The first Western-developed game for Game Boy… and the first Game Boy release never to reach Japan… and the first game of the ’90s! Fortress of Fear had a lot riding on its shoulders, but sadly it proved to be a lackluster companion to the NES Wizards & Warriors games.
Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear
Japanese title: None
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Acclaim [US] Nintendo [EU]
Release date: 1.1990 [U.S.] | 1990 [Europe]
Genre: Action (platformer)
Super Game Boy: No support
Previous in series: Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II [NES, 1989]
Next in series: Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros – Visions of Power [NES, 1991]
Similar titles: Castlevania: The Adventure [Konami, 1989]
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Randall Mistrot
Great review. I always wanted to love the W&W franchise but it always let me down.
FJ
This was one of the first Gameboy games I owned back in the day, and I have a certain fondness for it even though it was never one of my favorites. While it’s rather unforgiving, the gameplay is so oriented around memorization it’s actually considerably easier to handle for newer gamers than games with more reactionary gameplay. Enemies are usually easy to handle as long as you know where they are and how they move, bosses are entirely about observing their patterns and finding the two safe spots to switch between to avoid their swooping attacks, and knowing where the secret rooms are and what chests contain what is essential to keeping a healthy supply of extra lives. It’s a game you “figure out” as opposed to “get good at”. It’s hardly the best game out there, but I played it a decent amount as a kid and managed to make it to I believe level 4, never considering it particularly “bad”.