 After you've played all the big name RPGs and adventure games on the Super Nintendo, you start to move into the next tier of games. That's where you'll find stuff like Paladin's Quest, Robotrack, the Twisted Tales of Spike McFang, and Brain Lord, developed by the same people behind 7th Saga and Mystic Arc and published by Annex. I always thought Brain Lord was such an odd title, like what, a Brain Lord? Lords over Brains? Does he or she have a collection? Or is it to imply that they're a master of Brains, kinda like how we all recognize Michael Flatley as the Lord of the Dance? Okay, maybe not, but still, Brain Lord falls into the category of perfectly good adventure game with some major strengths and some debilitating weaknesses. You play as Ramir, who's on a mission to find and defeat a dragon that killed his father. At first glance, this game comes across as seriously as most other Super Nintendo RPGs and adventure games. The instruction manual goes on about great demons and kings and dragons, but don't be fooled. Ramir is actually pretty light hearted. I mean, yeah, Ramir wants to avenge his dad, but he and his friends also want all the money that comes with finding dragon scales. Who can say no to that? Unfortunately, by the time you get some dragon scales, your quote-unquote friends have already hung you out to dry, whoops. The other characters you meet along the way aren't playable and don't join your party or anything, but they are integral to the story because they provide, well, exposition to put it bluntly. There's Kassian, a bounty hunter who tells you about armor, Barnes is a wizard who fills you in on the history of each location. Varys tells you about magic as your character gains more abilities, and rain is kind of the comic relief. The dialogue here is actually kind of funny at times, I mean, funny on purpose. There are some speed bumps you'll run into with the translation, it's not the greatest, but this game still gets across a jovial and almost laid-back vibe. One thing I like about Brain Lord is that it wastes no time getting the player acclimated. In the first dungeon alone, you get two health upgrades, an armor upgrade, an alternate weapon, and a magic projectile, two different companions that level up on their own called Ferries, and eventually a sword and shield upgrade, that's all within the first 20 minutes or so. You can also jump, which is a bit unusual for this genre, and you can use your shield to block, and those two mechanics aren't just there for show, you'll be using them a ton. Unfortunately, there's no run button here, so you'll have to skip through if you want to pick up the pace a bit, which is a pretty funny visual. As you can see, the combat is about what you'd expect from a top-down adventure game. Your sword mercifully has a large attack range, which is nice, but there's also an axe, a boomerang, a bow and arrow, and a mace, just to name a few other weapons. And Brain Lord is open-ended enough that you can take care of most enemies and bosses with just about any of them. There's also upgradeable armor and shields, although shields can only take a certain number of hits, so you have to keep that in mind when you block. You collect gold from each enemy you take out, and when you die, you lose a significant amount of gold, and I'm not exactly sure how much you need to revive each life at your last safe state. The game is kind of vague about that, but the idea is that if you don't have enough gold and you die, it's game over. It's the game's incentive to keep defeating enemies instead of speeding right past them. There's also up to 13 magic spells you can obtain. Some you can buy, and some you find in dungeons. You just hold B to charge the meter below to use it. There's also jades you can find, which each contain fairies which fly near you and help you out. There's 9 total fairies, each with their own specialty like lightning or water, and some can even restore your HP or resurrect you if you die. You can have up to 2 fairy companions at a time, and you just select who you want to use in the start menu. They also level up on their own when they collect these blue spheres, which is a nice touch. So that's all well and good, but Brain Lord's bread and butter is in its puzzles. This is a very puzzle heavy game, so if that's what you're looking for, then here you go. They start out simple enough, moving blocks to activate switches and recognizing patterns, but eventually they get really tough. There's quite a bit of platforming involved as well, like this section here with the floor disappearing, so you gotta get a really good feel for the jumping. Most of the puzzles are pretty well done, but some are just ridiculous, like the one where you have to open the door in the room with the collapsing floors. Even these puzzles where you have to figure out what switches to keep pressed down can get pretty frustrating. And yeah, some parts in this game will have you spiking your controller in the ground. Sure, you're given clues, but some of them can be pretty vague. The way some of the game's structure can be frustrating too. You might be disappointed to find out there's only 5 dungeons in this game, but they are gigantic! There's 48 total keys and doors to unlock here, and this game will still take most people about 8 hours to complete in their first playthrough. There's also certain parts where you have to backtrack, which gets pretty annoying, like this section where you have to go all the way back to get rain, so he can stand on a switch to open a door. This would be easier to stomach if there were more save statues, but that's just me. There is at least a function in the main menu called Return, that'll bring you back to the door of any room that you're in, and it'll also reset the puzzle if you screw up. The visuals in Brain Lord aren't the greatest, everything's kind of bleary looking, the enemy design is a bit blah, and the sprite animation is limited. The game looks fine, but it's not going to compare to stuff like Spike McFang, for example. Where Brain Lord makes up for it, though, is in the music and sound design. The soundtrack is like a cross between Breath of Fire and Soul Blazer, while still being its own thing. It's definitely unique, and there are certain tracks that will stick in your head for days. So yeah, Brain Lord has a lot of strength. It's a puzzle-heavy adventure game that has a lot of personality, but beware, this game can drag at times, the dungeons are insanely long, and some of the puzzles can be frustrating for the wrong reasons. Still, Brain Lord's positives outweigh the bad here. The combat is well done, I like the fairy companions you can find, the dialogue is funny, and the soundtrack is really cool. The cartridge goes for around $30, which isn't too bad. So if you're jonesing for a 16-bit adventure puzzle game and you're sick to death of Zelda, then you gotta play Brain Lord.