Yo! Noid

"Underrated"

Yo! Noid is a no brainer platformer for the old NES, as simple as that, it has no plot whatsoever, just jump and yo-yo your oponents into submission, it has pretty decent graphics for its time, and a dificulty level that will make (almost) everyone take a sweat. This being the reason why it' so underrated, you have to invest some time into this game to fully apreciate it, with bad music and wierd main character it's no surprise a lot of people hate it.

However, if you are up to the challenge and give this one a chance you might be up for a surprise, with it's mindless "smack n' go" gameplay and a few minigames it might prove to be as fun for you as it was for me.

Most levels are travelled on foot but one features a skateboard, two a gyrocopter and a part of one a cross between a large weight and a pogo stick wich adds a little bit to the already fun gameplay.

There are secret and progressively more difficult "Whack-a-Mole" minigames, accessible by jumping into invisible doors. Noid walks around a top view area with holes in the floor, hitting moles as they pop out of their holes. Hitting enough of them within the time limit completes the level and earns an extra continue. Failing costs a life and restarts the level.... wich happens pretty often and gets to be annoying.

Yo! Noid is translation of the game Masked Ninja Hanamaru, a game Capcom released in Japan in 1990. Much of the graphics, but none of the game mechanics were changed and it was released in the rest of the world as Yo! Noid.

While not as good as the mainstream competition like Mario bro's, tiny toon adventures and so on, it's worth a go.

BUY OR RENT?

Not really a choice since it's kind of hard to find, if you can rent it and then buy it... then rent it first, if you like what you are playing, then buy it, if you happen to find one in a garage sale for 5 bucks, then go ahead, it will probably not dissapoint.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/06