Sunday, April 23, 2023

Switch Funday - Pulseman - My First Time

Welcome to Switch Funday!

This week the Mega Drive App, that's part of the Nintendo Switch Online, was updated with new games. i had heard of all but one of the games so i went with Pulseman for this video. It's a game that didn't come out in the UK and it wasn't one i had heard of. well, seeing the game and hearing it's from Game Freak did trigger some sort of memory but nothing i could fully remember.

It was fun playing it tho. it felt very much of it's time and as i grew up playing the Mega Drive, and Master System, it was kinda nostalgic playing it. the level design, the character style, the music all worked well together. those backgrounds tho ... i said it in the video ... they're bananas! 

it's both impressive and pointless at the same time. the backgrounds look technologically impressive, doing things i've not really seen outside of a Sonic special stage. but they didn't seem to really add much to the game either. But, and i said this in the video, the backgrounds could stand out more in Pixel Perfect mode on a modern TV than they did back on a CRT. 

I did have fun playing it. it was a little tough but that could be a mix of it being my first time with the game and the time it's been since i've played such a platformer on the Mega Drive. i'm glad that there was a rewind feature but the game isn't too stringent with health. there are three hearts and each hit doesn't mean you loose all of one. in a way, that helped make the game feel more approachable. the only real downside was the levels. they're big and there seems to be more than one way to get from A to B. but it's never clear if the exit you reached is the real one, nor is there any clear indication if there's a TV in every level or if there's a need to go in them always.

If you have the Mega Drive as part of Nintendo Switch Online, i do recommend that you give it a go. but use the rewind feature.