Retro Reviews
Review Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 2 (SNES)
Just Saiyan
Dragon Ball Z fever was very much a real thing in the '90s, but this blonde hair, Kamehameha-throwing insanity hit the UK and America much later than the rest of Europe. As such, it might still not be common knowledge that all four of Super Famicom's Dragon Ball Z one-on-one fighting games received PAL localization and distribution -...
Review Super Mario World (New 3DS / SNES)
Same great adventure, smaller screen
As everyone knows, the best use of your latest piece of gaming machinery is to play games from yesteryear. Should a Nintendo Direct mention a 'new old' system is joining the Virtual Console line-up there is much excitement, and so it was when it was revealed that SNES titles were going portable. Though limited to...
Review Pokémon Ranger (Wii U eShop / DS)
Gotta circle ‘em all!
Welcome to the Fiore region, a relaxed place where Pokémon are free from Poké Balls, able to roam around in the wild or stay as someone's pet if they've taken a liking to a particularly snug blanket. You are the newest recruit to the Rangers, a group of dedicated (but often dull) individuals who provide help to citizens or...
Review World Driver Championship (N64)
The N64's Gran Turismo?
Boss Game Studios off-loaded sequel duties to their dumb-fun hit Top Gear Rally in order to commence work on what would be an altogether more serious, authentic project – 1999's World Driver Championship. It would be the last significant output from the assured Redmond-based team, but remains amongst only a handful of truly...
Review Pokémon Red and Blue (3DS / GB)
Twenty years ahead of their time
When these games were released back in the late nineties, the air around younger Game Boy owners was one of excitement and rivalry. Nintendo is clearly trying to capitalise on the nostalgia factor for all of us who were within the target age group (and some who weren't) when these titles were originally released,...
Crows of Metal, Soldiers of Sorrow
War never changes. Unless someone replaces tanks with giant walking robots, then it looks much, much cooler yet is still quite tragic. That is exactly the point of Squaresoft's 1995 mech tactical RPG Front Mission. How does a man survive on the battlefield of the future? Canny strategy, pots of money and making...
Review Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (Wii U eShop / DS)
Pokécrawler: Blue
Many Pokémon are finding themselves in trouble and it's up to you and your rescue team to go and save them in this dungeon crawling spin-off from Chunsoft. Released for the DS in 2006, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team sees you fighting ill-tempered Pokémon as you search a randomly generated floor for the staircase that...
Going off the rails
Nintendo's DSiWare service may be in the autumn of its life now, but there are occasionally some new releases for the platform. DSiWare has never necessarily been known for playing host to terribly deep or innovative games, but there are plenty of solid pick up 'n' play experiences to be had for just a couple of bucks. Crazy...
The Legend of Alen
When you think HAL Laboratories, you immediately think Kirby. This is natural since it is by a long shot the most recognizable character ever to come out of the Chiyoda-based software house. Yet with over three decades producing video games, it goes without saying that HAL has a diverse back catalogue going all the way back to...
Review Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (SNES)
Bringing a Gundam to a fist fight
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing made quite an impact in the West, with the forty-nine episode anime series getting aired by Cartoon Network which would ensure it became one of the most recognizable entries in the iconic Japanese science fiction mecha series in our part of the planet. Predictably, video game adaptations...
Review Crystal Beans From Dungeon Explorer (SNES)
Do NOT shoot the food
Gauntlet remains a dear memory among many retro gamers. After all, Atari's revolutionary dungeon crawler was one of the best co-op arcade games ever produced and it certainly was no stranger to Nintendo owners with several conversions making their way to NES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64 and GameCube. You will notice a strange...
Review Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar / Gregar (Wii U eShop / GBA)
One last network battle
Mega Man Battle Network 5 changed a few things around for this series, but was mostly quite similar to its predecessor. Deciding to go for one last hurrah on the Game Boy Advance, Capcom created a sixth Battle Network game. Don't expect any big surprises though; it's still quite similar to its peers. After spending the...
Review Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Tactical Fantasy Action
It wasn't that long ago that things were going so well. With just one member of the opposing clan left against the three on your team, wrapping up this mission seemed to be straightforward enough. Then he took out your mighty Bangaa warrior and is now causing your sword guy plenty of trouble on account of the fact he returns...
Review Super Mario 64 DS (Wii U eShop / DS)
D-Pad D-Bate
Super Mario 64 is undeniably one of the most influential games in the industry's history, so it's only natural that Nintendo would attempt to capitalise on its success with a re-release. What nobody expected at the time was for it to not only arrive on a portable console, but also feature Yoshi as the initial protagonist. Super Mario 64...
Heaven and Hell
There are hundreds of amazing games for the Super Famicom that remain a mystery to Western gamers. Dark Half is one such game, published by Enix in 1996. It is a late generation Super Famicom title that at first glance seems to be your typical JRPG, with the player taking control of Falco, the Paladin (not to be confused with the...
Review Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wii U eShop / GBA)
It's a'me, Mario 3! (again)
We all know about Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES. It was a fantastic game worthy of all the praise that it received, and that remains true to this day. So, this review won't discuss all the merits of the original game. Instead, it will focus on the unique features of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, released...
Review The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Wii U eShop / DS)
Choo-choo-choose the original format
No doubt partly driven by necessity as much as strategy, Nintendo's Virtual Console efforts on Wii U have been notable for including not only Game Boy Advance titles, but also various releases from the DS library. With the latter only possible courtesy of the Wii U GamePad questions of practicality are fairly...
Review Drill Dozer (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Not likely to make you doze off
Game Freak is a developer known for its work on titles such as Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Black and White. It does occasionally put out games that don't feature the pocket monsters, however, and one of those is Drill Dozer, a Game Boy Advance action platformer set across six...
Review Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars (SNES)
The Mario RPG that started it all
There are very few areas of life the Mario franchise hasn't at some point explored. Mario himself has been a doctor, an amateur kart racer, and later on in his career was recognised as a professional athlete when he competed at the Olympic Games in the 100-metre dash against Sonic. Quite simply, he's a jack of all...
Review Game & Watch Gallery Advance (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Nintendo's Portable Hits: The Early Years
In the 1980's (before the Game Boy was released), Nintendo's series of Game & Watch handhelds provided people with portable gaming excitement. As LCD games they provided a stripped down gaming experience that Cranky Kong would approve of - basic sounds, none of those pointless fancy graphics and only a...
Review Polarium Advance (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Black + white = fun exercise for the old grey matter
Draw a line. OK, you'll have to give it a bit more thought than that as you won't be passing through all the squares on screen, but Polarium Advance is a simple game to play. Each puzzle consists of white and black tiles and once you've picked a start point you must draw a single line, moving...
Review Trauma Team (Wii U eShop / Wii)
Trauma Drama
Back in the early days of the Nintendo DS, Trauma Center: Under the Knife was a standout example of how the then-new touch screen controls could provide a fresh experience on the go. Atlus would then take its anime-pumped surgery games to the Wii, translating touch controls to motion controls, and found a winning combination there as...
Review Animal Crossing: Wild World (Wii U eShop / DS)
Why this world?
The very idea of a portable version of Animal Crossing filled this reviewer with glee when he first read about it back in the days of magazines and routers without wi-fi as standard. Animal Crossing: Wild World has always been a very special game to fans as it expanded upon the original GameCube title (for this region at least) but...
Review Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (Wii U eShop / NES)
Nice videogame, shame about the plot
After dealing with that dark sword business Ryu Hayabusa might have hoped to put his feet up, but more evil schemes are in motion and so he must do his ninja thing once more. The powerup from the previous game that could provide duplicates to help in his quest has gone, but it turns out there is still another Ryu...
Review Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (Wii U eShop / NES)
Tough but fun Ninja action - Part 2
For the first NES Ninja Gaiden game, Tecmo created a tough but fun action platformer. It was very different to the scrolling beat 'em up action of the arcade game, but people liked it; sales must have been good too, because Ryu Hayabusa returned for a second NES outing. Gameplay in Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword...
Review Medabots AX: Metabee & Rokusho (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Medaboring
The previous Medabots game was an RPG which had some cool ideas and stayed quite true to the source material, but ultimately was undermined by a handful of major annoyances. Medabots AX, strangely enough, was actually originally released shortly before it, but this time around has seen the light of day second. Surprisingly, this game is...
Review Kirby Mass Attack (Wii U eShop / DS)
Safety in numbers
Known in Japan as Atsumete! Kirby, Kirby Mass Attack is the final title in the long-running HAL Laboratory series for the Nintendo DS. Originally released in 2011, Mass Attack moves away from traditional platform game design in preference of a completely touch-driven experience. Thankfully, unlike the original 2005 entry for DS –...
Review Kirby: Power Paintbrush (Wii U eShop / DS)
Time has passed
Kirby: Power Paintbrush – also known as Canvas Curse in North America – was originally released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. Following the trend of many other franchises during this new generation of handheld gaming, the HAL Laboratory-developed title moved away from traditional platform game conventions by utilising the defining...
Review Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Contra-ry to popular opinion...
The Contra series of games includes some of the run-and-gun genre's greatest titles; along with the Metal Slug series you won't find a finer bunch of ridiculously tough, immaculately designed platform action experiences. We've already been blessed with a Wii U Virtual Console port of Konami's 1992 SNES masterpiece...
Review Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Colonel & Protoman (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Playing it safe once more
While many would argue that Mega Man Battle Network 4 brought with it some unwelcome changes, Capcom did not seem to pay much heed to fan complaints. Indeed, the fifth (!) entry is a fairly by-the-numbers sequel, featuring little in the way of changes or additions and is mostly similar to its predecessor. Mega Man villains...
