Shatterhand

By PirateHigemaru

Overall Grade: B+

Hundreds of games today are recognized as "cult classics". Games like Journey to Silius and Jackal have found new audiences despite being ignored at the time of their release. However, there are those other games. Games that possess all the qualities found in popular titles and, in some cases, are every bit as good as the titles that get a ton of attention. These game, for whatever reason, have yet to find a dedicated audience and as such are doomed to obscurity. And then there are games like Shatterhand.

Shatterhand was developed by cult favorite, Natsume in 1990. Before their cash cow (Harvest Moon) rolled in, Natsume developed several well-done albeit uninspired action games for the NES. Shatterhand, while not entirely unique, was still far more original than some of Natsume's other games. And as such, it may be one of the best NES games ever developed by Natsume.

Plot:

As one would expect, Shatterhand is a bit light on plot. The basic idea is that you are a cop in the future (with bionic fists!) who must fight an evil military force and save the world. The plot is mostly "told" by two cut-scenes....and one of them doesn't explain anything. I'm not kidding, it's just an attract screen of the main character punching a robot and said robot exploding. Most of the plot comes from the instruction manual. It's a fun plot that's definitely the good kind of 80s cheese I've come to expect from NES games. It's light and it's just an excuse to punch robots but it works. And I love it. I'd probably go as far to say that it's one of best "simple" NES plots I've heard.

A Taste of Things To Come

Graphics:

Shatterhand is one of the most impressive games I've seen on the NES. The game utilizes colorful sprites, detailed backgrounds, fluid movements and large sprites and it all comes together to make the complete package. I can say, without exaggeration, that this is one of the nicest looking games on the NES. And the best part is, it doesn't slow down the game. Far too often, nice looking games cause slowdown and I'm happy to say that Shatterhand is not one of those games.

The way the game looks is...not "original" per say but it still looks cool and futuristic...sort of. The enemy design is very reminiscent of Contra with most of the enemies being enemy soldiers and a few weird alien creatures. They're not the most unique enemies but the aliens certainly stuck out. They really helped drive home to Futuristic/ Sci-Fi setting the game was going for. The bosses aren't all that original either but they have a certain flair to them. Certain ones like the Ghost boss and the M.Bison look-a-like stuck out. None of them are all that unique but it's hard to draw a comparison to another game in terms of boss design.

Yes. Even the level select looks good.

The cut-scenes are absolutely beautiful. They're few in number but they look great. I wouldn't say they're Ninja Gaiden quality but they're still fantastic looking. They're certainly better than something like The Krion Conquest. The punching the enemy cutscene before the title screen makes for a really good attract screen and it draws the player in. The ending cut-scene certainly makes you feel special. It makes you feel like you just finished a long and hard battle and you've made a difference. For a game that doesn't put any emphasis on story, that's saying something.

Overall; the graphics are incredibly well-done. The character designs are "original" but they're nice looking in their own right. If you like Contra's enemy design, you'll like these. The cut-scenes are absolutely fantastic looking and having a surprising amount of emotion to them despite being so simple. On top of that, the main character's fluid movements really help tie the game into one beautiful package. 

Music:

I think it's clear by now that Shatterhand won't win any awards for originality. It's an obvious mish-mash of several different games combined into one fantastic package. The music, is no exception. The music takes some obvious inspiration from other NES games that are very action heavy.  Meaning the soundtrack is very fast-paced, and it the tracks have a tendency to be short and repetitive. It never really takes a noticeable break though. Most of them you won't even notice that the song has repeated and it flows very nicely. If you need a soundtrack to compare it to, I'd say either Mega Man or Castlevania. The last one shouldn't be surprising, as the composer for Shatterhand, was also a composer for the original Castlevania. 

The music isn't perfect. It isn't all that memorable and it certainly suffers from being derivative. However, it does its job quite well. It provides an upbeat, heart pumping soundtrack that never becomes too annoying despite being quite short. It isn't a masterpiece by any means and it doesn't even begin to compare to the likes of Mega Man but I would go so far as to say that it's better than a lot of what of the NES has to offer.

That enemy always reminded me of a trumpet for some reason.
This has everything to do with music.

Gameplay:

Much like the rest of Shatterhand, the gameplay is also very, very familiar. What is it similar to? Oh, tons of things. This game borrows ideas from all over the place. The level design is almost ripped straight out of Mega Man, their is a gravity mechanic similar to Metal Storm, and your character controls like a somewhat looser Batman (From Sunsoft's

There is one thing that sets it apart from other action titles and it's a welcome change of pace. In most action-platformers, you use a gun or something similar. At the very least you use something with range. In Shatterhand, you use your fists. That means you have to get up close to your enemies and beat them into pieces using only your knuckles. And it works perfectly. The hit-boxes are great, there really aren't too many cheap hits to be found as a result of the hit-boxes. The control is also perfect. If you mess up, it's your own fault. The character doesn't control rigidly like Mega Man, rather he controls very smoothly and he moves at a fairly brisk pace. He doesn't slip all around the screen or take another step when he lands. No, he just lands and stays there. Momentum be damned.

Your bionic fists aren't the only thing that you can use in order to defeat the evil military empire. No sir, you can collect certain symbols in order to gain a robot partner who will back you up with lasers and other projectiles. Your robot's beam type will change based on what symbols you get and what order you get them in. There are several different types ranging from a beam that bounces all over the screen to a beam that rides on the floor. These beams all come in handy at different points during the game and it adds some strategy to an otherwise straightforward game. In addition to the robot partners, you can pick up health, money bags (for points), and power-ups which increase your strength. Unfortunately, you run into bombs on occasion and they explode way too quickly. They give you no time to react and generally lead to some missing health. 

Robots. Huh.

I previously stated that the level design feels ripped out of Mega Man. This isn't entirely true but it's definitely inspired by said series. What I mean by that is, the game will introduce you to a concept and slowly work introduce more challenges to you, one by one. Eventually, you'll be able to rip past even the hardest of sections no matter what the game throws at you. The game also allows you to challenge the stages in whatever order you want to. It's a cool novelty but since you don't gain boss powers, it feels kind of strange. I suppose it allows for a little bit of freedom though which is generally uncommon in most games of the time.

The levels, of course, always have a twist to them. Shatterhand really doesn't utilize many unique gimmicks and most of them are your standard gimmicks. It has an ice level, a water level, and a fire level. It also has a gravity gimmick level which, while not anything new, still weren't all that common in the NES days. The levels are all very well-designed what with the game having a Mega Man esque design philosophy and all. I would go so far as to say that they're probably some of the most solid spins of those aforementioned twists that I've ever seen.

I swear, this level is actually pretty good. 

The boss battles are also incredible....if you have the robot. This is really the game's only "major" failing.  The boss battles are often unfair if you don't have a robot partner and if you die during the battle, you lose your robot partner. This can prove very frustrating as you can get to the end of a difficult level, die against the boss and then you're basically out of luck. You have infinite continues so it's not all bad but it's still a huge flaw especially when you consider how well put together the rest of the game is. If you do have a robot however, you'll quickly realize how much fun the bosses are. All of them have a specific pattern they follow and the battles are all about exploiting said pattern and proceeding to beat them into submission. The bosses mostly fight with their fists although certain bosses will use a gun or mess with the gravity on you. That being said, the bosses move significantly faster than you and will often score a couple of hits on you if you aren't careful. This is basically why the robot comes in handy. It's useful, not just to score more hits and make the bosses easier (although that is its primary function), it can be used a shield of some sort. I don't really recommend the strategy but it could come in handy if you're trying to figure out the boss's pattern. 

I mentioned Contra earlier in the review. This was basically what I was referring to.

Overall, Shatterhand is one of the most well-put together games on the NES. It shamelessly rips off Mega Man in quite a few ways yet it still manages to be different enough so it isn't just "another Mega Man clone". The levels are incredibly well-designed and use a design philosophy not seen in many games today. The character moves incredibly fluidly and controls like a dream. The game even has a bit of strategy when it comes to the symbols and what robots they summon. However the bosses,while fun, suffer from the flaw of being obnoxiously difficult if you don't have a robot. It could really drag the game down for some but I didn't have any serious problems with it.

Overall:

Shatterhand isn't exactly an "overlooked" overlooked classic but it doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves. Sure the soundtrack isn't an absolute masterpiece; the graphics, while good, feel somewhat uninspired and the plot is fairly derivative despite being crazy awesome. But when it comes to games, the gameplay is where it counts and Shatterhand fires on all cylinders. It's near-perfect in terms of level design and it's filled to the brim with that badass feeling you SHOULD get when you punch robots until they explode. The game may copy a lot of other NES games, but it only copies the best NES games and it does a fantastic job. It's certainly not an easy title but I have to recommend it to anyone who considers themselves a retro gamer, a Mega Man fan or a fan of NES games in general. If you don't pick this one up, you're definitely missing out.

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