Survival Kids
Lord of the Flies was never so adorable. Survival Kids is a survival RPG with a 2D view that calls to mind games like The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. But do not let its cheery appearance fool you, as this has a decent challenge to it.
You have health points like you would expect, but there are also hunger, thirst and fatigue meters that you need to keep track of. This means you need to take care of tasks like eating, drinking, and sleeping to survive. You will also have to hunt, gather food and supplies and find shelter.
Be careful with what you find though, because items will degrade over time and become useless if you are not keeping track. Food can be preserved with other items though, and this is where Survival Kids’ crafting mechanic comes in. You are able to to combine two or three objects in order to create various tools, weapons etc. in a process called “merging”, and knowing how to do this is key to your success.
You may fail at the the game the first few times you play, but once it clicks for you, and it will click, Survival Kids becomes a very satisfying experience with deep gameplay mechanics. The game was added to Nintendo Classics to promote the newest game in the series with Nintendo Switch 2, so now is the best time to give the original a try,
Kirby’s Star Stacker
Kirby’s Star Stacker is a falling block puzzle game and was part of a trend of such titles at the time. Your goal here is to earn as many stars as you can and to do this, you must march pairs of blocks based on Kirby’s friends from Kirby’s Dream Land 2. You are not just matching blocks to succeed here, but must put the stars between matching blocks in order to gain the star.
The main mode of the game is the Star Stacker mode, which is divided into various rounds, with each stage having a theme to it. There are a variety of difficulty modes like Normal. Hard. Very Hard, Super Hard and Insane, and to be honest, you will want to play the harder modes. This is not to say the game is too easy, but the harder modes are much more satisfying as a gameplay experience.
In addition, there is also a Vs. multiplayer mode, which can be done online thanks to NSO, Challenge mode, which is an endless mode, and Time Attack mode. Multiplayer works fine online and can be quite a bit of fun, but do not sleep on Challenge mode or Time Attack, which have that pull that keeps you coming back for more. It may not be the most innovative puzzle game, but irby’s Star Stacker is a great addition to Nintendo Classics and a fantastic entry in the Kirby series.
Gradius: The Interstellar Assault
Gradius: The Interstellar Assault is one of the greatest handheld shmups ever made. The game retains the traditional gameplay and power-up bar and sees you take control of the Vic Viper through five different stages while going after Bacterion’s army.
This may sound basic, but is a lot of fun. Rather than trying something radically innovative, Konami chose to release a brilliantly refined experience that was all out intense and crazy. Enemies come at you from all directions and there are enormous enemies that approach you, but with enough skill, you can get through it.
Gradius: The Interstellar Assault also gives you the weapon select screen that lets you choose different settings for your weapons such as missiles, double firepower and lasers. You need to find the right strategy for your playthrough and go on your journey. A fantastic experience for Nintendo Classics.
The Sword of Hope
The Sword of Hope is an RPG, but not exactly as you may think. The best way to describe it is that it can be somewhat compared to the Quest For Glory games, albeit much more scaled down. This is because The Sword of Hope is both an RPG and a point and click adventure game.
The plot is not that much to write home about, but what is interesting is that the Sword of Hope’s adventure mechanics are very similar to the NES ports of the Macventure games. This makes sense as those were made by KEMCO, who also made this title. If you are familiar with Shadowgate and the games like it, you will understand The Sword of Hope much better.
This is basically a Macventure game that is also an RPG and the RPG mechanics are pretty interesting as well, taking on elements of a dungeon crawler. Combat is handled well, with enemy weaknesses that need to be learned and while it is not too intense for most enemies, the boss battles can test your patience. There are also a number of puzzles to solve, which makes sense for the point and click aspect of the game.
To be honest, the game is a bit too basic in some areas, while being ahead of its time in others. The game has received sequels that got a mixed reception, but I would be interested in seeing Kemco do a full remake of this game for modern platforms. It is a very good concept and point and click RPGs tend to be very good when done right. The Sword of Hope is too good a concept and idea to be left in the past, and needs to be born anew for players today, especially with the resurgence of point and click games and a desire for more unique RPGs.
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And there we have it, four great additions to Nintendo Classics and a great way to lead into the next era of the service when Nintendo Switch 2 arrives.
