Developer: Aicom Publisher: American Sammy Released: 1989 Genre: Action
Have you ever hate played a game? I’m talking about playing a game you knowingly actively hate for whatever reason? I have, and its name is Amagon. When you are desperate to play anything new it is surprising the depths you will sink. Unlike now where new games release daily back in the 80s they were sparse. And unless you were well off your library was even smaller. That is how I wound up playing Amagon despite hating every second of it. Move along, there is nothing to see here.
At the very least Amagon has a good premise for an action platformer. You are Amagon, a marine who has crash landed on a prehistoric island. Now you must journey to the other side of this strange land to reach the rescue ship and go home. It’s the perfect recipe for all manner of strange shenanigans in the name of fun. Too bad the game doesn’t do much with it and is boring in the end.
As regular Amagon you armed with a lowly pistol with limited ammo. Most enemies take multiple shots to kill which could have been a recipe for disaster. However enemies drop ammo in ready supply. If you run out of bullets you’ll have to use your gun as a makeshift club that is frankly useless. The range is short and it lacks power. If it ever comes to that you might as well die. It isn’t until the middle of the game that you need to be conservative with your shots. Unfortunately there aren’t many power-ups. There are extra points, extra lives and most importantly the mega key.
The Mega Key changes Amagon into Megagon, a raging caveman who is ultra-powerful. Megagon hits harder, jumps higher, and is more resilient as he has a life bar rather than the single hit deaths in your default form. As an added bonus you can sacrifice a little health to throw a wave attack that kills most enemies in one hit. Using the Mega Key does have a catch however. Your starting health as Megagon is determined by your score; the more points you have the stronger he will be.
If it sounds like Megagon is overpowered he kind of is. It is also apparent that the game was designed around his abilities. Amagon is weak as a character, dying in a single hit and taking as much as 8-12 shots to kill later enemies. The game throws in many enemies that are damage sponges at its midpoint, sometimes two or three at a time. Your bullets go quickly and at that point Amagon is useless. Megagon doesn’t have these problems as the arc of his attack and strength is off the charts. Even the boss battles are trivial as Megagon. His higher jump also makes the platforming tolerable. The lack of any kind of balance when it comes to the two characters is why Amagon is such a chore to play.
As you might have guessed Amagon is not an easy game. I’ve already detailed how pathetic Amagon is. Mechagon requires work on your part to be effective. It takes 5000 points for each point of health; that means you need 70000 points to be at full power. It‘s pretty useless to earn a Mega Key at level start and have to wait until close to the end of a level for it to be worth it. There is no point trying to fight a boss as Amagon as it will take so long you might as well turn off the game. That sucks as the bosses are probably the coolest part of the game. But unless you are lucky enough to get a Mega Key you won’t ever see them.
As if the game wasn’t hard enough to top it all off it has no god damn continues. I’m always continually amazed how bad games pile on the bad choices and Amagon is no different. Not that credits would have made the game amazing but at least it might have been tolerable. Starting from the beginning every time grows old fast. I should know; I did it.
In Closing
Desperation for entertainment makes you do strange things. Desperation is the only reason I put up with Amagon for so long. I hated it back then and I still hate it now. You are better off replaying better games than dealing with a middling title such as this.
