There’s a game on the NES I really like called “Kiwi Kraze”. It’s incredibly hard as many people who played it can attest to (check out LordKat’s video on the matter), but it’s well made and fun to play. What I didn’t know about the game is that it was actually not only on other consoles, but that all the other games in the series had a different name than on the NES: New Zealand Story. This was brought to my attention recently, and I found out there was a version on the DS. So I decided to check it out.

Yeah, the review is massively late, but that’s because I didn’t know about the game until recently. And who doesn’t like checking out good obscure games no one knows about?

Read on and see if I liked it or not! (short review before publishing my Metroid: Other M review)

Developer: Marvelous
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Date of Release: February 13th 2008
Platforms: Nintendo DS

Genre: Side-scrolling platformer
Rated E for Everyone

Presentation
The game has a very childish look. See the game’s cover up there? That’s basically the graphical style of the game. The game has a very cute graphical style. It’s not incredibly colorful, and most areas just look very much alike. And the Kiwis kinda look like Chicks, which is weird. It’s fun to look at, but it kinda lacks variety. And the cuteness is just a disguise, as the game is pretty evil.

Sound-wise, there’s nothing much. You have sounds for shooting arrows and hitting enemies, and that’s pretty much it. The music is just slightly remixed versions of music from every other version of the game. It’s upbeat and fun, but it gets repetitive.

Gameplay
If I’d compare this to any other game, Bubble Bobble seems the most appropriate. It was originally made by the same developer after all. The jumping is a lot stiffer than in Bubble Bobble, and attacks actually kill enemies rather than enclosing them in bubbles. The levels are actually side-scrolling and require a bit of exploration, rather than being single-screen like Bubble Bobble. The goal of every level is to find a key, and use that key to free a fellow kiwi from his cage. Some enemies ride various floating vehicles or ballons, which, if you kill them without destroying the vehicle, you can ride yourself, which is useful for some parts of the game, and required for other parts. One weird thing here is that enemies do not hurt you when you touch them. Instead, you can only be hurt by their projectiles. Each world features 4 levels, with the fourth level having a boss battle. Each boss battle is unique and requires some figuring-out to beat. Some bosses are taken from the previous New Zealand Story games, some are new, and the ones that are from the older games are a bit different.

The basic premise is pretty simple. But, as you advance through the game, you really need to master the controls and jumping mechanics, because the game gets really hard, really fast.

New elements
The game features a few new elements. The Key you have to find wasn’t in the NES version. You can run rather than just walk if you double-tap a direction. You can actually aim your bow in different directions with the R button. It’s a bit clumsy, but it can be really useful. The game now includes power-ups for your bow, rather than the laser gun and bombs from Kiwi Kraze. Fire, ice, and a few more. And you can charge your bow too, which makes your attack pierce through enemies.

One new element that sucks is that they felt the need to add stupid touch screen minigames, which just feel tacked-on and stupid.

Difficulty
Kiwi Kraze on the NES is notoriously hard. The game might look cute and kid-friendly, but that’s just to deceive you. This game is CRUEL. But it’s easier than its NES counterpart. Rather than everything killing you in 1 hit, you have 3 hits before losing a life. But that doesn’t make things MUCH easier. The level design is great. It’s made just to kill you. It wants you dead, and it throws everything at you to kill you. There’s spikes everywhere, though jumps, and enemy placement made specifically to kick your ass. If you don’t master the controls perfectly, you will die over and over and over. Oh, and, to top it all off, every level is timed. But you don’t actually get to see the timer, of course not. If you’re not fast enough, you’ll get a warning to hurry up, and, if you don’t finish the level in time, the devil comes in and kills you. Awesome.

Overall
This is a fun little game. It’s very challenging, it looks good, it’s fun to play. But not everyone will get into the stiffer controls. And the touch screen things are just stupid.

If you’re looking for an obscure but fun game, New Zealand Story Revolution is definitely worth checking out.

Pros and Cons
Pros
- Still a good challenge despite the changes
- Very fun to play
- Some of the changes to the gameplay are interesting

Cons
- A lot easier than previous counterparts
- The touch screen mini-games suck

The Save Factor
The game can be found for 20$ or less. I suggest paying no more than 15$ for it.

jobocan ds, Games, Handheld, Random, Review