Natie000
1995
What's more impressive than the technical feats is how surprisingly decent the game is for how meandering and awkward it is. Every level tries to do something new, whether it be a twist on the objective or a new gameplay style entirely. Most of these aren't great, but they’re imaginative and shockingly not as confusing and frustrating as you'd expect them to be. The driving levels are probably the worst offenders. The "normal" platforming state controls well and obstacles are impressively balanced for how large your player sprites are. The whip mechanic has some fun uses as it should since its your only ability. Very catchy music too. Pretty okay title.
Another very well animated game on 16-bit consoles that maintains all the problems of other games of its kind. Unclear hitboxes due to extravagant animation poses, winding, mindless, confusing level design, the same unsatisfying melee/projectile combo for attacking, and unclear and frustrating difficulty. Even the music is pretty droning.
A hilarious and utterly fascinating specimen, the American Namco folks decided to slap the big "2" on this experimental "interactive cartoon" starring Pac-Man.
You control an influencing force from beyond the 4th wall to shoot a slingshot at certain things to keep Pac-man from getting himself killed as he goes along his way through a slapstick-laden cartoon world. This game is most fun when you're just messing around as the range of scenarios, emotions, and funny expressive sprites from Pac-man are surprisingly dense.
When you actually try to progress and beat the game, however, you'll run into many very esoteric puzzles and a fickle emotion system that's difficult, but essential, to manage.
If you don't take things too seriously, this game can be very interesting and funny. It certainly never gets boring.
You control an influencing force from beyond the 4th wall to shoot a slingshot at certain things to keep Pac-man from getting himself killed as he goes along his way through a slapstick-laden cartoon world. This game is most fun when you're just messing around as the range of scenarios, emotions, and funny expressive sprites from Pac-man are surprisingly dense.
When you actually try to progress and beat the game, however, you'll run into many very esoteric puzzles and a fickle emotion system that's difficult, but essential, to manage.
If you don't take things too seriously, this game can be very interesting and funny. It certainly never gets boring.
1992
Perfectly adequate retro pool game. Not much to remark on other than a neat trickshot bonus mode and some nice atmospheric sprite art.
Honestly, what I get out of this most is the Genesis version's unique, catchy smooth jazz soundtrack played through nice round brassy synths. I've certainly listened to the soundtrack far more times than I've played it.
Honestly, what I get out of this most is the Genesis version's unique, catchy smooth jazz soundtrack played through nice round brassy synths. I've certainly listened to the soundtrack far more times than I've played it.
1991
While certainly ambitious, EA's 1991 combat flight simulator is one of those things you'd only be impressed by that year. It seems to attempt to render polygons on the Genesis without any enhancement chips on the level of Virtua Racing, nor any on-board sprite scaling capabilities to fall back on. What results is a game that runs at a slideshow framerate, with delayed controls so sluggish it feels like lugging about a stack of cinderblocks.
If you're a hard-core flight simulator fan and are also somehow reading this 30 years in the past, you may get something out of it.
If you're a hard-core flight simulator fan and are also somehow reading this 30 years in the past, you may get something out of it.
1994
The SEGA version of this game is a surprisingly well-done licensed game from Konami. A tight, somewhat methodical puzzle platformer based around swapping between the 3 Warner siblings and making use of their unique abilities to solve platforming challenges. The controls are tight and responsive, the difficulty is fairly balanced for a retro game, the sprite art is expressive and the players are very well animated, and the music is extremely catchy and sometimes weirdly cinematic.
Challenging and sometimes puzzling, but very quality for a tie-in game.
Challenging and sometimes puzzling, but very quality for a tie-in game.
1997
Straightforward reimagining with tight, twitchy gameplay, funky music, a huge variety of gameplay ideas and an absolutely crushing difficulty. For those who love simple but tough-as-nails arcade-era gameplay, it plays great and has a lot to chew on. Might be frustrating to others.