Spectrum Round-Up #1

I recently took a look at some of the best shmups to be found on Sir Clive's little box of tricks but, as is usually the case with the 'Top Fives' here at Red Parsley, I try not to include arcade conversions in these lists unless they are of exceptional quality or if there's simply no other games to choose from! However, the Speccy was home to many arcade conversions including lots of shmups so over the course of a few 'Round-Ups', I'll take a look at those as well. Here's the first five, randomly-selected picks:

Gemini Wing (Tecmo, 1989)

I always remember this one getting some pretty harsh reviews in Speccy magazines of the day which put me off all versions for a while, but I enjoyed the arcade version when I reviewed it a while back and so return to this conversion with renewed hope, and it is... not so good after all! Graphically, the sprites and stages are reasonably accurate. They're monochrome but quite detailed and a fair few sprites can be buzzing around you at once. Unfortunately, they can also be rather confusing which doesn't help when the game is already noticeably harder than its arcade parent, including a ship that moves at inconsistent speeds. The sound isn't bad though. There's no in-game music but the title-screen tune is decent and the in-game effects aren't bad. The main notable feature of the arcade game was the 'Gunball' power-ups and I'm pleased to say they've made the transition but the one-button joysticks of the Spectrum means that to use a Gunball you need to hold down the fire button for a second. This results in them often being used by accident which is the only other issue I have with this conversion really. A good attempt but not quite good enough... 6/10 (full review here)

Slap Fight (Taito, 1987)

I received this game, nestled amongst several others, on the supremely-great Taito Coin-Op Hits compilation and, whilst not the most impressive game featured, I still recall having some fun with it. The graphics are again monochrome but quite faithful and include some good interpretations of the stages but there's practically no sounds. Like Gemini Wing, the two-buttons of the arcade game do not translate well to Speccy joysticks so you'll either have to play with the keyboard (which is horrible for shmups, in my opinion at least) or make do with the power-ups seemingly being selected automatically as you collect the stars. As if that wasn't bad enough, the bullets fired by your enemies are about one pixel big which makes them almost invisible! The potential for a great conversion is here but is sadly ruined by a couple of bad flaws. Bah! ... 5/10 (full review here)

Nemesis (Konami, 1987)

I've always preferred the original name for the Gradius series but whichever name you like, this Speccy conversion of the first game is one which remains notorious to this day for its badness! I had access to the spiffing PC Engine version so I've never had any reason to play it but playing it now, I can immediately see why it's so frowned upon. The Vic Viper is already pretty nippy so no speed-ups are necessary and after the first few waves of popcorn enemies, no more power-ups are forthcoming, for the first stage at least. There's virtually no sound either, and the graphics, although quite colourful, aren't great. The tiny enemy bullets and terrible collision-detection make it immensely frustrating to play and, worst of all, the almost unrecognisable levels stages bear little in common with those found in the undemanding coin-op, making it an awful conversion in every sense of the word. It should be best-considered as a game based on Gradius and even then a poor one. Boo hoo.... 3/10

Dragon Spirit (Namco, 1989)

I always seem to like dragon-based shoot 'em ups for some reason and this one was the first I played. It seems to be set during pre-historic times - makes sense I suppose since dragons are a bit dinosaurish - so the stages feature mainly enemies appropriate to that setting. There are both airborne creatures as well as plenty of land and sea-dwelling beasts, all of whom spit endless bullets in your direction of course! Your flying dragon can spit his own fireballs back (and grow extra heads to that end) as well as drop bombs, Xevious style, on the pesky critters, and this presents the only problem with this otherwise-fine conversion - the old not-enough-fire-buttons dilemma again! If you can work out a way to get around this (play by keyboard? - eeek!), Dragon Spirit is decent version of a good (but tough) shmup. There's plenty of power-ups to seek out and the monochrome graphics change colour each stage so there's a bit of variety at least. If only I could assign both 'shoot' and 'bomb' to the same fire button... 6/10

Forgotten Worlds (Capcom, 1989)

As I mentioned in a review recently, I always used to think two-player shmups were quite rare, so Forgotten Worlds used to get a lot of play on my MegaDrive primarily for this reason. Impressively, this conversion retains that feature to no noticeable ill-effect but time spent since my MD days on other shmups has revealed that this game wasn't actually that great to start with! The two player-controlled muscle-dudes wield giant cannons, Space Harrier-stylee, and they can be rotated through 360°. This can be quite a fiddly process on the Speccy but it works better than the control methods for some of the other titles here resulting in a reasonable-enough game which is the easiest one featured (mainly thanks to a rather generous energy bar!). The graphics are colourful but this comes at the cost of some awful colour-clash and the sound is once again minimal. If you liked the arcade game though, this is definitely worth trying... 7/10


RKS will be back soon with another Round-Up! :)

Scrolling Fighting Games #7

Black Belt a.k.a. Hokuto No Ken (1986)
By: Sega Genre: Fighting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega Master System First Day Score: 209,100
Also Available For: Nothing Download For: Wii Virtual Console

It's not a real two-player mode - bah!

Back in the late 80's, my good friend Luke and I were both proud owners of Sega's Master System. We were both still at school though, so we couldn't afford new games very often, but we frequently ogled the games we wanted in the various magazines of the day, and on both of our lists was this exciting-sounding game by Sega. It's actually one of the first games by Yuki Naka who would later go on to head Sonic Team and was released earlier in the same year in Japan as a game based on the popular manga and anime series, Fist of the North Star. Rather than using this opportunity to introduce it to the rest of us though, its release in other territories saw a change in theme to the generic karate game we have before us. This was all unknown to Luke and I at the time of course, and despite the atrocious cover art (see here) it's a game I always found very enticing.

Apparently inspired by Irem's Kung Fu Master, even to the point of borrowing its 'plot', Sega's game introduces the martial arts master, Riki, whose girlfriend has been kidnapped by a rival gang. Blinded by love to the obvious dangers ahead, Riki immediately sets out to rescue her by kicking and punching his way across six scrolling stages of enemy goons. His repertoire of moves is restricted to a punch or kick, both of which can be performed while standing or squatting, and he can also unleash a flying kick. Each stage features just one type of standard enemy who are each felled (and then explode) by one of Riki's strikes. There are also one or more mid-bosses, who are usually armed, before the main end-of-stage battle against a much stronger foe.

Enemy strikes deplete Riki's health-bar but this can be replenished by performing a high-jump (jump while squatting) to grab the icons that occasionally float along the top of the screen. As well as several types of food to refill your energy, there's also a temporary shield, but they're tricky to grab without taking any damage as the buffoons running backwards and forwards along the single-plane landscapes are infinite and quite quick too. They're also pretty small, as is Riki himself. The level of detail isn't too impressive on most sprites either but the mid and end-of-stage bosses are quite varied and a bit more detailed too. Confrontations with the latter sees the view zoom in a little, and therefore the level of detail increase a little, as the game (briefly) switches to a one-on-one brawler complete with unique backgrounds.

Each of the stages also has its own backdrop and tune, of course, but these are little better than average which sums up the whole game really. It would probably have proved a reasonably entertaining game to play every now and then when it came out but it's not aged too well. There's no incentive to play for points since the enemies are never-ending. There is a time limit, admittedly, but it's not a very strict one which is probably because the stages aren't very long - if you were forced to rush through them, each would probably last a couple of minutes at most, not including the boss fights which are, incidentally, the only times you'll need to use more than one brain cell! Playing through the rest of the game, though, is a bit of a chore and there's a few scrolling fightings games on the MS which are much more enjoyable. Sometimes these games I've been meaning to play for so many years are worth the wait. Sadly, Black Belt isn't one of them.

RKS Score: 5/10

Cover Art: Master System - Part 4

So, despite the fact that my look at the wildly fluctuating quality of Master System covers was only supposed to comprise of two posts, my interest (and amusement) in the subject, or at least the chortlesome UK/US covers, has led to an extended feature. So, for the last time (probably), here's a look at another five beauties:

Quartet (1987)
I'm still undecided about this one. The UK/US cover is typically simple and shows very little, but what it does show manages a fairly decent indication of the game - most importantly that it's a side-viewed shooter and it's a two-player game. The Japanese cover is far superior artistically, of course, but it doesn't really give a hugely accurate portrayal - if I picked that from a shelf, I'd be expecting an into-the-screen tunnel shooter! Definitely looks nicer though...



Black Belt (1986)
This game is in a high position on my list of Master System games that I always wanted to buy all those years ago but never got around to getting. Maybe I was subconciously put off by the ridiculously lazy cover design I would've found here in the UK! Fair enough - I probably would've guessed by the 'whacking foot' that it's a fighting game of some sort but even if that's all I needed to know, it's still a very poor effort. Like the Quartet cover, however, the Japanese effort looks much nicer but says little about the game. It looks more like the cover of an anime series so it comes as no surprise to find the Japanese version of Black Belt was indeed based on the Fist of the North Star series, so I guess fans would at least have some idea of what to expect. Would it have hurt to show the characters in fighting stances or something though?



Golvellius (1988)
Compile's fantastic action-RPG is one of my favourite MS games and it also has one of the best UK/US covers too if you ask me. Not only does it represent the hero, the damsel in distress, and the terrible evil lurking in the distance, but it's also a decent piece of artwork in its own right. The Japanese cover is predictably far more anime-ish but otherwise does a similar job so I guess it just comes down to which style of artwork you most appreciate with this one.



Pro Wrestling (1986)
I think of all the 'white grid' Master System cover designs, this is one of the most amusing - the strange fellow looks like a cross between Zangief and the Headless Horseman! Mocking aside, however, it may indicate the wrestley nature of the game but it's a poorly-drawn 'effort' which leaves most of the cover empty. Our Far-Eastern friends, on the other hand, were granted a much livlier and more interesting cover which probably makes the game look far more fun than it actually is. Still no contest though!



Kenseiden (1988)
Unusually for a fairly early release, this tough hack 'em up actually had a pretty good cover in my part of the world. That distinctive white graph-paper still takes up too much space but what art is there is good. The main character looks much like the one in the game and the evil enemies bear a decent likeness too. The Japanese cover does a similar job, and even manages to squeeze in that annoying wheel boss, but it's a little too cluttered for my tastes.



Well, I think my beloved Master System has received enough attention in this area now so I'll be moving on to another system for the next in this series of posts. Which will it be? Let's just say it's another one that features huge differences between US and Japanese covers... ;)

Red Parsley - Master System Cover Art Series:
Part 1     Part 2     Part 3     Part 4

Film Review #38

Horrible Bosses (2011)
Director: Seth Gordon Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Julie Bowen, Donald Sutherland

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 98 Minutes

Tagline: "Is your boss a sex crazed maneater?"

I'm sure most straight guys (and gay women) would answer the question posed by this film's tagline with: "If she looked like Ms. Aniston - I wish!" I can't imagine for a minute that anything to do with this annoyingly-named film is supposed to be realistic though. Indeed, if you're looking for a work-related film that accurately depicts the daily struggles that most of us have to deal with, you might as well move on right now! This one starts off normally enough by introducing us to each of the titular bosses and their aggrieved staff members in turn. Nick (Bateman) works for a financial firm headed by the sadistic Dave (Spacey) who coaxes countless extra work hours out of Nick with the promise of promotion, Dale (Day) is a recently married dental assistant who's getting sexually-harassed by his perpetually-horny boss, Julia (Aniston), while Kurt (Sudeikis) actually loves working for his boss, Jack (Sutherland), but when Jack dies suddenly, the job of running the company falls to his son, Bobby (Farrell), an incompetent coke-head who also happens to despise Kurt.

The three friends meet every evening in the bar after work to discuss the horrors of their respective days (and no, the other two don't understand why Dale doesn't just 'do' Julia either!). It's during one of these group-moping sessions that one of them jokingly points out how much easier and more enjoyable their lives would be if their bosses weren't around. Cue a few "We can't do that!" and "Hmm, maybe we actually could!" moments and before they know it they're in the most dangerous part of town looking for someone to do the job! Are the bosses annoying? Yes. Do their actions warrant murder? Of course not, but we are nonetheless soon introduced to 'murder consultant', Motherfucker Jones (Foxx) where things escalate from merely 'a bit unrealistic' to 'bloody ridiculous', but is it funny-ridiculous or just stupid-ridiculous?

Of the bosses, the ever-splendid Mr. Spacey gets by far the most screen-time and arguably the best scenes as well. We don't really see too much of Farrell's annoying boss, who comes complete with a far-from-flattering comb-over, but the one that most will remember is the slutty dentist portrayed by the ever-perky Ms. Aniston. I would guess she took the part in an attempt to distance herself from the rom-com-rut she seems to have found herself in but, however appealing it might be for her pervy fans to hear her talking about fingering herself (amongst other things), the character and the many obscenities she uses in an attempt to seduce Dale really don't seem genuine. In a film teeming with unrealistic characters and moments though, she doesn't seem so out of place, especially not in a film where her actions are deemed bad enough to be punishable by death!

As far as the put-upon employees are concerned, Patrick Bateman is becoming a stalwart of deadpan comedic roles like this. He doesn't disappoint here either and is probably the most realistic character in the film. Sudeikis has more of a supporting role than the other two but is still good value as the womanising Kurt, but I think Day steals the show for me. His Dale might be a bit of a whiny wuss but his constant panicking was one of the funniest things about the film! Jamie Foxx is of course wasted in his minimal role as an incompetent hitman but I'm sure he's just having some fun as we are, or as we hopefully are anyway! I certainly had a few laughs watching it too - yes, it's very silly, not terribly realistic, and some more sensitive types might even call it a little racist, but somehow it's still good fun. If you like the sound of the premise, or at least think it's tolerable, it's been executed well enough to make for a pretty entertaining hour-and-a-half.

RKS Score: 7/10

Early Driving Games #6

Victory Run (1987)
By: Hudson Soft Genre: Driving Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx 16
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: Wii Virtual Console, PlayStation Network

The PC Engine was a mighty fine console in its day, ground-breaking for an 8-bit machine really, and it was blessed with some fantastic games during its lifetime including dozens of quality shoot' em ups and arcade conversions, but one genre that was rather lacking on it was racing games, or more specifically, into-the-screen racing games. This could be for the same reason that inspired me to start this series of posts to start with - because they weren't usually very good! There is one that I always remember seeing in the early Mean Machines columns of C&VG and similar magazines though, and that was Victory Run. I don't believe it was a terribly successful game but the gaming press seemed to like it and that was enough for me. Or it should've been but, as with so many other games, I never got around to playing it!

For all those years of ignorance I've always been under the impression that this was yet another OutRun clone and, while it does have some similarities, it's not really the same kind of game as Sega's classic. The most obvious difference is the setting - Victory Run is what must have been one of the first games to be based on the famous, not to mention arduous Paris-Dakar Rally. Accordingly, the game's course spans this distance and is divided into eight more-or-less equally-sized stages comprising road and desert surfaces in roughly equal measure. There's just the one vehicle available to carry you this distance which comes only with a manual four-speed gearbox. Using this, you must pass each of the checkpoints per stage within a fairly strict time-limit to proceed to the next. Before you begin, however, you must choose which spare parts to take with you.

You can take a maximum of twenty parts from five categories - tyres, gears, engine, suspension, and brakes. However many you take of each is entirely up to you, but your car can get damaged over the demanding terrain and if you run out of a particular part - you're in trouble. For example, for my most recent attempt at the game, I decided to concentrate on tyres and engine for (hopefully) improved speed and cornering ability. This proved to be a wise decision as both were noticeably better - until my fourth gear broke and I had to trundle through the rest of the stage at a snail's pace! So, not only does choosing the correct spare parts to take with you usually determine how much progress you'll make but it also determines how much you'll enjoy the game generally! Having lots of any given part improves a specific aspect of your car's performance but having too few of each part introduces an annoying side-effect as well.

For example, take too few suspension parts and your car will be highly unstable during jumps. Most of them are pretty obvious though so I suppose the best option is to learn each course before deciding upon an ideal combination of spares. This is easier said than done as not only are the time-limits pretty tight but the numerous other vehicles on the road are equally troublesome, or even more so! They are not rival racers - your car is the only actual competitor - they instead consist of the usual 'civilian' vehicles which range in size from motorbikes up to large trucks. Contact with any of them will of course cause a substantial reduction in speed or shunt you off course where various road-side objects like rocks and trees await to flip your car around in an irritating fashion. The likelihood of this happening, as well as the severity of its impact on your race, is one of the things that effective use of spare parts can influence, so that's where it's best to concentrate.

This 'support parts' business is a pretty good idea and certainly adds something to the game, but graphically it's not so hot. The backgrounds and roadside vary little and infrequently in their appearance, although there is a change from day to night as you play, but there's not much detail. The sense of speed isn't great either, and that's on the occasions when you actually manage to build up a decent speed along the undulating roads which are often crowded and can become rather narrow at some points too! The only time you'll get to relax is for a few seconds at the end of each stage. The other road users drive reasonable-looking vehicles but the scaling isn't of the best quality either - a seemingly normal size car can be in front of your car but appear larger than it, for example! The music is better and consists of a few (non-selectable) tunes which the game cycles through. I think Hudson have made an attempt to emulate the 'anthem' type tunes of OutRun and, while they certainly aren't that good (what is?), they're quite catchy and fine companions on the tough journey before you.

A tough game it is too, or at least, it's a tough game to do well at. I get the impression that this was intentional too as Hudson do allow you to make decent progress into the game anyway. Your time-limit has a 'reserve tank' of time, you see, and this is used when you run out of normal time and allows you to advance to the next stage despite probably being in last place as I consistently was! I suppose it's a pretty good idea too - it allows lesser-skilled players to see beyond the first stage and offers more skilled players the inspiration to improve their times. The only problem is, despite Hudson's attempts to add a bit of depth and longevity, Victory Run just isn't particularly enjoyable to play. For me, this is mainly down to the imprecise nature of the racing - the excitement of squeezing through small gaps or flying around the outside of another car just isn't here because the controls and collision-detection aren't very forgiving, and your car will often seem to veer off-course for no readily-apparent reason too. It's a good effort from a top developer, but sadly Victory Run just needed a bit more fine-tuning before tempting you to take a test-drive.

RKS Score: 6/10

Single Screen Platform Games #8

Rod-Land (1990)
By: Jaleco Genre: Platform Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 111,800 (one credit - tower game)
Also Available For: NES, Game Boy, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
Download For: iOS

Considering how much I like these cutesy single-screen platform games, it's nothing short of shocking that I hadn't played this one before until it popped into my head again a few weeks ago. In fact, aside from its slightly chortlesome name, I knew little of the game until that fateful day. All I knew is that it's cute and that it would fit in well with the theme of this series of reviews. Indeed, the former point is seemingly something the game revels in and is apparent from the moment it starts. Like most other games of this type, Rod-Land is set in a magical far-away place populated by all sorts of fantastical creatures. Among them are two fairies called Tam and Rit whose mother has just been kidnapped and taken to a giant tower by a being of terrifying evil. Since Rod-Land is apparently devoid of any kind of law-enforcement authority, it instead falls to the brave fairies to being her back safe and sound.

Some small Totoros are the first enemy you'll face...

As you may have already guessed, that makes this a game that can be enjoyed with a friend as well. Whether you're flying solo or have some help, however, the details your quest are the same. There are thirty-one single-screen stages filled with platforms and ladders in various arrangements with every few stages consisting of a boss battle. The platforms are positioned at any of four different height levels (including the floor) and Tam and Rit can move around the stages freely but they cannot jump. They can create their own ladders though (only one each at any time), which span the height of one platform level. The other fire button is used by our mythical friends to wield their 'rods' of the title which are magic wands. These send forth a zap of magical energy which temporarily immobilises the various enemy creatures that patrol the stages. Zap one continuously for a few seconds and it'll get lifted over the head and slammed down, ending its life for good. Sounds a bit violent for a sweet little fairy but it does the trick!

Ride the balloons to access the higher areas...

There are generally between three and six enemies per stage which are all animal or plant-based (I can only assume the evil kidnapper has also managed to brainwash the surrounding environment) and all must be defeated before you can move onto the next. Smashing one into the ground will occasionally leave behind a fruit for bonus points but more often leaves a weapon icon which is set off when touched. These are mostly types of bombs - one bounces around for a bit, another fires in a straight line across the screen - and there's a flamethrower too! Fortunately, none of them hurt either fairy but cause a world of hurt for the enemies! The platforms of each stage are also adorned with various bonus items such as flowers or gems. Collecting these is optional as they only give you more points but if you collect them all before you've defeated all the enemies, the game will enter an 'Extra Game' mode for a short time which sees the remaining creatures change.

Yep, Rit is behind that giant blast somewhere...

Zapping one of these guys (who look like a cross between pies and acorns) leaves behind a letter icon. There are five to collect that will (hopefully) eventually spell out E-X-T-R-A, but I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what that does! As good as it is, I did at first think that was all there is to Rod-Land but it turns out that some messing with the dipswitch settings of the game reveals a whole new set of thirty-one stages! Instead of a spooky tower, these stages are set inside a pyramid where the fairies father has gone missing. Rather than mummies and scorpions and the other kinds of things you might expect to find here, however, the enemies are apparently all robotic/mechanical in nature. These aesthetic changes are the only differences though - the basic stage features are unchanged, so it literally does double the size of the game. With this in mind, I'm not sure how wise it was of Jaleco to hide the second game away and make no reference to it (that I could see) but it was well worth looking for!

E-X-T-R-A .... Oh yeah! :)

Whether you're playing the tower game or the pyramid game, after the first couple of stages you'll enter the structure in question. There are few different backgrounds but apart from that the graphics throughout the game are outstanding - even for cute game standards they're cute, sickeningly so some might say, and I almost feel ashamed to find them so appealing! There's some nice static intro and between-stage screens and the sprites are mostly quite big, well-animated, and are beautifully-drawn, as are the few different backgrounds. The audio is really nice too and includes some great effects and some catchy, if not massively numerous tunes which the game cycles through. The stages all feature well-designed arrangements of platforms and ladders - some are packed full of them, others are almost empty. In the case of the latter, there are occasional balloons that drift up the screen which you can hitch a ride on but that's about all the help you'll get.

Every few stages features a new enemy or two and, while only a couple can fire projectiles at you, they do get ever more skilled and determined (slightly). The pyramid stages are a bit tougher but it's never an especially difficult game with the possible exception of the boss battles. These usually take the form of a much larger enemy or enemies which fire smaller enemies at you and they usually need a good few tries to defeat. After a bit of practise they're not too bad though. About the only thing that did cause me problems was the slightly unresponsive controls. More than a few times I was faced with enemies approaching from both sides - I'd zap one, then try to quickly turn around to zap the other but the stupid bloody fairy didn't turn and instead ended up floating up to heaven! If you can adapt your playing style to compensate for this though, as I did, Rod-Land soon becomes a tremendously enjoyable game. It doesn't have as much depth or longevity as something like Bubble Bobble but it is a wonderfully happy and addictive game which is really hard not to love.

RKS Score: 8/10

Top Five American Football Games

As an Englishman, I'm quite unusual in one way. Actually, I suspect I'm quite unusual in several ways but the one I'm presently thinking of is my keenness on America's stupidly-named-but-nonetheless-entertaining sport of 'Football', and since the SuperBowl is once again upon us, I find myself reminded of how I became interested in the sport to start with, and that was - video games! In all my years of gaming I've played just about every kind of game there is, but if there's one genre I just couldn't get into, it's sports games. I like many sports in real life but video games based on them just never seem to do it for me. Except for one - American Football! Actually, it's two as I like some golf games too, but in the case of the former it was actually playing games based on America's favourite sport that not only taught me the rules but also intrigued me enough to seek out the real sport as well which has now provided as many years of entertainment as the games themselves. I've now played a considerable number of them and here are my favourite five...

Games-Related Top Fives Disclaimer: I've traditionally stuck to the games I know and love so far, and these game-related top fives reflect that. One of the purposes of this blog is diversify my gaming experiences, to play games I haven't played before, so I will do new game-related top fives in a few years to see how different they are!

5. Tecmo Super Bowl (1991 - NES)

Since I didn't own Nintendo's grey toaster until long after its time has passed, this is by far my most recently-played game on this list despite being the second-oldest, but time has not diminished the enjoyment that it still provides aplenty. It's an over-head, side-scrolling effort and is notable for being the first officially licensed NFL game meaning gamers could play as their favourite team. The graphics are a little ropey with quite a bit of flicker but it doesn't hamper the gameplay too much which is a mixture of fast-paced, arcade-style action and more in-depth, strategic play. The presentation and audio creates a great atmosphere but the most impressive thing about this game is the number of options and play-modes - it even has a management option! It's quite basic as you might expect but impressive all the same!

4. NFL Blitz 2000 (1999 - Dreamcast)

The most recent game on this list and therefore the flashiest is unusual for a sports game in that it's actually an arcade conversion. This of course means that it's much faster-paced than most other gridiron games and is similarly unrealistic. There are less players on the field for one thing, and first-downs require a 30-yard gain as well, which makes an already tough game even harder! Other arcadey additions include the 'On Fire' mode which sees your chosen player gifted with enhanced abilities if you manage to achieve three passes in a row or something similar. Another advantage of its non-serious nature, as well as being on Sega's powerhouse console, is that it offers four-players the chance to participate simultaneously which can make for some pretty chaotic games! The only downside really is the frequently frustrating AI which does take some enjoyment out - it would probably be in the number one spot if it wasn't so unfair - but it's still a manic game which is good fun.

3. American Pro Football (1989 - Master System)

This was the first American Football game I ever played. I didn't actually own it but was introduced to me by my good friend Luke (who ironically hates sports games). The action is viewed from a slighty zoomed-in, direct-overhead viewpoint which scrolls vertically up and down the field which works well in most cases including here, and the sound is appealing too - there's even some sampled speech (I love the way it says 'interception'). Although not officially licensed, there are close copies of all the major teams to choose from and it's a surprisingly involving effort for such a complicated sport on such a basic system - it has several play modes and difficulties and, unlike Great Football, has lots of plays which are easy to choose and execute. A fondly-remembered game which still plays well today!

2. NFL Sports Talk Football '93 (1992 - MegaDrive)

Apparently created as a rival for EA's Madden series, the Joe Montana Football games were never as successful as their rivals but they did give birth to the short-lived-but-impressive 'Sports Talk' brand. This entry in the series is also the game that really got me interested in the sport to begin with and is the reason I've supported the 49ers for about 18 years now! As far as the game is concerned, there's plenty of options and play-modes to get stuck into and, unusually, the action is viewed from an angled-overhead perspective which scrolls horizontally. It features some really nice zoomed-in graphics when the play requires it too, but the real 'talking point' (har har!) is the masses of sampled speech which literally creates a running commentary. A superbly playable (if slightly easy) game with audio which amazed me back then and still impresses today.

1. John Madden Football (1994 - 3DO)

As much as it pains me to have a bloody EA game at the top of the list, this entry in the long-running series really was a special game. Good thing too as I put a lot of effort into finding a copy of it which, being a 3DO game, wasn't easy! I believe it was the first true 3D game of its type and EA used the power of the 3DO and the capacity of its CD-based storage to their full advantage to produce a remarkably comprehensive game which featured lovely intros and presentation similar to TV coverage including many clips of Mr. Madden himself offering advice and analysis, multiple clips of each team in action, some historical coverage, and there was even the option to play as one of many famous championship-winning teams of the past. Combine this with stacks of stats and options as well as fantastically balanced and intuitive gameplay, and the result is the most enjoyable American Football game I've yet played...