Multigame Review: The Worst of Master System Part 1

Game: Vigilante
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Irem
Release Date: 1988

With just 5 stages, Vigilante is a relatively short Beat Em Up, released in 1988 for quite a few consoles, including the Atari ST and Commodore 64. The version I'm playing however, is for Sega Master System. The premise here is that your girlfriend "Maria" (Maddonna in arcades) has been kidnapped by some "Rogues" and its up to you to rescue her. You begin on a wild west style street, and progress, beating up enemies as you go, through a junkyard, a city, a building site, and finally some scaffolding.

The enemies aren't too difficult to beat, most of the time a good crotch-punching will take a down the toughest of brutes, even the bosses. There's not really too much strategy involved either, the most you have to do is time your duck so that you miss a bullet coming toward you. Some levels are shorter than others and you can confuse most of the enemies in the levels by walking to the right without attempting to fight them, and jumping which will cause them to forget you even exist.

The music on the game is forgettable 8-bit fare, not too annoying thankfully, and the graphics aren't bad for the era, the backgrounds are interesting most of the time and there's a nice variation in the look of the enemies, even if you can take them all down in the same fashion. It doesn't take long to complete, start to finish I timed about 20 minutes, but I'm sure it could be done faster.

Overall its a little bit of fun, with some flaws, but it won't irritate you beyond belief.

Score: 56/100
Rank: D

Game: Action Fighter
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1986

Contrary to the title, Action Fighter is primarily a Driving/Flying game, with shooting elements. The player begins on a motorbike, travelling down a road (from a top-down view), hitting traffic even slightly will cause you to veer off the road and explode into a million pieces if you're unlucky. Sometimes the motorbike will manage to stay on the road, but its not an exact science. In the bottom right hand corner, there's a timer which counts down from 999.

As the player progresses, at seemingly random intervals, letters appear on the road, which if collected will transform the motorbike into a car. This is better at staying on the road, and has a double shot, compared to the motorbike's single shot. There are also SEGA vans driving the roads which will give you upgrades also. Considering that the first mission objective is to sink 3 ships, you'd be forgiven for wondering why you seem to be playing transformers instead.

Of course when you reach a certain point, your car transforms into an aeroplane. Like any regular car would. You're then able to sink the ships and move on to the next objective, provided the timer hasn't run out, leaving you with only 2 chances to be hit before failure. I used a cheat code to get further into the game, as progression after the timer runs out is pretty difficult. In a lot of ways level 2, 3 and 4 are pretty much the same as level 1. The same music, (different tracks for driving and flying, but both as painful as eachother), the same enemies, the same backgrounds.

Really the game is too difficult without cheats, and too boring to want to progress further anyway. The only things that change are the bosses, and you have to play through ridiculously long stages to get to them. Stage 4 started in the air, then we landed, and took off again, and I still didn't make it to the boss. I think one of the problems for this game is that it can't decide what it wants to be, Outrun is more of a fun driving game and Afterburner is more fun for flying. Its not unplayable, but there's no real reason you'd want to play it for more than 5 minutes.

Rating: 37/100
Grade: E

Head to Head Review: Pokemon Pinball vs Sonic Spinball

Game: Pokemon Pinball
Console: Nintendo Gameboy Colour
Developer: Jupiter (with Nintendo)
Release Date: 6th October 2000

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Pokemon Pinball is a pinball game for Gameboy Colour, featuring 2 tables at which the player can try their hand at catching and evolving Pokemon through the medium of pinball. Choosing one of the brightly coloured tables will start the game. As with the original Gameboy games (assuming you're not from Japan), your choice is between Blue and Red; both tables strikingly different in layout. I chose the blue table first of all, and for this you must get the ball up into the mouth of a Cloyster, to begin the Pokemon catching process.

An arrow shows which way the physics are imparting force on the ball and it appears to change randomly. Coupled with the fact that the ball physics can be somewhat odd for a pinball game, this makes progress somewhat slow. Once the Pokemon catching minigame has begun, you're instructed to hit the Shelders at the top of the screen, which act as bumpers, and uncover squares hiding the Pokemon which you'll be about to catch. Once that's done, 4 hits to the area with the Pokemon in will catch it, and repeating the process is the next goal.

Pokemon may be evolved through getting the pinball into Slowpoke's mouth and selecting which to evolve, and you can move onto the next area by catching three Pokemon from the current area. There's a Pokedex to fill out, in the menu by catching every Pokemon in each area but I'm not sure that I have the patience for that. The table layouts seem somewhat simplistic for a pinball game, most of the time, the ball going around the outside or anywhere but where you want it to, the physics another contributor to this problem.

As for the Pokemon side of things, I feel no real bond to the Pokemon I catch, unlike main series games as I cannot see them onscreen, save for a Pokeball icon. The catching and evolving processes are fairly laborious and sometimes downright frustrating. The game itself doesn't stand up as a Pokemon game, nor does it stand up to comparison with other pinball games. At times it can be fun, but I'm not sure that its the best way to experience the Pokemon world.

A redeeming feature, missing from many pinball games is the objective to catch all of the Pokemon, as opposed to just going for a high score, but you'll be playing for a long while before encountering every Pokemon in the game, and frankly if you're going to catch every Pokemon, it may as well be in a main series game; at least you'll get to train them up and grow attached to them.

This isn't a bad game by definition, it works, somewhat, the music is nice, as are the graphics, but I can't help but feel that ultimately its a redundant spin off that is fun to pick up and play for a while but has no real replay value in the long run, or completion value gameplay wise. If you're a fan of this game, then that's good, but I can't see anyone choosing it as a candidate for their favourite game ever.

Rating: 62/100

Grade: C

Nays High Score: 134,886,900

Game: Sonic Spinball

Console: Sega Mega Drive

Developer: Polygames/Sega

Release Date: 15th November 1993

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There are plenty of well remembered Sonic games on the Mega Drive, after all, the first three games of the series are generally considered classics. Sonic Spinball then, is a somewhat strange addition to the games on offer, certainly it's a break from the 2D platformers of the time, but whether or not its a necessary addition to the Sonic franchise is debatable. 

Giving the game the benefit of the doubt for a moment, it plays nicely to start and the playable area in the game is huge, not to mention that there's several levels also. The goal of each level is to collect 3 chaos emeralds and defeat a boss. Just like Pokemon Pinball there are gameplay elements similar to the main series games, in a pinball setting.

Graphically the game looks good, as good at least as the other Sonic games for Mega Drive. There are varied environments and enemies, all set to an expectedly funky soundtrack. The gameplay has simple aims to achieve in order to get the chaos emeralds, although some of the more difficult ones feature in the first couple of levels oddly. There's plenty of ball savers, should you manage to let Sonic slip through the flippers, helping to extend play.

The bosses at the end of each level aren't particularly varied in the way they need to be beaten, although with pinball games this is hard to achieve, hitting the enemy with your pinball in a specified place being the main idea. Story-wise there's not much to go on, but at least there's something to raise it above the level of a simple "get the high score" pinball game. 

In all, it plays very nicely as a pinball game, with none of the physics problems of Pokemon Pinball, much larger environments and "tables", bosses and objectives more complex than Pokemon Pinball. Perhaps a lot of these differences are due to Pokemon Pinball being on the Gameboy and in a few ways this is an unfair comparison, but considering the 7 year gap between release of the games, its not too unfair to expect more from Pokemon Pinball. 

I am aware that there is a Pokemon Pinball for the Ruby and Sapphire games, which I will endeavor to review at some point, hoping that the physics will be better and for more expansive tables and features. Both games find it hard to stand up to pinball games in their pinball features and their main series games in story and level design.

Sonic Spinball has to be the winner here though, as there's more to do, and the gameplay feels smoother.

Rating: 71/100

Grade: C

Nay's High Score: 61,420,500

Game Review: Beat The Beat: Rhythm Paradise

Game: Beat The Beat: Rhythm Paradise (Rhythm Heaven Fever in the US)
Console: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Nintendo SPD Group 1
Release Date: 6th July 2012 (PAL)

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Rhythm Heaven Fever (as I'm going to call it, as its easier on the ear), is a music and rhythm game for the Wii, the 3rd game in the Rhythm Heaven series, the first being a Japan only release for Gameboy Advance, and the second being the fairly popular DS game "Rhythm Heaven/Paradise".

Putting down the DS stylus in favour of the Wiimote, we're once again greeted by a host of cute cartoon creatures, ready to introduce us to the new game. At first there's only one rhythm minigame unlocked, but assuming you don't totally suck at a minigame, its fairly easy to release the entire collection of them, one at a time from the game's grasp.

The controls are beyond simple with just the A and B buttons in use for the entire game, but this doesn't make gameplay any less fun; there are a variety of minigames featuring all sorts of wacky events and characters using the buttons in different ways. There are remix stages, testing what players have learnt at the end of every 4 games, raising the difficulty with each set.

Musically this game is excellent, with a vibrant and varied soundtrack, encompassing many styles and sounds, without this the game just wouldn't work at all. It's easy to forget how important the soundtrack is in rhythm games, but every track feels polished and fitting for the visuals that accompany it.

As for the unlockables, there's a wealth of things to discover if you have enough medals (obtained through achieving a superb rank, on  minigames). Unlockables are sorted under three headings; Rhythm Toys, Endless Games and Extra Games, the better ones requiring more medals to unlock. The credits theme is a playable rhythm game, and there's also a two player mode with two player unlockable content.

Graphically, the game adopts a cartoon style, which accommodates a variety of cute animals and inanimate objects into the games. With over 50 minigames to unlock (granted some of them are a more difficult version of a previous game), there's plenty of variety, and the remix stages keep things fresh with clever mash-ups of games.

All in all this is a fun rhythm game with plenty of content, that's easy to play and difficult to master. Fans of the series will need no encouragement to play this game, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a sense of rhythm. It may seem like a kids game at first, but with an amazing soundtrack and a slowly increasing difficulty curve, its for all ages.

Rating: 92/100
Grade: A

Series Review: Fantasy Zone (1, 2 and Super)

Game: Fantasy Zone
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1986

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Fantasy Zone is a very colourful and rather challenging entry in the shooter/cute 'em up genre. The game gives you a somewhat vague backstory about space and interplanetary monetary systems collapsing in the space year 6216 (if you let the title screen get to that part), but the story's not really the main focal point of the game. Upon pressing the start button, your ship (the wonderfully named Opa-opa), appears in a vivid land, with many enemies, who are ready to make you explode at the slightest touch.

The surprising thing here is the sheer amount of enemies that can appear onscreen at once, and the difficulty that causes. If you hit the enemy bases, you die. Hit the blue things that come out of them, you die. Hit any enemy, you die. Hit something fired by an enemy, you die. Sometimes, you even die before you can move, thanks to spawning in random locations when you begin the game. After a little while, (earning $2000) a shop will appear, asking if you'll buy tempting upgrades such as a 7-way shot, or laser beam, and also offering extra lives and bigger ship engines. As the game progresses, you'll definitely be needing these, or it's a tough, tough ride.

The aim of each stage is to shoot all of the bases contained in that stage, leading to a face off with the boss of the stage. These bosses tend to be quite innovative and different in the ways that they attack, and require some planning to defeat (provided that your strategy doesn't involve using the easy option of dropping a Heavy Bomb onto them). The stages all seem to have rather odd names, including Dolimicca, Mockstar and Pocarius, but I guess its hard to think up names for such visually chaotic places anyway.

The stages are varied, as are the enemies you'll encounter in each, with some reoccurring throughout the game. It does get pretty hard to progress, with all the types of enemy flying around, the screen becomes cluttered with them, but the retro-difficulty is somewhat charming. I have seen a video online of the game being completed, but I'd challenge anyone to get a Master System and replicate that.

The in-game music is good, catchy at times, pretty simple 8-bit sounding stuff, as you'd expect. Graphically, the game is colourful to the extreme that sometimes its hard to tell what is scenery and what you're supposed to shoot, but is one of the best looking games for the Master System, in my opinion. In terms of gameplay, the controls are great, never hindering your already difficult task of survival. As with a fair few Sega games of this era, once you reach the final stage, you're forced to fight all of the bosses again which is perhaps a little anti-climatic, but saves any difficult final stage navigation, I suppose.

All in all, its a fun shooter, which takes some mastering, but has its own character and individual charm. It seems to have aged decently,and although the graphics can be a little garish, at no point does the gameplay feel outdated.

Rating: 78/100
Grade: B

Game: Fantasy Zone II: The Tears Of Opa-Opa
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1987

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Just a year after the original Fantasy Zone game, a sequel was released in the form of Fantasy Zone II. There are many similarities (hence the condensed review) and a couple of differences from the original game. While the bright graphics stayed, there are 4 zones per stage (including a boss zone) to explore, each with a different backdrop, but similar enemies. To change between zones, the player must enter warp boxes, left behind when certain bases are destroyed. Destroying all bases in every zone will allow the player to progress through a Diamond shaped warp zone to the boss of the stage.

The most instantly recognisable difference between the two games seems to be the music, the first stage theme here being somewhat more annoying than in the previous installment. The strange stage names seem to have stayed though, this time including Fuwareak, Sarcand, Hiyarika and Sbardian.

Another slight gameplay change is that if your ship is hit by a projectile from an enemy, rather than an enemy itself, only 50% damage occurs. However this very slight difficulty change doesn't do much to hold off the AI's relentless charge against the player, and with the added difficulty of the warp zones (which can fling you straight into enemy paths at times) and new enemies with frustratingly thorough paths across the screen, its safe to say that this may be even more difficult than its predecessor.

The bosses in this game are still inventive and take some cunning to beat. The shop stocks different items at each level, making it harder to buy overpowered items to take the AI down each time, at one point offering a 3-way shot, where a 7-way version was available before. Once again learning the enemy movements is key to succeeding here. All in all, it adds some unnecessary complication to the formula, with a visual style that I prefer slightly less than the first game.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Game: Super Fantasy Zone

Console: Sega Mega Drive

Developer: Sega

Release Date: 1992

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The final game I'll be reviewing here (although there are technically more in the series including "Galactic Protector" and "Fantasy Zone: The Maze", which aren't in the same style) is Super Fantasy Zone. On a new console, and 5 years after the last true Fantasy Zone game's release, this one is prettier, improved and a little easier. We'll start with the graphics; the move to the Mega Drive allowed for better all round graphics, as well as more complex music (which does in fact make a world of difference to the feel of the game). There's also a bar at the bottom of the screen representing how far the player has got in the stage which is helpful for eliminating all of the bases in a stage.

Gone are the warp zones of Fantasy Zone II, and its back to the tried and tested formula of destroy everything in sight in a single zone. There are some new upgrades in the shop, and although some bosses hark back to things we've seen before, for the most part they're original and keep the player on his or her toes.

Super Fantasy Zone also seems to have a better difficulty balance, as the enemies are more spread out across the stages. The boss fights are more intense in some cases, which makes for more climactic battles. Another nice touch is the option to give yourself 5 ships with which to begin the game, as opposed to the 3 in the first two games. In a game like this, you'll be needing them, so it's nice to be able to get a little further.

The controls of the game make your ship feel more steady and precise than the first two games, which can be good for maneuvering out of tight situations, and the only change I'd question is the inclusion of 10 bases per stage rather than the 6 or 8 in the first two games, however with the decrease in overall stage difficulty its not too difficult to destroy the extra ones.

Finally then, a true successor to the first game in the series, with a lot of character, good music and bundles of charm, this is perhaps the game to play if you haven't previously experienced the series. The game play is good and the environments are at their best on the Mega Drive.

Rating: 82/100
Grade: B

Game Review: Streets Of Rage

Game: Streets Of Rage
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega (AM7)
Release Date: 2nd August 1991 (PAL)

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Streets of Rage is an absolutely classic Beat Em Up, the first game in a series which was designed to compete with other Beat Em Up games of the time such as Final Fight. You can choose from one of three characters (two if you're playing with a friend) and beat the crap outta baddies for 8 levels to face the final boss, the head of a crime syndicate controlling the people of the city.

The first level begins right where you'd think... on the streets, a busy street with flashing signs and advertisements. Almost immediately an opponent squares up to you and you'll only have a few seconds of walking to the right unopposed each level. Graphically I'd say the game scrubs up well; despite its age, it's got good animation of each character's movement, can handle many enemies on screen at once and the backdrops look as vibrant and exciting to the eye as ever.

Moveset wise, there are a fair few moves to pull off, including jump/kick combos and multiplayer moves if you're with a friend. Weapons are abundant, with enemies carrying them and all manner of bottles, bats and knives hidden under bins and mailboxes. There's also a special powerup to help with bossfights and particularly tough baddies in the form of support from your missile toting police buddies. While other games might have more moves, these options give a simplicity to the fighting. Its all about accuracy and timing, and holding onto your weapons.

The game is accompanied by a chiptune soundtrack, which is pretty groovy, and a good accompaniment to the overall feel. Vocally only the screams and grunts from your opponents as you punch them to the floor are heard, which is just how it should be. The level settings are pretty diverse, and you'll encounter different enemies as you progress; beaches, boats, outdoor elevators and hallways are all perfectly acceptable places to fight in this game.

The controls on Streets of Rage are pretty sound, the movement and hit detection is great, no complaints there. The only thing I'd change would be to put the button to summon your special police comrades somewhere where I won't accidentally hit it, because all too often I'll waste it, but I suppose that's rather more my fault than Sega's.

The time limit never really seems to be an issue in the game, I can only recall running out of it once, and that one time, my cartridge failed and stopped spawning enemies for me to hit. The real difficulty here is in learning the opponent's movesets and the distance from which you can hit them. With that memorized, its pretty simple to take on multiple enemy types at once. I do think that this game is easier with two players, as although there are more onscreen enemies, you can look after one another's health bars and use powerups strategically.

This is definitely a game to play with a friend, having played both single and multiplayer, I'd say nothing beats the strategy and teamwork of two player, added to the multiple endings, should you reach the final boss. There's a satisfaction in completing this fairly short game, as although you're given 3 continues and multiple chances to gain extra lives, they're really needed and finishing the game is still an achievement.

Overall then, a classic arcade Beat Em Up, which plays nicely and is better with a friend, but still entertaining alone. There's not too much of a story, but what is has isn't contrived and works well enough to talk you into beating the stuffing out of the bad guys (not that you needed much coercing). Personally I think this game has stood the test of time well and is still fun to play through today. Multiplayer adds replay value and strategy to the equation, and beating up your friend after working together for so long is great.

Rating: 92/100
Grade: A

Game Review: Pokemon Snap

Game: Pokemon Snap
Console: Nintendo 64
Developer: HAL Laborotory
Release Date: September 14th 2000 (PAL)

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Pokemon Snap, is a fun little rail shooter for the N64, where you play the part of a pokemon photographer, Todd and explore the various regions of Pokemon Island, taking pictures of all the species of Pokemon you can find. It's a fairly simple idea for a game, and a nice spin off from the main series.

So the courses in the game consist of various areas such as Beach, Tunnel, Cave, each housing different Pokemon. To begin with you only have your camera, but as the game progresses you can throw apples (or apple shaped Pokemon food as it's described), and pester balls to lure previously shy Pokemon out for a picture. The courses are nicely rendered graphics-wise, as are the Pokemon, inbetween cartoon graphics and realism. Although the early stages can be a little sparse, action-wise compared to other rail shooter games, once you are in possession of the apples to lure Pokemon out, there's a wealth of hidden ones who'll need some skill to get a snap of.

Little changes to levels on re-runs keep play interesting, along with working out the necessary actions to unlock new levels and get pictures of every species. With 7 levels to explore, and assuming you replay each level a few times, its safe to say that there's a lot to explore, even with limited environments to do so. The replay value in this game is high stage-wise; its unlikely, if not impossible that you'll have seen all a stages sights in the first play through. The long term replayability comes from the short length of the game; its a game to pick up if you need a light distraction, with an hour or so to kill. Even if you've beaten the game before, there's the challenge of finding every species and getting the best pictures of them possible.

The music is light hearted and suits each stage, keeping a safari/adventure theme throughout. The menus feature upbeat themes and evoke a Pokemon atmosphere without taking music from other games in the franchise. Sound wise, the Pokemon stay true to the anime with their cries, and there's the odd congratulation from Prof. Oak on a decent photo.

Gameplay-wise the controls are responsive and simple, and any inaccuracy with pester balls should be chalked down to lack of skill, rather than any physics issues. With various different ways to attract and lure Pokemon, all that's required is good timing and reflexes to shoot the perfect photo. Not so much a challenging game as one for the perfectionist, it's easy to get a picture of a Pokemon, but getting maximum points will take all of your concentration.

So once you've taken enough pictures of Pokemon to satisfy Professor Oak, he tells you about the signs hidden around the Island, hailing the existence of Mew, the famous Pokemon which (once you've taken photos of each sign) you are allowed to go and throw pester balls at, in the hopes of achieving a 10,000 point photograph of the little shy legendary.

So, what can we conclude from this experience? A game for Pokemon fans? Most definitely. A game that could have featured more courses? Perhaps, but the replayability of the courses already within the game (not counting the last one with Mew, unless you're a perfectionist) is high. A game that needs more Pokemon species? Again perhaps, but once you have all the pester balls and apples unlocked, there's more than enough to do on a single run, maybe a sequel to this game would solve that one.

In the end, its a nice little extension of the Pokemon world, no need for battling here, no need for badges or movesets, just a nice safari through the world of Pokemon and a relaxing photography excursion.

Rating: 80/100
Grade: B