Hidden Gems #33 Tobal 2 & Frogger Games
Fighting games have been most know as an addicting button mash combo style of the like of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive etc. yet this game was exclusive of Japan, but man does it deserve some recognition for having the largest roster of fighting characters in the PlayStation 1 era nevertheless, and that would be the Tobal 2. It was released 10 years later, and truly an astoundingly underrated game that had a style to it.Tobal 2: The game starts off with a pretty cool cutscene, but unsure exactly what your in for since according to the wiki its never given what boss you end up facing near the end is unclear. You still have the Quest mode from the first game, and six dungeons to rule, and conquer (Practice Dungeon, Pyramid, Desert Spaceship, Molmoran Mine, Castle and Final Dungeon). The gameplay is a mixture feel of then early Virtua Fighter games, and Tekken. Like with many other fighting games... Tobal series has a strike, and grapple display. where you could find way to take down your opponent with greater take down damage. Once you have completed your long ladder climb you get the ending cutscene of every character as well as a chance to unlock all 200 of them its feels like the fighting game version of Timesplitters where there's more to do than the general basic premise. I'd sat give a world if you love obscure fighting games you never heard of this one is pretty cool based on impressive roster, and a square classic compared to its predecessor. 7/10
Frogger 97': Next we will be talking is... wait is this right Frogger the arcade game. No the one i'm actually gonna say is the PlayStation version did make a newer version of that game. There were two games that came out in this period to bring back the nostalgic feel. Seeing the intro gave you that verge you are in store for whatever this game brings to you hopefully delivery. The arcade game had with its simple joystick controls where with the 97' Frogger it felt extremely difficult to move with the D-pad. One other things I totally forgot about back then is how good the soundtrack to this game was. There are 33 levels total in which you start with 4 or 5 levels that are defaults to start until eventually unlocking the other 27 or 28 waiting to be played in crazy hazardous environments. This game pulls all stops in which they'll throw monkey wrenches in every corner they get you in a way it feels like the classic to that extent, but it can be extremely frustrating at the same time. I'd say its one of the harder games I have in my collection that I still haven't fully beaten yet. Many critics were very harsh giving the game beneath the rank of either a 5 from a 2 which wow. My outlook on this will sound ironic that IGN gave it a 2, while GameSpot gave it a fair 6.7. I got as far as the mid portion of the game, but I wouldn't say its ''unplayable'' like the ignorant gaming site would. GameSpot more on point with the acceptation of controls there more vastly accurate where as yes aside from taking aim at IGN many just view it as a avoidable game, and I disagree, and say give it a shot as it challenges you mind ability what move to make like a game of chess. While the flaws are still there its still are fairly passable game for a start. 6/10
Frogger 2 Swampy's Revenge: 3 years later the sequel was made based on the decent success in sales the first game popped they did it again, and with the analog stick being on more updated consoles makes this title way more fluent right? The opening cutscene is much better, and has an interesting start to the game with Swampy being the Crocodile who tries to kidnaps the baby frogs in order for Frogger, and Lillie to get near him. Let's go back to the menu though where unlike the first game you hop your way to get to single player if you wanted to a Two player co-op as hinted in the opening cutscene. There's a total of 24 levels not including the basic tutorial startup. For the most part I found myself feeling this was a much more easier game than the predecessor which had an ascending ranged levels from easy to eventually brutally hard in its 5 stages put into those where here its just one mission, and get all 5 frogs, and that's it while collecting coins on the way to victory. Eventually I reached the end of the game where both frogs found themselves captured, and its down to a unnamed blue frog to save them, and one part I remember is getting hit by the electric shock everytime when it came to this. I still managed to beat it though a good game that's got its own established elements as well as some inspirations to the original game. 7.5/10