Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston (NES, 1992)

• Only one persistent movement ability gained (grapnel and rope item early on)

• Partially non-linear structure (can explore sub regions on the map freely (going south from the starting town is quite tough but there's no point in visiting the beach tiles anyway), linear progression between the 8 sub regions on the map?)

• Password save (fairly short, updates when reaching a new area)

• Unlimited continues? (3 lives per credit though you can hold up to 5 by finding placed ones over the course of the game - can find 11 in total), Frequent checkpoints (at the end of the previously passed through area/level) besides in the final temple where there are none

• Can fast travel through areas you've passed on the hub map (only passing through is required - can avoid all enemies however if you place the cursor on an unexplored map tile then you automatically go there)

• No area maps (generally not a problem but there are two mazes), Some points of interest are marked on the hub map as you find them, Bridge map item also updates the hub map

• Die from falling over half of the screen's length or more - can use the default hover jump to avoid this

• Some placed health items (enemies also tend to drop health) - the placed extra lives also fully heal you

• Can generally exit an area to the hub map from where you entered it

• AP and DP upgrades, Upgradeable default attack (golden fist) - adds a strong projectile attack to punches

• Blurs the line between town and hostile area (some enemies in town houses and on the outskirts of town)

• Decent hints from NPCs and you can find written hints in some item containers while exploring - can't review these though

• No touch damage from most enemies (not the case with tigers and some late-game ones)

• Some sequence breaking opportunities (one minor one via what appears to be a hit detection bug (can jump backwards through the green guards at the first wall gate - this one's kinda pointless though since you have to go back and kill them with gemstones later), can skip getting a couple of temple keys if you go back to the third town since the NPC there will hand out more seals)

• One good puzzle (moai heads temple entrance screen) and one decent one (don't break blocks at one point or you won't be able to climb a wall) - the game is mostly lacking in puzzles however

• 11 weapons in total (6 different ammo-based ones)

• Non-silent protagonist

• Off-screen enemy respawning (sometimes good, sometimes not)

• Outdoor areas are generally very short and most temples and caves are as well

Some notable cons:

• Can't check your carried quest items such as the gourd in any menu

• When jumping down to a screen below the one you're on you spawn some ways into the screen instead of at the top edge of it

• Hit detection issues

• Spongy enemies early on+small ammo capacity

• Pits sometimes lead to a room below and sometimes kill you - can happen even if the pit above a room didn't kill you and there's a roping leading down a pit, Some other trial & error issues

• Sometimes weird room connections (if you jump upwards in the screen below the first one in the first area north of town then you end up on the ground in the above screen and can't jump back down again)

• The shield can't be used against enemy shots (used like a weapon against a certain enemy)

• The game is inconsistent about entry points to areas when dying and puts you at the end of the previous area instead of the beginning of it. Sometimes when revisiting an area you also start at the "exit" side of it and have to replay a nearby area to reset it - not sure exactly how it works

• Some areas/levels are identical

• Finding an item or the path forward within an area is never really challenging besides in the moai head temple and the final temple

Playthrough - Video Review - Mini Review

Influenced by: Possibly Clash at Demonhead, Kingdom Crusade, Strider, Ufouria, Heart of Africa

Influenced: