I played this in preparation to play the Sequel which was released by SUNSOFT earlier this year as a part of their SUNSOFT Is Back campaign, alongside titles like Ikki Unite and Shanghai Legends. A comeback project I've been fascinated with, a real "Who asked?" of a campaign, that has led to some neat little games so far!
This was a really interesting game tho! Not only being a late NES release which are typically technical powerhouses, but a late NES Metroidvania 3 years out from the genre's signature title: Super Metroid. This gives Ufouria a real study case feeling of just reflecting on the NES's design history. It has a map and compass system from Zelda for it's Entire Open World Map and you might be thinking: "Oh I see, one for each area?" Nope! One map and compass for the entire game that can be missed! lmao wild. The map itself is grid based straight out of Konami's Gonnies duology. Also there's 4 of them, 4 little guys which each have their own power-up instead of genre's typical stacking onto one PC, a hallmark of post-TMNT titles. It's a very "Best off" kind of thing and it was delightful.
I did play the EU localised version which means I got the weird designs for two of the characters. Normally I would go for a patch of the JP version, but Hebereke doesn't scrub up amazingly in the sprite art style imo! The whole 3/4 turn, but the beak is on the edge of his face like... I don't like it lol beside I'll be seeing this design in the sequel real soon!
Also weird aside: I'm thinking of splitting collages for side scrollers and metroidvania, sidescrolling RPGs? They have such different energies it feels weird putting Megaman with NES Rambo, do you agree? I've also done a thing which Highlights what a part of the Collage is new! Is this fun for folks?