I have been a fan of the NES for 12 years and I cannot realize I could totally totally ignore the existance of such masterpieces for such a long time ! Just because the title sounds stupid and every time I saw it I though "it should be a bad game". Man how wrong was I.
This combines all I like about NES : Very cute graphics, very simple gameplay, needs lot of thinking, unforgivable about slight errors
The music is the best I've ever heard on the console : It's just like Kirby's Adventure, but 2x better (yes this is possible). I just can't stop listening to it so it's good.
I'm inclined to judge a game by its publisher rather than its name.
With that, I had expectations that this was going to be more like a Kirby game when I first saw it, to my disappointment.
But whatever; we have plenty of platformers already; I like this series for what it is (by the way, I hear the Famicom versions are different and/or harder).
I love those games, too! I like the music a lot, but I found myself wishing there was more than one track. It's a great track, don't get me wrong, I just often wondered why they couldn't have a few more in there.
Not too long ago I discovered Hal Labs "Air Fortress," as well, which seems like a pretty interesting game...haven't played it long, yet, but love that title music!!!
It is worth checking out Eggerland on FDS / Famicom, it's nearly the same but the exploration of the map is a little more interesting.
There's also the GB/SGB version of the game too...
Cool, I'll check Eggerland !
And Air Fortress is a pretty good game, but is scary as $$$$.
Quote:
I'm inclined to judge a game by its publisher rather than its name.
Then my jugement is that HAL Laboratory is damn awesome !
Jedi QuestMaster wrote:
I'm inclined to judge a game by its publisher rather than its name.
With that, I had expectations that this was going to be more like a Kirby game when I first saw it, to my disappointment.
But whatever; we have plenty of platformers already; I like this series for what it is (by the way, I hear the Famicom versions are different and/or harder).
How could a game series introduced 7 years before Kirby
possibly hope to be "more like Kirby"?
Back when Lolo was on the NES, basically the only thing HAL was known for was Lolo. (And Rollerball...)
ccovell wrote:
How could a game series introduced 7 years before Kirby possibly hope to be "more like Kirby"?
Excuse me, but I didn't see a freakin' year on the cover. Also, why should I
not expect a Kirby-like platformer, rather than a top-down puzzle game? If I were basing my expectations on other HAL games I've played, then the only other basis I had was a 4-in-1 Vegas casino game.
These same expectations have led me down the right path when I expect nearly every Konami game to be arcade-like beat'em ups or shooters and most Capcom games to include a stage select.
Jedi QuestMaster wrote:
ccovell wrote:
Excuse me, but I didn't see a freakin' year on the cover. Also, why should I not expect a Kirby-like platformer...
For the same reasons someone watching a movie from 1990 should not expect to see people using web browsers or smartphones...
This series is classic. Me and my buddy simply called "The Strategy Game" since we've never seen a game like that before. So much fun to be had in thinking ahead before making a move in this game.
Ah, the Lolo games. I used to play the second one quite a lot as a kid. Recently I got Eggerland for the Famicom, but I haven't beat it yet. If you like games where you solve puzzles you might enjoy Sutte Hakkun on the Super Famicom.
ccovell wrote:
For the same reasons someone watching a movie from 1990 should not expect to see people using web browsers or smartphones...
Jedi QuestMaster does have a point... You don't always know the year a game or a movie was released. I often find myself thinking that an old movie's plot could be easily resolved with a cell phone, and if nothing else gave away the film's age until then, that's when I realize how old it is.
OK, well, let's put it this way:
Lolo 1 has the publication year on the title screen and again in the game select menu.
Lolo 2 and 3 both have their years of publication on the HAL logo screen and on their title screens.
So it is actually impossible to play these games in order to find out what kind of games they are, while not noticing what year they came out -- unless you look away from the screen for the first ten seconds of each while pressing start.
Sorry for flogging a dead horse like this but I think it's a case when someone shouldn't lazily use the words "didn't see" when "ignored" is more fitting.
Jedi QuestMaster wrote:
I'm inclined to judge a game by its publisher rather than its name.
With that, I had expectations that this was going to be more like a Kirby game when I first saw it, to my disappointment.
But whatever; we have plenty of platformers already; I like this series for what it is (by the way, I hear the Famicom versions are different and/or harder).
The Japanese versions are numbered differently.
US "Adventures of Lolo" is based on the FDS game "Eggerland - Souzou heno Tabidachi". Then "Adventures of Lolo 2" is simply "Adventures of Lolo" in Japan, along with "Adventures of Lolo 3" being called "Adventures of Lolo 2" in Japan.
Okay, the puzzles are different too...
The numbering scheme is puzzling too.
Aparently, there is two FDS games plus one Famicom game of the "Eggerland" series, which were not released in the western world. Then two famicom games called "Lolo" follows, which are equivalent to the western 2/3, exept that the levels are completely different (i.e. only the intro screens and the music are the same).
The only difference between the "Eggerland" series and the "Lolo" series is that Eggerland has a black background whether Lolo has a nice brick background.
As for the difficulty, for all the japanese games it is just insane. It took me something like 15 tries to beat the very first puzzle of Adventures of Lolo (J). It is however fun.
What disapointed me is that some puzzles actually requires action or reflexes to beat, which I don't like it doesn't fit a game like this.
Dwedit wrote:
The Japanese versions are numbered differently.
US "Adventures of Lolo" is based on the FDS game "Eggerland - Souzou heno Tabidachi". Then "Adventures of Lolo 2" is simply "Adventures of Lolo" in Japan, along with "Adventures of Lolo 3" being called "Adventures of Lolo 2" in Japan.
Okay, the puzzles are different too...
Oh, I see. I thought they were all Eggerland. So it's like TMNT then.
ccovell wrote:
OK, well, let's put it this way:
Lolo 1 has the publication year on the title screen and again in the game select menu.
Lolo 2 and 3 both have their years of publication on the HAL logo screen and on their title screens.
So it is actually impossible to play these games in order to find out what kind of games they are, while not noticing what year they came out -- unless you look away from the screen for the first ten seconds of each while pressing start.
Sorry for flogging a dead horse like this but I think it's a case when someone shouldn't lazily use the words "didn't see" when "ignored" is more fitting.
Are we seriously going to nitpick one little mistake I made when I was still in middle school? I'm talking about my impressions from the game's label (of Lolo 2 by the way), not the game's title screen. And, for the record, I wasn't exactly expecting Kirby's Adventure's quality, just something similar in style, perhaps an unpolished predecessor. Something like Rush 'n Attack vs Contra. Your smartphone analogy is also flawed; there is a possibility for other platformers to exist way before Kirby that have had the same kind of elements.
Come to think of it, Little Nemo
does share certain characteristics with Kirby games. [/conspiracytheory]
Bregalad wrote:
The only difference between the "Eggerland" series and the "Lolo" series is that Eggerland has rad magenta shoes whether Lolo has a nasty sprite outline.
Fixed it for you
This is one of my favourite gaming series!
I think there are some misconceptions about the series though. Here is a summarize of the series:
Eggerland - MSX
First game in the series exclusively for MSX computers and it's 100% linear. It's pretty slow and doesn't have as good music as the rest of the series. It seems there isn't an ending in the game, you are just abruptly taken back to the title screen disappointingly enough. It has a construction mode (level editor) though and 100 puzzles plus a few secret ones. It also has bonus levels were you can egg all enemies including Medusas!
Meikyuu Shinwa / Eggerland - MSX / Famicom Disk System
The MSX version doesn't have Eggerland in the title in Japan but in Europe it's called Eggerland 2. The Famicom version is called just Eggerland just like the first game. The Famicom has different music and a new ending and saving instead of passwords. This is the first grid-type of Eggerland game where you sometimes have to enter rooms from a certain direction in order to solve them. This game has lots of those puzzles that involves fast reflexes as you have to run from Almas or avoid Don Medusas with very precise timing. Then there are the secret bonus levels that also requires good control of Lolo.
Eggerland Meikyuu no Fukkatsu - Famicom
One of the biggest games with lots of challenging puzzles. It has a grid based maze like the second game but has passwords instead of saving since it's a cartridge game.
Eggerland Souzou e no Tabidachi - Famicom Disk System
Rare FDS game that was only released as a disk writer game AFAIK. Souzou means creation and that refers to the fact that construction mode is back! It's only 50 puzzles though. This one is linear like the first game.
Adventures of Lolo - NES
This wasn't released in Japan and is probably designed like an introduction to the Eggerland series for foreigners. It's linear like the first game but you finish a puzzle on the door after collecting the key unlike the first game and Souzou e no Tabidachi. It uses music from Meikyuu no Fukkatsu and most puzzles comes from earlier games, not just Souzou e no Tabidachi but also lots of puzzles are from the first game and Meikyuu no Fukkatsu (or if Fukkatsu and Souzou also stole puzzles from the first game, I'm not sure). It only has 50 puzzles and none of them have any rule-breaking soloutions like some of the earlier games has. I think this is also the first game with a brick floor instead of the all black? The MSX version of the second game had brown floor if played on an MSX2 though.
Adventures of Lolo 2 / Adventures of Lolo - NES / Famicom
This was released in Japan but without the "2" in the title, hence the confusion in the names of this game and its sequel. It's linear. I heard a few of the puzzles are slightly harder in the Japanese version.
Adventures of Lolo 3 / Adventures of Lolo 2 - NES / Famicom
I haven't played this one much but it doesn't appears to be 100% linear since you can choose worlds. Just like the prequel some of the puzzles are said to be slightly harder in the Famicom version.
Lolo no Daibouken / Adventures of Lolo - GameBoy
Have hardly tried this one. You play as Lolo's and Lala's son.
Eggerland Episode 0: Quest of Lala - Windows 9x
A free downloadable prologue prequel to promote "Eggerland for Windows 95". It's more than just a demo though as it takes place before Eggerland for Windows 95 (and thus before all other Eggerland games), has many unique puzzles and you play as Lala. It has new features like reflector stones which can reflect magic (so you can finally egg a Medusa!). You kind of need Japanese Windows 95/98 to get it to work as it should though. Construction Mode is back and you can now download user created puzzles from internet.
Eggerland for Windows 95 - Windows 9x
This is a retail game and uses the same engine as its prequel Episode 0. Now you play as Lolo again though. I haven't played this game but its story sounds like it's a retelling of the story of the very first game for MSX back before Lolo and Lala was married (they supposedly get married after the first game although you don't see it in-game as there's no ending in that game).
Fukkatsu! Eggerland - Windows 9x
I don't know much about it but it seems it's a re-release of Eggerland for Windows 95, updated with more puzzles and the ability to to run on Windows 98 and Windows ME. It's said to be the biggest Eggerland game with its 194 puzzles. All the windows Eggerland games are reusing some puzzles from earlier games but also has new ones.
Pokun wrote:
You kind of need Japanese Windows 95/98 to get it to work as it should though.
This is kind of off-topic, but does it work in Wine? Wine can change its locale at run-time, which often makes it more convenient than Windows when the software is in a non-native locale.
Run-time locale switching can also be done in Windows using the
AppLocale utility, but some software requires
strange hacks on top of that in order to work properly.
It's kind of interesting that Lolo and Lala "made" it into the Kirby series, and as antagonists at that. They are one and the same, always paired in Kirby, unlike Eggerland. Starting with Dream Land I and onto the SNES and beyond. I see that Hal is similar to Nintendo with combining its franchises, just like DK and Mario in its early days, where DK was evil and then Mario in DK Jr.
I guess overall the series of Lolo was not popular enough so they combined it with Kirby? Or possibly it was 'okay' so they made it a Kirby thing to increase popularity? --ShaneM
So if Kirby is an antagonist in Link's Awakening, and Lolo is an antagonist in Kirby games, does that put Lolo on Link's side? Are Lolo and Lala the larval forms of Ice Climbers? Has anybody tried putting all the Smash Bros. characters on sides based on their appearance in their respective "canonical" games? How do Ness, Lucas, Toon Link, and Villager put their clothes on anyway? Or am I sperging out again?
Yeah and how their names is Lalala and Lololo in the Kirby series to reflect the naming trend in that series, like King Dedede and Kirby's prototype name Popopo. I hope for a new Eggerland/Lolo game some day.
Joe wrote:
Pokun wrote:
You kind of need Japanese Windows 95/98 to get it to work as it should though.
This is kind of off-topic, but does it work in Wine? Wine can change its locale at run-time, which often makes it more convenient than Windows when the software is in a non-native locale.
Run-time locale switching can also be done in Windows using the
AppLocale utility, but some software requires
strange hacks on top of that in order to work properly.
I only tried it with Windows XP long ago and I had to use Applocale, run it in compatibility mode as well as disable music in the game to get it to run. But no music is no fun. Maybe I'll try it in a virtualized Japanese windows 95 or 98 environment sometime, or Wine.