Bionicle: Matoran Adventures (2002)
Argonaut Games
Game Boy Advance
It's been quite a while since I've written a review, especially for a game (only wrote a couple back in 2015) but with both Bionicle and video games being a hobby of mine, I want to bring light to what I feel is not only an underrated Bionicle game, but one of the most underrated 2D platformers out there, especially for a handheld game.
Argonaut Games are a pretty legendary developer team that unfortunately don't often get their due credit. They were responsible for the FX chip for Super Nintendo cartridges to bring more complex designed games at the time. They created the one and only original Star Fox (as well as its sequel that was cancelled by Nintendo, but has since seen an official release as well as many homebrew cartridges), a groundbreaking 3D space shooter, and all those Smash Bros players who main Fox or Falco wouldn't have said characters if it wasn't for Argonaut's game back in 1993.
Fast forward almost a decade later, and they got the rights to develop a couple games for Bionicle; buildable figures and a sci-fi series about Bio-mechanical beings full of rich lore that almost single-handedly saved the Lego company from bankruptcy. Matoran Adventures is the first of Argonaut's Bionicle games, and honestly probably my favorite Bionicle game in general.
If you've played a 2D platformer before, you'll know what to expect for the most part. It has the usual basic side-scrolling format as you jump, run, and fight through six different worlds/locations (known as Wahis/Koros in the Bionicle world) with occasional bosses in between levels until finally facing the Bahrag twins (dragon-esque characters that control the Bohrok) as the final boss. You play as one of six Matoran, villagers of each Wahi, though only the Le-Matoran Kongu is playable at the start and you have to unlock the rest, which I'll get to later. Your means of attack to defend yourself from Rahi and Bohrok is a throwing disc, which can be upgraded to have better range each time you pick up a disc powerup. Each Wahi has their own respective Turaga (who are basically like village elders) that you need to find in the level to help stomp on switches or break walls/rocks with their staff. The enemies have some slight variations, the Rahi are the basic enemies with some being on ground and some in the air. They have simple fixed paths of movement, but some will also shoot at you or charge. The Bohrok will go back and forth in their rolling position before standing still, which is the one time they're open for attack. How many times they roll and how many hits they take is dependent on the type of Bohrok.
For the most part the enemies and their placement in each world is fair, but sometimes the Bohrok do get really annoying if there's a lot of enemies on screen, which is especially true for later in the game where many of the Bohrok are the kinds that take multiple hits. The game is at it's worst in the Ko-Wahi stage, which not only has you constantly sliding on ice (There's very few games that I would say have fun ice mechanics, Gex 2's are alright and the ice racing in Dice's Rallisport Challenge games can actually be pretty fun.), but also has a ton of backtracking, cliffs or spikes right by ice, and it honestly feels like the most enemies on any level. Even when you have your disc upgraded to full range it's frustrating, but not too bad the first time; however, it just becomes more of an annoyance in future playthroughs. A level skip being unlocked after beating the game the first time would've been nice, as I love the rest of the game.
Now that I've expressed my frustrations with that level, the rest of the game is just extremely fun. The gameplay isn't a huge deviation from a traditional 2D platformer, but what it does with that classic game style, it has its own unique vibe. I get the feeling Argonaut had a lot of love for Bionicle, ironically more than Lego, the company it saved. Each Wahi looks great and reflects each element and atmosphere really well. From the lush greens of Le-Wahi to the dark yet well lit caves of Onu-Wahi, this same skill for setting and creating Bionicle locations in a video game setting would carry over into Argonaut's future Bionicle console game (Bionicle: The Game) and even their unfortunately cancelled Bionicle: City of Legends game. The Rahi are all great 2D sprite depictions of their 3D counterparts, with some even being from the 2002 Master Builder set, as well as several Argonaut original creations. The only negative with the visuals would be that each Matoran and Turaga
are just color swaps and have the same mask (All Matoran have the
Kanohi Hau, and the Turaga all have the Kanohi Rau). I'll assume this
was just to save time with not having to draw and program extra sprites
(considering Lego's track record with other games, especially Argonaut's
own Bionicle: The Game, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some time
pressure on this game as well).
The physics and movement is snappy yet smooth, and there's a surprising amount of direction you can throw your disk. You aim it with the d-pad, and it can be tossed diagonally, and not only that but you can also move it while it's in the air. It's all really satisfying, and they really went all out in making the disc mechanics equally fun and versatile. Adding on the ability to look up and down for hazards and enemies, this makes it easy to catch enemies on an upper or lower platform without having to risk taking a hit. On the subject of that, there's a sort of shield/energy bar where you can take about 3 hits before losing a life, but there's extras around each level, and extra lives especially are abundant. So even during Ko-Wahi you'll rarely get a game over. It is worth mentioning though that they did the bizarre and, in the words of JonTron when talking about the Bubsy games, "put falling damage in their fucking 2D platform game?"; however, unlike a game like Bubsy, it's really not a problem as I never even really noticed it until playing some today before finishing this review. There's rarely going to be moments where you fall from a tall height with there not being a hazard there anyway, but it is something to be aware of.
However, where the game shines like no other handheld game I've played, is the beautiful soundtrack. The music is credited to Juston Scharvona, but as I can't find that name anywhere else online, I'm going to assume it's a typo and means Justin Scharvona. He was the former lead of the audio department at Argonaut, also creating the soundtracks for more well known Argonaut developed games like the Croc series. Immediately when you start up the game, the first thing you hear besides the GBA logo's ding, is the ethereal opening music. A oscillating drone of ambient dub beauty, which is so good the same opening hook is revisited as part of the Ga-Wahi theme. While most of the Wahi's have more of a bit techno beat, Ga-Wahi is fittingly more on the atmospheric side for it's lush aquatic landscape, but still hits with a strong beat especially the clanging bridge that sounds right out of an album by Japanese breakbeat duo Hifana. Ta-Wahi's theme is another favorite of mine, especially helpful in powering through the falling bridge gauntlet mid-level, and has a great backing bassline that I've been playing around with figuring out the notes on bass. The boss tracks go hard, with pounding bassy synths, and help give some real oomph to each fight.
The game doesn't take very long to beat, while I spread out my time in my playthroughs, I'd probably estimate as between 3-5 hours? I think that's a good length for a handheld game and as far as replayability goes, if you didn't find them all the first time, to unlock the other Matoran you have to collect the 4 pieces of the respective character's mask in each Wahi (The masks you collect are the correct one for each character). While the other characters are just recolors, the game is so fun that anything extra is satisfying to unlock.
This game unfortunately often goes forgotten or ignored by many, even Bionicle fans. I'd recommend it to any fans of 2D platformers, considering it's all about the gameplay (as well as the great music) and you definitely don't need to be a Bionicle fan to appreciate it. There is some unintentional humor though that can be taken from it if you are a Bionicle fan, considering the absurdity of the game within context of the story. In the story it was the Toa Mata (the main characters, and most basically described as guardians/warriors) that had to take down the Bohrok and the Bahrag twins, and not only that but they needed the Exo-Toa mech suits to do so. So with how the game plays out, the idea of them all being taken out by the regular villagers is pretty hilarious.
The game is pretty easy to find both to emulate and on an actual cartridge, so if what I've described sounds fun, check it out!
Have you played this game? If so, what are your thoughts? Are you a Bionicle fan? Do you have a favorite Bionicle game?
If you enjoy the soundtrack for this game, there's a couple EP's/albums I'd recommend from friends/fellow independent artists:
