Completion time: 5:33:34

This was the first “challenge” I faced during this project. Most of the first 100 games or so that I pooled together has been mostly out of random things, no real rhyme or reason. I threw Disney’s Hercules up as the 4th game for me to tackle, and good golly Ms. Molly, this was one of the most frustrating games I’ve ever played.

The sad thing though, is that the frustration was almost always based upon one factor: GOD DAMN BIRDS. Everywhere they were featured, it was a nightmare. Hercules has a slow weapon swing with a pretty piss poor hit box. Timing swings to catch the avian foes proved to be a hassle. At times, I’d lose half of my health because my back is to a walled area and a bird dives bombs into me, bounces off off the wall, turns and darts back the way it came. That was way more obnoxious than most of the elements that frustrated me in Metal Slug X.

Disney’s Hercules also suffered from a major identity crisis; was it a 2.5D platformer, or an endless runner, or a boss rush? None of the stages worked particularly well really, although as frustrating as the final endless runner stage was, it was probably the highlight of the game. I mean, other than the flashers (yes, one stage has some dude flash you and drop coins and health replenishment bottles).

Figuring out the centaur boss was a bit aggravating as well. The first night it seemed like no attacks would land. The second night, a random jump at a specific moment on top of him basically caused Hercules to “ride” him, doing damage in the process. Maybe it’s because I stopped watching Disney films around the Hunchback and Hercules days, so maybe that was something he did in the movie and I was supposed to replicate it, but I never saw the film so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

After the dust settled though, I find myself in a love/hate relationship with Disney’s Hercules. I hate it more than I love it, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t all pain and agony. Slick looking cartoon-styled visuals for its time, solid audio (minus some of the repeating voice lines) and even though there was the identity crisis, I’ve never played anything like it on the console to date, for better or worse. What’s worse, it really wasn’t that difficult overall, just multiple points of infuriation. Thankfully we pulled it out on this one and can toss it back into the back of the library, never to see the night of day again. Slightly better than Metal Slug X was, but that ain’t really saying much.

Rating: 4

Twitch VOD:
Part 1/2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/922435959
Part 2/2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/922796329
YouTube video: