Ufouria is an NES game that never made it to America back when it originally came out. The Sunsoft-developed Metroid-esque platformer could have been a game like Blaster Master, one with a weird localization history that has a bit of a cult following despite some weird design choices. Instead, this recent Wii U Virtual Console release is an intriguing curio that provides a peek at a lost, unrefined classic.

The three-to-four hour adventure stars four different characters, including the lizard thing Freeon Leon and a ghost named Shades. You start off with one character, named Bop Louie, who traverses around an open world that holds many secrets, including the other characters, power-ups, and a mess of bosses.

It's not an intuitive game. I had to look up in the digital manual how to properly attack enemies (you have to press down when you jump to stomp on them) and progression is sometimes obtuse, causing a lot of frustration. It's easy to get lost in Ufouria, especially since the map, which you have to find before you can even use it, leaves a lot to be desired and when you die, you restart all the way beginning with a miniscule amount of health. Thankfully, all the friends and items you found remain intact. Still, it’s punishing. Some of these detractions are par for the course with other similarly designed games of the time (the original Metroid suffers from a lot of the same issues), but it’s still woeful.

BUT…there's just something alluring about Ufouria, and a lot of that comes from the animation and music. Each character animates so peculiarly, and they all have the weirdest crouching animations. Freeon Leon just lies down on his back and shimmies around. The music also furthers that weird, off-kilter design, where you climb up tongues like they were ropes and fight weird big-headed bosses and birds drop 16-ton weights (or poop in the Japanese version) on your head.

Ufouria isn't a game that holds up as well in 2014, but it is an interesting NES platformer that presents enough charm, whimsy, and fun gameplay to make it worth playing even if you might need to consult a guide (or Miiverse) every now and then.