Collection essentials #96: Shatterhand (NES)

Here’s another gem from Natsume, the same people who made yesterday’s game, S.C.A.T. Shatterhand is another side-scrolling action platformer, and perhaps surprisingly, it was originally a licensed game, with the original Japanese release being based on the Japanese TV show “Super Rescue Solbrain”. One wouldn’t expect a licensed game like this to be one of the objectively best games on the whole system, but that’s what happened here. 

By default, you start out with just a punch attack. But when you defeat certain enemies, you have a choice of getting a power-up labeled with either the Greek letter α or β. Once you collect three, a little robot buddy appears who you can use for a new type of attack depending on what combination of the three letters you chose! There are eight different combinations, and it provides for a great deal of variety and fun in the gameplay. You can pick up a different three to replace your current weapon, or if you pick up the same sequence with your robot still intact, you’ll be further powered up for a limited time!

On top of that cool system, the game just feels really polished. Everything was designed well, in a way that’s fun and challenging to the player without feeling unfair, unlike many other games of this era. Sadly it hasn’t seen any modern re-releases. Hopefully that will change at some point so more people can play this excellent NES essential.