About Spelunker II: Yuushahe no Chousen

For the sequel to Spelunker the developers changed quite a lot of gameplay elements. You can choose between one of three different characters (explorer, priest and esper) each with its own life and "holy" stat bonuses and different attacks/weapons. The way is often blocked by doors which need the appropriate key and there are also very few adventure/puzzle elements with hints hiding in bonus items. You explore a forest and underground caves in search for three orbs guarded by evil bosses to ultimately rescue a fairy kingdom. Well, Spelunker II is a bit better than its predecessor, but still the controls aren't the best. The most annoying thing about this game is the knockback effect you get from touching enemies which feels like pushing you back a quarter of the screen. That makes the knockback in games like Castlevania feel very tame in comparison. The levels have a rather complicated layout with exits not only to the left and right but also up and down and often strangely connected paths. But that seems to be typical for a Famicom/NES game of that time, probably hoping to sell more hint books in Japan *ahem*.