Retro Reviews - Page 6

Is this a charming game about an altruistic robot or a shambolic scavenger hunt?

Meet the Sandersons, your atypical dysfunctional American family: Mr. Sanderson is an out-of-work engineer-cum-manchild who lives on the lounge sofa playing with action figures and watching his favourite superhero program Space Ranger Drake Redcrest(TM) (apologies if that hits too close to the bone for some readers)..

This time the spotlight is on Midway's glory days

Whilst the first Arcade Treasures collection was firmly focused on the Williams catalogue, this second collection is all about the Bally Midway and Midway brands featuring games spanning the mid to late 1980s and 1990s, with a handful of Williams and Atari Games titles for good measure. This...

A Looney Tunes platformer that's actually not too shabby.

For anyone who's watched the classic Porky Pig cartoons, you know that animators were quite fond of placing our stuttering pig friend into scary situations. Who could forget the leprechaun shoes or the moose head with the gun barrel protruding from its mouth. Well you'll be happy to know that not only are they both found in this haunting..

Dude, where's my snowboard?

With its December 2003 GCN release, 1080° Avalanche faced a quandary which mirrored the mixed up personality of the board sport it represented. Development had to decide between following the previous 'extreme to the max' approach of SSX 3, or to continue in the vein of its N64 predecessor 1080° Snowboarding, which...

Can you bear second helpings?

Banjo Kazooie was a game that revolutionised platforming on the N64: Rare's off-the-wall-humour, creative level design and sublime controls made it the pinnacle of platforming on Nintendo's console. Fans of the original will most likely remember Rare's lavish promises about the second game, Banjo Tooie, including the...

Does this adventurous Ghosts 'n Goblins spin-off live up to expectations?

Fans of the Ghosts 'n Goblins series should be familiar with the rather annoying little demon Firebrand; he would be the main reason Arthur'd spend his time walking around the many levels of the games in his underwear. Capcom obviously thought enough of the guy to give him a...

Billy and Jimmy Lee star in Super Double Draggin'!

The scene is set: grimy, littered streets patrolled by ruthless gangs, whose sole intent is to cause mayhem in the neighbourhood. This urban jungle setting for Return of Double Dragon (Super Double Dragon in the West) is as synonymous with 2D side scrolling beat-em-ups as it was with movies like The...

Time to rock 'n ride!

If you want to know what Biker Mice from Mars is like, think of it this way. Take RC Pro-Am for the NES, change the cars into Harleys, and then throw a bunch of thug-like mice onto those bikes and there you have it. It's pretty much a carbon copy of the ideas and gameplay found in RC Pro-Am, with the over-the-top weirdness of the Biker Mice theme tossed into the mix. Now while..

Pretty Foxy stuff...

In 1993 the Mega Drive / Genesis was selling well and 2D was the bread and butter of console gaming. "Emergency, emergency… emergency, emergency! Incoming fighters prepare for launch", hailed the 16-bit Nintendo counter attack. For Sega and NEC it was too late: the swooping Nintendo Arwing squadron hammered the early...

Still one of the greatest action RPGs ever created.

At a time when action RPGs were truly beginning to catch on with gamers, Soul Blazer came along and offered up an adventure that was as charming and engaging as any role-playing game fans had experienced. Taking many of the unique gameplay elements found in the Actraiser title that came before it, Soul Blazer carefully crafted the gameplay..

You don't have to be crazy to play this game, but it helps!

Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, Super Metroid, ActRaiser, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Mario All-Stars, the Donkey Kong Country trilogy…these games all have three things in common: they’re all platform games, they’re all on Super Nintendo, and they’re all genuine classics that stand out...

Experience some of America's arcade masterpieces

The history of Midway Home Entertainment is a convoluted story of boom and bust that includes the most famous names in the index of America's arcade companies. Williams Electronics and Midway merged in the 1990s to create WMS Industries in a bid to remain competitive in a market seeing the rapid decline of the video arcades that were still the core..

This is one exhibition that will disappoint many

Namco is a company with one of the most impressive back catalogues in video games and is now one of the biggest names in home entertainment following a successful merger with toy and anime company Bandai five years ago. Released at the end of the Gamecube's life to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Namco (a company whose humble origins in the..

Where to begin?

One of the last Virtual Boy games to be released in Japan, Virtual Lab is a strange falling block puzzler that, rumour has it, was still being developed when developer J-Wing got wind of Nintendo’s plan to discontinue support of the Virtual Boy. They then hurriedly finished it off, so as they could get it in to shops whilst there was still the opportunity to make some cash off of..

"Live up to your name, Defender!"

Defender was Williams Electronics first video game and its biggest seller with over 60,000 units sold. It was noteworthy for the level of control players were given over their space ship as well as excellent visuals and sound. It was a badge of honour if you could play the game with any skill due to the complexity of the controls, but nevertheless Defender stands..

"Dig a Chance!"

If Namco had a corporate mascot that wasn't Pac-Man it would almost certainly be Mr. Driller. The retro arcade game from the end of the last century has spawned a franchise seeing seven games released with a version of some form on nearly every console made in the past decade. Its popularity is not only down to the simple, yet engaging gamplay based around drilling through..

Computers and magic meet in this overlooked gem of an RPG

Waking up in a morgue with amnesia it’s clear that your character, Jake Armitage, is having a bad day. Set in Seattle in the year 2050, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk RPG based on the pen and paper game of the same name. Having been gunned down in the streets you must uncover exactly what’s going on and fast, because people are still after..

Easily one of the Game Boy's best pure platformers.

With the success of their Adventure Island series on the NES console and their first release on the Game Boy platform, Hudson was obviously looking to continue that success with the release of their second Game Boy release. While the game is based on the third NES release, it actually eclipses it in some ways and brings a level of platforming to..

A treasured classic and the absolute pinnacle of Game Boy gaming.

There were initially some concerns that the gameplay experiences on the Game Boy system might end up being a bit too shallow. Fortunately, that notion was put to rest early on with some of the outstanding releases for the system. Of course no title would shatter that misconception like the release of The Legend of Zelda: Link's..