Top Five Sega NES Games

Back in the 8-bit days I think most would agree that Sega suffered a little when it came to challenging Nintendo's dominance in the console world. Sure, the Master System was popular here in the UK, in Brazil and a few other places, but in most places, including the two most important, the NES/Famicom was king.

Part of the reason for this was the sheer number of titles available for Nintendo's machine owing to extremely strong third-party support. This was an area the Master System greatly lacked in. In fact, I often remember thinking back then that Sega were lucky they had their own arcade games to port over as well as numerous other IPs and in-house games or the MS might not even have any games for it!

It therefore came as something of a surprise when I found out that some of Sega's games did appear on the NES/Famicom. That didn't make much sense to me but I guess Sega must have had their reasons. I've never played any of them though, and upon recently realising this, I was ultra-intrigued as to what they were like. How did they compare to the Master System versions? Let's find out, shall we?

5. Space Harrier by Takara (1988) - Japan Only

I've always enjoyed this landmark title in the arcades whenever I've been lucky enough to find it but I've never really spent too much time with it at home. I have played the MS version though, and know that it's pretty good. In fact, I think the only thing I don't really like about it is that it uses background tiles for the sprites which makes the graphics look a bit whiffy now and then. As would turn out to be the case with most games in this feature, this NES port has smaller sprites and slightly washed out colours, and slightly worse (though certainly recognisable) audio, but is for the most part pretty similar. It's not an easy one to call actually. Neither version is particularly fast and both are about as smooth as you could hope for, all things considered, so I suppose it's more about which visual style you prefer - big sprites and bright colours but that distracting tiling effect, or... well, as I said, smaller sprites, duller colours, etc. To be honest, I've enjoyed both versions so if I had to choose, I would say the MS, but that's only out of loyalty. And the fact that the NES apparently can't do the "Aaaahh!! Get ready!"

Scrolling Fighting Games #17

Dragon Ninja a.k.a. Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja (1988)
By: Date East Genre: Fighting Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 52,900
Also Available For: NES, Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Apple II
Download For: Nintendo Switch

I've never been particularly skilled at videogames. As if to illustrate this, most of the times I've actually managed to complete one without cheating are lodged firmly in my memory. One of them pertains to a certain fighting game with a very cool name, here in the UK at least. Yes, that's right, it's Dragon Ninja! American gamers knew it as Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja of course, and it's actually almost acceptable as US name-changes go since, to the eternal disappointment of both younger and current me, you don't play as ninjas but fight them. Many of them. I first discovered this on my trusty Speccy, for which I had the game (on +3 disk as I recall), and I enjoyed it a lot, black and white graphics and all. So much so, in fact, that I actually kicked every arse in the game and finished it! I'm extremely confident I couldn't repeat that nowadays but I did recently find myself reminiscing about the occasion and the game generally, and was then wondering if the arcade version is much harder, as is usually the case.

TV Shows #28

Goliath (2016-21)
Developed By: David E. Kelley & Jonathan Shapiro
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Nina Arianda, Tania Raymonde, Diana Hopper, William Hurt, Maria Bello, Ana de la Reguera, Dennis Quaid, Julie Brister, Olivia Thirlby, Molly Parker, Sarah Wynter, Mark Duplass, Matthew Del Negro, Amy Brenneman, Beau Bridges, Julia Jones, J. K. Simmons, Jena Malone, Lenora Crichlow, Bruce Dern

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 38-65 Minutes per Episode (approx)

I'm not quite sure when or how it happened but it seems that Billy Bob Thornton has become one of those actors whose mere presence in a film is enough to provoke my interest in it. When I saw Prime Video spamming his face in close proximity to the word 'Goliath' then, I duly investigated and found that it's not a film at all but a show. Not only that but it's a legal drama too - those can often be great, right? It sounded like the perfect role for Thornton too, and not just because the character shares his given name. The synopsis for Goliath, you see, invites you to join Billy McBride, "a down-and-out lawyer as he seeks redemption. His one shot depends on getting justice in a legal system where truth has become a commodity, and the scales of justice have never been more heavily weighted toward the rich and powerful."