Steal Princess (DS)

So I guess we're never getting Landstalker PSP.  Oh man Landstalker with it's death screaming slimes and kobolds.  With it's gloriously difficult platforming things to the isometric viewpoint.  With music like this.  Please ignore the terrible american boxart.  Instead look at the awesome Japanese boxart.  I was super excited for that remake around 2006.

Climax Entertainment's games after Landstalker aren't so hot.  I've only actually played Dark Savior (Saturn) and that was briefly because the language barrier got in the way.  Now if I saw it, I'd pick up Time Stalkers (DC).

I was in Tokyo for Steal Princess's release, but it was 6,000 yen and the knowledge that it might suck held me off.  As I practically never looked at DS used games it slipped my mind.  Looking at it now, I'm surprised at the scores it got in Famitsu ( 8-7-6-7).  I honestly didn't expect it to be that high.  There was another reason I didn't buy it, this video.

The game is like Adventures of Lolo.  Small one screen puzzle stages.  You might have to defeat enemies in a specific order, or just flip a switch.  I fucking hate Lolo.  They are terribly boring.  I feel the fun being drained out of me as I play them.  Steal Princess is sort of the same feeling.  Do the thing, do the thing, okay do the thing.  It gives you a close up everytime you pick up a jewel and everytime you unlock the exit.  Our Steal Princess isn't even fun to move around.  Using her whip to swing across things is frustrating.  As she's a sprite on a bland 3D background and isometric, depth perception doesn't exist, and more than that when you need to swing "up" 4 glowing balls the prompt for each ball is so small that I had to give up. 

Oh I can get jewels to buy PARTS to make my own insipid levels, don't sign me up.  In fact get out of my house.  I'm going to play the game a bit more but...

Super Meat Boy exists.  SMB has perfect, exacting, exciting control and environments that challenge you to use it.  SP has me defeat the blue kobold before I get the red sword to hit the red kobold before I get the yellow sword to kill the yellow kobold.  Then in the next level I fight a "boss" kobold that's just a normal kobold but bigger and it's not like I'm dodging it's attacks or that I even could.

Man, Super Meat Boy is great.