Shovel Knight: Spectre of Torment (Switch)

The Phantom of Shovels

So concluding the marathon of Shovel Knights game and the wait for the fourth and last part, I played through Spectre of Torment, Spectre Knights game. This one is a prequel. While Plauge of Shadows was played during Shovel Knights quest, this one take place before and also explains where the enchantress came from. It starts with Spectre knight doing the Enchantress bidding in finding eight knights for her Order of No Quarter and finishing his task, the locket he have would grant him life again. After making a couple of knights join you get some back story. Spectre knights original name was Donovan and he was an adventurer together with Luan. As they traveled to the Tower of Fate they climbed it and found the gem that contained the soul of the Enchantress, but Shield Knight arrived and tried to stop them, but Donovan wins the battle, but the power of the gem takes Shield knight while Donovan and Luan is thrown to their deaths. The Enchantress makes a deal with Donovan and turns him into Spectre Knight. Also, the locket he gathers the powers of the knight was given to him by Luan as a keepsake and promise to protect Luan's son.

Luan's son is Riez, a wandering adventurer that appeared in all the other Shovel Knight games, but in this game he busts into the Tower trying to fight the evil within, but the Enchantress kills him and turn him into her slave and replaces the Dark Accolayte that she inprisons. After getting all but one knight, since the knight in the graveyard was another wandering knight that appeared in earlier games, but this time is shown as the protector of the people. Black Knight tells Spectre knight that the Enchantress is Shield Knight and for some reason he hates her (I guess since he sees her interference causing all this) so he decides to attack her, At the battle she turns Riez into a monster that he fights and defeats and triggers the eight knight, but since Spectre knight knows Riez is Luan's son, he gives Riez his life back, and takes his place as the eight knight in the Order of No Quarters. The ending shows how the Enchantress armies takes over the world and also things like Plauge knight and Mona meeting and falling in love as well as Spectre knight hiding away the locket. The locket Plauge knight steals and gives to Chester that sells it to Shovel Knight, the Phase locket. That is a cool twist. Also the Dark Accolyte turns into the herald of the Trouple King which also is interesting.

Gameplay wise there is much more new content here than Plauge of Shadows. The levels are all new since Spectre knight plays completely differently since he can crawl on the walls for a bit and wall jump. He can also skate on his scythe so I guess that the old levels where a no go. Also the overworld have disappeared and instead you choose the level from a magical mirror. Also you gather red skulls to buy relics to use and in the end get Donovans costume and special weapon. Nice touch. More music and there seems to be variations on the other themes of the original game. Overall a fun game, sad there is only one part left. Especially since I would like to know more about the other knights. For example Polar Knight seems to have a deep relationship with Black knight and Shovel knight, and a Shield Knight standalone adventure would be nice to play through. Especially since the story of how she became the Enchantress doesn't match completely in this game and the original. Still, it's a good game that I bought three times.

Shovel Knight: Plauge of Shadows (Switch)

Blasting some music

Continued my Shovel Knight-marathon and played through the Plauge Knight version again. Still as cute a story I remembered. Plauge knight on his hunt to gather the essence of the knights and enchantress in order to create the ultimate potion. For what end goal seems to shift during the play through. I gathered first it was for Magicant, the woman who gives Shovel Knight the magic upgrade. It shifts later to Mona, his assistent that also have the mini-game with Shovel Knight. Maybe it always was Mona? 

Anyway, the second time around I seemed to actually use the different combinations for the bombs that greatly helped against flying enemies and such. The jump mechanics with blasting off to get across holes and such still feels very unfamiliar. More than once I've felt that the game requiries very fine-tuned plattforming and the blast mechanic just throws me into the maws of a bottomless pit. Still, I was able to get all cipher coins and music sheet for this game. Stages are pretty much the same from the first Shovel Knight, but with some extra corridors thrown in, often harder than the original to find some special item... that you sell to get one suited for you. I like how Plauge knight is the source for Shovel Knights relic arsenal. The new music is pretty much only variations of the boss themes and nothing special. Overall, the gameplay takes some time to get used to, but the sweet story gets me playing to the end screen and watch them dance.

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Switch)

DA DA DA DADA DA DA DADA

So I've been replaying the Shovel knight games on the switch and it have been an interesting play. For the first time I got all the music sheets and some of them were hidden in places I never knew was possible. I think it was the first time I also discovered the button to check the status on those things. So I've learned a lot this time around. 

Story is the same. Shovel Knight gives up adventuring when Shield knight is taken by the Tower of Fate and he is unable to save her, but when the Tower appears again he sets out once more to fight the evil. Or rather She sets out. I used the body-swap function so all major characters have changed gender. Only time it actually affected the dialog was Queen Knight and the Enchanter. But I gotta say, the design of the new sprites for each knight was really good. 

I actually started the playthrough when I got the game, but didn't finish it until now. It feels like as long as everything works smoothly I have no problem playing it, but after missing one or two jumps that worked without problem before the frustration gets the better of me and I rage quit and then restarts the whole level. But we all know I'm a bad player. Then there is the music. I liked the music , but there is really a handful of tracks that are really good. The first track for the Plains stage, a killer. Proudmoore decent enough, but then music drowns out until the Tower Levels. The other tracks are just decent.

Metal Slug 5 (Switch)

Back again!

Fist time playing and from the get go I felt more excited playing through it than 4. It starts off on a jungle river with new enemies all around. Apparently a disc have been stolen by an organisation called the Ptolemaic Army and its your job to hunt it down. After the first boss is destroyed you are even given a cutscene of a mask falling into the jungle and one of the natives pick it up, gets struck by lightning and takes over as the main threat. Apparently the Ptolemaic Army is specialised in archeological digs and espionage so apparently they brought it up. Marco and the gang fights them through old temples, water, air, industrial zones and in the final mission you drive a car on a destroyed highway, jumping over destroyed bridges until you reach a tower and climbing it to the top the enemies have summoned an ancient demon... and the freaking ending theme from the first games starts playing making it an epic showdown.

Really, it ups the stakes, Mordens army isn't shown anywhere and the new music is decent. The new metal slugs are fun and some old ones makes a comeback like the submarine and plane. It was a blast playing through it. Or it could just be that I played it for the first time.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch)

Finally, it's been over a year!

Finally, the latest Monster Boy game after the remake of Wonder Boy III, which I played back in 2017 as one of the early games I got for the Switch. And it was a fun ride. An action-adventure plattformer with Metroidvania elements. Works fine for me. Story is that one morning Jin's Uncle Nabu, the court jester goes on a rampage and turns everyone in Monster World into antropomorfic animals, including Jin who was turned into a pig. You got to collect 5 orbs to uncurse everyone, but each orb gives you a new animalform which lets you explore more of the world. Turns out that the kings advister, Mysticat have been planing to resurect his evil master and needs the orbs and dominates your uncles mind to instigate a hero to getting the orbs for him. It's rather satisfying looking around and such for chest and power-ups. 

The game looks like the remade version of Wonder Boy III and that looks fantastic. Still does. Music is pumping, They clearly tried to emulate that game, but knew what to do in order to make it better for the player. For example the lions sprint attack makes traversing the thundercloud areas acceptable (I remember in Wonder Boy an open field with thunderclouds was horrible since you just died all the time), you get a teleporting staff halfway through which means you can travel and buy supplies and return to the same place. All improvements. Then we have the call backs to the other games. Now, I only played the fourth game and the remake of Wonder Boy III, but it was pretty much enough for the important parts. In two parts you get the grapichs of the original games, you get to gather important items from the first three games and the heroes are displayed at the local sanctuary. Also the blue flying creature from Monster World IV is here looking for the green-haired heroine of that game. He never finds her, but the ending shows her standing in a fire... is that a hint of Monster World IV remake or so? I also belive they had some reference I didn't quite get. There is some runner and mercenary who I don't know if I've seen before and the one he protects in the beginning look like Sparkster from Rocket Knight, but older and without armor. It could be that they are the same animal. 

20 hours gameplay... but then I used some guides to figure out some of the placements of chests and puzzles. Well worth the play, wonder if there will be others, or maybe ports or remakes for the swift so I can play through the whole story. Of course, I think I got some of the games on the Wii Virtual console.

Forgotten Anne

It looks like they misspelled Forgotten

I'm a sucker for this highly stylished animated games and when I watched the trailer I just had to get it. And it was a beautiful 6-7 hours playing through it. Basically the main character Anne is the Enforcer, pretty much a police for Master Bonku who builds an Ether Bridge to get everyone back to the Ether. The Ether is our world and Anne and Bonku are trapped in the Forgotten world where forgotten items ends up and get sentient life as forgottlings. The game starts with a rebel group performing some attacks on crucial infrastructure and Anne as the Enforcer has to find the rebels and bring them into justice so they won't stop the Ether bridge.

Now, pretty much from the get-go I guessed that Master Bonku is in the wrong. Mostly since everything Bonku built to ensure the project screams 1984 to me. He installs mirrors that keep tracks on the populace for their own security. Only 100 forgottlings are promised to follow Bonku back to the Ether and only those that do their duty have a chance and as soon as an item gets to become a forgottling they are assigned a job to further the project. Pretty much a facist dictatorship. 

Pretty much a puzzle plattformer where you jumps around to get around the world and solve puzzles. What makes the game interesting is that you during the game gets the choice to roleplay Anne's character. You can play as a hard-boiled cop that only does the master's bidding and "distilling" any adversary or be a reluctant enforcer who wishes to give people second chances, doubting the very project itself. It works pretty good. I started full on mission duty (with a few hiccups like I missed distilling the first rebel you meet since I wanted to see if you just could scare them by almost draining their life force), playing fair even though I could roughen rebels up a bit, but due to the hiccup I played no kill scenario. As the story unfolds you learn Anne and Bonku's history, the reason the rebels fight their fight and learn the big twist of the game, which pretty much was the only way the story could go.

The twist is that to get energy for all machines and the Ether Bridge, Master Bonku distill all (as he sees it) worthless forgottlings and take their energy to power it all. He does this with the Arcas he and Anne possess. The Arca is two-parts from a crystal that is a cornerstone of the world. The guardian of the cornerstone, the Caretaker, tells Anne her background, an infant left by her mother in a box on the river as she couldn't care for the child and the supposed father wanted nothing with them. Also that going through the Ether Bridge would lead to the current forgotten world to be destroyed.

Phantom 2040

The Ghost Who Walks!

Been on a bit of memory trip and remembered I watched this show as a kid. I don't think I realised it was based on the Phantom comics I've read (even though the names the same). And the whole show was on youtube so I relived the memories. Or more correctly filled the gap for the two memories of the show I had. It takes place in the year 2040 in Metropolis, a futuristic New York where the world are on the brink of destruction due to natural collapse and climate change. Mankind have built satellites around the earth where humans live and are born that terrorise people for independence. Mega Corporations rule the planet and the rich and influential tries to save themselves. Worst is the Maximum Industries headed by Rebecca Madison, her son Maxwell Jr. and chief of security Graft. As they try to start the Maximum Era where the rich have taken shelter in Cyberville, a city complex cut of from the world for 10 years while the rest of the world dies and are reborn and the people of Cyberville can return as leaders of the world. 16 years earlier Maxwell Madison Sr. died in a train crash that contaminated half of Metropolis, caused by the Phantom according to stories that haven't been seen since then. And that is the setup.

The character models looks a bit weird

Kit Walker is drawn into this when Guran, a friend of his father tries to tell him about his heritage, but are attacked by Maximum who have waited for him to return. Kits great-aunt Heloise gets hurt in the fight and Kit discovers that he is the last in line of the Phantom-family, the 24 to be exact. From here he picks up the skull ring and fights injustice in search for answers like what happened that day 16 years ago that killed his father. The first season was amazing with interesting stories and characters. For example the backstory of Graft that was a soldier in the resource wars of 2015 (ha) where he become a hero for saving children, gets promoted by Maxwell Sr. and then defects to save an amazonian village, but the battle leaves him just an upper-torso for Rebecca Madison to use as an enforcer. Also it gets really dark. Maxwell Sr. mind was saved by Rebecca by being downloaded into a computer so she tries to resurect him by putting him in a robot body. One episode it succeeds, but he is confused and sees that he has lost his sons childhood and kidnapps him and take him to the central station to try to remember what happened. The Phantom interupts him, and during the fight he realises he is dead, and as his son pleads with him to stay since he misses his father, the robot rips open his torso and jumps into a water pool, electrocuting him. Real dark stuff.

Maxwell Jr., Baudelaire the cat and Graft

Second season first half was good. The last part was not as good, It was rather noticeable as well. The ending of the first half where they had build up the story for was the Phantom traveling to Africa to visit his ancestral home in Bengala while Rebecca brought Maxwell Sr to life again and prepared to start the Maximum Era, they get trapped after the Phantom tries to blow up their HQ and they escape to Cyberville. Meanwhile it is revealed that the 23rd Phantom survived the accident and was able to put himself into cryonetic sleep, but was awakened for some reason, and the episode ends with him sitting at a monitor realising he have been awakend to early as the poison drips around him. After this studio meddling forced them to speed up to get an ending that was decent, and I think forced certain characters to act out of character to just tell their story since they couldn't build them more. Also, certain characters just disappeared or was pushed to the side, Graft for example. The ending is really noticeable since they wrap up the death of the 23rd Phantom, the truth behind the accident and the termination of Maxwell Sr. and then last 30 seconds tell that the other bad guys went to prison. A bit rushed. Another reason it felt worse is that it strained a bit of reality. One episode had the bad guys injecting the kid side-kick with nano-machines and could spy on the Phantom, but they saw it in 3rd-person where the more correct way would be 1st-person. Easier to animate. And then there was a virtual reality episode where all phantom chronicles are digitised and to find out about who was given a good mark medallion Kit 24 enters a digital adventure of the 21 Phantom (the one everyone knows) and he walks around in Morocco interacting with people until the Phantom arrives and captures the bad guys, gives the mark to a kid that helped them and is on his way.. while Kit 24 watches a pickpocket steal the mark and say it will be an heirloom for his family. HOW does he know that? How is it supposed to work? Talk about a very well written chronicle for each adventure if they are able to put that in.

Since I'm Swedish, I prefer this colour scheme

A pity it ended as it did, but it at least didn't overstay its welcome. The two memories I had was the backstory for Graft and the survival of the 23rd Phantom. I gotta say the voice acting phenomenal with Mark Hamill, Margot Kidder, Ron Pearlman and the guy doing the Puingin from Batman the animated series, Grace from Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and the others do a decent job as well. The music was good and as mentioned the animation was ok, but it could look a bit freaky at times. Apparently the same guy who did Aeon Flux and worked on Fire and Ice and Transformers G1. Sad thing is, that there isn't a full release of the series. There's supposedly a season 1 box set in Australia, but for season 2 you gotta watch taped version from their original release. Apparently before Captain Planet, and besides environmental message, I have a hard time seeing why I would like that show if I like the Phantom as the presenter says.