Run 'n' Gun Games #4

Kenseiden (1988)
By: Sega Genre: Run 'n' Gun ... or is it Platform? Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega Master System First Day Score: 40,500
Also Available For: Nothing

Has anyone here actually played Kenseiden? I have, as you might imagine since I'm writing about it, but I still find myself troubled as to deciding what genre it actually is. Most reviews and articles on the internet seem to think it's a platform game, as does as least one reader of this very blog who complained about its absence from the 'Top Five Master System Platform Games' feature. I, however, do not. I've always categorised a platform game as one in which the emphasis is on traversing platforms rather than being troubled by what's on them. But if it's not a platformer, what is it? I would have to say it's more of a run 'n' gun game, even though it features no guns, since the emphasis of the gameplay is more on defeating the enemies that are on the platforms. Read on for clarification!

Well, whatever genre it belongs to, it's another one of those games I always wondered about all those years ago but have only come to play fairly recently. It's set in a fantasy version of feudal Japan, the 16th century to be more accurate, which has been invaded by evil Warlocks who have rained ruin and destruction upon the land, and also stolen the Sword of the Dragon King and the Five Secret Scrolls for good measure! The star of the show is a heroic lone samurai called Hayato who has the "blood of the Dragon King" running in his veins, apparently. Hopefully this will help him best the Warlocks, for failure will result in "a thousand centuries of terror". Oh nooo! :(

Hayato's mission will ultimately take him across all sixteen provinces of ancient Japan which are filled with legions of horrifying creatures loyal to the Warlocks. Although he may be filled with dragon's blood, sadly Hayato cannot breathe fire at these terrible abominations and is equipped only with his trusty samurai sword. The sixteen stages are set across some varied but familiar terrain for this kind of game including bamboo forests, temples, fiery caverns, waterfalls, and castles but after the second stage you can choose from several to play next from the map screen. Only seven of the stages contain a Warlock boss. Defeat of each of these will liberate one of the Secret Scrolls and the Sword of the Dragon King which bestow special abilities on Hayato such as new sword techniques or a higher jump.

Some of the other stages are 'training stages' which are basically obstacle courses where you have to deflect or avoid arrows, jump across moving platforms, and that kind of thing. You don't have to finish these stages but, like the boss battles, they also have a reward waiting upon their successful completion such as a life-meter extension. Hayato can take a reasonable number of hits from enemies before losing a life but some take more energy than others. The minions of the Warlocks take a wide variety of forms including animals such as slugs, spiders, bats, and snakes, as well as more demonic warriors and even skeletons. All of them except for the bosses frequently and easily regenerate so they should only be tackled where necessary. Killing them does occasionally leave behind a collectable though such as extra energy, extra lives, or a sword which increases you attack power.

It probably sounds a bit like Shinobi so far and Kenseiden is a pretty similar game to Sega's better known adventure. The stages here are laid out in a familiar way - some are strictly 'run from left to right' affairs while others are multi-directional and multi-tiered, although Hayato lacks Musashi-san's ability to jump directly up to or down from other platforms. There's also lots of doorways dotted around, mostly on the multi-tiered stages, and finding your way around these can get rather maze-like at times! Some doors lead to bosses but most lead to new areas including roof-tops and bridges which must be crossed carefully as falling through a gap costs you a life and many of the cavern areas contain lava which is nearly as dangerous. Some sections need to be visited more than once too, which is even more of a reason to avoid the enemies where possible.

One area that Kenseiden pleasantly surprised me was with its aesthetics. Graphically, there's not a huge variety in terms of the style and, as mentioned, some areas need to be revisited, but new enemies and backdrops are slowly introduced through the game and their quality is consistently good, especially Hayato himself. The detail is also very impressive and this all helps to create a superbly authentic atmosphere which is complemented nicely by the decent soundtrack which mostly consists of slow, moody tunes that suit the action well. The animation isn't quite so hot though and Hayato looks quite amusing as he runs along. He's not particularly agile either and moves a bit clunkily for my tastes which makes some sections, such as the aforementioned gap-jumping, rather tough, especially as jumping into a previously-unseen enemy can knock you off too. Not that it makes much difference though as the entire game is very challenging!

One of the major reasons for the game's difficulty is the regenerating enemies. At first I was trying to hack up everything that moves but it soon became apparent that a far better tactic is to run and to stop only when necessary (see - run 'n' gun, or at least run 'n' slash)! This can also be difficult though as some enemies will appear right on top of you giving you little chance of avoiding or killing them, at least before you've lost some precious life. The other major reason(s) for the game's difficulty are the boss battles which really are battles! The first one is a spinning 'fire wheel' (with a skull in the middle, of course, for maximum scariness) which whirls around the screen spitting deadly blue fire everywhere. It took me a good few tries to defeat this idiot and the others are even harder as you would expect!

As long as you don't find it too frustrating though, Kenseiden is a well-designed and enjoyable game. It doesn't seem to be among the Master Systems best-known games though which is a little strange. It can't be played anywhere else, for one thing, and exclusives on Sega's 8-bit wonder were quite rare. I used to see an occasional screenshot of it but it never seemed to get much love, either from the magazines or from fellow MS gamers. If I were feeling cynical I could say it's little more than an annoying version of Shinobi, minus the shuriken-flinging tomfoolery, but the lesser-known of Sega's Far-Eastern romps is a genuinely good game in its own right and deserves a place in any Master System fan's collection, whatever genre you think it belongs to!

RKS Score: 7/10

Bomberman Series - Part 7

Bomber King a.k.a. RoboWarrior (1987)
By: Hudson Soft Genre: Maze Players: 1 Difficulty: Hard
Featured Version: Nintendo NES First Day Score: Without cheating? No idea, grrrr!
Also Available For: MSX

Well, the splendid Bomberman series is coming along nicely so far but I'll take a short diversion here and look at one of the spin-offs, and like many such obscure Japanese spin-offs, it's one that was released in the West under an entirely different guise. This is understandable, however, since the series was only just becoming established in the US and Europe and this game is indeed a markedly different affair, in both looks and gameplay. The first change you'll notice in the game that became RoboWarrior for the NES is that it doesn't actually feature Bomberman at all, or at least, not as we've seen him before. It actually features a... robo warrior, funnily enough, whose job it is to blast his way through each stage in a familiar fashion. These stages, however, are much larger than those found in the usual Bomberman games and there's a few more unfamiliar features here too.

I don't know about Bomber King itself but RoboWarrior is set on an artificial planet called Altile which has been invaded by the Xantho Empire who have shut down its weather-control system, turning it into a barren wasteland. RoboWarrior, a cyborg called ZED (Z-type Earth Defence), has been sent to find and destroy the Xantho leader, Xur. The game world is divided into eight levels, called 'periods', and each of these is split into between one and four left-to-right scrolling stages which are filled with a familiar mix of 'soft' destructible blocks and 'hard' indestructible blocks. The stages are laid out a little more realistically than normal though with the soft blocks mostly taking the form of apparently natural obstructions like bushes or rocks, and there are lots of passageways and open spaces too. The object nonetheless remains to find the exit which is generally the opposite end of the stage to which you started, shockingly.

This time, you don't have to destroy all the enemies on each stage to open the exit but must instead find the key. This is fortunate since the number of enemies is vast and apparently infinite! They seem to include a mixture of robotic creations and more natural (but no less aggressive) creatures. Some of them are ground-based and are therefore just as restricted by the soft blocks as ZED. These ones just pootle around doing their thing until you get close to them while others can fly over the stages unrestricted. Some examples of both types can fire at you too and contact with these projectiles, or indeed the enemies themselves, will reduce ZED's power levels. Although the levels will gradually fall anyway as a kind-of time limit (much like Gauntlet), taking hits will obviously deplete them much quicker! Luckily ZED is also equipped with a laser of his own. It's initially very short range but one of the many power-ups can rectify that problem.

One big difference between this game and a normal Bomberman game is that ZED has a finite supply of bombs. Some enemies take more laser shots to defeat than others but all of them will leave behind a icon that increases your bomb stocks by one. All other power-ups are found beneath destroyed soft blocks and there are quite a few. These can include the usuals like more extra bombs, extra energy, speed ups, temporary shields, stars for bonus points, and the aforementioned laser power-up. More specialised collectables include candles and lamps which provide illumination in the darkened underground areas that you'll occasionally encounter and a Life Vest which allows ZED to float over harmful water areas for a limited period, as well as some extra weapons in the form of a four-way shot, missiles, and a Megaton Bomb which has the effect of a smart-bomb, destroying all soft blocks on screen. You can also collect 'medals' which act as currency in the (rather over-priced) shop that appears between stages).

These items are all useful of course, but there are some that you actually need to collect to finish a stage. Until then, some stages will just loop forever which makes an already-difficult game even harder! There are several other things that make Bomber King a rather tricky affair too. It is possible to gradually 'level up' ZED and, although he only has one life, he does start the game with four Life Pods (which look like batteries, which they could quite feasibly be) and these each refill his energy-meter once. In spite of this, being caught in the explosion of one of your own bombs will kill you instantly regardless of how many 'life pods' you have, and this brings me to what for me is by far the game's biggest flaw - unlike even the earliest Bomberman games, the placement of the bombs here is not hugely accurate and can frequently result in unfair deaths.

This annoying oversight (at least, I'm assuming it was unintentional) was bypassed on my part to some extent by using saves via emulation but it was still a frustrating experience, so I imagine playing it 'in the flesh', so to speak, would be a teeth-ghashing experience, especially as bombs have a much shorter 'fuse' than they do in normal Bomberman games meaning you have less time to escape the blast - get caught on the scenery or hesitate for a split-second and you're toast. It's possible to counter the effect somewhat by over-emphasising the bombs intended destination by holding that direction on the controller while laying it but this only really works if you have something to 'push' against. Even so, it's quite inexplicable that a play-mechanic as critical as this one was messed up! Aside from this, Bomber King is a rather pleasant game too, so I'd like to meet the cretin responsible!

One thing I like a lot is the music which is upbeat and catchy and the sound effects are pretty good too except for a super-annoying (and loud) beeping alarm when you're on your last life pod. The graphics are well drawn and fairly detailed - the various stages have different soft blocks as usual and the sprites are mostly a good mixture of evil cybernetic or robotic monsters and scary organic creatures. One kind of enemy can create or turn into soft blocks but they also sometimes turn into a super-annoying flying thing that immediately homes in on you and inflicts multiple hits before flying away again so you'll need to get a missile ready for these buffoons! Despite the addition of open spaces here, ZED can still only walk and shoot in four directions but the stages are mostly very well designed with the hard blocks, soft blocks, and open spaces often arranged in such a way as to provide several possible routes through sections.

The fact remains, however, that despite the initially good first impressions and the enjoyment that I did manage to get out of this game, I ultimately found it to be a mostly frustrating and annoying game - not even bullet-hell shoot 'em ups have caused as many 'load states' as this game did! What a shame, it's really nice apart from this major flaw and could've been a fantastic game. Going through the same sections over and over again indicated that the enemy behaviour is random, for example. Reloads often saw them doing different things or even different enemies being on the next part of the stage or something. Stuff like this could've made it a splendid and addictive game. It is bloody hard though, so much so that I tried switching to RoboWarrior to try and get some screenshots and I immediately noticed that it's easier - self-bombing doesn't instantly kill you for one thing!

I'd be surprised if the Japanese version of this game was actually designed as a Bomberman game from the off though. The end result has many similarities as I'm sure you can see for yourself but it just doesn't have the feel of his heroic adventures. It feels more like... well, RoboWarrior, and it's this version of the game I would recommend far more enthusiastically than I would the Bomberman-themed version. Whatever it was originally intended to be, the same problems do exist in both versions but RoboWarrior is a noticeably easier game and therefore more enjoyable and less frustrating. It's Bomber King I'm reviewing though so the final score will reflect that (I guess you could give the US version another point or two) and it's very annoying that it's been messed up. I'm confident it would be a hugely enjoyable game were it not for its rather sizeable problems.

RKS Score: 5/10

Awesome Nature #6

Raccoon
Type: Mammal Lives In: Central and North America Conservation Status: Least Concern

I imagine some of my North American friends won't be too keen on these mischievous creatures but since I don't live that side of the Atlantic they are rather intriguing to me! Much of their appeal no doubt comes from their distinctive appearance, but are they friends to us stupid Humans or are they foes? I suppose they're a bit like foxes are over here - they're about the same size, albeit with much shorter legs (while sharing their ringed tails with lemurs), and both are furry, omnivorous, nocturnal animals that are native to wooded areas, but which now also live in urban areas thanks to our recklessly-increasing population. This means many regard them as pests since they forage in people's gardens and steal their food! If they are pests though, I can't really see anyone else to blame, and they certainly look nice. Any readers across the Atlantic got any amusing raccoon tales to tell?

Why It Is Awesome: It wears a bandit mask!

Arcade Shmups #9

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams (1991)
By: Success / Sega Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 78,370
Also Available For: PC Engine CD, Sharp X68000, PlayStation, Neo Geo Pocket Color

Unlike most unpleasant Western examples, witches in Japanese culture generally seem to be quite perky and cheerful characters. This could be because they're often represented by teenage girlies of course, rather than old green hags who've had years to dwell on their misfortunes in solitude, and their exploits are often charted in manga and anime publications (such as the splendid Kiki's Delivery Service). As far as videogames are concerned, the pickings are noticeably slimmer, but there are a few feisty examples doing the rounds, or more accurately, there were, and Cotton is unquestionably the most well-known example of this exclusive group. She's a red-haired young lady who has a fondness for a candy called 'Willow' and it's her pursuit of this elusive confectionery that forms the basis for her numerous adventures, including this one.

This game, subtitled 'Fantastic Night Dreams', is the first game in the series that bears her name and sees Cotton undertaking her usual quest to appropriate some Willow which inevitably involves a confrontation with her arch nemesis, an evil demoness called Wool. This quest takes in six horizontally-scrolling stages, which she flies through on her trusty broomstick, which are full of many heinous creatures who are presumably minions of the wicked Wool. Cotton can shoot magical shots from her finger-tips which is enough to take down most of the spooky monsters, she can drop short range bombs, and she also has a limited number of much more powerful charge shots available too which come in two forms - crackly lightning and fiery dragons, both of which will incinerate anything that comes into contact with them.

The enemies come in many familiar shapes and sizes including small formation-flying creatures, less-numerous larger ones, a few ground-based cretins, and of course large middle and end-of-level bosses. Destroying larger enemies or groups of smaller ones releases gold bars which fill Cotton's 'experience meter'. Each time it's filled, her shot power increases but it's also possible to shoot the bars until they change colour. These instead give her an additional charge shot, and her bombs can also be upgraded. The only other help Cotton gets comes in the form of her fairy sidekick called Silk who follows her around, acting much like an 'option' or drone, complementing her firepower. Silk must have a few twins around too as Cotton can be accompanied by up to six fairies at once by which time she can pack quite a punch!

Sadly, there are no additional weapons to collect and that's surprising given the potential offered by the fantasy/magic setting, although this is also a much darker game than I initially thought it would be considering its cute and funny anime-style. The presentation is really nice too with lots of amusing cut-scenes depicting Cotton's search for Willow and lack of care for anything that isn't Willow! The graphics are also quite nice technically but I don't really like the style much. All the backgrounds are dark and gloomy and the sprites and a curious mixture of cute and scary. It doesn't really appeal to me much but technically it's certainly not a bad-looking game and the music and sound effects are pretty good too. I suppose it's quite atmospheric though, there's some genuinely creepy and unpleasant-looking enemies and there's also some nice effects like clouds passing across the moon.

It's quite a tough game too and rather unforgiving. The stages themselves are packed with enemies attacking from the ground and air at once and Cotton's shots only ever go straight ahead no matter how powerful they are. If she loses a life her power-level will decrease and it doesn't take long until she's back at default levels from which it's very tough to continue. Cotton's fairly large size makes her an easy target and when she's got lots of fairies floating around her it makes her seem even bigger, particularly when she's fighting one of the bosses who pose a real challenge. I know that's the point but you can only continue once before you have to restart the stage. If you're anything like me though, most of your deaths will probably come from trying to collect all the gold and stuff. Oops!

To be honest though, Cotton isn't really what I was expecting. All the images and promotional artwork I've seen periodically over the years indicated that this was a quirky, funny, typically Japanese cute 'em up. I like that kind of game and that's what I was hoping for but it's not really the case after all. It's a perfectly playable game and it has no major flaws really, aside from perhaps being a little unfair, but while Cotton herself is an appealing character, I'm afraid her game just didn't do it for me - it just didn't captivate me the way some shmups do and I consequently found myself not really being too bothered about continuing to play it. In fact, the reason there's no screenshots from beyond the second stage is because the game made me too angry to continue! That's not a good sign when playing a game of any genre. I'm probably making it sound terrible but it's really not - it's a reasonable enough game which is just missing that vital spark that would've make it a really good game.

RKS Score: 6/10

Star Control - Part 5

Even if you're not interested in the (superb) strategy/adventure elements in the Star Control games, there's still a huge amount of fun to be had from the Melee mode which sees two ships engage in one-on-one combat... to the death! The first game featured two sides of seven ships each - the Alliance and the Hierarchy. The second game added a lot including eleven diverse new races, complete with their own ships, whose allegiances could be determined by your actions in-game. In the last post in this series I looked at six of them so this is the last five:

Slylandro Probe

These pesky things will be one of the first types of ship you encounter in the main game and they're a pain in the arse! Their inclusion in the Super Melee mode is probably for the sake of completion as they do serve a purpose in the main game, but actually trying to use one in battle is a haphazard affair to say the least! They're very fast-moving things which 'tumble' through space at their maximum speed automatically, so pressing the 'thrust' button simply reverses its course rather than increasing its speed. They turn at very sharp angles as well so piloting one takes a lot of practise, especially as their only weapon is a short-range one!

For this it discharges bolts of lightning which don't fire particularly quickly, and when the Probe's meagre fuel supply is gone it needs to hunt out any nearby asteroids which it can 'break down' and convert to fuel by way of its secondary ability. It's a very unusual ship whose existence is better explained in the main game, but trying to use it in battle takes a lot of practise. It's a nuisance rather than a real danger to fight against one and even if you get the hang of using it, there's plenty of better ships around.

Ship Rating: 2/5

Supox Blade

The Supox are a race of sentient plants so it figures that their ships look (and sound) rather organic too! As well as being suitably leafy, the Blade is among the most manoeuvrable ships in the entire game. It's fast to begin with and has a very tight turning circle, but on top of this it also has something called 'Lateral Thrust Control'. This allows the ship to move backwards or sideways at the same speed at it moves forward. What this basically means is it can be moving away from an enemy while facing it, firing its own weapons whilst dodging the shots of its opponent! The weapon in question, a 'Sprout Gun', is as weedy as it sounds, but it fires very rapidly and doesn' take long to recharge. This, along with its amazing manoeuvrability, makes the Blade a unique ship that can hold its own against many bigger and more powerful ships. Once you learn how to use it properly of course!

Ship Rating: 4/5

Thraddash Torch

If you meet the Thraddash in the main game before you see their ships, you'd surely expect them to have huge, devastatingly powerful vessels that can lay waste to anything in the paths. They are after all a violent, aggressive, combat-obssessed race who even look like big, tough rhinos. However, it soon becomes apparent that in spite of their appearance and demeanour, the only ship the Thraddash apparently have is small, weak, and rather crap! It's quite nippy, admittedly, but its main weapon is a teeny little 'missile' which does minimal damage and can't even be fired very rapidly.

Luckily, the Torch does have one trick up its sleeve - a plasma afterburner. If used as intended, this thing can propel the craft at super-speed across space or away from an opponent, but its fiery residue can also be used as a weapon. If you boost while in the path of an oncoming ship, the plasma will remain in space for a short while and cause damage to any ship it comes into contact with. This was apparently a recent modification to the Torch and it turns it from a pathetic annoyance into a formidable opponent which is actually more effective against the larger and more powerful ships. In fact, the Thraddash's little vessel is one of the few ships in the game that can take down an Avatar without even taking any damage! Torch pilots still have to be careful though as it's very easily destroyed, but still - it can be an invaluable ship.

Ship Rating: 4/5

Utwig Jugger

Best friends with the Supox, the eternally morose Utwig are an amusing people and they have a fairly interesting ship too. It's a very nimble ship for its size, for one thing. It's almost the same size as the Dreadnought but it's much faster and has a superb turning speed, although it does take a while to get going. It also has a pretty decent main weapon. The Jugger is adorned by six forward-facing guns which each fire an 'energy spear' simultaneously. Each one of these isn't very powerful by itself but since they are grouped quite closely together it's very likely more than one will hit even a small opponent so quite a bit of damage can be caused quickly. Even better, it has unlimited use as it doesn't even use up fuel!

For its secondary weapon, or I suppose I should say 'special feature' since many of them aren't actually weapons, is an energy shield. It's a bit fancier than the one the Yehat use on their Terminator vessels too - the Utwig variety absorbs the impact or energy from enemy weapons and converts it to fuel, and since the shield uses up fuel, this is not only helpful but it's actually necessary as well! It also means, however, that if you use the shield too inefficiently you could run out of fuel for good. Perfecting use of the shield effectively means Jugger pilots can defeat nearly any other vessel without taking any damage but it takes quite a bit of practise!

Ship Rating: 4/5

Zoq-Fot-Pik Stinger

The Zoq-Fot-Pik are a triumvirate of three races who evolved sentience on the same planet and their ship is an odd one, presumably incorporating characteristics from all three of them. Like most small ships it's quick and manoeuvrable but lacking in pretty much every other area. Its main weapon is an anti-matter spray which has a poor range and does little damage so it's hardly even worth using it unless you're facing a similarly small and weak ship.

Its ace in the hole, however, comes in the form of its special attack - a super-short-range 'tongue' attack which cause huge damage to any ship it strikes. It extends only about another ship-length from its host craft so you pretty much have to be touching an enemy for it to have any effect but it doesn't use a full load of fuel and recharge speed is great. Given the ship's speed and turning rate, this basically means you'll have to try and sneak up on an enemy, and even then only one that doesn't have a suitable defence, but patient and tactical use of this peculiar ship can make it very effective against some much larger and more powerful enemies.

Ship Rating: 3/5

So, pending a potential look at Star Control 3 (which I've not played yet due to its unofficial nature), this post is the last of those looking at the spacecraft from the immensely superb first two Star Control games. The next post in the series may well be an actual review of SC2, amazingly! But we'll see... hope you enjoyed reading! :)

Top Five OutRun Games

There's been surprisingly few long-running series' of racing games, but of those that have been doing the rounds there's one that continues to elicit both tremendous excitement and expectation from the many fans that continue to worship the series. The name of the series is of course OutRun and continues to be one of Sega's most popular. By my count, there's now been ten games in the series but here are, in my view, the best five:

5. OutRun Europa (1991)

Unusually for an OutRun game, Europa was never found in an arcade and wasn't developed by Sega either. It did see release on Sega's Master System console though, as well as most of the home micros of the day, courtesy of Probe Software, and was something of a departure for the series. It charged the player with racing across Europe using a variety of vehicles, including a motorbike, jet-ski, and a powerboat, in addition to the usual sports car, to retrieve some 'secret documents' or some such nonsense. Doesn't sound much like an OutRun game I'll agree and perhaps it shouldn't have carried the name, but it is a surprisingly enjoyable and nicely varied game in its own right which even had a bit of combat thrown in for good measure!

4. Turbo OutRun (1989)

This was the first arcade release after the original and I still remember how excited I was when I first saw it sitting imposingly in whichever arcade it was (I can't remember that part!). I had to wait a quite a while before it was my turn to play but when I did it was more than worth it! It's based on the same hardware as the original but had noticeably superior graphics including lots of special effects such as a variety of weather. It also upgraded your car to a Ferrari F40 (the greatest supercar ever?), added a rival racer, gave you limited use of a turbo boost, and did away with the branching stages, replacing them with a timed, point-to-point race across the USA. Some didn't like the changes but it added more than it took away and it remains a fast and exciting game worthy of the OutRun name.

3. OutRun (1986)

Is this the best OutRun game ever? It was certainly a revelation in its day and few games bring such warm, fuzzy feelings flooding back, for me included, but I have to ignore nostalgia for the purposes of this list and acknowledge that for all its innovations and general brilliance, the game that started it all is starting to show its age, just a little. That said, I still own two copies of it for my Saturn and won't be getting rid of either of them in a hurry. When the mood takes me, there's still nothing quite like a laid-back cruise across the varied terrain this wonderful game has to offer - no positions to race for, no annoying rivals trying to smash you off the road - just a road, a clock, your girl... and that music!

2. OutRunners (1992)

Of all the games on this list, this is the one that I'd had by far the least time with until recently. I knew it offered multi-player frolics and I knew it was pretty well-regarded, but I've never seen it 'in the flesh' so I've never really had a chance to play it, so that's about all I did know. However, upon firing it up just a few days ago, even via emulation, its quality was immediately obvious. It takes the best bits from OutRun, the best bits from Turbo OutRun, and adds a few ideas of its own such as selectable cars, each with their own unique driver and passenger, and some very creative stages (Atlantic Ocean Underwater Tunnel?). Throw in some fantastic graphics and mix it all together and the result is one of the finest non-polygon-based driving games I've ever played.

1. OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006)

This was the game I bought my otherwise-hardly-used PS2 for. Is any console worth buying for one game? Maybe, maybe not, but either way, this flashy update/sequel to OutRun 2 is a pretty blinking awesome game! I'm not keen on the idea of having to do huuuuge drifts around practically every corner but apart from that it really is a faultless racing game. There's loads of stunning tracks, branching stages, lots of awesome Ferraris to drive, several play modes including a creative mission mode, and tons of stuff to unlock (including the original OutRun music). Best of all though, it comes closer than ever before to matching the charm and atmosphere of the original game which is all many fans wanted, including me. Sega have rarely seemed to reach their former heights in recent years but this wonderful, addictive, and long-lasting game made up for a lot of previous disappointments. One of the best arcade-style racing games ever.

Computer Platform Games #3

Nebulus a.k.a. Tower Toppler, a.k.a. Castelian (1987)
By: Hewson Consultants Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Commodore 64 First Day Score: 7,230
Also Available For: Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo NES, Game Boy, Atari 7800, Acorn Achimedes
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

As far as gaming is concerned, when you think of fancy visual tricks you might immediately think of Mode 7 on the SNES or maybe some extravagant demo on the Amiga, but John M. Phillips achieved a pretty nice one as early as the 8-bit computers with this memorable platformer for Hewson. It's a game set in a rather watery world (so Kevin Costner might turn up unannounced) and stars a green space-hopper type creature called Pogo who gets sent by his boss to investigate and destroy a series of cylindrical towers which have sprung up almost overnight. To do this he must make his way to them in his amusing little submarine and climb to the top of each in turn, and they rotate as he walks around them!

Since the object is to reach the top of the towers, each has lots of stairs, lifts, and doorways which lead through the tower to a similar doorway elsewhere, but as he climbs Pogo encounters more than a little resistance. For starters, there's a number of aliens residing on the platforms. Some of them move in simple patterns and must simply be avoided while others can be dispatched with Pogo's short-range snowballs. Far more inconvenient that these clots, however, are the flying aliens which drift across the screen every now and then. These pesky things travel in a straight line and can't be defeated so the only way to avoid them is to move further up or down the tower until they've passed. Contact with any of the enemies will knock Pogo down to the platform directly below. If he's already at the bottom when he's hit, he'll fall into the water and lose a life.

Each tower also has a pretty strict time limit which will cause Pogo to lose a life if it expires before he reaches the top. As well as the enemies, there's also groups of floor tiles which are slippery and harder to walk on and a few unstable tiles which disappear when Pogo walks on them. The latter can be the biggest problem as there's no way to distinguish them from normal tiles until... you've guessed it - you've already fallen through them, most often to your death, and that means we're in trial-and-error territory! To be fair, aside from the vanishing tiles it's not too bad in that regard but the greatest requirement for success here for much of the game is a good memory rather than platforming skills and that can make Nebulus a rather frustrating game.

By its very nature the game gives you little space to manoeuvre so, until you've learnt each stage, poor Pogo will be tumbling down the towers often. Even more annoyingly, there are also a few points where being hit will send you all the way back down to the start, or even into the water and death. There are eight towers altogether though, and they get progressively taller and more complex, so it's at least a game that will last you a good while, and there's even a bonus round between each stage where Pogo has to scoot along in his submarine catching fish! It's quite a nice-looking game too. Most of the sprites aren't very interesting but Pogo looks quite amusing and is well animated, and the colours are appealing too with each tower a different colour.

The best thing, though, is the rotation of the towers which is a superb effect and has been really well done. It does of course mean that Pogo stays in the middle of the screen at all times and the towers effectively move around him instead so it takes some getting used to - I swear it made me dizzy to start with! This alone makes Nebulus a rather unique game to play and it's definitely worth trying out. Once you get past the novelty of the twirly towers though, you may find yourself tiring of continually getting knocked down to previously beaten areas. Not many games make me want to throw my controller in anger but this one came close! Nebulus is original and can be great fun, but it can also be very frustrating!

RKS Score: 6/10

MegaDrive Shmups #6

Hellfire (1990)
By: Toaplan / NCS Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 3,959,060
Also Available For: Arcade, PC Engine CD

Eeek, even the title screen is all fiery!

If you're a regular reader here at Red Parsley you may have noticed that I have a fondness for retro shoot 'em ups. Before starting my humble blog I had played comparatively few but many of those that I had played remained among my favourite games of all-time. Some of these were by the awesome Toaplan who were founded as a subcontractor of the great Taito before releasing their first game in 1984. They lasted almost exactly ten years and a majority of the games they released during that time were shmups, most of which went on to be regarded as classics. My discovery of one in particular can, like so many others, be attributed to the enthusiastic coverage in the pages of Mean Machines magazine. The game in question is also arguably one of Toaplan's most underrated games - the splendidly named Hellfire - which is also my personal favourite.

The first stage and the bullets are already flying...

It's not a game with a particularly imaginative back-story though. The action is set in the year 2998 - a time when mankind has somehow managed to survive and advance far enough to create various colonies through space where we now live in peace. That is until the evil 'Guild of The Ultra Mech' shows up and starts smacking us around. The only hope for our 'Great Federation' is the advanced 'Lancer' spacecraft and your piloting skills! Eeeek! Despite the lame set-up, seeing off the Guild is not an easy task. Unlike many of Toaplan's games, Hellfire is a horizontally-scrolling affair taking place over six long stages which are each a little over one screen high. The start of the game sees you being launched from some sort of mothership as the pilot of the Lancer attack fighter, and it's equipped with some unique weaponry.

The first mid-level boss - hit the guns on each side...

It's possible, you see, to switch between a standard forward-firing shot, a rear-firing shot, a vertical shot (which allows you to shoot directly above and below your ship), and a four-way shot (which shoots in four diagonal directions simultaneously at slightly decreased power). For ease of play, as well as aesthetic purposes presumably, these are coloured red, yellow, green, and blue respectively. Although there are no extra weapons available for the Lancer (besides a limited number of smart-bomb style attacks), you can increase the size and power of these shots significantly by collecting the power-ups that are produced upon the destruction of certain enemies. As well as these weapon power-ups, there's a number of other helpful items to keep your eyes open for too.

Near the start of the second stage...

The standard speed-up can be collected several times and there's also a super-handy one-hit shield as well as an autonomous drone which doesn't pack all that much power but it does home-in on and attack enemies for you! Bonus icons also appear that award you with extra points which gradually increase the more of them you pick up in succession, and then there's the aforementioned smart bombs. These 'Hellfire' blasts clear the screen of all small-to-medium sized enemy spacecraft and guns, cause damage to any middle or end of level boss, and, most importantly, clear the screen of all enemy bullets including those fired by bosses (of which there are many). Luckily, more of these can be collected as well and you'll need them, and all of the power-ups, if you're to stand any chance of cleansing all six stages of alien filth!

Spooky brains in glass jars on stage three...

While most of the stages feature a mid-level boss, or even two, all of them are concluded by the more common end-level boss, but they aren't just the sort that require mindless blasting to see off. Most of them have a weak spot and move around the screen forcing you to do the same, not only to avoid their attacks but also to try and hit their weak spot. Obviously, this, along with the Lancers unique weaponry, injects a good slice of tactics into the gameplay which certainly makes for some interesting battles, and you'll lose many more lives on the bosses than the actual levels, to begin with at least. The levels are all different colonies of the Federation under attack by the horrifying Guild and they are all divided into several sections which means they're fairly varied in their appearance.

A Hellfire blast in action...

The first stage, for example, starts off in open space but soon moves into a large space station of some sort. The second seems to have a strong Egyptian influence (maybe it's that planet from the Stargate movie!), while the third takes place over a weird landscape with many large red spheres (which appear both in the background and in the foreground, obstructing you), before moving into caverns with sharp rocky outcrops, strange bouncy creatures, and numerous other things (this is probably the best level). The fourth stage features a forest with large walking devices that fire many missiles, and watery areas from which evil killer fish emerge. The fifth stage appears to be set in an alien base featuring many guns turrets, presumably the Guild's base of operations, before the sixth and final stage which takes place in open space and features by far the most powerful weapons of the Ultra-Mech hordes, and as 'standard' enemies too!

This is just a normal enemy on the last stage...

Like many Toaplan games, Hellfire is pretty tough going. In fact, until fairly recently it was a game I considered to be one of the hardest shmups around. My subsequent adventures have of course revealed some insanely tougher games that make Hellfire seem like a walk in park but in reality it's still far from that. The enemies are a diverse bunch and include ones that remain more or less stationary in space, others that fly around, and millions of gun emplacements on the level structures. New ones are introduced regularly too and they get ever tougher which goes some way to ensuring that this is a 'one life' game. In other words, when you lose you first ship you'll also lose all its power-ups. Assuming you're not still near the start of the game it'll then be so hard to get its replacement powered-up again that you might as well not even bother trying.

A tricky section on the third stage...

Having said that, there are at least restart points in each stage, but it's still pretty tough going! However, assuming you can handle the pressure of not dying, even once, Hellfire is a pretty damn fine shmup! You might not think so at first though as it's certainly not the flashiest MegaDrive shmup around, although it does improve on the arcade version from the previous year in my opinion. As well as being far more colourful, many of the sprites have been partially or even completely redesigned here and are very varied. Their design is less consistent though. Some look great with superb animation and attention to detail (the green ones in the first screenshot move all around the screen but their guns are always pointed right at you!) while others are a bit weird or even just crap, but they're mostly okay. Some are pretty big though - check out the sweet walkers!

A mountain of flying fish things on stage four...

The backgrounds aren't bad either. The stages scroll nice and smoothly and their backgrounds not only vary from stage to stage but also several times per stage too. The Lancer itself looks nice and the different coloured weapons certainly brighten up the screen! The sounds on offer here are more faithful to the arcade version than the graphics. The sound effects are superb throughout while the music, by Tatsuya Uemura, is more of a mixed bag. Each stage has its own tune and most of them are decent enough without ever being particularly noteworthy, but the first stage is accompanied by one of my favourite game tunes ever! It's a really loud, pounding piece and gets you enormously pumped-up for the soon-to-be-frenetic action, and makes a perfect start to the game. It's just a shame the other music can't continue the same standard.

That's quite a gun!

Hellfire's strongest point, though, is undoubtedly its gameplay. It's one of those games where I'm not really sure why it's so playable, it just is. I mean, its graphics and sound aren't much better than average (with a couple of exceptions) and there aren't even any different weapon power-ups to collect, so what's it got that so many other shooters haven't? Well, for starters, its weapon system is superb and adds a surprising amount to the game. Each type of shot is of course suitable for specific situations in the game and since enemies attack from all directions, you'll find yourself switching between them often. There are a few other good ideas here and there too which, whilst not necessarily completely original, still feel refreshing. A good example of this can be found when fighting some of the larger enemies and particularly the bosses.

A walker and lots of flying things on stage four...

As mentioned earlier, each stage has at least one boss, and these, unlike some shooters I could mention, have at least had a bit of thought put into them. There's no sitting in one spot and shooting continuously here - genuine skill, specifically quick reflexes and bullet-dodging ability, is required to defeat most of them (though, ironically, not the final boss who is easy!). Collision detection is also top-notch - the bullets fly around the screen pretty quickly but if you lose a ship you'll know that it's because it's been hit! These are a few reasons why Hellfire is so playable but I think its secret lies in the fact that it actually makes you use your brain a little - something very rare for a 2D shooter! There are many games of this type where you have to do very little once your ship is powered-up but Hellfire is different. It forces you to be on the move nearly constantly and is all the better for it.

That green dude looks nasty...

Amazingly, on Toaplan's own website this game is described as "not quite matching the quality of many other Toaplan games". While it's true that Toaplan's shooters are all (or nearly all) of at least good quality, it's still rather surprising to read that! It's possible that the comment may have been in reference to the arcade version which, while still very playable, looks worse than this conversion and is noticeably harder. That doesn't mean that it's a poor game though by any means, and remains among Toaplan's best if you ask me. This version, while unfortunately devoid of the decent simultaneous two-player mode that the arcade game boasted, is still one of the top five shooters available for the MegaDrive. After all, it may not be the kind of game you'd use to show off your MegaDrive's graphical power, but gameplay is what matters, right? Well, that's certainly my opinion and Hellfire, while still a tough and perhaps unfair game, has that in abundance.

RKS Score: 9/10