This is most definitely a trip down memory lane which I am going to relish. Looking back at some of the old Amiga games I used to play, it’s funny how many come back to surprise you and also some that shock you. I am hoping that the mix of games will at least give you an idea of the wealth of titles, the vast array of styles and a feel for what makes me love this machine so much.

Oooooooo the controversy.....

Just out of interest I have decided to exclude Kick Off 2 from this list, purely because I have banged on about it in the past and I’d like to save it for a footie retrospective once we get to the 2012 European Championships in the summer.

So away we go with our first batch of Amiga games…..

ALIEN BREED – With an overhead viewpoint, which was fairly common back then, and with the sort of title that would be a precursor to horror survival games, Alien Breed was a breakthrough for the software house Team 17. Heavily influenced by the Alien films, you had to battle your way through corridors collecting keys to open doors and escape the level. Your path is blocked constantly by hordes of alien monsters which you have to keep blasting to continue. It’s a real cross between the classic Gauntlet games and Alien the film, but it works. It is tense and dimly lit, the sound effects are creepy and the graphics, while on the small side, are well defined and animated. It’s a tough old game too and was successful enough to warrant a couple of sequels and more recently a couple of current gen makeovers. Make no mistake about it though, this is the definitive Alien Breed game.

BC KID – If you remember the PC Engine console which only ever got a proper full release in Japan but was wowing readers of C&VG and the like back in 1989, you would have seen a prehistoric-themed platform romp called PC Kid. A full 3 years later a version arrived on the Amiga which looked every inch a great conversion of the original game. It’s the usual platform fare with the unique idea that BC Kid goes round headbutting things, rather than the usual Mario idea of jumping on stuff. It’s pretty simplistic stuff and given the late release date (1993 was pretty late in the Amiga’s lifespan) it doesn’t make the best use of the Amiga’s technology. That said, there were many worse platformers around than this but you’d be better off hunting down the original PC Engine version.

CIRCUS GAMES – I’ve always been fascinated by curious games such as this. You get to try your hand at various circus acts such as tightrope walking, riding a horse standing up and flying through the air with the greatest of ease on the trapeze. I guess my nature is to find out just how much fun a computerised version of those things would be, seeing as I have absolutely no interest in doing them for real. Sadly, unless the thrill of endless disc swapping, broken controls, a high difficulty level and the raging feeling inside that you want to punch the next clown you see are how one should feel then don’t play this game. Sometimes it’s best to remain curious and not to know.

DAYS OF THUNDER – Oh joy, yet another film tie in designed to rob you of your cash whilst the game producers sit back and count their profits. Chances are, if you owned an Amiga you’d have a copy of this game because the damn thing was eventually bundled with the machine as part of the various freebie software packages. The only thing this has in common with the awful Tom Cruise film is the racing aspect – so no stolen encounters with Nicole Kidman whilst Maria McKee warbles in the background. The car driving aspect of the game sucks like never before, with everything moving at a rate of 1 frame per second. It’s just too slow to be enjoyable and before you know it it’ll be consigned to memory, never to be resurrected again. Pretty much like the film really. God this game sucks…..

E-MOTION – Right up there in the top 5 of games my Dad has played. That list may stand at perhaps 10 games in the whole history of time. This was a rather novel attempt to make a puzzle game of a different sort, whilst trying to throw a bit of Einstein in there. It’s basically a cross between snooker and the old game Thrust, where you have to link the coloured balls together to clear the screen. Make a mistake and the balls start multiplying. If you are really careless (like me) then you’ll end up with a screen full of balls, a lot of screen slowdown and no chance of completing the level because of the time limit. It is quite a fun game but you get the feeling it’s a bad trip someone had when they dropped a load of acid and then played Asteroids. It gets quite tough quite quickly and the time limits really are unfair. Still if you fancy a weird puzzler then you can do a lot worse than this.

FACE OFF – Ice hockey games really didn’t hit their stride until the EA NHL series on the Mega Drive so this early entry from Anco didn’t quite do the sport justice. You get the feeling, after the success of Kick Off, this was rushed out hoping to have the same winning formula. It’s all a bit rough around the edges, with some lazy programming. The controls aren’t the best and the visuals and sounds are of a very average nature. There are plenty of options but you really need a grasp of the rules, especially so if you play it with the fouls turned on. If that’s the case then you’ll spend alot more time hearing the disc drive load the “sin bin” scene over and over again. Is it a fair effort ? Not really, you are definitely better off with the EA console games than seeking this one out.

The Commodore Amiga – a phrase that brings tears of happiness to the eyes of myself. Oh how many happy hours were wiled away in front of my monitor playing on a computer system which had been purchased purely for educational purposes. Yeah right, as if that was going to happen. You know that’s gone out of the window when your Dad starts buying American Civil War games and wants you to come off so he can have a quick pop at E-Motion.

The sort of photo that weeps nostalgia - many happy hours were spent loading this up

If the Spectrum was the must have for the 8-bit era, then the Amiga was it’s 16-bit era alternative, at least until the rise of the consoles in the early 1990’s. PC’s were not yet fully functioning games machines and they cost a fortune. You could have gone for an Atari ST, but for some reason that machine never really stayed in the imagination of gamers once the power of the Amiga took over. I remember people at school having ST’s and I was the only one with an Amiga. Within 18 months that had changed and there was barely an ST owner out there.

The Amiga could boast having superior sound and fabulous looking visuals. It is one thing to hear speech on an 8-bit game for the first time, but great swathes of speech were found on the Amiga. Throw in support from all the major software players of the day – EA, Ocean, US Gold, Elite, Gremlin, Domark, Activision (OK maybe scrub that last one) – the computer went from strength to strength, despite it costing well over £100 more than the ST. It seemed people were quite happy to pay that bit extra back in the day.

On the left one of the best computers ever made, and on the right some vague pale imitation from Atari

That’s not to say the Amiga was perfect. Games used to come on anything up to 10 floppy discs, which meant you needed a second, external, floppy drive to cut down on disc swapping. Those infernal password protect systems, designed to cut down on piracy, had you scanning through the manuals or playing around with the included wagon wheels so you could get the correct code to actually get into the damn game. All very commendable but it didn’t stop games being swapped rapidly in playgrounds around the country. There was also a sense with some games that they looked great but played crap, substituting the audio and visual aspect for actual playability. It was also the case that the Amiga suffered from lazy porting of games from the ST, meaning some inferior conversions not making use of the extra technology available.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the basic model was 512K and as the Amiga grew more popular the need to have at least 1MB of memory got bigger, so much so you had to fork out an extra £30 to buy the memory needed. Oh yes, and it needed a TV modulator to play games on your TV set, otherwise you’d need to fork out a couple of hundred quid for a decent monitor. Yes, 16 bit games may have been the way to go but the move did require a hefty cash investment from gamers – as ever!

Advertising has absolutely no affect on me at all. Ever.

The Amiga seemed to go from strength to strength. While the Atari ST 520 was upgraded to 1040 to show off more powerful capabilities, Commodore decided to add to the Amiga range. You could have an Amiga 500 in 512K or 1MB version, the Amiga 500+ (a disaster as a lot of old software wouldn’t work on it), the Amiga 600 (slightly better, with more backward compatibility) and the Amiga 1200 (with designated software titles that you could only play on a 1200 and the capability to install a hard drive meaning you could store data on it, making it more like a PC).

It is an era I remember fondly, with the dross games far being outweighed by the glorious games that memories are made of. So during the course of this month I shall look back at a few games, some good, some not so good, and hope that you will revel in them as much as I do.

Let the Games begin…….

Don't worry there won't be any athletics involved, just good old fashioned joystick and mouse action

The weather in March was lovely. Now we have entered April the weather has turned for the worse. Hail, thunder and torrential rain coupled with colder than average temperatures can mean only one thing. Yes, it’s Car Boot season once again. Ah yes you can almost smell the hotdogs and burgers from the comfort of your own room. Never has there been more fun from being crammed into a tiny field at 7am on a Sunday morning than by going to a booty.

A perfect site for sore retro eyes - there be bargains to be had out there !

So here are a few tips to keep you on your guard during the next few months :

1. Always take a small bag or rucksack with you. I made this mistake many times believing that it was either too late in the season to get any bargains or there won’t be any booters around because it was holiday season. Never underestimate what might be there.
2. Park as close as you can to the car boot as is possible. Nothing hurts more than carrying round a boxed Nintendo Gamecube Donkey Konga set, as I experienced 3 years ago. You can’t always park close but if you do make a large purchase like that don’t man up and think that because you only have a few rows to go it won’t hurt. It does.
3. Get there early. I know some of these things start at stupid o’clock but even arriving an hour after the boot starts means you are likely to have missed something. These places are full of traders and specialists who will be there when Dawn cracks. If you want the best stuff, get there early.
4. Get in early. Almost the same as above. Don’t leave something to chance as in “I’ll come back later”. If it is something you want, buy it there and then. It won’t be there later.
5. Use your own judgement. If you think you are paying too much for something then say so. It’s always best to barter, after all that is what car booting is all about. In most cases the seller will have added a couple of quid to the asking price so if you knock them down they are still getting a good deal. I should take my own advice sometimes – I tend to consider the price and think if it’s fair I’ll pay it. If it’s too much I’ll walk away rather than haggle.
6. Watch out for traders. You’ll know who they are. These are the ones who have priced high and won’t move on it because then you will be eating into their profit margin. Occasionally you can get a good deal if you buy a few things but on most occasions if it is priced highly it is priced to sell and not to be knocked down.
7. Check the condition. This is particularly with disc based games. No one is going to shout at you if you want to look at the state of a disc. If they do, then they have something to hide. Always check the contents of the box too because you might not be getting what you think you are buying, but then again I have had the odd bonus find with an extra disc inside.
8. Be sensible. Nothing pisses people off more at a car boot than someone being aggressive when it comes to haggling on prices. It’ll get you short shrift and leaves a nasty taste in everyone’s mouth. Bite your tongue if someone is being a wanker and move on, don’t get involved and start anything. It will only end in tears. Some of these places are very well marshalled and some I have been to have police officers close at hand.

There are also a couple of tips if you fancy parting with any of your collection :

1. Be realistic with your pricing. Not everyone goes to a booty with £100 in their pocket so just consider this if you think marking up your dusty PS2 with a few FIFA and WWE games at £25 is going to attract many buyers. It won’t and you’ll end up taking it back home. If you want to make that sort of profit then shove it on eBay. Go to a booty, price sensibly so you make a few quid and enjoy it.
2. Beware the trader. We’ve touched on these guys before and they will become very persistent in wanting your stuff before it goes on sale. As soon as you arrive they’ll be hovering round your car, peeking inside and asking questions. You can either do two things – give in or sit inside and wait until they have gone. They’ll want your stuff and will pay only a fraction what you want for it, and you will guarantee walking around afterwards they’ll be selling it on their stall – at a much higher price than you sold it to them. Hold your ground and be strong.
3. Be kind. If someone is trying to rip you off – and this applies to selling as well – just a few kind words and send them on their way. The last thing you want to do is get into a scrap at a booty. If they try and knock down your prices, go with it and drop if you can. If you can’t, say so and be honest. If they get all aggressive about it, just be polite. Don’t let people bully you either – after all unless you are trading or selling for charity you have your own limits set and if they don’t agree with them that is their problem.
4. Do your research. It’s always best to try a few boot fairs as a buyer and see how busy they are. Do some internet searches as well and see if you can find popular sites. The last thing you should do is join a gaming forum and ask people where good ones are. Chances are most retro gamers won’t reveal where they go for fear of an influx of buyers. There is, most definitely, a difference between standing in a field and making a decent wad and standing in a field and making 12 sales all day, believe me I had the latter happen because I didn’t do my research. A good source of information is the local free paper as there always a few adverts about upcoming and long running events

So there you go. This is not a definitive list by any standards, nor should it be taken as gospel. This is simply me passing on my experiences to you. The best advice of all, buying or selling, is to simply go and have a good day and pick up some great bargains or make a few quid.

Now get out there and grab a bargain before they are all gone.....or I get there first

As we say goodbye to the Mega Drive, in closing it is worth saying that this is one of my most favourite machines ever. It looked cool, it played your arcade favourites and brought some arcade quality into the home, producing new gems such as Streets of Rage and Sonic that are iconic masterpieces of video games programming.

We've played some classics and we've had some fun but for Sega Mega Drive March Madness we must move on

Of course there are the downsides too. Each game cost around £40.00, it suffered from some lazy conversions compared to the SNES, the Mega Drive II wasn’t as cool as the original console and at the end of the day it was being flogged to death for every last drop of technological advancement it had (the Mega CD and 32X)

One final thought – when the Mega Drive first launched in Japan it was possible to import Mega Drives into the UK Legally. These were known as “grey imports” which led to much confusion. We all thought the Mega Drive was black and wondered if we did get one, it would be a dodgy grey coloured version. Oh how we had much to learn……..and we all waited for the original UK release. Well my mates did, I had to wait until 1994 to buy a second hand version from a chap at college.

Anyway I digress – here are the final few Mega Drive March Madness games………..

SUPER KICK OFF – It’s probably worth remembering that 50% of the games with the word SUPER stuck in front of them were rubbish and the other 50% were great. So how do you go about making the world’s best football game even better ? Well not by sticking the word SUPER in front of it because never have I had a more disappointing gaming experience than when I played this. I couldn’t believe that Kick Off could have two such differing versions. The controls are abysmally awful with the ball constantly running away from you. Everything moves too slowly and the graphics are inferior to the Amiga version. The main thing it lacks is playability and that is what made Kick Off great. I hate to say it but Sensible Soccer happily thrashes Super Kick Off when you put them up against each other.

SUPERMAN : THE MAN OF STEEL – Usually I can find words to summarise a game, good or bad. It might end up with the same old phrases being trotted out, but it comes from the heart. So how do I honestly critique a game which is as average as Clark Kent, about as interesting as watching paint dry and guaranteed to make your enthusiasm for the Man Of Steel wane faster than the excitement of the ability to leap tall buildings with a single leap ? I’m afraid I just did. Move along please, there is nothing to see here……..

THUNDERFORCE 3 – Far too freakin’ hard for the likes of me. It looks fabulous but suffers from graphical slowdown when too much is going on. No matter how many times I had a go at it I couldn’t get any further and threw down my joypad, tears running down my face. I can’t handle games of this intensity, so it’s one for die hard fans of the shoot em up genre and back to silly effeminate looking platform games for me…..If that wasn’t depressing enough, this is regarded as being the easiest in the series !!!

TURRICAN – Anyone who has played this game would have instantly been struck by how fluid it played, how good it looked and the pretty cool soundtrack. The weapons were ace with the rotating fire being the best choice. The way Turrican looked and moved was pretty amazing. The whole intergalactic look was a big hit with gamers and underneath was a very playable game with some real depth to it. The one problem Turrican had on the Mega Drive was that it was simply a straight port of the Amiga version, some near 2 years before. As such, games had moved on quite a lot since then and, compared to the look of Mega Turrican a few years later, the two could be world’s apart. Worth a look though, definitely.

VR TROOPERS – One thing the Mega Drive was full of was sub par Street Fighter type games that simply failed to capture any imagination or originality before being released. This is a fine example of that, a cash-in on the Power Rangers spin off a-like that were plaguing us in the mid 1990’s. So awful is this game that there is absolutely nothing to see here, even if you are a fan of the series. It should be given a wide berth at all costs. This is a sanitised, almost anti Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat game that fails to achieve anything at any level. Avoid.

WOLVERINE : ADAMANTIUM RAGE – I am not all that convinced that as time has gone on there have been that many successful X-Men games. So taking the most popular character and giving him his own game was a rather bold move. Saddling him with adequate graphics and sounds might win favour in some courts, but when you then chuck in appallingly hard levels, impossibly difficult computer AI and some clunky controls, the gaming experience will make wish you had claws coming out of your own hands to poke your own eyes out.

ZOOL – Finally a game which wowed Amiga owners who were desperately seeking an answer to the console dominance of Mario and Sonic. There was nothing as fast or as colourful as Zool and when the game appeared on the Mega Drive nothing had changed. However, console owners were less than impressed by the over sensitive controls, the samey gameplay and the garish graphics. There were many pretenders to Sonic’s throne over the years, and perhaps Zool is the one that should have come closest to taking the crown. The fact it was so far from the mark was one that had many games experts scratching their heads in disbelief.

It’s only appropriate on Mother’s Day to post this article. Why ? Well back in the day having seen this following piece of kit shown off in all the magazines and through adverts on the TV, you would have been pestering your Mum to get this for you. And boy you’d be in for a crushing disappointment. It’s the Sega Mega CD….

This should have been the next great technological leap, but ended up being a big step backwards

When a console reaches the end of it’s life cycle in these technologically advanced days, companies will look to the future and bring out a new improved machine to replace it. Granted, this could take a few years of development and testing but once a console’s time has come, it has come and the end is not far off. Back in the day, companies would look to add-ons and expansions to their existing machines to squeeze as much life out of it as possible.

Take the Super Nintendo – not only was there the Super Scope (a rocket launcher light gun type thing) and the Super Game Boy (which allowed you to play Game Boy games on the SNES) – but there were also certain other “adaptors” of a dubious third party nature that would let you play NES games too. The Mega Drive was also no stranger to having bits bolted on, and in this series of articles we shall briefly highlight some of those addons. First up, The Mega CD…..

Released late in 1991, the Mega CD was designed to take gaming to higher levels and provide better graphics and sounds to enhance the gaming experience. This was the first console ever to deliver data on an optical disk. The use of FMV, or Full Motion Video, was very much taken on board and used as much as possible. Also by putting games onto CD’s more and more data would be able to be used and, as such, games should have been a whole lot better. Chuck in a fully functional CD player and you have a pretty dynamic piece of kit.

As always Sega did a grand job in promoting the heck out of the Meag CD but the public simply weren't buying it

However whilst all this sounded mind blowingly awesome back in 1991 when it was launched, the actuality of it all was something of a Mega disappointment. Developers were somewhat surprised by the capacity of the CD’s and after spending so long programming for cartridges, simply did not make enough use of the extra storage available. The decision to incorporate as much FMV as possible was also an error, whilst this might have looked impressive it was very limited in function and most of the games which used a lot of FMV were generally panned.

That’s not to say the system was a total loss. Like the versions of Sonic that appeared on the Master System and Game Gear that were different from the Mega Drive original. Different Mega CD versions of Earthworm Jim and Spiderman Vs The Kingpin saw extra levels and scenes slotted in, and Sonic CD was for many probably the best Sonic game ever (which incidentally has been re-released on XBOX Live and Playstation Network to rave reviews).

At least current gen fans will get to enjoy the beauty and brilliance of Sonic CD after it's release on the PSN and XBOX Live

The Mega CD never realised it’s potential and for many games owners shelling out for a console and expensive games, it was a fad too far. The technology in place was perhaps at the wrong end of the life cycle and found itself struggling to compete with the very markets it was looking to push into, namely competing with PC games. Although initially sales were good, Sega had already turned their attention to other add-ons and had one eye on the next generation of consoles, with the Sega Saturn becoming their next disk based machine to be released a few years later.

Next time we will take a look at the 32X……

This might have looked extreme but if you plugged in all the Sega add ons it would have looked exactly like that

With the fragile future of GAME hanging in the balance, it seemed only appropriate to say a few words in passing whilst with each day that goes by we wonder if the retail giant is heading towards it’s own Game Over….

This week could spell the end for GAME and Gamestation

Being a gamer it is almost impossible to ignore the continual slide and slow demise of the Game group over the last few months. I have thought long and hard about writing this article, but with news over the weekend that there is likely to be no rescue package and that the company will be left to wither away, I felt it was time to chuck in my two cents and say what I really think about it all.

Sadly the way we now do our shopping has changed so much since the rise of the internet. Online buying and selling has become the norm, which has played a huge part in the demise of Game. All of a sudden, a whole world of competition that was not there back in 1992 is rife in 2012. Consumers simply have more choice, more options and if they so wish they can do all this from the comfort of their armchairs, beds, gardens and even on the move in buses, cars or trains.

Mobile phones and shopping now go hand in hand - it was only a few years ago we were discovering the delights of shopping via computer

There will be some who will not be sad to see Game go. Years of bizarre pricing strategies have seen consumers head elsewhere, something that HMV has also seen. You can now even buy games in your local supermarket and usually at a much cheaper price. Huge amounts of second hand stock held by Game is now being shipped out and sold off really cheaply to raise cash and reduce their liabilities. If this company, which insists on having 2 or 3 shops from the same group mere yards from each other in some places, would only have looked at the costs involved in doing so they may have wondered if they had actually been doing themselves any favours over the years.

It was only 25 years ago your local newsagent would be stocking C64 and Spectrum games, meaning you wouldn’t have far to go to get your gaming fixes. Big names like WHSmith, Woolworths and Boots would be your usual port of call for big supplies of games, and the odd local independent retailer would also be battling for your cash. Up near me I can think of three local independents I used to go to, with one of those still going strongly today. Nowadays your local newsagent is likely to be a Tesco Express. WHSmith and Boots no longer stock games and Woolworths no longer exists.

The innocence of the corner shop from days gone by are no more and we shall never see it's like again - 25 years ago shops like this would be a good source of computer games

Game have not helped themselves by trying to deflect the blame anywhere but at it’s own doorstep. Yes we know competition is beyond fierce and that online trading is the way things are going but, by their reasoning, with no new consoles coming out, consumers don’t want the products on the market. That simply isn’t true. Yes the 360 and Wii are showing their age but we have seen the 3DS, PS Vita, Kinect and Playstation Move all come to market in the last 18 months. There is new tech out there, it is not the consumer’s fault that some of it simply isn’t appealing. Times are tough and we cannot all afford to shell out up to £200 unless it is justified. Consumers are being far shrewder with their cash at the moment, and a high end expensive market like the video games market is always going to suffer, despite a successful second hand sector.

It is extremely unlikely that Game, the company which purchased Electronics Boutique and Gamestation turning their closest rivals into their own brand, will be saved. This will therefore leave us with three basic scenarios : administration bringing a new buyer and owner to take over, the opportunity for a new retailer to rise from the ashes or simply that buying games will become an online and supermarket phenomenon. The last option worries me greatly but at this moment in time seems the most likely outcome.

If it’s March, it must be Mega Drive month. Along with the usual batch of game reviews, I am going to look at a few of the other Mega Drive bits and pieces like the Mega CD and 32X. So without further ado here’s what’s been loaded up and played in the last few days……

The Ultimate Mega Drive Set-Up

THE ADVENTURES OF BATMAN & ROBIN – Rather than being based on the (at the time) increasingly lame series of live action films, this is based on the Saturday morning cartoons. You couldn’t get two things further away from each other if you tried. This is a brash, bold, colourful and very well presented side on beat em up that actually looks like a cartoon. Chuck in some fab music and frantic action and it’s all very impressive. However someone cranked the difficulty level up to 11 because this is an incredibly tough game to make any progress into. You cannot fault the presentation, but you can fault the rock hard gameplay.

AFTERBURNER – Well it wouldn’t be much of a Mega Drive month if we didn’t look at one of the all time classics for the system. Whilst Afterburner is, under the hood, an incredibly average game only worsened by not having the benefit of the giant hydraulic chair that made the arcade machine so memorable, it is still good for a blast. It moves incredibly quickly and while things can get a little confusing on screen, this is still a title of high quality. Just don’t expect much more than a high octane thrill that will leave you a little breathless but perhaps wondering what all the fuss was about 20+ years ago.

BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD – Perhaps you are wondering what sort of a glutton for punishment I am. I mean I always seem to be reviewing really crappy licensed tie-in rubbish like this and always end up at the same conclusion. I have but one piece of evidence for the court. At the start of the game before you have even got started there is a sequence in which Butthead asks Beavis to pull his finger. If you can guess the outcome and have fallen off your chair laughing then congratulations my friend this is the game for you. If like me you like a little more depth to your games then steer well clear as this is one stinking turd of a game which gets no better. Not recommended in any way shape or form.

BONKERS – From one licence to another with this one being based on the amazingly popular (OK I am really exaggerating here) Disney animated cartoon series about a cat who is a policeman. Yes that doesn’t make much sense to me either. I don’t even remember the cartoon from the early 1990’s. Playing the game, it starts off quite promisingly, solving various cases in the form of sub games with a view to capturing the villains. The first level has you defending some of the Disney crown jewels (Aladdin’s lamp, Mickey Mouse’s wizards hat from Fantasia etc) from Harry the Handbag and his gang of crooks. By throwing doughnuts, remembering here that you are a policeman, simply hit the crooks and knock them out to complete the level. And then you do it again. And again. And again. It’s like the bloody thing never ends. I think there is more of a game in there but seriously I got bored VERY quickly. Being a Disney game it looks and sounds great but it bored me to tears.

BOOGIE WOOGIE BOWLING – With a real life high score of 203 and a keen bowler back in the day, it was prudent of me to locate this Japanese bowling title. It’s pretty basic stuff that most other bowling games have followed in the past – choose your angle, spin and power and the computer does the best. Chuck in a few Japanese-Anime characters and for some bizarre reason some boogie woogie style music and that’s yer lot. Even more strangely, you can bowl in different conditions like wet, dry and random. Quite why you would bowl in the wet is beyond me. Anyway, I managed 183 on my only go, which leaves me to say not a lot more about this game than can be said about bowling titles in general – if it’s your bag then go for it.

CASTLEVANIA : BLOODLINES – I can’t lay claim to having played too many of the Castlevania titles over the years, I am not sure of the reason why. This is a rip roaringly good game, with fabulous graphics and a soundtrack to die for. It is the only Castlevania game that came to the Mega Drive and it makes use of every last bit of the hardware. It’s a grower in terms of playability too, whilst retaining the usual high level of hardness that all the games in the series seem to have. It will take you a while to get through it, but you will get that bit further each time. The end of level bosses look magnificent and it all adds up to an amazing package which is worth every bit of your attention.

CHUCK ROCK – One of the most fun platformers of the 1990’s and about 100 times funnier than Captain Caveman ever was. Even the start of the game is polished and very impressive, with Chuck and a few of his prehistoric friends jamming along to the theme tune. When you start the game, the whole thing looks amazing, the music and sound effects are spot on and the game plays very well indeed. If it does have a downside it’s a little on the easy side, but when gaming is as good as this you can be a little forgiving. It was good enough to spawn a sequel and both games are fondly remembered by retro gamers today. Definitely worth a look.

DOUBLE DRAGON – Something went wrong with all the home ports of this arcade game legend and the Mega Drive version is no exception. Maybe it is because the other versions I have played have been on the easy side but now it seems like you need to hit the bad guys around 20 times each for them to die. That could just be me but it does sound a little on the unfair side. The whole thing looks OK and the original arcade music is there, but one can’t help but think that something again went wrong in development and we should be sticking to the arcade original instead.

ESCAPE FROM MARS STARRING TAZ – I have said previously that I am sucker for Looney Tunes based games and perhaps one day I will find one that appeals to me. Sadly Escape From Mars is another one of those bog standard platform games that looks great but plays like a box of spanners. Taz at times is uncontrollable and in a game when you are escaping from Mars, why is it you actually end up back there at the end of the game ? The sound effects are poor and the music is rubbish and on top of all that there is nothing here to grabs you, nor does it make you believe that this game is going to get any better. Chalk up another Looney Tune Lame Licence.

FANTASTIC DIZZY – As with Castlevania I can claim to have only played Treasure Island Dizzy, on the Amiga, from this series of games starring the adventurous egg. On the Mega Drive Fantastic Dizzy is a colourful affair with cartoonish graphics and a boppy little soundtrack. It is still infuriating that you can only carry 3 objects at a time and therefore have to keep going back and forth between locations. You also have to collect stars, rather than coins, but my heart did sink a little when told at the start there are 250 to collect. It means a big game but also a LOT of exploring. So all in all not a bad effort if you like games like this but you’ll probably need to make a map of the game in order to find everything you need.

FLASHBACK – I briefly touched on this last month and now finally I have had the chance to play the game again for a longer period of time. It is still an amazing experience when you consider the quality of the gameplay and the visuals, along with the sound effects. Beginning your journey in the jungle you must piece together the remnants of your character’s past and find out why you are where you are, and what you need to do to get home. It does have a frustration level that will have you throwing your pad across the room and you only get one life too, so this is not one for those scared of a long haul. However any gamer worth their salt should play this and make their own minds up. I for one am standing firmly in the genius game camp, even if it is French.

GOLDEN AXE II – When I first had a Mega Drive back in the early 1990’s one of the games I had was Golden Axe II. Until tonight I had mistakenly believed it was the original game I had and not this sequel. Either way this series of hacking valkyries, thumping dwarves and big scary end of level guardians is one of my most favourite. Coming back and playing this for the first time in nearly 20 years I was amazed at how much I had remembered and forgotten with equal measure. I certainly didn’t need 3 credits back in the day ! It is a worthy sequel to the original game and both of them show exactly what set the Mega Drive apart from the competition – the ability to showcase large, arcade style graphics and sound by keeping the playability that made the arcade games great and bringing them into the home for all to see and play. On the downside it will take little to no time at all to get through this and therefore makes it inferior to the original.

To be continued…………..

As birthdays come and go, every now and then one of them is a milestone. Be it 16, 18, 21, the dreaded 40 and the even more dreaded 65 – only one stands above them all. That is the Big One and RetroBear joins in the centenary celebrations of Retro Gamer Magazine…..

Happy 100 Retro Gamer !

Usually I shun birthdays as I have no wish to be reminded just how old I am getting and how young I actually used to be. However there is one birthday I shall be raising a crafty glass to this week and that is the milestone reached by Retro Gamer magazine – it’s sparkling, glittering 100^th issue. 8 long years in the making and the publication is still going from strength to strength, packing loads of pages with lots of articles about the games from the past.

When it started in 2004 there would have been much trepidation as to how successful a magazine could be, especially with the subject matter being in the past. There must have been a demand for it, but given how collectable retro gaming has become in the last 2-3 years there can be no doubt that as us gamers who remember all the old games get older we wish to be reminded of just how much fun computer games were back in the day.

The very first issue of Retro Gamer - which is being reprinted and available as a free gift with Issue 100

So how can a modern publication, now published monthly as opposed to quarterly and surviving the collapse of their original publisher in 2005, find articles to fill their pages with. Well it’s quite simple really. There is a news section, a calendar featuring key dates in gaming history, a look back at 2 months in retro history, game reviews, players guides, arcade reviews for those gamers who restore old cabinets. There are also future classics featuring games which will be retro in the future, the compulsory letters page, interviews with programmers, games designers and retro gaming figureheads and reviews of new games, as well as retro reissues.

If you throw all that together, as well as a series of articles looking in depth at how retro consoles came about, you get an idea of the wealth of information that is out there. Many of those previously in the computer and video game industry have stepped forward to be interviewed and talk about their experiences back in the day. The sheer passion they still have comes out in interviews and articles. They must be surprised as anyone at just how their comments and insights are lapped up by gamers, both old and new.

I have been a subscriber for nearly 3 years after picking up my first issue back in the summer of 2008. While I haven’t necessarily been interested in all of the articles and can certainly claim to have gone back and read some of the ones I skipped just because I wanted something to read, a huge proportion of the magazine is of great interest to me and a fabulous read. In the day and age of blogs and websites such as these, one must bow down and accept that Retro Gamer magazine is the bible for gamers from all works of life.

Issue 53 - ah yes the delights of Track and Field, or as it is more commonly know, Sore Wrists and Broken Joysticks

For someone brought up on the likes of Zzap64, C&VG and Amiga Format, Retro Gamer has been the first publication for a very long time I have wanted to read again and again and again.

Gentlemen, RetroSection proudly salutes you and toasts you to 100 more fabulous issues.

Here;s to another 100 !

To close the February Free For All – which in all honesty has been a bit of a disaster content wise but Bear with me because the Mega Drive is up next and I absolutely love that machine – I thought it best to close out with another patented RetroSection list. They are easy to do and don’t require too much taxing of the old brain cells. I can feel the writer’s block gradually lifting and personally cannot wait to get my teeth into the mass of Mega Drive games that await me.

This game is like the February Free For All - a bit of a disaster.....

So join me as we bid farewell to February and welcome the much warmer, brighter and altogether more appreciated March with some more retro musings…..

WHY CAN’T I GET ON WITH……

STREET FIGHTER II – Hailed as one of the best beat em up games ever, and hailed by me as a button mashing nightmare of a game. I for one cannot and will not see the appeal of this side-on fighting game. I resent having to know all the button combinations beyond kick and punch. Too may of my formative years were spent being pulverised by people who knew what they were doing. Nothing was guaranteed to piss me off more than another night playing Street Fighter II on the SNES. Just for the record I tried to play it the other night…..and still couldn’t do any more than punch or kick.

SUPER MARIO KART – It might seem like this is turning into a hatred for all things Nintendo but I can assure you it isn’t. No matter what version of Mario Kart it is, I simply cannot think of anything worse – well maybe a night in playing Street Fighter II. If it wasn’t for the total unfairness of it all, I might like it. My friends have always agreed that there is a certain unpredictability about it and friendships have been strained because of it. I will admit a liking for Double Dash on the Gamecube, however, but that version along with Mario Kart 64 are regarded by many as inferior to the original Super Mario Kart – therefore meaning that I only like crappy versions of Mario Kart, which in my opinion is most of them.

WHY DOES THIS NOT EXCITE ME LIKE IT SHOULD…..

THE PLAYSTATION VITA – Seriously I am about as unexcited about this as I am excited to be getting a new motorised polisher for my car. The 3DS died on its arse when it was launched and only now, because of Mario releases, is it beginning to get noticed. Time will tell on the Vita but for me it’s not something I care two jots about.

N64 AND PS1 GAMES – Some of these games look absolutely  horrible now compared to when we first came across them back in the day. Two examples spring to mind – Turok on the N64 and Spiderman on the PS1 (Probably because I have played these two fairly recently). When Turok first came out it was well received but playing it now sees you running round in a foggy atmosphere with not much going on. Ditto for Spiderman which is ruined by some god awful polygonyish graphics at the start of the game. I know it’s meant to be a comic book but some of this is barely playable. Why have games like these aged so badly? Are they now more unplayable than less technically advanced games i.e. Frogger? Pop a PS1 game in your PS3 and you’ll soon find out.

IT’S TIME TO RUMBLE – SOME REASONS WHY SOME THINGS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS (AND OTHER FANBOY ARGUMENTS)

WHO WOULD WIN A FIGHT BETWEEN :

C64 V SPECTRUM V AMSTRAD

The C64 had the most awesome music chip of all time
The Amstrad came with a green screen monitor
The Spectrum was responsible for a whole generation of gamers and coders

RESULT : I like music so the C64 just takes it from the Speccy

MEGA DRIVE V SUPER NINTENDO

The Mega Drive came in black whilst the SNES was sort of beigy cream
Sonic AND Mario – two killer games and practically inseparable
The SNES had Mode 7 tucked away to give some fairly impressive 3D stuff
The Mega Drive was the console which revolutionised home gaming and had at least a 12 month head start on the SNES

RESULT : Close to call but I’d have Sega’s black beast winning by a nose

AMIGA V ATARI ST

The Amiga, while occasionally suffering from lazy porting of games from the ST, was superior in graphics, sound and capabilities
The ST was crap

RESULT : Duh…...

GAMEBOY V GAME GEAR V LYNX

Although the Game Boy was monochrome it actually made the portable gaming market its own – and came packaged with Tetris
The Game Gear ate batteries and was the size of a small house
The Lynx did exactly the same as the Game Gear, and didn’t even have a TV Tuner

RESULT : Are you mad ? Game Boy by a distance

PS1 V SEGA SATURN V N64

Sony showed that you could make games using CD’s that were pretty good
The Saturn suffered because it was too late to market, causing irreparable damage to Sega
The N64 was hampered by being cartridge only which came in those silly cardboard boxes. Some games needed you to invest in an expansion pack because the cartridge was bigger in memory terms than a stock N64 could handle

RESULT : No looking beyond the PS1 on this one. The N64 comes a close second though.

DREAMCAST V PS2 V XBOX V GAMECUBE

The Gamecube and the Dreamcast could not play DVD’s
The XBOX was made by Microsoft, which in turn wasn’t all that bad a thing as people made out at the time
The PS2 was first to market, took hold of it and never let go – they were still making games for it in 2011 – and it outlasted all it’s rivals
The Gamecube never took off after a lacklustre launch
The Dreamcast never took off because Sega were last to market and despite making a damn fine machine, had no takers
The XBOX was made by Microsoft which turned out not to be as good a thing as people made out at the time

RESULT : PS2 takes it with the rest fighting amongst themselves for second place.

The following reasons are why Mario is better than Sonic, and why Sonic is better than Mario – at least, for arguments sake, that will give you something to mull over until next time :

It's the battle to end all battles, the rage in the cage, the rumble in the jungle - but who comes out on top ?

MARIO IS BETTER THAN SONIC because : He collects coins, thus ensuring a wealthy journey through his adventures. Sonic collects rings, which unless they are made of a particularly valuable metal, mean that they are worthless.

SONIC IS BETTER THAN MARIO because : He gets there quicker. Seriously if you were hanging around waiting for Mario to show up then you would be waiting a very long time. I am surprised the Princess never died of old age. There is an art to arriving early and with Sonic’s speed he will always be there on time.

SONIC IS BETTER THAN MARIO because : He wears the coolest looking training shoes. Mario wears dungarees which weren’t even fashionable in 1985 when Super Mario Bros arrived on the NES. Mario also has one of those dodgy 1970’s porn film moustaches which, being a plumber, means he may have a second career on the side we don’t know about

MARIO IS BETTER THAN SONIC because : When he opens his mouth he sounds like he looks i.e. A stereotypical Italian. When Sonic opens his trap he sounds like a 7 year old boy, and has done so for many years. It might be a nice idea to have Sonic’s vocal chords be a little more masculine in future

MARIO IS BETTER THAN SONIC because : The spin off games involving Mario and his supporting cast – Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Kart and Mario Party – are considerably better than Sonic’s – Sonic Spinball, Sega Superstar Tennis, Sega All Star Racing and Sonic Shuffle.

SONIC IS BETTER THAN MARIO because : His animated TV series didn’t have a couple of second rate actors pretending to be Mario and Luigi in some poorly scripted inserts before the low quality animation kicked in.

MARIO IS BETTER THAN SONIC because : Mario games make Nintendo consoles. Super Mario Bros was given away with the NES, whilst the third game in that series is one of the greatest games of all time. Super Mario World, again, was bundled with a special version of the SNES. Mario 64 launched the N64. Super Mario Galaxy is going to be a future classic on the Wii and the new Super Mario World 3D is going to shift a lot of handhelds. Sonic no longer has a console to call his own and despite games like Sonic R on the Saturn and Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast being rather good, both those systems died a death.

SONIC IS BETTER THAN MARIO because : He is just so much cooler than Mario. He’s the sort of character who you want to hang out with. Mario isn’t all that appealing and to be honest when all your best friends come from some fantasy world you have to keep visiting then you can’t be all that popular in the first place.

The battles shall of course rage on and the arguments shall continue, but one thing is assured : Mario & Sonic are probably the two most identifiable characters in video game history and shall forever be associated with it. In some ways that’s a pretty damn good thing…….