Sega Genesis Game Opinion Summaries - Work In Progress

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02-23-2016, 09:58 AM
Vludi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bottino

Really? Is that the one made by Natsume right?
It's funny, because I think just the opposite. Comix Zone combat works rather well in a single dimensional plane, whereas I think that NW would've greatly benefited from being able to move up/down. It's a good game, but it suffers from something that plagues pretty much every Super NES beat'em ups: generic enemy design and setting. It also feels inferior to previous \Natsume efforts, like Pocky & Rocky and Wild Guns.

There are like 6 enemy types in Comix Zone and none of them were really interesting in terms of patterns or strategy, and also only 3 bosses in the whole game. Ninja Warriors Again has better variety in enemies, boasting around 10 different enemy types, 3 selectable characters with different play style and 8 bosses. And i think the single-plane works perfect for the SNES limitations, most beat 'em up on the SNES are mediocre because the console couldn't handle more than 3 or 4 enemies on screen, companies like Natsume used those limitations in their favor by limiting the play-screen while still maintaining a reasonable challenge. Also, futuristic setting with a military vibe isn't really overused in the genre, so i disagree there.
I think Comix Zone is a good game, but not a good beat 'em up, similar to the case of Battletoads.
02-29-2016, 01:23 AM
A Black Falcon

The 'controversial' one this time is obvious, it's that I don't like Strider. Beyond that, Summer Challenge is worth mentioning; it's good, and very rarely mentioned. I guess most people probably don't like Summer or Winter Challenge as much as I do, but I do think they're good games. Sega-16 still hasn't reviewed Summer Challenge, and I like it. When I get to Winter Challenge, well, it has some issues, but you can be sure I like it more than Sega-16's 3/10 http://www.sega-16.com/2008/09/winter-challenge/ review...

Games covered in this update
--
Strider
Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns
Subterrania
Summer Challenge
Sunset Riders
Super Battleship
Super Hang-On (Sega 6-Pak)
Super Monaco GP
Super Monaco GP II, Arton Senna's
Sword of Vermilion
Syd of Valis
Target Earth
Task Force Harrier EX
Taz-Mania

Strider - 1 player. Strider is a popular classic arcade platform-action game from Capcom. This Genesis port is by Sega, but they did a fairly good job translating over the arcade game. Unfortunately, as much as many people like this game, I don't. This is not a game I remember playing back in the '80s or '90s, and the game has aged pretty badly. Strider on the Genesis has only okay graphics with massive amounts of flicker, very glitchy collision detection, often frustrating controls, only a handful of levels, and an annoyingly high difficulty level. This game isn't even average, much less great. The game is ambitious with its original, very angled level designs and a very mobile character, and I can see why people who played it in 1989-1990 would think highly of it because of that, but it hasn't held up. The Genesis can do vastly better than this, and would as its life went on. Visually the game is also dated. The game has some decent use of parallax, but otherwise the graphics are below average compared to later Genesis games. That flicker particularly gives away its early release.

So, you play as Strider, a ninja. The game is set in a future where the Soviet Union still exists, and is still evil, apparently. The story doesn't matter much though; you've got people to kill. Strider moves fast, and attacks with a big sword-sweep which hits a good distance ahead of you. You can grab onto any wall or ceiling and move along those surfaces, and the game really emphasizes this as levels are full of angled walls, ceilings and walls to grab onto, and more. It is a fast-paced game, and you're usually moving forward and fighting new foes and bosses. The controls are very 'sticky', in that you automatically grab onto any wall, ceiling, or platform you touch. There are plusses and minuses to both this game and Shinobi III's systems, of either auto-attach or manual button-based attach control in games with this much free movement, but while it can be frustrating at times when you're having trouble getting where you want because of something else in the way, I think I like this system more. The jump itself is bad, though -- you have very little air control, so you pretty much just land where you were going to before the jump started. This is not good and makes the game harder. The glitchy graphics, collision-detection issues, and flicker all hurt too, and combine to really hurt this game, and are a major reason I'd call the graphics not so great. Overall, I do not find Strider very fun to play at all. You die fairly easily and have limited continues, so the game is hard, and with controls and visuals this flawed, I've never wanted to seriously try to beat this game. I did get farther than usual when playing for this summary, but I still don't like the game much. Strider is not a bad game, but it is over-rated unless you have nostalgia for it. Maybe the arcade version is better, I don't know and don't think I have ever played that version, but this one is more bad than good. I guess that the very angled levels were unique for the time, as you're rarely just moving along flat ground, but newer games are much better than this in every way, and those nagled platforms cause some of the frustration too, thanks to weird jump and attack angles, collision issues, and more. Arcade port. There is also a Turbo CD (Arcade Card required) port that was only released in Japan. It has a new, exclusive level or two, but has no parallax and runs at a lower framerate. Ports of the arcade version are also available on newer platforms, first on the PS1 included with Strider 2, and also in newer Capcom collections as well.

Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns - 1 player. Strider Returns, by Domark, is a European platform-action game using Capcom's Strider name and license. Most people hate it, but I find this an okay little game. This game has little to do with the original beyond the name, though. This game is bigger, slower-paced, and much more conventional than its Japanese forbear. Strider Returns is just your average European platform-action game, really... but it is a competently made one, and doesn't have most of the major flaws of the first Genesis Strider game. You play as Strider again, and walk around, chopping up enemies with your big sword as you collect powerups and try to find the exit in each level. Now, this game is flat, but levels do have a lot of verticality, and you are often jumping between many higher and lower platforms, tree-limbs, and more. I like that, it keeps things interesting. Enemy placements are also good, and you can kill them before they hit you if you're paying attention and attack them once they appear. The annoying, precontrolled jumps do return, but in this games' more normal-feeling levels, it works better than in the first game, and in places like the level full of laser gates actually is somewhat helpful, as you quickly learn just where to jump from in order to not be hit. Levels are large, and this is a tough game, just as hard as the first one. The levels are at least average in design, and probably are above average. I like most of the stages here, and the game is fun to play and explore. Each level has a different setting, and they're all good. This game has only average graphics, but it doesn't look bad. The music is similarly okay, but not great. Overall though, Strider Returns is an above-average to good game. I like exploring the levels finding secrets and the best path, and I like the large levels as well. By turning Strider into an average Euro-platformer, I (and next to no one else) think that Domark improved on Capcom's game. Yes, it is much less ambitious, original, and unique, but it's a better, more fun to play game. Still, though, I'd only recommend it to those with a degree of tolerance for European games of the era; this game plays quite differently from Japanese or American games, and it shows. I sometimes like and sometimes dislike European action games on the Genesis, but this one is alright. Also on the Amiga.

Sub-Terrania - 1 player. Zyrinx's Sub-Terrania, or Subterrania, is a fantastic gravity shooter, in the vein of Gravitar or Solar Jetman, but better. Indeed, this game is one of the best ever in this genre. In these games, you play as a spaceship in enclosed caverns. The game has gravity, and your ship slowly drops towards the ground unless you hit the forward or back thrusters. You have limited fuel, though, so you need to be careful and plan your moves. You also have health, and lose health when shot, when enemies touch you, or when you hit the ground too hard or touch the ground at anything other than a straight-on landing. Control in this game is a delicate balance of hitting both thruster commands, shooting, and avoiding the walls, while also trying to accomplish your mission objectives. This game has only eight or so levels, but each is large and has multiple objectives to accomplish. Sub-Terrania is, indeed, a very difficult game; I have never finished it, or even gotten close to the end, despite how much I like it. The game has no continues or saving, unfortunately; when you run out of lives, that's it, start over. When you combine that with the tough stages, replay and memorization are really important here. Your health goes down quickly and health and fuel refills are few and limited within each stage, so it is easy to lose lives. You need to be careful if you want to get through. The challenge may be high, but every level is interesting and different in some way. The first two missions are straightforward once you learn them, but the third is a bit tricky; looking up what to do in a walkthrough might be a good idea, if you're stuck. Regardless of the challenge, this game is incredibly fun to play. I really like how much variety there is, and the game controls extremely well once you get used to it. The different weapons are balanced well as well. You can only shoot straight ahead, but each gun feels different. On Easy you keep weapon powerups once collected, but on higher settings you lose a level of weapon power when you die, so the difficulty you choose affects more than just the strength of your enemies. It's great that Easy really is easier, beginning players may need the help.

This game isn't only about gameplay, though; it also looks good and sounds great. Sub-Terrania has a techno soundtrack from Genesis sound-chip master Jesper Kyd, later of Adventures of Batman & Robin fame, and this soundtrack is really good too. It's a definite strong point of the game. The graphics are also pretty good; though all levels are in caverns and many enemies repeat throughout the game, at least the different ones each have different-looking walls and backgrounds, and each boss is unique. The ingame graphics are quite well drawn and detailed, and I like all the little touches added to your surroundings. Sub-Terrania is not quite the technical marvel of Zyrinx's other, later Genesis game Red Zone, but while it does not use fancy graphical techniques, it is a pretty good-looking game for the system anyway. It also has better gameplay than Red Zone, which counts for a lot; that game is interesting but flawed, while this one is just great. Sub-Terrania does have a significant learning curve, as your ship moves quickly and it may seem hard to control at first, but with practice you will get used to it. It is important to remember to use both thrusters, instead of just the forward one; that back thruster is very useful! Also, learning the momentum system is vital. Don't accelerate too much, and get used to rotating quickly to fire at something in a tricky location, then back to straight to land and repeat the process once you take off again. Once you get the controls down, learning each mission is the next step. Even if you use the helpful GameFAQs guide for the basics of what to do in the more complex missions like the third one and its multiple different mirrors you need to reflect a laser with, actually executing on that will be a challenge! Overall, Sub-Terrania is a very good gravity-shooter, probably my favorite game in this little subgenre of the ones I have played. This is a great game that's worth playing for sure. This game is available in collections and digital re-releases of Sega’s Genesis games.

Summer Challenge - 1-10 player alternating, battery save to cartridge. Summer Challenge is the first of two olympic sports games from Accolade. This game doesn't have an official olympic license, but it does have good gameplay and unique design for the time, quite unlike the terrible licensed olympics games on the Genesis. I first got the PC version of this game in the '90s, and thought that it was fun. So, after seeing how great the Genesis port of Hardball III turned out, I decided to pick up this game, and its winter-themed sequel, as well. These games have some issues, most notably the framerate, but are good games despite that. The framerate is an issue because this isn't a 2d game. Instead, your sprite characters are in full, flat-shaded polygonal worlds! It's a very different look from any other games like it on the system, and framerate aside the choice works. I really like that the sports actually look somewhat like the real thing. Sports like cycling or kyaking wouldn't be nearly as good in regular 2d! The game has a somewhat limited selection of only about eight sports to play, and some are similar such as the several track events, but all are solidly done. Aesthetically, this game looks a lot like Hardball III, until you get into the events that is. I like the graphics and art design, they aren't anything great but look good. The sprites are all good-looking and detailed, and those polygon environments work well, visually at least. The menu system is clearly copied right out of that game, which is great. The audio and graphical design are also similar, the 3d graphics in this game aside of course. And again the game has battery save. You can't save during an event, but events are short and the game will save your progress between events while playing a tournament, so that's fine. Most games in this genre didn't have battery save back in the early '90s, so it's a very nice thing to see here. Control-wise, the game has a one-button-plus-a-dpad design, much like Hardball III, but despite this has fairly familiar controls for those used to Track & Field-styled games. As with most such games, in many events you either mash a button, or alternate between pressing two buttons or directions. There's always a lot of button-mashing in this genre, and this game is no exception. The controls are good enough, though, once you learn each event. Multiplayer is alternating only, but it's great that it is present and for up to ten players, and with many of these events it had to be alternating. You can save your stats to individual player files thanks to the battery, if people make good times in events.

There are eight events here. First is Archery. This is a 2d event, without the polygons of most of the rest. You have to shoot at several targets, waiting until the cursor is in the center as it bounces around. Try to hit the button at the right time to win! This is the easiest event, and while it can get old, it is nice to have something not hard to win at. Hurdles will be tougher; the only track event here is 400 meter hurdles. You run by alternating directions, and jump with the button. Getting your timing down is tricky, and if you hit a gate you're eliminated. Javelin is also here. You build up speed with the buttons, then hit throw at just the right timing. it's simple and fun. High Jump is harder. You've got to run and then This event is usually one of hte harder ones in games in this genre, and that is the case here. Definitely practice to get the timing for the multiple jumps down. Pole Vaulting is in the game as well, though the boxart is of a pole-vaulter so it better be, and timing the pole can be tricky. I'd probably have rather seen multiple running races over two jumping ones, but ah well; at least they are better here than in some of these games. Next is Kayaking, a sport almost never seen in '90s olympics games. This sport shows off the 3d graphics well, and also the poor framerate. I highly recommend practicing the course before trying it in tournaments, but it is pretty fun once you do. I like racing games, and it's great to see this slightly more conventional racing game appear in this title. It is unforgiving, though -- just like in a real olympics, miss one gate and you're eliminated. Speed-cycling is also here. You're racing on an angled track in a velodrome, trying to get around the track as quickly as possible. The framerate here is bad, but the gameplay is simple -- just button-mash, while watching your strength gauge. It's alright. And last, this game has Equestrian. Yes, another sport almost never seen in this kind of game is present here. You ride your horse along a course, trying to stay on the course and make all of the jumps along the way. It's tricky, but I do like it, I guess.

Overall, Summer Challenge is a quite interesting game. This game is partially a conventional track & field game, and partially something new, with polygonal graphics and several sports never seen in other games in the genre. I do wish that the framerate was better, it really is down near the single-digits, more sports would have been nice, and in-event music would have been cool, but otherwise I quite like Summer Challenge. The Hardball III-esque Accolade stylings are great, and the actual game is good. This game is no Hardball III, it's only above average to good, but it is one of my favorite track & field games ever, for nostalgia reasons partially I'm sure, but also for its good gameplay and design. Also on PC and Amiga. The PC version is best, with higher-resolution graphics and much better framerates. This Genesis version is pretty good for the hardware, though, and contains all content from the PC original.

Sunset Riders - 1-2 player simultaneous. Konami's arcade Sunset Riders game, also available in slightly modified form on the SNES, is a great run & gun action game. Easier than Contra and with some fantastic wild west themes, the game is a lot of fun! I've liked Sunset Riders ever since first playing it in arcades in the early '90s. It has a cool style to it you didn't often see then. Unfortunately, this is not that game. Instead of porting over the SNES game, Konami decided to make a low-budget, mediocre spinoff title here. This game just screams of the lower budgets of most of Konami's Genesis games, and it hurts it a lot compared to the other Sunset Riders titles. Despite that it is a fun game, but the 'real' Sunset Riders is a lot better. The graphics here are downgraded, the music okay but not as good as on the SNES, the speech samples have mostly been cut from the game, and half of the level settings and bosses are gone as well. Sad stuff. Sunset Riders is a wild-west themed side-scrolling run & gun shooter. You play as two cowboys, Billy or Cormano, and have four bosses to take down in eight levels. Yes, that's down two characters and four bosses from the arcade/SNES game. The levels are all-new as well, and far less well designed. Where in the arcades and SNES Sunset Riders has short, tightly-designed stages that keep the tempo up and are always changing, Genesis Sunset Riders stretches out each of its four locations into two whole levels each, and then has constant repeated graphical elements within each stage. You pass by the same buildings again and again and again in the first couple of stages, for example, it's so repetitive in a way that the original Sunset Riders wasn't at all.

There are lots of enemies to face, and the game controls well and is fun to play, though, so it's not all bad. All major enemy types from the arcade game return, and this game has less censorship than the SNES game too, as Indian regular enemies and scantily-clad women are in this game, but not the one on Nintendo. There is still some censorship, though -- as on the SNES, the female enemy type from the arcade game has been replaced with a guy, and the beer-drinking scenes have been removed from the certain doors that had them. Instead, every single door has a scantily-clad woman, and there are like ten times more doors in this game than the original thanks to all those repeated level elements, so the absence of that other animation is made painfully apparent as you see it again and again. The four bossfights that are here are good and play like they should, though at least one has a location change. As previously mentioned, though, the bosses' voiced catchphrases have been removed, and replaced with just text. Cheap! And that's this game in a nutshell. The missing content, new, somewhat boring, and far too repetious level designs, and downgraded graphics and sound really hold back what is otherwise a good little game. Sunset Riders for the Genesis is a fun game, and I do like it. The game controls great, sounds good, and blasting through waves of wild-west baddies is fun. The game is kind of easy as I have beaten it repeatedly, but it's a fun easy, and there are higher difficulty settings if you want that. The co-op play is good as well. However, the game just has too many major limitations to recommend for anything above a quite low price, and this game is somewhat pricey now. Only get Genesis Sunset Riders if you're lucky and see it cheap; otherwise, save up for the more expensive, but great, SNES game. That game is far better than this.

Super Battleship - 1 player, password save (Super mode only). This terrible, huge disappointment has two modes. First you have classic Battleship, a digital re-creation of the classive board game... for one player only. Because of how Battleship works you can't have two players on the same screen, but still, it is disappointing that you can't play this against a friend somehow. This mode plays just like Battleship: first you place your various ship types on your grid, then fire at the computers' grid trying to guess where their ships are, taking turns along the way. This version has you make three shots per turn instead of one, oddly, but does not have the added alternate shot types of NES Battleship. I also can't get past the absent multiplayer, that flaw kind of makes the whole thing feel pointless. The graphics here are bland and subpar but aren't terrible, and the music, where there even is any, is forgettable. There's really no reason to ever play this game in classic mode; you can find better Battleship games in many places, I am sure. NES Battleship may also be single player only, but at least it has progression, many levels to beat, special weapons, and more. This has nothing beyond the not-so-great feature that you shoot three shots per turn.

There is a second mode here, though, Super Battleship. It tries to be something more... tries, and fails. This mode is a turn-based naval strategy game. You choose one of several scenarios, and have to try to beat an enemy fleet with your own fleet of ships. Each different ship type has different stats and weapons, and movement and firing ranges also. Interestingly, ships can only move like a ship -- that is, forwards and back either straight or at a curving angle only, no sideways moves. That more realistic movement is by far the best thing about this game, but doesn't make up for the otherwise seriously lacking gameplay. Combat is somewhat arcadey, as once two ships engage you move a cursor around and hit the fire button to shoot at the enemy. It's harder to hit enemies than it is for them to hit you, it seems. Naturally. You also have only a limited quantity of each weapon type, so if you miss with one it really does hurt. Scenarios are surprisingly difficult, and getting good enough to actually beat them didn't really seem worth it to me. This is a painfully slow game with bad graphics and little audio, and it takes a lot of turns for ships to get close enough to actually attack... and then I get crushed. If you do stick with it there is a fifteen-plus mission campaign with password save, but I'll probably never see that. With time you may start winning, and it is good that each ship type is quite different, but is a game this slow-paced, boring, and lacking in fun really worth that kind of time? I'd say not, myself; Super Battleship is a bad game that I find unbearably unfun to play. Pass on Super Battleship, it's terrible. Classic mode is kind of irrelevant, and Super mode is tedious and no fun. This game made my 10-worst-Genesis-games-I-own list for a reason. Also on SNES.

Super Hang-On (Sega 6-Pak) - 1 player, password save. One of the first racing games on the system, Super Hang-On is a barely playable mess thanks to some of the choppiest 'scaling' seen on this system. This game is right down there with other early Sega titles like Super Thunder Blade and Space Harrier II in how bad the scaling looks, and it's really unfortunate because this is otherwise a pretty fun game. This game has two modes, a recreation of the arcade game, and an original mode with more progression and features. The basic gameplay is classic linescroll racing, Sega-style, and it's fun but very difficult. The two main issues this game has are the very high difficulty and, worse, the horrible graphics. Lots of games on classic consoles effectively use linescroll graphics to simulate movement, but here the flipping colors as you go fast looks TERRIBLE. I think that playing this game for this summary gave me a headache, because I was feeling fine earlier, but had a headache a while after playing this game -- and I am NOT one to have such issues, even the Virtual Boy usually isn't much of an issue. The way the screen blinks back and forth between two colors is atrocious. This is the most eye-hurting linescrolling I've ever seen. The sprite 'scaling' is pretty bad too, and contributes to the headache-inducing visuals. Flipping between differently-sized sprites is the only way to do scaling on a system like this, but Sega's solution early in the Genesis' life looks pretty bad as the sprites bounce around constantly in an unpleasant fashion. Between this and the linescrolling background, this game looks incredibly choppy. The sprite-work is classic, solid '80s Sega stuff, but your bike aside it's hard to make out many details. The music is average and forgettable, and isn't anywhere near the level of Outrun's classic tunes.

Ignoring the visuals, Super Hang-On has that classic Sega arcade racing gameplay, and it's good, the insanely high difficulty aside. You control a motorcycle, and drive fast as you try to avoid all the obstacles and reach the finish line. When you reach max speed, pressing C will turn on a turbo-booster for additional speed; this is essential. It's tough but fun and can be addictive. There are two modes, Arcade and Original. In arcade mode you take control of a superbike and try to beat all of the circuits in the game. The first has six track segments, the last 16. There are hugely overlong passwords if you manage to beat a circuit, but I haven't managed that yet; between the graphics and the unforgiving gameplay, I always lose. You get only one chance at each circuit, there are no continues here within a circuit, and if you crash even once at any point you well might not finish. Unlike Outrun or beyond this game has no difficulty settings either, so you can't ease up on the super-tight timer. Playing for this summary I almost finished the first circuit in Arcade mode a couple of times, but didn't quite manage it. Original mode takes place on the same tracks, but you start with a weak bike, and have to upgrade or replace it via money you win in circuits. I don't like the starter bike in Original mode, it's not much fun to control. It is nice that they added a mode with some real progression and a money system, though, that's something Sega usually left out of their home racing ports in the '90s. And you can save your progress here with those same too-long passwords. This mode might be even harder than arcade mode, though, and as with arcade mode, I've never gotten far enough to get a password. Given the atrocious graphics issues the game has, I'm fine with that. If you want to play a good version of Super Hang-On, play a port of the arcade game, or play Super Hang-On 3D for the 3DS, a 3d port of the arcade version with added 3d and options. The arcade game and its 3DS port are both good fun stuff, without the serious flaws of this version. This Genesis game, however, is only for the masochistic. It's in the Sega 6-Pak, so it is worth having since the collection is great, but don't waste much time on this version of the game. This game is available in collections and digital re-releases of Sega’s Genesis games.

Super Monaco GP - 1 player, password save. Super Monaco GP is a somewhat average F1 racing game from Sega. While the game has fairly simple controls, the style is more simulation-like. This game is, for the time, somewhere in between arcade and sim. Now it would surely be called an arcade game, but it's trying to be a more 'realistic' one. For example, there is an unfortunate lack of any music during races. That makes the game somewhat dull and less interesting than racing games with music, but the gameplay here is okay. You play from an in-car perspective, presumably also to be more realistic, and your car is visible around you. This means your view is a bit closer in than the usual behind-the-car viewpoints most racing games use, so you have a bit less visibility. Tracks are also named for and have layouts based on real F1 courses, though this style of linescroll racer never looks quite like the real thing; real tracks don't have only smoothly-turning curves with lines of objects by the sides of the road. That's fine, and I have no interest in F1 I have enjoyed some simple linescroll open-wheel racers. It is nice that there are quite a few tracks.

However, despite the simple gameplay, Super Monaco GP is a hard game and has a decent-sized learning curve. You have to learn the braking in order to get around these tracks, and that is a problem because I prefer the kind of racing game where you rarely have to brake, and can have fun instead of playing something more 'realistic' like this. The game looks fine for its time; it does not really impress, but isn't bad-looking either. Versus the above game this game has a slower sense of speed, but maybe partially as a result the image holds together a lot better. It is obvious the system doesn't have hardware sprite scaling, but for a linescroll game this game looks average. The game controls fine as well; you have gas and brakes, and the challenge is learning to use each in the right points on each track. For modes, there's a single-race mode or a championship. The other racers' names are all fictional, but that's okay. You have to qualify for each race before you race it, and if you do well enough you can progress and get a password for the next track. I find this game boring, though, so I've never put the kind of time into it that would be required to not finish last every time. Overall, I prefer a simpler, more arcadey game such as the Game Gear Super Monaco GP game over this more challenging one. This is an average to below-average game and I do not find it fun or much worth playing, but it's not bad. If it sounds like your kind of thing, definitely give it a try; this is a solid game for its time and genre. Enhanced arcade port. There are other ports of the arcade game on lots of systems, but none have this versions' added content, I don't think.

Super Monaco GP II, Arton Senna's - 1 player, battery save to cartridge. Super Monaco GP II is a sequel that does not stray far from its predecessor. Indeed, this game is basically the same as the first game, but with Brazilian F1 star Ayrton Senna's name and likeness all over the menus. Senna talks to you, and did consult with some elements of the games' design. Senna died in a race in the early '90s, sadly, but this game was developed before that. The game has more tracks than before, and the Senna GP is interesting. YOu start out on some tracks Senna himself laid out, apparently for go-karts in the real world though here you only have F1-style cars, and then move on to real F1 tracks if you are successful. I like the addition of battery save; yes, the battery can die on you, but long passwords are annoying. The graphics look similar to the first game, but with some minor improvements here and there. This is at least average-looking for a linescroll game on the Genesis; it's no Outrun 2019, but it's no Super Hang-On either. The audio is, as with the first game, mostly absent; in-race you only hear the car engine. I really wish there was music. There isn't much else to say about this game, though. It is another somewhat simmish arcade racer, with challenging tracks that will take some time to learn the correct gas and brake patterns in and semi-realistic, and thus somewhat boring for me, gameplay and presentation. It's a decent, average game, and is a bit better than the first one, but I can't see myself ever really getting into these games. You might, though, so do give at least one of the Genesis Monaco GP games a try. Both are very cheap.

Sword of Vermilion - 1 player, battery save to cartridge. Sword of Vermilion is an interesting, and solid, action-RPG from Sega released early in the Genesis's life. This game covers multiple perspectives, including overhead, first-person, and side-scrolling, but has some very dated design elements. The core gameplay is good, though. This is a fantasy game in a generic fantasy world. You are a young man whose father just died due because of evil forces. So, you're off to avenge him and stop the badguys. It's a basic plot, but it works. Of course, you start in a small out-of-the-way town and the degree of threat scales up as you progress. This game starts out in town. You explore towns from an overhead view, and towns have various shops, people, houses, and churches where you save your game, like usual for the genre. You have to do everything by a menu on the C button, though, and the interface is archaic. You'll need to open the menu to talk to anyone. It's even worse in dungeons, where you need two separate commands to get items out of treasure chests! And of course, the game closes the menu after the first command. Don't forget to pick up that item after opening the chest, or you won't have it. On that note, when you leave town, the game turns into a first-person, tile-based RPG. In the overworld and dungeons you move from space to space in mazelike worlds. There is a map on the side of the screen, thankfully, but it doesn't fill in as you go. Instead, unless you've talked to someone who gave you a map for that area, you can only see your location and the eight spaces around you, and nothing else. Make sure to talk to everyone in each town to get those maps! And dungeons don't have maps, so you'll just need to learn those layouts. Worse, when you enter a dungeon, you will need to use items which emit light, such as candles or lanterns, or the screen is completely dark. These only last a limited time, however, so you need a lot of them... but you can only have eight inventory items at a time, so good luck with that. Fortunately your equipment doesn't take up space in your item inventory, they are separate, but only eight spaces is not enough when you need both health and light items. Argh. And the encounter rate is very, VERY high, as well. Sometimes you'll fight, turn left, and fight again! Yes, it can be that bad.

So yeah, the game has some issues. Fortunately, though, the combat is fun. When you run into an enemy, the game changes back to a top-down view in a single-screen battle arena. In that way it's a bit like Faria on the NES, though you only ever face one enemy type at a time in this game, there just are often a lot of them. The combat is fast and you can chop thorugh the badguys easily. Your sword will be your main weapon throughout, but once you get deeper into the game you also get some magic spells. You can only equip one at a time, which casts with a button-press in battle, but these fireballs and such are helpful. You have to buy spells from stores, so you get to choose which ones you want, and which to equip. It's nice that there is at least a little choice in this mostly-straightforward game. The game will get repetitive for sure, but it's decent fun even so. If you reach a boss, the game has yet another perspective: side-scrolling battles. These are simple, but do make the game even more varied. Also, perhaps due to the crazy-high encounter rate and fun combat, this game doesn't feel nearly as grindey as other RPGs of the day. If you explore everything, you should be able to handle each new area. It does let you go into areas beyond your level, but follow the townspeoples' suggestions and you should be okay. Your health is filled up when you level up, too, and if you die you aren't dumped back to the main menu, but return to the nearest church minus half the money you had. That's kinder than some games. The game has decent graphics and sound, too. Sure, it looks and sounds like an early release, this is definitely not one of the best-looking Genesis games, but it looks fine. Overall, this is a decent to good action-RPG with okay graphics and sound, variety, and simple but fun, combat. The game is simple and lacks depth, the light system and absence of good mapping in dungeons is a problem, as is the high encounter rate and very dated interface, but it is good overall. Sword of Vermilion is a good game worth a try, but do expect a somewhat dated experience. This game is available in collections and digital re-releases of Sega’s Genesis games.

Syd of Valis - 1 player. Syd of Valis is a superdeformed, or SD, remake of Nippon Telenet's game Valis II. You are once-normal earth schoolgirl Yuuko, or here in the US version "Syd", off on a quest to save a fantasy world from evil yet again. The Valis series was somewhat popular back in the early '90s, particularly on the Turbo CD, but there are also three Valis games on the Genesis, and I have this one. As with all Valis games, it is a frustrating and annoying game that is not much fun to play; I don't like this series much, as I said in my summaries of SNES and Turbo CD Valis IV previously... and those games are both better than this one. So yeah, it's not very good. It isn't terrible either, though, just subpar and at times frustrating. Syd of Valis has nice, cartoony graphics, and I like the SD art style. Levels are varied in both settings and designs, as well. As always in the Valis series, though, enemies attack at high speeds from all directions, so memorization is key. I've always disliked this twitch-bombardment style of level designs you see in Valis games, it's not fun. This time, though, if you fall in a pit you just lose a bit of health and bounce back out, so at least you can't die from falling in pits; that is nice. However, you have NO continues in this game, and unlike the TCD game, there is no saving either. That's really unfortunate, in games as frustrating and twitch-memorization heavy as Valis games saving is essential, I don't want to have to play levels I've finished again. This game has only one playable character, unlike Valis III or IV, but you do get different costumes to wear and weapons to equip as you progress, and can switch between them at any time in the pause menu. Each has different stats, so switching weapons sometimes is a good idea.

The story is similar to the Turbo CD game, just condensed for cartridge form and redone with cuter SD graphics. It's kind of silly at times, which is odd for Valis, but it does work. However, it doesn't have the same impact that the Turbo/PC Engine CD games do, with their voice-acted cutscenes and such. The music is alright, but can't match CD audio of course. Overall, Syd of Valis is a below-average, annoying game. It is playable, and I do play it every once in a long while, but can't really recommend the game. If you could save and continue, instead of having to start the game over every few times you mess up, it'd be slightly better, but even then you'd still have that same not-that-fun core Valis gameplay. So yeah, I'm not sure about this one; Valis is a series worth a try, and if you see this for a few bucks maybe pick it up, but it's not all that great either. Oddly, my cart has an odd issue -- while it works fine when played in my Genesis with 32X attached, if I remove the 32X and then plug the cart in, all I get is a black screen. It's been like this ever since I got the game, and I've never heard of such a bizarre issue; this isn't a 32X game! I imagine no other copies are like this. This game is only on the Genesis, but other Valis II games, with different level layouts and design, are on other platforms, including the Turbo CD and Japanese computers. The TCD version is also not too good, but I've never played the computer original.

Target Earth - 1 player. Target Earth, or Assault Suits Leynos in Japan, from NCS Masaya, is a very good, but very difficult, sidescrolling mecha shooting action-platform game. The eight missions in this game tell a story of an Assault Suit mecha pilot, you, who must save the world. So yeah, teh story is cliche, but there is actual text and conversations during the game, unlike most such games of the time. This makes the world feel more alive. This game is the first game in the Assault Suits series which also includes Cybernator for the SNES and more. I got Cybernator years before this game and found it good but not great, so I didn't have the highest of hopes for this game. However, I like it a lot! Target Earth is indeed extremely difficult, but it is also quite good, and better than Cybernator in my opinion even if its visuals are far worse. Assault Suits Leynos 2 for the Saturn (Japan only title) is probably the best of the three, but this is a good game. The only challenge is, how much of it will you see without that invincibility cheat which thankfully does exist? However far it is, it's worth the effort. Your mission starts on Ganymede, as the base you are defending is attacked. You've got to defeat a large enemy carrier before it gets to your base and destroys it, while dealing with many regular enemies as you go across the rocky landscape towards the boss. Your mech, or assault suit, is small on the screen, but the art design is good and as detailed as the small size allows. Enemies are varied in size, from the small regular foes to big, half-screen-filling bosses. There are a great variety of environments as well, from the rocky first area to outer space to a giant space station. I like the variety, and the stages are very fun to play. Levels often consist of you moving towards a goal while an infinite spawn of basic enemies comes at you, but despite this work great thanks to the good combat and movement.

Indeed, your robot controls well. You can move, jump, and fly in the space mission. You move fast, which is great, and control is precise. You can shoot left, right, or up; the upward shot is very useful, as many enemies are airborne. You have a bunch of weapons to fight the enemies with. You start out with a basic gun with infinite ammo and several other guns with limited ammo that refills between missions, and unlock more based on your score. So, if you play better, you get better weapons; this encourages repeat play, to figure out ways to score more points and get better weapons earlier. All weapons other than the basic gun have limited ammo, and you can only take so many weapons and armor items into each battle, so between missions you'll need to carefully choose what to take. It's a nice strategic element which adds to the game. The game is harsh and unforgiving, though, and even though you have a lifebar it is easy to die, particularly to bosses. And when you do die, you get only a few lives and then it's back to the beginning of the game; no continues or saving here, sadly. If you want that, get the PS4 remake, Assault Suits Leynos. I haven't played it, but it looks good and faithful to the original. I think it's a Japan-only release so far, though, unfortunately. As for this version, though, there is a lot to like about Target Earth. The game has small, simple graphics, but the art design is good, and the game plays quickly and runs well. Levels are varied and fun, and I like that there is an actual plot here, and varied missions. The games' intense challenge relies too much on memorization and replay, and the graphics aren't as good as later games in the series, but even so this is a very good sidescrolling action game I very highly recommend. Use the cheat codes if you want, but don't miss out on Target Earth, it's great! There is also a PS4 remake of this game in Japan.

Task Force Harrier EX - 1 player. Task Force Harrier is a bland-looking and subpar vertical-scrolling shmup from Treco developed by UPL. You fly a plane, presumably a Harrier, on a mission to defeat lots of enemy forces. As in some Namco shmups, this game has separate bombs and bullets, and many ground enemies will only be hit by the bombs. The game starts out over a snowy landscape, and the first few levels are thus near-colorless, with white backgrounds and grey aircraft and vehicles. As much as I love snow, it's an incredibly bland look here. Eventually you have some ocean and city/base missions, but the graphics here are bad and color is limited, the blue water aside. You just move left or right and shoot, there is no real variety or depth to this game. Enemies come at you in basic patterns, shoot them and avoid their fire. The enemy patterns, bullets, movement, graphics, sound, nothing is interesting or great. The gameplay feels inspired by Xevious and Twin Cobra (Kyuukyoku Tiger), but isn't nearly on the latter games' level of quality; the enemies and bosses are more generic in both looks and attacks, the music is worse, and more. The Xevious point is an important one to expand on, though. I have never much cared for the separate ground and air attack bomb-and-bullet systems found in Xevious, Dragon Spirit, and such. I'm fine with multiple weapons, and air and ground targets which are hit by different weapons, but the limited range of your bombs in these games is really annoying! I should be able to hit enemies from anywhere below them, not only halfway up the screen where you're too close to their bullets. So that this game copies that attack system is a definite negative for it. As an aside, the bullet-and-targeting cursor system found in RayForce and its sequels or Soukyugurentai (on Saturn and others) also isn't something I have ever liked all that much; it's not awful, but normal bullets-only shooter design is better.

So, the basic design here isn't for me. Even beyond that, though, while it is not terrible, this game gets boring to play in a hurry. This just isn't a good game, as levels are bland, the difficulty uneven, bosses unimpressive to the point where sometimes I couldn't tell if a boss was a miniboss or final level boss, and the music is forgettable to bad at best. I got this game for cheap, but disappointed me thanks to tedious, repetitious gameplay, unfortunate choice to us the Xevious bomb system, mediocre-at-best level designs, monochromatic white-and-grey or grey-and-blue color palettes for too much of the game, and more. Task Force Harrier EX is a below-average game only worth considering if you really love shmups and want to play all the shmups on the Genesis, love Xevious and such, or like shmups and find it for dirt cheap. If you do get it though, go in with very low expectations. I paid only fifty cents for this game, and I'm still not sure if it was actually worth it; it's kind of bad. Arcade port.

Taz-Mania - 1 player. Taz-Mania is a successful but awful platformer from Sega. This game is based on the early '90s cartoon of the same name starring Taz, the Tazmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes, and his family. The game did well, surely because of the popularity of the show, but of all the Taz games released that generation, this is one of the worst; only the first Game Gear game is definitely worse. Taz-Mania has pretty good graphics with large sprites that look a lot like something out of the Looney Tunes or the Taz cartoon, so it makes a good first impression. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up at all beyond that. Taz can run fairly quickly, jump a good distance, and spin into a tornado to move even faster and attack enemies. Most enemies stand no chance against your tornado spin! You have a health bar, too, though that won't help with the games' innumerable bottomless pits. Many items are scattered around the levels that you can eat, and some will heal Taz while others will hurt him; you'll need to learn which is which. Walking slowly into an item, or some enemies, will allow Taz to eat it, while spinning into one will blow it away. That's all fine, but the level designs here are among the most frustrating around! Between the skiddy controls and constant frustration due to more blind jumps and random pitfalls than almost anything on this system, Taz-Mania stops being fun somewhere around the middle of the first level. At least in the first stage you can see where you're jumping to, though, even if it's frustrating due to the slippery controls and because it's not always clear where you need to go. Some waterfall spouts send you straight up into a wall of spikes, while another is a vital way forward, and nothing tells you which is which. This is that kind of game. The blind-jump-heavy jumping puzzle in level two is even worse, with multiple long blind jumps to make, but at least it's over solid ground, so as you fall again and again you can keep trying. Later on the game isn't always as kind. You do get three continues in this game, but there's no saving so you'll be redoing the game from scratch often. This is a VERY memorization-heavy game, and it's not the fun kind of memorization. I hate blind jumps! I'm sure I will never get anywhere near the end of this game, it's not remotely worth the effort. Oh yeah, and while the graphics are good, the music is kind of bad. If you could see where you are going and the controls were better this game could have been good, but it isn't. Pass on Taz-Mania; don't replay it and hurt the memories of it you may have of the game from the early '90s. Instead, play the sequel. It is a vastly better game and fixes most of this games' biggest issues.
02-29-2016, 03:08 PM
JungleStrike

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

Taz-Mania - 1 player. Taz-Mania is a successful but awful platformer from Sega. This game is based on the early '90s cartoon of the same name starring Taz, the Tazmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes, and his family. The game did well, surely because of the popularity of the show, but of all the Taz games released that generation, this is one of the worst; only the first Game Gear game is definitely worse. Taz-Mania has pretty good graphics with large sprites that look a lot like something out of the Looney Tunes or the Taz cartoon, so it makes a good first impression. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up at all beyond that. Taz can run fairly quickly, jump a good distance, and spin into a tornado to move even faster and attack enemies. Most enemies stand no chance against your tornado spin! You have a health bar, too, though that won't help with the games' innumerable bottomless pits. Many items are scattered around the levels that you can eat, and some will heal Taz while others will hurt him; you'll need to learn which is which. Walking slowly into an item, or some enemies, will allow Taz to eat it, while spinning into one will blow it away. That's all fine, but the level designs here are among the most frustrating around! Between the skiddy controls and constant frustration due to more blind jumps and random pitfalls than almost anything on this system, Taz-Mania stops being fun somewhere around the middle of the first level. At least in the first stage you can see where you're jumping to, though, even if it's frustrating due to the slippery controls and because it's not always clear where you need to go. Some waterfall spouts send you straight up into a wall of spikes, while another is a vital way forward, and nothing tells you which is which. This is that kind of game. The blind-jump-heavy jumping puzzle in level two is even worse, with multiple long blind jumps to make, but at least it's over solid ground, so as you fall again and again you can keep trying. Later on the game isn't always as kind. You do get three continues in this game, but there's no saving so you'll be redoing the game from scratch often. This is a VERY memorization-heavy game, and it's not the fun kind of memorization. I hate blind jumps! I'm sure I will never get anywhere near the end of this game, it's not remotely worth the effort. Oh yeah, and while the graphics are good, the music is kind of bad. If you could see where you are going and the controls were better this game could have been good, but it isn't. Pass on Taz-Mania; don't replay it and hurt the memories of it you may have of the game from the early '90s. Instead, play the sequel. It is a vastly better game and fixes most of this games' biggest issues.

Great review, I really liked it. I know exactly what you mean though, so many of the platformers from retro systems were like that -- blind jumps, cheap hits, etc. It's just simply not fun.

Your review reminded me of a game I played recently, Ren and Stimpy: Stimpy's Invention. I owned it as a kid, but holy shit did it suck after I played it as an adult. The levels were short and uninspired, it only took me around 20 minutes to beat the entire game. It really left a bad taste in my mouth.

It's funny because I absolutely coveted that game as a kid. At my local Blockbuster, it was always rented out. In fact, I think they eventually told me someone rented it and never returned it, because I didn't see it in stock a single time despite checking practically every weekend for like a year. Can you imagine the anticipation and hype I had built up wanting to play it though? It was just classic "want what you can't have". I eventually got it as a birthday present, and although I don't recall being disappointed in it, it didn't exactly leave a lasting impression on me either.
03-01-2016, 10:37 PM
A Black Falcon

So of the places I posted this, this update got three comments about Taz-Mania and none about anything else. That's kind of amusing. :p I know the game sold well, but I wouldn't have guessed that all initial replies would be about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JungleStrike

Great review, I really liked it. I know exactly what you mean though, so many of the platformers from retro systems were like that -- blind jumps, cheap hits, etc. It's just simply not fun.

Well, some are for sure, but not the better ones. Licensed games are definitely more likely to be like that than original titles, and Western games probably more likely than Japanese ones -- Western devs liked their big, open levels, and one common side effect of that was blind jumps. Or in other cases like this game, they just decided to make big graphics irregardless of how terrible that made the gameplay.

Quote:

Your review reminded me of a game I played recently, Ren and Stimpy: Stimpy's Invention. I owned it as a kid, but holy shit did it suck after I played it as an adult. The levels were short and uninspired, it only took me around 20 minutes to beat the entire game. It really left a bad taste in my mouth.

It's funny because I absolutely coveted that game as a kid. At my local Blockbuster, it was always rented out. In fact, I think they eventually told me someone rented it and never returned it, because I didn't see it in stock a single time despite checking practically every weekend for like a year. Can you imagine the anticipation and hype I had built up wanting to play it though? It was just classic "want what you can't have". I eventually got it as a birthday present, and although I don't recall being disappointed in it, it didn't exactly leave a lasting impression on me either.

I know this is true for many people, but I mostly bought good, or at least decent, games in the '90s. Now, through most of the decade I only had a PC and Game Boy, and did play plenty of bad shareware, freeware, or demo PC games, but for games I actually bought? Excepting only a couple of edutainment games I didn't like much, I got good games.

As for the Game Boy, though, as I said in my GB thread, Toy Story is terrible, worst game I bought that decade. Horrendous controls, confusing gameplay, atrocious framerate, and more... I may usually have gotten good games, but that one was definitely an exception.
03-12-2016, 02:01 AM
A Black Falcon

Whew... finally done with this update. Been busy, but this one is done now! 15 summaries this time. Only 20 more to go...

Oh, I improved the Task Force Harrier EX summary from last time. Look at it again, I left out some important points before.

Games covered in this update
--
Taz in Escape from Mars
Technoclash
Technocop
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
Thunder Force II
Tinhead
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure
Toki: Going Ape Spit
Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics
Trouble Shooter
Truxton
Turrican
Twin Cobra
Tyrants: Fight Through Time

Taz in Escape from Mars - 1 player. Taz in Escape from Mars is a decent platformer. It is a somewhat average game, but is a huge improvement over the first Genesis Taz-Mania game, and holds up much better. This game is a lot like the first one, but with some crucial improvements. As before, you play as Taz. He was kidnapped by Marvin the Martian for his zoo, so you start this game in that great classic Looney Tunes "space" setting of Marvin the Martian's Mars. There are six settings in the game, though, some on earth and some in space, and each has two levels then a boss. The graphics are again good, and looks a lot like the first game but with new settings, enemies, and such. I've always really liked the Looney Tunes space stuff, so the setting here is great, though it is odd that a couple of levels are on earth and the others on other planets. The graphics are only a bit improved over the first game, but the large, detailed sprites look great, and the environments look good enough. The music is also improved over the first game; it's at least decent this time, thankfully. As for the gameplay, this game mostly plays just like the original. As before, Taz is huge on the screen, runs around, jumps with an annoyingly floaty jump, spins into a tornado to attack, and has lots of stuff to eat to refil your health bar, some items which heal you or give you a powerup and others that hurt you. Most importantly, blind jumps have been dramatically cut back on. However, the blind jumps over death pits are entirely, 100% gone! Yes, there aren't any bottomless pits this time. Instead you might land on spikes, an earlier part of the level, or a path that leads back to an earlier part of the level. That can be annoying, but it's a vast improvement over the constant unfair deaths of the original! You can look up and down a bit as well, to see platforms a bit below you. Sure, you still can't see far ahead, you'll constantly get hit and lose health, and the controls are slippery, but this is a decently good game.

The levels are, in classic Western platformer fashion, large and mazelike. You need to find and eat the exit sign in each level, and it's usually somewhere at the far right end of the stage, but it'll take plenty of exploration to find the way. Exploring the levels can be fun, and the stages are reasonably well designed. There isn't as much to collect in this game as there is in some, but the 1-ups, health ups if you need health if you need it, but the main goal is to find the end, not collect everything along the way. That's fine. The game may be fairer than its predecessor, but itis still easy to lose lives. This game isn't as hard as the first one, but it is a challenge. First, you have limited continues and no saving. Worse, when you use a continue, you restart the whole world, not just the level. That means get game over at a boss and you go three levels back to the first stage of that environment. That's too cruel! Overall, Taz in Escape from Mars is an average game. The game looks great and the levels can be fun to explore, but the loose controls, the constant damage you'll surely take as you run into enemy or spike after enemy or spike due to how fast you move particularly when spinning, and the harsh game over punishment hold it back. This is an alright game, though, and platformer fans might want to give it a try. After playing the first game I was not expecting much from this one, but it surprised me. Also on Game Gear; that version is very much like this, but with smaller graphics of course.

Technoclash - 1 player, password save, 6 button controller support. Technoclash is an interesting top-down action-adventure game published by EA and developed by Zono Incorporated, the studio that would go on to make the weird Sega Saturn title Mr. Bones. You are a mage, Ronaan, and he and his three male friends are fighting against evil robots and their living henchmen who invaded his world from a machine-ruled Earth. The concept is sort of mages-versus Terminators, and that's kind of cool even if it isn't the most original thing. There are story scenes at the beginning and end of each level, and sometimes during levels as well, telling the continuing plot. I do like the concept here, mages-versus-robots isn't something you see as often as you might think, particularly with the mages as the good guys. In terms of gameplay, this is mostly a top-down action game, though there are also adventure and light RPG elements. The game has a linear, level-based structure, and doesn't have the open world of a Zelda or Shadowrun. I'm fine with that, though; well-designed conventional levels are just fine with me, and for the most part that is what these are. Levels are good-sized and increase in size as you progress through the game, and instead of just getting to an end point, in most stages after the first one you have to accomplish some objective, whether it is finding certain items and taking them to key points or destroying specific targets, for two examples from earlier in the game. You always fight with an AI companion by your side, bringing either your warrior or mage friend along each time. The game has a password save system, and you can alwaqys see your password on the pause screen; though it will start you back from the beginning of the current level, it is great to have it there. You have limited continues for some reason, but thanks to the passwords this doesn't matter much. The game is hard enough that you will die quite a bit, but not so hard that you'll be likely to give up. They are moderately helpful and do automatically attack enemies, but you will do most of the fighting yourself. The game has decent to good graphics; it doesn't look amazing, but has a solid comic-like style. The music is solid, but mostly average.

Now, this is an action-packed game, but that isn't because of your movement speed; Ronaan moves quite slowly, so if you do get lost and have to backtrack it can get tedious. Fortunately on the pause menu you can scroll around the whole level as Ronaan's hawk familiar, a feature whcih can be helpful. It won't necesarially help you find all the objective items, as they are often hidden, but still, it's better than nothing. You spend most of your time in this game wandering around and fighting enemies. Now, touching enemies won't hurt you; only their shots will. This makes combat sometimes a somewhat silly affair, as you and the badguys keep bumping eachother, trying to hit the other. It's fun, but certainly isn't the most polished combat system. When fighting, while you have a staff swing on the A button, like most mages you mostly fight with magic. You've got 9 offensive and 4 defensive spells available, and will need to make effective use of all of them to succeed. You use your currently equipped attack spell with B, and open a quick menu to switch between the 9 with C. Each is represented with only a single letter, so remember which is which. Your basic bolt-shot attack is infinite, but all other spells are limited-use, recharged with pickups that litter the game. The four defensive spells do not have a hotkey, so you need to either have a 6-button controller or pause to use them. The Mode button uses Heal, and X, Y, and Z use teleport, invisible, and float. As with the offensive spells, defensive abilities are limited use and you need to find powerups to refill them, so don't waste heals. You will see all spells from early on, so you don't really unlock more as you go, unlike many action-adventure games. You do get health-expanding powerups after beating level bosses, but that's about it for permanent powerups. The game works as it is, though, and mastering the spells will take time. You also will collect key-cards and some powerups for your companion, but no other items. That's fine though, managing 13 spells is tricky enough! In addition to the basic straight shot, you also get a lightning shot, timed mines, a screen-clearing attack, and more. Due to their limited nature you can't use them all as much as you might like, but this does make you think a bit about what to use, which is good. Overall, Technoclash is a fun, quality action-adventure game. This game is not nearly as polished and brilliant as a Gauntlet IV or Zelda game, as the messy combat, sometimes frustrating wandering-around-lost stuff, tough difficulty level as you get farther into the game, and limited better spells but combat is mostly fun despite that, and I like the spells and story. Technoclash is a good and under-rated game that genre fan should definitely play. Make sure to use a 6-button controller, though.

Technocop - 1 player. Technocop is an awful, but somewhat infamous, sidescrolling action game from Razor Soft, a studio who tried to make their name more on controversy than good gameplay. See, in this game, when you kill people they explode into bloody puddles! Wow! That sure makes up for the bad, frustrating level designs, subpar controls, bad driving segments between action levels, poor audio, and generic action, right? ... No, it really doesn't. So, in each level you explore around increasingly large and mazelike levels, trying to kill or capture all the badguys with your bullets or net-gun, reach the target goal area, beat the boss there, and then get back alive. Yes, you have a non-lethal net gun you can use if you want, but it doesn't matter which you use, it's all the same here. You don't get more weapons, just the few you start with. Mostly due to the awful, annnoying level designs full of annoying respawning enemies as you wander around lost the game gets hard fast, and once you run out of your few lives you don't get any continues. It's not worth it at all.The driving side of the game really is awful, too. It's a very, VERY basic Outrun-style game, except with only one car, only straight roads with no turns, a gun, and few, really bad looking trackside objects. There is no music while driving, only bad car-engine sounds. Overall, this game is pretty awful in every way other than badly-outdated shock value. Don't buy it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist - 1-2 player simultaneous. Konami's TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist is the only Ninja Turtles beat 'em up on a Sega console. It is a good game, but is incredibly unoriginal. The story is a rehash of TMNT III: The Manhattan Project with some slight changes, the levels are reused from previous TMNT beat 'em ups, and the basic gameplay comes straight out of TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, with only a few, very minor, changes. Versus Turtles in Time, this game has slightly less good graphics and doesn't have the throw-at-the-screen move, and there are only five levels in this game, but it does have some strengths as well. This is a fun, classic Konami beat 'em up. It's unoriginal, but is mostly good. Hyperstone Heist has two player co-op, allows four enemies on screen at once, plays very well, looks and sounds good, and is an easy, fun little game to blast through here and there. There's nothing new here, but it plays well.

I have one big problem with this game beyond the almost-entirely-rehashed content, though: the level designs are the worst and least interesting in any of Konami's isometric TMNT beat 'em ups. Unlike either arcade game or TMNT III for the NES, all stages in this game are very basic paths to the right. There are no sections where the stage jogs up or down, almost no areas with multiple terrain heights, and many fewer interesting ways that enemies come onto the screen, too. For instance, in TMNT III, the sewer level has a raised path on the side, and the sewer water below you can also walk in. The level turns up and down, as well. The TMNT IV sewer stage isn't quite as good, but it still has some of those elements. In this game, however, sewer stages are a straight, flat path to the right. Some seem to be full of water, but instead of walking through it like you should, the turtles and enemies walk on water in the sewer and cave areas as if it's just blue ground! It's absurdly stupid. Even dumber, right after one of the walking-on-water stages, the turtles are traveling over the sea... this time on hoverboards. Um, shouldn't they have those in all the water stages, and not just one? Also, in the street stage you can't jump up onto the dumpster, or anything else, in this game. All stages occur on one flat plane, with VERY few obstacles in your path beyond a handful of traps in a few stages. Sure, this game mostly looks good, but it's lazily done. The game has a boss-rush only three levels into the game, too, so you refight the first three bosses midgame instead of playing through new content. Lazy stuff. There are a few traps to avoid in the final level, but apart from that the stages in Hyperstone Heist are basic and incredibly lazy in design and visuals. The music is great classic Konami stuff, but it too is almost all remixes of past tunes from other TMNT games. At least it's good, though.

Fortunately the gameplay, at least, is better. This game plays just like the other Konami TMNT beat 'em ups of its time, but with maybe slightly better fighting action. First, the faster Genesis CPU is used to put four enemies on screen at once with no slowdown. That's one more than you will see on SNES. Also, while that throw move was removed, some other minor moves were added. Most of the time you will be whacking or jump-kicking enemies, though; as with most beat 'em ups this is a very repetitive game. For the genre, though, it plays great. The action is fast and fun, hit detection is accurate and the game never feels cheap or unfair, each of the four turtles has a slightly different style, and the variety of enemy weapon types is good too. The good to great gameplay is HH's saving grace, and makes this a pretty good game despite its issues. It is an easy and short game, though. Turtles in Time is also pretty easy and short, unlike the challenging NES games, but Hyperstone Heist is even shorter, and is at least as or easier than its SNES predecessor. As with the SNES game, it's hard to play this game and NOT finish it, unless you play on Hard or reduce the number of lives and credits you get! You can do that, and the game does force you to restart the whole level when you get a Game Over, but still, this game is quite easy. Overall, TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist is a good, but disappointing, game. The game controls well, the combat feels great, and the graphics and music are pretty good, issues above aside, but the lacking stage layouts, complete lack of anything not copied out of the other TMNT beat 'em ups, low difficulty, paucity of stages, and lazy design all hold it back. I like this game overall, it's good even if "blue ground" is the first thing I think of when I think Hyperstone Heist. I like it a little less either arcade game, TMNT III for the NES, or Turtles in Time for the SNES, but it is good. The high price the game sells for now is an issue as well. If you find it affordably absolutely pick this one up if you like the Turtles or beat 'em ups, but for the price it goes for now, maybe pass... it's good, but for that price you can do better.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters - 1-2 player simultaneous. TMNT: Tournament Fighters on the Super Nintendo is a very good fighting game, among the better on that console. So this game is just as good, right? Or at least close? Unfortunately, no. TMNT Tournament Fighters for the Genesis is a somewhat disastrously bad disappointment. As flawed as Hyperstone Heist is, at least the core of the game is great fun. This game, however, is not so lucky. Tournament Fighters on the Genesis has subpar graphics, few characters, AI that is way too hard, limited continues in the story mode, very limited two-buttons-only controls with poor design decisions on top of that, and more. Instead of a great 6-button control scheme like the SNES game or better Genesis fighters, here you get one punch button, one kick button, and that's it. That's pretty bad, but worse, there aren't even really variants of each button! The Neo-Geo Pocket Color has only two buttons, but fighting games on that system play great, and how hard you push the button activates attacks of different strengths. Here, punch does your punch attack, kick does your kick attack, and that's it. You can't even combo attacks together, because they made the bizarre decision to have some invincibility after each hit to block that. The collision detection is poor as well, which doesn't help at all, and helps out the overly-difficult AI. There are special moves in the game, with a random mixture of activations taken from various popular fighting games without much consistency. The gameplay here is a mess, and totally ruins the game. In contrast, the SNES game is pretty much as SFII knockoff, with moves, graphics, and game systems very similar to that classic. It works great together. This game tries for something a little different, but fails badly at it.

The game does at least look good and sound okay, though. TMNT Tournament Fighters has pretty good graphics with a variety of weird sci-fi locations to fight in, eight characters each with a different look, and a cool, dark visual aesthetic. I like the graphics here, everything looks good. It's a different style from the SNES game, and that might look better overall, but it is competitive. The music is solid, though it isn't among Konami's best work on the Genesis. Games like Rocket Knight Adventures or Contra Hard Corps have much better music than this. I don't know if any of the music actually comes from the show, either, which is unfortunate. On another note, as in the SNES game, the character selection is a bit odd. You have the four turtles, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, and two random comic-book characters. The SNES game also has several comic characters filling its roster. Why those and not some of the other more popular characters from the TV show? Did they not have the rights? If so, that was a mistake, it'd have made all of these games better. It's interesting, but odd, that the SNES and Genesis games have different playable side characters, in addition to the Turtles. I do like that April O'Neil and Casey Jones are playable, as this is April's only playable outing in a '90s Turtles game, but it is unfortunate that April is in some random oversexed miniskirt outfit; it doesn't fit her character.I like the idea of playable April, but she should have been in her usual outfit, not this pointlessly oversexed one.

But anyway, the decent graphics and sound can't come even close to saving this disaster. There really isn't much good I can say about this game outside of its visuals; the gameplay is just too badly flawed, with the overly limited moveset, iffy special move selections, absurdly difficult AI that is so hard that until you've gotten good at the game winning even a single ROUND is a challenge, limited continues in a game in a genre which almost never has such a thing, bad collision detection in a genre that demands this be just about flawless, and more. Sure, there are worse Genesis fighting games than this, but I don't own those games myself; of what I have, this is the worst. Overall, TMNT Tournament Fighters for the Genesis is a bad, disappointing game. Don't bother with it unless you're a serious series fan. The NES version of TMNT Tournament Fighters might be even worse, but you wouldn't expect a good fighter from the NES, while the Genesis can do far, far better than this. Play the SNES game instead, it's very good.

Thunder Force II - 1 player. Thunder Force II is a good, but early, shmup from Techno Soft. This game released in 1989 and it looks simple compared to its sequels, but it plays well. Unlike its sequels, this game has two different gameplay styles, top-down open areas to fly and shoot things in, and standard horizontal-scrolling shooter sections. The graphics are early, but solid; this game does not look great, but for an early release it looks fine. Sprites are decently drawn, but somewhat simple; the art design is not nearly as great as it would be in the sequels. Also, the game has only some parallax and few other visual effects. The game looks okay, but does not really impress. I like the look of the top-view stages more than the horizontal ones, perhaps because there the graphics look more dated compared to this games' amazing-looking sequels, which are exclusively side-scrolling. This games' side-scrolling levels look and feel dated compared to its sequels'. I like the gameplay in the top-view levels more than the horizontal ones, for sure, though both sides of the game are good. The music is also good, though the voice samples are comically low-quality and unintelligible.

The top-down levels would not return in later games, but unlike some people I do like them. They remind me of a simpler version of the mid '90s PC game Zone 66, which of course released years after this game, but I played long before this as this isn't a game I remember playing back then. In these levels, you need to destroy a series of bases in a space surrounded by floating walls. You can fly in all directions, but can't stop moving forward in whichever direction you are flying in. The walls will kill you, so you need to destroy ground bases and shoot switches to advance. The game has a Xevious-like ground-attack system in the top-view stages, so you have normal shots for air enemies and bombs that hit a set distance in front of your ship for ground turrets and bases. This works better here than in Xevious, Dragon Spirit, and such because you can fly in all directions, so you can chip away at bases, do hit-and-run attacks, and more. As much as I dislike this system in shmups, here I don't mind it. Plus, it's only in the free-roaming top-view stages; the side-view stages don't have anything like it, thankfully. Anyway, you start with only two basic guns, a double-forward shot or forward and backward shot, but as in its later sequel Lightening Force (aka Thunder Force IV), you can power up weapons and get numerous special weapons from powerups. All weapons are good in their own ways, and I like the variety. However, unlike its sequels, in this game you lose ALL powerups if you die, and return to only the two basic guns. It's very harsh, and that makes this game harder. You also do have limited continues, so finishing this game will take practice for sure. It's a fun challenge, but I haven't beaten the game yet, though I did get farther than usual when playing it for this summary. While you try to destroy the bases and the turrets that guard them, endless waves of air enemies will attack you. You move fairly quickly, so zipping around, picking away at a base until finally you can kill it is fun. Each top-down level plays very differently, too. The first is a series of rooms connected by gates, the second a large open area, the third a narrow, constricting cave with a linear path, and more. I like how differently each of them play. There is always the repetition of having to find and kill four bases in every ground mission, never another kind of target, but there is some nice variety despite that. I quite like this half of the game. For anyone else who likes this side of this game, look up Zone 66 on the PC; it's like this, but expanded.

As for the side-scrolling levels, though, they are more conventional. In each you fly along, avoiding obstacles and killing enemies, until you reach the boss. Beat the boss and you win. These bosses are pretty tough, and it's easy to lose a lot of lives in these levels; they are much harder than the top-view stages. I find most deaths in this game occur in side-view stages. Some stages and bossfights go on a bit too long, too, considering how simple and repetitive each stages' background environments are; this game does not have the variety of its sequels. Still, the levels are mostly well designed, and contain some interesting challenges such as barrages of missiles, closing gates you need to stay ahead of, and more. The levels have some good parts, many of which the sequels improve on. Overall Technosoft was a good shmup developer, and this is a decent game. It is not one of the best in the genre on this shmup-rich console, but it is a good, above-average game that is well worth playing. The main flaws are that it is dated and sometimes frustratingly difficult, particularly in the boss fights, but the top-view missions are pretty good and the shmup sections are mostly fun. Truxton is the best shmup released on the Genesis in 1989, and this game is no Truxton, but it is worth a play. Also available on the Japan-only Sharp X68000 computer; that version is supposed to be a bit better, and has intelligible speech samples too.

Tinhead - 1 player, password save. Tinhead is a good Sonic-esque platformer from Spectrum HoloByte. Oddly, even though this game was made by a British developer, it only ever released in the US, and only on the Genesis as well. This feels like something that should have been on the Amiga also, but it's not. Tinhead has cartoony graphics in that classic early '90s British style and huge numbers of items to collect as usual in such games. The art design is unoriginal but looks good, and there is good use of strip parallax in the background for multi-layer scaling. You play as the little robot Tinhead, on some quest to save the universe or somesuch. The character design is decent, though not amazing. Enemies are varied as well. The music is also decent. It's not really pushing the hardware, but I do like the tunes, they are well-composed. Overall, presentation-wise Tinhead is not exeptional, but is above-average. The gameplay is similar.

Indeed, Tinhead's gameplay is above-average for sure; this game plays a lot better than any James Pond games, for example! Tinhead mixes its core Sonic influence of fast-paced platforming with shooting, so you kill enemies here by shooting them instead of jumping on them. The controls are good and precise, which is important in this kind of game. The game does have physics, but you'll usually go just where you want. You will automatically keep jumping if you hold the jump button down, so I often found myself accidentally bouncing upon landing, but that's a minor issue. As for your gun, you can fire it three directions: straight, upwards at a diagonal angle, or downwards, bouncing along the ground. The A button switches between the three shot directions, and the other buttons shoot and jump. Having to switch manually, with only one button, is a bit awkward, but you do get used to it. The diagonal-down shot is great for everything other than air enemies, I find. Because of how fast you move it is easy to run into enemies, but the game gives you five hit points per life, levels have plenty of health powerups, there are no instant death pits, and the game has password save with new passwords every couple of levels! Yeah, this game is a lot more forgiving than a lot of Genesis platformers, and I like that. You can just have fun with this one, instead of suffering as much as in some other games in this genre on the system. The game definitely gets harder as you go along, but it's a fun challenge.

As for those levels, they are good-sized, open, and are full of secret paths, alternate routes full of stuff to get for points and powerups, and hidden bonus areas full of even more stuff. There are only four settings, with six levels plus a boss in each one, but all look and sound good and do feel different. There are also lots of enemies and spikes, but again, it's fantastic that this game has nfo instant-death pits. In a game as fast as this or Sonic they are frustrating, and these designers knew it. As for the volume of stuff in the levels, while I don't always love it, I like collecting if the act of collecting is fun and the game actually rewards you for it. This game does that. Sure, score in a game which doesn't have a battery or such to save a score table doesn't really matter, but the powerups can upgrade your weapon, give special items such as a bouncy-ball you can jump high with, refill your health, give you extra lives, and more. They are worth getting. The fun core gameplay is what makes that fun, of course. Tinhead is a good fun game, as you explore levels, look for powerups, shoot the badguys, and figure out each levels' challenges. Sure, the warp tubes, spikes, speed, and physics are a lot like Sonic, but the weapon system makes this game distinct and works well. Tinhead is a good, often overlooked game that's well worth picking up. It's too bad that it never released in Europe, this is quality stuff.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure - 1 player, password save (20 characters). Buster's Hidden Treasure is a conventional side-scrolling platformer from Konami. In this game you walk, run, and jump as Buster, the main character of the Tiny Toon Adventures cartoon from the early '90s. Konami made Tiny Toon Adventures games for the NES, SNES, Genesis, and Game Boy in the early '90s, and this is one of those games. Most are platformers where you play as Buster only, this game included. This is a sizable game with many levels and lots of platforming challenges. When compared to the SNES Tiny Toons platformer, this game is longer and has more levels, the reverse of most Konami Genesis games, but doesn't look nearly as great and feels more conventional. The SNES game has only six stages and doesn't have saving, but its levels use its unique mechanics heavily; see my summary of that game for more. In this game, though, most stages are just normal walk-to-the-right, jump-on-stuff platforming. You can wall-jump, and eventually this is required, but most stages don't use it. Your jumping controls are good and precise, though, thankfully. There is a lot of stuff to collect in each stage, including carrots as your basic pickup, various 'bomb' type powerups, and some other things that must do something or other. If you want to just go straight to the end stages won't take too long, but if you want to collect more stuff they'll take longer. I like that, and I also like that many stages have multiple routes, with a more pickup-heavy but trickier to stay on route above and main, sparser path below. After every three levels there is a boss stage. Bosses are conventional, jump-on-their-head affairs. They're decent enough, though the SNES game has some more inventive bossfights.

Visually, the game has good but not great graphics. The sprites look pretty nice and closely resemble the show's art style, which is great. I like the little touches like cans you can trio over, too. However, the backgrounds are a bit bland looking and don't come close to the SNES game; this definitely looks dated in comparison. Levels repeat graphical elements a lot, too. Between the average gameplay and somewhat bland visuals I wasn't too impressed by this game at first, and I haven't seen much to push it above average, either. The music is similarly good, but not Konami's best. The rendition of the series' main theme is good, but most of the rest of the tunes are original. It's quality Konami work for sure, but they can do even better. I should also comment on the save system. The password system helps reduce tedium by not forcing you to play the whole game in one sitting, but unfortunately you need to get a Game Over to be shown your password, and they are an inexplicably long 20 characters! Why in the world are they so long? That makes no sense. Still, that's better than nothing. Overall, Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure is a fun, average to slightly above-average platformer. I like that this game breaks from Konami's usual "too few levels that are too long" formula, and the gameplay is solid and levels often fun to explore and find stuff in. However, the formula doess start to get old after a few levels, and this game does nothing new or original. It's just another decent but unspectacular mascot platformer, pretty much, better than many licensed games but not as good as the greats of the genre. If you find Buster's Hidden Treasure for cheap, go ahead and pick it up; it's certainly fun enough to be worth a play, particularly for platformer fans. Don't expect anything amazing, though.

Toki: Going Ape Spit - 1 player. Toki is an okay but flawed side-scrolling platform-action game. It's sort of in between a platformer and a run & gun. Based on a Taito arcade game, this Genesis port is a pretty good version of a not-great game. The game has several issues, worst of them the overly high difficulty level and abysmal music that's among the worst on the Genesis, but there are also some things to like here, even if I more dislike than like this game. You are a man who was turned into an ape called Toki. Naturally you have to rescue your girlfriend as well as turn back to a human again. You can walk, jump, and as the name suggests, spit things. Spitting is your main attack, and you can shoot left, right, up, or diagonally up in either direction. Unfortunately you cannot attack downwards or diagonally down, which is a problem in many stages in this game. There are many powerups, most of them time-limited weapons. After a while you'll go back to just your default shot. I wish the powerups weren't limited, it'd be more fun that way. You can kill enemies by bouncing on their heads, but you'll need to be very accurate to kill them without dying yourself. You do have jump control, but your jump distance is short and it's easy to mess up jumps. Grabbing on to swinging ropes is also a lot harder than it should be. Mario this is not, that's for sure, to Toki's detriment. If you get hit even once you start the whole stage over, frustratingly.

Stages are not too long, but still, this adds a lot to the challenge. The one hit kills and frustrating level designs are a real issue here. There are eight levels, each with several stages and then a boss. Some levels are vertical, others horizontal, and others have some movement in both directions; it's a mix. There are some interesting stages, but the gameplay is mostly similar throughout. The one exception is the water level, which is probably the most fun stage in the game, even if it is fairly easy. The game starts out okay, but by midway it's almost too annoying to continue with due to cheap enemy placements killing you out of nowhere, random deaths from when you touch an enemy just barely wrong, the harder bosses, and such. On the default setting this game is quite hard, but you can make it easier. There are four difficulty levels, and you can change the number of lives and continues, though infinite is not an option, and how many points you need for a 1-up. At the easiest setting this game is beatable, and I did finish it that way, but even there it was a pain to finish due to the high frustration factor and stunningly terrible music. I don't want to play this again anytime soon. As for the graphics, they are very average stuff, with mediocre art design and bland backdrops. Some areas look nice, but this is mostly average-at-best stuff. The music is, as I said, atrocious. Exepting only the water level, there is only ONE song that plays during all non-boss stages of the other seven levels, and it's about fifteen seconds long and awful. Even if the arcade game is like this, this is inexcusably annoying, and ruins what little fun factor this game has. The menu, end, water level, and boss themes are tolerably okay, but the main level theme is awful and it's like 95% of what you hear. Overall, Toki is a below average, maybe bad game. It does have some decent moments, but ultimately is more frustrating and aurally atrocious than it is worthwhile. Probably don't bother with this one. Arcade port. Other ports of the game are available on the NES, Lynx, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, and iOS. There is also a cancelled Atari 7800 version some people have a copy of.

Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics - 1 player. Tom & Jerry: Frantic Antics is a mediocre licensed platformer. As this game was released by usually-terrible publisher Hi Tech Expressions I expected the game to be awful, but while it is subpar, it isn't the absolute disaster I was expecting. So yeah, that's good, I guess. At least it's better than Sega's abysmal Game Gear game Tom & Jerry: The Movie! This game has some serious flaws, though, the too-high difficulty perhaps chief among them. In Frantic Antics, you play as Tom, and need to cross many difficult levels as you presumably chase Jerry. Unlike that GG game, though, there's no sign of the other character most of the time; even though that game is bad and so short and easy you'll beat it in your first try in maybe fifteen minutes, at least it is a chase game. This is just your average platformer. Your average, excessively difficult platformer, with sometimes-iffy controls, limited lives and continues and no saving. So yeah, it has problems. The graphics are nice, though. the levels are large and full of stuff to collect, level layouts are average, and the controls aren't that bad. Tom is a bit skiddy, but you do get used to it with practice. This game doesn't look amazing, but everything is decently well drawn. Tom looks like Tom and the enemies like characters who maybe could have been in the show. Backgrounds are familiar environments as well, including the backyard, inside the house, and the like. The sprites are a bit large for the screen, and this causes occasional blind-jump problems, but they aren't as frequent as in a Taz-Mania, thankfully; generally you can see where you need to go, the challenge is getting there without dying. While Tom can take multiple hits against normal foes, falling in a pit kills you of course, and only a couple of deaths and you start the whole game over. Levels are long, too; even just beating level two will be quite a task, and I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it. While I did like this game at first, with its nice graphics, large levels to explore, and lots of stuff to collect, but the high difficulty drags it down. If you could save, instead of constantly having to start the game over from the start, this game would be better, but as it is, Tom & Jerry: Frantic Antics is probably best only for series fans or people who like hard games. Also on SNES.

Trouble Shooter - 1 player. Trouble Shooter is a very good horizontal shmup with several original elements to it. This game has good anime-styled artwork with a comic sci-fi-anime theme, good graphics and sound, a pair of female protagonists who you both play as at the same time, a simple story told in between-level cutscenes, multiple hit points (a rarity in Japanese shooters!), a nice difficulty curve as you progress through the game, and multi-direction shooting. In the story, the protagonists are on a mission to rescue a young kidnapped prince. So yeah, in this game the girls save the guy, a reversal from usual. Your two characters each control differently, and move mostly together. Their sprites are large and so is your hitbox, but the hit points and large, slow-moving bullets help a lot. If you're paying attention is is possible to avoid damage. The main character, "Madison" as she was renamed to in the American version, is the one you directly control and the one who can take damage. She can only shoot to the right, and is the only one who can collect powerups and power up her weapon. The second character, "Michelle", follows the main one at a slight delay. She can't collect powerups or directly take damage, but can fire either right or left, and switches directions when you press C. This is very useful, because enemies attack from both sides of the screen. You'll often be switching directions back and forth. You also have a bomb attack, with four different types to choose between.

This is a well-balanced game with good level designs, some interesting boss fights, and as much variety as you'll usually see in the genre. Some level themes are the expected ones, such as a requisite giant-battleship stage that has to have been inspired by R-Type, but in addition to the more standard waves of enemies you also face sections such as a shaft full of spinning blades. The stage designs are great, I really like the varied obstacles and settings. Bosses each have specific weak points, and finding how to fight each one is fun stuff. They're all very well-designed and amusing. The game starts out easy, but it gets tougher as you go as good games do. Try to stay alive! It's easy to build up a lot of hit points early on in the game with the health-ups available there, but if you lose them you'll be in trouble, as the later stages have fewer health-ups, and you get only two continues. In that way this game very much rewards repeat play, but still, it is easier than many Genesis shmups, and is one of the few Genesis shmups I have beaten.

Visually, Trouble Shooter has good, though conventional, graphics. The game has solid graphics with good art design, good use of parallax, and minimal if any slowdown. It doesn't use any hardware-pushing techniques, and does look somewhat dated visually, but that is in part because of the early '90s look of the anime art here, in a game where large character sprites are on screen at all times; the art design is clearly a product of its time. The game also never tries to put a lot of stuff on screen at once, perhaps part of how it avoids slowdown. The large characters and bosses are quite well-drawn, though, and the backgrounds use multiple layers of parallax. The music is also good. It isn't the most memorable stuff, but I do like the music here. Overall, Trouble Shooter is a good game with a lot going for it. I like the gameplay, level designs, challenge level, art design, choice of female protagonists, and more! It is a little dated in some ways, and isn't super hard, but that's fine with me. I wish people today could get it for the couple of bucks I got this game for back in '06, but even for its current prices, the game is absolutely worth getting. This game is one of the more original, and better, shmups on the Genesis. The game also has a sequel, Battle Mania Daiginjou, which sadly did not release in the US.

Truxton - 1 player. Truxton is a popular, and very good, vertical shmup from Toaplan released in 1989. This is one of Toaplan's relatively few space-based shooters; most of their games involved airplanes flying over a planet, but this is a sci-fi game. A popular classic, this early release is the best shmup, and quite possibly the best game, released for the Genesis in '89. The game has decent to good graphics, a fantastic soundtrack that still sounds great, and five big levels to blast through. This game is HARD, though. The Japanese title of this game is "Tatsujun", which means "Expert". And you will need expert skills to get anywhere near the end of this game, particularly above Easy difficulty! You die in one hit in Truxton, and enemies move fast, shoot quickly, and regularly come from behind. Of course your whole ship is vulnerable, and don't ask for a shield; there isn't one. Shields are for games which don't call themselves "Expert", I guess. You'll need to memorize everything to stay alive. You have three different weapons to choose from, a spread shot, a strong straight shot, or a weak homing shot. Each has its uses, but while it takes longer to kill things, at times the homing laser is invaluable against the frequent groups of larger, miniboss-like foes. There are also powerups for superbombs, extra lives, speed-ups, and weapon upgrades. One weapon powerup does nothing, though; you need more. Five weapon-upgrade powerups upgrades your weapon once, and five more upgrades it again. I think that's the last upgrade, but I've never managed to get 15 without dying, so I'm not sure. Each time you get five the meter empties. And when you do die, you get sent back to the last checkpoint. And if you die right at a checkpoint, you may be sent back to the LAST one! This isn't the only Toaplan shmup which does this, but it can be very frustrating. You also lose most powerups, of course: your bombs reset to three, speed to slow, and weapon to the basic gun. You do keep your weapon powerups if you have one to four, though, so that is nice. The controls and hit detection are right on. If you die, it's your fault. Of course the bullets are small and sometimes hard to see, and I'm terrible at reliably dodging waves of small bullets, but it is your fault.

Though later Genesis games would push the hardware more than Truxton, this game does look pretty good. The sprites and backgrounds all look great. This game has very good art design. Your spaceship and the many alien crafts you'll shoot down all look pretty nice. Even if technically it is similar, in terms of art design this game looks a lot better than other Toaplan games like Kyuukyoku Tiger or such! There are only five levels in this game, but each one is very long and varied. Many '80s shmups have a lot of repetition, but Truxton does a great job of mixing things up just enough to make each encounter feel different. The game is hard from the start, so the difficulty curve isn't as pronounced as it is in some shmups, but it does get even harder as you get deeper into it. Miniboss and boss enemies have one small flame appear on their sprite when at 1/3 damage and two flames at 2/3rds, too, which is really helpful for gauging how damaged the tougher enemies are. The soundtrack is also, as mentioned, fantastic. The music here is a good rendition of the music from the arcade game, and sounds great today. It doesn't push the Genesis sound chip like a late release would, but it sounds fantastic regardless.

The game has some nice options, too. There are three difficulty levels, and in Easy you have infinite continues! That's awesome, and makes the game beatable by anyone. There are also fewer bullets to contend with in Easy. Normal is a bit tougher, and more importantly has limited continues, and Hard gives you very few continues. That's a nice curve there to cover most player skill levels. The game has a bunch of loops, too, something not present in other versions of the game. If you keep playing after beating the game, you'll see a new ending each time through a full five loops. Of course, it gets slightly tougher each time. It's great that there are actual rewards for people dedicated enough to get that far. Overall, Truxton is an outstanding shooter and easily is one of the best Genesis shmups. This is a must-have classic. And as hard as it is, the Genesis version is actually the easy version of Truxton! The arcade game is even harder, and the PC Engine (Turbografx) port... oh man, that's just an insane, near-impossible nightmare. On the PCE the enemies shoot much closer to you much more often, making the game incredibly, incredibly difficult. I'm not good enough at bullet dodging to deal with that! If you can beat this game on a higher setting you are indeed an "expert" at shmups, but if you can beat that one you're a master. Myself, I've only beaten this game on Easy, but at least that's something. The PCE version is quite expensive, too. This US-released Genesis game isn't cheap, but it's reasonably priced and is worth the money. Make sure you get it. There is also an arcade and FM Towns-exclusive sequel which is just as good or better than the first game, and has an even more incredible soundtrack. It's really too bad it never got a home port to a more popular platform!

Turrican - 1 player. Turrican is the first game in what would become a moderately successful series. This first game is seriously rough around the edges, but some of the elements that would make the later games great are here. It is, however, the worst Turrican game by a good margin; while I love the four other main Turrican games, this one isn't so great. It is not quite as bad as some say, but it is a flawed game. So, Turrican is one part Euro-platformer, one part Metroid, and one part Contra. You are Turrican, a futuristic space marine type off to save the world or some such; there is no story in the game. You've got a ball form like Samus, arsenal like Contra, and large, collection-heavy levels like a Euro-platformer of the day. You do have a health bar, but it drains quickly and enemies' attacks are often cheap and hard to avoid. You have no hit-flash, sound, or invinciblity while taking hits and your health bar drops fast, so you can lose lives in an instant if you aren't paying close attention. This health system is one of the biggest things Factor 5 improved on in their work on Super and Mega Turrican, but it's an issue here. The game also has blind jumps over death pits, something its sequels get rid of. I'm very glad the later games don't have this, but in this game it is a problem. The game is long at 16 levels, and you have only a couple of continues to beat the game with before you're starting the whole thing over. I've never gotten anywhere near the end, and only the dedicated ever will. This game can be fun while you're alive, but the frustration factor gets high sometimes. Visually Turrican looks okay. It's got nothing on Mega Turrican's beauty or visual effects, but this is an okay-looking port of the computer original. The audio is similarly decent, but downgraded versus the Amiga. This is mostly a solid port, though.

Overall, Turrican is an interesting one. The console ports of this game are generally hated, but the computer original is popular among European gamers who played it on the C64, Amiga, and such. But as much as I do agree that Turrican II (aka Universal Soldier on the Genesis; see below) is a very good game, this one is not nearly on that level. With a too high difficulty level, limited continues with no saving, mediocre graphics and music, blind jumps, and constant deaths due to the health system, Turrican is flawed. Even so, I do like this game overall. Turrican has good controls, a nice variety of weapons, some of that Turrican charm, large levels to explore and find huge amounts of stuff in, and a lot of variety in level designs and bosses. Turrican is a good but flawed game, though its sequels would significantly improve on its formula. I know a lot of people hate this game, but it might be worth a try, if you've got an open mind. Amiga port, also on Commodore 64, Game Boy, and TurboGrafx-16. The other two console ports both have some cut levels, but this version is complete and has better graphics too, so it's by far the best console port of the game.

Twin Cobra - 1 player. Twin Cobra, aka Kyuukyoku Tiger, is a classic late '80s vertical-scrolling shmup from Toaplan. One of Toaplan's most popular games, this game nails the balance between challenge and fun in a way that its predecessor Tiger Heli (arcade, NES) failed to reach. Kyuukyoku Tiger is a great and difficult game, but it plays well and is lots of fun even if it's hard. This version of the game, though, is somewhat unfair, has some odd design decisions, and is not as good as the arcade original or the sadly Japan-only PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) port of the game. As much as I like this game, I can't really recommend this version, it's kind of broken. The core of the game is the same as other versions, though. You control a helicopter and need to destroy the enemies. This will be an incredibly difficult mission, though, as the game is good-length for its genre, you die in one hit and as in most Toaplan shmups there is no shield, and the enemies are merciless. Toaplan was one of the best shmup developers of their day, and the great enemy patterns, tough but fair if you have memorized everything challenge, and interesting bosses make this game great. The graphics are mediocre at best, but do look like the source; the PCE version looks no better. Sprites are somewhat small, and the backgrounds are basic and don't look great. They look okay, but that's it. Audio is similarly good, but nothing amazing. Toaplan's greatest skill was gameplay, more than graphics or sound. I do like some of their music, including some in this game, but the system can do better.

This version makes one big change from the arcade and PCE versions, though: it zooms in a bit, and makes the powerup-dropping ships incredibly difficult to kill. Now, on the PCE, the powerup-dropping ships are fairly easy to kill. If you start shooting them at a reasonable time, they'll blow up and drop their powerup. On the Genesis, however, if you don't start shooting them immediately after they appear on the screen, you have no hope of destroying them before they desend too low on the screen to still be shot without them getting you first! It's just absurd, and makes the game a lot harder than it should be. There are some other zoom issues with enemies as well, but it's worst with the powerup ships. And this is a big problem because you need a LOT of powerups to reach full power, and lose all powerups and get sent back to the last checkpoint upon death. The game does give you continues, the number of which varies depending on which difficulty you choose, but because you get sent back, it's very hard on any setting. The continue system is really odd, though -- if I'm understanding things right the game gives you more continues, not less, in the higher difficulties, and fewer continues in the easier ones. That doesn't make much sense. Continues are not everything, though. On the PCE you only get two or three continues, far fewer than the dozens in the highest settings in this game, but because that game is a good port and not messed up, it's easier to get farther in that game than it is this one. It's still a very hard game and I haven't gotten anywhere near the end on any system, but that version is a lot more fun to play. Do play Twin Cobra, it's a fun game and, in Japan at least, a great, influential classic... but pass on this version. The graphics are pretty much the same on both platforms, but the closer zoom and busted powerup-ship system makes this game too frustrating for its own good. Stick to that import-only PCE version, or get the easier and simpler, but decently fun, NES version; that does have a US release. Sadly no home port has the co-op multiplayer of the arcade game, so the arcade version is best. Arcade port, also on PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) and NES.

Tyrants: Fight Through Time - 1 player, password save. Tyrants: Fight Through Time, also known as Mega-Lo-Mania in Europe, is a "god game" style real-time strategy game in the Populous style, but simpler. You control one of four deities, trying to conquer lands through many historical periods. This game was Sculptured Software's attempt to do a game in this genre, and it does work, I just find this kind of thing sort of boring compared to the real-time strategy genre proper as we know it from Dune 2 and on. God games just don't have enough interaction! I've never cared for Populous, and this game has even less to do than that game. Still, this game is okay, and is somewhat original for a Genesis game. So, in this game you play as one of four deities, all trying to conquer a series of maps. You can't directly control your people, though; instead, all you can do is set people into various jobs, including research, building, the army, or such, and drop armies into territories on the map. Map territories are large, like the spaces on the map in a board game like Risk, and even in a battle, all you can do is just put armies in a space and then sit back and watch. The main gameplay here is just adjusting where you use your people, in the various options on the sidebar, and choosing what to prioritize between the weapon types available to research and such. That stuff is a fun part of grand strategy games, but here it's the whole game, unfortunately. You also have to choose how many people to bring with you into each map, though, and this element is kind of interesting. In each stage of the game you have three maps to win, and only 100 people to work with between the three of them... and you can't reuse people once they've been sent to a map, so you need to carefully consider how many are needed on each map. That is kind of interesting. There are passwords to save your progress as well, and thankfully they aren't absurdly long.

The visuals here, however, are fairly basic. The game looks okay, but the sprites are miniscule and telling your and your enemies' people apart is difficult to impossible, during battles. This same developer also made the game Cannon Fodder, and you see that in how small these people are. The art design is average at best. For audio, the music is generic stuff, but the game does have a lot of fairly clear voice samples. The four different deities you can play as all have quite a few lines. This does add to the game. Still, overall, Tyrants is a bit too simplistic. I want to actually set building locations and tell the troops where to go, not only direct research and military operations on the most general level. I didn't really like a Populous game until the third one, which is a fairly traditional RTS, for example. This simpler game probably fits the limitations of 4th-gen consoles better than the console versions of Populous do, but while this game is okay, I don't find it nearly as fun as better, PC-only strategy games are. Strategy game fans might want to give it a try, though, some will like this. There is also a PC version of this game, under the same title here in the US. Overseas only, as Mega-Lo-Mania, the game was released in Europe on the Amiga, and Atari ST and in Japan on the X68000 and FM Towns computers. Europe and Japan both got a SNES version as well.
03-12-2016, 05:30 AM
Vludi

If you think Hyperstone Heist is worst than the arcade games then you haven't played the arcades in a long time :p
03-12-2016, 03:29 PM
A Black Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vludi

If you think Hyperstone Heist is worst than the arcade games then you haven't played the arcades in a long time :p

The arcade games are actually new games, challenge you, have 4 player support, look better than the console games, and don't have stages where you inexplicably walk on water. Sounds better to me.
03-12-2016, 04:41 PM
Vludi

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

The arcade games are actually new games, challenge you, have 4 player support, look better than the console games, and don't have stages where you inexplicably walk on water. Sounds better to me.

Too bad the combat in the arcade games is a damn disaster (especially Turtles in Time arcade). Try to 1cc Turtles in Time arcade if you like a challenge and tell me it's fun lol. Those games are just all style over substance, TMNT4 SNES and Hyperstone Heist at least have some decent gameplay.
03-13-2016, 03:01 AM
A Black Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vludi

Too bad the combat in the arcade games is a damn disaster (especially Turtles in Time arcade). Try to 1cc Turtles in Time arcade if you like a challenge and tell me it's fun lol. Those games are just all style over substance, TMNT4 SNES and Hyperstone Heist at least have some decent gameplay.

How hard a game is to 1cc is not something I'd almost ever consider particularly important... and they're arcade games, of course they're hard! Konami wanted those quarters.

As for difficulty, it is kind of crazy how easy both 4th-gen console TMNT beat 'em ups are. The arcade games are hard, the NES games are well-balanced and tough but possible with enough practice, but the SNES and Genesis games are super-easy and almost impossible to not beat every time even for me. Sure, they're great fun and some of the better beat 'em ups for sure, but the low difficulty is odd, most of the top beat 'em ups are MUCH harder than they are. It's just that thinking about it now, it's interesting how much easier than most of the great beat 'em ups HH and TiT (SNES) are. I know they have Hard modes that make them tougher, but so do most beat 'em ups.

However, games are not better because they're harder, of course, and the greatness of Turtles in Time for SNES shows that. It does have only slightly better stage layouts than the Genesis game, though; it's Turtles III for the NES that really stands out level design-wise, that games' levels are far better than normal for the genre. It's one of the main reasons why, as much as Turtles II for the NES disappoints me compared to the arcade version I played so much as a kid, Turtles III might be my favorite Turtles game ever.

Anyway, though, why do you say that the (4th-gen) console games are so much better than the arcade ones?
03-13-2016, 05:36 AM
Vludi

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

How hard a game is to 1cc is not something I'd almost ever consider particularly important... and they're arcade games, of course they're hard! Konami wanted those quarters.

As for difficulty, it is kind of crazy how easy both 4th-gen console TMNT beat 'em ups are. The arcade games are hard, the NES games are well-balanced and tough but possible with enough practice, but the SNES and Genesis games are super-easy and almost impossible to not beat every time even for me. Sure, they're great fun and some of the better beat 'em ups for sure, but the low difficulty is odd, most of the top beat 'em ups are MUCH harder than they are. It's just that thinking about it now, it's interesting how much easier than most of the great beat 'em ups HH and TiT (SNES) are. I know they have Hard modes that make them tougher, but so do most beat 'em ups.

However, games are not better because they're harder, of course, and the greatness of Turtles in Time for SNES shows that. It does have only slightly better stage layouts than the Genesis game, though; it's Turtles III for the NES that really stands out level design-wise, that games' levels are far better than normal for the genre. It's one of the main reasons why, as much as Turtles II for the NES disappoints me compared to the arcade version I played so much as a kid, Turtles III might be my favorite Turtles game ever.

Anyway, though, why do you say that the (4th-gen) console games are so much better than the arcade ones?

The idea that harder = better came from you though not me, and the only way to make an arcade game challenging is by not credit-feeding. Also, most console beat 'em ups are quite easy, so i don't see how TMNT4 SNES and HH are an exception to the rule.

But again, TMNT arcades are hard for the wrong reasons, they just have broken gameplay: useless combo system, uncontrollable throws, no sense of impact, wonky collision detection, bad hitstun, abusing heavy attacks are pretty much your only offensive option, need to stop scroll all the time to make it even playable etc. The arcades are just awful from a gameplay standpoint, the SNES/Genesis games have a vastly improved combat engine similar to the ones from Capcom games. They may be easier yeah, but i much prefer an easy game with good controls over a hard game with terrible controls and gameplay.

If you want a beat 'em up with good gameplay and challenge, there are much MUCH better options than TMNT arcades.
03-13-2016, 01:33 PM
goldenband

The TMNT arcade game is a perfect example of a game that's fun to play in a super-casual way -- credit-feeding your way through it with a friend or two, and not caring too much if you lose a life here or there -- but starts falling apart when you aim for accuracy and minimizing lives lost.

So, yeah, Vludi has a good point: try to 1LC or 1CC a game, and suddenly many design flaws become crystal-clear. It's not about a macho "you have to 1CC a game to really beat it" thing, but simply a crucible for testing a game's design.

In a well-designed game, every problem has a reliable and "clean" solution (i.e. no lives lost or damage taken), and success and failure are in the player's hands with no real element of luck. Some games throw power-ups at you to compensate for bad design -- "you just took forced damage, here's a health power-up to ease the pain" -- but that's still bad design.
03-13-2016, 03:19 PM
Thief

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bottino

And yeah, Comix Zone isn't really that hard. Although I'm curious to the fact that's easier on the NTSC-J version; being a western game, it's something rather unusual. The norm was to a take an original Japanese game and to crank up the difficulty, usually screwing up with the balance of the game. Just look at Akumajou Densetsu/ Castlevania 3 or Ninja Gaiden 3 (JP/US) on the NES and Hellfire ( made even harder in the US version! Fuck that ) or RKA. Although Twin Cobra 2 in a much more manageable game than the original Kyukykoku Tiger 2 on the Arcades.

I much prefer the balance of US Castlevania 3 over the Japanese version. Because it's still well balanced, just harder. I also prefer the US version music too. So yeah, until I finally conquer this beast of the best vania game, I'll always be playing the US version. (Another reason I prefer the harder US version of CIII is because it's my favourite. I'd rather prolong the magic of an awesome game instead of conquering prematurely due to easier difficulty setting).
03-13-2016, 03:51 PM
Thief

A lot of Konami Arcades were designed as quarter munchers. Especially or mostly in the US (where is the Japanese version wasn't a quarter muncher, the US version would have tweaks to turn it into a quarter muncher), so stick with the Japanese versions of Konami Arcade games (though doubt this saves the arcade TMNT games).

About TMNT HH;
- TMNT SNES has the same amount of enemies on screen as the Genesis, 4, not 3 as you said. Maybe you confused this with the fast that most SNES beat em up have the 3 enemy limit in place. But this is still a huge mistake on your part if you're comparing both console version of that TMNT game.

- The screen throw in this game was removed because the Genesis didn't have the extra background layer to animate it (yes. It's like 3 frames of background layer animations).

- I also thought HH was a tad longer then TiT? Either way, the completion time for both is very close between the too. So it doesn't make sense for you to say HH is much shorter when it isn't. As HH has 2 to 3 acts per stage, plus a lame boss rush filler. All these contribute to evening out the completion time for both if not make it a bit longer.

- I don't remember the music for HH being remixed of past TMNT games? It's the same music from TiT only with Genesis soundchip.

- My best TMNT memories come from the NES era. With memories of TMNT3 being my fave as a kid. I managed to 1cc it as kid with only 1 death (on Krang). I got so lucky on that run, that it basically killed the game for me ever since. Because I knew I could never achieve any better anytime soon, lol.
03-13-2016, 03:58 PM
QuickSciFi

I just wish "quarter munchers" were as easy to beat on the Genesis as they were in their arcade counterparts.
03-13-2016, 04:11 PM
Thief

Dude. The songs for S&K were basically completed around the same time as Sonic3 (go check the sound test for just Sonic3 to find the S&K tunes). So basically Michael Jackson was involved in S&K tunes too. Only difference is that they further adjusted all/some/most songs from Sonic3 for S&K/S3&K (why the complete S3&K hack gives you the option to choose between Sonic3 music or S&K slightly adjusted music, among other things).

Maybe considering how easy S3&K is and with it's save feature, is why I can't recall ever having issues with those flaws you mentioned. They really seem like nitpicking that don't even deserve a mention in my opinion. But whatever. Also, I played these two games quite a bit back in the day. And I prefer S&K part more then S3. And I agree the the graphics look a bit more polished in S&K.
03-13-2016, 11:31 PM
A Black Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thief

A lot of Konami Arcades were designed as quarter munchers. Especially or mostly in the US (where is the Japanese version wasn't a quarter muncher, the US version would have tweaks to turn it into a quarter muncher), so stick with the Japanese versions of Konami Arcade games (though doubt this saves the arcade TMNT games).

Why, because in Japan 100 yen was the standard instead of 25 cents so they got a lot more money per play?

Quote:

About TMNT HH;
- TMNT SNES has the same amount of enemies on screen as the Genesis, 4, not 3 as you said. Maybe you confused this with the fast that most SNES beat em up have the 3 enemy limit in place. But this is still a huge mistake on your part if you're comparing both console version of that TMNT game.

You're right, I misremembered. I'll have to fix that.

Quote:

- The screen throw in this game was removed because the Genesis didn't have the extra background layer to animate it (yes. It's like 3 frames of background layer animations).

You'd think it could have been done with a normal animation... ah well. I never liked the throw anyway, so I don't miss it.

Quote:

- I also thought HH was a tad longer then TiT? Either way, the completion time for both is very close between the too. So it doesn't make sense for you to say HH is much shorter when it isn't. As HH has 2 to 3 acts per stage, plus a lame boss rush filler. All these contribute to evening out the completion time for both if not make it a bit longer.

I said that Turtles in Time is easy and short, but Hyperstone Heist is even shorter. But you are right, I should checked that better; yeah, they are very close in length, but it's HH that's slightly longer. The rest of what I said stands, though, and agrees with what you say here -- the completion time is close between the two of them, and both are short. The bigger issue than which of those two is a couple minutes longer is that both are a lot shorter than TMNT III; yes, I know the 4th-gen era requires more graphics, etc, but still, that is disappointing. Both games are too short compared to TMNT III.

So, it'd probably be better to say that both games are a bit too short, but between the two of them TiT uses its time better -- more levels, more bosses, no annoying padding (that stupid boss rush in level 4), and such. Maybe I will edit that in. Konami Genesis games like Hyperstone Heist and Sunset Riders presumably have small numbers of too-padded levels to have a length as long as their bigger-budget SNES counterparts while using smaller carts, less graphics, fewer bosses, etc. in order to save Konami a few cents a cart on the 'lesser' console (in their eyes)...

Quote:

- I don't remember the music for HH being remixed of past TMNT games? It's the same music from TiT only with Genesis soundchip.

I don't know, is it only from TiT? I thought it was from multiple games, but I wouldn't know for sure, music is not my thing. Pretty much everything in HH is borrowed from the previous TMNT beat 'em ups, but is the soundtrack TiT-only?

Quote:

- My best TMNT memories come from the NES era. With memories of TMNT3 being my fave as a kid. I managed to 1cc it as kid with only 1 death (on Krang). I got so lucky on that run, that it basically killed the game for me ever since. Because I knew I could never achieve any better anytime soon, lol.

Impressive, it's a difficult game. Great game, though, for the genre!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vludi

The idea that harder = better came from you though not me, and the only way to make an arcade game challenging is by not credit-feeding. Also, most console beat 'em ups are quite easy, so i don't see how TMNT4 SNES and HH are an exception to the rule.

Most console beat 'em ups are quite easy? Huh? Sega's aren't, for sure, and they're probably the best of the generation -- Streets of Rage and Golden Axe series, etc.

Quote:

But again, TMNT arcades are hard for the wrong reasons, they just have broken gameplay: useless combo system, uncontrollable throws, no sense of impact, wonky collision detection, bad hitstun, abusing heavy attacks are pretty much your only offensive option, need to stop scroll all the time to make it even playable etc. The arcades are just awful from a gameplay standpoint, the SNES/Genesis games have a vastly improved combat engine similar to the ones from Capcom games. They may be easier yeah, but i much prefer an easy game with good controls over a hard game with terrible controls and gameplay.

If you want a beat 'em up with good gameplay and challenge, there are much MUCH better options than TMNT arcades.

Ah, I see. I haven't put a lot of time into the arcade game in a long time now, maybe I should try them again and see what I think...
03-13-2016, 11:42 PM
Vludi

SoR games are some of the few console beat 'em ups with a quality and challenge similar to the arcades. However 90% console beat 'em ups from that era just aren't on par with top arcades brawlers on challenge or quality, that's why i said "most".
03-13-2016, 11:51 PM
A Black Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vludi

SoR games are some of the few console beat 'em ups with a quality and challenge similar to the arcades. However 90% console beat 'em ups from that era just aren't on par with top arcades brawlers on challenge or quality, that's why i said "most".

I did specify 'great' console beat 'em ups. The ones which are remembered and still praised. Not just random junk no one cares about anymore. Most of the ones you see mentioned are not easy games like the SNES and Genesis Turtles titles, I don't think... can you think of other examples of easy, very highly-regarded beat 'em ups like SNES Turtles in Time?

But yeah, the Streets of Rage games are pretty amazing. They're so much better than the Final Fight series...

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenband

The TMNT arcade game is a perfect example of a game that's fun to play in a super-casual way -- credit-feeding your way through it with a friend or two, and not caring too much if you lose a life here or there -- but starts falling apart when you aim for accuracy and minimizing lives lost.

So, yeah, Vludi has a good point: try to 1LC or 1CC a game, and suddenly many design flaws become crystal-clear. It's not about a macho "you have to 1CC a game to really beat it" thing, but simply a crucible for testing a game's design.

But if you need to try to 1cc or 1lc a game to see those flaws, then how much do those issues matter for most people?

Quote:

In a well-designed game, every problem has a reliable and "clean" solution (i.e. no lives lost or damage taken), and success and failure are in the player's hands with no real element of luck. Some games throw power-ups at you to compensate for bad design -- "you just took forced damage, here's a health power-up to ease the pain" -- but that's still bad design.

While I see some value in this, in games with health bars, I don't think that it's unforgivable if there are some hits that are really hard to avoid. You have a health bar for a reason, after all...

Of course, in an arcade game like the Turtles beat 'em ups it's worse than that, they will kill you unfairly in order to get more money out of you, but still, in general, if you have health I think that games don't necessarily need to be designed around being able to no-damage clear in order for them to play great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thief

Dude. The songs for S&K were basically completed around the same time as Sonic3 (go check the sound test for just Sonic3 to find the S&K tunes). So basically Michael Jackson was involved in S&K tunes too. Only difference is that they further adjusted all/some/most songs from Sonic3 for S&K/S3&K (why the complete S3&K hack gives you the option to choose between Sonic3 music or S&K slightly adjusted music, among other things).

Really, are you sure that Jackson worked on some of the S&K-levels songs? Because it's always said that he worked on the S3 levels, never S&K... that Michael Jackson worked on Sonic 3, not Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I'm just going what what I've read online here, I certainly don't know beyond that.

Quote:

Maybe considering how easy S3&K is and with it's save feature, is why I can't recall ever having issues with those flaws you mentioned. They really seem like nitpicking that don't even deserve a mention in my opinion. But whatever.

Which flaws? In the S3&K thing, I think I only mention two things, both issues worth mentioning I would say.

The unfair deaths are a problem that the series has always had because the concept of 'fast' is hard to reconcile with the way a platformer works. The newer 2d Sonic games, like the GBA or DS games, are far worse in this regard than any of the Genesis games, but the Genesis games are frustrating at times because of the unfair deaths from random pits, random crushing blocks, and such.

The absence of any rings yet AGAIN in the final boss fight is a problem for several reasons, most importantly because no-rings bossfights are something I have always disliked, in all of the Genesis and Game Gear Sonic games. It's an annoying and unfun way to make Sonic hard. In addition to that, I ran into the no-rings wall when replaying the game again before writing up that summary. I started the game, played all the way through to the final boss, and died there. Used up all my continues without beating it. I tried the last level a few more times, but after dying you have to start the whole level over if you load the file and are reset to zero continues so you have only three lives; this makes things MUCH harder in later tries than your first attempt. The worst thing about it is that you can bring rings into that fight, unlike the final fights in the previous two games where you just get no rings, period. But no, this time you can enter with rings if you had them, but if you then lose them there are no more to get. And the final boss is harder than those in the previous games. Come on, that's just obnoxious! I have beaten S3&K before, of course, but I didn't do it again in January unfortunately.

Quote:

Also, I played these two games quite a bit back in the day. And I prefer S&K part more then S3. And I agree the the graphics look a bit more polished in S&K.

I do agree here, I probably do like the S&K part over the S3 part. The levels are better and more fun to play.
03-14-2016, 12:06 AM
Vludi

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

I did specify 'great' console beat 'em ups. The ones which are remembered and still praised. Not just random junk no one cares about anymore. Most of the ones you see mentioned are not easy games like the SNES and Genesis Turtles titles, I don't think... can you think of other examples of easy, very highly-regarded beat 'em ups like SNES Turtles in Time?

Final Fight 2/3, Splatterhouse 3, DD1, DD4, Power Ranger SNES and Genesis games, the Rushing beat games, some of the dumbed down Capcom ports etc, none of them is particularly difficult compared to TMNT4 SNES, a couple of runs should be enough to beat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

But if you need to try to 1cc or 1lc a game to see those flaws, then how much do those issues matter for most people?

If you play games for gameplay then of course it should matter, if you are just there for the spectacle and eyecandy then i guess not and would rather just credit-feed and mashing buttons without learning the gameplay mechanics. Nothing wrong with that, but i think that the basic requirement for a game to be good is some decent gameplay and good controls.

Now that i think about it, getting to level 4 or 5 with 1 credit in TMNT4 arcade should be enough to realize how shallow the gameplay is. There is a reason of why TMNT arcades were never a thing in Japan while Final Fight was big, they were all about the presentation and playing a popular license.
03-14-2016, 05:07 AM
OverDrone

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenband

So, yeah, Vludi has a good point: try to 1LC or 1CC a game, and suddenly many design flaws become crystal-clear. It's not about a macho "you have to 1CC a game to really beat it" thing, but simply a crucible for testing a game's design.

This.
03-14-2016, 06:47 AM
Thief

I only got time today to answer the MJ music in S3&K question. Use the sound test code/level select code for S3 alone to find that all, if not most, of the S&K tunes are in S3. Meaning the all the songs in S3&K were in S3 before S&K was released. Meaning MJ was involved in S&K songs too if he was involved in S3 songs. Since all songs for both games were done by release of S3. With only a few minor tweak to all songs done by time of S3&K release (which include S3 songs being changed a bit too).
03-15-2016, 05:28 AM
fluxcore

Thanks for taking the time to write up the opinions in this thread, ABF - very interesting stuff :)
03-15-2016, 12:24 PM
Thief

Quote:

Originally Posted by OverDrone

This.

And people wonder why I much prefer reviews from those who 1cc over others.
03-20-2016, 03:38 AM
A Black Falcon

Is this a better final two sentences of the second paragraph and last paragraph of the HH review? I fix the two main issues (game length vs. Turtles in Time and number of enemies on the SNES).

Quote:

(...)The music is great classic Konami stuff, but it is pretty much entirely just remixes of Turtles in Time's soundtrack, so there's nothing new here musically. At least it's good, though.

Fortunately the gameplay, at least, is better. This game plays just like the other Konami TMNT beat 'em ups of its time, but with maybe slightly better fighting action. The game runs without slowdown even with a full set of 4 enemies on screen, which is nice. Also, while that throw move was removed, some other minor moves were added. Most of the time you will be whacking or jump-kicking enemies, though; as with most beat 'em ups this is a very repetitive game. For the genre, though, it plays great. The action is fast and fun, hit detection is accurate and the game never feels cheap or unfair, each of the four turtles has a slightly different style, and the variety of enemy weapon types is good too. The good to great gameplay is HH's saving grace, and makes this a pretty good game despite its issues. It is an easy and short game, though. Turtles in Time is also pretty easy and short, unlike the challenging NES games, though. Hyperstone Heist is actually a couple of minutes longer than Turtles in Time, but it feels shorter because TiT has no padding so it stays engaing throughout, while this game is padded with that annoying fight-the-old-bosses-again stage in the middle. As with the SNES game, it's hard to play this game and NOT finish it, unless you play on Hard or reduce the number of lives and credits you get! You can do that, and the game does force you to restart the whole level when you get a Game Over, but still, this game is quite easy. Overall, TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist is a good, but disappointing, game. The game controls well, the combat feels great, and the graphics and music are pretty good, issues above aside, but the lacking stage layouts, complete lack of anything not copied out of the other TMNT beat 'em ups, low difficulty, paucity of stages, and lazy design all hold it back. I like this game overall, it's good even if "blue ground" is the first thing I think of when I think Hyperstone Heist. I like it a little less either arcade game, TMNT III for the NES, or Turtles in Time for the SNES, but it is good. The high price the game sells for now is an issue as well. If you find it affordably absolutely pick this one up if you like the Turtles or beat 'em ups, but for the price it goes for now, maybe pass... it's good, but for that price you can do better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vludi

Final Fight 2/3, Splatterhouse 3, DD1, DD4, Power Ranger SNES and Genesis games, the Rushing beat games, some of the dumbed down Capcom ports etc, none of them is particularly difficult compared to TMNT4 SNES, a couple of runs should be enough to beat.

Does DD1 mean Double Dragon? Double Dragon for what? The SMS version's easy, but isn't it tougher on NES? Otherwise, of those I have Final Fight 2 and 3. And yeah, they aren't really hard and I have beaten both of them, but I think of them as being at least somewhat tougher than Turtles in Time for SNES. I also have The Peace Keepers, the US version of the third Rushing Beat game. I've never finished it despite trying at least several times; you do have limited continues, and it's a more challenging game than FInal Fight 2 or 3 or Turtles in Time.

Quote:

If you play games for gameplay then of course it should matter, if you are just there for the spectacle and eyecandy then i guess not and would rather just credit-feed and mashing buttons without learning the gameplay mechanics. Nothing wrong with that, but i think that the basic requirement for a game to be good is some decent gameplay and good controls.

Now that i think about it, getting to level 4 or 5 with 1 credit in TMNT4 arcade should be enough to realize how shallow the gameplay is. There is a reason of why TMNT arcades were never a thing in Japan while Final Fight was big, they were all about the presentation and playing a popular license.

How do the home console versions improve the gameplay, then? I mean, the whole genre is usually shallow on a gameplay front, after all... I do like how games like Final Fight 3 add more moves for the characters to do, but beyond that the genre is mostly about hitting people, then moving a screen forward and doing it again.
03-20-2016, 03:55 AM
Vludi

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

How do the home console versions improve the gameplay, then?

Proper combo system, better collision detecion, proper hitstun, controllable throws, controllable run, better jump controls etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

I mean, the whole genre is usually shallow on a gameplay front, after all... I do like how games like Final Fight 3 add more moves for the characters to do, but beyond that the genre is mostly about hitting people, then moving a screen forward and doing it again.

Your analysis is just as basic as saying "shoot 'em ups are shallow because all you do is move and shoot".
03-20-2016, 06:34 AM
A Black Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vludi

Proper combo system, better collision detecion, proper hitstun, controllable throws, controllable run, better jump controls etc.

Ah. Yeah, those things all certainly help a lot.

Quote:

Your analysis is just as basic as saying "shoot 'em ups are shallow because all you do is move and shoot".

Most better shmups have a lot more variety than beat 'em ups do, though... the simplistic repetition is surely the #1 complaint you see about the beat 'em up genre. I'm not sure if there's a genre more associated with shallow repetition than beat 'em ups... I mean, I like the games, stuff like the Turtles games, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, they're great fun, but I can certainly see where the complaints come from. As for shmups, I'd say that while you do move and shoot, there is a reason why shmups are still a somewhat popular genre while classic-style beat 'em ups mostly died out in the mid '90s -- shmups have either less repetition or gameplay more people like more, or both.
03-20-2016, 07:23 AM
Vludi

Quote:

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

Ah. Yeah, those things all certainly help a lot.

Most better shmups have a lot more variety than beat 'em ups do, though... the simplistic repetition is surely the #1 complaint you see about the beat 'em up genre. I'm not sure if there's a genre more associated with shallow repetition than beat 'em ups... I mean, I like the games, stuff like the Turtles games, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, they're great fun, but I can certainly see where the complaints come from. As for shmups, I'd say that while you do move and shoot, there is a reason why shmups are still a somewhat popular genre while classic-style beat 'em ups mostly died out in the mid '90s -- shmups have either less repetition or gameplay more people like more, or both.

Most better beat 'em up have good variety though, problem is that most westerners associate good beat 'em ups with mediocre games like Simpsons/TMNT arcades or dated early efforts like Double Dragon 1/Golden Axe 1, instead of stuff like D&D ToD, Guardians or Tenchi wo Kurau 2, so of course they get a bad idea about the genre and don't exploit all the genre has to offer. We would get a similar idea of shoot 'em ups if the most popular and well regarded games in the genre were repetitive loopers like Xevious and River Raid instead of stuff like Garegga or Dodonpachi.

The only difference is that shoot 'em ups have more focus on scoring, thus people see competition potetial on it while beat 'em ups are more co-op oriented, but aside from that there isn't much difference in learning to play a shoot 'em up or beat 'em up, it's all about learning the gameplay mechanics and improving your execution like most arcade games.
03-20-2016, 07:43 AM
OverDrone

Dead on, bro.
03-20-2016, 02:48 PM
midnightrider

I think the people that complain about beat 'em ups being repetitive, are the ones that ironically somehow aren't bored out of their skulls grinding in an RPG for 50 hours.
03-20-2016, 04:06 PM
Thief

Anyway, ABF, here's S&K songs in Sonic 3 (starts @1:07 min);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q73b2nQlxs
03-20-2016, 04:39 PM
tryphon

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnightrider

I think the people that complain about beat 'em ups being repetitive, are the ones that ironically somehow aren't bored out of their skulls grinding in an RPG for 50 hours.

You're wrong :)
03-20-2016, 11:18 PM
Chimaera

:lol:

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnightrider

I think the people that complain about beat 'em ups being repetitive, are the ones that ironically somehow aren't bored out of their skulls grinding in an RPG for 50 hours.

Guilty as charged :lol:
03-20-2016, 11:42 PM
Thief

^ Look at the balls on that guy. Going to have to rep those balls.
03-21-2016, 04:15 AM
A Black Falcon

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnightrider

I think the people that complain about beat 'em ups being repetitive, are the ones that ironically somehow aren't bored out of their skulls grinding in an RPG for 50 hours.

Hah... this is so true. RPGs often get extremely repetitive.
03-21-2016, 05:52 AM
The M

A beat 'em up is still fast paced and can be finished in less than a day, while evem the most straightforward RPG can hold you for a couple days doing the same enemy encounter routine, not counting side quests and completionism. In other words, it's a bit out of place for a RPG player to complain about repetitiveness of beat 'em ups.
03-21-2016, 10:51 AM
tryphon

I'm a RPG player and a beat'em up player. I never complained about the repetitiveness of one or the other, when it's done well (there are bad examples in both).
03-25-2016, 05:56 AM
A Black Falcon

Only 10 this time, and yet once again the update was much-delayed. That's mostly because of Viewpoint, that game is great and totally hooked me until I finally finished it! Next time... the last ten games. It's almost over.

Games covered in this update
--
Ultimate Qix
Universal Soldier
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Viewpoint
Wardner
Warrior of Rome II
Warsong
WeaponLord
Whip Rush

Ultimate Qix - 1 player. Ultimate Qix, known as Volfied in Japan, is a sequel to Taito's early '80s classic arcade game Qix. This time the game has a sci-fi setting and backstory, and you control a small spaceship instead of just a cursor or such, and you're fighting aliens of various kinds instead of lines (the Qix), sparks (Sparx), and the like. The gameplay, however, is classic Qix. you move your ship around the border of the screen, and when you hold down a button you can move into the field. However, until you connect to the edge again you are vulnerable and if an enemy or their shots touch you or the unfinished line behind you, you die and lose a life. However, if you get back to the edge, you are safe, and the edge of the area you just outlined is the new edge of the screen. You win once you cover over a large enough percentage of the screen, with that percentage varying depending on difficulty setting. Unlike the first game, there are no enemies moving along the edges of the screen, but despite that, Ultimate Qix is harder and less fun to play than the original classic. This game does have an ending, unlike the endless original Qix, and it has preset levels you've got to get through. Qix is a classic, and I do like this game, but it gets frustrating quickly, and you get absolutely no continues in this version. You can choose up to 7 lives, and there are 4 difficulty settings and three game modes that further adjust the difficulty, but there's no way to get even one continue, unfortunately. That makes this game very difficult and frustrating, as it's very easy to die and soon have to start over from the beginning again. That gets old fast.

In addition, the game is visually somewhat bland and has very annoying droning sounds for "music". The sound is not quite Xevious bad, but it's bad. If that's supposed to be the sound of the Qix, it fails to match the original's. The graphics are better, but the backgrounds are not great and sprites only average-looking. Perhaps the arcade version looks the same, but this game has only average-at-best graphics and awful "music". Even so, the core here is a good classic-style arcade game, and the originality of the original Qix shines though. This isn't yet another shooter, or your average puzzle game, it's something different. It stays faithful to the Qix formula, but adds new things such as more graphical variety, various bonus items you can surround on the field that give point bonuses, and an actual ending to strive for. Even so, Ultimate Qix isn't quite as great a game as the original, and the steep difficulty level gets frustrating. With enough practice you will get farther, but this game is really only for fans of this genre. Overall Ultimate Qix is average or maybe slightly below average. Arcade port. There is also a Japan-only PC Engine (TurboGrafx) version, and a Playstation version released as Qix Neo in the US and Simple 1500 Series Vol. 80: The Jintori - Volfied in Japan. I haven't played that version, but I would like to get it sometime. It has saving support of some kind; I hope it's actual progress save and not just scores, but I'm not sure. There are also ports of the original arcade game on the Amiga, FM Towns, PC, and Commodore 64 computers, in various regioeview.

Universal Soldier - 1 player, password save. This borderline run & gun action-platformer called "Universal Soldier" is actually the Genesis port of Turrican 2. This game, from Accolade under its Ballistic label and programmed by The Code Monkeys, is a port of Factor 5's Amiga port of Rainbow Arts' Commodore 64 original. Accolade got the rights for the console ports, and decided to use their recently-acquired Universal Soldier license on the game. The film is a Stallone sci-fi action movie, but I haven't seen it; I got this because it's Turrican. Despite the name change, though, this is mostly just Turrican 2. The main and boss sprites replaced with characters from the movie, the title-screen theme is now a song from the movie I believe, and a couple of new platformer levels set in locations from the film replace the now-removed shmup levels the original game had, but otherwise, this is just Turrican 2, but on the Genesis, and with a password save system added. The original Turrican 2 is the most loved game in the series by the games' European fanbase, and after playing it I can see why. Earlier I explained my issues with the first Turrican, but while this game brings back some of that games' issues, including the absence of any invincibility or hitflash while taking damage and the health system, though damage thankfully now happens at the correct, slower rate versus the first Genesis game, in most ways it's hugely improved over the original. Universal Soldier/Turrican 2 has better graphics, better-designed, much more fun to play levels, better music, password save, a much fairer challenge that actually is probably a bit on the easy side now, versus the super-hard first game, almost no instant-death pits and none in trap locations, no required blind jumps, and fixing that health-drain issue really is huge as well. Sure, the graphics and music pale in comparison to the three SNES and Genesis Turrican games made by Factor 5 itself and US doesn't come even close to Mega Turrican's level in either graphics or sound, but The Code Monkies did a good job here and the results are great. Not quite Factor 5-tier work, but great.

Yes, despite its flaws and stupid unnecessary tacked-on license, this is a fantastic game! This version of the game gets far, FAR too much flak from series fans. Universal Soldier may have only a second-tier port of Chris Huelsbecks' incredible Amiga soundtrack, and the redrawn elements of the graphics are silly and don't fit the game at all, but these issues are somewhat minor compared to all the great gameplay and fun to be had here. The basic controls are familiar Turrican stuff and work well, though that fast-draining health system is kind of a pain; stay away from enemies. You can shoot, use a beam attack if you hold down the button, go into ball form, use several kinds of super attacks, and now drop bombs in ball form as well. US/Turrican 2 has absolutely huge levels loaded with enemies, powerups, and extra lives to find. Exploration is fun and rewarding, as points and lives are all over. This game is much more generous with extra lives than the first game, and when combined with the removal of almost all death pits, the change to make required jump points visible on the screen so you don't need to blindly jump into space, the slower rate you take damage, and the passwords, this game is a LOT easier than the first Turrican. I can barely get even a few levels into that game, but this one I can finish no problem. The game does have a difficulty curve and by the last, immense level can be a challenge, but it's the fun kind of challenge you want to keep trying at until you beat it. And thanks to the password system, you should. This game is great beginning to end. So yeah, I don't mind the lowered difficulty at all! Every level in this game is great fun to explore, and I like the variety. You'll traverse alien worlds, fight bosses, swim through caverns, and more. Turrican 2/US's stages are some of the best in the exploration platform-action game category.

The game has other improvements over its predecessor as well. The weapons are improved, and the new scatter-shot ball gun is great and would return again in future Turrican games. You now will drop bombs as your attack in ball form, too, instead of shoot; nice improvement there. Also, for the only time in the series, you can use your ball form at will! Yes, while all other Turrican games have limited uses of Turrican's Samus-like ball form, in this game you can use it as much as you want. Universal Soldier is a great game, and it's easy to understand why Turrican 2 is so popular with those who played it back in the early '90s. The mechanics are great, the level designs huge and yet well-designed and absent of frustration like that in the first game, the difficulty is well-balanced and fun to the point where masochists may prefer the first game since it's so much harder than this one, the addition of password save is fantastic and puts this game above the others in the series in at least this one way, and the new levels are even pretty good, even if the themes do not fit with the rest of the game. Yes, as before Accolade's version here does not look or sound as great as the computer originals and the loss of the shmup stagers is unfortunate, but US looks fine and sounds pretty good. Overall Universal Soldier is a very good A-grade classic which unfairly gets hated on because of the silly license applied to this good version of Turrican 2. Pick it up for sure, this is a great game you can get for very cheap. Also on the Game Boy. The original Turrican 2 version is on Commodore 64, Amiga, and PC.

Vectorman - 1 player. Vectorman is a very good run & gun-ish action-platformer developed by Blue Sky Software and published by Sega. Blue Sky's earlier Genesis games were mixed in quality, but with this one they put everything together and made a game with some of the best graphics on the system, and pretty great gameplay as well. The fantastic graphics are the first thing you'll notice about Vectorman, and really show off the hardware. The game also has great music, good controls and level designs, and lots of great fun action as well, though, so it's about much more than just the visuals! This game has both great graphics and great gameplay, and has greatly impressed me ever since it first released in 1995. The game is difficult and memorization is absolutely key, but even though I still haven't beaten this game, it's really, really good. You are Vectorman, a robot in the future. The Earth is a polluted wasteland, and you're going back to take out the villain Warhead and maybe start the Earth's recovery. So yeah, it's one of the '90s many environmentally-themed games. This is no Captain Planet, though, thankfully; the story is irrelevant to the actual game. But back to those graphics. Visually, Vectorman impresses right from the start. This game released in the wake of 1994's Donkey Kong Country, and uses a somewhat similar CG-rendered art style. Vectorman was probably the Genesis's best answer to DKC on a visual level, and shows off the system's capabilities nicely. Yes, there are fewer colors on screen than a SNES game would have, but the use of color here is great despite that. Every level looks different, and all of the settings are interesting and have quite nicely done backgrounds. The game has plenty of nice visual effects beyond that as well, including lots of software scaling and rotation in some top-down stages, large sprites, fair amounts of stuff on screen, great use of the system's rarely-used hardware shadows feature to add to the number of colors seen, and more. There is also a neat flash when you shoot your gun; sure, it's not actual hardware lighting, but it looks pretty cool. The soundtrack is great too, it's good Genesis techno. I've always loved the cool spinning animation and electronic techno music on the title screen, it's great stuff. From the art design to the technical accomplishments, Vectorman is one of the most visually impressive games on the Genesis, and for me at least was a good answer to Donkey Kong Country on a technical level.

On a gameplay level, however, Vectorman is pure Genesis; it's an action game, not a platformer like DKC. This is an intense action game, and you'll spend most of your time shooting baddies and jumping between platforms. Vectorman can walk, jump and double jump, and shoot. It is sometimes annoying that you can't fire diagonally without moving, but otherwise the controls are great. You can shoot up and diagonally, and also down while you are jumping, and the double-jump activates some jets on your feet that will hurt an enemy below you; it's cool to see a double jump actually explained in the game, and that it does damage too is a nice bonus! You have three hit points at the start, and can get more. The controls are tight and very responsive. You only have one main gun, but can collect many different time-limited weapon powerups for more firepower. The gameplay is almost as well-polished as the graphics. Vectorman's sprite is large on the screen, but visibility is not a problem, as the bottomless pits seen in earlier Blue Sky games on the Genesis are absent here. There are no spike pits either, which is awesome; there's more than enough challenge here from the numerous enemies, unfair death-pits are not also needed. And yes, the game is hard. You start with only a couple of lives and there is no way to get continues, so when you run out you go all the way back to the beginning. There are extra lives, and getting them will be absolutely essential, but some quirks add to the memorization required to maximize your chances of survival. You see, Vectorman has a point multiplier system. Health-ups, healthbar increasing items, extra lives, all give you one of the item if collected normally, but two, five, or even ten if collected while you have a multiplier... and of course multipliers are time-limited items, so if you don't know where to go after getting that great multiplier it'll go to waste. Powerups are hidden in televisions, as well, and all TVs look the same until destroyed so you can't just look at them and know what's in each one; you'll just need to play the game repeatedly and learn the best route, or look something up online. This can be frustrating and is surely a major reason I have not finished the game, but I do like its originality; a bonus multiplier which multiplies the extra lives and health powerups? That's an interesting idea, and Vectorman implements it well. All levels are very well designed, and are large with lots of secrets to find all over the place. You also respawn at certain TVs when you die; it's not marked, so you only find checkpoints by dying, but you do have to have destroyed that TV to respawn there. Other powerups in TVs add to your score and such, or give you those special weapons. On the whole Vectorman very heavily rewards exploration, and it's very fun to play the game, go through each level, and try to find everything. Learning where the bonus multipliers and key powerups the multiplier affects are is centrally important, but even when not maximizing that the game is great fun and feels rewarding to play, as you do a little better each time.

Vectorman has variety, too. This game has 16 levels, and each is different. Action stages each have their own character and style. The first level is open to the sky, the water level feels like climbing out of a pit, the sawmill level has moving platforms to take you between tiers, and more. This is a tough game, so I've never gotten to the end, but it There are also special morph powerups which turn you into a bomb or a drill, and then you need to go to a certain point in the level -- usually nearby, but you'll need to find the place -- to break through a wall to reach some powerups or an alternate route forward. It's one more way that the game emphasizes exploration and makes gameplay fun. The level designs here are great. Each level has a boss as well, and each one is entirely different. You'll need to learn how to fight each one and approach them differently, and they're all good; this game is really good all around. In addition, while most stages in Vectorman are side-scrolling action, the game has a couple of top-down levels as well. These can be tricky, the second one particularly, but are a nice break from the main action. As usual for games from this time Vectorman is not an especially long game, but it more than makes up for that with its difficulty. This game is no Adventures of Batman & Robin or Contra Hard Corps, challenge-wise, but it is a tough game that will take most people quite a while to finish. I don't like having to repeatedly replay content I have finished before many times, and this is probably why I've never finished the game as I don't keep trying as many times as I'd need to, but it's a lot of fun to play so I don't mind this here as much as I would in other games. In conclusion Vectorman looks and sounds fantastic, has good controls with great shooting control and an above-average variety of enemy types to fight, great stages to explore, and a somewhat unique game system centered around bonus multipliers. I don't have much negative to say about this game, either, beyond that I wish it had continues so it'd be a bit easier to finish. I guess people who want a linear, Contra-esque game will not find it here, as while this is a shooting-heavy game there is also a lot of platforming and exploration, so its Western roots show, and people who prefer games designed around 1-hit-deaths instead of Vectorman's hit points system may not love it as much as I do, but damage is avoidable if you play well; you do not often take random unfair hits in this game, when you take damage it was your fault. I don't think these issues hold the game back much at all. Vectorman is one of my favorite action-platformers ever, and it's a definite must-play. This game is available in collections and digital re-releases of Sega’s Genesis games.

Vectorman 2 - 1 player. Released a year after the first game, Vectorman 2 is one of Sega's few major releases for the Genesis in 1996. For the most part, this is a good game very similar to its great predecessor. Unfortunately, while it is a good game, it's not quite as great as Vectorman 1 is, for several reasons. First, the game gets off to a mediocre start, as the awesome start screen from the first game is gone, and replaced with a bland, static image of Vectorman instead. Still, the core gameplay in Vectorman 2 is very familiar, and still good. The controls, TVs (well, pods now), weapons, powerup system, and such are all the same as before. Once again you are Vectorman, off to save the day on horribly polluted future Earth. Vectorman's sprite looks better than ever! This is still a great-looking game, with more animation and better graphics than most games on the console. The music is great electronic stuff as before, and there are more, better-quality voice samples, which is nice. You start out in a swamp this time; it's a somewhat drab environment, worse than any from the first game, and goes on for multiple levels with only slight variation. Still, there is a cool lighting effect, as the swamp lights up each time you fire your gun. Nice. I do find the first environment disappointing and less interesting than any from the first game, though. Also, instead of making almost every level different as in the first one, this time each setting has multiple stages. This is another downgrade from the first game. The levels in each setting are much more similar than any two levels from the original, and some are just the same thing but with new stage layouts. Some levels have traps which can damage you, such as lava on the fire planet, too, which can be an issue in a game with a somewhat close zoom as this one; you do have to make some blind jumps. Thankfully, platforms are usually right where you expect them to be and you can look up and down, so this isn't much of an issue, but it is worth mentioning. There are also fewer bosses, as most levels don't have bosses anymore; instead, the few bosses are in their own stages. The bosses are large and fun to fight, but why are there so few of them? Levels feel different from the first game, too. This game has some very linear stages and some which have more side areas to explore, so there is some nice variety, but overall levels are more linear than they were in the first game. There is less exploration this time than before. That's unfortunate. The game has more levels than the first one, 22 versus 16, but isn't longer; the stages are just shorter. The fastest Vectorman 2 speedrun is actually shorter than the fastest Vectorman 1 one, though the two are not that far apart in length.

Even so, the game is still very fun to play. The action is fast and furious, and you'll face a lot of enemies which can block your fire from one direction, which adds a bit to the mostly straightforward shooting from Vectorman 1. The controls are every bit as good as before too, though there are no new moves and few new special weapons available. Unfortunately there still isn't any way to fire diagonally without moving, but otherwise it controls great. They re-used a lot from the first one, for sure. There are some new morphs, such as a fire-resistant scorpion in the fire levels and a spaceship for the shmup-style bonus stages between levels that you can access, but the timed bombs hiding bonus areas don't seem to be present anymore. And as for those bonus stages, they're kind of disappointingly easy and basic. Adding bonus stages is a potentially good idea, but these aren't as good as they could have been; they're average stuff. The TVs from the first one are now green pods, but they function the same way as before. Because of the simplified level layouts, finding them all in a stage is often easier than it was in Vectorman 1. In fact, the game is a bit easier than the first one, and shouldn't be as hard to finish as the first one is. I haven't beaten it yet, but while playing recently I got to level 11 with 15 lives left, only to have the game crash... argh. But yes, I found it much easier to build up lots of extra lives without needing nearly as much memorization of bonus-multiplier locations as before; I never have 15 lives in Vectorman 1! Overall, this is a good game with great graphics and controls, large levels to explore, find items, and kill evil creatures in, more great visuals to look at particularly after you get past the first few stages, and some pretty cool set-pieces to get past and bosses to fight. However, the game is more linear, not quite as challenging, less varied, and generally not quite as fun as its fantastic predecessor. Vectorman 2 is a pretty good game, and I definitely recommend it, but the first game is the essential one. Still, anyone who likes the first one at all should get this game as well, it's good and won't cost much. This game is available in collections and digital re-releases of Sega’s Genesis games.

Viewpoint - 1-2 player alternating. Another extremely impressive Genesis game, Viewpoint is a port of SNK's Neo-Geo shooter of the same name.This Genesis version was made by Sammy, but for some reason is a US-exclusive release; it did not release in Japan or Europe. They really missed out! Viewpoint is a 3/4ths view isometric shmup, sort of like Zaxxon except on a flat plane. This is a shmup where you control a spaceship flying over a planet, instead of outer space, wiping out hordes of enemies. You can move around, shoot, charge up a power shot, and use superbombs of several types. The game has only one weapon powerup, one that gives you twin option fighters that protect you a bit from above and below and increase your firepower, sort of like in R-Type. That's it, though; you do not have overwhelming firepower in this game, so you will need skill. The game was noteworthy after its release in '93 thanks to its great visuals, style, and design, and it's got solid shooting action as well. I remember Viewpoint and have always thought it looked really cool. The game has fantastic art design, with 2d backdrops and pre-rendered "3d" polygon model ships and enemies. The two styles mix very well and look great together; this is an early example of the CG-rendered sprites style that would quickly gain popularity particularly after Donkey Kong Country's success. The game does interesting things in both visuals and stage layouts. The bosses are all really cool as well, and have a great amount of variety. And fortunately, this Genesis port is amazingly good considering the more limited hardware and smaller cartridge space. Viewpoint for the Genesis has some visual cutbacks and a huge amount of slowdown, indeed it's maybe the slowest-running shmup on this console and it will speed up and slow down as things go on or off screen, but the core game is the same as the Neo-Geo original and that's somewhat incredible. This game may not have quite as good graphics as Sega's fairly similar later 32X title Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000, but despite that this is the better game. Viewpoint is a hard game despite giving you infinite continues, but it's great fun and seeing each new area and figuring out how to get past its enemies and obstacles is a great fun challenge. I really like Viewpoint, it's great!

Now, this game is isometric, so it plays at an angle. This definitely takes getting used to, and you will die sometimes from bullets you barely even noticed due to the camera angle and graphical look of the game. Only bullets and enemies kill you, though; touching the sides of the stage will not. The game regularly uses special types of enemies as obstacles, however, and these will often kill you even with a shield if they touch you, so it is easy to die. I really like the variety and depth of the game, though. The obstacles and enemy types in each level are unique. You start out facing just waves of enemies, but soon you have to deal with spinning floor panels which can kill you if you're on them when they flip, rotating circles of enemies R-Type style, and such. Manage to beat the first boss and you will find each level has even tougher obstacles than the last. Later there is a section with giant worms which come up out of holes in the ground, arcs of flame which pop up out of the lava in the lava level, blocks raising up out of the ground in a land-based segment in the mostly over-water level, centipedes moving around the screen that you can only kill by shooting their heads, and more. Sure, a lot of the Neo Geo versions' background animations are gone, but some, such as the twisting fire in level 5, are still here, and enemies animate and twist around very well. And you're rarely just facing these obstacles, but enemies and sometimes even minibosses at the same time! Enemies can shoot out quite a few bullets, too, and as you move slowly and this game has no speed powerups, if you're in the wrong point on the screen at the wrong time, you will die. You do have infinite continues, but they start you from the beginning of the current level, not from the last checkpoint as a normal death does. So, beating the game will take a lot of practice and effort. I got hooked by this game again while playing it for the summary, and actually finished the game. This is probably the main reason why this update is late, too busy with Viewpoint. :p If you manage to get through without dying Viewpoint is a bit on the short side and the game does pad its length by repeating all the old bosses in the fifth level, but with everything going on here, with the detailed prerendered backgrounds, animations, numerous enemies, additional complexity from the isometric perspective, and more, that is entirely understandable.

The game is not perfect, of course. One issue I need to mention is the camera. That angled perspective can lead to deaths if you're pushing up against the bottom edge of the screen and an enemy or bullet comes at you from behind or to the right off the screen, because the screen only scrolls left if you're touching the edge. It might d be nice if it scrolled a bit away from the edge, so you didn't have to risk death to move over that way. Still, you get used to this and mostly play a bit up and right from the bottom, and due to the camera angle some of the issue is unavoidable, but it is annoying at times. Additionally, sometimes you will die unfairly from a hard-to-see bullet that the angle makes hard to judge the exact location of. Your slow movement speed and taking advantage of the frequent, massive slowdown also take practice to get used to. This game is no too-slow nightmare like Gun Frontier (Arcade), though; it may be slow, but with practice I definitely get better. Overall the slowdown actually helps, as in Gradius III (SNES) where it makes the bullets easier to dodge than they are in other versions. The other issues are minor. The graphics aren't as good as the arcade game, there is less animation, and the game pads its length with repeated boss fights. These are unimportant issues compared to Viewpoint's many strengths. In conclusion, Viewpoint really is the total package. The game has great graphics both artistically and technically, lots of fantastic-looking, highly-animated prerendered CG sprites, an isometric perspective you will not find in many other 4th-gen shmups, unique game design with inventive levels full of not only a wide variety of enemies to shoot at but also interesting and varied environmental hazards you will need to figure out, a high difficulty level balanced with infinite continues and predictable design that greatly rewards practice, reasonable game length, and some pretty decent music, too. This is an amazing game that is really fun to play. Viewpoint is a fantastic top-tier shooter, and is easily one of the best and most under-rated Genesis shmups. Arcade port (on the Neo Geo MVS). Also on Neo-Geo AES, Neo-Geo CD, Playstation (US/EU only), and in Japan only on FM Towns and X68000. That PS1 version is supposed to be pretty bad, but I have not played it myself.

Wardner - 1 player. Wardner is a difficult platformer from Meldac that was clearly inspired by Ghosts n Goblins, though this is not just a clone. The game has mediocre graphics and sound, and isn't particularly original, but it does provide plenty of frustrating platformer fun. You are a young mage guy, and have to rescue your kidnapped girlfriend, as usual in these games. The game controls well, and You die in one hit and are sent back to the last checkpoint when you lose a life, so you need to memorize each section to progress. The game has limited continues, of course, so you will be restarting the game regularly even though you get a lot of lives and continues because of how often you die. The magic element is the main thing that differentiates this game from Ghosts n Goblins and its sequels, but you start out with a standard arcing fireball, and powerups just add more fireballs, so there isn't an interesting magic system like Jewel Master's here. Still, I like mages a lot, they're great and my favorite fantasy class, so it's cool that you are a mage in this game and not a warrior-type. Still, though, this game has bland graphics with not so good art design. Humans like your character are particularly poorly drawn, and environments are simple and amateurish. There is parallax, sometimes, but the visuals look very flat and bland. The music is okay, but it's not anything particularly good or memorable, either.

Even so, the game does have graphical and level-design variety. Each level looks different and has some unique enemies. Each stage plays differently, too, which is good. The first stage is fairly straightforward, the second is loaded with traps to avoid, the one after that has more exploration, and so on; the game does change as you progress through it. This game is more fun to play than it is to look at. Each level has a different setting, from an opening forest, to castles, and such. There are quite a few different types of enemies and traps, and learning all the traps certainly will take a lot of memorization! The constant dying can be frustrating for sure, and starting from the beginning again regularly is annoying, but even so, Wardner is an okay to good game, gameplay-wise. From pits to buzzsaws to other surprises, this game keeps throwing new challenges at you, and figuring them out is fun. There is also money to collect in each level, and a shop between levels. However, you lose all money collected if you get Game Over, so you need to play well to be able to buy powerups. Some powerups are lost upon death, too, which is kind of cruel. Still, if you do get to the store and buy a better weapon, that, at least, is permanent. The other powerups you can buy are one-time-use items, including a shield to absorb a hit and something to protect you from spikes once, but weapons do stick. Choose wisely, though! That one that spins as it moves is no good, it's too hard to hit bosses with. And you cannot switch back once you'[ve bought osmething else. Mostly, though, this is a fairly standard overly-hard side-scrolling action-platformer. Levels are mostly linear, enemies die quickly but can and will kill you just as quickly, and levels are complex and loaded with challenging traps, pits, and optional treasures. Overall, Wardner is a fun but frustrating game. This game is probably too hard for its own good, but even so I kind of like the game. It's above average and I do like this game despite the difficulty and bad graphics, but be prepared before starting this one. Still, it's good and cheap enough that genre fans might want to pick it up. Arcade port.

Warrior of Rome II - 1-2 player simultaneous, on-cart save (battery). Warrior of Rome II is an intresting but seriously flawed real-time strategy game. You are Caesar, and fight a series of battles retelling Roman conquests. This is a game that was surely interesting when it released, but quickly became very, VERY badly dated, and is nearly unplayably boring today. This is an ambitious isometric strategy game, and I like how you can move menus around the screen and resize them; that's very forward-thinking features for a 1993 console game! You can also save anywhere to two save files, which is fantastic. The graphics are good, but very small; it can be hard to make out details, and the two armies blend together far too much. As for audio, there is much, but it's average stuff. The gameplay is the most interesting, but flawed, thing here. Your goal here is to defeat the enemy army on each map. There are 44 maps available for single-map play, a campaign, and even two player splitscreen, so there's a lot here to do for those who can get into it. Each commander starts from a base, and from here you can send your troops out and build more troops. You can also have soldiers build several buildings, including forts, colisseums, and seaports. You can create troops from forward bases. Towns build up around bases over time, and these are your resources -- when you create a soldier some buildings vanish, and you can only create new troops while there are still buildings nearby. There is only one base type of soldier, but they can level up to several different forms if they stay alive and rank up. The player and enemy use the same graphics, just one is red and the other blue. It's a decent, though simple, system.

However, the game is unforgivably, glacially slow. Just waiting for your troops to move across the screen will take minutes, and reaching the enemy even on the smaller maps can take tens of minutes! It's absolutely absurd and ruins what could have been a decent little simplistic early RTS, and RTSes have been one of my favorite genres for a long time so that could have been great. Sadly, as it is WoR II is probably not worth playing due to the incredible tedium of playing each map. There is a speed option, but it barely makes a difference. The game has other flaws, too. When you tell a unit to move, there is no marker telling you where you told it to go, and if you select it again the game won't tell you where it's going; you'll just have to remember, or give a new movement order; annoying. Also, both armies look too similar, with nearly identical soldiers only differentiated by a blue or red thing on their head. When armies are fighting it looks like just a blob of troops, and figuring out what's going on is much harder than it should be. You can access stat screens that show you the health and other stats for any of your troops or buildings, but I don't think you can view any such stats for the enemy, so you never know when they will die. The game isn't entirely balanced, either, and it's hard to defeat people in forts shooting arrows; this can hurt or help you, depending, but when every reinforcement takes multiple minutes to get to the front, if you didn't approach with enough troops you're probably finished anyway. The game starts out fairly easy, but ramps up over time. That's good, but I just don't have the patience for a game this incredibly tedious. Apparently this is a 60 to 100 hour game, and it shouldn't be if units moved at a reasonable speed. There is also a two-player splitscreen mode, but it'd be just as slow as single player, of course, and if you have many menus open with only a half screen it'll quickly get covered, which could be annoying. The game does look somewhat nice and has some good ideas, but the perhaps too-simplistic gameplay and unbelievably slow pace are too much to look past. Overall Warrior of Rome II is a timepiece, something only for the very dedicated who have a lot of time to kill watching units move around in a game where only occasional interaction is required. As much as I like strategy games, this game is too dated to be worthwhile. This game is a series; there is also a first one for the Genesis, and a third one that's a Japan-only SNES game. I haven't played the others.

Warsong - 1 player, on-cart save (battery). Warsong, also known as the first Langrisser game, is a turn-based strategy game from NCS Masaya. Though they also made some good action games in the early '90s Masaya was best known for its strategy games, and the Langrisser series became their main focus in the mid to later '90s, before they shut down around 2000. Langrisser is a fantasy medieval TBS. The game clearly took a lot of influence from Fire Emblem in particular, as well as other Japanese TBSes of the era as well, but this is much more than just a clone. In this game, you control a force made up of heroes and their troops. Each of your hero units can build expendable regular troops between battles, and then you can use these troops as units during the mission. Each hero can have up to eight troops and you can control each one individually during missions, and you start with several heroes and will eventually get as many as eight, so you control quite a few units right from the start in this game, unlike many of its peers. The game does have a system to make moving all those units easier, though, as the regular units will automatically move towards their hero and move into a formation around them if you don't tell them to move during your turn. Each hero has several stats including health and experience, so this game has RPG elements. Basic troops have their own health, but share their heros' level and their attacks give their leader experience. Heroes also have a range around them in which their basic units are much stronger. You can see this range when you move the cursor over one of your heroes. If a heros' regular units attack someone or are attacked while outside of that range they will be hurt badly and easily killed, so staying within range of the hero is recommended. Sometimes you may need to move them away, but be aware they will die much more easily. Heroes exclusively can also use several other skills, including healing and item use, and can set several attitudes including defensive or offensive-minded for their troops, while regular troops can only move and attack. Battles, much like Military Madness/Nectaris or Famicom/Advance Wars, show the two sides' soldiers attacking eachother, then the damage done to the other. As units lose troops they become less effective. However, regular units can heal up by ending their turn on one of the four spaces directly next to their heroes', which is great. Heroes can also heal themselves, though it costs a turn, and they can't even move if they choose to heal. Also as in Fire Emblem units are strong against certain type(s), and weak against other types, as in FE's 'weapon triangle'. Each type of hero has their own strengths and weaknesses, and their own types of regular troops. Your starting guys are knights, and can choose between infantry, cavalry, or archers as regular troops, each is strong or weak against different foes. You get points based on how many enemies you killed in the previous mission that you can use for troops in the next, and unused points do carry over between missions, though purchased troops do not. Good system. The game has display options, too, including two different camera zoom levels and a useful minimap you can view. You can also save between missions to a permanent file, or even save a mission in progress during the game, to continue later! Those are great features to have in this kind of game. All in all the two-tiered heroes-and-troops system is interesting and original for a game from the early '90s. The range-of-command system is particularly unique, and is an interesting way to emulate the fact that in a real battlefield commanders only could really be effective on those near them. It's a very good game.

So, this game is mostly great, but it does have few design issues worth mentioning. First, the AI is terrible. AI allies suicidally get themselves killed, and enemies are very predictable and frequently move in very stupid ways. The game tries to balance this by giving the enemies larger numbers, but still, it's weird and watching enemies randomly try to move over mountains and the like gets old after a while, as does that equally awful allied-forces AI. Better AI would have been great. Also, unfortunately battle animations are unskippable, which gets old after a while. Ah well. Also, many maps are too large for their own good, and you will spend more turns than you'd like just moving your troops towards the enemies. Sure, since soldiers will auto-move towards the leaders you only need to move a leader then watch the rest follow, but still this takes time. This may be realistic in that real battles involve a lot of maneuvering, but it's not always fun.In addition, and this is sort of good and sort of bad, heroes in your party die for real if they are killed, as in Fire Emblem games, so reset if someone dies! Also, if either an allied or enemy commander dies their troops go with them, so kill troops first if you want the most experience. This only applies to your troops, not allied forces, but it is important and adds to the challenge. Of course, battle outcomes have a random element, so as in Fire Emblem the random element WILL get you killed sometimes in frustrating ways. Ah well. And last, the game has some balance issues between classes. Once characters reach level 10 they can rank up to new classes, but some classes are better than others, and you won't know this unless you look it up online. All in all, though, it's a good system and it is well implemented here. AI aside this is a well-designed game which clearly had some thought put in to it.

All told Warsong is a moderately difficult game, but it's not too hard. The first mission is interesting in that if you stay and fight it is a very hard mission, but if you flee at the start it's easy. Note that in this mission if, or when, the allied troops die they do not die for good, which is nice considering how impossible it is to keep them alive. After that the next few missions are easy, but the game starts ramping up the challenge after that. Moderate or challenging, though, this game is great fun and keeps you coming back again and again to try to beat each mission with everyone alive. Warsong grabbed me right from the start, as good strategy games should, even though the first mission is a bit overwhelming. Choosing the right support troops and using good strategies will be the difference between success and failure, though grinding up levels and choosing the right upgrade classes admittedly does count for a lot as well. The story matches this challenge, as it tells a sometimes dark and somewhat melodramatic story somewhat like those seen in Fire Emblem games, in a way. You are a prince, but of course your kingdom is attacked and crushed right at the start, and your real journey begins from there, once you escape and raise forces to defeat the villains trying to take over the world and such. The story is somewhat generic, but it's good enough. Missions start with a bit of text to try to explain the backstory. Then you go to the screen where you choose what troops you will use in the battle, buying from a point pool for the mission. In-mission there are occasional story converstation scenes, but other parts of the story are told with single blocks of text on the mission-briefing screen. Unfortunately these text blocks are often vague and fail to fully explain the story, and the in-game conversations are poorly translated and can be confusing, so following the story is harder than it should be, but this doesn't matter much, really. The gameplay is the main star here, and it's pretty good.

The graphics and sound are solid too, though they aren't amazing. Warsong looks okay, but the art design is fairly average and sprites are small both on the field and in battle animations. It's no match for Shining Force visually, for sure, though gameplay-wise it's just as great. The music is good and fits the game well, though. Good work there. Overall, Warsong, or Langrisser, is a pretty good game that is among the better strategy games on the Genesis. This under-rated classic is something any strategy fan should pick up for sure! The heroes-and-troops system is a bit different for the time, and the heroes' support-range system is even more interesting. Both RPG levelling and strategy-game strategizing are required here, but thankfully this is much more of a strategy game than it is an RPG. Warsong/Langrisser is a great game I highly recommend! Definitely pick this one up if you find it affordably. It's really too bad that none of the sequels ever had English-language releases, we missed out. The sequels seem even better than this first one. This games' developers later left Masaya, and went on to make the also mostly fantastic Growlanser series for Atlus. Several of those games did get US releases, and Growlanser Generations (PS2) and Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time (PSP) are both fantastic. The latter title might actually be my favorite PSP game. The original Langrisser is not quite on that level, but it is good for an early '90s strategy game, full of fun and challenging gameplay. Also available on PC Engine CD (TurboGrafx CD) in Japan only. I also have that version; it is similar to this, but with CD audio music and some voice acting in the cutscenes. The graphics are also perhaps a little better ingame as well; it did release after the Genesis original, so they had time to work on things. Of course, it's only in Japanese, and while you can figure out the menus, it's more fun in English for sure. And the Genesis version is good enough to hold its own, even if the music isn't CD quality. This game is available in digital re-releases of Sega’s Genesis games.

WeaponLord - 1-2 player simultaneous, 6 button controller supported (and pretty much required if you want to have any fun), password save. WeaponLord is a decent fighting game from Namco, developed by the American team at Visual Concepts. This Conan the Barbarian-inspired fighter is an interesting but flawed one. The game can be good, but I don't like it quite as much as I was hoping I would before I got the game. I like weapon-based fighting games like Samurai Shodown, The Last Blade, and in 3d Soul Calibur, but this is not quite on that level. WeaponLord isn't bad, though. The game has good art design, characters which each look and play differently, plenty of challenge, and some decent to good gameplay. The game has a small cast of only seven characters, but they are different enough that it doesn't feel like too small of a roster, though it is well below average for a game released in fall 1995, late in the generation. The biggest problem I have with this game, though, is the very choppy animation. WeaponLord doesn't run slowly, but the game uses a lot fewer frames of animation than I'd expect, and the resulting look looks... wrong, somehow. The limited-animation gampeplay feels unpleasantly choppy. The game is probably being held back by the by-then-dated systems it's running on. This really hurts the game and makes it hard to get used to. The characters and backdrops here do have a unique and very busy comic-book-like style set in a violent world of half-dressed barbarians, but I wish that the game ran better; you can get used to the slow pace, but it's not ideal. This game looks great in still shots, and I was hoping to really like it, but it doesn't play as well as it looks. This game is also a downgrade from the original SNES version visually, as fewer colors are used on screen and the interface doesn't look as nice. The game still looks good, though, so I don't mind this much.

The complex moveset and often difficult AI are also potential issues here.The difficult AI is also a problem. While the game is not as brutally difficult as Eternal Champions, on the default difficulty this game will absolutely punish you unless you go look up move-lists online and practice for a while! Sure, on the easiest setting the game is easy to beat, but then it insults you for not playing on normal when you win, so it's a hollow victory. You will need to learn the moves to compete on the higher settings, normal included. The move list is not just standard Street Fighter moves, either. Each character has a good 10 moves, and some do use SF motions, but the game also takes inspiration from other fighting games, and has some moves where you hold a button then press directions, others where you just hold a button, some charge moves, and yet others where you do a motion then press a button. So yeah, there is a variety. There is also a combo system. I am hopelessly bad at doing combos in fighting games, but it is good that they have one, some fighting games of the era don't and it does add something. The game displays the number of hits in a combo on screen after you complete one. For those good at combos, you can do long, very high-damage ones, maybe too damaging for good balance. The game does have fatalities, Mortal Kombat style, but I've never tried to learn them.

There also isn't a training mode, so you can't practice your moveset anywhere other than in real matches, unfortunately. Instead, the only modes here are story mode, arcade mode, and 2-player versus. In Story mode you choose any of the seven characters, then fight the other five each in their stage, then you fight all five of them again in a boneyard stage, then the boss. There is story text at the start and end for that character, and the game, interestingly, has a password save system, and gives you passwords at two points, before the boneyard stage and before the final boss. The SNES and Genesis's fighting game libraries virtually never have saving, so this is a nice feature to see. However, there are a few oddities here. First, you do not fight a clone of your character, unlike in most fighting games, just the others. And second, one of the seven playable characters is that final boss, so you can play as the boss if you want and there isn't some super-strong boss to fight at the end. Apparently this game was rushed, and features like these, or training mode, didn't make it. And really, that's my main issue here. On the one hand, WeaponLord is a good-looking fighting game with some varied mechanics, characters who each feel different, and fun gameplay, particularly at the lower settings. But the choppy, limited-animation visuals, lacking featureset, weird mix of special move styles that can be confusing to remember, and steep difficulty at default settings hold the game back. WeaponLord is, overall, average. It could have been better, but it is an okay game that genre fans might want to check out. Also available on SNES. I only have this version, but the SNES version is apparently slightly better, as it is the original version.

Whip Rush - 1 player. Whip Rush is an average-at-best horizontal shmup from Renovation. This game has mediocre graphics with a bit of a visual identicy crisis and bland but acceptable gameplay. You've got to save the Earth from an evil alien invasion, and have only a stubby little fighter to do that with. The game has below-average graphics for a Genesis shooter technically, and in art design as well. In visual design this game seems halfway between a more 'serious' Japanese sci-fi anime look like Gradius or R-Type, and cute 'em up games. Your ship is short and kind of cute-looking, and enemies are a bit cartoonish-looking as well, but this game isn't a full-on cute 'em up. The look is a bit weird really, and I don't care for it. And technically this game is very average. The backgrounds look okay, but too many levels have no or limited parallax, and the art design is not great. The early level with a cloud background looks better than most, but this isn't a game you'll be playing for its visuals, for sure. The music is similarly forgettable. As for the gameplay, you fly to the right and shoot things. This game is average in difficulty, so it's not easy, but isn't a nightmarish challenge like Renovation's Gaiares, either. The difficulty balance is reasonable, but the game lacks excitement far too often.

For weapons you have a basic gun and four different powerups which drop from a specific enemy type. The powerups are a straight laser, two option helpers which stay above and below you and fire up and down only, missiles which can fire forward and back once upgraded, and an aimable shot which shoots in the opposite direction from the way you are moving. I've never liked that last type of weapon at all, and most of the others have limitations -- the first isn't great because many enemies in this game come from behind, the second because you need that upgrade to shoot backwards and the weapon is a bit weak, and the last because the helpers can't shoot forwards or back. Also, if you have no weapon upgrade and get hit you lose a life and respawn where you died so long as it's not Game Over, but if you do have a powerup you'll lose the powerup first, so weapon upgrades serve as a hit point. Unfortunately it won't level-down an upgraded weapon on the first hit, it's just two hits and you die. Still, the additional hit is nice. If you do get Game Over you restart the current level, it must be said. and you have limited continues in this game, but it's nice that other deaths don't set you back.

In terms of design, Whip Rush is a conventional early '90s shmup with bland graphics and enemy patterns and seriously lacking excitement. The levels do turn sometimes, so levels are not all just straight-line paths but instead sometimes you move up or down as well, but the actual stage layouts are boring. Other games do shmup stage layouts much better. Still, there are some interesting challenges, and the game does do more than just toss waves of similar enemies at you; there are also some environmental hazards, and some enemies can be hard to kill without the right powerups so you may need to avoid enemies sometimes instead of shooting them. There is also a boss at the end of each level, and it is satisfying when you beat them. This is a decent game which can be fun to play. Still, with generic stage layouts, graphics which can't decide whether they should be cartoony or serious, no original game design elements anywhere, subpar visuals and music, underwhelming weapons, and gameplay which just is not as good as better shmups, Whip Rush disappointed me. You can definitely do a lot worse than this, but you can do much better too. Still, genre fans and people who want a slightly easier-than-average shmup might want to check it out if you find it cheap; this game isn't awful or something, just visually dated and extremely derivative and bland.
03-25-2016, 07:38 AM
OverDrone

I don't mind the Viewpoint port, glad you enjoyed it too. The slowdown is ridiculous though, sections where there are next to no bullets but big environmental sprites make the game slow to an unbearable crawl. A bit longer in the oven optimising the code might have sorted that out.

The music is quite an OK rendition of the original as well, which is more than can be said for the PS1 version. Nice FM bass, and it keeps some of the quirky samples from the Neo game too.

I think Viewpoint might have been the last shmup made for the MD.
03-25-2016, 11:02 AM
Thief

I recall a person on the shmups forums loving Viewpoint more then any other shooter and considers it perfection. This game seems really good on first impression, and kinda savouring the moment I give it a more serious playthrough attempt.

About Vectorman. I rented the first one maybe two times back in the day. I wanted to buy it back then too. But it never happened due to us kid gamers being so broke during those no cash flow turbulent times. :p I really wanted this game in my collection. During the rentals, I made it as far as the last Boss. Who totally owned me and scared me from renting it again, lol. I'm sure there's an easy tactic I missed out on. I kind of replay this game every now and then, but never make it to the end boss. Should give this game a more serious go one of these days to finally beat it and avenge my childhood. :p PS - one mistake you made. Some level themes in Vectorman 1 repeat too just like in V2 and DKC. ie. stage 1 cloud stage returns two more times, if I recall correctly? (Once with orange clouds. And another at night with thunder striking and lighting up the place - looks very cool. I don't mind this theme returning two more times, as it's one of my fave looking themes. Though my most fave which I wish did repeat is the bright white snow stage with lens flare and dripping water. One of the best looking 16-Bit stages ever)

I don't remember if I rented V2 or not? But played it once recently and made it pretty far, only to find out that game was much better then I expected. Got in a really nice mood playing it. One stage music really impressed the heck out of me too + greatly enhanced playing V2 that one time.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the two Vectorman reviews the most. Thinking of returning to these games much sooner. But also have Jungle Strike on my mind to play next after my current beat 'em up phase... Hmm, guess you'll be reviewing Urban Strike next. Interesting... Hey, you go easy on my baby Urban Strike! That's part of my childhood right there. :p

Going to see what you said about the other two Strike games...
03-25-2016, 11:55 AM
Thief

OK, so I didn't eat my alphabet soup today. U doesn't come after V. :p But what's even worse is that you haven't discovered the magic of the Strike series and totally bailed out on reviewing it's 2 Genesis sequels that peaked with Urban Strike in my opinion.

Just read your Desert Strike first impression. And I should of seen this coming. This is not the sort of game you plough through. When I owned Urban Strike as a kid, it took me a very, very long time to make any progress in that game. But also because I loved the game so much, each time I fired it up, I would always start from the first map (also loved that first map so much too) and play up to the map currently giving me trouble. I've put in a ton of time into Urban Strike as a kid, and weird that I've never beaten it considering how much I loved it? Last stage I remember reaching is Las Vegas. Just flying over any map in this game was a blast.

Years later, during the PS2 era, I found a complete copy of Desert Strike. The idea of every stage being a desert and that it was the first in the series really made it seem like the game would be nowhere near as good as Urban Strike. The first few attempts went nowhere because I felt spoiled by Urban Strike. But eventually it clicked and once again discovered the Strike magic in this one too. This was the only Strike game I've beaten.

Never had a chance to play Desert Strike on real hardware. Played it a bit once on emulator. Everyone says it's the best Strike game, but from what I played, it still didn't seem better then Urban Strike. As it seemed like Urban still has the best map variety, map layout, map themes, enemy variety, etc. Going to return to give Jungle Strike a more serious go soon to see if I'm right about Urban being the best?

The appeal of the Strike series back then? Easy. It was basically most folks' first sandbox gaming experience. Me and my brother were lego fans too, and everything in these games look like cool lego imagined world playgrounds. And this series is more about playing somewhat slow and very methodical. I found the strategy in this game very deep and very interesting. In Urban, with each replay of a map, I would come up with more and more of an efficient path through the maps. And controlling the helicopter is so much fun once you warm up to it's controls. Series also has a very cool sense of humour. ie. in Urban, you can find Elvis on some maps to rescue. :D And at the end mission score screen, if you rescue Elvis it say "King sightings" or something, and you get score bonus points.

But yeah, ABF, you really need to put some time away for this series to discover what all the hype and magic about this series is all about. Trust me. It's one of the highlights of the 16-Bit. To go through gaming life without knowing how awesome this series is, is crime. Just maybe start with the first one because it seems easiest. You can also avoid getting shot at by strafing or by shooting enemies from as far away as possible that they don't agro you but you can still shoot them. Also, no need to try to beat it in one sitting. Just give it one attempt each day. How I mostly did it back in the day with Urban.

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