September2007
Review ESWAT: City Under Siege (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
All is not well in Cyber City. Criminals are running amok - looting, pillaging and raping the city of all its worth.
This was one of the first games I ever loaded into my Megadrive and it still sticks in my memory as one of the best action platformers for the machine. Although it isn't a conversion of the arcade game of the same name (neither was...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Sonic and Tails are back for another adventure as they again battle the evil Dr. Eggman (AKA Dr. Robotnik), who is desperately trying to collect all the Chaos Emeralds in order to rebuild his Death Egg.
After the sublime Sonic 2 Sega decided to stick with the same tried and tested formula for the sequel – a move that disappointed many fans that...
Review Landstalker (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
After hearing of the legendary treasure of King Nole, the elvish treasure hunter Nigel undertakes a quest to gather various pieces of the famed loot.
Landstalker is an action RPG released in 1993. It's got an isometric view, something which is quite rare in games, and sounds a bit dated. So does it still hold up? In the game you are Nigel, a...
August2007
Review Shining in the Darkness (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Dark Sol has vowed to reign over the enchanted Kingdom of Thornwood, and only you can stop him.
Anyone who has played the Atari ST classic Dungeon Master (or one of the many clones that appeared in its wake) will know full well that first person RPGs can be a hell of a lot of fun. Back when Sega first announced Shining in the Darkness (often called...
Review Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Wii Virtual Console / Mega Drive)
The ninja master returns
Nasty Neo Zeed is back causing trouble again, and it’s up to our hero Joe Musashi to teach them a lesson they won’t forget with his supreme ninja skills. Unlike the original arcade classic, however, there are no hostages to be rescued and you now have an energy bar to spare you from one-hit kills. You have a limited...
July2007
Review Dynamite Headdy (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Headdy, the central protagonist of the game, is the star of the Treasure Theatre production of Dynamite Headdy.
Treasure has already secured its place in history as a purveyor of "gamers' games", encouragingly flying in the face of the accepted practice of style over content to provide such stone-cold classics as Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga...
Review Shining Force (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
In ages long forgotten, Light fought Darkness for control of the world.
Although Shining Force takes place in the same universe as fellow Megadrive/Genesis epic Shining in the Darkness, the games themselves couldn’t really be more different. Whereas SitD is a first person dungeon crawler, Shining Force is a turn-based strategy title more akin to...
Review Ecco: The Tides of Time (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Flipper the video game
Good old Ecco the Dolphin, after saving his dolphin chums from an invading alien race you would have thought he could have just spent the rest of his life in peace spinning a ball on his nose! These plans were shattered when the queen of the Vortex took it upon herself to travel back in time to start her trouble again. An...
June2007
Review Golden Axe II (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Not long after the malign reign of Death Adder has ended, another evil rises.
When I first clapped eyes on Golden Axe 2 as a lad I was over the moon. Being a massive fan of the original I simply could not wait to play this. Graphically, it looked even better than the original and promised to be the sequel I was waiting for. Sadly, it actually turned...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) is searching for the Chaos Emeralds to fuel his new Death Egg engine.
Any gamer worth his or her salt will remember the day Sonic 2 was released. Cheekily dubbed 'Sonic Twos-Day' (it was released worldwide on a Tuesday, you see) it became a massive seller for Sega and cemented Sonic's position as one of the most popular...
Review ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Funky!
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 platform game as well. The exploration of an almost open-end world and long...
May2007
Review Kid Chameleon (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
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...
Review Streets of Rage 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The best one
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 update of the original - this sequel got the full treatment. So what's...
April2007
Review Wonder Boy in Monster World (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
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...
Review Virtua Fighter 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The intrepid fighters return to the World Fighting Tournament.
Virtua Fighter 2 remains one of the best one-on-one fighters in the history of videogames. When it was originally released it destroyed the competition, and even today (after three updates) hardcore fans feel that Sega has never really bettered the classic brawler. But before you all get...
Review Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Not as enchanting as the Master System adventures.
Before Sonic the Hedgehog our friends Sega had Alex Kidd as their mascot. I grew up with the quirky humour of the original games on the Sega Master System (the 8-bit rival of the NES) - at the time these were some of the best games around. However by the time the Sega Genesis / Megadrive was in full...
Review Vectorman (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
More than a load of old balls?
OK, so the main character is compromised of green balls, don't let that make you overlook one of the better 'run and gun' games to hit the Megadrive / Genesis. The shallow premise for the game is that humans have ruined the planet Earth and left the subsequent tidy-up job to their robots. You assume the role of the...
March2007
Review Beyond Oasis (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
You are the young Prince Ali in a desperate fight to defeat the evil that is threatening your island empire, Oasis.
This was another late Megadrive/Genesis release but thankfully it avoided the fate of games like Comix Zone and sold pretty well at the time. It's easy to see why - graphically it's one of the best looking games on Sega's 16-bit...
Review Sonic Spinball (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
You spin me round, round baby right round
When Sega knew they had hit on their hands with the Sonic series they decided to take the same route Nintendo had done with Mario - basically to place their lead mascot in as many different games as possible. Mario crossed over to puzzle (Dr Mario), sports (Mario Golf) and racing (Mario Kart) games, and...
Review Sword of Vermilion (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Get your revenge and defeat Tsarkon to free the world of Vermilion from evil.
Famously developed by Virtua Fighter creator Yu Suzuki, this was one of the first RPGs for Sega's 16-bit system and to be brutally honest, it shows. The graphics are basic and the sound is average so be prepared for a technically underwhelming experience. Thankfully the...
February2007
Review Bio-Hazard Battle (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
An army of biogenetic mutants has gone haywire, terrorizing the world and putting the future of the planet in jeopardy.
Released as Crying in Japan, this horizontally scrolling shooter was largely ignored by western Megadrive owners due to the sheer volume of shoot-em-ups available on the console at the time. The unusual organic graphics probably...
Review Streets of Rage (Wii Virtual Console / Mega Drive)
Sega's answer to Final Fight
It's tricky to review Streets of Rage and be fair to it in light of the high quality of its sequel. Nevertheless it laid the foundations for even more future greatness, so it is only fair to give the original game the respect it deserves. Basically, Streets of Rage is Sega's answer to Final Fight; the Axel character is a...
Review Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii)
Blitzed.
Let's first clarify that we're big Super Monkey Ball fans. Ever since playing the original on the GameCube we've been totally convinced of the varied and addictive gameplay the series had to offer. We thoroughly enjoyed the minigames such as Monkey Target and thought that the game provided the perfect balance between both solid gameplay and...
It's the 31st Century, and science and technology have progressed to the point that the human race is approaching perfection.
Gain Ground started life as a largely unpopular 3 player arcade game. Surprisingly when taking into account the relative lack of commercial success it was ported to the Sega Megadrive/Genesis and Master System pretty swiftly...
January2007
Review Bonanza Bros (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Grab the target items and head for the exit!
Bonanza Bros. harkens back to the early 80's arcade titles with their simple, yet addictive play control ideas. While there are obvious Keystone Kapers and Elevator Action influences throughout the game, the overall gameplay design is at least original enough to stand on its own two feet. The only problem...
