One retro console that doesn’t get as much love as most is the Sega Master System. The 8-bit console with the strangest grid box art style that has aged like digital vomit is often sidestepped for the NES. Sir Noggin looks to reset some of the balance with an upbeat, 2D side-scrolling action adventure game. He comes with a big sword, and if you enjoyed gaming in the early ’90s, he’ll leave you with a satisfied smile.
Sir Noggin isn’t a difficult game, and you’ll be able to beat the main story in under 2 hours. There are boss rush and some fun challenge levels to play with afterwards, and Steam achievements focus the player on clearing each of the 7 worlds (20 levels within) without dying. Controls are responsive most of the time, and I liked using the d-pad to move instead of the analogue sticks. They play identically for the most part, but I found that after losing a heart through damage, sometimes the analogue sticks wouldn’t register my moves unless I wiggled them. I didn’t have that issue with the d-pad. Sir Noggin can jump and double jump, and attack with his mighty sword. Whilst the sword will get you out of trouble most of the time, five additional secondary attacks are collectable. Their use is tied to ammo, but the bomb in particular is very powerful and can clear out multiple enemies with ease. This is helpful when the Master System corridor level design is in full effect.
A few throwbacks to the early ’90s gameplay tropes are present in Sir Noggin. Enemies respawn as soon as you leave their spawning point off-screen and return to them. The playing area always feels narrow, as if we’re being funnelled down a tiny corridor tube. Bosses have two or three attacks at most and can be cheesed by using your powerful secondary attacks, making the bosses feel underwhelming. The retro chiptune soundtrack is a banger, with coposer CODA doing their usual mighty fine job. Each world has either 2 or 3 levels in it, and has a unique gameplay mechanic that is rarely, if ever, used outside of that world. Mushroom bounce pads litter one level, wind fans blow you around in another. In the castle world, a spiked ceiling slowly descends, and you need to jump on buttons to reset it. These keep the game fresh and interesting, even if the difficulty is quite low. When you die, you respawn at the start of that level segment, and each level is broken up into 4 or 5 segments, so the penalty isn’t harsh either. The only time you may get caught out is if you die on a boss, you’ll respawn at the start of the boss battle, but without a secondary weapon. This happened to me on the final boss, but I have to say, it was the most enjoyable and challenging part of my entire playthrough. I wonder if those secondary attacks just make the game too easy.
Boss Rush mode is a little underwhelming because they are quite simplistic battles, but the challenge mode is fun. There are sets of special levels that give you one health point or no weapons at all. These add some variety and additional replayability, which is welcome.
Overall, longevity and hardcore difficulty just isn’t the point of Sir Noggin. Instead, it is to provide a gentle throwback to yesteryear, but with some subtle quality of life features that we expect in more modern, dare I say more forgiving, games of today. It doesn’t win any rewards for innovation, but it doesn’t need to. Sir Noggin gave me a rose-tinted retro gaming fix for the late Master System era that I enjoyed from start to end, and that’s all I wanted from it.
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