Now a review of Sunsoft's little known Gameboy Color fighter…
Graphics:
Power Quest's graphics aren't anything to oogle over. The backgrounds are plain and simple, albeit usually colorful, and the characters look decent. The biggest graphic glay is that sometimes the character sprite's limb size seem to change and the character sprites are obviously restricted to a certain size in some frames. The color choice for characters usually seems odd. The 2nd player colors look fine, but the 1st player colors look pretty bad in some cases, like Speed's 1P color. The sprites do, however, animate nicely. Take into account that this game works on normal Gameboy as well and things are pretty good. Remember, this was one of the first GBC enhanced games ever made, and thus it doesn't have that great of colors. On a normal gameboy it would sadly look better and overall be a more amazing feet. Especially compared to other GB fighters. Character designs are sort of bland, but they work and aren't too bland looking. The names, however, are as bland as can be: Axe, Gong, Max, Lon, and Speed. Overall Graphics Score 6.5/10
Gameplay:
Definitely Power Quest's strong point! Think Waku Waku 7 "lite". It isn't as fast, since it was designed to work on regular Gameboy, and it doesn't have wall bouncing and pursuits. The game play is decently paced and is not slow by any means. Characters have 4 special moves each and 2 Super moves. The game does have a combo system as well, so it's more advanced than most Gameboy fighters. In fact, I think this may be one of the best Gameboy fighters ever. The fact that it runs on regular Gameboy is quite impressive. Power Quest blows games like the GB versions of Samurai Shodown and Toshinden out of the water! I haven't played Street Fighter Alpha for Gameboy Color, but it's probably close or better. I can assure you of one thing, it doesn't have GB Alpha's biggest flaw, a lack of Versus mode. Power Quest does indeed have a VS mode! The game is also intresting in the main game concept. It's a sort of fighting RPG as you buy upgrades to moves and fight random people for money in preperation for the big Modeller Tournament. Meanwhile, you solve sub-plots like the gang that's beating up everyone's Models with their secret cheating device. The game's biggest drawbacks are that you can't play VS mode with Story data, there is no battery backup, so all Story mode data is saved as a long winded password you must write down, and a serious lack of characters. The characters are, however, balanced. The least balanced is probably Lon with it's long ranged and powerful moves. Overall Gameplay Score: 8.5/10
Sound:
Sunsoft does it again! The music is wonderful! The sound effects are the usual Bonk! Ping! Noises you expect from a Gameboy game. However, the music is very nice. Out of all these games, however, it is probably the worst of Sunsoft's fighter music. But then again, it's on Gameboy. The music has a somewhat dark feel to it that doesn't quite fit the child-ish atmosphere, but definitely pumps you up for the fight. The bleep bloop varaiety in the music isn't that great either and sounds a bit harsh. But for those who can listen to the melody rather than the instrument, it's rather nice. Overall Sound Score: 7/10
Overall Score: 7.5/10
DON'T FORGET! THIS GAME WAS RELEASED IN AMERICA AND IS RELATIVLY EASY TO FIND! EXPECT TO PAY $10-$20 FOR IT!
IT'S A GOOD DEAL!