Virtual Console Reviews - Page 18

During ToeJam and Earl's trip back home, a number of Earthlings hitchhiked on their spaceship and are now infesting planet Funkotron.

The original ToeJam & Earl was a quite a big hit for Sega at the time so it was a no-brainer than a sequel should be released. With the success of Sonic the Hedgehog it must have seemed like a logical step to reinvent ToeJam & Earl to be a 2D side-scrolling..

Originally released in 1992, World Sports Competition brought the spirit of the summer Olympic games home to the TurboGrafx-16.

There won't be many gamers out there that remember this one most likely. World Sports Competition is a game based on the Olympic Games, but without the official license. As to be expected the games are represented as a series of mini-games which you and up to four other..

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon.

The first thought that enters your head when playing Kid Chameleon is probably 'Mario Clone'. The game steals ideas from Nintendo's finest, such as jumping on the heads of enemies and bashing item boxes from below. It's not the first game to copy Mario and it certainly won't be the last, but back in the early 90's when the Sega/Nintendo war was at its..

This comical action game features two bungling detectives, J.J. and Jeff, as they travel through a total of six fields.

The PC Engine (Japanese name for TurboGrafx-16) has always been a console to attract weird games. If you've ever played Toilet Kids and Photograph Boy then you will know what I mean. This particular game started out life as Kato Chan & Ken Chan in Japan, aside from the..

It is the year 2112 and Earth has been taken over by evil forces.

The action is fast and furious in this crazy motorbiking game. You have to blast your way through enemy vehicles and barrels on the track in addition to avoiding oil slicks. The pressure is always on to keep going fast to avoid enemies ramming into you from behind! Getting to the end of each course before the timer runs out adds..

Doki Doki Mario

Super Mario Bros. 2 really is the black sheep of the Mario family. Starting out life as Doki Doki Panic, it doesn't feel like any other Mario game. This does not, however, mean it's any less of a game, far from it; Nintendo stamped its famous seal on this one and it oozes with quality. There's nothing more satisfying than picking a...

The city has once again returned to its former nightmarish state, with the city streets, roads and parks swarming with criminals.

For many of our readers this game will need no introduction. If you haven't yet played Streets of Rage 2 then you are in for a treat. Simply put this is probably the best scrolling beat-em-up available on any console. Yes it is that good! Sega didn't do just a lazy..

Blazing Lazers is a vertical-scrolling shooter that was praised for surpassing the limitations of the hardware of its time.

Originally released in Japan as Gunhed, Blazing Lazers was one of the most heavily featured titles in the original TurboGrafx-16 adverts, and with very good reason. Considering the age of the title (it was originally released in 1989!), it's nothing short of stunning and..

An eggciting puzzler?

In the early 90s, presumably following the success of Tetris, Nintendo went through a phase of releasing one falling block puzzler after another. Dr. Mario, Yoshi’s Cookie and Wario’s Woods are key examples of this. Many gamers will no doubt have forgotten this puzzler simply known as Yoshi in North Amer

Donkey Kong has been kidnapped by the evil Kaptain K. Rool, who is demanding DK’s hard-earned banana hoard as a ransom!

For anyone familiar with the original DK Country game this is more of the same. This is a good thing as the original was almost perfection in every way and this game manages to build on the franchise even more! For a 16-bit...

The nimble ninja

Ninja Gaiden ranks as one of the finest 'ninja' style games ever made, right up there with The Revenge of Shinobi. When it was first released it amazed gamers with the degree of control it allowed over the main character, Ryu. He felt so quick and mobile - just like a proper Ninja should - and within seconds of picking up the pad,...

Ninja Spirit is a side-scrolling action game that amazed the gaming world with its precision graphics and quality game play.

While it would be easy for someone to dismiss any ninja action title that doesn't have the name Ninja Gaiden or Shinobi in the title, doing that would cause you to miss a little-known, but outstanding ninja action title...

Tee off with Mario in this classic sporting simulation from 1992.

Mario is no stranger to appearing in sports game crossovers these days; he’s virtually done it all now from baseball to soccer. This sporting career began of course with his appearance in NES Open Tournament Golf, which is something of a sequel to the original NES launch title “Golf” which strangely hasn’t found a home on the..

The evil Kubota has kidnapped Dr. Tomari's fiancee Kana and taken the colossal nuclear reactor Ordyne.

For those who have never come across this gem in Namco's history Ordyne is a cutesy horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up in the vein of Konami's Paradious. It's a lot more obscure than it ought to be as in fact it was quite a novel game at the time. You're cast as Dr. Yuichiro Tomari, a brilliant and..

It's been two years since Arnold and Sonya were made into Shockmen.

Shockman is actually the second game in the Japanese ‘Schbibinman’ series. The first title never saw the light of day outside of Japan sadly, it was basically a fun platform action game along the same lines as Mega Man. It’s sequel Schbibinman 2 was released in North America as Shockman, and although graphically it is a big..

Jack bombed

The original Bomb Jack arcade game was a big hit when it was released. It featured a screen with 20 bombs which had to be collected in a specific order if the player was to achieve the highest score; players would play religiously in an attempt to find the best route around the baddies and to get the perfect chain. Arcade perfection! So...

Take to the streets with either Haggar or Cody and fight your way across town deep into the turf of the Mad Gear Gang.

Final Fight is one of those coin-ops that defines a generation. It was simply the ONLY the arcade game to be seen playing in the late 80's/early 90's. When the SNES conversion was confirmed, I was heartbroken - being a Megadrive...

This upgraded edition to the famous Lode Runner series includes a 5-player versus mode.

Lode Runner is strange little title - it's been around for ages, has a cult following but never really seems to break through to the mainstream. This Turbografx 'Battle' edition was produced by Hudsonsoft and graphically is a step up from previous versions, which tended to look a bit drab. In Battle Lode..

Monster World was a peaceful, happy place until one dark day when an army of BioMeka monsters invaded.

If you have played Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap on the Master System you will know exactly what to expect here. The Wonder Boy series is famed for its confusing naming conventions; to clear it up this is the last Wonder Boy game on the Megadrive to get a release outside of Japan. It features..