Customer Reviews

Xevious

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Of all the titles in the Classic NES series to appear on the GBA, none is more puzzling than Xevious. Originally an arcade title from Namco in the early 80's, Xevious was innovative in it's day, but the conversion to hit the original NES was somewhat lost in translation. This GBA port is a perfect emulation of the NES version, as you pilot your ship and take on hordes of enemy aircraft and ground forces as well. It looks about as good as an 8-bit NES game can, it's fun for a while, easy to get into, challenging (almost too challenging), and you can also save your high score. Despite all that though, the superior arcade version could have been easily ported to the GBA instead, and the fact that Xevious is even in the Classic NES series to begin with is mind boggling in itself.

I remember Xevious well. It was an excellent arcade shooter, and an innovative title which spurred literally hundreds of derivative games. It was the first vertically scrolling shooter, the first shooter with "boss stages", and the first to combine both air-to-air and air-to-ground gameplay. The NES version of this game was one of the best ports around (though I still have a soft spot for the Atari 7800 version) and was as true to the arcade as could be expected. Which brings me to my only criticism of the Game Boy Advance version - why emulate the NES port, when the GBA is clearly powerful enough to emulate the original arcade title? As an emulation, this game is dead on, but the audio-vidual presentation of the arcade original was just a bit better. If you loved the NES port, then by all means pick this one up. Even after all these years, it is still a fun and challenging game that makes you work for every inch of ground you cover. But if you're looking to relive the excitement of the arcade original, you should try before you buy.

BTW, one nice bonus feature of the GBA cart - you can save your high score!

I wish I could write a long review on this detailing all the good and bad things. I wish I could have brought myself to play more than 10 minutes before I put the cartridge away never to be seen again. I wish I had my $10 back in my pocket.

I've been a fan of this type of game for some time. The single ship fighting against the oncoming hordes of dumb enemies and over-sized bosses. I generally like the more forgiving ones where it's not a one shot death, but games like Raiden and Darius Gaiden are great. My biggest problem with this game is the air/ground combat. Instead of just shooting and dodging you have to move this crosshair in front of you (which helps obscure your view) over enemies on the ground and bomb them to kill them. Yes, it's more realistic, but it's not realistic in the first place to have one plane vs hundreds. Trying to line up and time bombings while dodging aircraft and shots at the same time was too much. It sucked all the fun out of it for me. I stopped playing before ever finishing level one and have never gone back. For me, a complete waste of money. Your mileage may vary.