Welcome to another edition of Retro Corner and today we will be looking at the sequel to Neutopia. During what is called “The Bit Wars,” Nintendo and Sega competed for the consumer’s top dollar with their 16-bit consoles. At the time, both Nintendo and Sega did have a second competitor called NEC who released the TurboGrafx 16 in 1989. Unfortunately, by 1992 the TurboGrafx 16 was nearly forgotten in America because of the better and significant releases from the Super NES and the Sega Genesis. In 1992, Hudson published a sequel to the original Neutopia as it follows the children of Jazeta and Princess Aurora facing off against Dirth. Set several years after the original game; Dirth has once again been revived and has retained his army of monsters. Jazeta’s wife has a dream that her husband was killed during a battle with a monster. She knows he has been gone for a while to investigate Dirth’s revival. Hero, Jazeta’s son, sets out on a quest by his mother to find his father, fight Dirth and align himself with the daughter of Princess Aurora. Gameplay Neutopia II follows the same format as the Original game as you embark on a quest to save the land again from Dirth. The sequel did see some tweaks as the controls and mechanics weren’t as clunky this time. Hudson finally addressed the four way grid design as Jazeta’s son can move in six directions. We are also introduced to a few more secondary weapons that work as tools too. Starting with the Flail (Chain Mace) and it’s a better alternative to striking at a distance then the boomerang. Another neat trick you can do with this is spin Flail around the room to attack monsters and collect items they drop. The Fire Wand does return with the same mechanics, but also included is the Wind and Lightning ones too. These two other elemental wands are used the same way for attacking enemies and will get stronger the more health is gained. The Wind Wand is the best one as the magic staff shoots three waves of air blasts with a wide range. While the Lightning rod isn’t as effective, especially when trying to get a few enemies at a time. That brings me to the towns where the player can buy items like the boomerangs and potions. There is also an INN that can save your progress which leaves the homes of the NPCs giving information. That has always been this clone's strengths so far since you have a better sense of direction on where to go next. A map system is missing but the hints the NPCs give out this time in the towns or caves makes up for it. Now, after playing Neutopia II, it felt outdated, especially a few years into the fourth gen. I noticed when attacking the enemies with the elemental Wands or the Flail, this would somehow send the foe right back at me. Then there is the issue with the rainbow drops when moving through a room of several gaps. Most of the time I would get stuck at an angle inside a gap while crossing and it's due to the six directional movements. It's no wonder Nintendo never used the ladder again in later 2D style entries because they knew this would happen. Another problem was the hit detection and if Hero is off by a pixel will not cause any damage to an enemy. In fact, the hit detection is worse here than in the first game and that should tell you the effort these developers had in mind. The surprising thing about this is how they choose to stick with stabbing forward instead of programming slashing at an arch. These developers really have no excuse again especially when Willow on the NES could do it. By 1992, Capcom and Nintendo had standardized the slash mechanic and even Square Soft followed suit. If they programmed this mechanic, it would help the hit detection problem in many ways. For the compass when on the overworld, the studio decided to program it in the most awkward manner possible. The compass doesn’t point to the direction of the dungeon but beeps loudly in the menu when the player gets close. Apparently, Hudson doesn't get the saying “if it ain't broke, don’t fix” as there was nothing wrong with the original idea from the first title. The second entry was completely unoriginal and not creative enough for the level design. The design choices felt dated as the player has to find the Crystal Ball, dungeon key and defeat the monster for the secondary weapon. It would have the same traps of saws and statues spitting fire most of the time. I also had a problem with finding mural walls that could get blown up using bombs, and there were no hints. The dungeons saw this the most as not one cracked wall ever appears to tell the player there is a secret path. The only way you could find out was by getting the Crystal Ball, so I didn't miss a room. It makes me wonder what Hudson was thinking as the walls in the labyrinths don’t have an obvious appearance like on the overworld. If the same thing is programmed for the overworld then the development team could do a similar feature in the dungeons. I honestly have to say this game is nowhere near the same quality of other titles in its genre. The game might have some improvements like maneuvering in six directions and a variety of the secondary weapons. However, the sequel is also lacking better boss battles as all of them hardly had any depth in their challenges. All the player would have to do is hit the boss’s multiple times and just dodge their attacks. As I have said, compared to other titles, Neutopia II had seven levels only which is literally the bare minimum. Rating: 7.6/10 Graphics/Presentation By 1992, the TurboGrafx saw a handful of titles push the hardware like Lords of Thunder on the Turbo CD. Despite the CD quality games on the system, Neutopia’s sequel does display good graphics for a regular base release on a Turbo Chip. The world design does a solid job with the art style by giving these whimsical visuals that cartoon appearances—Even though most of us prefer Zelda’s more detailed art, this clone still holds its own. As far as special effects they hold up on their own as well when there are instances of looking great. The best designed result is from the subsea area as this was unique since it showed a wavy effect moving about. As I have said before, even though the graphics were an improvement, it still was lacking compared to others in its genre. The environments had no ancient or mythical landscapes nor were there artifacts and areas telling a story of a long-lost civilization. That would have added a great deal of depth to the levels’ environments and its overworld. The levels had the basic labyrinth layout as it was too similar to the original—The appearance of the dungeons was almost the same, and it had identical traps and props. Did this studio take notes from Sword of Vermilion on the Sega Genesis or the Original Zelda? Every room’s layout looked as if they weren’t touched by anything until Hero showed up. What was acceptable in 1987 on 8-bit hardware with an aging design concept for environments doesn’t work the same way on a 16-bit console. It's really amazing how badly they dropped the ball on making a compelling world as almost everything lacked imagination. The soundtrack is not as good as the original as most of the songs weren't catchy. Aside from the fifth dungeon that was a remix of the first game's level theme, it’s the only song to have any meaning. Every track is just another mess of tones genetically produced to attempt to represent their themes. Seriously, why didn't they take the Original’s OST as inspiration instead of this bland mess of music? We can tell Hudson had a lazy attitude when designing this game as by 1992 the TurboGrafx flopped giving them little incentive. It can also be seen from the fact no character has any defined traits at all and not even from a few NPCs. The plot never reveals who Jazeta and his family are like nor do they disclose Princess Keia (Princess Aurora’s daughter) or Dirth’s personalities. Even the moment Jazeta dies after his son defeats the Kraken meant nothing. Those NPCs, even the ones needed to progress the main quest, truly had no defined personalities to engage us. The sole one to stand out was the Ice Giant who gives you the medallion after completing the fifth labyrinth. According to a girl from Igloo (who by coincidence is one of Murdock’s descendants) states his purpose was to protect the town. That’s another thing and what is with these generic names given to the NPCs. It's like they went through a bland name generator and the first one to come out is what was picked. Out of all the rosters of characters from that generation, this is probably the worst one as no one truly has a defined personality. Now, my biggest gripe comes from the presentation and the lacking story elements. Hudson chooses once again to not write a backstory on the kingdom’s history as well as who Murdoch was. Why are Murdoch’s descendants the only ones to defeat Dirth? It’s never explained why Jazeta’s son or even Princess Keia playing a role was needed to defeat this cookie cutter Ganon. Keia even mentions the goddess oracle of the Yurius Shrine spoke to Jazeta a year prior after curing the princess. So, now they insert a generic goddess? That still doesn’t explain why Murdoch’s children can solely defeat the demon lord—We are left to assume this goddess bestowed her holy powers on Murdoch and his family line through the generations. Yes, it is good they added this plot point, but more should’ve gone into the backstory of these elements instead of mere assumptions. The lack of a plot leads me to even more questions than answers especially with some missing characters. What the hell happened to Princess Aurora? Did she die or get exiled? Didn’t Aurora say in the Original’s ending that she was Jazeta to take? That also brings me to another question and is Dirth’s endgame to conquer Neutopia or destroy it? Nothing is ever explained, and we are supposed to accept that Jazeta married someone else and his son is the only one to stop Dirth just because. Rating: 7.7/10 Features/Content The features are once again lacking much like its predecessor and it would have the basic main adventure with no side quests. It does offer the same four save files and a password system as the first game. To save the game's progress, the player had to talk to an NPC in an INN to offer them the option. There are no side quests or additional things to collect other than the main adventure. I'm surprised Hudson didn't put any effort into the content because it was extremely lacking. I was expecting them to develop side quests or at least design a hard mode—It was one of the most significant flaws because there is no replay value. Now, a hard mode by definition is something along the lines of the same main quest only significantly difficult. I already mentioned in previous reviews of this genre that creating a second quest would’ve taken longer to produce a full game. We are aware how Neutopia II is pushing more things visually compared to its predecessor. That is probably the reason 16-bit adventure games don’t have second quests because of the visuals taking up memory. In the end, Hudson should have added a difficult mode if they were acting this lazy with no side quests and a shorter adventure. At least you also don’t have to record a 48 letter password — the twenty-two one wasn’t enough apparently — thanks to saving on the WiiU and the PlayStation family systems. Rating: 6.2/10 Final Rating Neutopia II does improve over its predecessor in some ways, but there are also flaws still present from the previous generation. These improvements are seen mostly from the six directional movements, new secondary weapons and towns. Despite the update, the game would have an outdated level design of recycled rooms for the dungeons. There was also a lack of originality between the plot and its backstory as the history of the land was never explored. While often true, games of that gen didn’t explore much into the story department unless it was an RPG like the Final Fantasy series. However, even the competition did a better job presenting their worlds than Hudson's attempt at a clone. With no engaging characters that are the definition of wooden and a lackluster plot gave me little incentive to care about the kingdom. The content was worse than its predecessor’s own as nothing was changed in this area. Between the lack of side quests and the absence of a hard mode can make any gamer want to skip out. The best thing is you don’t have to write down and punch in a 48 letter password to save thanks to the modern consoles. Neutopia’s sequel might come off more like a DLC expansion; I still consider this a solid game. Gameplay: 7.6/10 Graphics/Presentation: 7.7/10 Features/Content: 6.2/10 Final Rating: 7.5/10 Good
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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