Seaquest is yet another stellar arcade-style game from the folks at Activision. The game successfully combines elements of Defender and Choplifter and tosses it into the ocean. You pilot a submarine that rescues divers while fighting off huge fish, man-eating sharks, and enemy submarines. You have a limited supply of oxygen and a maximum capacity … Read more
Episode 12 – This week, I take a look at the Super Monaco GP series on the Sega Genesis and Megadrive, which includes both Super Monaco GP and Ayrton Senna’s Super Monaco GP II. These are both awesomely fun racing games on the Genesis. The audio in the opening sequence is Galvao Bueno of Brazil’s … Read more
Whenever the topic of run & gun games comes up, someone has to mention Contra as the greatest of all time. Contra certainly has it’s place in the genre, but for my money it doesn’t get any better than the Metal Slug series. This first installment in the franchise is set is a modern version … Read more
Golden Axe is one of my favorite games both on the Genesis and in the arcade, so I already knew that I was going to hold this PC Engine CD version to a high standard. The game starts off well enough; an animated cutscene complete with voice over, a title screen than looks more colorful … Read more
Game companies may have decided that Americans were no longer interested in 2D games in the 32 bit era, but in Japan 2D was still alive and well. Elevator Action Returns is an excellent example of the kind of games that we missed out on due to the 3D craze. The game distills the best … Read more
This classic side-scrolling space shooter was one of the first on the NES and is easily one of the best games on the system. What makes Gradius unique is the custom power-up system that it uses. Rather than just giving you an upgraded weapon or shield, the power-ups that you collect can be used to … Read more
Galaga is my favorite arcade game of all time, so when I found out that there was a sequel on the Turbo, I had to play it. Galaga ’90 is actually the fourth title in the series, preceded by Galaxian, Galaga, and the lesser-known Gaplus. Galaxian’s game play was similar to Space Invaders, except that … Read more
Often times, ports of classic arcade titles either include nothing that updates the game or change the game so much that the fun of the original is lost. Ms. Pac-Man for the Genesis does an excellent job of recreating the arcade experience at home while adding several new options that make the game an upgrade … Read more
This, the first version of Tetris on the NES, was pulled off of the shelves only 1 month after it’s debut and is therefore one of the rarest NES games released by a major publisher. Atari had licensed the game from British software publisher Mirrorsoft, who themselves had been granted a home console license from … Read more
Sega Ages is an arcade compilation disc from Sega featuring 3 classic arcade titles; OutRun, Afterburner II, and Space Harrier. All three games are arcade-perfect translations and include options menus which allow you to alter the control scheme, adjust the difficulty level, and listen to music and sound effects, plus a few options specific to … Read more
Sometimes I don’t understand where designers came up with their game ideas back in the classic era. In Spider Fighter you are charged with protecting your fruit orchard from legions of spiders who steal your fruit, which you do by shooting at them with a “bug blaster”. The bugs attack in waves. Each wave begins … Read more
The mother of all vertically-scrolling shoot-em-ups! In River Raid, you control a fighter jet flying at low altitude over a river, shooting tanker ships, helicopters, and other planes while keeping a close eye on your fuel level. Not only can your plane move from side to side, but you can also speed up and slow … Read more
I’m a video pinball junkie so whenever I see a pinball game that I haven’t played before, I have to grab it. I don’t expect much out of a 16-bit pinball game, but this one isn’t half bad. The presentation and menu system are terrible, but once you get into the game itself, it provides … Read more
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
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
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
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
The Sega Saturn was originally scheduled to launch on “Saturnday” September 2nd, 1995, but Sega of Japan insisted on an early launch to get the jump on Sony’s Playstation, also launching that fall. On May 11th at E3, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn was available immediately at select retailers, 4 … Read more