Two decades worth of fine-tuning the genre paid off in a big way.
When I popped Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril into my Nintendo Entertainment System the first thing I thought of was Mega Man. I found myself timing jumps from platform to platform, shooting enemies with what seems to be an arm canon, avoiding spikes at all cost, and searching for paper scraps and junk mail to jot down passwords onto; all of which are things I did for a good chunk of the first half of the 90s.
Then I realized that the map is one continuous massive dungeon and soon came to mind the likes of Metroid and The Adventure of Link.
I found myself taking a moment to evaluate what needed to be done to complete each room as I came to it. In this way I feel it is comparable to The Adventure of Lolo.
The aspect of enhancing Timmy's (Timmy is the character you control) abilities is pretty rad- Higher jumps and such. There are also keys you collect that allow you to break blocks that were previously indestructible. I appreciate that some of these said blocks appear fairly early in the game, long before you get the first key, and thus you have to return after acquiring the key. It takes away from the mundanity of being completely linear. There are warp points that you can move freely between once they are activated. There are rooms with check points that you will quickly learn to appreciate the importance of.
The music is great. Especially the area I believe is called the Sky Fortress.
The controls are crisp. No blaming your hundreds of deaths on lag or game physics.
So. In conclusion. Buy this game.
1. One guy made it. He deserves some recognition- which is most easily done by purchasing the cartridge.
2. You will be the only person on your block to own it. Everyone loves feeling that exclusive sometimes. Also, let's not forget the fact that it is on a cartridge for the NES. That hasn't happened since like 1994.
3. Remember what I compared it to? Metroid! Zelda! Lolo! Mega Man!
Go forth.