I wonder why Taito decided to rename Darius Force when bringing it to the US. Did Darius Twin leave such a bad impression that they wanted to distance themselves from it that bad? While I found that game middling it still had its good points. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this: Darius II […]Super Nova
I wonder why Taito decided to rename Darius Force when bringing it to the US. Did Darius Twin leave such a bad impression that they wanted to distance themselves from it that bad? While I found that game middling it still had its good points. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this: Darius II […]
For years I avoided DinoCity, not because I heard that it was a bad game but because I had preconceived ideas about it. The few reviews I read painted it as a shallow platformer for kids and to a certain extent they are right. Looking at the screenshots and that god awful box art I’ll […]
Whenever Rendering Ranger: R2 is mentioned the first topic of discussion is its exorbitant price. With a low print run due to its late release in Japan the game can sometimes run well over a thousand dollars. It’s insane that any game can ever sell for that much but the mystique surrounding RR is something […]
The SNES and Genesis shared many multiplatform games both stateside and abroad yet that wasn’t the case with the Turbo Grafx. The system’s shooter library shared many arcade conversions with the Genesis but none of its games saw a Super Nintendo release, at least in the US. In Japan it was the opposite with many […]
I joined the 32-bit generation a little bit late and so had to make due with my Super Nintendo and Genesis until 1997. While I certainly had nothing to complain about as the later years for both consoles produced some true classics it did start to sting as the more advanced arcade games were no […]
Up until recently a large number of current generation games were still seeing a release on prior platforms, one to leverage the large install base of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 but also because not many had moved on to the newer platforms. This phenomena is not unprecedented however as Capcom began work on […]
While I have thrown my share of vitriol at Akklaim and LJN for their terrible licensed games I would be remiss if I didn’t get around to Ocean. In many ways Ocean were LJN’s European counterpart as they flooded the market over there with garbage. Thankfully we were spared the vast majority of their output […]
Go Go Ackman was something of a surprise for me. Much like in the rest of the world licensed manga and anime games are usually garbage in Japan yet GGA bucked that trend and was a surprisingly well done platformer. Especially considering the manga is only about 60 pages long and mostly consisted of disparate […]
Sengoku was one of those Neo Geo games I always wanted to play in the arcade but because it occupied a spot in a four slot MVS unit that had Samurai Shodown it almost never happened. The one or two times I finally did get to play it I found a pretty good brawler that […]
Of all the genres Capcom covered during their prolific days on the NES they had very rarely dabbled with RPGs. With the possible exceptions of Destiny of an Emperor (which is more of a strategy game) and Willow (action RPG) they seemed pretty content to more or less dominate the action category. As their first […]
1995 saw the 16-bit generation go through a downward spiral as the promise of the new 32-bit platforms could not be ignored. 3-d graphics at home was a big draw along with all the new possibilities it could bring. This left the SNES and Genesis looking a bit long in the tooth as many gamers […]
I have mixed feelings about the various Mobile Suit Gundam series but the one thing I can say for sure is that I hate Gundam Seed. And that I kind of like G-Gundam. G-Gundam absolutely embraces its stupidity and whether I actually like it or not I can at least respect that. The entire premise […]
When the SNES first launched it was kind of funny to see all of the shooters released with crippling slowdown. Some of these were absolutely dire like Super R-Type and Gradius III despite still turning out pretty good. Meanwhile the less ambitious games within the genre turned out alright. Darius Twin is a forgotten relic […]
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is not only one of the most influential action RPGs of all time but also one of the best in gaming history. With that in mind it is a bit odd that it inspired so few clones during the 16-bit era. While most would point […]
I was not fond of Bomberman on the NES. My initial interest in the game mostly came from the fact that the title sounded like the name of a Mega Man boss. So I went into it expecting a fast paced action game and was instead greeted by a plodding maze game. And while that […]
If you were a third party during the 16-bit era it was a prerequisite that you needed some kind of furry mascot to be taken seriously. It’s a silly concept in retrospect but back then a smarmy farm animal in a t-shirt could help your business thrive. Some resisted like Sunsoft but even they eventually […]
While there have been plenty of video games based on Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back oddly enough Return of the Jedi has seen few adaptations, making Super Return of the Jedi all the more distinct. Aside from the pretty cool arcade game and a few obscure PC games the final chapter in the […]
I loved side scrolling action games during the 16-bit era and they were second only to RPGs as my favorite genre. But to an extent the pickings were a bit slim. After loving Contra III, Hard Corps, Alien Soldier, and the various Turrican games what was left were games of middling quality, especially by 1995. […]
Looking back it sucks that Capcom took such a huge bath on the console ports of Super Street Fighter 2 and as such began to cut back on their cartridge based titles as we missed out on a few cool games. If you would have told me at any point in the 90s that a […]
Side scrolling beat em ups were at the height of their popularity in the early 90s with every console not named the Turbo Grafx-16 receiving their fair share. While the SNES had a solid lineup of brawlers some of its best were left behind in Japan such as Undercover Cops and Iron Commando. Melfand Stories […]
Next to shooters platformers are some of the easiest games to import as any semblance of a story is merely window dressing to get you into the game. With platformers being the de facto genre of choice during the early 90s it’s hard to believe a few slipped through the cracks. The Go Go Ackman […]
Years before Sega would bless the world with Burning Rangers and Brave Firefighters the SNES was gifted with a pair of really awesome games about firefighting. The Ignition Factor is heavily underrated and worth tracking down but the true gem is Human Entertainment’s the Firemen. With its almost action RPG structure the Firemen is better […]
The Twinbee style of shooters never really appealed to me, although I must admit that my disdain comes from playing Stinger on the NES. After spending the better part of two hours going to and from the department store to buy a new game only to be greeted by…..that I’m pretty sure soured me on […]
Spriggan Powered is a game I discovered years after having seen the anime Spriggan. As much as I try to associate the two in my brain they have nothing in common aside from the name. As an offshoot of Compile’s incredible PC Engine CD series the game has a lot to live up to. And […]
It’s interesting to look back and see how 2d action titles tried to differentiate themselves. Castlevania relied on its gothic theme and nuanced gameplay while Gunstar Heroes is all about balls to the wall action. With the advent of the 16-bit consoles came better sound chips along with better graphics and some games tried to […]
Darker themed SNES games were not as plentiful as on the Genesis but generally speaking for the most part they were all good. There are many import gems waiting to be discovered such as King of Demons and Jaki Crush but not everything can rise to that level. Ushio to Tora is based on the […]
I think we can all agree that some of the first Neo Geo to SNES and Genesis ports were pretty dire. Fatal Fury suffered heavily in the transition from SNK’s beast of a console, to the point where I’m sure many wondered if faithful conversions of some of the biggest arcade games of the time […]
Where the Turbo Grafx and the Genesis shared many multiplatform shooters the same definitely could not be said with the SNES. It’s an irrefutable fact that the system’s slow processor hampered it when it came to the genre and so most developers wisely chose to either create new titles aimed specifically at either platform or […]
I have to say, as much as I loved side scrolling beat em ups by the mid-90s I was already growing tired of the genre. While we all praised Capcom and Final Fight for laying a foundation that the majority of games would follow we really were not prepared for the glut of crap to […]
Konami’s Rocket Knight Adventures was one of the few mascot platformers to truly bring something new to the table back in 1993 and was able to rise above the sheer overload of terrible, generic platformers to achieve greatness. In a year filled with numerous excellent Genesis titles such as Ecco the Dolphin, Gunstar Heroes, and […]
I loved Joe & Mac, both in the arcade and at home. I wasn’t too fond of the many caveman platformers that seemed to spring up out of nowhere back in the day but I’ll tell you one thing, Joe & Mac was far better than pap like Chuck Rock. A sequel was inevitable but […]
Once Sunsoft gained the Looney Tunes license we all knew the usual suspects would be first at bat in terms of videogame adaptations. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck starred in games of varying quality but it was the less famous of the bunch that would receive the most interesting titles. Taz-Mania used a unique perspective […]
For as much as I associate Irem with shooters and R-Type specifically they released many arcade gems that I so desperately hoped would receive home ports. Blade Master, Gunforce 2, and especially Undercover Cops were all games that I loved in the arcade and the prospect of a SNES or Genesis port for any of […]
Man I really love Smash TV. The twin stick shooter has exploded in popularity in the last decade or so thanks to digital download services and while I’ve enjoyed many of them I’ll admit before the advent of dual analog sticks I sucked at them. Which makes my love of Smash TV all the more […]
I really wanted to like Xardion. I remember seeing the magazine ads in Gamepro and the thought of controlling not one, not two, but three giant robots seemed cool as hell. But somewhere along the way that initial promise (in my mind at least) went wrong and we were left with an average that tries […]
Like platformers starring Cavemen shooters starring witches at one point had their time in the spotlight, at least in Japan. A few would trickle over to the US like Magical Quest yet the granddaddy of them all, the Cotton series, has only seen one lone installment reach the US. Fantastic Night Dreams: Cotton had a […]
When Sega bought publisher Renovation they inadvertently screwed many SNES gamers out of some pretty cool imports. Arcus Odyssey was cancelled (but the full game still exists online), The Journey Home’s localization went kaput, and the subject of this review was also canned. Psycho Dream should have been released here as Dream Probe but sadly […]
Once Super Star Wars was released everyone knew it was a question of when and not if they would produce a sequel. The Empire Strikes Back has gone on to become the most beloved film in the original trilogy and I’m sure many expected the same of the game. It lives up to expectations in […]
After the nightmare of playing the original Turrican on both the Genesis and Turbo Grafx-16 I thought for sure the rest of the world was nuts in their love for this series. I realize to some extent you had to be there at the game’s original release on the Commodore 64 and other UK computer […]
One of the greatest joys of being a gamer is coming across a hidden gem every now and then that is an absolute blast to play. It isn’t as easy for most games to fly under the radar these days due to social media but back in the 80s and 90s we still relied on […]
We should have received Terranigma in America. The localization was complete however Enix had already closed their US office, thanks in no small part to their oddball decisions on what games to bring to America. Robotrek, 7th Saga, and E.V.O. instead of Dragon Quest? Yeah. However the game oddly enough was picked up by Nintendo […]
I really love examining the later games released during any console generation. Once the technology has matured and tool chains have been mastered its nothing short of miraculous what is pulled from aging hardware. Look at Vectorman and the Adventures of Batman & Robin for Genesis. Or Seiken Densetsu 3 and Donkey Kong Country 2 […]
It’s funny, for as much as they are generic I still can’t help but like the Rival Turf/Rushing Beat series. While the first game was generic as all get out Brawl Brothers had a few features I genuinely liked and if it weren’t for the repetition and collision issues I would have rated it […]
The greatest video game of all time. The best overall Super Nintendo game. Masterpiece. Many are the accolades that Super Metroid has received over the years and they are all accurate to an extent. The scary thing is the game really is that good; Super Metroid is one of the best video games ever created […]
The 16-bit generation certainly didn’t need another mascot platformer but any game that at least tried to do something different was appreciated. Plok is a little known platformer from that era that went unnoticed yet managed to introduce elements that would show up in far better games a year or two later. While it has […]
Of all the genres that are hard to go back to pre-3d racing games probably rank first. It’s not to say every 2d racing game is bad but the move to 3d gave the most benefit to the genre. Stand out titles like Super Mario Kart and F-Zero still hold up but for the vast […]
It really is shame that due to licensing issues Macross hasn’t been able to develop a presence in America despite being one of the major series that introduced anime to the US. The series has seen many installments over the years, from Macross 7 to the semi recent Macross Frontier with none of it reaching […]
Once upon a time Virgin Interactive were one of the hottest development studios in the industry. With the likes of Dave Perry, Tommy Tallarico, and Doug Tenapel on their roster they turned out some pretty awesome games, especially with the Disney license. After Capcom and Sega Virgin would continue the quality streak set forth by […]
By 1994 the American arcade was dominated by countless fighting games, light gun shooters and some truly awesome 3d racing games. This left the once popular shooter clearly on the outs, which sucked as that was about the point when some of the most unique games in the genre would hit the market. Fans were […]
Drakkhen was the first SNES RPG I had the misfortune of experiencing. As a PC game ported to console it was certainly unique but its interface and gameplay were more suited to a mouse and keyboard than a controller. Yet I somehow still found it compelling but not enough that I would ever recommend it […]
Hal Laboratory has been an indispensable partner to Nintendo dating as far back as the Famicom era. A diverse developer able to create titles in nearly any genre they have been a Nintendo first party for almost 20 years. But prior to achieving that status they published their own titles as well as developed for […]
Donkey Kong Country hit the industry with a level of hype not seen since the release of Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Brothers 3. With its revival of a long forgotten gaming icon, tight gameplay, arresting visuals, and oh yeah, the insane graphics no one was prepared and it became a monster hit. And […]
While licensed video games have been a staple of the industry almost from its inception sometimes you have to wonder what the hell goes through a publisher’s mind (aside from potentially easy money) when deciding to pick up a particular license. How the hell do you create a compelling video game based around ET anyway? […]
I’ve never been much of an import guy for the simple reason that it is frustrating to play a game without the slightest clue about what’s going on. But there are legions of games where the language barrier is non-existent and these I enjoy. Majuu Ou (or King of Demons) was a late Super Famicom […]
Even with the knowledge that Metal Warriors was developed by Lucas Arts it’s still hard to believe that this is not an official entry in the Assault Suit series. Adding to the confusion is the fact that Konami also published it in the US. Cybernator is a lost classic of the 16-bit era and so […]
I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that the vast majority of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s did not have the money to buy a Neo Geo. At $600 you would have to hold your parents at gunpoint if they even had the cash to spare. So the only way […]
Jaleco is one of the few publishers that I don’t really have a strong opinion of. Throughout the 8 & 16-bit era they released many titles however outside of the Bases Loaded and Rushing Beat series never managed to achieve a breakout hit. It always seemed as though the majority of their output were right […]
You know for as much as I liked arcade games during the 80s and 90s looking back I realize I pissed away a ton of money on games that were gigantic money sinks. I’m not complaining of course; I enjoyed nearly every quarter I sunk into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Black Tiger (a game […]
The Sharp X68000 was an interesting piece of hardware. More powerful than most contemporary video game hardware at the time it was host to many pixel perfect arcade ports; while US gamers argued over whether the Genesis or SNES versions of Street Fighter 2 Turbo had more colors or better sound Sharp owners in Japan […]
As much as I liked to peruse the selection of arcade titles on display at the mall in my youth there were still the deluxe cabinets that remained tantalizingly out of my grasp, be it due to lack of availability or because they were so expensive. I remember seeing photos of the massive G-Loc cabinet […]
Being a Neo Geo fan in the early to mid-90s was a painful proposition for those of us that were only teenagers at the time. You’d love the games in the arcade but to actually own a Neo Geo back then you had to be an adult with a job, rich, or pull a knife […]
By late 1994 fighting games were about to undergo another renaissance due to 3-d technology. Sega’s Virtua Fighter would pave the way and would soon be followed by Namco’s Tekken and a slew of others. But while fighting games would increase in popularity again the beat em up was on the wane. A few stand […]
1993 proved to be a huge year for the side scrolling beat em up as the genre seemed to flourish both in the arcade and on home consoles. SNK’s Sengoku 2, Konami’s lesser known Gaiaopolis, and more importantly Capcom’s the Punisher and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom were either kick ass games or brought […]
Natsume does it again! We were still a few years away from losing them to the Harvest Moon bug in 1993 and so it should come as no surprise that Pocky and Rocky rocks like no other. Cute em ups were all the rage at the time with the likes of Cotton, Magical Chase, and […]
The Gradius style power-up system is one of the most versatile and creative in the history of the shooter genre, so good in fact that many games have cribbed it. Konami themselves have used a variation of it in a variety of spin offs, most notably Salamander and Twin Bee. 2 obviously wasn’t enough so […]
I realize I’ve reviewed quite a few shooters but the shocking truth is growing up I never actively sought them out. Whether they were cheaper than other games or just the hot genre of the moment I don’t remember, I just know that everyone had at least one or two. To stand out in this […]
We’ll more than likely never know why Enix USA was so hell bent on keeping the SNES installments of Dragon Quest in Japan but in the interim they certainly released some very…..esoteric RPGs. Some were interesting takes on established tropes that were marred by balance issues (7th Saga) while others were just plain strange (Robotrek, […]
Who knew that the bug blasting Earth Defense Force series stretched back as far as the SNES? I kid, I kid. Super Earth Defense Force was part of an onslaught of arcade ports that arrived shortly after the SNES launch. There were quite a few shooters in that early lineup, most of them bad but […]
Now here’s an obscure release. There were many heavily Japanese games that were never localized for the SNES; in most cases these games were based on a manga or anime such as Ushio to Tora or King of Demons. Musya is steeped in Japanese folklore which sets it apart from most of its action contemporaries. […]
At the time of SNK’s fighting game renaissance Art of Fighting was one of its most unique series and next to World Heroes less popular. As the next game to follow Fatal Fury and to also back in Street Fighter 2’s light it had its fans but its gameplay systems were probably a bit too […]
With the success of the their Star Wars trilogy of games for the Super NES it only makes sense that Lucas Arts would turn to their second biggest property as the next to receive the all-star treatment. While they had their share of flaws that series would still serve as an excellent template for Indiana […]
I think we have a front runner for the worst box art of all time. Seriously what the hell were they thinking? From a marketing stand point I can see what they were going for: most people would at least pick it up and look at it to figure out what an old dude with […]
Few games have hit the market with the impact of Donkey Kong Country. By the time 1994 rolled around the Genesis had been on the market for 6 years and the SNES was entering its 4th. It was reasonable to assume most developers knew the limits of both consoles but then the Summer CES came […]
With two Kickstarter funded Shadowrun games in the works all I can say is “What took so long?” Of all the properties that have sat languishing in licensing hell why Shadowrun? While we’ve had a near endless procession of terrible Ben 10 and Spongebob games but to date there are only 4 Shadowrun games. With […]
At some point SNK fell completely head over heels with fighting games. Seriously, if fighting games were your favorite genre you needed a Neo Geo, as much as 50-60% of its library is comprised of just that. Had the Neo Geo been reasonably priced (you think the PS3 was bad? Try $600 dollars back in […]
When you examine the differences between the many Genesis shooters and the few that were released for the SNES it basically boils down to two fundamental schools of design. You have your fast action twitch shooters versus a slower, more measured pace. Compare Gradius III to Thunderforce 3 or U.N. Squadron to Gaiares. That’s not […]
Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse was a huge success for Capcom, one in a long line of successful Disney licensed games from their development studios but even more so as it was their first one for a 16-bit console. So it stands to reason that a sequel would follow, cuz we all know just how […]
1995 was an interesting transition year for the gaming industry. The PlayStation, Saturn, and (supposedly) N64 were all set to be released in the fourth quarter meanwhile the SNES and Genesis were still trucking along. That’s not even counting the 3DO, Jaguar, and CDi although all 3 were pretty much irrelevant by that point. While […]
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out was an international phenomenon and something of a cultural touchstone in America for every child of the 80s. If you watch any retrospective of that decade chances are Punch-Out! will come up. Even A-list celebrities have played the game, that’s how popular it was. The question is how do you follow that […]
There sure were a lot of shooters in the first year of the SNES’ life. I realize it was the hot genre at the time but even taking that into consideration, god damn. Most publishers would eventually back off when faced with the system’s slow processor but there were quite a few gems released in […]
By now I suppose everyone is familiar with Captain Commando through his cameo appearances in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. But I doubt many are familiar with his original arcade and console debut. Captain Commando’s appearances have been so sparse he might as well have been a new character by 1999. So in the face […]
Remember how over used Mode 7 was at the beginning of the SNES life? Dear god most developers showed little restraint shoving it in their games! Did we really need the gratuitous map zoom in Actraiser? Personally I didn’t really care if Master Higgins was swallowed by a giant scaling whale but whatever. For every […]
It’s hard to believe that Ninja Gaiden was once a forgotten property during the 16-bit era like Metal Gear and Rygar. These were all beloved NES classics screaming for an update but none would appear. In the case of Metal Gear it’s understandable; realistically what advancements to the series could they have added with the […]
Nowadays anyone that remembers the Aero Fighters series knows it for one of two things: the bat shit crazy story and characters of later installments or the ridiculous prices the rare third installment commands on Ebay. How or why the series went off the rails no one knows but it is a far cry from […]
Robocop vs. Terminator. Freddy vs. Jason. These things go together like Chocolate and Peanut Butter. All of these smashups not only seemed like good ideas but were also inevitable. At the end of Predator 2 when an alien skull was counted among the Predator’s trophies fans knew; it was on. So when the first slate […]
You know I miss Vic Tokai. They were never as mainstream as Capcom, Konami, or Sunsoft but they published many quirky and otherwise excellent little gems like Clash at Demonhead and Golgo 13. Granted the video game division was only a small part of a much larger conglomerate but their presence is missed. One of […]
It’s funny but the SNES never had its Shinobi counterpart. There were numerous Ninja games to be sure, such as the Ninja Warriors or Legend of the Mystical Ninja but never a straight action masterpiece on the level of Shinobi 3. It’s a noticeable hole in the system’s library, one that Hudson Soft and Red […]
With the close of the 8-bit era all eyes turned to Capcom to see what they would do with their Disney license. Sunsoft had already moved on and acquired the Looney Tunes license and begun to release games of varying quality. The majority of Capcom’s 8-bit releases ranged from excellent to classic. So it was […]
It’s hard to believe kids today have no knowledge of or exposure to the Tiny Toons Adventure characters. I mean back in the early 90s this was huge. After well over a decade of simply showing reruns of the classic Looney Tunes characters Warner Brothers, in collaboration with Steven Spielberg created a new batch of […]
Oh Natsume. Most modern gamers know Natsume as the publisher of a never ending stream of Harvest Moon games and related spin offs. This isn’t a bad thing, my hats off to the developers as they’ve somehow managed to make a game ostensibly about farming fun. But for those of us who grew up in […]
This was certainly an odd one to port to a home platform. I realize when new consoles are launched its more or less anything goes in terms of what games are available but in 1991 a very “PC” RPG in terms of interface was not what everyone expected. Drakkhen was one of the first RPG’s […]
Sometimes it’s the most unlikely concepts that hook you. It happened with Tetris; sure you can obviously see why it was so addicting but back in the 80’s no one thought simply completing lines with geometric shapes could take over the world. Along the same lines Taito’s Cameltry allowed you to manipulate a marble by […]
Who would have thought a simple racing game made with crude Mode 7 effects would go on to become one of the most beloved series in gaming? Mario had somewhat of a reputation for starring in games other than platformers, such as Wrecking Crew, Dr. Mario, and even the referee in Mike Tyson’s Punchout so […]
Once upon a time David Perry was part of an incredible team at Virgin Interactive who were capable of turning any license into gold. The likes of McDonalds, Disney, and Warner Bros. were graced by their hands and in 1993 they created their strangest product yet, Cool Spot. There is no story, all you […]
Talk about flying under the radar. Sony Imagesoft weren’t known for putting out quality games during the 16-bit era; I’m talking drek like Cliffhanger and Last Action Hero. Every so often the planets would align and we were graced with classic gems like Hook or Mickey Mania. However few were even aware of this classic […]
What an utterly forgettable game. This wasn’t exactly a beloved classic in the arcade so why Irem thought that would change with a home port is beyond me. And it was released the same year as Contra III! Holy shit, can you imagine someone looking at the back of the box for both games and […]
It’s an understatement to say that Capcom disappointed everyone with the SNES port of Final Fight. The missing 2 player coop, levels, and character smacked of a rushed product. And then they did it all over again with Final Fight Guy, which instead of adding him to the game removed Cody in his place. The […]
Time certainly can be cruel. I remember Valis as a kick butt series of action games for each platform they graced. However as time passed and the bar was raised they were simply competent in the face of such classics as Earthworm Jim, Gunstar Heroes, etc. While Valis IV is one of the stronger entries […]
When you think about it, of all the obscure licenses that were turned into fighting games in the mid 90s the Ninja Turtles made the most sense. Between the two comic book series and the cartoon there are a wealth of characters to throw down with. While the Sega was a valiant attempt the SNES […]
It was only a matter of time before George Lucas would bring his Star Wars licensing monster to the 16-bit consoles and the SNES was the lucky recipient of the onslaught. Super Star Wars was the first, naturally, and would set the tone for the ones to follow. Considered one of the best games in […]
As big as the Gundam craze is in Japan it took nearly 20 years before the mega franchise would hit US shores, meaning there are an army of related video games that we missed as a result. Now, in all fairness most of them suck but it would have been nice to get the few […]
In 1994 Capcom were on a roll with the X-Men license. The arcade was graced with X-Men: Children of the Atom while the home market had this little gem. Not only did it do the comics justice it also wiped away the stink of the prior game, Spider-Man/X-men – Arcade’s Revenge. I honestly was […]
It’s not a stretch to say that Final Fight did to the arcade beat em up what Street Fighter 2 did for fighting games. It was electrifying. There had been plenty of exemplary games prior to it but none that exhibited the level of production values and polish of Capcom’s classic. So when it was […]
The early days of the SNES saw many arcade ports, most of which were somewhat designed to show off the power of the new console. Gradius III was one of those early games that managed to do just that while also falling flat on its face. Despite that it still manages to be a good […]
Capcom has had a long history with side scrolling beat em ups. Most credit them with popularizing the genre with Final Fight but they also released plenty of other games released around the same time, such as Magic Sword and King of Dragons. Like the aforementioned games Knights of the Round attempted to add RPG […]
In the early 90s licensed beat em ups were all the rage in the arcade. Capcom, Konami, and a host of other third parties spun gold out of such obscure licenses such as Buck O’ Hare and Asterix. In 1991 Data East dropped the bombshell that was Captain America and the Avengers in the arcade […]
Now this is how it’s supposed to be done! Good shooters were few and far on the SNES thanks to that slow processor so when a truly exceptional game in the genre appeared it was cause for celebration. Even considering the series pedigree R-Type III is one of the best games in the franchise with […]
I never saw King of Dragons in the arcade back in 1991 but I’m sure if I had I would have loved it. When Capcom announced a home port in 1994 I looked forward to it for a number of reasons. I like beat em ups and combining it with the fantasy genre seemed […]
Joe & Mac was a fun if flawed action romp released early in the SNES’s life and was a pretty damn good if rushed arcade port. Congo’s Caper, a little known platformer released the following year was actually a sequel developed exclusively for the home market and continued the tradition despite being a strange game. […]
Hironobu Sakaguchi. Yuji Hori. Akira Toriyama. Three names, each a giant in their respective field. Years before Square and Enix would merge they were at odds with one another with their respective franchises, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. So the thought of both companies pooling their resources to create what could almost be labeled as […]
It’s not very often that a launch title for a new console can withstand the test of time. More often than not most launch games are shallow experiences that aim to coast by on sheer wow factor in terms of graphics. The SNES was fortunate in this regard since it had two groundbreaking titles as […]
Racing games during the 16-bit era were an interesting animal. 3-D had yet to take the market by storm, being relegated to expensive arcade cabinets. The advent of Mode 7 and various other scaling methods to simulate a 3-d plane were fascinating to say the least. One of the most striking attempts was Super Off […]
Well what do we have here? The Rival Turf trilogy of games overall were pretty decent. While they didn’t reinvent the genre they still provided awesome beat em up action in the same vein as Final Fight or Streets of Rage. The first in the series, however, is not a good game. I mean […]
If you look around the internet you’ll read various horror stories of Battletoads, the game that ruined childhoods across the globe. With its technically proficient graphics and engaging gameplay it stood poised to be a phenomenon like the Ninja Turtles except for one fatal flaw: it was too fucking hard. I can guarantee 90% of […]
Ah Turtles in Time. It’s a bit of an understatement when I say I spent illegal amounts of time playing it back in the day. The original Turtles arcade game was awesome, and in my mind that meant this would be too. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have an arcade or mom and pop store […]
The early months of the SNES’s launch saw a slew of developers shoehorn Mode 7 effects into their games for no discernable reason. Seriously, how many games in the first year did the “zoom into the map” effect? Not that I blame them, it was an easy effect used to dazzle tween minds across the […]
It’s amazing what a graphical face lift can do for a game. I was never fond of the Adventure Island games on NES or their Master System counterpart, Wonder Boy (the whole lineage between the two will break your brain trust me). However when the series made its 16-bit debut on the SNES it made […]
Shooters on the SNES were usually painful affairs, full of unnecessary slowdown in a genre known for its twitch action and break neck pacing. That isn’t to say the system wasn’t capable; on the contrary, many exclusives designed specifically for it were stellar. The arcade ports were usually the games that suffered the most. Play […]
At a time when most series were being held back for their 32-bit debut Capcom decided to give Mega Man X one last hurrah on the SNES. Mega Man X3 was released at the tail end of the system’s life in the US and is among its last major releases. As absurd as it sounds […]
It was a foregone conclusion. It took Capcom many years to bring Mega Man to the SNES and when they did rather than retread the same ground they created a new character with a new continuity. Mega Man X reinvigorated the franchise with some much needed improvements to the well trodden formula. We all know […]
Throughout the 16-bit era almost every major franchise saw an update. These iterations used the advanced features of the consoles of the time to really go to town and flesh out the original creators intentions. From Mario to Castlevania to the Ninja Turtles your favorite gaming heroes were stepping out in style. But one icon […]
While most of developer Quintet’s SNES output focused on creating/recreating the world, Illusion of Gaia bucked that trend and instead focused on discovery. The second in the unofficial creation trilogy Illusion of Gaia continued the steady progression in quality with excellent action, higher production values and strong writing. Illusion of Gaia was released by Enix […]
Whatever happened to Caveman video games? It’s a weird tangent to start on but at one point there were an assortment of Neanderthal heroes across the video game landscape, protecting us from the animal mascot menace. The likes of Chuck Rock, Bonk, Big Nose the Caveman, and even puzzle games like the Humans were all […]
The R-Type series is famous for a number of reasons. Ball busting difficulty, unique weapons and that infamous alien that adorns the box art doesn’t hurt either. Most popular in the arcades the original R-Type was ported to nearly every home console of the time with varying degrees of success. With its later release […]
It’s always a shame when an outstanding game goes completely under the radar. We would like to believe if a game is good enough it will find an audience. This isn’t always the case, with many of the highest rated games being ignored at retail. This occurs frequently during the holiday season as every publisher […]
Early on in my RPG fandom I was willing to play anything regardless of reputation. This led to discovering many an unappreciated gem, such as Dragon View or Magic of Scheherazade. Then there are the games that were decent but the only reason you bothered playing them were availability. Lagoon falls squarely into that second […]
In 1992 Disney’s Aladdin was practically the movie event of the year. Featuring fantastic animation and a wonderful story it was one of the most successful movies of the year which meant a deluge of video games were soon to follow. The Sega game garnered the most attention, and rightfully so, but the SNES game […]
It was a crying shame when Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was passed over for US release. The TG-16 had floundered in North America but still everyone hoped that the series high profile would afford it a bit of leeway. We all should have known better: if Street Fighter Championship Edition wasn’t brought over no way […]
The early years of the SNES life were a pretty magical time. Many beloved franchises received new installments, usually with the Super moniker to remind you that now you’re playing with power. Super power. While the vast majority of those games were good, one game that was truly exceptional and deserving of the Super moniker […]
I have a love and hate relationship with the Ghouls and Ghosts series. When the games are good they are phenomenal. When they’re bad they are some of the most god awful terrible games known to man. The NES port of the arcade game is one of the most frustrating games created and should be […]
When you think of Atlus more than likely images of the niche RPGs they have published over the years are conjured up. For the longest time that has been their MO, nabbing games no one else wants and localizing them. And they’re quite good at it. Recently they have started to branch out into other […]
Before the PlayStation busted open the floodgates for RPGs in America the SNES was the reigning champion of the genre. While we didn’t get the breadth of titles the PS One eventually would, there was still quite a selection to choose from. Enix of America was a very active publisher at the time despite […]
Love them or hate them, licensed videogames are a permanent part of the industry. Anyone can see the attraction of a popular license: a built in fan base that will (hopefully) carry over to the videogame landscape and give its publisher massive amounts of money. The majority of the time this never works as planned, […]
I remember wanting to play the Journey Home so bad but fate decided it was not meant to be. An interesting bit of history behind this game. Once scheduled for release in the US it was cancelled when Sega bought out its publisher, Renovation. Man what a dick move. There were a few reviews of […]
A Hollywood blockbuster in video game form. That’s the simplest way to describe Contra III. Take everything from summer action movies, the explosions, the booming soundtrack, and distill it down to its essence and you have the Alien Wars. By this point the Contra series had achieved iconic status so the game was highly anticipated, […]
We live in an era right now where, through the wonders of modern gaming technology, we can create any possible game world you can imagine in 3d. From fantasy to hard sci-fi if you can picture it you can create it, and quite beautifully I might add. But things weren’t always like this. There was […]
Just as it took years for the Mega Man X series to get its start on the SNES, the continuation of the original series did not come until the tail end of the SNES lifespan in the US. Mega Man 7 was released in 1995 and unlike before is the only game in the main […]
Buying a licensed video game nowadays is like playing Russian Roulette in that more often than not you’ll end up with a giant turd. But once upon a time that wasn’t the case! The likes of Capcom and Konami spun video game gold out of some of the most unlikely licenses, especially Disney. You could […]
