo, which will keep the Scuttle Town protected from the attack until the town was been invaded by Pirate leader named Risky Boots and their minions known as Tinkerbat are aiming to steal Mimic's blueprint. After Shantae had finally finished battle against Risky Boots, Mimic had given her quest to collect the remaining components which requires Dynamo to get it run, so Shantae begins searching across Sequin Land for the remaining components with the help of her friends such as Bolo, Rottytops and Sky.

The story in the game is still positively interesting which explains that how Shantae had discovered her mysterious dreams which she was visited by the Genie Realm tries to warns her with the fewer important details. The story in the game are also has cool storylines between Shantae and cast of characters that kept the story ongoing such as the part where Mayor Scuttlebutt once again fires her from her position as the town's guardian genie due to Risky's escape and the damage incurred in Scuttle Town, and the part where Shantae started to confronting her enemies before the battle starts are also pretty good for its single-player story dialogue.
I really liked the style of animation on its characters to make it look more like Japanese anime with acceptable personality and facial expressions, and it also has really great dialogue boxes on the actual sildeshow cutscenes.
Shantae as a playable character is still an amazing protagonist in whole game which was known for her special powers, long-purple hair, and has cool belly-dancing sequences, while the supportive characters such as Mimic, Sky, Rottytops and Bolo are also quite memorable in the game. I got to admit the cast of villains such as Risky Boots are cool and edgy looking female pirate that always loves spending time putting trouble on Shantae. She is so much just like from the other video game villains of popular 2D platformer games such as Dr.Wily from Megaman series and Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog series. Several of boss characters such as Ammo Baron, Squid Baron, possessed Giga Mermaid, and others are also quite good in the game.

I really liked the concept of level design filled with fitted kinds of settings such as the main streets are more like the arabian-style environments, the Mermaid Fall are full of water and forrest, Tassel Town are sandy-dessert places, Cape Crustacean has racing-circuit track, and Hypno Baron's Castle filled with horror typed settings which is very well made for its single-player presentation.

Overall, it has great storylines, excellent characters, and cool level concepts.



Gameplay

At the main game, you take control of Shantae exploring around the level to collect important key items, gaining new abilities, and defeating boss in each locations.
She uses her long-purple hair as a basic attack to knock down enemies, but you are also required to gain more abilities, upgrades and magic items which allows your character to become more stronger for its attacks, so in order to do so, you will need to earn enough of gems which you are able to purchase it from the shop in Scuttle Town. The upgradable items will allow to reducing damage hit and increasing attack power, while magic items such as fireball, pike ball, Scimitar, and Storm Puff which is used for its magic attacks and bubble are used to protect character from enemy's projectiles which worked very effectively for its combat gameplay. You will able to earn more abilities by defeating the boss which allows you to perform transformation into different kinds of animals such as the monkey are used for climbing on walls, the mermaid and crabs can swim underneath the water, the bat and bird has ability to fly through the level, the elephant can break through the heavy objects, the spider can crawl through the top path, and the mouse can access through the smaller lines of sculptures which adds the newer variety of gameplay style.
What makes the game very interesting is that you can able to do side-quest where people in the certain location had given you a objectives to complete the task by finding a missing important key items are required to access a new map in the game, so it is a good to re-visit the same level to find a new discoveries such as hidden secret areas and obtaining new items from treasure chest.
The gameplay plays really amazing with their useful magic items, transformation abilities and combat controls which worked really well for its 2D side-scrolling environment. I also liked the level design choices with bigger area to explore and I loved the platforming style in the game where you had to avoid hazards objects and jumping through the levels which adds the overall game's challenge, so the level has great segmants such as the Cape Crustacean where you had to jump on magic carpet during the race, the Mermaid Falls where you had to avoid objects without falling off the stage and the Tassel Town where you had to survive through from the dangerous pet worm which increases the game's atmospheres. The boss battle in each levels are also quite entertaining especially playing on both Main and Hardcore mode which makes the game even fun to play.
What really makes the game quite bummer is the lack of the actual map screens on the pause menu which are used for examining the level stages in whole game was unfortunately not included in this game making it quite too linear compared with previous game which allows you to check the map screens.

There are two replayability modes such as Hero mode where you can able to re-visit a same main story with few transformations at the start, while the Hardcore mode focuses on a old-school style gameplay with much more harder difficulty to play which adds the fun replay values of the whole game.
You can also play these two expansions such as Pirate Queen's Quest which you're playing as the main villain Risky Boots, while Friends to the End takes control of three playable characters such as Sky, Rottytops and Bolo which focused on different playstyle and storylines.
There are four non-story mode to play such as the Ninja Mode, Officer Mode, Beach Mode and the Jammies Mode which is a nice addition to the game itself, but my favourite two are Ninja and Officer Mode because the Ninja mode is basically like Ninja Gaiden for NES, while Officer Mode heavily borrows the same gameplay mechanics from Mighty Switch Force series which I kinda enjoyed the most, but I do find Beach Mode is kinda weak compared with other game modes due to my frustration on sunburn damage which quickly drains down your health which makes the game down right unplayable, but at least the Jammies Mode plays it better overall which is a much more nicer addition.

Overall, it has amazing 2D gameplay style, great exploration, cool new abilities and items, and extra modes to play.


Graphics

The graphics in the game is looking so spectacular with anime-style characters and cartoony looking environments.

The characters in the game are well drawn with fluid animations and great use of facial expressions which adds the personality of the character's development. the level environment is looking amazing on each locations such as Scuttle Town has whomping 3D panoramic background effects, the Mermaid Fall and Tassel Town has really crystal clear water animation and sandy dust wind effects which is looking quite cool. The whole environment is quite colourful with amazing background details and some great use of textures on level objects. I got to admit that the game is looking different from the previous titles are more of 16-bit style presentation which is excellent, but I adored with the newer style graphics for the recent title to make the game looked more up to date.

Overall, it has spectacular character's design, amazing level environment and great use of special effects.


Music and Sounds

We all know Shantae series always has the best original soundtrack in every game.
The music was composed by Jake Kaufman, a well known composer behind Shovel Knight, Ducktales: Remastered, and previous Shantae titles, did a incredible job of making a wicked electronic arabian style soundtrack on whole game which really fits well on every game levels. The game also has great use of sound effects for most of the levels with amazing background noise and atmospheric effects, while the voice acting in the in-game dialogue and gameplay stages seems to be quite limited instead of using a proper full voice over which is kinda shame, but its still sounds good overall that didn't effect the story dialogue.

Overall, it has incredible soundtrack, decent sounds and acceptable partial voices.



Special Features

The physical ultimate edition of the game bundled with artbook, soundtrack CD and all completed content such as two DLC expansion story, costumes and extra game modes are included on actual game disk. The game are also featuring bonus gallery mode including fanart and unlockable transformation for single-player mode such as Sophia III from Blaster Master Zero.

Overall, its a proper full completed game for all collectors. 




Advantages

Excellent Presentation

Amazing 2D Gameplay

Spectacular Graphics

Incredible Soundtrack

Ultimate Edition of physical copies packed with completed bundle.

So much replay values.


Disadvantages

Lack of actual map screens

No fully voice over for story dialogue

Beach Mode aren't as fun as other game modes


Final Verdict


Presentation 9/10 - Great storylines, excellent characters, and cool level concepts.

Gameplay 9/10 - Amazing 2D gameplay style, great exploration, cool new abilities and items, and extra modes to play.

Graphics 8.5/10 - Spectacular character's design, amazing level environment and great use of special effects.

Music and Sounds 8.5/10 - Incredible soundtrack, decent sounds and acceptable partial voices.

Special Features 9/10 - Proper fully completed game for all collectors.


Overall 9/10 - Like I've enjoyed the previous titles of Shantae series, this is by far not the only best 2D side-scrolling game, but its one of the better sequel of the whole series which I'm very happy to see what the developers can able to push the game forward allowing to make the series getting so much further and better with the awesome artstyle of game graphics, exciting game modes to play, complex 2D gameplay style, catchy arabian-style soundtrack, and great story presentation with cool characters is the main highlight of whole game especially with the ultimate edition of physical copies is a nicer addition for all video game collectors should able to pick this game up for worth less than the original price because Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a outstanding game for all the fans of retro gaming. 



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