All posts by Egill

Review: Wulverblade (2017 Nintendo Switch)

Finally, we get a worthy co-op beat’ em up on a modern system! I knew I was going to play Wulverblade the moment I saw the first screenshots. As you might know by now us at Cousin Gaming are total suckers for beat ’em ups, in fact, this is probably our favorite video game genre.
The game is set in 150AD during the Roman invasion of Britain. You play as Celtic warriors who hail from north “Briton” or modern-day Scotland, who have a deep connection to the wood and wilderness, wolves especially if that wasn’t obvious enough already.
What’s more important though is that Wulverblade is a love letter to the old beat ’em ups such as Final Fight or perhaps Knights of the Round, and you can tell that a lot of love went into making this game. It looks and sounds fresh and the really did their history homework too. Check it out!
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Review: Felix The Cat (NES 1992)

I have fond memories of this game. Well… Fond and frustrating when I think back to the time when my basement got broken into and all my NES games got stolen except for Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles 1.
Later the poor kid had the audacity to come back for a second time to rob some more but my dad caught him and managed to get some of the games back. I say some because the kid had sold some of them already, and that included Felix The Cat on the NES.
So no, the frustration does not come from some “NES hard” bullcrap like Castlevania or some Ghosts’n Goblins shit.
Playing the game I only have fond memories and they stem from the many forms Felix can take on thanks to his magic bags, great graphics and from the fact that this is one of the few games I owned that I could actually beat!
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Review: Horror Story (PC Engine/Turbografx 1993)

Horror Story is a fantastic arcade style game on the PC Engine. It is a co-op run and gun game developed by Toaplan (Batsugun, Zero Wing) and is clearly inspired by Ghostbusters in many ways. Here we get the Japanese take on ghostbusting as most of the enemies in the early stages are spirits from Japanese folklore.
I was thrilled when I discovered that the PC Engine had a sideview run and gun game like this, and I was very happy with the experience.
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Review – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (2017 PS4 JPN)

After I got my PC Engine(Japanese Turbografx 16) just about 2 years ago I became a huge fan of the Ys series. Ys Book 1 & 2(1989) and Ys IV: Dawn of Ys(1993) for the PC Engine/Turbografx 16 are action-rpg games that rival some of the best games of their era such as the Final Fantasy and Zelda games. I reviewed those also on this site for those interested.
After all this time I was pretty hyped to see that a new main series Ys game was being made. Ys VIII is obviously the eight game in the series but I missed Ys 5, 6 and 7 and will go play those soon.
I played the Ys IV remake “Memories of Celceta” on the Vita and I liked it a lot except that I feel like they butchered the great original story of the PC Engine original.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana was also released on the Vita in Japan in 2016 but more recently the game was released on the PS4 but also just in Japan.
I speak fluent Japanese (N2/N1 level) so i thought I would give Ys VIII a go and review it for English speakers before it releases internationally 12th of September 2017.
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Review: Kaze Kiri (1994 PC Engine)

Kaze Kiri is one of those rare late PC Engine CD games that is ridiculously overpriced (150-200$). The Play Station, Sega Saturn and PC-FX were just around the corner and an action game like Kaze Kiri had some big shoes to fill because the game would be compared to games such as Shinobi 3, Hagane and Rondo of Blood.
Kaze Kiri might not outperform any of these games but it is certainly worth playing if you emulate it or get a repro cd from PCE Works.
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Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES 1989)

… Or Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles if you are from Europe like me. The first video game outing of the Turtles has been made infamous by the Angry Video Game Nerd for being overly difficult, cryptic and unfair. But in fact, for the AVGN and myself this is a beloved childhood game that we find fun to play despite its flaws.
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