Neutopia

~ NEUTOPIA ~

Hudson Soft / NEC

HuCard

1990

I liked The Legend of Zelda a whole lot when I was a kid, so of course, I thought that this game was great as well. After many, many years, and a couple recent playthroughs, I still like Neutopia, but my experiences with it back in the day were much more enjoyable, and I'm afraid I must presently downgrade it from "great" to merely "pleasant."

Mechanically, the game seem obsolete compared to Crystalis for the NES, let alone the many mighty action-RPGs that were eventually released for the Duo. There are very few true "secrets" and "puzzles" to speak of. Practically all of the "secret spots" are marked, and the "puzzles" largely consist of pushing every block in every room. It's still pretty fun to explore the environments and hack things up, especially since the graphics are quite nice and the controls are adequate (if rudimentary). But considering not only the superior 16-bit action-RPGs that were released subsequent to Neutopia's prime, but also the mighty Alundra--which took basic ideas from Zelda and augmented them with an amazing story, brain-busting puzzles, and refined controls--and, well, Neutopia starts to seem a bit lacking.

Neutopia imitated Zelda well as far as basic gameplay aspects went, but it couldn't match the elements that made Zelda truly special. As primitive as it was, Zelda was incredibly atmospheric, thanks in large part to its eternally memorable soundtrack. Exploring the overworld felt like a grand, epic experience. Navigating the labyrinths was eerie and suspenseful. The enemies were interesting and oftentimes powerful. And playing it now produces a sweet bit of nostalgia thanks to those qualities. Neutopia, even back in the day, just felt like a nice, short, cartoony adventure. And now, there's no nostalgia. No atmosphere. No tunes that stay with me after I turn the game off. No brutal enemies that could stand up to the Darknuts of Zelda fame. Just decent, appealing questing.

I don't want to sound too negative; Neutopia is still fun, and there isn't a single moment during the quest when I'm not enjoying myself to an extent. But, sadly, the game simply hasn't aged all that well.

Exploring the overworld while battling cartoony fiends is pleasant enough...

...but uncovering the land's ill-concealed "secrets" doesn't feel very challenging or rewarding.

Similarly, circumventing the underworld's "defense systems" is seldom difficult.

When you're not avoiding (obvious) traps and pushing blocks, you'll be "brawling" with small Zelda-foe rip-offs.

Actually, Zelda gave you more neat stuff to mess around with.

And Ganon didn't waste any time babbling in cliche.

But I do give Neutopia credit for its cool cartoony bosses. Though, like most other aspects of the game, they seemed larger and cooler back when I was a kid.