Chris Alaimo During the NES era, two game companies released Ms. Pac-Man cartridges. The game was available from Tengen as one of their easily recognizable black unlicensed carts, while Namco released this licensed version. While the Tengen version included some upgrades in the form of extra mazes and new gameplay options, this release is a straight port … Read more
Vegas Dream is a casino-style gambling game featuring 4 games; blackjack, roulette, keno, and a slot machine. You start off the game with $700, but various events in the game aside from the outcome of gambling itself have an effect on your cash flow. Every so often during the game, you are interrupted by someone … Read more
Released about 6 months after the launch of the Game Boy, this was the first golf game to appear on the system. As is to be expected, you play as Mario and have two course options; USA and Japan. The course design, while not particularly realistic, keeps the game interesting by offering up various challenges … Read more
California Games was not only a launch title, but was the original Lynx pack-in game. Developed by Epyx, a company known primarily for its compilation sports titles, California Games will feel instantly familiar to those who have played any of their previous releases. The game features 4 sports; BMX biking, surfing, half pipe skateboarding, and … Read more
World Grand Prix is a first-party Sega title specifically developed for the Master System, and was part of the console’s North American launch lineup. Although not an official sequel, it is effectively a follow-up to Sega’s 1985 SG-1000 game “GP World”. At first, World Grand Prix seems like nothing more than a Pole Position clone, … Read more
Choplifter is a game that should be familiar to anyone who was playing video games in the 80’s. Originally released on the Apple II in 1982, the game later appeared on almost every gaming platform of the era, including the Atari 5200 and Colecovision, as well as home computers including the Atari 8-bit line and … Read more
Golf was one of four completely forgettable sports titles released with the launch of the NES. The game can either be played single player, or 2-player in stroke or match play format. The game features only one course, but it is a full 18 holes and the holes are varied enough to keep the game … Read more
Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf was the first golf game released for the Genesis. Although the game bears his name and his picture graces the box art, aside from the title screen Arnold Palmer does not appear in the game. In the game’s “Tournament Mode”, you play 12 rounds of golf across three courses; United States, … Read more
PGA Tour 96 was three years and four games ago, but EA is still using pre-rendered environments and digitized player animations. The game runs at a poor frame rate, mostly due to the new fluid camera that follows the path of your ball, which was well intentioned but ultimately makes the game look worse. EA … Read more
Amazingly, for the third year in a row, this game still features the same 14 PGA tour pros, but EA has somehow managed to fit 5 courses onto the disc instead of the two courses included with the previous installments. PGA Tour 98 features the world famous Pebble Beach, TPC at Sawgrass (again), the Colonial … Read more
As the sequel to PGA Tour 96, the 1997 edition had big shoes to fill. EA’s first attempt at a golf sim on the Playstation was nearly flawless, and they could have basically phoned this one in by releasing the same game with two new courses and maybe a couple of new PGA pros. The … Read more
Released shortly after the launch of the Playstation, PGA Tour 96 was the first golf game to appear on the system. For a game that’s 14 years old (as of this writing) the game holds up surprisingly well. The game uses the standard 3-click system common with older golf games. Because the screens are all … Read more
Air Combat is noteworthy not only as a launch title (it was actually released 4 days after the system officially launched), but also as the first installment of the acclaimed “Ace Combat” series. The basic premise of the game is that you are part of a group of mercenary pilots who are hired by a … Read more
I had high hopes for this game. The PGA Tour Golf series had no real competition on the Genesis in the form of other golf sims, so when I saw this game on the shelf at my local game store, my interest was piqued. You can choose from 4 courses; Scotland’s famous St. Andrews , … Read more
This disc was included as a bonus pack-in game with Ridge Racer Type 4, and features the complete Ridge Racer game, plus a scaled down version of the game running at a smooth 60 frames per second, known as “Turbo Mode”. You might not think the difference would be noticeable, considering that the original game … Read more
A year after the release of Ridge Racer, Namco released the follow-up game, Ridge Racer Revolution. The sequel cleans up the graphics a little bit and adds a much-needed rear view mirror. Everything that made Ridge Racer a great game is still present in the sequel, as Namco did little to mess with a winning … Read more
Grid Runner is a capture-the-flag style game in which two players face off against each other on a maze-like grid. To win each round you must capture a pre-determined number of flags, which are placed around the grid, before your opponent does. Throughout the game, one player is “it”, and while “it” the player can … Read more
Ridge racer was a North American launch title, and is a port of the arcade game of the same name. The game features three variations of the same track, a short, easy track and two successively longer and more challenging track variations. While it would have been nice to have three completely different tracks (like … Read more
I’ve probably spent more time playing NHL 97 (albeit on the Playstation) than any other hockey game on any system. In fact, it was one of the main reasons that I finally upgraded to a Playstation from the Sega Genesis. When it came time to review the Saturn version of this game, I was worried … Read more
While NHL 97 looks very bad compared to subsequent EA hockey games, for its time the game was a real leap forward from the 16-bit generation. The players are all large and fully polygonal, but the low polygon count takes away a lot of the detail. The glass over the boards looks more like a … Read more