Dragon's Fury (Genesis)

In Team Fortress 2's update Jungle Inferno, Pyro can get new weapon called Dragon's Fury. I thought it allow Pyro to be better at distant warfare which makes him/her OP. The truth is not. Dragon's Fury range is no further than flamethrower's maximum range. But it's still interesting weapon as it can be fired rapidly once you can hit your enemy with. Also it deal increased damage to burnt enemy, even though it inflict shorter duration of afterburn. Maybe it can be lethal if paired with flare gun type weapon. Anyway we shall see pinball game with the same name with it, made by Tengen.  

Well, there's another title with eyeball besides Alien Storm. I know that to ensure player that this is pinball game, you have to put the ball in the title, but isn't way better if you put the eyeball as 'o' instead of the ball? That lady over there could be designed by H.R. Giger as -you know- artwork to appeal fans.

 

Before we get into the action, i check the option, first. As i want the game's pace to be fast, i leave the ball speed setting to 'Fast'. I don't know what D-button on Sega genesis control pad (it could be down button). So i change the configuration to be: 'A' button for left flipper, 'B' for tilt, and 'C' for right flipper. Kind of sensible, right?

 

I'm very sure you know the basic of pinball. First, launch the ball by pulling the spring on right bottom (hold the right flipper button). To its maximum is mandatory. Because i don't see the reason why you don't want to launch the ball to the maximum power. But i'm not really pinball expert. So you may ignore my advise here.

Then the ball moves to the middle section of the pinball machine. In this section: you can insert the ball into the holes on top of that lady's helmet or you can bash the skeletons there for points. Or if you're feeling lucky/accurate, you can insert the ball to that star symbol (which respawns those skeleton) for bigger score and...

 

...wake the lady. Wow, she looks like vampire. Note: don't ever wake vampire in real life unless you have necklace of garlic on your neck! You can see at the ball indicator on top HUD become 01. That's because on my first try, the ball slip between the middle flippers and the lower flippers so fast. So you can tell how unlucky/unskillful i am at pinball game. 

 

And it happens again. Yes, i know that i'm suck at pinball but you don't need to laugh whenever i lost the ball, Mr. Skull. By the way, your laughter is as horrible as my skill.

Somehow i manage to blast the wooden gate on mid section and make the lady more horrifying. I really dislike her stare.

 

Soon after that, the ball slips to lower section and teleports to this upper section! The game really likes to mess around with me. By the way, here's my pinball trick: i hold the ball by holding the flipper up, let it slides slowly, then whack it powerfully. This method allow me to aim well into certain spot. Not 100% accurate, but still more accurate than smash the ball aimlessly.

 

By God's miracle, i can launch the ball into highlighted hole in that section. Thus allowing me to play at this bonus stage. Truth be told, i have only little idea what am i supposed to do here: destroy that respawning creepy mage with the ball as many as i can. That spawning holes on left and right corner could be valid target. But i can't confirm that as (again) the ball slips between the flippers too fast.

 

Before the ball goes back to the main stage. There's this gothic assessment screen. It looks quite creepy.

 

Oh, wow. The lady becomes like lizard/snake. It's like in Conan the Barbarian. I knew i shouldn't wake her in the beginning. Now that the wooden gate is gone, the passage is guarded by shielded warrior there. Once it perishes, it will get replacement. So i don't see the reason to kill the sod except for points.

Soon, the ball slips between the flippers (again and again). But i got last chance roulette, you will get extra score depends on number when you press the right flippers button. (Un)fortunately, i get extra ball from it. So i am stuck here for a while can continue to wager my luck/skill here.

 

After the ball bounces dozen times. The skull opens its mouth. Yeah, i want to shove the ball right into its jaw and further into its throat. Sadly, the last part isn't happening. I got (another) extra points, instead.  

 

Oh, darn! There goes my last ball. You can see that on the rightside passage becomes linked to the initial spring but the problem is the ball moves very fast right in the gap between the flippers. I blame those monsters who can roam near the flipper and that skull who silently judges my play (by staring the ball intensively) then laugh loudly when i fail. Especially that skull. Fine, i will try once more. This time with (more) savestates and tilting.

Then, voila! The ball got stuck right sub-wall. How is that even possible? As you can see it looks unstable place for ball to get stuck. That's my "talent", ladies and gentlemen.

 

Not that hole, you idiot ball. The left ones, with arrow highlight. You see bubbles/slimes in the gap between the flippers? Sometime they block the ball, sometime they don't. I have no idea in the slightest what determines that. Another thing that i don't understand: bonus stage selection. They're all mysterious.

 

I'm on bonus stage 1. It's battle against multi-headed dragon and there's dragon on each side of the flipper. And if you raise the flipper it looks like dragon's nosehorn. I believe this is the very essence of Dragon's Fury. The goal in this stage is simple: destroy the dragon. It seldom emits fireball and it's protected by blue eggs there. This is the laziest dragon ever in video game history, especially in firebreathing department. The eggs will  respawn if you manage to destroy them all. There's also launching hole in the decorative dragon's noggin. Overall it's quite easy battle.   

 

Well, i manage to return to Bonus stage 5. But this time i got another couple of flippers to control. This probably happen when you managed to finish at least 1 bonus stage before.

 

Wow! I'm able to break the center gate. So my goal is to put the ball there, perhaps? The game doesn't say anything about the objective in this bonus stage. I try to launch the ball into the center hole but tough luck. As it become another spawning nest and the ball loses its speed to get through there. I also try to throw the ball to left and right hole. And they just launch the ball back. Really, i'm clueless here.

Turns out i have to destroy the ghastly mage in the unlit spots in this stage. You see blue spots in 2 previous screenshot? Those are what i mean. They become red if there's exploded mage on them. So it's kind of rigorous sniping test on pinball. Which is totally rubbish. -_-#

 

Bonus stage 2 is easy to understand. For you who play Zelda games and keen on pot breaking. You will be highly motivated, playing this one. Break all the pot until they all turn to dust! And whatever overlord that owns them, will weeps their demise. Everytime the get hit, they will spawn 3 bats as defensive measure, which is quite useless method.

Bonus stage 3 is a battle between the flippers and two tough version of Heretic's / Hexen's cultist. They protect themselves with orbiting orbs *Ba Dumm Tsss!*. If you destroy all the orbs, they will immediately invoke the replacements. The battle will be easier if you manage to launch the ball on top of them and let it bouncing between their back and ceiling.

Surprise! Surprise! There's another enemy to defeat after those cultists. It's big but it's in invincible period most of the time, so it's still difficult to hit. The only moment that it can take damage is after it shoot orbs twice and it's very brief. Also it can teleport a bit. 

 

You can hit it on left hand, right hand, or torso orb. I suggest you hit all of its hand first. Because once it lost its hands, it can be easier to hit.

 

I don't think i want to continue playing this game further. If you want to play this game, you can use this password to continue from my playthrough. To see the password of your current play status, pause the game and press 'left flipper' button.

If Dragon's Fury is real pinball machine and i'm real pyro, i will smash it with homewrecker, burn it, and airblast its remain after i play it. Okay, that's really harsh judgment by me. I will tell fairer assessment. Even though i dislike the setting, i got to say that the graphics are remarkable. They both unnerve and amaze me well. Seriously. From 'Dragon's Fury’ title, i expect lots of dragon. And many magma rivers, as many water canals in classic Venice. as well as their length. But, no. It contain macabre and demonic stuff, instead. Well, at least there's 1 very dragonish stage that i encounter. Tengen should change the title into 'Necromantica' or sort like that. The music are horrid. I don't know whether this is purposive or not, to match the setting. Finally, the gameplay:  it's hectic and tedious. It's very hard to shoot the ball accurately. Also it can easily go through the gap between the flippers. As if the game wants to bail you out ASAP. Sure, you can change the ball speed into slower setting. But i think the game will only become easier 30% at most. More often than not, the ball's movement is unpredictable and annoying thanks to mysterious arcane mechanism behind it. At least the bonus stages are unique but that stage 5 is just tedious to play. Kind of wishing that this game become shooter game, instead. It features password which is quite nice feature. If you think that i'm pinball game hater, i ensure you that's not true. Back when i was middle-schooler, i fond on playing Hershey's pinball game and i love to experience it again to this day.    

As much as we know that Dragon's Fury is awesome title. Nevertheless, i can't recommend you play it. I aware that it's game about raking score as many as possible, still it's beyond my toleration zone. Because it has earritating music and eyerritating graphics. Also the gameplay doesn't work well in player's favor. But if you are pinball godlike or fancy dark gothic stuff, you probably want to play this game. But i warn you that ignoble skull will let loose his terrible laughter everytime you fail. And -believe me or not- it will get in your nerve badly.