Better Late Than Never #1

Shinobi by Sega (1987) - Master System

Oh hey, what's going down? Welcome to another new (kind of) feature here at Red Parsley! As I've no doubt mentioned before, despite my enthusiasm for and love of video games, especially ones of the 80s and 90s, I've never been particularly good at them. Some I could complete, but there were many I could not. There were some games that have stuck in mind all these years as being ones I played a lot and got quite a long way into a lot, but never managed to finish. This feature, whilst otherwise very similar to my existing Game Gallery posts, will showcase my (probably save state-assisted) journey to finally completing some of the offending games. First up is one of my very favourite games for one of my very favourite consoles:

Click here for the full review of this fine game.

Game Gallery #9

It has once again been far too long since I did one of these gallery posts - something I must address henceforth - but they were mainly intended to showcase big name games of the past, in any case. Then why am I using this gallery post to showcase a Speccy homebrew game that, to my knowledge, not many people know about, you probably aren't asking. Well, because 1) I like it, and 2) it has pretty graphics for a Speccy game - a wonderful system, but one for which colours are not often seen in huge numbers. Check out the colours here, especially the borders of each level.

The Best of X68000 Cover-Art - Part 1

The X68000 has long been a system that has interested me. As well as looking cool, it hosts some great games including some famously-awesome arcade conversions. I would like to cover it more here but, like most Japanese home micros, it's a pain in the arse to emulate and it's certainly not a realistic system to buy. Due to the high cost of the actual system as well as most games for it, and no doubt for numerous other reasons, it's not one that's popular with collectors, at least in this hemisphere. It doesn't seem to get mentioned much at all really, from what I've seen. As a result of all this, not only have I not played many games for it, but I haven't even seen many of the physical games, even online, so I found myself wondering what the cover-art was like for them. After a little effort, I have found some cover scans and have taken it upon myself to choose the most eye-catching ones! Here is the first of what will probably be four posts on the subject...

38 Man Kilo No Kokuu...

Air Combat...

The Best of Arcade Flyers - Part 2

I'm sure I am not alone in my appreciation of game art, and we certainly got quite a lot to ogle back in the day, what with magazine adverts and the covers of the games themselves, but one major 'format' whose promotional artwork was seen far less often was that of the sacred arcade, birth place and home of many of the most revered and loved games for generations. Therefore, for this series of posts, I'll be showcasing a selection of what are in my opinion the flyers with the most appealing or eye-catching artwork rather than flyers for the best games themselves. The posts will be in alphabetical order - next up is 'A' and all associated games therein.

Game Art Gallery #2

Most of my fellow UK retro gamers will probably remember the various Psygnosis adverts that appeared in magazines like C&VG and Ace back in the late 80s and early 90s, and for a majority of us they will be something we remember fondly. I've recently been looking into these in a bit more detail and found a few that I'd never even seen before. After careful consideration, I posted my Top Five a few months back, but there were some tough choices and the ones that didn't make the list deserve to be seen too. I therefore now present what I believe to be the complete Psygnosis adverts gallery! Well, the ads in this style at least, but I'm probably wrong anyway (grunkle). I've also tried to tidy/touch up some of the images too. Hope you like them, and let me know of any I missed :)

 

The Best of Arcade Flyers - Part 1

Oh hey, what's going down? I'm sure I am not alone in my appreciation of game art. Back in my day when life made sense (kind of), that was usually in the form of adverts in the magazines of the time or the covers of the games themselves, but one major 'format' not covered by either of those is that of the sacred arcade, birth place and home of many of the most revered and loved games for generations.

For arcade games, these 'adverts' usually came in the form of flyers that were sent to arcades the world over to try and tempt said arcade's operator to bring in the game. Obviously, unless you were one of those owners, or at least knew one, these flyers went largely unseen. To that end, please join me in a celebratory tootle for this new series of Red Parsley posts which will feature what are in my opinion the finest flyers to grace... umm, paper I guess, or whatever they were printed on.

These posts will be by letter in alphabetical order. First up are games whose titles start with a number. There obviously wasn't much choice here so the selection isn't great (or plentiful) but I present it nonetheless. Greater things are to come...

Game Gallery #8

Power Strike a.k.a. Aleste by Compile (1988) - Master System

After a much shorter gap than last time, I am happy to return with another Game Gallery here at Red Parsley! I have again gone with a shoot 'em up, which is probably the first vertical-scroller I ever really liked. This might be because I was quite good at it (I could even finish it!) but also because it's a genuinely stonking game.

Not only does it feature tons of distinctive enemies, some scary alien landscapes, and a load of cool power-up weapons, but it was also something of a technical marvel for the Master System which was apparently able to throw the game's many sprites around with none of the flicker that had blighted many other games. Behold, the wonder that is surely the MS's best shmup... Power Strike!

Click here for the full review of this fine game.

Game Gallery #7

Thunder Force 3 by Techno Soft (1990) - MegaDrive

It has been a looong time since I did one of these, which is a bit strange considering how many screenshots I usually grab when playing games for reviews. I might as well put some of them to use, surely? Yes I should, and so it shall be once more. To that end, bewildering absence notwithstanding, the Game Gallery is now back! Since the last one was for Thunder Force 2, for this return I thought it's immediate sequel and 'Finest MD Shmup' title-holder, Thunder Force III was a logical choice.

Click here for the full review of this fine game.

Special Note: As many of you will know, players can choose between the game's first five stages from the start. This gallery, however, will feature them in the 'correct' order, thus:

Title and 'Secret' Config Screens:

Game Art Gallery #1

The Bob Wakelin Collection - Not so long ago, shortly after the untimely passing of legendary artist Bob Wakelin, I rustled up a Top Five of what I felt were the finest examples of his game art. There were many pieces to choose from though, most of which will be fondly remembered by us 80's gamers who doubtless saw them in the pages of our favourite game magazines in the form of adverts, and in stores (or on our game shelves) as the covers of some games themselves.

It was genuinely tough to narrow it down to only five pieces though, so here is a fine gallery of what I believe to be all (or nearly all) of the skillish game advert/cover artwork he produced. Bask in the magnificence of his talent thus:

Cover Art: Sega Mark III - Part 2

I haven't posted as many cover-art comparisons as I would have liked here at Red Parsley yet, but even without having featured many systems (yet), I don't think many would argue that the one with the greatest differences in regional cover art must surely be Sega's Master System. Despite their dreadfulness, I have a certain affection for the covers our MS games had over here in the UK, but while doing the comparison posts it became clear that many of the Japanese Mark III games are quite superb. I therefore thought it might be swell to share what I believe to be all of them here with you splendid fellows. I've already posted Part One, and here are the rest of them which, I believe, constitutes every Mark III game officially released (as well as one unofficial title), with the exception of a handful of My Card games which didn't have cover art. Hope you like them!

Nekkyuu Koshien...

Out Run...

F-Zero Series - Part 9

Well, it's been a few years now since I last took a look at the F-Zero series here at Red Parsley, mainly because I've already covered every instalment, but I still enjoy playing each of them to one degree or another. The Nintendo 64 game is without question my favourite but few gamers would argue that it was the SNES original that had the biggest impact, and for those of us that grew up with it, every corner of every course is consigned to memory. Despite that, I still fancied revisiting them and thought it might be worth taking a closer look at all of them. Therefore, whether it stands to cause pangs of nostalgia, or perhaps even give new insight into a game you (somehow) knew little about, here are the courses of F-Zero...

Knight League - Mute City I

This much-visited location, presumably the location of the F-Zero league head-quarters, is the 'biggest city on all the Space Federation Planets' and is where each of the three leagues start. Its first course is obviously the simplest, featuring nothing trickier than a right-angle turn, a ramp which might send an inexperienced racer over the edge of the course, and a hairpin to round off the lap, but overall Mute City shouldn't cause any problems on even the highest difficulty level...

Cover Art: Sega Mark III - Part 1

I haven't posted as many cover-art comparisons as I would have liked here at Red Parsley yet, but even without having featured many systems (yet), I don't think many would argue that the one with the greatest differences in regional cover art must surely be Sega's Master System. Despite their dreadfulness, I have a certain affection for the covers our MS games had over here in the UK, but while doing the comparison posts it became clear that many of the Japanese Mark III games are quite superb. I therefore thought it might be swell to share what I believe to be all of them here with all of you splendid fellows. They aren't all great quality, sadly, but they're the best copies I could find. Here are the first 40 covers - the rest will follow in Part 2 of the post. Hope you like them!

Action Fighter...

After Burner...

Even More Speccy Loading Screens!

Jeepers, just when I thought I'd finished posting selections of my favourite Speccy loading screens (see the last of the five parts here), I discover yet more evidence of the awesomeness of the retro community. This latest selection of images, you see, were all created by talented Speccy fans and posted over at the 'ZX Art' page.

I've only just discovered this superb site but it's chock-full of fantastic examples of Speccy artwork. The ones I've posted here are just a random selection of ones that caught my eye and as you can probably tell, most of them are made in the style of loading screens. Some are even 'remakes' of existing loading screens.

If you've perused these gorgeous images and like what you see, I strongly urge you to visit the ZX Art site and take a look at some of the other great work there. And just for the record, I didn't make any of these myself - the name of each artist is in brackets in the filename of each image - full credit goes to them...

Favourite Speccy Loading Screens - Part 5

Oh, hello again. It's now accidentally been a startlingly long time since I last posted selections of my favourite Spectrum loading screens, but nonetheless, here is the final part of this feature which has actually turned out to be among my most popular features for some time! I suppose visually-stimulating posts are always popular but, whatever the reason, I'm very pleased you've enjoyed this extensive gallery...

Favourite Speccy Loading Screens - Part 4

Oh, hello again. As some of you may well have noticed, I've recently been posting selections of my favourite Spectrum loading screens. Actually, I imagine rather a lot of you have noticed as they have turned out to be among my most popular posts for some time! I suppose visually-stimulating posts are always popular but, whatever the reason, I'm very pleased to now present the fourth part of the extensive gallery...

Favourite Speccy Loading Screens - Part 3

Oh, hello again. As some of you may well have noticed, I've recently been posting selections of my favourite Spectrum loading screens. Actually, I imagine rather a lot of you have noticed as they have turned out to be among my most popular posts for some time! I suppose visually-stimulating posts are always popular but, whatever the reason, I'm very pleased to now present the third part of the extensive gallery...

Favourite Speccy Loading Screens - Part 2

As some of you may have seen, about a month ago I posted the first part of my selection of my favourite Spectrum loading screens. Actually, I imagine rather a lot of you saw it as it turned out to be my most popular post for some time! I suppose visually-stimulating posts are always popular but, whatever the reason, I'm very pleased to now present the second part of the extensive gallery...

Favourite Speccy Loading Screens - Part 1

Back in the days of cassette-based gaming, us ZX Spectrum owners, along with our Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 owning brethren (amongst others), were periodically forced to endure mocking jibes and stinging repartee from conceited owners of the various disc/cartridge-based systems concerning the 3-5 minutes it took to load our games (you know, as opposed to the 30+ minutes it takes to install/patch/update a game before you can play it on a modern system nowadays).

The one comfort we took during this period came via the often-fab 'loading screens' that most developers included to whet our appetites. I've now amassed a fairly sizeable gallery of my favourite examples and am happy to present them before you now, for your (possible) viewing pleasure! Behold, the fifty loading screens that make up the first of what will probably end up being about five or six posts:

Game Gallery #6

Thunder Force 2 by Techno Soft (1991) - MegaDrive

My love of Techno Soft's Thunder Force series is well known by regular readers here at Red Parsley and while the third game is definitely my favourite, I've always retained a lot of affection for this second game too. So, after a recent play-through of the tough son-of-a-gun, I managed to get a few screenshots as well and, in accordance with my crusade against the wanky websites that tag their shots, here are the results of my endeavours for your viewing pleasure!

Title and 'Secret' Config Screen:

Game Gallery #5

Chase HQ (1988)
Arcade Version

To continue my ongoing battle against the tossers who tag their screenshots (*coughIGNcoughGamespotcough*), my next offering is the immortal Chase HQ. It was while writing my recent review of this great game that I decided to do this gallery as there were so many good screenshots I wanted to use for the review. Also, before anyone says anything - yes I have noticed that this fifth Game Gallery is the fourth to feature a game by Taito! It's not intentional and I'll try to feature a non-Taito game next time, but for now, allow me to present the this arcade great in its entirety: