REAL GAMES - ARDY LIGHTFOOT

Oh joy, another platforming game centered around a failed mascot.

Ardy Lightfoot is a fox-type hero that is on a mission to find 7 orb looking things.  He has to collect them before the evil lizard-type bad guy does.  If the bad guy collects them first, he will make an evil wish...I guess?  And that's all I can figure out about this game.  There is a short bit of text that briefly explains this at the beginning, and that is all you get throughout the entire thing.

Starting off, we are given a prologue stage that explains nothing.  Why have a prologue stage if it doesn't serve a purpose?  Why not just call that stage 1?  Did the developers not know what a prologue was?

Let me help.  A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information.

The controls are boring and simple.  Jump and attack with penguin thing.  If you hold jump, he will use his tail to make himself bounce higher, like Tigger.  Yeah, it is as stupid as it sounds.

Hey guys, guess what!  The audio for this game sucks!  Surprised?  Well, you shouldn't be.  It's a fucking generic platformer.  Mute it and move on.

Graphically, the game is decent.  The stage designs look good, and the very few sprites that the game uses look okay as well.  The sprites consist of Ardy and his pet penguin thing, the bosses, and the same stupid blob enemy.  Nothing noteworthy here, but good art nevertheless.

Gameplay is stale.  Simplistic platforming with nothing unique about it.  I never understood why I was collecting the 7 Dragon Balls rainbow orb things to begin with, other than preventing the bad guy from doing it.  There was never any real challenge to this game either.  Too easy with no options for higher difficulty.

Hmm...7 orbs that will grant me a wish upon collecting them all.  That sounds completely original!

Ardy Lightfoot was just one more platforming game trying to cash in on the "Mascots with Attitude" phase of the Super Nintendo.  And even though some of these mascot games proved to be fun, Ardy Lightfoot does not fall under this category.  I give it 1 and a half old men out of 5 for being bland as hell.  That's right, a half.  Games like this don't deserve a 1, but they sure as hell don't earn a 2 either.  Therefore, upon many suggestions, I will start using halves for situations like this.

At the very end it says "To Be Continued".  This is the only Ardy Lightfoot game to ever be released.  I guess we'll never know how this story deprived saga truly ends.