Intro

A messenger visits Nemo in his bedroom one night informing him that the Princess of Slumberland is looking for a playmate. Of course, she chose Nemo for this role. Nemo is reluctant at first since the princess is a girl, but happily accepts the invitation after he recieves an unlimited amount of candy as a present from the princess. As you may guess, this isn't the whole story. Later in the game, you will discover the real motive behind the princess summoning Nemo to Dreamland, but I'm not going to spoil it for you if you haven't played this game yet.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Little Nemo is certainly innovative. I can't think of another game that is even remotely similiar in terms of gameplay. Instead of madly swinging some weapon or jumping on enemies to kill them, you must seek out animal help if you want to survive. That's right, Nemo has no offense to speak of as all he can do is jump or throw candies to either stun enemies momentarily or to befriend various animals so he can "ride" them and acquire their powers. I'm not talking about just one or two animals either, the game has a plethora of animals strewn all throughout the levels, thus giving the game a huge amount of depth since you have so many different abilities to experiment and play with. For example, the frog can jump on enemies to kill them, the lizard is quick and can climb walls, the gorilla can punch enemies and also climb walls, the bee can fly and shoot stingers at enemies, and this is only about half of them. Anyways, for most of the game Nemo must search the levels for keys so he can unlock the door at the end of the stage to proceed to the next level. Nemo is almost defenseless in his human form, but you will soon come across animal friends that will aid you if you give them enough candy. Later in the game, Nemo will obtain a morning star which can be used to attack enemies and defeat bosses. You don't have to fight any end bosses until the last section of the game, so don't worry.

The game does have a few flaws in the play control department. First off, the play control feels very tight as Nemo barely seems to get off the ground when he jumps. I realize Nemo is just an average human but for one thing, he's in Dreamland, it's not supposed to be like real life in the first place. Second, it's a video game, and since when did video games have to be anything like real life? I know it may sound like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but Nemo's lack of jumping ability creates a few problems. One problem is that health restoring items are placed in certain areas where you must pick it up regardless of whether you need it at the moment or not, since Nemo doesn't have the ability to clear the said items. This can create a problem if you are badly wounded later and need the health restoring item you just accidently squandered due to Nemo's inability to clear the item. Also, Nemo is pretty much a sitting duck in his normal form since he can't really jump over any of the bad guys. Fortunately though, the aforementioned problem seldom arises since animal assistance is plentiful throughout the various levels.

The first time you play Little Nemo, you will think it is a very challenging game. Respawning is a huge problem in the game since it's sometimes difficult to dodge depending on what form you are at the moment. Although you have hordes of enemies coming at you from all angles, there are health restoring items and 1-ups abound if you know where to look. Actually, most of the levels aren't really that hard if you have a planned route beforehand and you know exactly where everything is. However, there is one stage that really sticks out in my mind as a difficult stage, and that is stage three. Strange as it may sound, it's probably one of the most difficult stages in the entire game. Yes, even some of the latter stages are easier than this one. Now, I expect the challenge in a game to rise gradually from level to level, not give you two easy stages, a tough one, and then back to fairly easy levels again. For only being the third stage in the game, it is rather ardous. You must ride on a train while avoiding falling toy planes and hot air balloons that drop bombs occasionally. However, the balloons seem to drop bombs randomly without any pattern whatsoever, thus preventing any strategy on your part and making your success of completing the stage more based on luck than skill.

Another noticeable problem is hit detection seems to be very fastidious, especially when you are riding an animal while trying to dodge perilous objects such as falling crates and pillars of fire. For example, if you are riding a mouse and attatch yourself to the side of a box while a crate is smashing down on top of the box, you will sustain a hit even though you weren't directly under the crate in any way. Another problem is the frog crawls along the ground at a ridiculously slow rate, and there is one area later in the game where you must use the frog to get through pillars of fire coming from both the floor and the ceiling. It's bad enough that the frog is barely fast enough to get past them. Then add the nitpicky hit detection and you have a few areas that are a real pain in the neck. I also find it odd that your supposed animal friends actually hurt if you haven't put them to sleep yet by feeding them candy. I guess there is a reason this makes sense, but it feels odd to be killed by characters that are supposed to be your allies.

Graphics

The graphics in Little Nemo are very well done. The characters and backgrounds are meticulously detailed. The first stage is very colorful, making it very pleasing to look at while you are playing the game. The other backgrounds are also well done, especially the nightmare world which is filled with dark colors like black and purple, which adds to the theme of the stage. The characters also have some depth and aren't just flat against the background. However, there is some flicker and slowdown when there are too many characters on the screen at once, but it doesn't occur often and it's barely noticeable so it doesn't really affect the gameplay any.

Music and Sound

For the most part, the music is upbeat and energetic and maybe a tad bit cutesy, but the cutesy bit isn't overdone at all. My personal favorite track in the game is the music for the cloud ruins stage. It has a nice beat to it and is very energetic. The music for the nightmare world adds to the mood perfectly. It's energetic, yet has a little bit of horror thrown in. However, the music for Nemo's house is rather drab and will get on your nerves after about twenty seconds of listening to it. All in all though, the music is energetic and keeps you going. The sound effects for the most part are also nicely done. The only complaint I have is the sound when you take a hit is somewhat annoying. It sounds like a very high pitched sneeze, that's the best way I can describe it. The rest of the sound effects are very nice, especially the mole digging sound and the sound of the morning star charging up and firing.

Conclusion

Info

• Developer: Capcom
• Producer: Capcom
• Year: 1990
• Number of players: 1
• Save feature?: No

Ratings

• Graphics-9
• Music and Sound-7.5
• Gameplay and Fun-9
• Play Control-6.5
• Replayability-7
• Challenge-Fairly Easy
• Overall(not an average)-8.5