Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Forums
Post History
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
Add Review
Subscribe
Nominate
Submit Media
RSS
That Old Ganon’s No Match For The King
Addit- 10/05/2015 10:26 AM
- 8014 views
A Game Made By: kentona, Solitayre, LockeZ & halibabica
Including The Assistance Of:
Ratty524, Deckiller, Kaliesto, nin8halos, Seiromem, jackalotrun,
DarklordKeinor, Isrieri, mordenglory, TangledLion & Link_2112
Created Using: Super Mario Bros. X
It's A: ACTION PLATFORMER ADVENTURE Game
That Roughly Takes Around: 4 - 5 Hours To Complete
And It's A... COMPLETED GAME!!!
Wow, what a milestone review event that this is gonna turn out to be. Not only does this mark my fiftieth review – count ‘em, fiftieth, here on RMN – but it also marks my five-thousandth makerscore point and also the fifth review of a SMBX community game that I’ve done thus far, so yaaaaay! Let’s break open that champagne.
…Oops. I guess before we do that and I get drunk off my ass, I guess I should finish up with this review, huh? Wouldn’t wanna get plastered just before I hit that “submit” button, right? (That would suck.)
So originally I was planning months in advance to review something special for my fiftieth review, and I had a lot of good choices to choose from: Hero’s Realm, A Blurred Line, Love & War Act 1, Sunset Over Imdahl… All of these games would have made great picks, but, like life itself, fate likes to intervene and throw me a curveball. (Sorry fellas. Maybe next time.) So instead, I decided to go with another game that I was looking forward to playing and reviewing for a long time…
The Last King Of Hyrule was a SMBX community event started up by Kentona that was to center around a Zelda II: The Adventures Of Link themed game using the Super Mario Bros. X tool to achieve it. It was basically trying to emulate Zelda II to the best that the engine could possibly replicate to the best of its abilities, and it sounded pretty interesting on paper seeing where it was going. Since I much prefer Zelda II over the original game and I enjoyed most of the other SMBX games that I’ve played thus far (besides a certain one involving Castles and stuff), I was definitely very interested and excited to play something along the lines of it again.
Well, nearly two years later and over a ton of different developmental snags and the game has finally arrived for us all to experience in its bask, virgin glory. (Well, better late than never, right?) After such a long, frustrating wait, does this game deliver similar to the likes of the mighty Super RMN World? Or is it just another poor man’s Castles – Masterpiece Set without the bonecrushing difficulty to go along with it?
Well, even though two others have already stepped up in my place and answered most of those questions for us, I will play the annoying “third wheel” in this conundrum and provide a third opinion of the game…because it never hurts to have three… And also there are three pieces to the Triforce, last time I checked.
Now let’s go grab our sword and shield and…
…Like he said.
The Story
OH SHIT, SON!
Today’s a pretty busy, important day for our young Hylian hero from the forest, as Link, the Hero of Time, has just been summoned by the King of Hyrule to meet with him to ask of Link for a very important favor in meeting up with a caravan that’s headed straight towards town with Princess Zelda inside to make sure that she and the caravan are both safe. Just as Link is about to head out of the castle chamber, the dark wizard, Ganondorf, suddenly teleports inside after being freed of the sealed curse that was put upon on him aeons ago and is looking for some revenge tome after being sealed away for so very long. (Well, I would be after being stuffed in there for so long.)
After both announcing to the king and Link that he has just killed Princess Zelda and has taken her Triforce of Wisdom away to add to his Triforce Of Power, he then looks to complete his golden trinket collection by taking the Triforce of Courage away and completing the threesome. As Link then watches from afar as Ganondorf and the King do battle against one another in a violent struggle (King: “Yeah, could have seriously used your help there, Link”), Ganondorf is just too much for the King to handle and overcome and is eventually defeated by the prince of thieves. But just before he can acquire the Triforce of Courage, the King then scatters it into six separate pieces and spreads them throughout the land to prevent Ganondorf from achieving his dastardly wish. Angered by this sudden revelation, Ganondorf then sends his minions out looking for the scattered missing pieces while Link also follows suite looking to gain the upper hand. But as he journey’s forward in his quest, he eventually meets with a mysterious Sheikah simply known as Sheik. And if you’ve played The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time before, then you know if Sheik’s around then Princess Zelda can’t be too far behind (so maybe she’s not quite dead afterall).
Now for some who have grown up around more of the recent newer Zelda games, such as Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword that are more rich in story, you might be disappointed overall with narrative direction for this game, as it’s pretty brief and derived of any major plot points until around one key moment into the end of game that most series veterans will probably know that it’s coming a mile away. Seeing how The Last King Of Hyrule is trying to emulate a more NES styled Zelda approach with its overall plot and focus, it’s definitely very minimalistic and is basically an afterthought for pretty much the whole game through. I don’t really mind this too much, seeing how Zelda II didn’t really have that much of a plot either, but I do feel that this was kind of a lost opportunity here that could have fully been explored upon more. I mean, after playing some of the later games in the series and then having this game go back to a more simplistic approach, it kind of feels a bit off-putting that the story here is so bare compared to those other games, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s not a big deal breaker for me that a Zelda game doesn’t have a big epic follow-up with engaging, memorable characters and such, but I think it could have benefited a bit more in having some that same level of storytelling make its way into this game. I mean, it’s pretty much “go here, get that, done” and then go on to the next one... It’s kind of a bit lame. I really would have liked each temple to be more significant in terms for me to explore, like maybe Link has to go find and locate the Goron Leader, Darunia, who went missing in Death Mountain to find out why the Volcano is acting up more than usual or search for a missing thief that’s responsible for stealing a key to the entrance of the Spirit Temple, or something like that. Like I said, having a more simplistic story for a Zelda game is fine for a game like this, considering the type of lengths of the situation given, but a part of me wishes that there could have been so much more to this.
The Gameplay
- WHAT THE F**K IS THAT THING!?!?!?
If you’re coming in here thinking that you’re about to embark on an amazing journey similar in vein to Zelda II: The Adventures Of Link where you get to collect items along the way, gain XP, learn new magic spells and such with some precision-like swordsplay and platforming, you, my friend, would only be half right on that. The Last King Of Hyrule may look and sound on paper to be a Zelda game and may share similar traits to it, but that’s only half behind it all. This game isn’t quite a Zelda game per say, but it sure tries its damnest to be one.
Pretty much the game consists of you going from stage-to-stage, via a Super Mario World style, as you journey onwards to the six temples that are in the game with six various bosses to defeat before you can enter the Dark World and face off against the mighty Ganondorf himself. It’s pretty simple, and there are no secret exits or pathways to find leading into other areas, so all you gotta do is just get to the end of a stage, and that’s it.
Most of the levels themselves are definitely on the short side and often feel very samey at times, but they’re generally pretty easy and relativity fun to go hack and slash down some enemies and find various rupees in the grass to give you additional lives. The challenge level is quite fair here, and I never found one level to be just downright nasty or cheap, as everything seemed to flow quite smoothly for me.
The Temples are definitely the best part of this game overall level design as it captures pretty much the essence of what a Zelda game is and that’s with its incredible dungeon layout. The dungeons here are beautifully well-done and provide some amazing, not too difficult to solve puzzles and traps which also sports keys, bombs and various pendants that act like power-up’s that can enhance Link’s abilities to get him farther in the dungeon. These dungeons, including their boss fights, definitely were the highlight of the game for me, as some of my favorites have to be the Sky Temple, Spirit Temple and Ganon’s Tower. Hell, I even like the gauntlet stages where you battle various enemies before moving on to the next level, as I thought that was a nice touch to break up some of the monotony.
Overall though, I think my biggest three gripes with the game, besides the first one being that the field levels were too short and felt a bit samey after a while, have to be how short this game is to complete and the lack of any variation within the linear level design.
First off, you can beat the game within four to five hours or so, and for a platformer game and an indie title that doesn’t sound too bad on paper, but for a Zelda game where they’re usually much longer and larger in scope this may come off a bit of a negative. Sure, I wasn’t expecting a forty hour game here, but maybe a bit more than just four to five messily hours would have been nice. Part of that could be garnered towards my third gripe, and that has to do with the lack of any level variation. For you see, I would have absolutely loved it if this game threw you some cool diversions to go out of your way and find various NPC’s and / or items in order to get to the next temple or on the right track. For example, in order to get to the Oceanic Temple, you would need to find a Raft in one of the stages in order to cross the river to get there, so you would probably have to go off the beaten path just to get it. Maybe in order to get through the desert and make to the Spirit Temple you need to find a map from someone who will only give to you if you compete in the games by taking down various enemies and other competitors in a coliseum-like setting. Stuff like that would have greatly enhanced the game longevity by not only adding to its overall playtime but provide more of an accomplished feeling to every Triforce shard that I get because I worked even harder to get it and reward myself. The only reasons why I can’t really hold it against these guys for a lot of those things is because I’m not sure if SMBX is capable of implementing stuff like that and that this was a collaboration project, so…yeah.
The Soundtrack
Damn buzzards! I ain’t dead yet!
Well, it’s a Zelda II themed game using Zelda themed graphics and rips and you were expecting something else besides Zelda-themed music here?
Yes, the music used in this game is, indeed, Zelda-themed and all your preverbal favorites are here from Zelda II: The Adventures Of Link all the way to the semi-newest Zelda game in Skyward Sword. Everything here is as everything should.
But perhaps one of the best aspects about the musical format in this game used is that it’s all, primarily, done in 8-bit to match the setting and the style of the game for the time, which is a really nice touch. I mean, some of the 8-bit renditions of certain songs, like Dark and Stormy from Link To The Past, Gerudo Desert from Twilight Princess and Shadow Temple from Ocarina Of Time, to name a few, doesn’t sound or match the same pleasant tones like with the original compositions, and some of them can be downright frightening to even listen to. But they do suite the game and pay homage to the other titles in the series, so it’s fine for the most part.
The sound effects are also ripped straight directly from the other games in the Zelda series, like from Zelda II and Link To The Past, so it’s all in its original format and sounds just great and works just fine with me.
The Aesthetics
So this is what happened to all those unbought Link Amiibos that didn’t sell in stores…
Graphically speaking in keeping up with the theme, I think the game looks quite good despite its simplicity and everything looks like it was lifted straight from a sequel to a Zelda II game that we didn’t get. It may not look all that impressive to some people, especially in regards to the large field maps that can be quite barren at times, but I think the game looks great and all of these guys did a great job making the whole world come to life and making all the levels stand out the best that they could. Sure, there are some clashes with some graphics used, especially in regards to some enemies being lifted straight from Link’s Awakening and such being placed in here among other things, but it wasn’t such a big deal to me to be extremely annoyed by it. Overall, I think the game looks nice and blends in quite well with the theme.
The End Result
Link: “Zelda, help! I’m stuck!!!”
Despite its short length and linearity among other things, The Last King Of Hyrule I thought did a good job overall for trying to be as close to a Zelda II themed game as much as possible using the Super Mario Bros. X engine, especially in regards to the overall Temple levels. These guys did the best job that they could to emulate the theme present, and I enjoyed myself quite well with this one. It’s the classic case that I wish that the game could have had a bit more involved in some aspects but at the same time understand the situation given. By no means in this a perfect representation of the classic NES game, but it’s a nice knockoff piece.
If you’re a fan of The Legend Of Zelda series or you absolutely love platformers and are looking for a new one to give it a try, then you owe it to yourself to play this game and give it a spin. By no means is this the best Zelda fangame or best SMBX game on here, but the end product is pretty solid all-around.
- Now it’s time for that drink!
Cheers everybody, and here's to another fifty more reviews!
OVERALL GRADE:
4 / 5 - B ~ Pretty Darn Good!!!
Posts 
Pages:
1
View playlists
CloseHeh, this really is just an SMBX game starring Link. Even comparing it to Zelda II is a little weird.
Sadly, most of your complaints are due to the nature of the project itself. Our choice of engine and the community involvement effectively prevented it from reaching full potential, and personally I think it's a miracle it didn't end up vaporware.
Glad to hear you liked it, even if it wasn't exactly what you hoped it'd be.
Sadly, most of your complaints are due to the nature of the project itself. Our choice of engine and the community involvement effectively prevented it from reaching full potential, and personally I think it's a miracle it didn't end up vaporware.
Glad to hear you liked it, even if it wasn't exactly what you hoped it'd be.
Glad you liked the game, Addit.
A lot of the development problems this project had were my fault. kentona made me one of the project leads but at the time I was kind of burnt out on SMBX and frustrated with the engine, and how out of step my feelings on level design seemed with the rest of the community, and I didn't give any kind of the leadership or vision the game needed, and it kind of stagnated until others stepped up. It's really thanks to LockeZ and Hali that this game ever got finished. By the end my only real role was yelling about how hard it all was, leading to my project title being affectionately(?) referred to as the 'nerf requester.'
I'm really impressed with how the temples turned out given we had no real plan or design for them. My own attempts to make one failed utterly. I'm glad we had some people more creative than me.
A lot of the development problems this project had were my fault. kentona made me one of the project leads but at the time I was kind of burnt out on SMBX and frustrated with the engine, and how out of step my feelings on level design seemed with the rest of the community, and I didn't give any kind of the leadership or vision the game needed, and it kind of stagnated until others stepped up. It's really thanks to LockeZ and Hali that this game ever got finished. By the end my only real role was yelling about how hard it all was, leading to my project title being affectionately(?) referred to as the 'nerf requester.'
I'm really impressed with how the temples turned out given we had no real plan or design for them. My own attempts to make one failed utterly. I'm glad we had some people more creative than me.
Doesn't that mean that the buck stops here? Since I was the Decider.
This game turned out 10x better than what it would have been had I actually been in charge, though!
This game turned out 10x better than what it would have been had I actually been in charge, though!
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I don't think anyone except seasoned SMBX developers really expected this game to be what it ended up being -- and maybe not even them. But I think the weird blend of Zelda 2 and Mario World gameplay in a Zelda game is unique enough as a game premise to be interesting even to people who aren't expecting it.
Getting the amount of story we ended up with was like pulling teeth. About two or three months before we released, I was ready to release the game with no cut scenes and no dialogue except for the random townspeople in Kakariko Village. The entire story would have been in the game description here on the website. You have Halibabica to thank for that not being how the game turned out!
Getting the amount of story we ended up with was like pulling teeth. About two or three months before we released, I was ready to release the game with no cut scenes and no dialogue except for the random townspeople in Kakariko Village. The entire story would have been in the game description here on the website. You have Halibabica to thank for that not being how the game turned out!
Addit
6394
author=Solitayre
I'm really impressed with how the temples turned out given we had no real plan or design for them. My own attempts to make one failed utterly. I'm glad we had some people more creative than me.
Lol, really – seriously? You guys just did the temple stages mainly on a whim and they ended up being the best stages in the game? That’s freakin’ hilarious! You guys should do that more often, lol.
author=LockeZ
About two or three months before we released, I was ready to release the game with no cut scenes and no dialogue except for the random townspeople in Kakariko Village. The entire story would have been in the game description here on the website. You have Halibabica to thank for that not being how the game turned out!
Well, thank heavens for that! It definitely would have been a little weird just to be thrown in there with no real backstory or anything of the sort other than just doing the stages. Good call.
author=kentona
This game turned out 10x better than what it would have been had I actually been in charge, though!
Oh, I’m sure it would have turned out JUST FINE if you were in charge…
(…And we’d probably still be waiting for it to come out, actually… *sigh*)
author=Addit
Lol, really – seriously? You guys just did the temple stages mainly on a whim and they ended up being the best stages in the game? That’s freakin’ hilarious! You guys should do that more often, lol.
Well, no, we planned for them in the sense that 'there will be temples where the Triforce pieces are.' But that was it. People just made them following Zelda sensibilities and they mostly turned out great. I think a few are perhaps a bit too big but they're all very intricate and detailed and that takes a lot of work, believe me.
Addit
6394
Oh and I’m sure that they do take a lot of work to make. I mean, if some people’s levels with Super Mario Maker have them taking hours or days to make one single level, then these temples must have been a real doozy to do. Well, I definitely appreciate it, seeing how they payed off so well and were so much fun to play.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
The Fire Temple, by Ratty524, was the first temple that was made, and that one definitely inspired all the others because all of us could see how perfect a fit it was for this game. It was just like, "Yes, this is what a temple should look like." He came up with the idea of having the big chest halfway through each temple, having the items respawn in multiple locations once the chest was opened, and having puzzles that required the powerup from the chest to solve.
Most of the other temples did require multiple people to go back through and modify them in significant ways after they were initially created, so Solitayre is exaggerating a little about there being no plan. Going through other people's levels and improving them all to match each-other better was one of the major things that made the game's development take so long! That and the fact that the first couple temple stages were so good that everyone was scared to make any more and felt they were unqualified.
Most of the other temples did require multiple people to go back through and modify them in significant ways after they were initially created, so Solitayre is exaggerating a little about there being no plan. Going through other people's levels and improving them all to match each-other better was one of the major things that made the game's development take so long! That and the fact that the first couple temple stages were so good that everyone was scared to make any more and felt they were unqualified.
from LockeZ
the first couple temple stages were so good that everyone was scared to make any more and felt they were unqualified.
And then I stepped in and topped them all, mwahahahaha!
TangledLion
618
author=LockeZ
the first couple temple stages were so good that everyone was scared to make any more and felt they were unqualified.
Not really, Shadow Temple V1 was one of the first and, well I'm sure you remember how it turned out since you made it actually good...
author=LockeZ
The Fire Temple, by Ratty524, was the first temple that was made, and that one definitely inspired all the others because all of us could see how perfect a fit it was for this game. It was just like, "Yes, this is what a temple should look like." He came up with the idea of having the big chest halfway through each temple, having the items respawn in multiple locations once the chest was opened, and having puzzles that required the powerup from the chest to solve.
Eh? I thought there was another submitted before mine, but YAY EGO BOOST! :P
Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
49th review, actually.
Addit
6394
No, it is indeed the fiftieth. It’s because one my reviews for Reincarnation ~ Dawn Of War ~ isn’t there because Hirei took the gamepage down and my review along with it, so that’s why it looks like I have only forty-nine instead of fifty up there on my list, but I do, for certain, have fifty. Besides, I just double-checked just now just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, or something.
Pages:
1
