Multi-Genre Video Games

Why yes, I am indeed seeing how many different topics I can post about in my first week of blogging.

Occasionally a game comes out that consists of two different types of game neatly pasted together. The results are usually quite memorable. You'd almost think game designers would try it more often, but I suppose it means a lot of extra work. I'm not sure how many games like this have been made, but I can think of three off the top of my head.

In Sunsoft's NES classic Blaster Master, you put on a spacesuit and drive a tank into a mysterious underworld, searching for a frog. Not a frog that turns into a princess or anything like that, just a frog. The main world is a sidescrolling platform game that's a bit nonlinear. Sometimes you'll find buildings where you can exit the tank and enter a Zelda-like overhead view. All the bosses are fought in this mode, including... more frogs. Big ones.

Also appearing on the NES was The Guardian Legend, from Compile. This time, the main world that you wander around in is the Zelda-style one. When it's time for action, the anime cyborg heroine transforms into a spaceship and flies into a 2D shooter remniscent of the top-down parts of Life Force. Less frog fetishization in this one. Maybe that's why I never liked TGL nearly as much as Blaster Master. It's still a good game, though.

The last example that springs readily to mind is Actraiser for the Super NES, made by Quintet. This short but excellent game puts you in the role of a vengeful god, cleansing the world of demons and eradicating every ecosystem that your worshippers can't cope with. There are no specific references to frogs in the game, but I guess we can assume from its stance on environmentalism that it's even less frog-friendly than The Guardian Legend. Anyway, the up-close-and-personal business of demon-smiting is done in a side-scrolling format, by your sword-wielding avatar. The grander scale of the game is seen in the simulation mode, where you and your cherubic lackey guide the development of civilization. Actraiser is probably the best of these three games, although it's also the easiest and shortest.

Am I forgetting some other games that would fit this criteria? Do they have frogs in them? If my frog ran away and fell into a vast underworld I think I'd just get a new one.