Welcome to another edition of Retro Arena as we have two Zelda clones once again going at it. The first game based off Lucas Film’s 1988 fantasy movie called Willow got its own licensed game released on the NES. Then we have the second game of the first Neutopia on the TurboGrafx by Hudson. Technically, both games got released in 1989 (if you count the Japanese release of Neutopia) and they follow the clone formula of Zelda. It was really surprising for Capcom to release an adventure style game akin to Zelda. It's especially true when Mega Man and license action platformers were their “go to” software. Hudson was also another company that rarely developed an overhead adventure game. The studio is often known for producing niche classics like Bomberman and Adventure Island. Check out my Neutopia and Willow reviews to get an idea of what I am comparing. Gameplay Willow For Capcom's first outing in the RPG and Adventure genre they truly nailed it and even took the formula further. The classic overhead style with venturing through the overworld and fighting enemies is all here in its glory. Along the way you will enter levels in the form of caves to obtain a quest item and progress to the next area. Similar to Zelda II, towns are available where you can speak to NPCs and heal as well as perform a side quest. However, there are some differences from Zelda and the gameplay is using an action RPG system. Instead of hearts and a magic meter, a point system of HP (health) and MP (magic) is in its place. The best features came from slashing at an angle and moving in six directions. There wasn't a single game in both genres to have six directional movements nor slashing at an angle. Every game from 1987 to 1991 always got locked to a four grind layout with a stabbing forward mechanic. It didn't stop there as the spells were the best of the genre and came off impactful in more ways. The magic is a little similar to Zelda II’s spells, however, Capcom did a better job here and went far beyond Nintendo. It's hard to not see this when there are two healing spells, teleport to other towns and destructive magic like Thunder and Fire flow at the ready. Despite Capcom efforts to push the genre forward, the gameplay has its issue to boot. For starters, the levels nearly have the same layout which is seen from the cavern stages. It has the basic level design of navigating through its room of finding chests and battling monsters. There are no puzzles to solve but venturing through a cave until reaching the boss. It truly makes the level design seem a little bland and makes this feel like Capcom was trying to push the graphics more than the gameplay. The item system didn't have the same quality standard from Zelda. After using an item it would become useless and thus would sit in your inventory for the rest of the game. In the NES Zelda titles, the player would reuse nearly every item/tool to get through each play through. Its only the spells that get reused and it's probably the best thing about the inventory. I would like to have more way ways of attacking then simply spamming a sword slash or a stab. Neutopia Unlike Capcom action RPG, Hudson followed Zelda's format closely with four overworlds. The same overhead style is also featured with the gameplay as Neutopia closely resembles the first Zelda. The best feature about the four spheres is each one was a different landscape with unique challenges from the other. That even includes the enemies as they simply weren't just another shade of color to indicate their difficulty. The bosses were more elaborate compared to the series it tried to emulate. Their challenges were overly better when stacked up against both Willow and Zelda combined. The items/tools were about the same as you expect and worked in a similar manner. The Rainbow Drops acted like the step-ladder but there was more to the list of items then similar features. The Fire Rod was more flexible compared to the Wand with the magic book in the Original Zelda. I can shoot fire pillars and balls in six directions which the first Zelda couldn't even do. The Wings would teleport the player to the save spot they last recorded their adventure and not needing to backtrack. The compass for the overworld even pointed to the direction of the next level, something that solely was never developed in others. You think with a next-gen system at the time Hudson would take advantage and move the gameplay further. The four directional movements with a stabbing forward function are still being used for the gameplay. It's one thing when Crystalis on the NES has an outdated mechanic but when this game is on a next-gen system more creativity should be used. The hit detection only makes this dated mechanic worse and if your stab is one pixel off it will most likely miss the enemy. As a result, I would take damage most of the time because of the poor hit detection. The movement being stuck to four directional movements was very weird considering the Turbo controller’s D-pad. It literally has an eight direction D-pad, so this is inexcusable to not take advantage of such hardware. The level design sometimes had me backtrack the same way in the later dungeons to get a key or Crystal Ball. Speaking of the Crystal Ball, the thing did its job of pointing the player to the next level on the overworld. Yet, oddly enough it never worked properly in the dungeons and always switched its direction when entering a new room. Hudson also should’ve been a little creative with the puzzles as it’s the usual push block, kill all enemies or use a key on a locked door. With a “16-bit” console, Hudson clearly should have taken advantage of the newer hardware to improve the genre. Conclusion: Neutopia takes the win for this one as Hudson managed to make a 16 bit version of the Original Zelda. It's true that Willow had better gameplay mechanics with six directional movements, slashing at an angle and capable magic spells. However, Neutopia had better level design where the dungeons weren't exact copies. In Willow, the caverns had the same challenge of navigating through its cave network. It's like this throughout the game and even the castle levels of Tis Asleen, and Nockmaar were also no different. There wasn't puzzle solving of any kind but moving through the levels and fighting enemies. Compared to Hudson's clone, it would have the puzzle solving on the overworlds and inside the dungeons around every corner. Neutopia having four spheres of grasslands, underground, sea and sky themed areas took the gameplay further. Each area had different enemies unique to these themes and had their own challenges. Graphics/Presentation Willow The NES’s graphics during the 80s weren’t at its peak just yet, and the developers were getting use to its hardware. However, Capcom was always a step ahead of everyone else, and that includes Nintendo as they pushed the console’s limitations here. The details in each environment were the broadest I have seen from any game in the NES’s console cycle during the late 80s. Most people would assume this came out during the console's late years from 1992 to 1994. Everything you would expect from the adventure genre is all present with its forests, mountains, caves and castles. The texturing has always stood out to me the most as the detail this high is really expected on a side scroller. However, not even Zelda II has such broad detail and its a surprise Capcom actually pulled it off extremely well. The sprites also shared the same quality detail and the enemies of the Skeleton warriors and knights illustrated this the best. Even some of the extra characters that were never in the film like the Snake Man, blobs, Skull Heads and zombies seemed like they belonged. From the enemies' appearances to their fluid animation, I could marvel at this gem all day. The soundtrack was another example of Capcom producing good music off the NES’s sound chip. Then again, it’s no surprise when you produce the Mega Man II and Duck Tales soundtracks. Willow does have its graphical issues as its more with its repeated designed areas. It was often a problem on the 8-bit consoles as both Zeldas and Metroid has the same issues. Like I explained in the Willow review, it’s another example of hardware limitations being the true reason. It does however, get old seeing the same cave structure only mapped differently every time. At least Tis Asleen and Nochmaar didn’t suffer this problem. Of course, the castle stages do bare a resemblance to each other. However, there is only two castle areas and even Nockmaar had the symbol of the Sky Spirit on its walls. The next issue came from some of the enemy choices that even seemed odd for a world like Willow. The Mountain Face and Hydra (a two headed monster) comes to mind as they were by far the weirdest designed enemies I have ever seen. I even believe a gamer with no pixel art experience could make the Mountain face easily in Photoshop. I can tell if this had gotten developed on something like the TurboGrafx it would’ve looked fantastic. Just check out the arcade action platformer of the same license that used a 16-bit system and its looks amazing. Neutopia Just imagined what the Original Zelda would look like if Nintendo made it on a stronger system. Well Neutopia brings that thought to life as Hudson would use the advantage of the TurboGrafx's tech. I found this interesting because it was years before Nintendo produced the Zelda BS (a remake for the Super NES's Satellite features in Japan). The theme is about a dark being known as Dirth who has abducted Princess Aurora. The dark lord plans to conquer Neutopia and now a knight called Jazeta sets out to stop him and save Princess Aurora. Obviously, the theme today feels generic in almost every way and builds itself on the typical fantasy tropes. There isn't much story here as back then most games just inserted this in as a small plot and the player was then thrown into the gameplay. They did mentioned Jazeta was the descendant of a warrior called Murdoch and got briefly explained how he once defeated Dirth. Hudson never diverges or builds any lore related to Neutopia and why Jazeta and Murdoch were the chosen ones. The graphics really brought this game to life thanks to the stronger processor of the TurboGrafx. From the lush environments to the colorful and wacky enemies, Neutopia brings us a 16-bit Zelda before A Link to the Past was ever finished. The four spheres benefited from this a lot as Hudson created a couple of environments that many in its genre usually offered. The Sub terrain and Sky Spheres had the best designs in the game, and their themes made it enjoyable to explore these overworlds. The dungeons did have the usual stone and brick design as gaps and traps are all present. The enemies' sprites were actually different from each sphere instead of being a different color. On the NES, the reason so many enemies looked the same with the exception being a different color is because of the limited 8-bit tech. It's not a problem considering what Hudson now could do for a game's world within the fourth gen. The soundtrack wasn't as good as Willow aside from a few catchy songs such as the Dungeon theme and the sanctuary. The lack of environmental props did hurt these locations, and I figured Hudson could've done more with the extra technology. Conclusion: Both games on their respected systems produced great visuals in many areas. However, this actually goes to a tie when we consider the 8-bit verses 16-bit graphics. Willow pushed the NES to have such broad visuals compared to Zelda's limited detail. With lush environments, broad sprites and animation during the battles truly made this a hidden gem on the NES. The music was the only feature to come off superior to its opponent. Neutopia didn't push the TurboGrafx as the detail had launch window quality graphics. That's not to say they were bad as the visuals looked great and something to expect from the fourth gen. The game being divided between four spheres that acted like overworlds and with their own theme created diverse environments. The lush detail between them made me want to explore every area I could reach. The sprites have different designs from each sphere and truly created a diverse cast of enemies. The soundtrack was the only flaw I could find as Willow had this better then Neutopia. Features/Content Willow Capcom always provided content in its games during the Golden Age and its no surprise they delivered here. Unlike most in its genre on the NES, Willow actually had some useful side quests to do. The best one came from obtaining the Dragon scale, so you could take it to a blacksmith in Dew to make the Dragon Equipment. The sword and shield from this item helped give extra attributes early in the game. Another was getting the Wing Sword from inside a level from a member of the Wing Clan. The blade would later become the strongest weapon in the game after giving it to the same NPC within Nockmaar. A nice surprising feature came from getting the Ocarina which allows you to use a flying creature called Po to teleport across the world. There are also other optional spells to find across the overworld as well. Capcom deserves a pat on the back for following Nintendo’s standard for producing content like in Zelda. Neutopia Hudson's clone offers a long main quest with the player being tasked to navigate through four overworlds and to stop Dirth. There are 8 dungeons to explore and with four spheres that each has their own challenges makes this a quality game. Despite a full main quest, Hudson really dropped the ball on the game's content as no side quests got designed. Having more quests isn't just a Zelda standard but one from both genres of RPG and adventure. That's always been a thing for these games years before this title ever saw its development. How they could neglect such a backbone feature to this type of game baffles me at times. They should have added quests that have you collect items to get better equipment or newer tools. Even finding health items that increases the life bar as anoption would've been ideal. Conclusion: Willow was the clear winner in its content as Capcom took notes from earlier adventure titles. The combination between obtaining extra equipment and a few items gave the player more to do. In comparison to Neutopia there wasn't anything to do other than the main quest. With four overworlds Hudson could've added so much more as a few optional things to take part in is really missing. Finding a certain item like a tool that acts more than a novelty would've added some replay value. Willow had the player find a dragon scale to obtain stronger armor earlier in the adventure. Hudson should have taken notes from the other clones as Willow wasn't the only one released in the 80s.
Final Conclusion It appears Neutopia was the superior game and Hudson takes the win this time for its Zelda clone. I'll admit this match up was very close as both titles had something the other did and didn't have in the comparison. It's true Willow had better gameplay mechanics, visuals that pushed the NES and a few side quests. However, Neutopia had better level design overall with the dungeons having puzzle solving. Even the items collected were often needed, and the player used them throughout each play through. It’s also interesting how Hudson added puzzle solving even on the overworld as not many adventure titles engaged in this often. Willow's level design nearly had the same challenge even when venturing through the castles. There was no puzzle solving at all and you would navigate through each stage until reaching the boss room. The overworld wasn't much different as you basically did the same thing as in the caves. With the items having no use after one time and the boss battles weren’t engaging compared to its opponents obviously shows Willow needed some work. Despite the journey of Capcom’s clone, Willow’s quest surely has come to an end. Winner: Neutopia
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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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