 Here's one of the more fascinating 8-bit games I've ever seen, it's Galgo 13 Top Secret Episode for NES, based off of the Galgo 13 manga, and you play AS Galgo 13, real name Duke Togo, a cold-blooded assassin, kinda like the Japanese James Bond, and he's got a mission to take down the evil Drek Empire. This was developed by Victor Kai, who are also behind outside the box games like Clash at Demonhead, and yeah, this game is just slightly outside the box to put it lightly. It mixes all sorts of gameplay elements and mechanics, and it's got a legitimately interesting story that comes across as, well, adult, for a lack of a better term, but the game is far from perfect, and there are a number of flaws you have to bear with if you want to enjoy this one. So you start the game in an airport talking to a woman, an agent named Maria Lovelet, and right away you can see this game just looks different than anything else on the NES. It's a bit of a Ninja Gaiden vibe, but a hint darker and more sinister. Maria tells you that someone shot down a helicopter full of secret agents carrying a new biological weapon called Cassandra G, and whoever did it was planning on framing our hero. In addition, the vaccine that would provide immunity against this weapon was stolen, but Maria gives you some information that points you in the right direction to get it back. And that's when the game really starts, and uh, yeah. Here we see the flaws that you'll have to contend with. The side scrolling action here is just awful. You walk forward slowly, but you jump insanely high for some reason. But the worst thing is B is jump and A is attack. That drives me nuts, it makes me feel like I have to take out my brain and put it back in backwards for me to play this. Enemies will shoot at you from across the screen, and your first instinct will be to try and shoot back at them, but you'd be wise to concentrate on dodging first, then shooting, otherwise you'll drop dead before you know it. You can also do a jump kick if that works better for you. Thankfully that's not all the gameplay is here. You talk to people on the street, as well as duck into these doors and random buildings and ask for information, and yeah, some of it is completely useless, it wouldn't be a proper NES game without NPCs giving you useless dialogue, but then all of a sudden you see a gun pop up from the lower right and shoot at you. And just like that, the game changes to a first person gallery shooter. Hey, that's pretty cool. You just clear out the enemies here, then you're back in the side scrolling mode. Now what sucks about the side scrolling mode the most is that you can't just duck and fire. I mean, come on, the enemies can do that, why can't I? Eventually you run into Agent Cherry Grace, who tells you that a sniper is stationed at a TV tower, waiting to take out the person you were supposed to meet to get more info. So, she tells you you're better off getting off the ground and into a helicopter, and just like that, suddenly it's a horizontal scrolling shoot-up. I really like how this all comes together so cohesively in the game. It's not just a bunch of game modes for the sake of having a bunch of different game modes, there's always a reason you're doing something, and it's not ham-fisted storytelling either. It's well done. Now, the actual gameplay modes are hit or miss. The shoot-em-up level here is okay, it's nothing great, but in a nice touch, you also get the first person gallery shooter stages in this mode too. I was not expecting that the first time I played this, so that was a nice surprise. You arrive at the TV tower, and you get another game mode. You have to snipe the sniper from the helicopter, B to zoom in, and A to fire, and you shoot the guy in the friggin' head with blood and everything. Holy crap, this is an NES game? Unfortunately, what comes next is backtracking all the way back to where you started the game, and yup, the same gallery shooter spots are triggered in the exact same spots, there's no avoiding them. I admit it's one of those things that's cool at first, but it becomes a grind after a while. You eventually meet up with Condor, who's got some info for you, but he gets brutally gunned down, and tells you where to go just as he's dying, and guess what, it's in the other direction. Ugh. But wait a minute, you stop at the hotel here, and you're told you have a message from the agent you met with earlier, Cherry Grace, who invites you up to her room, and uh, yeah, you can fill in the blanks here. Okay, so let's recap what's happened in this game so far. You play as a total badass spy, you shoot randos and kick them in the face, you switch to a first person gallery shooter mode and gun down helicopters, then you fly a helicopter yourself, blowing up all sorts of stuff before you headshot a guy from hundreds of feet away, then you watch a guy get brutally murdered in front of you, and then you get laid, which I should mention replenishes your health as well. Bear in mind all of this happens within the first 20 minutes of playing this game. That's frickin' nuts! There are a couple other game modes I should mention that show up later on, and they may be game breakers for some people. The first is the underwater mode, which is just a drag. You move incredibly slowly, you take damage from these mine things which are everywhere, and the gallery shooter stages here are really a pain, because your crosshair moves really slowly. After this part you end up at the enemy base, and you're back in a first person perspective again, this time navigating a maze, and these mazes suck. Okay, the first one's not so bad, but as you progress through the game, they are a huge pain to deal with, mostly because of these trapped doors that pop up beneath you. Ah! It's really easy to get lost since these mazes are huge and have multiple floors, so it's either take a visit to Game Facts or just draw your own map. I should also mention quickly that throughout the game there's no items in the way of power-ups or health replenishments, you only get life back and extra ammo by defeating enemies. You also have unlimited continues to get through this one, and thankfully the game is reasonably kind with checkpoints, although some will set you way back unfortunately. No saves or passwords here however, and this is a long game. Well, long for NES, it could take you something like 3 or 4 hours to get through. So yeah, Golgo 13 Top Secret Episode is a fascinating game. Yeah, the side-scrolling levels are a pain, the backtracking is annoying, and the underwater levels and mazes are really a downer, but this game still manages to have a lot going for it. The way the story is told and the way the game modes are all linked together organically is really well done. The atmosphere and presentation is impressive for an NES title, the music fits the game perfectly, and the fact that this is such a mature game back when the NES landscape was ruled mostly by happy, bouncy, harmless cartoonish stuff really makes this game stand out as something unique. And hey, if you like this game, there's a sequel on the NES titled The Mafat Conspiracy, made by the same developer and with the same type of presentation with all sorts of game modes. But yeah, if you can stomach this game's flaws, Golgo 13 Top Secret Mission is well worth checking out. Alright, I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day!