Tag Archives: Pixel Art

Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 1]

Considered by many to be a Super Nintendo classic, but having never been released outside of Japan, Seiken Densetsu 3 (1995) has – in the past – been something of an enigma. A must-play game, but not available in English. That was: until an unofficial fan translation came out that changed all that.

Seiken Densetsu 3 is the third game in the Mana series (following Secret of Mana on the SNES (aka Seiken Densetsu 2), and Final Fantasy Adventure on the Game Boy (aka Seiken Densetsu)), and it is one of those games that I had played before (although not for more than a few hours, just to get a taste of it), and had planned to play more of, at some point in future.

Continue reading Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 1]

Seiken Densetsu 3 Week

I recently spent some time playing and grabbing the legendary Super Nintendo game Seiken Densetsu 3 and couldn’t finish until I had completed it.

To say that the experience was “good” would be an understatement…

Seiken Densetsu 3 is a truly brilliant game with a lot to offer games-players who love a challenge. And a good old level-grinder. And a visual treat. In fact, I had so much fun grabbing this game that I have decided to make a series out of the resulting screenshots.

This week I’m going to be publishing grabs of my adventure over the space of five days, showing the game from start to finish. I’ll also be writing about individual aspects of the game in each episode.

Don’t worry about spoilers. My grabs show only a fraction of the available game, played through with just one party. One of the great things about Seiken Densetsu 3 is that you can play with different party configurations and the storyline will change as you go. I’ll explain more about that over the coming week.

Few games deserve five whole days dedicated to them, but Seiken Densetsu 3 is a masterpiece of 2D graphical art, I think, from start to finish. Incredible boss battles; memorable music; brilliant interface; multi-language versions – I’ll look in more detail at these as the week progresses.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Squaresoft‘s Seiken Densetsu 3, by The King of Grabs.

Seiken Densetsu 3 Week
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 1]
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 2]
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 3]
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 4]
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 5]

More: Seiken Densetsu 3 on Wikipedia

 

Seiken Densetsu 3 Bosses 01 - Full Metal Hagger

Seiken Densetsu 3 Bosses 06 - Bill and Ben

Demon’s Crest, Super Nintendo

What is interesting about Demon’s Crest – a 1994 Super Nintendo release from Capcom – is that it is a spin-off from the Ghosts ‘N Goblins series.

Eagle-eyed gamers will recognise the red-skinned, demonic lead character – called Firebrand – as an enemy from the original Ghosts ‘N Goblins arcade game. In fact: Demon’s Crest is actually the third game featuring Firebrand, after Gargoyle’s Quest (Game Boy), and Gargoyle’s Quest II (NES).

Continue reading Demon’s Crest, Super Nintendo

Axelay, Super Nintendo

Konami‘s Axelay is considered a cult classic among shoot ’em up fans.

First released on the Super Nintendo in 1992, Axelay cleverly mixes side-scrolling and vertically-scrolling blasting action, and also makes excellent use of the Super Nintendo‘s infamous ‘Mode 7’ scaling technique, to create a weird ‘cylindrical’ rolling effect on some of the levels.

Continue reading Axelay, Super Nintendo

Paperboy, Arcade

Atari‘s 1985 arcade hit Paperboy features an isometric road to cycle down and houses to throw newspapers at. It’s an attractive proposition for an arcade game. Especially when the game has real bike handlebars for steering, which the original arcade cabinets did.

Continue reading Paperboy, Arcade

Rainbow Islands, Arcade

Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 is possibly Japanese game developer Taito‘s finest hour. On any system.

Continue reading Rainbow Islands, Arcade

Sabre Wulf, ZX Spectrum

Ultimate Play The Game‘s iconic seventh release for the ZX Spectrum was first released in 1984.

Sabre Wulf is a colourful maze/action game, and was the first game to feature the lead character Sabreman.

Continue reading Sabre Wulf, ZX Spectrum

Crypt of the NecroDancer, PC

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a smart modern, indie retro game that crosses rhythm game mechanics with ‘Roguelike’ dungeon-crawling. And it works extremely well and is a lot of fun to play. Crypt of the NecroDancer is like Ultima, but played to the beat of an Abba tune…

Continue reading Crypt of the NecroDancer, PC

FEZ, PC

FEZ is a wonderful, colourful 2D platform game that utilises an interesting three-dimensional screen-flipping technique as part of the game mechanics.

Continue reading FEZ, PC