The original Nintendo had games that spread across every genre you could possible think of. One of the more popular genres was the 2-D shooter. You had such classics like Gradius, , Contra, Contra Force, and a little known title called Abadox made by Natsume. On the surface Abadox seems like an innovative title, you play a man who must save a princess from some planet, who’s ship as well as herself was eaten by a giant space alien named Abadox. In the first stage you start battling creatures on the sufuace of Abadox, then you enter the mouth, then travel down the throat, and soon you will be passing parts of Abadox that you probably don’t even want to identify. Unfortinally, though this concept indeed seemed very cool and new when I played this game as a child, in all reality, Abadox actually took this concept from Konmai’s Life Force which was released a couple of years prior. Despite this however, Abadox does manage to redeem itself with its large amounts of sweet polish.

* I hope you used some mouth wash…. *

Abadox is not a complex shooter by any means, it’s engine doesn’t contain anything nearly as complex as a Gradius or R-Type title. You start out the game semi slow and with a dinky pea shooter as a gun. Eventually you come across power ups that increases your speed, giving you better control. You will also run across power ups that will increase the firepower of your gun [from a one shot, to a three way shot, to a 6 way shot, then to a powerful laser]. Finally, you can also find power ups that help defend you by either providing you with a levitating ball which spins around you [you can have up to 3 maximum] that protects you from a set amount of enemy fire or you are given temporary invulnerability. Despite the fact that Abadox is not a complex shooter however it still contains a couple of spots in the game where if you can’t past them the first time with every power up possible, it is pretty much impossible to get past that same spot without powerups. So in other words, first impressions is every thing; if you die in the wrong spot even the infinite continues in Abadox cannot quite save you, which is similar to Gradius with it’s own similar and infamous ‘Gradius Flaw’.

* You are one mighty fine looking Alien *

One thing that you will notice very quickly about Abadox as soon as you witness it’s introduction, is it’s mighty sweet graphics. NES was not s system known for it’s a graphics [though let’s not lie, graphic wise the NES looks like Pamela Anderson when compared to Atari and other predecessors] however a few distinct games managed to really push the system’s graphical capabilities, especially in it’s later years. Abadox is one such game, which uses lot’s of color, moving animations, and very vivid looking environments. Unfortinally Abadox’s music is not quite up to speed with it’s own graphics. Though the soundtrack contains good songs, they are only less than 4 of them. So your stuck listening to the same songs throughout most of the game. The sound effects are not to bad in Abadox, but don’t expect anything mind blowing.

* You got the Life Force to last! *

Though Abadox steals it’s ‘let’s travel inside a giant alien and cause all hell’ theme from Life Force, it doesn’t mean that the game is a total rip off. Unlike Life Force, Abadox has some killer graphics. However also unlike Life Force, Abadox does not contain a simuteaous 2 player mode. But what both games do share, is good classic shooting fun. I am just sorry that Abadox never had a sequel….




Recommended: Yes