10/8/20 Shatterhand (1991)

Shatterhand (1991) developed and published by Jaleco for the NES. It’s been a minute since I covered a console title, and man is this ever a return. This game is awesome! It’s an action sidescroller that feels heavily inspired by Fist of the North Star. Compare this, released on the system’s deathbed, to most games from 1986 and 87, and it’s night and day. The controls feel great, combat is fast and simple, punch the dudes, punch the robots. You jump high and can hang onto certain background elements, collect points which can be spent at specific terminals for health or a boost in power. Break open boxes to collect alpha and beta symbols, get three symbols and you’ll get a hovering sidekick whose attack is different depending on which combination of symbols you got. The music is great, classic NES chiptune, and the visuals are stunning for the time. I love the factory level with multiple layers of animated, parallax-scrolling backgrounds and a gorgeous color palette to boot. It adopts a Megaman-style stage select system, with an introductory level and a final level at the end. I can’t sing this game’s praises enough, it isn’t even overwhelmingly difficult like a lot of other NES titles, it’s just solid, kickass fun. Go play this game! You can punch bullets out of the air! You can punch bullets!