StarTropics II: Zoda's Revenge

THE BAD:
Controls still aren't perfect. Difficulty's still a little too high. Subpar music and sound effects.

SUMMARY:
The sequel to Nintendo's over-hyped "StarTropics" had several great improvements over the original. First up, the storyline was a bit deeper and longer, focusing more on the return of the evil Zoda rather than the hero, Mike Jones, trying to just find his missing relative. There's more variety in gameplay and new items to use, although Mike's still got his trusty yo-yo in hand too. Additionally, Mike can now move diagonally as he travels through the areas of the game, a feature very sorely lacking in the first StarTropics, a nice addition to much-improved controls. Although much improved, they're not perfect, and those using turbo controllers will still have issues trying to use rapid-fire.
The graphics get a slight facelift as the camera seems to zoom out a little bit more than the first time, and frame rate is increased for less slowdown in the action. Music and sound effects are still subpar, and actually maybe more annoying at times compared to the first game.
Despite the shortcomings, the storyline, control improvements, and slightly toned-down difficulty level makes this a worthy choice over the original, and it shouuld appeal to action fans looking for something unique and different in the genre.