"A fun action/adventure game, with some light RPG elements in the mix."

Introduction
Welcome to the realm of Kick Master! This is a game were you play as a martial arts master named Thonolan, to save the princess who has been captured by the evil Belzed. In this game you must kick and level up your way, into the final stage, were you must defeat the evil Belzed yourself, and save the princess!

Gameplay
You play as Thonolan, who is armed with nothing but his powerful kicks and techniques. You must side scroll through the levels, and encounter enemies, which you must kill. When you defeat an enemy, he/she/it will explode into 3 icons that explode in the air, but grab them quickly before they fall down the screen and are forever gone. These icons can be one of numerous things. One icon can give you experience points, while another can give you MP, and another one can give you health, or even hurt you. If you collect enough experience points, Thonolan will gain a level, when this happens, he will learn a new kick, and have increased HP and MP, which is needed if you want to defeat the later stages without headaches.

They have also added magic in this game with MP usage. You will find numerous different kinds of magic that has different effects. You can usually find them hidden within levels, or after defeating a boss. These magic have different amount of MP usage, usually the more powerful the magic, the more MP used up. These magic range from shock waves, to even allowing you to fly.

I give gameplay a 10/10.

Graphics
The graphics are pretty well done. In some areas, it looks like they got lazy, but it balances it out with the good looking sprites in the game. Most of the bosses look very well done! Some of the kicking animations look swift and neat.

I give graphics a 9/10.

Sound
This is the games strong point along with gameplay. The music is great, especially for a NES game. To be honest, this is my favorite NES soundtrack. It's hard not to enjoy the music in this game. Each level has its own unique tune; even the song in the main menu is pretty great. Only thing I have against the sound in this game is that with all the boss encounters, the boss theme can wear down after a bit.

I give sound a 10/10.

Controls
The controls are simple, B is to kick, and A is to jump. When you start learning new kicks, you press the B button, combined with some directional buttons. The controls are great and responsive, and I can pull off the kick I want to. The start button opens the menu, so you can choose magic. This is when the downside of the controls comes in; you have to press select to use magic. This can be a problem when you are throwing magic attacks at the opponent, but need to constantly move.

I give controls 8/10.

Replay Value
The game kind of falls short here. It has a very nice length for an action/adventure game, but you may only probably play it once or twice after it's all over. The game rewards you with a harder difficulty when you beat the game, so there is some replay value right there. It would have been great if you can start the game, with all the magic and moves you learned from the previous game.

I give replay value a 8/10

PROS:
- Great soundtrack
- Great gameplay, with swift animations.
- Good length for a NES action/adventure title.

CONS:
- Not a whole lot of replay value.
- Must press select to use magic, which is a hassle in intense boss fights.

Overall score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/05