RetroGameClub #1 - Little Samson (Lickle)

[Sayo]

https://ᏟDᏒ.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/little-samson.jpg

The concept behind this thread is quite simple, one game is chosen and you are all invited to play it till completion (or at least as far as you can) and we use this thread to discuss it.
I was thinking about having a deadline for the thread to encourage people to progress in the game, so let's go with ten days from the creation date of the thread, this might change if the game that was chosen is too long.
So to summarize

• A game is chosen (probably by user suggestion)
• It can be a game for any retro console or computer, if it's something like a modern port or decompilation that's okay too
• Preferably lesser known titles instead of something everyone has already played
• Play the game till completion or at least as far as you can get in the game
• Use any means to play the game, be it emulation or real hardware
• Links will be provided, preferably from ᏟDᏒ, if the game is not available there, I can curate it for CDR.
• If you are using save states or similar, please be honest and disclose it

For this first iteration of Retro Game Club, I've taken the liberty of choosing the game we will be playing, Little Samson by Takeru from 1992.
The ROM can be found here on ᏟDᏒ: Little Samson Restoration + Pleasant Shot Sound (Hack) NES ROM
While I have known about this game for quite a while, I have never gotten too far into it so a lot of this will be really new to me, I know the game is highly regarded for its high quality visuals, decent gameplay, chirpy tunes and overall polish.
It seems to be a solid and highly overlooked platformer by former Capcom employees that fetches a pretty penny these days due to how poorly it sold back when it released.
Please let me know if anything about this thread breaks the rules
Some links of interest

• Harcore Gaming 101 article about the game
• Soundtrack on Youtube
• Gaming Historian video on the game

Hey so I had this idea for a thread, and I was wondering if anyone would be onboard with it so I'll give it a shot here now that I have some more free time.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

I love this idea and is something I've also wanted to start up but haven't gotten around to figuring out the details of organizing one, so I'm really happy you did! Consider me in! I'm going to play some of it tonight :)
I've only played a few minutes of this game when I tried it out years ago, but it was only to check out the great sprite animations I heard that this game had (for a NES title). Now I have some motivation to complete this game! Looking forward to hearing everyone's opinions on it.

 

[Sayo]

I love this idea and is something I've also wanted to start up but haven't gotten around to figuring out the details of organizing one, so I'm really happy you did! Consider me in! I'm going to play some of it tonight :)
I've only played a few minutes of this game when I tried it out years ago, but it was only to check out the great sprite animations I heard that this game had (for a NES title). Now I have some motivation to complete this game! Looking forward to hearing everyone's opinions on it.

I'm glad to hear that, I'm boiling some tea and gonna play it too and will post as i go along

Okay so, you can stick to walls when playing as Samson, kind of like Ninja Gaiden but less jank, also you

can fire like Mega Man's standard Mega Buster but you can also crouch and fire while crouching.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

Yes Im definitely getting some Mega Man vibes here. The sound effect when you kill an enemy sounds very familiar with the one used in the Mega Man series. The controls are really tight, sticking to walls is done very well here. If ONLY Ninja Gaiden had it done this way! And I love that one of the characters can crouch. Makes me wonder why Capcom never game Mega Man the ability to crouch.
I died at the mountain boss and I didn't expect

Spoiler

to be transported to an entirely new stage and apparently different route on the map

. I considered reloading my save but figured I'll just go with it and see where it takes me. Looking forward to more surprises like that!

 

[Sayo]

Yes Im definitely getting some Mega Man vibes here. The sound effect when you kill an enemy sounds very familiar with the one used in the Mega Man series. The controls are really tight, sticking to walls is done very well here. If ONLY Ninja Gaiden had it done this way! And I love that one of the characters can crouch. Makes me wonder why Capcom never game Mega Man the ability to crouch.
I died at the mountain boss and I didn't expect

Spoiler

to be transported to an entirely new stage and apparently different route on the map

. I considered reloading my save but figured I'll just go with it and see where it takes me. Looking forward to more surprises like that!
View attachment 1753

Oh wow that spoiler sure is something, I look forward to that.
I feel like this game has a good risk and reward system going on where you can try playing a stage with an alternate character and potentially avoid enemies or get an extra item, but the level design might suffer a little because of it.
This definitely has Mega Man DNA written all over it, as for crouching in MM, Capcom surprisingly did it but it was for a mobile gacha game

There's a very annoying Red Arremer type character, it's very infuriating lol.

I think the Mouse might be my favorite character so far.
Here's a tip for y'all: If you are about to die, switch to Little Samson (human) really quick or else you will lose the other characters until the stage is clear or you game over.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Oh, I've seen this game reviewed by SNESDrunk and I've been meaning to check it out. Maybe I'll give it a whirl. Gives me some Little Nemo vibes.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

Oh, I've seen this game reviewed by SNESDrunk and I've been meaning to check it out. Maybe I'll give it a whirl. Gives me some Little Nemo vibes.

Please do and feel free to share your experience :)

 

[Sayo]

Oh my god the secret crab stage, the PAIN
On top of that, my computer got rebooted so I lost my health extension and now I am relying on the stage password, trying to beat some of these bosses with base health is pure suffering, especially the wizard from the crab stage because you only have Samson in said stage.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

Yeah took me a couple deaths before I got the hang of holding on to the ceiling and moving ?
Going to try and progress further after work today.

 

[Sayo]

Yeah took me a couple deaths before I got the hang of holding on to the ceiling and moving ?
Going to try and progress further after work today.

I'm busy right now but later today I will get back to it and try to beat that cursed stage LOL

 

[sandogma sandogma]

Ohhh if you thought THAT stage was cursed, just you wait lol
I ended up having to abuse the save state feature in RetroArch in order to avoid a game over.
Pro tip: It wasn't until my 6th or so death that I realized you can still stand on the blocks after they disappear. Otherwise this level would have been damn near impossible!

 

[Sayo]

Ohhh if you thought THAT stage was cursed, just you wait lol
I ended up having to abuse the save state feature in RetroArch in order to avoid a game over.
Pro tip: It wasn't until my 6th or so death that I realized you can still stand on the blocks after they disappear. Otherwise this level would have been damn near impossible!
View attachment 1771

I actually skipped the crab stage because I got annoyed by the wizard so i ended up just defeating the mermaid, which was really easy with the dragon. Apparently there might be more hidden stages from a comment I read online
Also disappearing platforms? Great, that's my most hated Mega Man gimmick XD
edit: holy crap i forgot to re enable my NTSC filter

Oh boy flying skull enemies, and they rotate

 

[Sayo]

THIS IS WHAT HELL LOOKS LIKE

 

[Sayo]

Hey guys I haven't cleared the game, I've been sick for these past few days but today I cleared the awful disappearing platform stage

 

[Yankee]

I've also known about Little Samson for a long time but never really gave it a play, so I'm glad there's a thread and activity like this. Great idea.

I'm playing it on Mesen emulator with my Hudson Famicom controller through USB adapter for Turbo-Fire, though like many games this one restricts you to 3 projectiles on screen so it's not that useful.

First off: Good move on the name. A lot of times I think that localizers overstep and overcorrect things with the idea that they decide what the gaming public will like but this is one time when they were absolutely right to make a change. LICKLE? Hell nah man no one is buying LICKLE. That's for sure.
I can't say the same for the typical Western Uglification of the boxart, but in this case maybe the Japanese was a little too cutesy for the 5-10 year old boy demographic that entirely comprised American Video-Gaming back then.

Anyways, about the game itself. It's really impressive to get four distinct looking and controlling characters. I'm amazed that we're used to things like just different color palettes, projectiles or weapon sprites from games like TMNT and Mega Man while over here is a game where your entire gameplay style changes, including (but not limited to) different run speeds, jump heights, movement abilities and health bars - and you can switch on the fly! Every stage is being made for four very different characters. It's really something.

I just finished the tutorial stages. It's really cool you have to fight the dragon you play as as Lickle too, like the Golem and the Mouse are fine with this kid joining the quest but you gotta prove it to the dragon or he won't respect you.

I'll definitely be playing more later.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

I started playing the game tonight and for sure this game is worthy of the hidden gem label. I beat the first 4 levels and now I'm fighting the dragon as Samson and he is handing me my ass back to me. This game does not go easy on you. But I enjoy the sadistic game design, it hits differently.

BTW, I have no idea what the story is supposed to be for this game but this King is something else. Just brings all the heroes together to fight in a bloodsport tournament for his amusement.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

This game is edging near the "Nintendo hard' feel to it but its never too punishing, thankfully. For example, there are definitely areas where you can farm for extra lives and refilling your health.

These ghosts keep respawning and will drop hearts and extra lives. I also like this levels visual style.

The cute little skeleton minions basically kill themselves by charging into the wall and will sometimes drop hearts.

Now I enter the Volcano, I can feel that I am near the end of this journey...

 

[Yankee]

Be careful thinking you're almost done! You never know when a game is gonna throw a second quest at you. There are many illusions and traps devisut by Satan.

 

[Shadowruls]

I'm really liking this idea. Can we get a dedicated slot under "Retro Gaming Talk" for this series of threads? I feel like it shouldn't be mixed in with all of the other topics

Post automatically merged: Nov 9, 2024

So I tried the game out for a bit, and there is a lot to love here, but damn, those few things like a character being unplayable if you die during a stage pisses me off. And I can only imagine how the game would sound without the megabuster (baseball?) sound patch. If it weren't for a few glaring design flaws, I think this could have been an absolute masterpiece.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

The Volcano stage/level was a lot easier compared to the some of the previous ones, in my opinion. The Volcano boss was a pain until I figured out a safe place to attack.
The bottom platform with the dragon was the sweet spot to attack, since the dragon can clip through the platform above, allowing you to high jump and attack the Dragon

The next stage/level was a touch more difficult, but nothing crazy. The boss wasn't too bad once I figured out a good strategy.
This time I finally found a good use for the knight lol

Onto, what I presume, is the final area!

 

[Sayo]

I've also known about Little Samson for a long time but never really gave it a play, so I'm glad there's a thread and activity like this. Great idea.

I'm playing it on Mesen emulator with my Hudson Famicom controller through USB adapter for Turbo-Fire, though like many games this one restricts you to 3 projectiles on screen so it's not that useful.

First off: Good move on the name. A lot of times I think that localizers overstep and overcorrect things with the idea that they decide what the gaming public will like but this is one time when they were absolutely right to make a change. LICKLE? Hell nah man no one is buying LICKLE. That's for sure.
I can't say the same for the typical Western Uglification of the boxart, but in this case maybe the Japanese was a little too cutesy for the 5-10 year old boy demographic that entirely comprised American Video-Gaming back then.

Anyways, about the game itself. It's really impressive to get four distinct looking and controlling characters. I'm amazed that we're used to things like just different color palettes, projectiles or weapon sprites from games like TMNT and Mega Man while over here is a game where your entire gameplay style changes, including (but not limited to) different run speeds, jump heights, movement abilities and health bars - and you can switch on the fly! Every stage is being made for four very different characters. It's really something.

I just finished the tutorial stages. It's really cool you have to fight the dragon you play as as Lickle too, like the Golem and the Mouse are fine with this kid joining the quest but you gotta prove it to the dragon or he won't respect you.

I'll definitely be playing more later.

Yeah I generally am opposed to localization but this game really needed a new title, I don't know if Lickle which is probably pronounced as Rikkuru in japanese sounds any better to the Japanese, but to me that's a borderline obscene title LOL.
As for the unique characters, it's great, it truly is, not even many SNES games had this sort of thing and each one having unique animations with several frames each is the cherry on top.

I started playing the game tonight and for sure this game is worthy of the hidden gem label. I beat the first 4 levels and now I'm fighting the dragon as Samson and he is handing me my ass back to me. This game does not go easy on you. But I enjoy the sadistic game design, it hits differently.

View attachment 1864

BTW, I have no idea what the story is supposed to be for this game but this King is something else. Just brings all the heroes together to fight in a bloodsport tournament for his amusement.

I feel like it's often more forgiving than something like Adventure Island but it certainly is no cakewalk like Kirby's Adventure.

This game is edging near the "Nintendo hard' feel to it but its never too punishing, thankfully. For example, there are definitely areas where you can farm for extra lives and refilling your health.

These ghosts keep respawning and will drop hearts and extra lives. I also like this levels visual style.
View attachment 1861
The cute little skeleton minions basically kill themselves by charging into the wall and will sometimes drop hearts.
View attachment 1862
Now I enter the Volcano, I can feel that I am near the end of this journey...
View attachment 1863

I'm currently getting my ass turned into pulp by the boss of the Egyptian stage, any tips?

I'm really liking this idea. Can we get a dedicated slot under "Retro Gaming Talk" for this series of threads? I feel like it shouldn't be mixed in with all of the other topics

Post automatically merged: Nov 9, 2024

So I tried the game out for a bit, and there is a lot to love here, but damn, those few things like a character being unplayable if you die during a stage pisses me off. And I can only imagine how the game would sound without the megabuster (baseball?) sound patch. If it weren't for a few glaring design flaws, I think this could have been an absolute masterpiece.

Having a dedicated slot would be really cool, this is something I plan to continue with personally and of course anyone else can take over as well, I like the idea of a thread to discuss and progress in a singular game at a time, sort of like how imageboards like 4chan have "generals" for a singular game, except more focused.
I will have to also agree with you on losing characters, its a big flaw of the game and it has driven me to purposely game over before just so i could get the dragon, who is the best character overall.

Post automatically merged: Nov 9, 2024

I would also appreciate any suggestions for what the next game should be, I was personally thinking of picking a PC Engine/Turbografx title since its a painfully overlooked platform in the West. I guess we could run a poll with some choices, like strawpoll or something. Or just drop your suggestions here and the one with the most thumbs up gets the choice.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

I'm currently getting my ass turned into pulp by the boss of the Egyptian stage, any tips?

I ended up having to use the Dragon and fly over him whenever he charged towards me, landing a few hits every time he attacks. When he calls down the thunder, instead of trying to get an attack in, I would just move around to avoid the strikes since they took so much damage. Be sure to fly over as far away from him as possible, giving you enough time to fly over his attacks and charges. Rinse and repeat and victory should be yours!

 

[Sayo]

I ended up having to use the Dragon and fly over him whenever he charged towards me, landing a few hits every time he attacks. When he calls down the thunder, instead of trying to get an attack in, I would just move around to avoid the strikes since they took so much damage. Be sure to fly over as far away from him as possible, giving you enough time to fly over his attacks and charges. Rinse and repeat and victory should be yours!
View attachment 1882

Thanks for the advice, I was trying to stonewall him with the golem but once he begins using thunder I just freak out and switch to samson because i dont wanna die with anyone else so as to not lose them
I will focus on using the dragon like you said.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

Thanks for the advice, I was trying to stonewall him with the golem but once he begins using thunder I just freak out and switch to samson because i dont wanna die with anyone else so as to not lose them
I will focus on using the dragon like you said.

I noticed that if you die with any other character than Samson during boss fights, you will not lose them. At least I never have seen that happen when I die to a boss using any character other than Samson.

As for my recommendations for our next RetroGameClub selection, I agree a TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine (non-CD) game would be good as I have yet to really sit down and play any game from that system and I know it has some gems. I would be interested in their CD games someday too! Considering some genre's may be next to impossible to complete in 10 days (RPG's and strategy games come to mind), here are my suggestions that I think are more feasible to complete within our time frame:

1. Lords of Thunder - I've listened to the soundtrack many times but never actually played the game. I would like to correct that someday.
2. Bonks Revenge - I've known about Bonk since growing up in the 90's and seeing ads for the game on gaming magazines. I've always wanted to give this series a try and some quick research shows Bonks Revenge being the most popular. But honestly I'm also fine with us starting with the original Bonk and returning to the sequels in the future.
3. Splatterhouse - Its not too late in the season to give this game a try is it? I've always wanted to!
4. Gekibo: Gekisha Boy - Game looks weird, I wanna try it.
5. Neutopia (I or II) - This may be too ambitious, as I don't know how lengthy these games are.

 

[sandogma sandogma]

Wahoo! I have beaten the game! If you are struggling with the final boss, reveal the Boss spoiler to see my winning strategy.
As for the ending, well, unfortunately I played the game on Easy, and as I should have expected, after the credits there were some additional scenes, eluding to another area and ultimate final boss. If I had known this I would have started the game on Normal. Doh!

Overall I enjoyed this game and would have loved it had I owned a copy back when it came out. Despite some of its more difficult parts, I think it was much more forgiving than the Mega Man games. I think the only downside was that the music was the same for every stage because it only changed when you switched characters. I found myself hardly changing Samson, so it was his theme song for every level except for a few instances where I had to change my character for a short period. I think they had a good concept that likely would have been fleshed out better had there been a sequel.

Spoiler: Last Boss Strategy

In his first form, use Samson and simply dodge the boss' attacks and as he descends, stay up close and spam your attack at him.

In his second form, you will want to be the mouse when dodging his flurry of magic ball attacks.

When he returns to attack you, use the dragon to get some attacks in before flying over his projectiles. You will only get a few hits in before he returns to the background to unleash his balls of fury, so this will be an endurance match. Good luck!

Oh and be sure to stay after the credits...