HAUNTED: Halloween '85 (Original NES Game)

Homage to the NES games of yesteryear. Pros - The first and third stages are pretty fun. The background and graphics are pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of the music but it and the sound effects will make you think you're playing an NES game. The first and second boss battles reminded me of old NES fights. Cons - For some reason, the dev decided to take the worst of NES platforming and put it in this game. The platforming is VERY hit or miss. You need precision jumping but with the icy physics, you could easily slide off the edge or in an attempt to overcompensate slide off the other edge. The fighting is hit or miss at times. The second, fourth, and fifth stages are horrendous at this. Honestly, I'm not sure if I could recommend this as a good game.

A janky, mindless button-masher with no depth and questionable level design choices, further held back by slippery platforming, unfair enemy placement and enemy spam. A decent-looking NES throwback with some cute '80s references but that's about it. No save feature (not even a quick save) and jump punches seem to only work whenever they want to. The [spoiler]scarecrow[/spoiler] boss can also eat a big one.

Old fashioned NES fun with challenging levels, tough boss fights, and no save states or continues once your lives are gone. If you want an era-authentic experience, look no further! ONE MINUTE REVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgxVwa9ytQM

This a truly exceptional game that I highly recommend. As a big fan of classic old school style gaming, I was delighted by the nostalgic feel of this title. With its challenging and engaging gameplay, players can enjoy countless thrilling hours of fun. The graphics are simply stunning and harken back to the glory days of retro gaming. Retrotainment Games has done an incredible job in creating this remarkable game, and it is without a doubt worthy of a five-star rating.

This game is pretty reminiscent of old NES horror games. It helps being that it literally is a game that can be played on the NES, and was developed for the NES, first, as a homebrew game. It reminds me of Zombies Ate my Neighbors, on the SNES, Ghoul School & Monster Party on the NES, or other similar games, where kids take on strange monsters, in schools or other places. The atmosphere and recreation of actual things, from real life, in NES form, is one of the great things about this one. The gameplay, while some platforming can rarely be nerve racking, is tight, as well as the controls, with excellent control and combat mechanics. Sadly, I wont be able to enjoy this on a live NES, on a CRT, where it likely looks its best. Still, its great to see ideas like this. Horror themes done on the NES, this way, work, really well. The rustic look works well, and I wish this kind of rusty cartoon look would be done in other places, as I've seen similar, outside this medium. There's something about it that's just interesting.

Full review at: https://thegamehoard.com/2022/10/31/the-haunted-hoard-haunted-halloween-85-pc/ HAUNTED: Halloween ’85 is a nice NES throwback that mixes its modern technical advantages with some enjoyable retro difficulty. Even simple enemies are legitimate dangers and taking the time to grab every health pick-up or extra life you can ends up key to finishing the adventure, the looming threat of running out of continues tangible but the opportunities to avoid it abundant enough you have the room to figure out how to clear the game’s six levels. Boss battle composition is a bit all over the map in terms of difficulty and design, but the regular stages mix up their presentation and layouts so that this enjoyable Halloween journey doesn’t run out of steam.