Flying Warriors
System: NES
Release Date: February 1991
Developer: Culture Brain
Publisher: Culture Brain
Genre: Action
Stop evil from returning to take over the world in Flying Warriors! Long ago the evil Demonyx of the Dark Dimension tried to invade our Light Dimension. But he was vanquished and sealed within the Mandara Talisman. But he promised to return when the Red Evil Star appears. The Flying Warriors were sent to the planet to prepare for Demonyx’s return. The time has come for you to collect everything you need and take the fight to Demonyx once again! I’ve played this game before… *looks back*… Yeah, this is a sequel to Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll. It really plays just like it, only slightly updated. Which is weird because the controls are so incredibly bad. Everything feels like it takes a moment to register and then it rarely works.
As Rick Stalker, you are a kung-fu master and one of the aforementioned Flying Warriors. As the main hero of the adventure, you’ll be controlling him a vast majority of the time. You’re thrown into a demonstration of the battle mode and a practice match against your teacher. You’ll see a flashing red diamond splash on your enemy or yourself. This indicates where you need to attack your opponent or defend on yourself. There are two control modes, Master and Standard. Master allows you a bit more control over your attacks, but you want to start with the Standard mode and beat the game once to understand the gameplay.
The one on one battles are prevalent through the game and are really a turn based fighting game disguised as an action battle. You attack or defend within a given amount of time or your chance is lost. If that splash turns blue, you can land a critical hit and if it becomes a blue R, you’ll get a bunch of attacks in a row, which is great. Battles against soldiers of the Dark Dimension require you to transform into your superhero form in order to defend against special attacks. When you get extra party members, they might insist in fighting a certain boss and will do extra damage to them. There are special attacks that you can launch when your KO Gauge is at 100, but I had a ton of trouble getting them to work.
Between tournament battles are action platforming journey scenes. There are generic enemies that you need to defeat as they impede your progress. As you take damage, you’ll need to use Mystic Water in order to refill your health. These can bed found in the environment, and occasionally flying across the screen. There are also mini-bosses that you need to defeat in order to find items or information. The hit boxes of both enemies and the player are inconsistent to be nice. There are plenty of times I should have been hitting enemies only to whiff and times where they weren’t near hitting me, but I took damage. There are also plenty of times where your button inputs aren’t registered and I can’t tell if it’s intended or not.
Jumping is atrocious and that coupled with some moving platforms that require precise timing is infuriating. Some enemies drop little gems, which can be used in the occasional shop to buy items. The only required item is the bracelet, which you need to move ahead. There are several levels and tournaments that you have to take a part in. You’ll be unmasking and defeating the evil Tusk soldiers as you attempt to put an end to Demonyx. And upon defeating the demon and saving the day from eternal night… I am told that it was a fake demon and I would have to play expert difficulty to win for reals. No thanks.
Graphics: 2.5
In game graphics are pretty decent and detailed, and cut scene animations look cool, too.
Sound: 2.0
Music and sounds are alright, but not my favorite by any means.
Gameplay: 1.0
The controls are god awful, despite there being multiple modes of play. Really disappointing.
Difficulty: 1.0
There are BS jumps all over the game, enemies who ignore getting hit, and limited continues. I would have quit early on if not for time travel.
Fun Factor: 1.0
I kept coming back to finish it, but then got the fake ending and refuse to ever play again.
Overall Rating: 1.5
Flying Warriors earns a C-. If you can get over the lousy controls and crappy platforming, you might enjoy playing through this one. If it had been tightened up, it would have been pretty decent.