1994
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
I think the correct wording for stuff like this is 'Mid'. Like there's nothing that offensive or horrible about it but its very much one of those random platformers that littered the SNES and existed as Blockbuster-bait. Its perfectly playable, theres nothing particularly wrong with it and you'll have the occasional bit of fun but you'll probably also forget most of it existed as soon as you put it down for anything else.
I think the correct wording for stuff like this is 'Mid'. Like there's nothing that offensive or horrible about it but its very much one of those random platformers that littered the SNES and existed as Blockbuster-bait. Its perfectly playable, theres nothing particularly wrong with it and you'll have the occasional bit of fun but you'll probably also forget most of it existed as soon as you put it down for anything else.
I get it in regards to how the game is the way it is, its 2002, the ps1 is basically dead in the water at this point but you still have to make a version of this game to push out alongside a Ps2 version which is going to get the attention. You're not going to really try properly are you?
Yeah this game feels like nobody gave that much of a crap in the making of it. It plays fine, its not buggy, there some decent music that sounds like it got ripped from other better games... Everythings so lifeless and boring though, theres no sense of speed, exploration of variety, not to mention its also incredibly short with barely any levels.
Its basically a 3d platformer developed on auto and it feels like it.
Yeah this game feels like nobody gave that much of a crap in the making of it. It plays fine, its not buggy, there some decent music that sounds like it got ripped from other better games... Everythings so lifeless and boring though, theres no sense of speed, exploration of variety, not to mention its also incredibly short with barely any levels.
Its basically a 3d platformer developed on auto and it feels like it.
1990
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Onto yet another game that basically falls squarely into the 'Cult' category. A game with a lot of ambition, but not quite the technical ability. At its core, The Immortal is a pretty basic dungeon crawler action RPG, theres puzzles, enemies to beat up and treasure to find.
Lets get some bad stuff out of the way first, this game absolutely is not a looker when it comes to the environments, you'll be basically just looking at the same identical type of corridors with the same few enemies to contend with for most of the game.
Also the game is BRUTALLY hard at times when it comes to traps and tricks. Do a puzzle slightly wrong? Death. Hit any of the multitude of traps? Death. Take slightly too long leaving the first room? Death death death.
That said, there is some good here. Once you get used to the game's twisted logic and start happily making use of those save states, its quite fun to explore, gather and get to the end of the trials ahead. Also the combat, although quite simple, can be quite fun.
So yeah, theres good, theres bad, its quite a niche little thing. I think its worth checking out but I wouldnt be surprised if you go 'ick no'.
Onto yet another game that basically falls squarely into the 'Cult' category. A game with a lot of ambition, but not quite the technical ability. At its core, The Immortal is a pretty basic dungeon crawler action RPG, theres puzzles, enemies to beat up and treasure to find.
Lets get some bad stuff out of the way first, this game absolutely is not a looker when it comes to the environments, you'll be basically just looking at the same identical type of corridors with the same few enemies to contend with for most of the game.
Also the game is BRUTALLY hard at times when it comes to traps and tricks. Do a puzzle slightly wrong? Death. Hit any of the multitude of traps? Death. Take slightly too long leaving the first room? Death death death.
That said, there is some good here. Once you get used to the game's twisted logic and start happily making use of those save states, its quite fun to explore, gather and get to the end of the trials ahead. Also the combat, although quite simple, can be quite fun.
So yeah, theres good, theres bad, its quite a niche little thing. I think its worth checking out but I wouldnt be surprised if you go 'ick no'.
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Another of the random unlicensed untranslated titles Piko have acquired over the years and honestly this one actually is pretty darn good. Its a pretty basic but fun arcade style beat-em-up that tries its best to ape the sort of stuff Capcom was putting out and it does a decent job at it.
While the controls at first are a bit awkward thanks to some rather stiff animations getting in the way of readability, once you get used to it, you'll be blasting through enemies with ease.
Theres thankfully a decent variety of enemies and some rather fun moments to be had thanks to the array of screen-smashing magic items you can use at any time. Gives a real Golden-Axe magic feeling and that feels good.
I will note the game is a little on the easier side than most beat-em-ups, mostly thanks to the game defaulting to easy difficulty but also because the A.I. is a little on the dumb side. For once this may actually be in this game's benefit as it means the feeling of 'Arcade Cheap Deaths' dont occur quite as much.
So yeah. Very happily surprised with this one. Finally some good eating.
Another of the random unlicensed untranslated titles Piko have acquired over the years and honestly this one actually is pretty darn good. Its a pretty basic but fun arcade style beat-em-up that tries its best to ape the sort of stuff Capcom was putting out and it does a decent job at it.
While the controls at first are a bit awkward thanks to some rather stiff animations getting in the way of readability, once you get used to it, you'll be blasting through enemies with ease.
Theres thankfully a decent variety of enemies and some rather fun moments to be had thanks to the array of screen-smashing magic items you can use at any time. Gives a real Golden-Axe magic feeling and that feels good.
I will note the game is a little on the easier side than most beat-em-ups, mostly thanks to the game defaulting to easy difficulty but also because the A.I. is a little on the dumb side. For once this may actually be in this game's benefit as it means the feeling of 'Arcade Cheap Deaths' dont occur quite as much.
So yeah. Very happily surprised with this one. Finally some good eating.
1995
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Iron Commando for ages was one of the most rare and expensive titles for the system until Piko got their hands on the IP. Was it worth it? No. Not really.
As a beat-em-up, its a game that looks like it has all of the pieces in the right order to begin with, the graphics look really bloody good, the music is decent and theres a good variety of weapons, basic attacks and enemies across its runtime.
But in reality? Its just a slog. Enemies take barely any damage and often barely react properly to standard attacks, causing even the most basic encounters to drag on way beyond acceptability. Its just draining to wail on basic enemies for so long only for the game to pull out more nonsense to waste time like having the front end of a truck serve as an end of level boss.
Very frustrating as its got all of the style of a classic era Beat-Em-Up but none of the grace to actually pull it off.
Iron Commando for ages was one of the most rare and expensive titles for the system until Piko got their hands on the IP. Was it worth it? No. Not really.
As a beat-em-up, its a game that looks like it has all of the pieces in the right order to begin with, the graphics look really bloody good, the music is decent and theres a good variety of weapons, basic attacks and enemies across its runtime.
But in reality? Its just a slog. Enemies take barely any damage and often barely react properly to standard attacks, causing even the most basic encounters to drag on way beyond acceptability. Its just draining to wail on basic enemies for so long only for the game to pull out more nonsense to waste time like having the front end of a truck serve as an end of level boss.
Very frustrating as its got all of the style of a classic era Beat-Em-Up but none of the grace to actually pull it off.
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
I'll admit my expectations were sub-nuclear looking at this absolutely ugly ass-stain of a game and... yeah it unfortunately met them. Its a fairly standard nothingburger platformer that feels like somebody desperately wanted to ape the gameplay of Aladdin but without any of the pesky licensing attached.
It doesn't do it well at all and oh lord. Levels are bland and endless, animations are stiff, attacks from enemies don't account for hitstun, the main character's basic sword swing has no range and is like waving a feather duster around, the butt bounce is utterly pointless and has a weird arc to it when running and its all covered in the ugliest goddamn spritework to ever hit my eyes.
Just yuck.
I'll admit my expectations were sub-nuclear looking at this absolutely ugly ass-stain of a game and... yeah it unfortunately met them. Its a fairly standard nothingburger platformer that feels like somebody desperately wanted to ape the gameplay of Aladdin but without any of the pesky licensing attached.
It doesn't do it well at all and oh lord. Levels are bland and endless, animations are stiff, attacks from enemies don't account for hitstun, the main character's basic sword swing has no range and is like waving a feather duster around, the butt bounce is utterly pointless and has a weird arc to it when running and its all covered in the ugliest goddamn spritework to ever hit my eyes.
Just yuck.
2015
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
This is such a strange game and it being a thing is also just a piece of utter confusion bait too. So essentially this was a SNES game made in the early 90s by a Swedish used-media chain called 'Norse' using unlicensed SNES development tools. Think if CEX developed a game and thats what we basically have here. It was abandoned half-finished after they failed to find a publisher.
Then it was picked up many years later by Piko interactive who worked on it for over a year to make physical carts of it as well as release it digitally. Its a rather baffling pickup from Piko and its mindblowing that they thought it was worth finishing up in such a state.
As a game though? Eh. Its history is a lot more interesting than the actual game itself, at its core its a pretty basic platformer with 'meh' graphics, slightly heavy jumping and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD why are there so many levels. Seriously, look up a longplay of this game, it takes over six hours to complete, the store page on steam bragging of a ten hour gameplay time.
To the game's credit its nice to actually have a proper ledge grab in a SNES-era platformer but its all just a bit too bland and generic to really warrant talking about aside from the game's weird history and the idea that it could take you over ten hours to complete and I have no intention of ever playing this for two hours, let alone ten thanks.
This is such a strange game and it being a thing is also just a piece of utter confusion bait too. So essentially this was a SNES game made in the early 90s by a Swedish used-media chain called 'Norse' using unlicensed SNES development tools. Think if CEX developed a game and thats what we basically have here. It was abandoned half-finished after they failed to find a publisher.
Then it was picked up many years later by Piko interactive who worked on it for over a year to make physical carts of it as well as release it digitally. Its a rather baffling pickup from Piko and its mindblowing that they thought it was worth finishing up in such a state.
As a game though? Eh. Its history is a lot more interesting than the actual game itself, at its core its a pretty basic platformer with 'meh' graphics, slightly heavy jumping and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD why are there so many levels. Seriously, look up a longplay of this game, it takes over six hours to complete, the store page on steam bragging of a ten hour gameplay time.
To the game's credit its nice to actually have a proper ledge grab in a SNES-era platformer but its all just a bit too bland and generic to really warrant talking about aside from the game's weird history and the idea that it could take you over ten hours to complete and I have no intention of ever playing this for two hours, let alone ten thanks.
1989
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Another Piko port, this time its a port of a game originally released on the Amiga, over to the Mega Drive and fair play, Mega Drive did have a lot of rather good Amiga conversions by Core Design so this makes sense (Chuck Rock 1 & 2, Bubba & Stix, Corporation).
As a game its quite frustrating though, there's quite a bit I do like, the overall general gameplay is pretty fun, making it so that you don't automatically just take damage from touching enemies is neat so combat feels more fluid and engaging. The overall platforming too, while a bit on the heavy side, can make for some fun moments.
But... Bleh... Design wise its just rather dull. Levels are hodgepodge messes with corridors and rooms here there and everywhere with random powerups appearing often for little to no reason and dead-ends aplenty, all coated in a layer of dull grey that feels neverending. Its a chore and a half sometimes to get though each stage. The bosses too, in comparison to the rest of the game, are absolutely not fun to fight and feel spongey and spammy.
Its annoying as there's a foundation of a good game here and I have enjoyed some of it but the lack of decent level design just makes it hard to want to really champion it properly.
Another Piko port, this time its a port of a game originally released on the Amiga, over to the Mega Drive and fair play, Mega Drive did have a lot of rather good Amiga conversions by Core Design so this makes sense (Chuck Rock 1 & 2, Bubba & Stix, Corporation).
As a game its quite frustrating though, there's quite a bit I do like, the overall general gameplay is pretty fun, making it so that you don't automatically just take damage from touching enemies is neat so combat feels more fluid and engaging. The overall platforming too, while a bit on the heavy side, can make for some fun moments.
But... Bleh... Design wise its just rather dull. Levels are hodgepodge messes with corridors and rooms here there and everywhere with random powerups appearing often for little to no reason and dead-ends aplenty, all coated in a layer of dull grey that feels neverending. Its a chore and a half sometimes to get though each stage. The bosses too, in comparison to the rest of the game, are absolutely not fun to fight and feel spongey and spammy.
Its annoying as there's a foundation of a good game here and I have enjoyed some of it but the lack of decent level design just makes it hard to want to really champion it properly.
1992
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Colour me surprised again, i've found a retro racing game that I actually quite enjoyed playing. Top Gear (or as its known in this collection, Top Racer) is a rather fun and frantic little racing title thats well worth playing.
On the plus side is the game's real sense of speed as you fly round turns, over bumps and around other cars and obstacles. Its a rather exhilarating little thrillride all backed up by the game providing plenty of clutch moments that'll have you really pressed at times thanks to a mix of agressive but fair AI players and some nifty fuel/nitro management as you tackle the longer races.
On the downside, oh boy some of those later races are really long and tough and it can sometimes feel like you're battling for much longer than necessary. In addition I also have to call out the weird decision to always have split-screen going on in every game mode, something that actually harms this version even moreso than usual thanks to the Evercade EXP's handheld small screen.
Still, I had a rather fun time with this one and its actually now making me look forward to playing with the sequel when I tackle the Piko 2 pack later.
Colour me surprised again, i've found a retro racing game that I actually quite enjoyed playing. Top Gear (or as its known in this collection, Top Racer) is a rather fun and frantic little racing title thats well worth playing.
On the plus side is the game's real sense of speed as you fly round turns, over bumps and around other cars and obstacles. Its a rather exhilarating little thrillride all backed up by the game providing plenty of clutch moments that'll have you really pressed at times thanks to a mix of agressive but fair AI players and some nifty fuel/nitro management as you tackle the longer races.
On the downside, oh boy some of those later races are really long and tough and it can sometimes feel like you're battling for much longer than necessary. In addition I also have to call out the weird decision to always have split-screen going on in every game mode, something that actually harms this version even moreso than usual thanks to the Evercade EXP's handheld small screen.
Still, I had a rather fun time with this one and its actually now making me look forward to playing with the sequel when I tackle the Piko 2 pack later.
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Well here's another oddity in the Piko pack, a rather legendary (well legendary in Europe anyway) home computer beat-em-up that was set to have a NES port but never released... Until Piko got the rights, got the prototype and fixed it up for an actual release.
Jury for me is still out if it was worth it but I'll be honest, usually these sort of pre-Street Fighter II fighting games do not do it for me. This? I'm never going to call it amazing but it does work a bit.
Mostly because the controls are shockingly quite intuitive with everything being done via tilting the controls or using a button while tilting the controls to achieve different attacks. It takes some getting used to, the Evercade manual certainly helped for once in understanding what did what as my fighter 'Stirmaster' began his journey through fightdom.
Its not perfect control-wise though and sometimes it can feel a little muddy. The game's other big problem is you've basically seen and done everything after just a few bouts and it sort of slogs from that point onwards which is a shame.
So yeah. Gameplay is ok, solid enough but just needed a tiny bit more variety to make it work properly.
Well here's another oddity in the Piko pack, a rather legendary (well legendary in Europe anyway) home computer beat-em-up that was set to have a NES port but never released... Until Piko got the rights, got the prototype and fixed it up for an actual release.
Jury for me is still out if it was worth it but I'll be honest, usually these sort of pre-Street Fighter II fighting games do not do it for me. This? I'm never going to call it amazing but it does work a bit.
Mostly because the controls are shockingly quite intuitive with everything being done via tilting the controls or using a button while tilting the controls to achieve different attacks. It takes some getting used to, the Evercade manual certainly helped for once in understanding what did what as my fighter 'Stirmaster' began his journey through fightdom.
Its not perfect control-wise though and sometimes it can feel a little muddy. The game's other big problem is you've basically seen and done everything after just a few bouts and it sort of slogs from that point onwards which is a shame.
So yeah. Gameplay is ok, solid enough but just needed a tiny bit more variety to make it work properly.
1992
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Honestly I thought I was going to absolutely despise this and I have no idea why, maybe its just based entirely off its weird cult notoriety? Either way my expectations were low going in.
Turns out actually have a little bit of a soft spot for this game? Huh. Lets get the bad out of the way first, this game control-wise is remarkably clunky, flipping between a point and click adventure interact that stumbles hard thanks to how clumsy interacting with anything can be. The combat also present here is just messy and feels entirely random at times.
On the good side? Good lord this absolutely goes hard on comic noir stylings and plays about with it all to great effect, from hammy dialogue and villains to secret deals in back alleys and bond-villain esque plots, I had quite a lot of fun exploring and puzzling around the various locales.
One note I will say, if it wasn't for save-states and playing this on the Evercade, I would probably drop it a star as the game is quite happy to throw danger at you all over the place and since the original game didn't have a save feature, it makes me so glad for modern convenience.
Honestly I thought I was going to absolutely despise this and I have no idea why, maybe its just based entirely off its weird cult notoriety? Either way my expectations were low going in.
Turns out actually have a little bit of a soft spot for this game? Huh. Lets get the bad out of the way first, this game control-wise is remarkably clunky, flipping between a point and click adventure interact that stumbles hard thanks to how clumsy interacting with anything can be. The combat also present here is just messy and feels entirely random at times.
On the good side? Good lord this absolutely goes hard on comic noir stylings and plays about with it all to great effect, from hammy dialogue and villains to secret deals in back alleys and bond-villain esque plots, I had quite a lot of fun exploring and puzzling around the various locales.
One note I will say, if it wasn't for save-states and playing this on the Evercade, I would probably drop it a star as the game is quite happy to throw danger at you all over the place and since the original game didn't have a save feature, it makes me so glad for modern convenience.
2022
The hundred and one games on my wishlist and game pass threatening to cut this one, forcing my hand to actually get on with playing it.
Was it worth it? Yeah. Signalis was something that's been on my radar for a while and it just oozes old school survival horror charm, from decidedly 90s anime stylings to polygon graphic nostalgia baiting it has a lot of flair.
Gameplay wise it makes an attempt to mimic the sort of 90s survival horrors you'd find on the PlayStation, specifically Resident Evil and this both works and plays against the game in equal measure.
On the plus side the controls are mostly fluid and smooth, levels are laid out well and the puzzles, while tricky, never really fall into bullshit territory at any point.
On the downside though, the game decided to use the limited item mechanics. I think this can work but not in the way Signalis did, having only six slots is painful but having equipped weapons and items still count as items is just horrid. Double so when you also realise that items most games would consider essential, like flashlights, also count as items.
It just leads to a constant back and forth between the boxes and it breaks a lot of the tension and pacing.
It's a real shame and makes me wish for a mod that expands the item capacity as with that fixed, this game would absolutely sing. It's still a good game but that one little flaw just makes such a difference.
Was it worth it? Yeah. Signalis was something that's been on my radar for a while and it just oozes old school survival horror charm, from decidedly 90s anime stylings to polygon graphic nostalgia baiting it has a lot of flair.
Gameplay wise it makes an attempt to mimic the sort of 90s survival horrors you'd find on the PlayStation, specifically Resident Evil and this both works and plays against the game in equal measure.
On the plus side the controls are mostly fluid and smooth, levels are laid out well and the puzzles, while tricky, never really fall into bullshit territory at any point.
On the downside though, the game decided to use the limited item mechanics. I think this can work but not in the way Signalis did, having only six slots is painful but having equipped weapons and items still count as items is just horrid. Double so when you also realise that items most games would consider essential, like flashlights, also count as items.
It just leads to a constant back and forth between the boxes and it breaks a lot of the tension and pacing.
It's a real shame and makes me wish for a mod that expands the item capacity as with that fixed, this game would absolutely sing. It's still a good game but that one little flaw just makes such a difference.
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
OH CHRIST MY EYES. Still screenshots do not display just how disorienting the movement in this game is, the background swooping around and making the entire game give off a sense of absolute vertigo as you go.
Not that the gameplay is good either thanks to a set of clumsy controls, enemies and traps that'll just pounce at you when you cant see them properly and one-hit kills that just sap any goodwill I may have attemped to store for this game. Boo.
OH CHRIST MY EYES. Still screenshots do not display just how disorienting the movement in this game is, the background swooping around and making the entire game give off a sense of absolute vertigo as you go.
Not that the gameplay is good either thanks to a set of clumsy controls, enemies and traps that'll just pounce at you when you cant see them properly and one-hit kills that just sap any goodwill I may have attemped to store for this game. Boo.
1989
Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 9: Piko Interactive Collection 1
Yepp I still absolutely think this is a terrible little mess of a game. I really didnt like this on the Amiga and I still dont like it on the SNES with bonus crap points given to the game controlling like ass. I somehow however did actually make progress for once which earns back the half star I took away but even then, its just a joyless punishing ugly slog that isn't worth the time or effort to persevere through.
Yepp I still absolutely think this is a terrible little mess of a game. I really didnt like this on the Amiga and I still dont like it on the SNES with bonus crap points given to the game controlling like ass. I somehow however did actually make progress for once which earns back the half star I took away but even then, its just a joyless punishing ugly slog that isn't worth the time or effort to persevere through.
1998
Im sorry no I dont get people's fondness for this absolute mess at all. Yeah theres some inherent early PS1 era camp vibes to this thanks to the ridiculous plotting and corny as hell dialogue and voice acting but when almost every single match just devolves into blindly firing shit everywhere with barely any distinct rhyme or reason, then it gets old and stale super fast.