Retro Reviews - Page 7

Does the diminutive adventure bring the big guns?

Let's just get this out of the way now: if you like the NES games, you'll probably dig this entry. Operation C isn't an adaptation or a port (arguably); it is an old-school Contra game. It may lack in a few notable areas, but you'll largely enjoy it. Operation C does a pretty good job of sticking to the series’ formula; a half-naked guy with big..

Nobody parodies their own games quite like Konami!

Konami had already enjoyed some success creating a parody of their Gradius series of shooters with their Parodius releases, so they must have felt like they were on to something when they decided to do the same with their popular Castlevania series back in the early '90s. Kid Dracula basically takes...

The N64's own Metal Gear Solid? If only.

Back in 1998, Konami's Metal Gear Solid took the gaming world by storm. Its masterful combination of action-packed gameplay and cinematic storytelling was unlike anything ever before seen in a videogame. The only bad news was that unless you owned a PlayStation, you wouldn’t be playing it, as it was exclusive to Sony’s 32-bit console. Nintendo 64 owners..

Even more fun with numbers!

Mario's Picross was a very nice attempt at making a Mario game based on Picross puzzles (Or nonograms, as they're sometimes called), but there were a few shortcomings - the biggest of which was that most puzzles just weren't really hard. With a maximum size of 15x15, the game's "toughest" puzzles just didn't...

More Virtual Boy bowling action!

Just like Tetris, there were two Bowling games released for the Virtual Boy and just like Tetris, each region only got one of these games. While North American gamers were treated to Nester's Funky Bowling, the Japanese exclusive was Virtual Bowling which features various weights of ball, different lane conditions...

Monkey business is serious business.

Back in the day, taking your console gaming experience with you on the go was a big deal. The prospect of getting your daily dose of video game wherever you may happen to be was definitely one of the many driving forces behind the Game Boy, and, with the popularity of the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the Super...

They’ll port it to anything.

It’s highly likely that you will have encountered the simple fun addictiveness that is Space Invaders at some point, even if you missed it in the arcades. Ports, slight updates and compilations have appeared on a wide variety of systems over the years - Atari 2600, Spectrum, NES, Master System, Game Boy, Playstation, Xbox, PSP and mobile phones to name just a few of..

Is the third time the charm for the Final Fantasy Legends series?

Like many of the other NES and Super NES marquee titles of the era, a Final Fantasy appearance on the Game Boy was almost a foregone conclusion. The series began life in Japan under the title of SaGa, but thankfully Squaresoft was kind enough to bring the three Japanese Game Boy releases over to the US. While all three releases..

The second Game Boy Castlevania atones for the sins of its predecessor and ranks as one of the finest entries in the entire series

Before we plough headlong into this review, a short history lesson is probably in order. As the title denotes, Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge isn’t the first instalment of Konami’s vampire-slaying franchise to reach the monochrome Game Boy. Castlevania: The..

It’s Tetris. On the Virtual Boy. Again.

Perhaps one of the strangest things about the Virtual Boy is that it had two Tetris games. OK there are many systems with multiple versions of Tetris but they were around a lot longer than Virtual Boy was. Interestingly--though this would have changed had the system been around longer--each region only got one of the games. Japan received the traditional..

Perhaps the greatest platformer of all-time.

When remembering the great games of the past, our thoughts tend to drift towards the revolutionary titles; the literal game-changers. And any gamer worth a darn knows that the indisputable king of these wonderful permutations is Shigeru Miyamoto. The man's M.O. is completely altering the landscape of...

Does stepping onto the virtual diamond impress?

You take control of a team then bat, pitch and field as you compete against others, either in one off games or a league, offering you the chance to become Virtual League World Champion. Each game lasts for 9 innings though games will end early if a team is winning by over 10 points. For both batting and pitching the camera view is the same: just..

Justifiably well regarded or just overhyped?

Aside from VB Wario Land, if there’s one game that causes people to get excited when discussing the Virtual Boy its Jack Bros.: a spin-off title from the Megami Tensei RPG series that sees players working their way down a series of floors, fighting enemies as a timer ticks down. But is it worthy of this, or is it just hype with its reputation built up..

Is this monster mash worth all your quarters?

Today people might look at Midway as the financial disaster that they are and chuckle. In the better days of arcades, however, Midway developed a number of hit arcade games including their hit Mortal Kombat series of fighters. While MK is likely their most famous effort, they also had some respectable games prior to the seminal fighter, not the least of..

Save Japan from a group of stage performers by throwing coins and hitting robots with your trusty kiseru pipe. You know it makes sense!

What do you get if you take a generous helping of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, mix well with a portion of Mario 64, and add a heavy sprinkling of traditional Japanese culture? The answer, of course, is Mystical...

Simple name. Simple game?

The Virtual Boy's Golf places you on to an 18-hole course as you compete against 47 opponents to try and win the tournament. That's pretty much it. Compared to, say, the latest Tiger Woods MotionPlus offering it doesn’t offer much, but does the opportunity to tee-off in 3D make it worth a try? Perhaps more than any other game, Golf is where the redness of the Virtual Boy..

Think 3D Pong, and you're halfway there...

Space Squash is one of those games where the premise is so simple you could write it on the back of a postage stamp and still have room to spare. You guard one end of a tunnel and your opponent guards the other as you both float around smacking a spiked ball between one another. Get it past the opposition to score a point. First to three wins. The left..

Surely it can't be as bad as they say...

A lot of negative stuff is written about the Virtual Boy, but whilst it has its defenders no one seems to want to stick up for Waterworld. It has a bad reputation, with some claiming it’s the worst game ever (and not just on the Virtual Boy). But is that fair? Is it really that bad? Or are people just...

Overall, a pretty regal experience.

The Princess Maker series by Akai/Gainax isn't all that well known in the West – which is hardly surprising. Besides one failed translation project by SoftEgg in 1993, the franchise has never reached Western shores, and while the game may be considered by some as catering to a niche market, it is in fact a..