Snake Pass – Gatekeeper Coins – Cyn-Derr’s Realm

Cyn-Derr’s Realm
9. Flip Flop Foundry

1 – After getting the Double Pyramid Keystone head off the side and a Gatekeeper Coin is off a long pole.

2 – On the edge of a tree at the first spindle.

3 – Across the way on a pillar at the first spindle.

4 – On top of the center piece of the ball track.

5 – Back behind the Cube Keystone.

10. Toasty Trail

1 –

2 –

3 –

4 –

5 –

11.

1 –

2 –

3 –

4 –

5 –

12.

1 –

2 –

3 –

4 –

5 –

Snake Pass – Gatekeeper Coins – Sog-Gee’s Realm

Sog-Gee’s Realm
5. Crooked Canal

1 – Right behind you at the start just below a pole.

2 – In the room with the first lever so that you can get to the Yellow Keystone you need to slither through the stone grate on the side of the room. Outside on a ledge is the Gatekeeper Coin.

3 – At the save point where you push the boulder down the hill there is a pole system with a Gatekeeper Coin at the bottom.

4 – After getting the Pink Keystone you need to underwater and climb some stairs to get the next switch. After the under water part there will be some poles. The Gatekeeper Coin is way off the back below water area.

5 – Under the bridge right before the gate.

6. Lazy Lagoons

1 – At the top of a pillar in the first real water area. Go up to the small stone arch bridge and jump down to get.

2 – After getting the Green Square Keystone you slide down into the water. There is a path at the bottom to a new area and then keep going underwater until you enter a circle cistern with the coin in it.

3 – After rolling the ball and then climbing the new wood poles you can jump over to the previous area and use the high poles to get the coin.

4 – After sliding down the two tube and use the spin gear you need to cross the new platforms and then head back on the tops of them to a pillar with the coin.

5 – Final gatekeeper coin is under the water at the gate.

7. Risky Reservoir

1 – In the first large water area swim to the end and there is a small opening right before the ramp out of the water to an area with a Gatekeeper Coin.

2 – In the water underneath the Green Square Keystone.

3 – After crossing the small broken stone bridge you need to spin the gear on the top of the ledge. It will open a small area that takes you to a large back area with a Coin.

4 – Starting again from the small broken bridge head to the area with a large spike middle. The Gatekeeper Coin is over the edge by two drums.

5 – After filling the spike pit with water, then pulling the lever that is in the pit, you need to swim through the opened area and head left to a Coin just at the end of the stone path.

8. Fumbling Falls

1 – After crossing the spinning stone block there will be a rotating pole to the right with a Coin at the bottom.

2 – From the same starting save point there is a pool to the left. Dive down and through the small hole to find a Gatekeeper Coin at the end.

3 – The Gatekeeper Coin is at the top of a long angled pole you need to work your way up. Head across to the far side and up the moving blocks and back to the coin.

4 – When you get to the block and move up and down the back left block has a path cut out of it. Enter here to get a coin.

5 – Also at the set of blocks moving up and down go over to the small rock fence at the top and on the other side is the coin.

Snake Pass – Gatekeeper Coins – Bol-Dor’s Realm

Bol-Dor’s Realm

1. Paradise Path

1 – Right at the starting area there is a tree on the right. Behind it is a series of bamboo sticks and a Gatekeeper Coin.


2 – Underneath the first bridge. Go over the edge on the far left to a series of bamboo sticks.


3 – After crossing the first bridge its directly on your right.


4 – After 3 you drop down and it will be behind you.


5 – To the side of the gate under a bamboo structure. You don’t need to use the bamboo, just use ZL to lock yourself in place and grab the coin with your head.

2. Courtyard Clamber

1 – At the first save point if you drop down by the water and climb the series of bamboo to your right to the top there is a Gatekeeper Coin.


2 – Past the bridge and behind the Green Keystone is another small bamboo series of sticks to climb to a rock platform.


3 – Over the side down below this area is a bamboo stick with a Coin underneath. Use the ZL to lock Doodle in place and use your head to grab the Gatekeeper Coin. Then pull yourself back up.


4 – Behind the Orange Hexahedron Keystone is a series of sticks out over the void with a Gold Coin.


5 – After grabbing the last Keystone continue around the corner for a small series of bamboo to get you to the top of the platform and the final Gatekeeper Coin.

3. Gatekeeper Gardens

1 – As you climb the first wood ladder it will be at the top of the stone arch above you. There is ground underneath you so just coil up and make a mad dash for the coin.


2 – Right out in the open on a small stone platform next to the Yellow Square Keystone.


3 – Just around back on the ledge at top of the top area.


4 – From the save point on the top ledge dash off the platform to the rock platform below to get the Gatekeeper Key.


5 – Around back of the tree stone platform just off the top save point. There is no ground under you so coil around the pole to reach the coin and then climb back to the tree.

4. Creeping Causeway

1 – Just before the water area there is a stick pointing out over the abyss. Might want to go across the water first to activate the save point.


2 – Past the save point you need to climb to the next rock platform. This is on the ground level to the back right hidden behind a plant.


3 – Just past this last Gatekeeper Coin is another save point. And then over the edge is large pole structure with a Coin near the top. This area can be difficult because not only do you need to get the Coin without failing into the void but you also need to do another wood structure to get back to the top safe area.


4 – After getting the Purple Keystone come back over the ledge and jump off to the pillar below. Be careful as there is a lot of void to the sides of the pillar.


5 – Underneath the gate area at the back is a small moss covered opening. The Gatekeeper Coin is inside.

Review: Has-Been Heroes

Has-Been Heroes
Cost
$19.99
Format
Digital
Size
752 MB
Available On
Switch [Reviewed], Xbox ONE, PS4, PC
Release Date
March 28, 2017
Developer
FrozenByte
Publisher
GameTrust
Modes
Single Player

Has-Been Heroes is a rougelike action strategy game developed by Frozenbyte and published by GameTrust. It’s available digitally for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. A physical release is available exclusively at GameStop. The premise is very simple in nature, there are some old heroes that have been summoned by the king for one last mission. While starting that mission the villain of the game starts his apocalyptic plan and it’s up to the old heroes to save the day. And right along the line of a true rougelike, there is only one live and one try for the player to save the day. One party member dies and the game is over. The gameplay itself is unique and creative, Frozenbyte has something cool on its hands here. However the game feels unpolished and ridiculously difficult. There’s a grind and many deaths that the player needs to go to before they can even understand and move forward in the game and I’m afraid that after an hour or two most players will give up before they can get to the aspects that are somewhat redeeming.

Gameplay is king in any video game, at its core a game needs to be fun. Has-Been Heroes gameplay is very cool but incredibly difficult to grasp early on, and the simple tutorial section doesn’t do a good job of explaining itself. Basically there are three heroes running through the levels at max speed and as the battles start the game goes into “slow-mo”. While in battle enemies are running towards our heroes and each character is controlled with a different button on the controller to attack and rotate. Enemies can block and have stamina, it will almost never work for one hero to wail on an enemy to take it down, the enemies need to be weakened by one hero and finished off by another. Once the stamina is depleted after a couple of hits, it becomes vulnerable for another hero to swoop in and do damage. It’s a fun and novel idea, but it certainly takes some getting used to.

The game’s difficulty is of the charts, and for the first 3-5 hours it seems like it is completely unfair for multiple reasons. One reason is that the learning curve is really taxing, it honestly takes a few hours to get a grasp of how to successfully take on dozens of enemies on screen. The second reason why the game seems unfair at first is because there are a ridiculous amount of unlockable items and spells and these can only be unlocked by playing the game and getting them over time. So you are better suited to fight the wave of bad guys after you’ve played the game for 5 hours and have better goodies to fight with. Speaking of spells and items the way you collect them is a bit strange. Basically there is an over world to travel through and each area might have a battle or it might have a treasure chest or a merchant selling things. The treasure chests and merchants are the ways to get items and collectables, but if you are unlucky in what they are selling or what is available to you than you might be screwed when it comes time to battle. Those spells and items are key, without them there is no way to beat the boss levels. So that’s where the repetitive and difficult gameplay comes in. It’s basically a crap shoot for the first few hours before you unlock the ability to possibly collect good items and spells—and even if you do unlock them you might not get lucky enough to collect them during a play-through so again you’re kidna screwed. I had quite a few play-throughs where I had no chance because I just wasn’t lucky enough to collect the right spells and items and that luck factor just doesn’t seem fair. And to make matters worse the over world map has different paths and choices you can go to, so you might think hey I should just go on every possible path to find every item and spell before I face the boss! However there is a silly and unexplainable design choice where if you backtrack to an area you’ve already gone to that area will be covered in darkness. The only way to survive this darkness is to have a candle, and I’ve yet to fully understand how to get more candles. Basically you are forced to not be able to explore the whole map because you will die in the dark. Why will you die in the dark? Who knows there is zero explanation. So if you’re hoping that you can backtrack on different paths to find more items and spells you are out of luck because the dangerous and ridiculous darkness will kill you… And I thought we were taught to teach our children to not be afraid of the dark…. I digress…

If you somehow manage to beat the boss of the first world you will be treated to a second world that feels identical in nature with pretty much the exact same bad guys. The final boss who is some kind of pirate king from the underground world is ridiculously hard, and again I felt like the only reason I beat him was because on my run I was lucky enough to get a few really helpful spells. Once you kill the pirate zombie king guy you beat the game! Sorta… Basically by killing the pirate king dude (I really don’t know his name) you unlock a new character to play with, you basically bring him back from the dead. And now you can set off on your adventure again! This is the nature of rougelikes, you have one life and when you beat the game you unlock stuff to help you go beat it again. If the game’s gameplay loop is superb than this can be truly fun. Along with setting one of the old heroes free and being able to play with him/her, you also unlock a bunch of new spells and items that are attainable on your play-through. You also unlock new enemies to fight. This is bitter sweet because the enemy diversity is absolutely awful at first so having new guys to fight spices the game up a bit, but it also makes the game much harder because these new enemies are that much toughter. Again this is all normal in the rougelike gameplay loop. Also once you beat the game for the first time the next time you have to beat three worlds instead of two. And the next time you have to beat four worlds instead, I suppose it continues but I couldn’t beat the next boss, I’m working on it.

The animation, art design, character design, enemy design, and overall graphics are horrid. They are just really bad. It reminds me of early Xbox Live Arcade games from a decade ago. The characters are also genuinely uninteresting to me, they are supposed to be diverse and lively but instead they just feel like they came out of a strange and boring cartoon from the early 90’s that didn’t catch on. The cut scenes, if that’s what we want to call them, are boring at best and unprofessional. The story is also just goofy and bland. That might not matter a whole lot but it would have helped the game for sure to be a bit more cinematic. The music really confuses me. The first few worlds have unequivocally terrible music, ear-wrenching and repetitive. But then the third world has good music, really catchy and eerie and fun. By no means is it going to win any awards but it sounds nice. It’s confusing to me that a game that is so difficult and repetitive would have awful music early on, just another reason for a player to give up on the game early. All of the visual, musical, and story-telling flaws are especially disappointing to me when I take into account the developers. Frozenbyte made a game called Trine, along with its sequel Trine 2. The Trine games have a nice little story, really pretty graphics, and a great eerie soundtrack and tone. Trine is a puzzle platformer and a hidden classic in my eyes, and part of the reason is the overall presentation with its great art style, tone, and music. It’s sad that Has-Been Heroes gets a big fat “F” grade in comparison to Trine. I’m not sure why Frozenbyte dropped the ball this badly when their previous series did it so well.

Has-Been Heroes is a disappointing game. I played it on the Switch, although it’s being released on all major consoles, I felt like it could be a great fit and a fun little game for the Switch with its home-console/portable crossover attributes. However the game falls short in a multitude of ways and just doesn’t live up to what Frozenbyte has created in the past. It’s really unfair, difficult, and is based far too much on luck. The art style and music certainly don’t add anything to the experience, on the contrary they hurt the game. If you can fight through the repetitive and difficult first five hours or so of the game you might find yourself really enjoying the gameplay loop. I started to enjoy the difficulty and fun unique gameplay after I drug myself through the early monotonousness. But to be honest, if I wasn’t reviewing the game I might have given up before I found some of the hidden fun baked into Has-Been Heroes. I do give Frozenbyte some credit for the gameplay that really feels fresh and different. If you like rougelikes and you like to try new things than maybe fighting through the steep learning curve and generally unpolished nature of the game will be worth it for you. But to be honest I might wait until the game goes on sale—especially if you’re like me and anything that pulls you away from Zelda feels like an unpardonable sin.

PROS:
1) Unique challenging gameplay
2) Fun gameplay loop (after the first five hours)

CONS:
1) Lackluster art-style and music
2) Based too much on luck and unfairly difficult
3) Not easy to learn and doesn’t feel like you can master

6.2
Average

 

Human Resource Machine – Years 20 to 41

Multiplication Workshop [Year 20]

For each two things in the INBOX, multiply them, and OUTBOX the result. Don’t worry about negative numbers for now.

Size (15)

Speed (109)

Zero Terminated Sum [Year 21]

Add together all the numbers in each string. When you reach the end of a string (marked by a ZERO), put your sum in the OUTBOX. Reset and repeat for each string.

Size (10) and Speed (72)

Fibonacci Visitor [Year 22]

For each thing in the INBOX, send to the OUTBOX the full Fibonacci Sequence up to, but not exceeding that value. For example, if INBOX is 10, OUTBOX would be 1 1 2 3 5 8.
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 …

Size (19) and Speed (156)

The Littlest Number [Year 23]

For each zero terminated string in the INBOX, send to the OUTBOX only the SMALLEST number you’ve seen in that string. You will never be given an empty string. Reset and repeat for each string.

Size (13) and Speed (25)

Mod Module [Year 24]

For each two things in the INBOX, OUTBOX the remainder that would result if you had divided the first by the second. Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to divide. And don’t worry about negative numbers for now.

Size (12) and Speed (57)

Cumulative Countdown [Year 25]

For each thing in the INBOX, OUTBOX the sum of itself plus all numbers down to zero. For example, if INBOX is 3, OUTBOX should be 6, because 3+2+1=6.

Size (12) and Speed (82)

Small Divide [Year 26]

For each two things in the INBOX, how many times does the second fully fit into the first? Don’t worry about negative numbers, divide by 0, or remainders.

Size (15) and Speed (76)

Three Sort [Year 28]

For each THREE THINGS in the INBOX, send them to the OUTBOX in order from smallest to largest.

Size (34)

Speed (78)
Storage Floor [Year 29]

Imagine each thing in the INBOX is an address. And each address refers to a tile 0-9 on the floor. Your task: For each address in the INBOX, pick up the letter at that address and OUTBOX it.

Size (5) and Speed (25)
String Storage Floor [Year 30]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
String Reverse [Year 31]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Inventory Report [Year 32]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Vowel Incinerator [Year 34]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Duplicate Removal [Year 35]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Alphabetizer [Year 36]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Scavenger Chain [Year 37]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Digit Exploder [Year 38]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Re-Coordinator [Year 39]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Prime Factory [Year 40]
Size (x) and Speed (x)
Sorting Floor [Year 41]
Size (x) and Speed (x)

Human Resource Machine – Years 1 to 19

Although your progress towards the Size and Speed goals are not shown until you pass Zero Exterminator [Year 7], all progress you made will be shown at that time. Note that one solution may not work for both Size and Speed. There are 3 tabs within each Year so that you may work on multiple solution options at the same time.

Mail Room [Year 1]

Your program should tell your worker to grab each thing from the INBOX, and drop it into the OUTBOX.

Size (6) and Speed (6)

Busy Mail Room [Year 2]

Grab each thing from the INBOX, and drop each one into the OUTBOX.

Size (3)

Speed (25)

Copy Floor [Year 3]

Ignore the INBOX for now, and just send the following 3 letters to the OUTBOX: B U G

Size (6) and Speed (6)

Scrambler Handler [Year 4]

Grab the first TWO things from the INBOX and drop them into the OUTBOX in reverse order. Repeat until the INBOX is empty.

Size (7) and Speed (21)

Rainy Summer [Year 6]

For each two things in the INBOX, add them together, and put the result in the OUTBOX.

Size (6) and Speed (24)

Zero Exterminator [Year 7]

Send all things that ARE NOT ZERO to the OUTBOX.

Size (4) and Speed (23)

Tripler Room [Year 8]

For each thing in the INBOX, TRIPLE it. And OUTBOX the result.

Size (6) and Speed (24)

Zero Preservation Initiative [Year 9]

Send only the ZEROs to the OUTBOX.

Size (5) and Speed (25)

Octoplier Suite [Year 10]

For each thing in the INBOX, multiply by 8, and put the result in the OUTBOX.

Size (9) and Speed (36)

Sub Hallway [Year 11]

For each two things in the INBOX, first subtract the 1st from the 2nd and put the result in the OUTBOX. AND THEN, subtract the 2nd from the 1st and put the result in the OUTBOX. Repeat.

Size (10) and Speed (40)

Tetracontiplier [Year 12]

For each thing in the INBOX, multiply it by 40, and put the result in the OUTBOX.

Size (14) and Speed (56)

Equalization Room [Year 13]

Get tw0 things from the INBOX. If they are EQUAL, put ONE of them in the OUTBOX. Discard non-equal pairs. Repeat!

Size (9) and Speed (27)

Maximization Room [Year 14]

Grab TWO things from the INBOX, and put only the BIGGER of the two in the OUTBOX. If they are equal, just pick either one. Repeat!

Size (10) and Speed (34)

Absolute Positivity [Year 16]

Send each thing from the INBOX to the OUTBOX. BUT, if a number is negative, first remove its negative sign.

Size (8) and Speed (36)

Exclusive Lounge [Year 17]

For each TWO things in the INBOX:
Send a 0 to the OUTBOX if they have the same sign. (Both positive or both negative.)
Send a 1 to the OUTBOX if their signs are different. Repeat until the INBOX is empty.

Size (12) and Speed (26)

Countdown [Year 19]

For each number in the INBOX, send that number to the OUTBOX, followed by all numbers down to (or up to) zero. It’s a countdown!

Size (10)

Speed (82)

ACA NEOGEO

ACA NEOGEO
Release Date
3/9/2017
Cost
$7.99 each
Format
Digital
Size
75 MB – 180 MB
Play Modes
TV
Tabletop
Handheld
Players
1 – 2
Pro Controller?
YES
Developer
Hamster
Publisher
Hamster
Available On
Nintendo Switch
GAMES AVAILABLE

ACA NEOGEO Nam-1975
ACA NEOGEO The King of Fighters ’98
ACA NEOGEO Waku Waku 7
ACA NEOGEO Shock Troopers
ACA NEOGEO World Heroes Perfect
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug 3
ACA NEOGEO The King of Fighters ’94 (Added 3/16/2017)
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug (Added 3/30/2017)

Voez

Voez
Release Date
3/9/2017
Cost
$25.00
Format
Digital
Size
620 MB
Play Modes
Handheld
Players
1
Pro Controller?
NO
Developer
Ray Ark
Publisher
Flyhigh Works
Available On
Nintendo Switch
GAME TRAILER