Little Nemo: The Dream Master
System: NES
Release Date: September 1990
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Journey back to 1905 New York and whisk away to Slumberland in Little Nemo: The Dream Master! The princess of Slumberland has chosen you to be her new playmate and as long as you don’t have to kiss her, that sounds like a great time. The messenger equips you with a magic bag of candy used to stun enemies or have them become your friends. Make your way through 8 dreams to become the Dream Master.
Nemo jumps with the A Button and throws candy with the B Button. Some enemies are stunned in place for a moment by hitting them with candy, which I found to be more trouble than it was worth, as I would then have trouble jumping over them. The goal of each level is to collect a number of keys placed around the level. The platforming is very reminiscent of Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, as Nemo can’t stun or kill enemies by stomping them, but gets hurt instead.
Other enemies eat the candy and after eating three pieces will fall asleep. This allows you to enter them and take their powers. The frog jumps high and can crush enemies with his belly. The gorilla can punch enemies and allows you to climb walls, but is very big and easily hit. The lizard can also climb walls, but it can also go through more narrow passageways. Bees can fly for a small period of time and shoot stingers across the screen. The hermit crab drills into soft sand, but doesn’t hurt enemies with it’s jump. The flounder let’s you swim quickly through the water. Finally, the mouse can climb walls and comes equipped with a hammer that is used to break blocks.
The beginning of most levels has you speaking with an NPC who gives you a hint on what to do. This was important in the second level, cluing me in to screens below the water and above the trees. Some levels have auto scrolling areas, which can be a pain to get through. The toy train of level three is a side scroller full of enemies. There are upward and downward scrolling portions in level six, which require precise platforming.
After the penultimate level, you finally meet the princess, who sends you to Nightmare Land to save her father. The final level is a big gauntlet that finally equips Nemo with a weapon. At the end of each section is a mini-boss that takes a bunch of hits from your new morning star, while you show off some great dodging skills. Lose all of your lives and get sent back to the first segment of the stage. Ninja Gaiden difficulty on display.
Graphics: 3.5
There’s an array of well animated sprites and interesting backgrounds. There are also cutscenes and character portraits.
Sound: 3.5
Capcom comes through with high marks on the sound front again, carried by a pretty great soundtrack.
Gameplay: 3.0
Nemo controls well, though I’d prefer a weapon to defeat enemies as opposed to stunning them. I can’t say that for all of the animal companions.
Difficulty: 3.0
You’re going to take hits that are practically unavoidable. The train stage and the final stage are particularly difficult and require you to learn patterns over many, many tries.
Fun Factor: 3.0
It’s a pretty fun game overall. I thought it was pretty simple, but it was good.
Overall Rating: 3.2
Little Nemo: The Dream Master earns a B+. This is a definite pick up and play. You’ll enjoy yourself enough to make it worthwhile.