This is a fairly decent eurostyle (as in big, open levels and wall hugging to find secrets) action platformer that is aesthetically similar to games like Golden Axe and Rastan. The music is pure Genesis twang, although the sound effects are on the "meh" side of things.

My main gripes come with the last couple of levels. Stage 7 is a winding maze, which I always found annoying, and stage 8 drags on and on without much of what made the first half enjoyable.

The other thing I didn't care for is how the armor upgrade had to be purchased in the shop rather than found in the game itself. It essentially makes you quite OP (at least as the Huntress) and you'll no doubt have enough money for it as soon as it becomes available in the shop post stage 3. It would have been fair more rewarding to have to work for it, and it would have made the game a bit more challenging. (As it stands, it was shockingly easy and I cleared it my first time sitting down with it)

Still, I don't regret playing it through having exhausted the Genesis' library of similar games. A solid 6 or 7- fun while it lasted but I don't see myself replaying any time soon.

I've played most of the early sega releases and this, unfortunately, is probably the worst of the bunch. The concept is pretty neat, with you starting out as a rookie cop for the first two stages which play out kinda like Shadow Dancer (which is a much better game fully worth your time) before getting a cyber suit that makes you Not-Robocop.

You'd think that would be pretty sweet, right?

Wrong.

The suit has stiff, rigid controls and you become a massive target. There's a jetpack mechanic, but simply tapping a direction will send you flying as if you've just gotten ten speed ups in a shooter. Thankfully, you can hover in place without using any fuel by holding the jump button, and this comes in handy with some bosses.

On the subject of bosses, most of thenm boil down to finding a place to hover and spamming them with either the rocket launcher or PC shot (basically the mega buster and does the most damage).

On top of the clunky control, overly large character sprite after round 2 and (mostly) joke bosses Sega decided this should play like Turrican and provide you with no invincibility frames after getting hit. This means your life bar can melt within a mere seconds, and often times from something tiny that's tough to position yourself to kill.

Some have compared this to Shadow Dancer/Shinobi, and I promise you're far better off playing any of those three games on the Genesis over this. If you want a good action platformer with a jetpack mechanic, theres also rocket knight adventures.

If it weren't for the fact that I'm on a mission to complete as many Genesis games as I can, I would've dropped this one halfway through. At least it's short once you know what you're doing.

I can appreciate this remake for just how gorgeous it looks- especially on ps5 now that it's been bumped up to sixty frames per second. They also didn't dial the humor back for "mOdErN aUdIenCeS" which was a rather important aspect of the original DAH!

However, it really botched up the holobob mechanic and made the last two bosses ungodly spongy for no reason at all. Those two things are why i prefer the original game. Still I didn't have a bad time with this and in terms of remakes I would put it above Crash N Sane trilogy at least.

Not a bad early shooter on the system. Graphically, it didn't blow me away but it got the job done and the very first stage leaves a great impression with all the swaying fire in the background. I can also appreciate how this game doesn't commit the shmup design sin of having speed-ups as a pickup- either ship (which can be selected in the options- Tiat/blue starts off with a bit more than just the pea shooter) has a base speed that will never change.

The way bombing works in this one is also pretty interesting. Every so often, you'll find a drone whose hatch opens and closes periodically. You need to fire at it when it's open to wipe the entire screen- this thing even shows up during some boss fights. I don't think I've seen this done in any other game of this type.

There's also an attempt at nonlinearity as the game gives you multiple paths to take to the end. The annoying thing about this (and I suppose darius in general) is that you really won't know whether you picked an easier or harder course until you try them all. Personally, I found ABEINSX to be the best route when 1CCing.

Like many other shmups that came from an arcade background, Sagaia is also super unbalanced. When you have a full deck of power ups, you will be nuking everything in your path before it even has a chance to fire. Get hit once without a shield and, if you're the red/default ship, you're back to the peashooter upon respawn. This, of course, leads to chain deaths depending on where you die at as it'll be almost impossible to kill anything. It isn't nearly as awful as it is in Gradius, but still means that this had a harsh learning curve as a casual shmup player.

Overall, I still had a fun time getting the clear on this game once I discovered the best route.

Somehow, they managed to make this sequel more redundant and more frustrating than the arcade original- and this was supposedly designed with home consoles in mind. It's literally the same game with a few different backdrops, two different enemy types and quite frankly it starts recycling enemies even sooner than the first.

I finished the game with an A ranking as Thunderhead, and I don't care to play it again. Even if GA1 is far from the masterpiece the pre-Sonic genesis crowd claim, it's still far more enjoyable.

This is one of those games that early adopters of the console will tell you is incredible and is an absolute must play. Truthfully, there are worse beat 'em ups on the Genesis and for the time this must have been amazing since it's an arcade port with one extra stage and boss, but it hasn't held up anywhere near as well as Streets of Rage 2.

There's quite a bit of stiffness to the controls and being successful in this game boils down to exploiting the AI. I also feel like the dwarf is the only viable character in 1CCing this as a solo player- I tried to play as Mr. Sword Dude and the thirst trap but they both flat out suck compared to him. Still, it can be a bit of fun once you adapt to the jank and realize you can make enemies walk off ledges to their death. I also think it's hilarious how the skeletons scream in anguish like the human enemies when you've put the last nail in their coffin (again).

I'd sure like to see somebody defend the final boss waiting at the end of the Genesis-exclusive level, though. I've never fought anything more broken in a console beat 'em up in my life. If he hits you at all, he summons your own magic to work against you and this will almost always result in a 1-hit KO if using the default 3 blocks of health. Although I put in the time to 1CC the game and get the best ranking at the end (which is also a really cool feature that was ahead of its time), I wouldn't blame anybody for cheating here or upping their health to five blocks in the menu. You can't tell me this boss wasn't designed this way for the sake of keeping people from finishing it too early. (Especially with this being a sub 30 minute game when played decent)

While it's an alright game on its own merits, as a sequel to Rocket Knight Adventures, it just feels "off" in just about every way aside from the OST (which is still peak).

Visually, this looks more like a generic fantasy action/adventure that can't measure up Disney-meets-Steampunk aesthetic the first game had going on. That's not to say the game looks terrible by any stretch, but it's a noticeable step down from what we got with RKA.

Mechanically, there's a lot of changes that just don't make much sense. Why is there a random slot machine gimmick that may rain bombs down or a (mostly useless) rocket boost when I'm in the middle of trying to cut up some lizard samurai? Why is Sparkster's sword gimped? I do like the idea of having the jetpack charge automatically up to two tiers (presumably doing more damage if you let it charge twice), but the level design really stops complimenting the mechanic altogether at several points. (You really don't want to use it during autoscrollers or some of the tight corridors in the last stage for example)

There are a couple things Sparkster does a bit better than the previous game, though- oversized mechs and exploration. While the mech fight with Axel isn't nearly as fun (and has to be done twice for the best ending with literally no difference between bouts), you do get a whole stage dedicated to running around a scorched city with it and this was a nice change of pace. Secondly, to get the best ending, you need to acquire several hidden swords throughout the course of the game. The only real issue with this is that most players are bound to miss the very first one since you're locked out of it if you skip the opening the cutscene. (Spoiler- getting them all lets you turn into Not-Super Sonic at the end)

Difficulty is kinda all over the place compared to RKA, which had a gradual curve. The first four stages of the game are pretty easy, save for the hidden sword in the desert. It then becomes Konami hard in stage 5 with several gotcha moments (IE a giant insta kill laser that drops in without warning and a bunch of random ass crushers at the last leg of the stage) and dick-ish enemy placement. Mercifully, you don't lose your progress with the swords if you continue but continuing is very limited on normal (just twice). It's just worth slogging through to see the final boss, though. It's actually pretty awesome and I'm not going to spoil it.

While it may be the second worst of the small spattering of Rocket Knight games, it's still worth playing. Just don't go in expecting the same level of polish as RKA- that game was like lightning in a freaking bottle and I don't think it could ever be replicated.

My favorite shmup on the SNES and definitely one of my favorite Compile games. Sure, it's not a "hardcore" shooter and the length may be an issue for some (a successful 1CC is going to take double the time of your normal arcade shooter standing in at about an hour), but it's a fun ride with no serious drop-offs in quality at any point.

Also, taking out all of those tiny little bubbles in the filler stages between the main levels is the digital equivalent of popping a sheet of bubble wrap to me.

For the first eight stages, Rolling Thunder 2 is honestly a four out of five stars. It's basically Shinobi in spy getup and works oh-so-well when played slow and methodically. The music, even after this point, absolutely slaps and as far as Namco on the Genesis goes...it may be the best sounding of their games. Clearly, the developers thought so too as there's a snazzy music test on the title screen complete with a band made up of the game's enemies.

Unfortunately, it all goes to shit after round 8. It's as if they wanted to make the game as annoying as humanly possible with obnoxious enemy placement, platforming in a game where the jumping is even more crippling than classic Castlevania and time limits that butts heads with the slow/methodical pacing that the level design established up to this point. There's difficulty spikes, there's difficulty land mines and then there's difficulty atomic bombs. Rolling Thunder 2 suffers from the last of this last category. Think Comix Zone and Ghouls n Ghosts are difficult? This game makes those look like Kirby.

I'm glad I got around to finishing it on a real cartridge as my first win of 2024, but I don't see myself coming back to it the same way I would some of Namcos other Genesis titles such as Marvel Land or Phelios.

A marginally better experience than Rolling Thunder 2. Gone are the god awful platforming sections (mainly referring to round 9 of RT2) and awkward elevators (rounds 10 and 11 of RT2), and in their place are some okay-ish vehicle sections as well as extra hidden levels.

You can now shoot diagonally and, in general, there are more health pickups. Perhaps the biggest new feature is the ability to pick a special weapon before entering any of the main (non vehicle) rounds as well. If you choose to forfeit this bonus, you'll find that the doors marked as "S" (for "special") will give you health instead of ammo- there's actually a bit more strategy this time around which is nice. Last, but not least, you're also given a knife that can be used to conserve ammo by meleeing grunts.

The game is still brutally difficult, and in some ways, is even harder than Rolling Thunder 2 despite all of these new advantages. Enemies are far more aggressive- now being able to toss grenades on the upper and lower sections of the stage instead of just being locked in to wherever they're situated. Boss fights range from incredibly simple (round 7) to ungodly cheap (final boss, which I thankfully found a good cheese for and didn't feel bad for it in the slightest after an hour of attempting it the "right" way). The game is also very stingy with extends- you won't be able to find hidden 1ups by shooting random parts of the environment anymore and you'll need to accrue quite a score to earn them naturally. Thankfully, it's still unlimited continues and instead of being yeeted back to a poorly placed checkpoint you'll reappear right where you died this time.

Like the last game, the music and anime style cutscenes are top notch although I think I prefer RT2's soundtrack. There's also an incredibly clean audio sample that plays if you take too long in a stage.

Overall, this is the most player friendly of the Rolling Thunder games and probably the best one to start with. It'll still peg you mercilessly, but at least it uses lube.

A very rare case in which I found myself enjoying the remake more than the source material. The controls have been reworked to be a bit more user friendly than the remake of DAH 1 (especially holobob) and the skate mechanic works really well considering the larger scope of the maps in DAH 2. There is that modern-era lack of polish in spots (audio clips repeating when skimming through them) and I did have to reset to a checkpoint due to a bug two times, but overall I had a better time with this than the first DAH remake.

If there is one thing I'd change, it's the way the final boss is handled. Depending on how you've spent your upgrades, he can either be very easy or one of the worst bullet sponges in any action game ever. If you chose to back out and respec your upgrades, you'll have to do an ungodly long and tedious (not to mention buggy) escort mission again before taking another crack. I don't know how this managed to get by playtesting and I had to knock it down a star just for this nonsense.

Rotating your character around with A and C is a little awkward at first, but once you adjust to it this becomes one of the best non-traditional shm'ups on Genesis. I had fun messing around with all the different weapons you could get in the shops that pop up once or twice per stage and finding the best loadout for each stage/boss encounter.

It's also surprisingly forgiving given Capcom's knack for making brutally difficult games- you have a life bar that can be upgraded several times and have wonder-boy styled elixirs that revive you upon losing all your energy. It's a refreshing change of pace from other shooters of the era that simply wanted you dead ASAP to extend the playtime. I'm sure the arcade version is like that, but I can respect when the developers can tell the difference between what's feasible for arcade play versus home console play, and this definitely fits the bill.

It's a shame there aren't too many other shooters like this on the console, aside from Trouble Shooter and its Japan-only sequel. Even if it's very short and simplistic after adapting to the control scheme, there's a good time to be had here.

This would've been a great game if it wasn't so horribly balanced. Got the red item fully powered up? Spam the button and everything goes away effortlessly. Get clipped more than halfway through the game? Prepare to continue feed. It would be fine if you simply lost your power ups upon death, but Fire Shark commits the sin of having to up your speed gradius style. Did I mention these power ups actively avoid you and bounce towards the top of the screen to assure you'll probably die trying to snag it?

Most of these issues weren't a big deal in stages 1 to 5, but beyond that, its pretty much impossible to play the game properly if you die at all. I'm not sure how anyone would do it without simply bomb spamming from checkpoint to checkpoint.

Definitely won't be playing again after beating it on this games idea of "normal". There are just far too many other great games on the console.