318 · Dragon Spirit: The New Legend

• The Blue Dragon must rise again!
• NES Longplay
• Manual
• THE NEW LEGEND cause this isn’t the same as the other Dragon Spirit games you didn’t know existed.
• Dragon SHMUP
  • the golden dragon game (easy difficulty level) or the blue dragon game (normal difficulty level)
    • The "easy mode" that will become available if the player dies during the opening level
    • The gold dragon is much faster by default, both in movement and attack speed. Additionally, power-up transformations are far more destructive
    • many of the more difficult levels are removed from this mode
    • The golden dragon also takes more damage and will face slightly different enemies and bosses. The story for Prince Lace is very different from that of King Amru's tale should the player successfully activate the standard difficulty game.
  • he player has 360° control within the screen on display
  • Fire at objects in the air with B and on the ground with A
• Power Ups
  • Ground power ups
    • Blue pods grow your heads (max 3)
    • Red pods grow your fire rate (max is turbo)
  • Air Power ups
    • Increase speed, spread, strength
    • Make dragon smaller
    • Two small dragons side by side
• Locations
  • Is this Dragon traveling through time AND space?
    • Paleozoic era
      • Thematic level design. The meteor/fireballs are being shot at from the boss at the end of the stage
    • Volcano
    • Jungle
      • The enemies that can’t be destroyed but you have to keep killing their offspring that make gates you can’t cross
      • Bombs to kill boss, but firepower to kill its projectiles
    • Graveyard
    • Cave
    • Glaciers
    • Deep Sea
    • Dark Quarters
    • Dark Castle
• Iris’ Maids in Blue Dragon mode
  • Extra life or health if meet a certain criteria after defeating a boss in the first 6 stages
• Area 1: The maiden always appears, leaves a message.
• Area 2: Appears if your Firepower is below three, restores your energy.
• Area 3: Appears at random (50% chance), gives a 1up.
• Area 4: Appears if your Dragon has less than three heads, restores energy.
• Area 5: Appears at random (50% chance), gives a 1up.
• Area 6: Appears if your Dragon has less than three heads, restores energy.
• STORY
• SELECT Button not used
  • The debate continues
• Sequels and Spinoffs
  • Dragon Spirit for Arcades
  • Dragon Saber: After Story of Dragon Spirit
    • Co-Op
• EGL
• NEXT WEEK - Heavy Shreddin'
  • Not a sequel to our NEStalgia Bytes episode Holy Diver

Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.

00:00 Dragon Spirit, the new legend, the blue dragon must rise again. Dragon Spirit, the new legend. And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. And I'm Joe. It's called The New Legend because this isn't the same as the other Dragon Spirit games that came before it that you also didn't know existed. Is that true? You guys didn't know this was a franchise?

00:46 Oh, I thought it was just one of those situations where the first game in an IP gives itself a subtitle to sort of like self-fulfill it becoming a franchise. Yeah, there's sort of like a prologue at the beginning and I thought that was the old legend. Right. And I think both are valid responses and not knowing didn't matter, right? It's not like, oh, should I go back to the arcade and play that one first before I can play the NES game?

01:17 It's not that kind of situation, right? But there is a hefty plot to the game and a story behind it and everything and a reason for doing things, which is good because this is a shmup and a lot of times it's just you're in a spaceship and you got to fight off an alien invasion, right? This is kind of interesting that it's taking like some things you might see in an RPG and bringing them to the shmup genre story-wise, not mechanically. Yeah, you're like a guy that can turn into a dragon and you then fight things as a dragon. A dragon shmup. So that's new, right? It's true. It's not a helicopter.

02:01 It's not a spaceship. It's not a guy with a gun. It's going to sound stupid because essentially in the NES, it's just all projectiles anyway, so it doesn't really matter. But just humor me. Do you prefer your shmups when they're vehicles or when they're like the weirdest things you can possibly think of? It's hard to really say because shmups are kind of all over the place with whether or not I like them, but I really liked this as a change of pace to vehicles. I'm not saying that I'd like, oh, it's got to be an animal or a dragon, but it's just like it's nice to see something different for sure.

02:42 Vehicles are like the meat and potatoes, so you always need to have that. But every once in a while, you can have an animal as a little treat. Yeah, it's nice that shmups aren't afraid to just have the thing you play as be whatever.

02:59 I would like a game in the Ace Combat style, but it's a dragon instead. That would be interesting. You have a realistic dragon simulator. Isn't that like Panzer Dragoon? No, because Panzer Dragoon's on rails. Oh, is it? I didn't know. It's like Star Fox. Well, you're right. You're right. Okay, so to get right into the game, I'm not trying to like... This is going to sound way too hype-y, but this is the first NES game in a while, and we've been playing a lot of them. We're at over 300 now. The first time in a while that I was legitimately surprised by something that an NES game did

03:44 that hasn't been done before on the console, obviously. And that is that when you start the game, you're given this prologue, as Joe mentioned, and you go right into the action, and then based on whether or not you defeat the boss at the end of this stage determines what your difficulty level is, what kind of dragon you're going to be, what happens to the story in the game. It's basically like a tutorial meets a decision tree, right? It's crazy, and I wonder if you guys had the same thing of like, huh, what just happened? Like, I've never seen that before.

04:28 I've never seen that before at all, even outside of the NES. Like, these specific circumstances. Like, the, whether or not, or however well you perform in the first level, I guess that binary is you die or you survive, it just decides the game you're going to play, and you may not even know, maybe it's in the manual, I didn't read it,

04:55 the way that I experienced it, you may not even know that there's an alternative. I know that it gives it like, gold dragon edition, or like, blue dragon edition after that, but that whole framing is just wild to me. I actually didn't know. I loved that prologue. I was like, this is really cool, because it's like, it's like before you even start the game, you like, play a slice of like, the ancient history of this world, and I thought that was really neat. I didn't know there was an alternate way to play this, like, if you died. Not to brag, but I didn't die.

05:30 But yeah, that's awesome. Like, what's that like? Not suggesting that you guys died, but does anybody know what that's like? It's a subtractive thing. Like, you get like a lesser game, which is weird to look at it that way, but that's sort of what it is. You get less levels, all the enemies die in one hit, for the most part,

05:55 and you have a different color dragon. Yeah, you become the gold dragon, and he's also faster, and can take more hits. So it's the easy mode of the game. They've assessed that you weren't able to beat what they consider the standard game, right? Like, you died in the very first level of the game that they set up, so they've decided, yeah, they've decided that you need to, like, cool down a little. And you can be the ultra-powerful golden dragon instead. I do think it's strange that they're removing entire levels from this one. Like, they're not gonna give you the complete game. Probably just makes sense to give you the stronger, easier dragon that just kind of, like,

06:37 is, you know, OP. But at the same time, I guess, like, it affects the story, too, which was, like, the thing I had to do as soon as I realized that there was a branching pad thing. I had to go back and die to see what it's like. Like, are they actually gonna change the cutscenes? And they do. That's amazing. That is awesome. Yeah, you're in some, like, like, you're in the darkest timeline

06:59 where, like, you're the kid that you play as, but, like, now is dad's dead or something. I couldn't really follow the story in the vague details of all the characters that you meet and are named in the first, like, however many minutes, but it's presenting itself as, like, oh, this is what happens if all that stuff went wrong because, yeah, you failed.

07:22 And, Mike, to your point about missing the, like, missing entire levels, I'm not even necessarily seeing it as, like, oh, yeah, they took out these levels because they're just trying to make everything easier so you have to play less game. I almost feel like, seems like that's, like, your reward is, like, yeah, you can play the easier thing, but you're not gonna get all the content. Or, if you do well in that first one, you're rewarded. You get a harder game, but you're rewarded with, like, the better story and more levels.

07:47 Yeah, no, that's a great way of putting it, that ultimately, you know, you will find out that there's another branching path. Sorry, Joe. You should have known. You will find that out, and then you will go for, like,

08:01 the, you know, the normal mode, I guess, is, right? It's not, the normal mode is the blue dragon mode, and the easy mode, the gold dragon. It's not like blue dragon mode is hard mode in what a shmup might look like. It's all perspective. But wait, how do you find out eventually?

08:17 No, you would have found out by reading the manual, or just from, like, you know, like, spending enough time with the game that, like, one time you beat the first level or one time you die, you know, like, it would be revealed to you. There's no, like, moment in the game where they're like, I got you. If only you could go back in time and save your father or something. But, you know, there is something to the locations that you travel to in this game that, like, are we a dragon and traveling through time and space? Like, we start in the, what the game, what the manual refers to as the Paleozoic era. So we are literally starting, you know, long before humans. Then you go to volcanoes,

08:54 jungles, graveyards. Everybody knows that there was, you know, the graveyards is, like, when everything was dead. And then you go to caves. This is the natural progression of the earth. Glaciers, right? Now it's the Ice Age. Deep Sea, the glaciers melted and now the, you know, everything's water. Then the Dark Quarters, we're all expecting that to come soon when the Dark Quarters are here. And then last, the Dark Castle, which is really just, like, a thing in the Dark Quarters. So, is it, like, over a, like, eons of time? I didn't get, I didn't get that from the story, obviously, but, like, what's the, it does feel like that from, like, where you're going. The Paleozoic era is, like, just east of San Bernardino.

09:36 No, it's funny. I don't have a response for that, but that's funny. It's funny that you're saying this, though, Mike, because I didn't think it was eras either, but when I played that prologue, that's what I thought the game was going to be. Like, the prologue made me think, like, wow, this is going to be, like, a cool little, like, the history of this world and I'm going to play through, like, each part of, like, the legendary history. But then it didn't end up being that, but it is funny that you were asking that. And inside each of those levels, too, there is

10:05 gameplay that matches those locations. So, in the Paleozoic era, the first level after you determine your mode, there are these, you know, I don't know if they're meteors or fireballs, I believe they're fireballs, that are being shot at you the entire stage. You're just going to have to dodge them. You're not sure where they're coming from or wherever. And then it's revealed that at the end, the boss at the end of the stage has been shooting those fireballs at you. That's a nice touch. There's also, like,

10:35 what is it? It's like, you shoot away these vines and stuff and then that creates a path for you. It's all destructible, but you must shoot at it. That's all, like, nice. I felt like every level had something that was, like, elevated beyond just, like, okay, here's some more new enemies. It was, like, new things you had to think about. Like, that webbing or they're, like, I think in that same level with the vines or whatever, there's, like, these things that fly around and leave trails of, like, honeycomb that you have to shoot through or otherwise it'll kill you and, like, that really changes up the gameplay a lot. But, yeah, every level has stuff like that. just with,

11:16 like, presentation stuff too, like, we don't talk about it often because none of us are, are really, like, don't really have the vocabulary to talk about music all that much. But also, it's got some bangers in here. It's, it's got some, some good stuff. Definitely something that I clocked right away and I especially, just, just because it's me, I've got to say, maybe my favorite of all time pause sound.

11:42 It, like, it, like, goes with the music. It's, like, it's beautiful. Well, don't tease us, you know. I'll try to play it here. Yeah, play it right here, yeah. And what it, you know, what it might lack in, in graphics compared to some other shmups or whatever, it doesn't really, like, the cutscenes bring some great, some great sprite work to it. And, you know, everything is,

12:10 I think, especially, the bosses, like, everything's cool. It's just, you know, sometimes it's, like, the background is a solid black or a solid blue. You know, there's, like, moments like that. But I think, because the actual levels themselves, like, play along to their theme and it's not just, it's not just, like, oh, we're gonna design these backgrounds to be, like, super vivid jungles, but you can't interact with them. Because it's the reverse, it actually gets, like, a pass, right?

12:36 Yeah, and I think that there are, like, there are definitely a lot of those times that you're describing where it's, like, a black background with, like, with, like, items on it or, like, patches of grass and trees on it. But then there are some that are, like, very, I don't know, a lot of the, a lot of the stages are very, like,

12:53 the art, it feels very, like, epic and it feels like you're not, this isn't just a re-skin shmup, it feels like you're a dragon flying through a fantasy land, you know? Yeah, I also think that, I mean, maybe this is me giving it too much credit because we're, we're heaping a lot of praise in this game so far, um, but it, there's a lot of shmups that have very busy backgrounds that can just completely mess with your vision, trying to see all these, uh, projectiles that you're trying to avoid or, like, enemies blending into,

13:26 uh, the brown ground and, so I think that, like, it's also just good for, um, the, how coherent the field looks with some of this minimalist, uh, stuff here. Yeah. Now, the, you know, the thematic, uh, locations, or whatever you want to call them, the gameplay mechanics working in their favor, uh, sometimes that can also lead to very frustrating moments, though, too, where it's like, yeah, this is designed in a really neat way, but you've made it, uh, very challenging, uh, to the player, regardless of their, uh, you know, like, skill level or whatever,

14:37 uh, and I'm thinking specifically when I got to the cave and the cave continues to, like, close in on you and create really just a narrow corridor where conveniently all of the enemies can go through the, the parts of the cave that will kill the dragon, but you can't go through them, so they're able to go both around you and come directly at you and you have to kind of just carefully, like, you know, it's not a fluid motion to your controls on the D-pad, right? You kind of stutter a little bit if you just tap the right, you just dance, you take, like,

15:40 pyramids, that, yep, that's the cave one as well. Okay, yeah, so, I guess we're talking about the same thing. The pyramids come out and then just become part of the, uh, the terrain, really, uh, that same, like, you don't touch the, the cave wall because it'll kill you, same with these pyramids, but these sort of, like, blink in and out, and it, it's, it's not like it's hard to avoid, but sometimes, if you're trying to dodge other things, it becomes hard to avoid, uh, so yes, I think that that could, that, that got a little annoying. I wouldn't say it was just, like, it, it killed my entire playthrough, though.

16:20 Yeah, the, the motion thing, like, didn't bother me so much, uh, but yeah, I, I did, the, the pyramids, and, like, a couple of other instances like that, where there's, like, there's, like, obstacles coming out of the ground that you're not, like, sure, like, totally sure where it's coming from. Yeah, exactly, will this hurt me? Or, a little bit of a different situation, but, like, towards, like, the end, and, like, one of the last couple levels, there are dead ends that, like, yes, you can normally see just before it's too late, but, like, it's very close to when it's too late, so, like, that, that's kind of annoying,

16:54 but, I, I guess I didn't focus on that stuff as much because, compared to a lot of shmups, this one felt a lot, it's not easy, but it felt a lot more accomplishable to me to, like, get good at this shmup than most shmups. Like, I, I don't know, something about it felt that way. I do want to talk about that, Joe, because there is something fair about the game. Like you said, it's not easy, and, I, I'm talking about the blue dragon mode that I think is fair, not the gold one, which, honestly is, you know, is easy.

17:26 Uh, yeah, the, the blue dragon mode, it's fair, and I think what I determined, and this is not scientific, I didn't go back and study every shmup we've played, but I think it has to do with the scrolling speed. Like, it doesn't, it doesn't scroll, like, too fast, it gives you enough time to, like, recognize enemies entering the screen. The enemies never just, like, ambush you, like, six at a time from one side, like a, like a Galaga game, like would. You don't have those kinds of moments in here, so instead, it's more like,

17:57 just, you know, field control, and making sure that you know where everything is on the screen, and, you know, I'm not saying that it, like, moves in a loading screen-like pace where it just, like, slowly starts to reveal the rest of the level. It is scrolling, but it just feels like it's so much slower compared to, like, Life Force and, you know, Gun.Smoke and other games where, like, you know, you were in control of your character and could move completely through the screen, but you can't control how fast it scrolls, so that matters in these games. I mean, I think that the,

18:29 it's almost, like, hard to watch how slow the game scrolls, but, I say that in more of, like, a, this doesn't feel right sort of thing, it helps with, sort of, what I mentioned before, which is just, like, the legibility of these levels,

18:50 so that a lot of the, the more, the enemies on the ground, yes, you will see them coming, they're still definitely the ones that sort of come in in waves that aren't tied to the scroll screen, the scroll speed, but I, I think that helps just with getting a handle on everything and levels like that cave where the walls will close in on you would be impossible if it was, like, a normal speed. 100%. Yeah, you get, like, what, what feels like in real time a lot of extra time to react to things that are ahead of you than you would in, like, a Gradius or something.

20:05 Sean, you mentioned the enemies on the ground and that is a good segue for us to talk about that not only is there a variety of different types of enemies, there's different ways ways to fight these enemies. The enemies on the ground require a different input than the enemies in the sky and so you shoot at objects in the air with B and on the ground with A. We could get into a whole discussion on whether it should have been flipped, if A should have been for the air because it's, you know, A for air, that would have made sense.

20:38 I'm kidding, of course. Yeah, we are not, or bombs away because you dropped the bombs down. That's true. We're not going to get into that today, that could have been a one hour long podcast. I was thinking the A button is above the B button on the NES controller so A is up and B is down. Are you looking at it sideways? No.

20:58 Are you? No, but if you do, yeah, the A is, yeah, that's true, if you hold the controller sideways, it would be above the B button, it would be north of the B button to go back to an old reference. Isn't it kind of like on a diagonal where the A is up above the B? No, they're side by side. I must be thinking, I mean, I'm playing on a PlayStation controller. What Mad Cat's controller are you playing with? I must be thinking of the Super Nintendo controller. we've been playing the system for so long. Yeah, that Joe forgot how the controller looks.

21:30 Yes, you are thinking of the Super Nintendo, which is- You know what I'm actually thinking of is the Game Boy. Well, the Game Boy is a ripoff of the Super Nintendo. Is that so? No. There's only two buttons. The Game Boy Advance is also not. It's a fucking ripoff. The DS is the first one, right, with the X and Y buttons. The Game Boy Advance only had B and A as well.

21:49 But yes, you bring up a good point. The Game Boy did have them on like a slant. So why didn't the NES? But the NES definitely did not. Well, I'll see that way out. I say definitely did not, but I'm- No, I'm sure there was like some kind of- Right? Didn't the NES like the Nintendo officially, not even like a bootleg, they made

22:09 other controllers and I think one of them either like the NES Max or Turbo or something like that is what you're describing where it is on a slant. that's what I was thinking of. Definitely, yes. Yes, the NES Max pad. Everything's on a slant. I just realized right now that my right arm is longer than my left arm so I actually hold the controller at a slant. Oh. Yeah, but do you see what I'm talking about with the NES Max controller? I just posted it in the chat for you guys.

22:32 Everything is on a slant to accommodate Joe here. They put the start and select buttons on a slant. The turbo buttons are on a slant. The directional stick is a little different. It's a stick now, not a pad, not a cross. So that's cool. Kind of hate it, to be honest. Yeah, I like how they took the picture of this slanted so everything is actually straight except for the controller looks slanted now.

22:56 That's true, yeah. Even NES Max is slanted. Nintendo is slanted. Enough, enough about the controller because we have to go back to the game. I said it could have been an hour long podcast and we almost got there. To go back to the game,

23:10 is it just like another thing to lay on to like the game that, you know, oh, there are enemies on the ground and enemies in the air or is it become, does it become a management thing? Does it make the game more challenging as a result? Bolt, you can't spam the B and the A button at the same time and shoot Bolt at the same time but I did find that that did work. Like, if you hit him at the same time, it'll be like the first shot is the air shot, the next shot's the ground shot and so you don't even have to think about it. That's a little bit of a cheat but that also exists as an option. I'm gonna shut up. Sean, your thoughts on air and ground enemies?

23:49 I don't really know what my opinion was of, like, because one of, I feel like since we've been playing shmups, this has been a mechanic that, uh, that we played around with and we just haven't seen it in a while.

24:05 Um, but I, and I don't know what my opinion on it was then but I would, I very much like it now because it gives you something else to think about and you do have to manage that and you do have to change your, uh, your approach when there is a, an aerial enemy and a ground enemy near each other. You have to, uh, make sure that you can actually get both of them and while that is a very simple thing and one wouldn't really call taking care of these things a strategy, I think having that other action that you have to do is important to, you know, keep this stuff fresh because we played so many shmups that it's hard to keep fresh.

24:49 Yeah, and it also, it adds to, like, your feeling of agency rather than it's just like, oh, I'm just flying and just holding down the fire button and just anything in my way I will shoot and, you know, like, yeah, you, you have,

25:02 you have some thinking to do, you know, and like, you, you feel a little more in control of the dragon and I think that this, this style has been cool in the past when we've done, like, games where you're a plane and you're, like, bombing things on the ground and shooting things out of the air but something particularly about being the dragon and I think also, like, combined with the slow movement and the power-ups really feels like you are laying waste to, like, the aerial and ground enemies like, you are, you are death from above in this game like, you feel very strong especially when you get those power-ups. Especially in

25:37 Paleozoic era, like, I know that those, that these Stegosaurus's are shooting fireballs at you like any enemy in a shmup but, like, you are just, like, eradicating the dinosaurs. Yes. And, and, and they fire so slowly that it almost feels like that they're defenseless. So, sorry, that was just an aside. And you're rewarded for clearing out all enemies because they're, it's not like power-ups are just,

26:02 uh, things you find on screen. They are, uh, things that you blow up whether they are glowing enemies or, um, pods you find on the ground. I saw them as, like, deflated balloons, but yeah. Yeah, okay. Um, yeah, deflated balloons. That's paleozerogera. That's where those, that's where those, like, originated from. We just happen to still have them around, but they're a finite resource.

26:24 Most microplastics were littered by the T-Rexes. Yeah, it's not my fault. Birthday parties. It's not my responsibility. Exactly. They had birthday parties back in the dinosaurs. Yeah.

26:36 Okay, uh, the power-ups, uh, not only being, like, oh yeah, they're available both on the ground and the air. Obviously, you have to do crowd control anyway, so they want you killing stuff, but what I found interesting is that the power-ups on the ground are different than the power-ups in the air. Yeah, I couldn't really tell what any of them was specifically changing aside from the ones that, like, kind of show either, like, a trident or a bident. And even then, Sean, you're, like, still losing.

27:03 Like, you're not quite understanding, like, there's not enough time. Like, these power-ups come kind of rapidly. Like, I felt like, I wasn't sure, you know, is this, like, something where, like, I have to keep collecting the same color? Uh, you know, we've played shmups like that, where you have, you know, if you keep collecting the blue ones, eventually you'll reach the final form of that power-up. Uh, here, it was like, alright, I think I'm just gonna keep collecting things and just let my dragon go through information like no other. Yeah. Like, the only reason that I knew what those were for is because they were semi-recognizable and I noticed that whenever I got them,

27:36 um, I would either have, like, one, two, or three heads, which is also awesome. Um, playing as a three-headed dragon is cooler than playing as a two-headed dragon is cooler than playing as a singular headed dragon. It's the King Ghidorah game I didn't know I needed. Exactly.

27:56 See, I'd go as far as to say that I sometimes didn't even really know what the power-up I just picked up did because I'm just noticing, like, whoa, I'm, like, I'm green now. Yeah, yeah, and there's, like, but, like, clearly it's doing something. It's just, like, sometimes, yeah, you have the three heads, you're shooting three projectiles, sometimes you're shooting, like, multiple projectiles out of each head, and then the projectiles are, like, huh? Sometimes you have, like, little, yeah, many, uh, dragons following you. yes, like, that, every time I thought that I was done discovering power-ups, I would find something new, but, like, but then there's also, like, stuff with what feels, like, changes the, um, projectile speed,

28:40 which I'm assuming makes it more powerful, and it just kind of all eventually kind of blended together as, like, wow, I'm just getting way more powerful in a lot of ways. Yes, but it, but it is hard, right, Joe, to, like, keep track of, like, all right, but now, did that cancel out? Like, by collecting this power-up, did I lose, like,

28:57 how do I increase my spread infinitely? Is it just something that I needed to, uh, dodge certain power-ups and collect others? I don't think, I guess I never, I think there's, there are certain, there are certain upgrades, and again, this is just us talking out of our ass, I think, um, certain updates are just linear, and you keep getting more, and, like, that's, like, your rate of fire, um, I think there's health pickups, right? Like, those are just, like, just keep picking them up, um, and then there's the ones that actually, like, change your mode of fire, like, there's a W-shaped one, and I'm pretty sure that one changes

29:33 your, uh, your firing pattern from straight ahead to, like, a cone, and then there are the ones that, like, oh, do you, are you shooting double, are you shooting triple, are you shooting singular? I think those are, like, they add to each other as well, but I could be wrong. And I found it really interesting that there were also, there was also a power-up that just makes you smaller,

29:57 and gives you a smaller hitbox. Yeah, that's funny, yeah, I appreciate that. It's not something that you'd see, because it doesn't feel like, oh, I've gotten more powerful, but you have, you do have an advantage now. So is the verdict that it's confusing, but it doesn't matter, because it's awesome? Yeah, I'd say so. It seems like that's, yeah. I feel like it's confusing in a way that, yeah, was not relevant. It's like, if I were trying to figure out what each things were doing, yes, it's confusing, but I wasn't. I was just like, cool, I'm more powerful.

30:23 Right, like, in a harder game, a Gradius, right, you would want to know what every power-up does, and you specifically choose when to execute on a power-up to, like, I'm going to add this to my arsenal now, like, I collected enough of these, I want another option, or I want a laser now.

30:43 You need those for those levels, because as soon as you die, like, you lose it all. In this one, yeah, as soon as you die, you lose it all, but, like, it's not that hard to start getting powerful again? Do we agree with that? I did notice that, like, when I would drop back down, because it does do the Gradius thing where you lose everything, but, like, I, you're able to, they do sprinkle upgrades in the beginning of the level, because there will be times where you can't find any, but, it's kind of front-loaded, so you can at least get to something manageable pretty quickly.

31:41 There are power-ups in the levels, but then there are also power-ups in between the levels, too, exclusive to the blue dragon mode. There are the maidens, or maids, it wasn't clear to me,

31:56 they are like, you have to do a certain thing, so that at the end of the stage, they can grant you, like, a special power, and the first area, it always appears regardless, just to, like, let you know that they exist, but then in the other ones, there are, like, certain conditions that you need to meet in order for them to restore your energy or give you an extra life. It's pretty cool. I, uh, I definitely read these cutscenes, and I didn't, like, catch, does it tell you what you have to do for the next one? Unfortunately, no. Oh, okay. It's not even in the manual, I checked there as well, uh, I had to go to GameFAQs to find out, and, uh, it is a little arbitrary, it's not, it's more like, not something,

32:44 I would think that in a game that wanted to reward you on an end of level thing, you know, especially, especially when it's like, it would inform you? Well, yeah, not even just inform you, but, like, also make it something, like, skill conditioned based, like, oh, 90% accuracy, right? Like, so you didn't just spam the fire button all the time. Oh, yeah. Or, or destroyed this many, uh, enemies, or had this many points, right? But instead, it's like, if your dragon had less than three heads, it'll restore your energy, because I guess it assumes you're worse off, if you didn't have, like, the full power up, you know? That's not what I wanted, when I saw, when I saw those results.

33:22 So wait, so, like, they are, they are just restoring your health, or there are actual abilities that they give you? No, they don't give you new abilities. They're, they're restoring or giving you extra lives. I got you. So I had, like, a couple times where it says, like, where whoever it was said, like, oh, I'll restore your health, but I didn't know why. It maybe happened, like, once or twice, and then I just assumed it was happening

33:44 all the time, and they just weren't calling it out, but I guess not. I guess I just missed those things. Yeah, you must have not have met the conditions, although you will still meet the, like, shadow version of, of the maiden. Oh, that's why they weren't colored in. I see. Yes, yeah, it's like, you, it's letting, the game's letting you know, again, cryptically, that you didn't meet the criteria, that they won't tell you.

34:08 So, probably, uh, I don't know, is, is that what you want? Like, shouldn't it just restore your energy regardless between stages? I don't think it needs to, but I think they need to communicate what you need to do to do it, you know? Like, yeah, I think that's the only issue here. Yeah, definitely. It's, it's, it's just one of those things, especially like, before the age of the internet or anything like that, it's just, it's just kind of not fair. Who would figure it out just randomly? Like, that's not, that's not good gameplay. And Joe, were you advocating for the maidens giving you, like,

34:41 new permanent power-ups of some kind? Um, I mean, that would be cool. It's not necessarily what I was advocating for. It's just what I thought you meant. So, I was just clarifying. Because I didn't know that there was this, like, condition you had to meet to, so I thought it was maybe like, oh, you get this secret power-up or something. Like, I feel like it would be, I would be more okay with the not knowing, even though I'd still wish that you wouldn't know what the condition was, but I'd be more okay with the not knowing if it was like this secret, really cool power-up. If it's just to restore your health, like, there should be a way to do that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It feels like, if you're going to make it hard

35:18 to unlock in the first place, it should be a bigger reward, but whatever. And it is only locked off to the blue dragon mode, so I guess they determined that in the gold dragon mode, it's easy enough that you won't be needing these extra lives and such. They're really insulting.

35:34 You know what else is insulting, Sean? What's that? they didn't use the select button for anything in this game. I mean, you don't have to use the select button. Do you need to use every button on a controller in order for your game to be worthwhile? I don't think so. I don't think so at all. In fact, there are games that only use one input that are just as, that are just as good. Well said, Sean.

36:02 Not that one. I had in my notes, yeah, I had in my notes here, the debate continues, but it seems like you have, uh, just closed the argument altogether. Nobody can dispute that. Was this an existing debate? It wasn't an existing debate. The debate actually was more about like the select button being a pause button versus selecting a mode. Right. I, I think the, the worst thing that they could have done is that the, the A to shoot. You select is fire. Yeah, or no, yeah, like to shoot on the ground versus shooting in the air, you have to select. Oh God. Now you're in air mode. And now you're in ground mode.

36:40 Um, that would, you know, and then A and B are just to shoot out of each head. Like A shoots out of the main head, B shoots out of the side heads. I like that. It's sort of like an akimbo thing.

36:51 For the rest of the story, we talked about the cool opening thing where it's like either dad dies and you take up the mantle or not. Uh, did you follow the story the rest of the way? Did you care anymore? It feels like it's very front loaded. Uh, similar, similar. This is a weird sentence. Dragon Spirit, the new legend, feels like its story is front loaded in a way similar to Chippendale Rescue Rangers. Ah, yes, the, uh, the archetype for front loaded, uh, story content. Yeah, it's like a metroidvania. It's like a, it's like a castle or dragondale.

37:29 Or, uh, castle of dragon. Wow, we got there. Um, I would say that I couldn't follow it even though it was very simple. Like, they, they're giving me a bunch of names already. Like, is Iris my sister? Did I save my sister? Is that what we did? Yeah. Okay. Then I did follow it. Yeah, you're like, uh, Luke and Leia, you know? You were confused, so you were actually probably attracted to Iris, but then found out later on that she's your sister. I was retconned to being my sister.

38:03 Um, following the story, I mean, yeah, I, I was like really into it at the very beginning. I was like, this is like epic and it's like this, yeah, this actual legend, I guess it makes sense. Uh, and I did sort of like, I still thought it was cool going on, but I was like, okay, cool. This is fine. And I just like, didn't really care so much like by the end.

38:44 On the sequels and spinoff side, so Dragon Spirit, no subtitle, is a, uh, arcade game and, was ported to a bunch of other ones too, but the NES one expands on the, um, like, concepts a lot that were in the first game, so it's not a port of that first game, but it's also not a port of that first game because of the story additions. So, the new legend both refers to the expanded story and, um, the extra levels and, um, mechanics and, and things that were introduced. So, the arcade,

39:20 you know, is cool for a different reason. Like, it, it still works, but it's more basic and, uh, you know, a lot older than the NES game. On the, uh, actual sequel side, there's Dragon Saber After Story of Dragon Spirit, uh, which is weird, right? Uh, it's called After Story? After Story of Dragon Spirit. Yeah, it feels like someone at Square got their hands on this. Wait, specifically After Story of Dragon Spirit? After Story of Dragon Spirit, right, that's what I'm saying, that's where it gets confusing. Just call it Dragon Spirit After Story, right? Like, Dragon Saber After Story? Yeah. Yeah, Dragon Spirit 2 sounds better. Like, After Story,

40:05 it sounds, yeah, you're right, it's very much birth by sleep. I, you know, maybe that's why I do sort of like After Story, it sounds kind of cool to me. You would. But Dragon Saber, like, I don't know, like, I wouldn't think that this is a sequel to Dragon Spirit, right? Like, you don't just continue to change, like, you don't change. It's not the Dragonverse, you don't, you're not the only game that has Dragon in the title, so, don't pretend that you do. The quote here I have about Dragon, it's Dragon Saber, is he talking about? Okay.

40:43 Namco artist, Shugiyama, said that he basically wanted the game to appeal to anyone instead of mostly hardcore shooter enthusiasts, and one that many could find a degree of satisfaction in. So, it explains that it's not just us being good at the game, they literally made it easier to appease the masses, us being part of them. Sounds about right. It seems like a concerted effort, there being, like, a full, like,

41:13 not baby mode, but I guess it's the, like, as closest as you can get to a baby mode in an NES game. And Dragon Saber allows you to co-op the campaign now, so you can have a blue dragon, and your friend can control the red dragon, and they don't do anything different from each other. And we're not about to do anything different on how we end this episode. We are going to end this episode, like every, with the Essential Games List. Dragon Spirit, the new legend, is the best dragon game I've played in the last four weeks.

41:52 And that much I know to be an absolute fact, but I also know that this is one of the best shmups I've played on the NES, if not all shmups. And I think it has to do with how easy it is, and that makes me concerned for my sanity. Am I just starting to like games that are easy because I've been playing so many hard NES games? That we will see with time, but right now, just given the fact that this game actually surprised me, we're always talking about, like, oh, you want the, like a good video game, a good movie, a good, any kind of entertainment. In life, you want your expectations to be subverted. And Dragon Spirit really did that at the beginning and then became a very pleasant game onwards. Whether you're playing the Golden Dragon easy mode,

42:39 again, maybe to Joe's point, like you wouldn't even know that you were playing the easy mode of the game. You thought like, oh, that was a scripted death event. Or, instead, you play the Blue Dragon mode and you're rewarded with, a longer game, but it's not an incredibly challenging game and it's a fun game. And you will die, but you have lives and you will make it through it and I will make it through this vote by voting it essential. Joe? I feel like a lot of times we talk about games that come along and we're like, okay, this was a really good game, but it just didn't do enough to, like, spice itself up to stand out. So, like, it just didn't do enough to be, like, this is definitely essential.

43:19 And, this was a really good game and I think did plenty of things despite, I mean, like, we talked about the music is beautiful, the art and, like, the different, um, different, like, enemy types and, like, the styles of the art there. And just the gameplay, the story, like, the whole package is really cool and, you know, as someone who usually isn't very high on shmups, I really did like this game. And granted, uh, it's definitely in, like, an atmosphere that is maybe a little more catered towards me anyways, but I think beyond that, this was also one of the most fun I had with a shmup. I'm a little more confident that it might be, like, partially because it was easier,

43:57 but also, um, I liked it a lot. Also, just want to clarify, because, like you said, to Joe's point, maybe you wouldn't know you were playing the easy dragon. Just want to clarify that I was playing the hard dragon, didn't know I No, no, I know, I know. I know that's not what you meant, but I wanted to specify. Um, but yeah, I'm going to definitely throw this an essential vote. Yeah, I was just trying to change the narrative that you're a good video game player. Yeah, exactly. I don't want anyone to think that you, um, can beat, uh, all the final bosses in Kingdom Hearts, uh, three. I just got my first platinum trophy on Kingdom Hearts ever. Whoa. Okay. Maybe you can. Yeah. No, that's important. That up, Sean. Yeah.

44:37 Sean, what have you platinum lately? Or what have you voted essential lately? Will you join me and Joe? It doesn't really matter because we've already decided it's going to be on, but you can draw a line in the sand if you wish. Sean, your vote.

44:51 Um, okay. I feel like that was, that was, it doesn't matter what you feel like. Yeah. I felt like I've said like a mean thing and then Mike like went on to it. I was like, well, now I feel even meaner because that was kind of like, yes, we ganged up. Very mean. Uh, I think it's because Joe defended himself when he should have just like shut up and, and been okay with, uh, being called bad video games. No more. Yeah. Um, but you know, all that aside,

45:21 um, I, you know what? No, now I'm not doing it. Um, I actually hated this game and thought that how surprising it was, was really terrible. Like I, like I hate being surprised because that means that I don't know how the world works. You know, that means that I like, I can't say I knew that would happen. Um,

45:44 okay, sorry. It's done. I, I was very surprised by this game. I thought, you know, especially, I think in the last episode we were like, what do you think it is? And like, Oh, it's probably another shmup. And I was right. And that was kind of funny, but I didn't realize it was going to be like an actual good shmup with actual new things to do and say. And, um, we would actually have things to talk about for 40 minutes that, uh, aren't us just sort of retreading other reviews with kind of just forgetting what we said in them. Um, one of the most surprising starts to a game I've ever played. Um, the, the music's great. The, all the enemies are,

46:27 they do weird things in each level and each level feels different and more just than just like reskins. Um, uh, and, and again, just going back to the beginning, the fact that it diverts so much, um, like it just reminded me of a more modern game. and you might call me crazy for comparing it this way, but like in the beginning of Baldur's Gate 3,

46:52 I failed a skill check and missed one of like the most beloved characters in the game and didn't notice until I was halfway through the game. Um, it's not quite that, but it reminded me of that sort of like blink and you miss it. There's, there's a lot of stuff going on here kind of moments. So yes, I'm going to also call this an essential game, um, so that it can be unanimous. Um, but in, in the future,

47:20 I will withhold something like an essential vote because I've been offended in some way. Hmm. Good. Now you said a lot of great things and I had some comments about some of the points you made, but you talked for so long that I forgot them all. Good. Sean, you know what would really make me mad if you wanted to offend me is if you were to like throw a vote at, Zelda two, never disingenuine vote at Zelda two. I would hate that. Absolutely not. Yeah. Cause then it wouldn't get there, uh, for the right reasons, Joe. Right. Exactly. You would have to try to take it off. Yeah.

47:54 Uh, all right. That's the episode. It's been a good episode, uh, for more good episodes, tune in every Friday and for great episodes of games you probably haven't played, check out nostalgia bites. That's where we play games from the Famicom and potentially other libraries as well. You can get there, uh, to that podcast by going to patreon.com slash nostalgia. And, uh, that little mistake there I made at the end, you can tell that,

48:19 you know, I'm clearly just riffing. These are not sales pitches. These are just me talking to you. Hopefully you're having a great day or about to have a great day, depending on what time you listen to the podcast. Joe say, have a great day. Have a great day, everyone. And then Sean cover our bases. Say, have a great night. Sean's not speaking to you. Yeah. He took it. This is, this is how he gets us back. Okay. Well, that's fine. Uh, cue the music. Yes. Thank you.