Legendary Wings (NES)

When I first played Legendary Wings, I was amazed at how strikingly similar it was to Dragon Spirit: The New Legend.  It's an overhead shooter in which you have an aerial attack and a ground attack, but I noticed one big difference right away; I can actually beat Dragon Spirit.  Legendary Wings has the same basic gameplay as Dragon Spirit, but is exponentially more difficult.  Maybe this will put it into perspective; I can usually get to level 4 or 5 on Dragon Spirit no problem, and I've beaten the whole game a few times, but except for one time when I was apparently having a really good day, I've never even gotten past the first level of Legendary Wings.  The screen is almost always swarming with enemies in the air shooting at you and trying to ram you, and there are also ground based units firing away at you which leave you inundated with fire and death at almost every turn.  You've got to have some serious dodging abilities to be able to weave in and out of all of that fire and make it to the end of the level.  It's not too bad in the beginning of the first level, but after about, oh, 20 seconds, you'll die (if you didn't die during the first 20 seconds).

Presentation: 4 - The title screen is bland, and the box art is mediocre. It's not as bad as "A Boy and His Blob," but it's no Super Mario Bros 3, either.

Graphics: 7 - They're not bad for the NES, but they're not spectacular. They're about the same as Star Soldier or Dragon Spirit.

Sound: 6 - The sound is decent, but it's lacking. There's not a great deal of variety, but it's not too terribly mind numbing.

Gameplay: 8 - The gameplay is good, and it really is a fun game; it's just so difficult. The difficulty is the only real problem with the gameplay; I never got to see much considering that I died every 5 minutes..

Lasting Appeal: 7 - If you want a good overhead shooter and a sadistic challenge, then this will always be a good game to dust off. I still play it occasionally; it's a good alternative to cutting and just as painful.

Overall - 7