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#Ai Senshi Nicol teaches us what a love warrior is all about

“Ai Senshi Nicol teaches us what a love warrior is all about”

Shootin’ on the partitions of heartache

I’ve this headcanon with Ai Senshi Nicol, that it’s a couple of feminine protagonist out to rescue her girlfriend. It’s not a lot of a stretch. The title interprets to Love Warrior Nicol (maybe they meant Nicole, however the English textual content spells it Nicol). The protagonist has shiny pink hair (which isn’t strictly gendered, simply to be clear). They’re named Nicol. Possibly it’s an unlikely subtext for a recreation launched earlier than even Caper within the Castro, however a lady can dream. Typically I want ’80s video video games have been a little bit gayer.

Ai Senshi Nicol Sub-Boss

Ai Senshi Nicol is a top-down, flip-screen shooter by Konami. In the event you assume The Guardian Legend however with out the shoot-’em-up sections, I’ll must take your phrase for it as a result of it has been years since I final performed it. I principally simply bear in mind the superior heroine who might flip right into a spaceship. Possibly the top-down sections from Blaster Grasp are a greater level of reference. The plot is that it’s essential to save your girlfriend, whose identify isn’t Nicole. It’s Stella.

Your job is to gather three crystals on every stage. They’re hidden in underground sections of every stage and are largely dispersed to the far corners. To succeed in them, you need to do some mild top-down platforming and shoot by a plethora of baddies. There’s no on the spot dying. Even in case you screw up a leap, you simply fall into an underworld space and must climb out to proceed. That’s good as a result of dying means you’re beginning the stage over.

Ai Senshi Nicol Snails!

To keep away from having to repeat complete phases, you’ll want to hunt out power-ups. Astro Put on, Astro Pants, Energy Sneakers, and others. Oh, I see you’ve already bought your Astro Pants on. As a result of your butt is out of this world.

As goofy because the nomenclature is, It’s actually essential to hunt out this tools. Astro Put on cuts down on the injury you’re taking, Energy Sneakers make you go sooner, and Astro Pants forestall house lava from scalding your hyper legs. These aren’t dropped by enemies, which is lucky, because it cuts down on the quantity of grinding you is perhaps tempted to do. As an alternative, they’re littered all through the atmosphere, giving Ai Senshi Nicol a touch of useful resource administration. You’ll have a better time in case you replenish early after which don’t die. The Raiden or Gradius technique.

The gameplay is extraordinarily easy. The taking pictures, platforming, and exploration are extraordinarily boilerplate. Even when it isn’t distinctive, it’s moderately tight, which is rarely assured with 8-bit video games. It’s enjoyable, simply not precisely ingenious.

Ai Senshi Nicol level 1

The place it does excel is in its number of enemies, wonderful sprite work, and musical rating. It’s not precisely Journey to Silius by way of soundtrack, but it surely has just a few good bops. It’s Konami in spite of everything, and I can’t identify certainly one of their Famicom video games that had a foul soundtrack. Maintain on, I’ll attempt… Nope, not coming to me.

The place the place Ai Senshi Nicol satisfies essentially the most is in its secrets and techniques. Being a Famicom Disk System recreation, you’re capable of save, but it surely is perhaps finest to make a behavior of beginning the sport over. Sure power-ups are considerably higher than your commonplace Cosmo Ball. There are hidden upgrades that improve your well being and weapon. They’re used sparingly and solely on sure ranges, so determining the place they’re can provide you an enormous benefit within the recreation’s last phases.

Even with out them, Ai Senshi Nicol doesn’t carry a lethal problem. With a little bit of endurance, it’s all doable, but it surely’s possibly a bit extra enjoyable in case you get Nicol good and doped. There are seven ranges in all, which makes the save system virtually a requirement. You may in all probability beat it in a day, simply don’t make another plans.

Oh! Mygod.

Whereas not within the operating for my favourite Konami Famicom discoveries, Ai Senshi Nicol is unquestionably well worth the time, particularly in case you’re on the lookout for one thing to fit into your Disk System. What it lacks in memorability, it makes up for by simply being a high quality recreation. In fact, you would possibly bear in mind it higher in case you undertake my homosexual headcanon for it.

Apart from the title display’s brand, I don’t recall seeing even a spot of Japanese textual content in Ai Senshi Nicol. There’s no dialogue (other than Oh! Mygod.) and the stock display is in English. A extra helpful translation could be for the handbook, however there isn’t data there you’ll be able to’t discover elsewhere on the web.

Like many Konami Famicom video games, Ai Senshi Nicol was re-released as soon as on cellphones in 2006. Nonetheless, it was by no means localized, although it could have been an amazing match for the 3DS Digital Console. Konami has been releasing some shocking collections currently, so fingers crossed that we’ll see one thing that rounds out their early releases that don’t essentially slot in with an extended sequence. Video games like Ai Senshi Nicol, Getsu Fuuma Den, and Yume Penguin Monogatari. Once more, a lady can dream.

Take a look at earlier Famicom Fridays proper right here.

Zoey Handley

Zoey is a gadabout gaming hobbyist. She’s been enjoying video video games all her life and is a lover of each new and retro video games. She enjoys digging within the grime and selecting out the video games which might be completely fantastic in case you clear them up a bit.

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