<![CDATA[ novogamer.com ]]> en 2026-04-06 16:25:02 https://novogamer.com/build/assets/mark-CcUbJs0V.png Novogamer Logo https://novogamer.com 150 135 <![CDATA[Retro Review: Cybernator]]> https://novogamer.com/articles/retro-review-cybernator-ZaY8Vwl0QN I didn't have many SNES games growing up. For the longest time, I had to go over to a friend's house if I wanted to play anything from the 16-bit era. Then one day, I got a SNES of my own along with a small handful of games. One of those games was the surprisingly good, but frustratingly difficult Cybernator which is not to be confused with the 1991 film of the same name.

Developed by NCS Corp and released in the United States on April 4, 1993, Cybernator is a run and gun platformer in the Assault Suit series. You play as Jake Brain, a United States marine who pilots one of the aforementioned assault suits. His platoon is tasked by the Federation with locating and destroying the Bildvord, a massive war mech built by Axis, the government opposing them in a massive war for control of the Earth's remaining fossil fuels.

The controls for the game are fairly simple, but also complex enough to require a fair amount of skill to be good at it. B is Jump, Y is Shoot, A is Dash and X cycles through your weapons. Holding L locks the position of your gun in place so you can move without readjusting your aim. Hold R to use your shield and this is quite critical to know as your shield can block almost everything in front of you. If this control scheme doesn't suit you just right, you can change the controls in the options from the title screen.

Now the game is actually pretty difficult, as most games from that era were. You are given a limited amount of life, and health pickups are few and far between, and if that wasn't hard enough, you have only have one life and three continues to work with making the challenge exceptionally high. Not all is lost though as there are ways to improve your chances of winning. Hidden in a couple of levels are two fairly powerful weapons, the Missiles and the Laser. The Missiles are strong and have a bit of knock-back, but what makes it shine is its auto-targeting feature. Don't use it too much though, unlike the other weapons, the Missiles have limited ammunition. The Laser is much different. It fires a single unrelenting beam that deals moderate continuous damage as long as it's being fired. These weapons are much better than what you start with, so be sure to find them, but sometimes even finding better weapons isn't enough. Don't fret though, there is one more strategy to be employed.

Throughout the stages are red Power Chips which slowly increase the strength of your currently equipped weapon. With the exception of the Missiles, collect Power Chips to reduce the number of the weapon in use to zero to upgrade its strength and range. This will make it fairly easier to destroy the bosses found in the levels, many of which actually have an unseen time limit that will alter the way the story will play out should you happen to fail. Failing too many times will actually change the outcome at the end of the game, so if you want the good ending, don't let that happen.

All in all, while the game is hard, it is also very rewarding. Since the controls are tight and responsive, it is YOUR fault if you mess up, not the game's. Its music also gives the game a sense of actual accomplishment if you happen to do well. I personally felt very pleased with myself when I finally beat the game almost fifteen years after getting it as a child. So, if you want a difficult but rewarding game with tight controls and badass music, then Cybernator is your game. It is also available on the Wii's and Wii U's Virtual Console service. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

Score:

]]> ZaY8Vwl0QN Fri, 13 Mar 2015 07:43:00 +0000 <![CDATA[June 6, 2017 Nintendo Direct Recap]]> https://novogamer.com/articles/june-6-2017-nintendo-direct-recap-ZkQJwjeVQv So Nintendo announced out of nowhere an extremely short Direct that was completely Pokemon centered, and so close to E3 no less. It was certainly a surprise for me anyway as it kinda seems a bit odd to do this so close to one of the biggest gaming press events of the year. But it still happened and always I'm here to give you the news in as quick and precise as possible, you can still watch the video below if you so wish.


As you can see not a lot of news can be announced in an 8 minute long video, but what can be said is certainly dense enough for a recap. That being said, let's begin.

  • First of all, the first half of the Direct was presented in a blog/documentary style which showed a man on his way to visit his brother and give a few gifts to his nephews, but all of this was just a framing device for presenting the news in question.
  • Pokken Tournament DX was confirmed to be coming to the Nintendo Switch. It was shown to have all of the content from the previous version of the game on the Wii U plus all 4 characters that were added to the arcade version after the Wii U's release and a brand new character in the form of Decidueye. A new pair of support Pokemon (Popplio and Litten) were also confirmed as well as Team Battles (3-on-3 matches), Ranked, Group and Friendly matches (when playing online), and daily challenges. Battles were shown to work in split screen when not playing wirelessly, but it is still unconfirmed if the official Pokken Tournament controller will work with it when in TV mode. The game will launch this year on September 22.
  • Shortly after that, they showed off the new 3DS Pokemon game that was in the works being Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon. The story this time around is much different that what would be expected. Instead of it being a third version of the game or a sequel like what they did with Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2, the plot is said to be an alternate take on the events of the original games; much like an alternate timeline. The game will launch November 17.
  • And finally, the Game Boy games Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver were confirmed to be coming to the 3DS via Virtual Console and will be compatible with Pokemon Bank. The games will launch on the same day as Pokken Tournament DX, but it is uncertain whether or not Pokemon Crystal will eventually be released on Virtual Console in the future.

Well that's the skinny folks. I for one am certainly happy as I said in a previous article that I wanted Pokken Tournament DX for the Switch, although I'm also a bit confused on the premise for Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon. All in all though I'm excited all the same. So until then, I'll be seeing you.

]]> ZkQJwjeVQv Wed, 07 Jun 2017 11:47:00 +0000