Maze Games #15

Druid (1986)
By: Electralyte Software / Firebird Genre: Maze Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Atari 8-bit First Day Score: Acolyte
Also Available For: Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX2, Tatung Einstein, Famicom Disk System

Like many games of its time, Druid was released on a wide variety of systems including the Speccy, my old favourite of the time. Instead of looking at that version for this here review, however, and even ignoring an excuse to do another review on my newest favourite system, the MSX2, I decided to take a look at what was, to my knowledge, the original version, and on a system I've never played a single game on before. Well, I say 'system' but it's actually a number of systems that fall under the 'Atari 8-bit' umbrella, but more on that another time. For now, let's concentrate on the splendidly-named game in question which recently returned to my brain after many moons away. I don't think I even heard about it in its day, in fact, and few details have reached my ears since, so I was quite excited to recently learn that it's apparently like Gauntlet.

Currently Playing...

Gauntlet by US Gold / Atari (1990) - Master System

I've been a fan of Gauntlet for many moons now. I first discovered it on my trusty Speccy thanks to... I can't remember what, actually. I thought it was the 'Giants' compilation but a check reveals that it only contains the second game. Oh well, I had it on my Speccy somehow anyway, and then, a little later, I was lucky enough to find the ultra awesome arcade version with simultaneous four-player support. All I needed was three friends and I was off (chortle!). A little later still and it made an appearance on my beloved Master System and I vowed to buy it henceforth.

Buying console games wasn't that easy at that time, however, as I was still at school, and by the time I could buy games for myself, Gauntlet IV had been released for the Mega Drive which was a conversion of the first game as well a new adventurey thing too. No matter how good the MS conversion might be, the MD one would be better, surely? That was my reasoning at the time, and it was very wise reasoning for it was indeed a very excellent version of the game, but as these many years of men have passed, and much that once was has been lost, my yearning for Gauntlet MS-stylee has remained undimmed by the passage of time. And now, I'm happy to say it finally graces my MS collection!

Lynx Games #2

Gauntlet: The Third Encounter (1990)
By: Atari Genre: Maze / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Atari Lynx First Day Score: 44,816
Also Available For: Nothing

When I was younger I loved the two Gauntlet games. I had them on a compilation (I forget which now) for my Speccy, and my local arcade had the full-on four-player version of the first game there for years, so I had lots of opportunities to do my Gauntleting. They were very high-profile games too, but it wasn't until years later I realised... where the hell was Gauntlet 3? Well, as it turned out, there were two different takes on a third game in the series and neither was anywhere near as high-profile as the first two. One was made by Software Creations for the 8 & 16-bit home micros and was not very Gauntlet-ish. The other was developed by Epyx and released only on the handheld console they developed - the Lynx. Would it prove to be any more Gauntlety than the weird home micro offering? Yes it would, as it turns out, but it's still far from a typical Gauntlet game.

Currently Playing...

Ninja Princess by Sega (1985) - Arcade

As anyone who owned or even just played on Sega's mighty Master System in its day will probably know, one of it's too-infrequently-celebrated gems is The Ninja. Many believe it to be a Master System original but it's actually a mostly-accurate conversion of an arcade game released the previous year under two names - Ninja Princess in Japan and Sega Ninja over here in the West. I've long been a fan of The Ninja so I've been intending to give the original a try for some time now and have, as you may have guessed, finally gotten around to it!

For those not familiar with the MS version, the game places you in control of the mysterious assassin of the title some time during Japan's Edo period (17th century-ish) with the aim of taking down an evil warlord and restoring peace to the land. With fire in your heart and nerves of steel (hopefully), it's your job to guide this heroic saviour through a number of unforgiving vertically-scrolling areas on foot, dispatching all the immediately-hostile enemy combatants (mostly other ninjas, as well as a few horses, naturally) who rush onto the screen at the appropriate moment or pop up out of their hiding places. Defeat the boss at the end (or 'top') of each stage and it's on to the next area, each of which poses its own unique challenge to test your mettle.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #10

Twinkle Tale (1992)
By: Toyo Recording Co Genre: Run 'n' Gun / Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 68,240
Also Available For: Nothing

As was often the case with games exclusive to Japan, I heard a few murmurings of Twinkle Tale back in its day, but I never saw it on sale anywhere and certainly never had the chance to play it until much later - long after the MegaDrive had been and gone (as a 'current' system at least) in fact. Typically, it costs a blinking fortune to buy these days but, happily, after receiving a push courtesy of a Top Cat-inspired Facebook group of retro shmup fans, I've finally had just that chance and was a little surprised to find that it's not the standard vertical-scrolling shmup I thought it to be. It's actually a more run 'n' gun-ish take on Techno Soft's classic Elemental Master which means you control a human(oid) character who scampers about the various stages on foot. Here, however, there's no auto-scrolling, nor any time restrictions, so you can proceed at your own pace. Splendid :)

Maze Games #13

Loaded a.k.a. Blood Factory (1996)
By: Gremlin Interactive / Interplay Genre: Maze / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sony PlayStation
Also Available For: Saturn

As should be pretty clear from the title screen alone, Loaded is not a game for children. Though certainly not the first game to feature blood 'n' gore in a remotely realistic way, it was probably the first such game I played. It was therefore also the first game to make me question whether the inclusion of so much crimson content added enough to a game to make it worth restricting the number of people that could play it. We'll find that out soon I guess! It's set in the far future and features a space-faring mankind who have colonised many worlds in all corners of the galaxy. One such colony is the Raulf maximum security prison planet where six psychotic mercenaries are among the inmates. They have more reason than the many other inmates to feel aggrieved, however, as they have all been framed for the crimes of an evil space pirate known as F.U.B. who is now warden of the prison.

Indie Games News/Previews #6

Tower 57 by Pixwerk (2015) - PC/Mac

It's been a while since I looked at an overhead run 'n' gun game but one that recently came to my attention is this forthcoming indie release. It's a Kickstarter-funded title, set in a world where many of our citizens are holed up in self-sustaining Towers. One of these - Tower 57 - is allegedly planning an invasion so it's your job to find out what's going on and put a stop to it. The game isn't finished yet but it's not far off and will include six varied characters to choose from, each with their own special abilities, for you and possibly a friend to blast through the Tower with in single or two-player co-op modes. The Tower, being a tower and all, consists of multiple floors too, each with its own theme, so there's plenty of stuff to shoot up.

Maze Games #12

Gauntlet 2 (1986)
By: Atari Genre: Maze / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 28,627 (starting with 2000 health)
Also Available For: NES, Game Boy, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

The immense success of Gauntlet pretty much guaranteed that a sequel would soon be on the way; the only question really was what direction Atari would take with it. It turned out they took the safer option - more of the same - but that's mighty welcome when the 'same' is as rip-snortingly spiffy as Gauntlet! There is again no back-story that I can determine so we are simply presented with a choice of the same four brave, fearsome, yet varied characters - Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, and Elf - and sent forth into a series of very mazey dungeons to vanquish as many terrifying foes as possible. Multiple players can choose the same character this time (duplicates are coloured differently) and there are again a hundred stages in total which appear in a random order from the sixth onwards, but for the most part they will just seem like more stages from the first game.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #9

Alien Breed (1991)
By: Team 17 Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Commodore Amiga First Day Score: 71,800
Also Available For: CD32, PC

There was a period during the early 90's when being an Amiga gamer was nearly as great as being a console gamer with regards to arcade-style games (I know, hard to believe - hee hee!), and this was largely thanks to Team 17. Although not founded until 1990 - quite late for an Amiga developer - they made an immediate impact. Their releases were rarely very original but were almost always technically impressive and highly playable. One that remains among their most celebrated works is Alien Breed, an almost legendary overhead run 'n' gun blaster. It was reminiscent of many such games before it in concept and also took a good few cues from a certain sci-fi film, but was immediately successful nonetheless. This would indicate that it's very good but when I gave it a quick try in my younger days I found it annoying and flawed. It's reputation endures though, so maybe I judged it too quickly and too harshly. I shall now find out...

Maze Games #5

Gauntlet (1985)
By: Atari Genre: Maze / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 20,332 (starting with 2000 health)
Also Available For: Master System, MegaDrive, NES, Lynx, PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Apple II, Atari 8-bits, MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

I suppose it was only a matter of time before the 'Maze Games' feature here at Red Parsley arrived at the Gauntlet series for a review but the decision to return to it wasn't a hard one. This is mainly because it's one of my favourite games but I've actually spent surprisingly little time with the arcade original. The decent conversion for the Spectrum occupied much of my time in the late 80's before the fantastic Gauntlet 4 arrived on the MegaDrive (basically a conversion of the first game but with tonnes of extras) and occupied much of my time in the 90's as well! The series certainly has its detractors, though, who argue that it's repetitive and frustrating. I definitely didn't agree with them back then but perhaps time has dulled the appeal of Atari's classic. Henceforth, I shall find out...

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #8

Vindicators (1988)
By: Tengen Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Nintendo NES First Day Score: 35,200
Also Available For: Arcade, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

Despite their difficulties in the mid-80's, one area that Atari remained fairly prolific was in the arcades. This particular game isn't one of their most well-known efforts but it's another one of those ones that I always remember thanks to its splendid adverts in the magazines of the day. The same magazines didn't give it very enthusiastic reviews though so it's not a game I've ever had much interest in playing until it spontaneously popped into my head a couple of weeks ago. I had subsequently intended to give the arcade version a try as usual, but have sadly been hindered by its twin-stick control method. My next stop was therefore the Amiga version but that proved even harder to play thanks to the crazy-arse control system that someone saw fit to bestow upon it. So now I'm hoping it's third time lucky and I can finally uncover the secrets of this unloved game.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #7

Alien Syndrome (1987)
By: Sega Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 96,400
Also Available For: Master System, Game Gear, Sharp X68000, NES, PC, Amiga, Atari ST, MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

Like many game companies in the mid-to-late 80's, it seems almost certain that Sega were also bitten by the 'Alien' bug, so to speak. That is to say, they drew inspiration from the Alien movies for one (or some) of their games. The fact that this release came the year after the super-successful sequel to the classic 1979 film would tend to back up that theory as it's a game that may seem familiar to some fans. Rather than a gound-based colony, however, it takes place in a series of seven spacecraft. These were presumably craft operated by humans but they have become overrun by hideous alien creatures of various descriptions and their human crew taken prisoner. It therefore falls to Ricky and Mary, two suspiciously Space Marine-like soldiers, to liberate each ship in succession and eradicate the alien scum that now dwells within.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #6

Berzerk (1980)
By: Stern Electronics Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 5,740
Also Available For: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Vectrex

I'm crap as you can see, but consistently so!

Is this an overhead run 'n' gun game? I'm not totally sure it counts to be honest but I'm not too concerned if it isn't, it still gives me the excuse to play it! And play it I did, for the first time since my good friend Luke had his Dragon 32 all those years ago which, subsequent research indicates, did not host an official version either. So, this is my first experience with 'proper' Berzerk and it was one which I'm sure will leave a lasting impression on me. It's a game that was supposedly born in a dream of Stern employee, Alan McNeil, who imagined fighting rooms full of hostile robots. The subsequent game was released soon afterwards and malevolent automatons did indeed play a pivotal role. The object of Berzerk, you see, is simply to avoid meeting your maker at the hands of one of the pesky cycloptic metal monsters.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #5

Virocop (1995)
By: Graftgold / Renegade Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Commodore Amiga First Day Score: 69,550
Also Available For: Nothing

Imagine if in the future it was possible to take holidays without leaving the comfort of your own home. This concept has been explored in films before, such as Total Recall, but in games? I don't know actually but that's exactly what forms the basis for this game. Virocop was released late in the Amiga's life and until recently my only experience with it was via a magazine cover-disc demo. I remember liking it a lot but I only had one stage to try out so I've been meaning to delve more deeply into it for years now. The story is actually quite detailed but it involves a virtual game park which has been invaded by many viruses. Sent in to clear the park so virtual holidays can resume in peace is not just a Virocop but the very best Virocop of them all - D.A.V.E.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #4

Commando (1985)
By: Capcom Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 42,100 (one credit)
Also Available For: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Intellivision, Atari 2600
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

If I were to count all of the games on most of the modern consoles by genre, which type do you think would have most examples available? I'm willing to bet it would be first-person shooters, and like all modern genres, these too have their roots in much older games. While it's true that there were some attempts at first-person games as far back as the early 80's, I think that overhead run 'n' gun games have been more influential over first-person shooters than any other genre has. With that in mind, I suppose I can only feature them for so long here at Red Parsley before I come to this particular title, which is a great example of what I'm talking about - it's an FPS, but from above!

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #3

The Ninja (1986)
By: Sega  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1-2   Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega Master System  First Day Score: 78,900
Also Available For: Arcade, SG-1000

Ninjas are awesome, everyone knows that. The late 80's to early 90's saw their popularity in my part of the world peak and this naturally translated to the videogames market perfectly. There were many games based on their exploits released but most of these were side-viewed run 'n' gun style games. One of Sega's earliest offerings did things a little differently. It was similar in style to Capcom's Commando, which was released around the same time, but replaced the various soldiers with ninjas and other Japanese warriors, and like Commando was first released in the arcades. At this point the game was known as Sega Ninja but in Japan it went by the slightly more appealing name of Ninja Princess.

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #2

Crack Down (1990)
By: Sega  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis  First Day Score: 57,200
Also Available For: Arcade, Amiga, Atari ST
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Those infernal mad professors are a right pain in the arse, aren't they? Always deluding themselves that they're the best leader for the world and bollocks to everyone else. Then again, I suppose if it wasn't for them, all the many selfless, heroic American government agents wouldn't have any opportunities to show us all how brave and daring they are by saving our worthless behinds and would instead be reduced to sitting around eating pizza. Luckily for Special Service agents, Ben and Andy (must be their special covert operative names), but unluckily for all us non-hero types, Mr. K has unleashed his army of killer robots equipped with advanced artificial intelligence to rid the world of pesky Humans! Can Ben and Andy save us all from Mr. K's diabolical scheme?

Overhead Run 'n' Gun Games #1

Millennium Soldier: Expendable a.k.a. Seitai Heiki Expendable (1999)
By: Rage Software / Infogrames  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega Dreamcast
Also Available For: PlayStation, PC

When Sega launched their magnificent Dreamcast console it was accompanied by some pretty decent and varied games. Nestled amongst the amazing, big name, flashy 3D next-gen games were two offerings from Rage Software. One was Incoming, itself a flashy 3D shooter, but hardly next-gen as far as originality or gameplay innovations were concerned. The other, known simply as Expendable in the US, was a little more unexpected. Here was a game that was more like a late 80's Commando-style run 'n' gunner and, which is fine as part of a console's library, but as a launch game for the most amazing console to date? Well, it was actually a PC game originally, released during the post-3D accelerator card craze. Due to the Dreamcast's technical similarities to the PC's of the day, it was an easy recipient of quick ports. Was Expendable just here to make up the numbers?