Shinobi Series - Part 4

The Revenge of Shinobi a.k.a. Super Shinobi (1989)
By: Sega  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1  Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis  First Day Score: 1,399,500
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

It might seem obvious to follow up a successful game with a sequel or two but not all of them receive one. As we know now however, Sega sensibly released many sequels to the classic Shinobi and the first two appeared very close together. First came Shadow Dancer, a fellow arcade game which updated the basic Shinobi formula nicely. Following closely behind it was this game, known in Japan, where it was first released of course, as Super Shinobi. Here in the UK it was renamed as above and was a launch title for the eagerly-awaited MegaDrive console. Even now, there has seldom been a launch game that so ably and immediately demonstrated the abilities of the system on which it's based. The effect it had on me was profound at the time and is still keenly felt today.

A somersault attack in action...

The story is the same old nonsense and is perhaps the least interesting aspect of the game. Happily however, it does involve the hero of the first game (and indeed most Shinobi games), who returns here to save the day once again. Yes that's right, the mighty ninja master, Joe Musashi, is back! Also returning are his mortal enemies from the first game - the ghastly Zeed gang, newly tooled-up and rejuvenated, and with a (slightly) new name too - the Neo Zeed. They've been up to their old tricks and this time it appears to be personal. As well as kidnapping Joe's beautiful girly, Naoko, they've also assassinated his sensei. Filled with rage, Joe vows to travel to all corners of the world to track down and punish the Neo Zeed and will not rest until the vicious enemy has been destroyed.

Dodged the sword but about to get it in the back!

Despite the presence of a black-clad ninja on the title screen, Musashi is this time decked out in a white keikogi, much like his son in Shadow Dancer (but minus the dog). In order to rescue his girl and avenge his master he must fight the Neo Zeed over eight themed levels spread across much of the world. Each level is divided into three stages - two large, usually multi-tiered affairs followed by a boss fight. Of course, the stages are populated by the Zeed minions who include various types of ninjas, soldiers, mercenaries, samurai, and all sorts of martial arts thugs. Some merely attack with various punches and kicks while others are armed with shurikens, guns, grenades, flame-throwers, or various ninja weapons. Attacks from any of them deplete Joe's energy bar (although contact with the enemies themselves doesn't always cause damage) but he is of course sufficiently-equipped to dish out the hurt too!.

Not all fighting is done on solid ground here...

His arsenal is much the same as it was in the original - he can kick and stab enemies at close range and he can also fling shurikens. Unlike the original, however, he has a finite supply of them. The number he starts with depends on the difficulty level selected (which also determines how many lives he starts with) but luckily more of them can be collected during the course of the game by breaking open the wooden crates that are in plentiful supply. One additional, and very useful move available here is the somersault. By pressing the jump button again when at the peak of a jump, Joe will perform a somersault in that direction. It's also possible to unleash a volley of eight shurikens which spans from directly ahead to directly down. As you might imagine, this uses up your supply rather quickly but it also covers a lot of the screen and can take out multiple enemies at once.

The cityscape holds a surprise at the end...

Also making a return is the ninja magic. You get one per level/life and there are four kinds available: Ikazuchi - the Art of Thunder (a lighting shield which protects you from a set number of enemy attacks), Kariu - the Art of the Fire Dragon (fills the screen with scorching fire, killing minions and damaging bosses), Fushin - the Art of Floating (greatly improves your jumping height enabling you to reach previously inaccessible locations), and Minjin - the Art of Pulverizing (turns you into stone, then you explode!). Minjin should only as a last resort when you have little energy remaining. It's effectively a smart bomb and causes devastating damage, but it also costs you a life! Luckily, as mentioned, there are lots of wooden crates around. As well as containing more shurikens (which comes in fives or twenty-fives), you can also find extra magics, extra lives, health, and a shot power-up which doubles the size and strength of Joe's shurikens as well as giving him a sword for close-quarters fighting. The crates aren't all so helpful though - some contain bombs which explode if you get too close!

These flame-thrower dudes are a pain in the arse!

So far it probably all sounds fairly by-the-numbers but the secret of Revenge of Shinobi's greatness isn't what it does but how it does it. The game begins with a short but explosive introduction sequence which, despite actually featuring very little, still manages to set the tone superbly for the game and was unlike anything I'd seen outside of an arcade before. The presentation is exceptional throughout too. For example, when you start the first stage you'll find leaves blowing around and the moon is gradually rising, turning the sky from an evening pink to the black of night. There's lots of small touches like that through the game and it's great. There's also a small map screen between levels, a pause screen where you can select your magic - everything really is of superb quality. One of the first examples of this you might notice in-game is the audio.

Inside a cargo aircraft this time!

Composed by the great (and now very famous) Yuzo Koshiro, the soundtrack was absolutely amazing at the time and, even more than the graphics, was what impressed me most about the game on first impressions. There are around fifteen named tunes so some do repeat on a couple of stages, but considering their quality, fifteen is plenty for me! They all suit the stage on which they feature pretty well too, especially the far-eastern themed stages and the boss stages. The latter stages all feature the same music but it's a good piece! Graphically, the game is also supremely impressive too. The animation is a bit of a mixed-bag with some superb examples like the explosions (all the enemies explode - they must be cyborgs!), and some less impressive examples like the guard dogs which move like South Park characters! That's the only blot on the landscape though - the many stages are very nicely designed and feature lovely background and foreground scenery for the most part.

Kariu - the Art of the Fire Dragon in action!

They are pretty varied too. Predictably, there's some office blocks, military camps, and far-eastern village-type stages (including secret underground passages), but there's also a few more original locations such as a waterfall, atop a moving train, and a highway complete with fast-moving traffic! The bosses seem to be rather generic to start with too - the first is a giant samurai, for example, but later ones include a missile-carrying truck, a tyrannosaurus rex, and even Spider-Man! There's a few other nods to movie characters to be found too but I won't spoil it! The normal enemies aren't quite so imaginative but are all well-drawn and all look the part superbly. Few of the stages are very large but they are all so packed with cunningly-positioned enemies that they should last you a good while. That said, this isn't the most testing game of all-time either.

Ooof! Smacked by a car!

As you may have noticed from the screenshots, there is a cheat for infinite shurikens (tee hee!) but if you play this game 'properly', it presents a good challenge. Control of Joe is superb. Performing his somersault move often causes newcomers problems but it's fine once you get the hang of it and it's an essential skill to learn too. This is also a fair game. The shot power-up not only increases your attack strength but allows you to block enemy shurikens. Plus, if you get hit while powered-up, you'll only lose the power-up, not any energy. It's like they thought of everything! It really is difficult to imagine how Sega could've made Revenge of Shinobi any better. It looks and sounds fantastic and plays just as well, with varied, intelligently designed stages and is jam-packed with addictive ninja action. As one of the first ever MegaDrive games it was nothing short of a revelation but it hasn't aged a bit and it's a testament to its brilliance that, even near the end of the MegaDrive's life, it was still considered one of the console's best titles. A genuine landmark MD title and an all-time great.

RKS Score: 9/10

Puzzle Games #6

Lumines (2005)
By: Q Entertainment / Ubisoft  Genre: Puzzle  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sony PSP  First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 2 (variation)
Download For: Xbox Live Arcade, iPhone

When Sony announced the launch line-up for their swanky new handheld console, I and many others were expecting the same old flashy 3D games found on their other systems to accompany it. This turned out to be a largely substantiated assumption, but there were a couple of surprises amongst the usual suspects. Just about the most un-flashy 3D-ish kind of game around must surely be that of 'falling block' puzzle games, perfectly playable examples of which can be found on the most basic of formats, but here was one nestled next to Ridge Racer and the like. Typically though, this isn't an ordinary falling blocks game even if it may initially seem to be.

At its heart, Lumines is one of the simplest games of its type that I've played. The playfield consists of a grid sixteen blocks wide by ten blocks high. Falling into this are a succession of two-blocks-by-two squares which are any combination of two colours. These must be arranged so as to create complete blocks of the same colour. If they are four-by-four or larger, they will disappear when the 'timeline' passes over them. This is a vertical line which sweeps repeatedly across the playfield. However, as with the cult hit, Rez, developed by Q Entertainment founder, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, music plays a more active role here than merely massaging your ears as you play.

The soundtrack would be worthy of special mention here anyway. Most of the tracks are of the techno/trance style but there are few other styles too and they are outstanding to listen to for the most part. As mentioned, however, they play a bigger part that just that too. Each music track is part of its given 'skin', which also includes the background image and colour scheme. New skins are unlocked as you reach them in the game with a new one arriving every four 'levels', with the level ever increasing the longer you play for. The timeline, which removes matched-up blocks, is synchronised to the music so it sweeps across the playfield faster or slower depending on which music is playing, and your actions can in turn affect the music. This can all make quite a difference.

As with many games of this type, progress is made easier by forming as large groupings of colours as possible, and by stragically planning for chain-reactions. The faster the timeline is moving across the screen, the less time you'll have to position the blocks as you wish. The falling blocks can be moved left and right across the screen and rotated so you can place them anywhere you want. Obviously they'll stop when they touch already-placed blocks, but if only half of the falling block is resting on the others, the rest of it will continue to fall. There is also occasionally a special flashing block. This will cause all blocks of the colour it's touching to disappear when the timeline passes over them which can cause some huge chain-reactions!

As well as having fantastic music, the graphics here are also of a flashiness you may not expect from a puzzle game. Many of the backgrounds are animated or feature moving parts which will light up, change colour, or emit sparkly and twinkly effects as you match up blocks. Many of the effects can be caused by a combination of the music and your block-matching antics, and particularly large chain-reactions can fill the screen with flashy explosions and firework-like writing in the sky. The grid itself even has a faint spectrum-analyser behind the blocks! As you can probably tell, Lumines is certainly a game that's a treat for the senses!

Admittedly, a big part of the appeal of the game is its audio/visual splendour, but like Rez before it, it's not just a game which happens to have fancy graphics and music - they combine with the gameplay to create an overall experience, and it's a fantastic experience too! In a slightly different way, Lumines does for the PSP what Wipeout did for the PS1 - it takes an ordinary gaming concept and adds a fresh, exciting, not to mention 'cool' sheen to it. There's a few play modes to choose from too, including time-attack, puzzle, and a split-screen mode which can be played against a second player or the CPU.

The puzzle mode charges you with creating a specific shape with your blocks (which is very hard) while the split-screen mode is interesting in that it moves the line dividing the playfield depending on how well one is doing in relation to the other. It really doesn't matter too much which mode you choose though - Lumines is an addictive and truly entrancing game in any of them. The action can get pretty fast and challenging, especially as you frantically try to place blocks before the timeline sweeps past, but it remains hugely entertaining in any case. I'm not sure many gamers would've expected a falling-block game to be the star of the show at the mighty PSP's launch but I can't think of too many games that are more enjoyable to play.

RKS Score: 9/10

Bat 'n' Ball Games #3

Plump Pop (1987)
By: Taito  Genre: Bat 'n' Ball  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 65,210
Also Available For: PlayStation 2 (on compilation)

Arguably the first successful game ever was Pong which was a great game for two players, but what about solo gamers? They were soon catered for too when Atari adapted the game for the single player. The result? The all-time classic, Breakout! It wasn't long before clones started appearing, of course. Up until recently, every one of these 'bat 'n' ball' games that I had played quite literally featured a bat and a ball, just like Breakout itself, but as soon as a year after Atari's classic was unveiled, a game called Circus was released by Exidy. This replaced the bat with a see-saw and the ball with two small men (or 'people', I suppose) who bounced each other up and down on the see-saw, destroying the balloons above, which of course had replaced the bricks. It is on this game that the amusingly-named Plump Pop is based.

Although Taito had released other Circus clones before, it's this one, released some ten years after Exidy's game, that caught my eye. It replaces the see-saw with a small trampoline which is carried by two small creatures, one either side. Bouncing on the trampoline is a third creature of the same type but smaller. As you may have gathered by now, your job is to bounce the creature up into the destructible objects above. This is apparently to save the land from an evil 'spilit' (snigger). You can choose between three animals before starting - cats, dogs, or pigs. It doesn't seem to make an awful lot of difference which you choose though - the objective remains to clear the single-screen stages of the floating objects contained therein. UFO's are the first but they do change from stage to stage and include the likes of aliens, monsters, bubbles, etc. Some of them drop items such as fruits for bonus points and you can also find three different coloured stars which can explode, taking some targets with them. There's also an occasional bird flying past which you can hit for points but if you take too long, a small dragon will obstruct you on the floor!

Like many bat 'n' ball games, Plump Pop employs a paddle controller for each player (of which there can be two) and there are forty stages to play through - ten rounds of four stages each. The first stage of each round features objects moving moving backwards and forwards, the second features a stationary shape made of (usually) smaller objects, the third is a bonus round with lots of fruit up for grabs, and the fourth hosts a boss which obviously requires multiple hits to see off. Each round also has a different background image. These aren't bad but I'm not sure I like the style in which the they're drawn. The sprites are pretty cute as you'd imagine, as are some of the floating objects you must destroy with them, but animation is poor too. Generally things look pretty primitive for the time and it's the same with the audio really. The music is quite jolly and happy, and is rather catchy, but it's nothing special either.

My appreciation of cute games is well known (although I should perhaps have been trying to keep it secret) and a cute bat 'n' ball-style game was an interesting concept. Surely if anyone could pull if off (giggity) it would be Taito? Well, it's certainly cute but I think as far as the gameplay is concerned, they've taken a backwards step from their previous genre offering. Having moving objects instead of different arrangements of coloured bricks robs the game of the kind of fiendish stage design that made Arkanoid so great. This game is also devoid of power-ups too, which further limits its appeal. It's not all bad though. Sending animals bouncing around the screen couldn't fail to be amusing, for one thing! You can make the trampoline-holding animals jump in either direction which affords you a reasonable degree of control over the trajectory of their airborne counterpart but things can get very fast with your animal bouncing around all over the place, so you'll need lightning reactions to prevent them from ending up in a crumpled heap on the floor! Overall, Plump Pop approaches the genre from an interesting angle, and it can be great fun, especially with two players, but more times than not I'd still rather play Arkanoid.

RKS Score: 6/10


Special note: If you do want to play this game, it's probably best to go for the PS2 version on Taito Legends unless you're lucky enough to find an arcade version. It doesn't play well via emulation since it was made to be used with a paddle controller.

Exploring the Atari 2600 - Part 2

Unlike the two of the previous 'Exploring' features posted here where I asked fans for recommendations of games to try out on the systems in question, this time I didn't. For the first part, I revisited the only VCS game I had spent a significant amount of time playing, then tried out a few of the more famous games that I'd heard of. This means there was a good chance that they'd be great games though, so for this part I've selected five random games to try out. Here's the ones I chose:

Planet Patrol (1982)
This Spectravideo release was my first pick and I was pleased to find that it's a good one. It plays a lot like River Raid, which I looked at in part one, only turned on its side! Unusually for a horizontal-scroller, it moves from right-to-left and charges you with rescuing downed pilots. To do this you must brave the waves of enemy fighters and missiles, taking down as many as you can, pass over the pilot to rescue him, destroy the enemy city, avoid the ensuing debris, stop to refuel, and repeat! One novel feature is the gradual transition from day to night. During the latter, the enemies are only visible from the flash of your cannon firing! It's a great idea and adds a little variety to an addictive and enjoyable shmup.

Up'n Down (1983)
Blimey, a racing game! There can't be too many of these on the VCS! This one is a conversion of the Sega coin-op released earlier in the same year in which you find yourself in control of a buggy of some sort travelling on a single-lane network of branching roads which are populated by lots of other vehicles which you can jump over (or on top of). The object is to collect ten flags after which you'll progress to the next stage, but the roads can get rather crowded and it's also possible to jump off the track altogether! The arcade version looks quite nice for its time, and this is a brave attempt to convert it, but I'm afraid it looks rather horrifying with ultra-blocky roads and unrecognisable buggies. Luckily it's still pretty good fun to play in short bursts but I think one of the other versions might be a better bet!

Bowling (1978)
This one must be one of the oldest games for the VCS but does that make it a bad one? Not from what I could tell! As the really smart among you may have already deduced, it's a game based on the sport of ten-pin bowling. This obviously means it's most entertaining when played against a friend but it can be played by a solo-player too and I enjoyed doing so for a short while. The several game variations provide very little variety though, so it understandably gets a bit boring after a while. I imagine this would be the kind of game that I would've had a quick game of every time a friend came round though, and if I had fun playing it for the first time over thirty years after its release, it must've been a hit back then!

Gravitar (1983)
Although fairly well-known as it turns out, this is one I've not personally encountered before. I guess, like the VCS itself, it's a little before my time, but I'm confident I wouldn't loved this if I was a little older! For the benefit of fellow newbies, the original used vector graphics and sees you in control of a small blue spaceship which you must use to destroy various cannons on several planets which can be visited from the opening solar system screen. As well as having to avoid shots from the cannons and rogue enemy ships, you'll also have to contend with gravity and an ever-diminishing fuel supply! Obviously this version loses the vector graphics but otherwise it's a top conversion. Most sections are just as blocky as Up'N Down but it doesn't affect play as much here. The ship remains responsive and it's a very enjoyable and addictive game.

Karate (1982)
Dear dear me! I've either been pretty lucky with my selections up until this point or this game is something of a freak occurrence; an unwelcome blight on the 2600's back-catalogue. Karate, as you can see, is a one-on-one fighting game, and it's not a very good one. The two stick-figure combatants automatically move toward each other leaving the player(s) to pound the button hoping that the staggeringly poor collision-detection registers a hit. All the while, the figures are constantly jiggling around for no apparent reason. Perhaps tellingly, Karate was apparently designed by a black-belt karate dude rather than an actual game designer, and the result is one of the worst games I've ever played. Sorry karate dude, please don't roundhouse kick me!

Verdict:
I do genuinely prefer playing 'classic' or retro games to modern ones (in fact, I've literally only played a handful of games on the current machines, and only then for just a few minutes). Is it because retro games are better or it is just nostalgia - a desperate attempt to hold on to my childhood? I wouldn't say they're better, necessarily. I think they're just more in tune to my personal tastes and preferences (most notably, my short attention span!), but nostalgia certainly plays a part too. It's no coincidence that a lot of the content here at Red Parsley features games on systems I owned (and in many cases, still own). But if nostalgia is the main cause, then surely it's not the actual games I enjoy, and if this is true, accordingly, the further back I go, the less appealing the games would surely be? This brings me, in a typically long-winded way, to the Atari 2600.

Technically it's not the oldest console, but few would disagree that it's the oldest successful console. I'm sure it was a technical revelation in its day but I think it's safe to say that today, it and its games look rather basic to say the least. The ultra-blocky graphics the console offers, combined with the tiny amount of memory available to programmers, understandably made it very challenging to create anything remotely enjoyable. Fortunately, there were some extremely talented people on hand, such as David Crane and Larry Kaplan, who were able to make the most of the limited resources available to them to create some fantastic games, as I've discovered with this feature.

So, if my love of retro gaming is fuelled by nostalgia, it must still only account for part of the source as I've greatly enjoyed the time I've spent with Atari's famous old console. Most of the games are indeed very basic, and some are terrible, but isn't that true of games on all consoles? The few VCS games I played 25-odd years ago are still enjoyable and I've also discovered some more crackers. The kind of graphics that the VCS produces are perhaps a little too basic for some, and I can understand that, but they are also very colourful, more so than some later systems, and they certainly don't prevent all of its games from being great fun. Near enough all of the games I tried are of course rather repetitive but that was par for the course in those days I suppose.

I think I would've had a lot of fun with my VCS when I was younger if I'd had one and I'm sure I would have immensely fond nostalgic feelings regarding it today if that were the case. I didn't have one though, I barely saw them by the time I had an interest in gaming, but I can see why they were so popular, and it's a testament to the skill and creativity of many of the programmers of the day that so many of its games are still enjoyable.

Next up, I'll be looking at a slightly more modern, and much more powerful system, and I'm looking forward to it already!

Exploring the Atari 2600 - Part 1

Awesome Nature #3

Monkey Puzzle Tree
Type: Tree  Lives In: Peru and Argentina  Conservation Status: Vulnerable

I'm sure I'm not alone in finding these eye-catching trees interesting. They hardly seem to fit in with the oak, birch, and plane trees so commonly found here in the UK, but where did they come from? Well, for starters, 'monkey puzzle tree' appears to be a mere nickname - its official name is 'araucaria araucana' and it is native to Chile and Argentina where it was discovered in the 1780's. It's one of the slowest-growing trees in the conifer family and also one of the longest-lived - in it natural habitat it can live for as long as 1,000 years. Its nickname comes from the fact that every inch of it (except the trunk) is covered in hard, scale-like leaves which would no doubt cause monkeys and other trees-dwellers some problems in moving around it! Amusingly, its French name translates as 'monkeys despair' so I guess we're not the only ones to have noticed that!

Why They Are Awesome: Because they puzzle monkeys, of course!

Top Five Ways To Eat Potato

If you're anything like me, vegetables aren't usually the first choice when selecting a lush meal. Healthy they may be (for the most part) but they are seldom the most exciting part of any dish they may be part of. There are a few exceptions though, and potatoes are one! They are arguably the most versatile of all vegetables and can be fashioned into all manner of enjoyable snacks and meals. It's also easily possible to turn them into unhealthy (and therefore tasty) forms too. Here are my five faves:

5 - Mash

4 - Croquettes

3 - Roast

2 - Waffles

1 - Chips / Fries

Om nom nom nom!

Arcade Adventures #2

Spellcaster a.k.a. Kujaku Ou, a.k.a. Warrior Quest (1989)
By: Sega  Genre: Arcade Adventure  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega Master System
Also Available For: Nothing

If there's one criticism you could level at the Master System, it's the rather meagre size of its software library. Many of its games were arcade conversions, others could also be found on systems such as the MSX, NES, and PC Engine, but one thing it also had was a few exclusive titles, and Spellcaster is a good one. It's not as unique as I once believed though. As with many Japanese games, it's based on a manga (and later, anime) series called Kujaku Ou (Peacock King) which stars Kujaku, a demon-hunting Buddhist monk. In this Western version he's called Kane and he has been summoned by Daikak, the leader of the great Summit Temple, to investigate mysterious attacks on neighbouring temples, perhaps a prelude to war between rival warlords. His first stop is Enriku Temple where ten guards have gone missing.

There are two main styles of play here. The first is similar to a run 'n' gun game which sees Kane moving backwards and forwards between locations, guided by the wise and powerful Daikak, or any information he recovers from other characters. These sections are invariably populated by lots of enemies which include ninjas, samurai, beasts, and even spirits and demons. Kane can fight them using his Ki power which he can shoot from his hands. He can fire weak shots rapidly or charge a more powerful shot, although he's more vulnerable to attacks whilst charging. These sections include various hazards and obstacles and there's also an occasional boss fight. To help you overcome both, Kane can use a variety of magic spells (hence the imaginative title!).

The top of the screen shows two numbers which denote Kane's strength and energy. The former is his life-meter which obviously decreases as he's struck by enemies or their projectiles whilst the latter is needed to cast spells, with the amount of energy required depending on the spell. The first spell you'll learn, and the only one which requires no energy, gives you a password so you can continue another time. The others are all available from the start of the game and are mostly used for destructive purposes, making use of the elements to do so (lightning, fire, wind, etc). Non-offensive spells can restore Kane's strength, provide him with temporary protection from attack, and even allow him thirty seconds of flight. Linking together all these action scenes are RPG-style dialogue and point-and-click sections.

It is here that the story is laid out. Talking with other characters will gradually reveal clues and new leads but there's nothing especially complex involved. A menu with six simple commands (move, use, look, etc) occupies the top-right part of the screen with Kane's image appearing below it. The left of the screen is filled with an image of the current location or character being spoken to, with the dialogue below it. These sections also provide most of the items you'll need to advance in your quest. There's more than a dozen strange objects to be found and they all have a use somewhere. Some examples include a necklace, a fake sword, a lute, a sacred mirror... I won't spoil it by revealing where they are used or what they do though, you can figure that out for yourselves if you play the game!

It's well worth playing too. Spellcaster was one of the first games I got for my Master System and I never did trade or sell it. It's not enormously long for an adventure game - a skilled gamer could probably best it in under two hours - but it will last most players way longer than that. Kane's strength and energy can be topped up by collecting the blue and orange spheres respectively that some destroyed enemies drop, and he effectively has infinite lives (if you die, Daikak will resurrect you and you can start the section again), but the game still gets pretty tough pretty quickly. There are some unfair deaths - you can be knocked down a gap by an enemy, for example, which equals instant death, and some trial-and-error is involved now and then too. On the plus side, the enemies constantly respawn so if you get really desperate you can spend a while killing them over and over, building up your strength and energy!

Overall though, Spellcaster is a fairly well-balanced game. It's not among the Master System's best looking titles but it's far from the worst as well. The various static screens (as found in the 'adventure mode') are pretty nice and feature some memorable characters. The action scenes seem repetitive to start with, mostly consisting of backgrounds full of trees and the same few enemies, but later on there's a bit more variety with the game reaching the sea, a pyramid, and eventually the Underworld where the most evil creatures dwell! Speaking of whom, the enemies are fairly well designed for the most part. Some, such as the hovering fireball that spits out smaller flames, are particularly memorable, and the bosses are all pretty mean (and harder to beat, obviously!). The foreground graphics are a bit of a mixed bag - some are lovely whist others are rather plain, even ugly in one or two places.

The graphics do create a good atmosphere for the most part though, and this is added to significantly by the fantastic music and sound effects, the former in particular. There's quite a few tunes in the game and they're very moody, adding greatly to the sense of mystery and adventure. Oddly, however, the game sounds different, rather distorted perhaps, when running under emulation. Another reason to play the real thing I suppose! Luckily, I can do that, and do so regularly. I think it's fair to say the game has aged a little now though. Control over Kane seems a little 'clunky' at times, which isn't helped by the meagre animation. Neither does he seem the most agile character ever, but the collision-detection is generally fair and despite the mentioned frustrations, Spellcaster is still a very enjoyable game. Some of the puzzles can seem a little obscure and it's not always obvious what to do next but the story is interesting enough to keep you plugging away until you've finished it.

Of course, as with most adventure games, how often you'll return to it after you've seen all it has to offer is debatable, but if you're like me, that'll take quite a while! Spellcaster certainly isn't perfect - games like Shinobi do the action parts better and games like Phantasy Star do the RPG-like elements better, but that doesn't mean you should play those games and give this one a miss. It's an intriguing, atmospheric and playable game, and the combination of styles has been implemented well. There are a couple of other games based on the Kujaku Ou series (on the NES, of course). I haven't played them yet, maybe I won't be able to given their Japanese text content, but they'd be hard-pushed to be better than this great game. One of the trusty Master System's best exclusive titles.

RKS Score: 8/10

Film Review #29

Senna (2011)
Director: Asif Kapadia  Starring: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Viviane Senna, Sid Watkins, Jean-Marie Balestre

Certificate: 12A  Running Time: 106 Minutes

Tagline: "The legend of the greatest driver who ever lived"

Formula One has always been a popular sport here in the UK. We've produced a good number of skilled drivers and won lots of world titles. Also, unlike many sports that we've created or helped to pioneer, we've actually remained successful at it until the present day. However, I don't think the sport has ever been more popular than it was in Brazil during Ayrton Senna's rise. He was a naturally gifted driver and a born competitor who, with his parents help, pursued his passion from an early age, and soon rose to prominence in his homeland. This documentary by Brit, Asif Kapadia, who is more normally found directing arty dramas, follows the career of the Brazilian legend from his promising arrival in Formula One in 1984, through his most successful years, right up until his untimely demise ten years later.

Quite a bit of the compiled footage here obviously includes highlights of some of Senna's more notable races. This has been gathered from a mixture of on-car cameras as well as the more common aerial views. After quickly readjusting to the inferior image quality of the day, the screen is practically throbbing with the loud, energetic racing action, and never more so than thrilling car-cam shots. Shaky and flickery they may be but never has racing action seemed so intense and visceral, to me at least. Of course, the action isn't all car-based. Kapadia himself doesn't speak or appear on camera but there's interviews and narration from fellow professionals, both drivers and pit-crew, family and friends, including Sid Watkins who was F1 safety chief, on track medic, and Senna's friend.

If you followed F1 closely around the time documented here, there's probably not too many major revelations but that's not really what it's about either. It's very enlightening to see pre-race drivers meetings, press conferences and the like, and there's a lot of footage that even the biggest fans won't have seen. They show another side of Senna which I for one wasn't fully aware of and reveal a man who disliked the internal politics that were developing in the sport at that time. Also covered extensively, of course, is Senna's epic rivalry with French driver, Alain Prost who is not portrayed in a particularly flattering light here. Despite also being a supremely talented driver, the fact remains that Prost was just a different kind of competitor to Senna, and the personality clash, both on track and off, is there for all to see.

The Brazilian people are very selective about who they idolise. It takes a lot more than mere talent or positive results (unlike here in the UK!). Was Senna the greatest driver of all-time? Statistically, no, but he was without question one of the purest racers there has ever been. He was extremely passionate (in defence of his aggressive driving style: "If you no longer go for a gap, you're no longer a racing driver") and yet he was also very humble. He was very patriotic too, as most Brazilians are (I should know - I'm married to one!). He grew up with a reasonably well-off family for Brazilian standards, his story is certainly not a rags-to-riches one, but unlike some, he never turned his back on his heritage and instead embraced his culture and in so doing, helped to share it with others and quickly became a genuine idol in his homeland.

It's always sad when someone dies before their time. Is it sadder if that person is famous? I'm not sure about that. It certainly affects more people. However you look at it, there's no doubt that Senna was an amazing talent and an amazing man. He wasn't perfect, and this film does neglect to mention some of his less-than-stellar moments, but it also shows superbly just the kind of person he was, on track and off, and contains a lot of prophetic and reflective moments (Prost: "Ayrton has a small problem. He thinks that he can’t kill himself, and that’s very dangerous"). He was already a living legend around the world and worshipped in Brazil long before his death. He was exactly what his people needed at the time they needed it, and that's reflected in the reaction to his passing in his homeland - his funeral was attended by more people than any other in Brazilian history and the date of his death is now a national holiday there, for example.

I personally didn't know a great deal about Senna before watching this film. I'd seen some of his races when I was young, of course, and I remember the tragic weekend of his death (which also claimed another life and nearly a third). I must confess, I've sometimes wondered if his legend has been exaggerated because of his death. After watching this engrossing documentary, however, I find myself filled with the utmost respect and reverence for a great man. The film is profound and very moving and I'm not the only one that thinks so. While watching films at the cinema, people usually flood out of their seats the second the credits start rolling. When my wife and I watched this, not a single person moved. Even when the credits had finished and the lights came back on, the theatre was still half full. Oddly, I can't think of a better way to stress the effect this film had on us or the respect that Aryton Senna commands.

RKS Score: 9/10

Arcade Shmups #7

Lightning Fighters a.k.a. Trigon (1990)
By: Konami  Genre: Platform   Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 63,830
Also Available For: Nothing

It was while selecting the latest instalment of my 'Random Game' feature that I discovered this title and it's another apparently obscure, little-known game by a big-name developer which I knew nothing about. It's known as 'Trigon' in its native Japan and at first glance it appears to be a thoroughly unremarkable vertical-scroller. Perhaps, you might therefore think, its obscurity is for good reason. On the other hand, perhaps it's an under-appreciated gem, who knows! After initially sneering at it dismissively, I quickly inserted (giggity) some virtual ten-pence pieces and gave it a whirl, and... it's not bad! The first thing that struck me about it is its 'arcadeyness' - it's loud and boisterous, and features a decent attract mode - it certainly would've caught my eye if I'd seen it!

As you can probably tell from the screenshots, it's a bog-standard, military-style shmup which means it takes its influence from such games as Flying Shark, Tiger Heli, and all the rest. You control a slightly weird-looking jet fighter (I expect it's an 'advanced prototype') and pretty much as soon as you take off you're set upon by squadrons of enemy fighters and shot at by lots of ground-based cannons. Your fighter is equipped with a basic forward shot. This can of course be powered up by collecting the relevant icons which appear when you destroy certain enemies. This icon alternates between an 'S' and a 'V'. The former increases the power of your default cannon, which becomes a 'spread' shot whilst the latter replaces it with the vulcan cannon.

As you may have guessed, the spread shot covers more of the screen while the vulcan cannon has a much narrower range but is more powerful (and rapid-fire which gives your trigger finger a break!). There are also two 'super attacks' available. You don't get any of these as standard and must collect them in the same way as the weapon power-ups. The icons alternate back and forth like the weapons one as well and the choices are Particle Beam or Dragon Laser. The particle beam is the one you may have spotted in one of the screenshots here - it's a powerful forward blast which will destroy anything it touches. The dragon laser is even more useful. It sees your jet unleash a fiery dragon which swirls around the screen for a few seconds, taking down everything it touches as it goes!

Of course, neither weapon takes down a boss with one hit but they do cause quite a bit of damage. Having said that, the bosses also have weak spots and if the weapon doesn't hit this, it will do no damage, so careful use is still required! There are nine stages altogether. The eighth is something of a boss-rush which fooled me into thinking it was the last stage, but there is another. Each includes lots of smaller enemy crafts and guns but as you progress, larger and larger enemies will begin to emerge which are of course more powerful and are harder to destroy. The bosses are generally the likes of giant tanks, ships, aircraft, etc, but curiously, you don't actually have to destroy them - if you merely avoid death for long enough they'll go away on their own!

Other than a few minor points of note, Lightning Fighters must sound like a wholly unremarkable game, and to be fair it is. There's few collectibles (the only one not mentioned so far is the stars which can be picked up for bonus points) and the stages are all set over terrains we've seen dozens of times before. The first stage is a partly-watery one and there's a full-on sea stage later on too complete with battleships and all that kind of thing. There's also an Arctic stage, one with trees, etc. Despite their lack of creativity, the backgrounds are quite pretty for the most part. The first boss encounter takes place over a huge waterfall, for example. The sprites are also detailed and nicely drawn but not particularly varied through the game, as is often the case with this style of shmup.

As mentioned, the music and sound effects are rather loud and they suit the action well enough too, but are instantly forgettable. There is some good quality speech but, all-in-all, Lightning Fighters sounds like the epitome of mediocrity to write about. For some reason, however, it's not to play. It's a pretty tough game - all power-ups are lost when you lose a life and enemy shots are quite fast, always homing in on your position - but if you lose a life you'll continue on from the same point. This isn't the case with the Japanese version as I understand it, but it's welcome here! There's also a good two-player mode including some co-operative weapons that only appear in that mode. More than all this, though, it's just a very slick, well-designed game. Control over your fighter is smooth and reliable which, along with the nicely laid-out stages, makes this a very enjoyable game. It's not original or especially flashy, and it could certainly be better, but any shmup fans who haven't played this little-known Konami offering would do well to seek it out.

RKS Score: 7/10