Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release: 04/24/87 Genre: Action
Looking back there were surprisingly few top down action games on the NES. For a system that more or less covered every base this one niche is a bit lacking. The ones it did receive were generally pretty awesome like Heavy Barrel, Guerilla War, and amazingly enough Alien Syndrome. But stay the hell away from the Ikari Warriors games, trust me. One import gem that stands out is Ai Senshi Nicol, a sci-fi adventure from Konami. I sound like a broken record at this point but this is another in a long line of Konami classic for the NES/Famicom Disk System. What can I say, they were really that good.
Ai Senshi Nicol tells the story of genius inventor Nicol and his girlfriend Stella. The two invent a machine that can teleport items across dimensions and it unfortunately attracts the wrong attention. The Bull Demon King kidnaps Stella in order to force Nicol to turn over his technology. He refuses, and the Demon King takes her away, shatters the machine, and scatters its pieces across different worlds. Now Nicol must reassemble the machine to save his girl.
Although Ai Senshi Nicol has a few similarities to Zelda in terms of gameplay it has more in common with the on foot segments of Blaster Master. Each of the game’s seven levels follows the popular room by room structure of the aforementioned titles although here they also scroll. The goal of each level is to collect three crystals needed to power your hover bike to continue your journey. These are usually guarded by powerful miniboss enemies although quite a few are found in the open. Speaking of bosses surprisingly there is only one real boss in the entire game. Considering the game is entirely focused on action I am surprised even though it is not to the game’s detriment.
Although this is a pure action game there are still character upgrades. Taking a page from Metroid there are energy tanks to help with survival. Your gun can be upgraded in three categories; range, power, and rate of fire. These enhancements max out at three or four although there is more than that for each throughout the game. This allows you to still gain power if you miss a power-up on a given stage. These items are hidden extremely well, often in blocks or in invisible parts of the environment. There are a few other secondary items that are in abundance. Astro Wear and astro pants protect you from damage and lava respectively. Cosmo balls are essentially smart bombs. The power shoes increase walking speed and jumping distance. The game has just enough depth to be more than a simple mindless blaster.
The level design is generally excellent. Each map is large enough to feature plenty of hidden nooks and crannies but not so large that you will get hopelessly lost. There is no map feature because it is not necessary. The overall shape of most stages is incredibly simple and easy to memorize. The Green Maze of stage four is basically the letter P for example. Despite their seeming simplicity you will still have a devil of a time finding the crystals. You will often have to blast random parts of the environment to find the stairs leading to each crystal. While an overview may look complicated once you complete a stage you realize just how much of each stage you can skip. That is one of the reasons I like the game so much; the complexity is there if you want it.
Ai Senshi Nicol hits all the right notes in nearly every category. The control is buttery smooth, with 8-way movement and a degree of control even when airborne that makes the platforming tight. There is a plethora of secrets in every stage for those that seek them out. There are no instant death pits and while falling in to a pit leads to an annoying dungeon they hide some of the best items. The difficulty curve is pretty tight; there is a ramp up but even if you miss the energy tanks the game still remains playable. I cannot help but compare this to Blaster Master. If the game had a set of bosses as cool as that game it would be almost perfect.
Ai Senshi Nicol is a stunning title from a production standpoint. From the size of its sprites to its art it almost defies the hardware. In fact it resembles a Sega Master System game in terms of detail. Each stage has a different theme, from masonry of Stonehenge to the futuristic look of Machine City. Every world also brings a set of enemies unique to that stage as well. And despite pushing a large amount of sprites there is only minor slowdown and flicker. Even the music is fantastic but that is par for the course. It is truly amazing that a 1987 title looks and sounds better than most late generation games yet here we are.
In Closing
Konami crafted one banger after another on the NES and Ai Senshi Nicol is another to add to the pile of their classics. Fantastic production values and excellent gameplay make this a gem worth discovering. I highly recommend this one.
