Game:

Blades of Vengeance (1993)

Duration: 1:45:58

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0

No Commentary / 4k60 (x9 Integer Upscale) / High Res Audio
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IEN-HGlR47pFjCqAKmP4MlsltjL3Bvo

This is being played on an "Analogue Mega Sg" FPGA game console allowing for clear output in sound and audio! The video provided to YouTube is 4:4:4 and lossless! Details below in Technical Notes!

***If you want to see the entire game in one go... here you go!***
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I'm gonna make this description a little bit of an information dump for game mechanics, here goes:

Ducking. BLOCKS. Which is crazy. You are pretty much entirely invulnerable in the direction you are facing when ducking. This is a super important mechanic which makes the game far more easy to complete.

If you attack near the peak of your jump the momentum swings you up a bit higher. This isn't nearly as important for the Huntress who is already the most capable at jumping but it's a neat touch nonetheless.

When paused you can select your items and also hold "C" (see?) and then use the d-pad to look around. This can help find pitfalls.

Speaking of pitfalls, there are no bottomless pits and perhaps only one drop which will result in an inescapable death in the game. Very odd for a platformer, but very cool from an exploratory standpoint. (Beware of fall damage, however.)

75k points nets you an extra continue. A really bombastic jingle plays once this occurs. I didn't check to see if the continue screen is unique but the Game Over screen is!

I haven't mentioned the sparkles yet. There are, uh... sparkles. In the levels. Let me see what the manual calls them... Perhaps, it's simply "Power Ups". They kinda dance around the exact name of the sparkle itself just saying it's a "sparkling area".

ANYWAY

Touch the sparkle and you get a "Power Up" shown as a filled in diamond on top of your character bar. This makes your damage output stronger. You can hold two Power Ups at most (at first) and LOSE one if you lose a life! They are few and far between, so be careful!

If you buy the armor (and you should) in the store after the 3rd (or is it 4th?) area you character basically levels up into an entirely new class! You keep your title but the Huntress becomes a ranged attacker with a crossbow! The Barbarian trades in his axe for a really wonky looking flail. And the Wizard throws his hobo outfit away and steps into something more Sagely (He gets a stronger strong attack).

Oh, Strong Attacks. Hold Up while pressing the attack button and you do a...strong attack! Really useful for the Huntress when she has sword since it's a far reaching overhead swing. Less useful when she has the crossbow because you have to hold to charge the attack for a bit and then release it for a spread shot. It's just better to rapid fire your normal shot unless you need a weird angle.


I think that's it. The items are fairly self explanatory - one blows things up, another turns them into money, one heals, one makes you invincible, etc. Again, I picked Huntress because she has the most interesting attack set whereas the Barbarian is just melee and the Wizard only ranged. Also she is center and front on the box art!

I liked my experience with this game and it was fun mapping out how to get all the treasures, it's definitely worth a play if you get your hands on it!
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Original Overview Description:
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It's not too often you find a brainless hack and slash platformer that has some depth!

The level design is strong giving you what feels like plenty of options but still keeping you on track to reach the end. There are many secrets as well, all of which I catalogued here! I had some bullet points on my other screen telling me how to get to the next treasure so that I can complete the whole affair live - I didn't want to keep stopping the video, especially since the music continues even when paused. So if you see me standing still for a moment, that's probably why.

I chose to play as the Huntress because she is the most balanced and has the most drastic style change partway through.
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Please read the description in this video for detailed
Technical Notes:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbF6VssxOE