F-Zero Series - Part 5

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (2001)
By: Nd Cube  Genre: Racing  Players: 1-4  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Game Boy Advance
Also Available For: Nothing

The original F-Zero was widely credited with kick-starting not only the futuristic racing game sub-genre, but also arcade-quality racing games on home systems generally. The acclaim it received was well-deserved too - it was fast, exciting, and original. It was also a launch game for the SNES and did a perfect job of showcasing Nintendo's new hardware, so when the time came for another of their new hardware releases, what better choice of game to entice prospective buyers? So, the release of the much-anticipated Game Boy Advance was duly accompanied by this, the third full release in the F-Zero series (discounting the 64DD's Expansion Kit), but could it do for the GBA what the original did for the SNES?

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:

MegaDrive Shmups #3

Arrow Flash (1990)
By: Telenet / Sega  Genre: Shooting  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive  First Day Score: 282,830
Also Available For: Nothing

Poor old Earth, for such a small, insignificant little planet, it sure does attract a lot of attention from those pesky aliens, huh? In the case of this fairly early MD offering, it appears the objective is personal revenge rather than saving Humanity though. The attack force are known as the Zorgon V and they're after Dr. Schwinn's time travel project. After losing his wife to the vicious alien thugs, he began developing an attack fighter using advanced 'laser technology' and charges his daughter, Anna (who is a gorgeous, dark-haired vixen in the European release but a cute, blue-haired anime chick in the Japanese game, of course), into Zorgon V's complex to 'destroy everything in sight'. Fancy getting behind the controls of their prototype craft and helping the Schwinn's to get their revenge?

Early Driving Games #1

Super HQ a.k.a. Chase HQ 2 (1992)
By: Taito  Genre: Driving  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis  First Day Score: 189,090
Also Available For: Nothing

As I believe I've mentioned before, I have long held the belief that flashy graphics are not the most important aspect of a game and are not required to make a game good. There is, however, one exception. Driving games. I really do have trouble trying to think of more than a handful of really enjoyable driving games on any pre-32 bit systems, not including arcade games of course but even they, whilst more capable than home systems, were not infallible with regards to this technically-demanding genre. I have therefore made it another of my Red Parsley missions to find the best driving games released for systems pre-dating the 32-bit power-houses which made them so much more realistic. For the first game of this series, inspired by my recently-started Arcade Racing Games feature, I've chosen this variation for the Mega Drive which I encountered whilst looking into the original Chase HQ. Most of the actual conversions of Chase HQ were top-notch too, which already leaves Super HQ with a mountain to climb, so how does it fare?

Top Five Baywatch Babes

I don't know if we'd all admit it but I'm pretty sure we've all watched our fair share of Baywatch during its lengthy run. Granted, it did regularly tackle some very important social and political issues but there were also a few less profound reasons to watch it as well. These reasons were often found in pairs and encased in bright red lycra but usually spent the better part of their time there trying to escape the accommodating but restrictive confines of the thin material. Every viewer of this show, whether secret or otherwise, undoubtedly had their favourites, but here are my five personal picks, and indeed the bodies they're attached to:

5 - Yasmine Bleeth

Film Review #22

Empire (2002)
Director: Franc. Reyes  Starring: John Leguizamo, Peter Sarsgaard, Delilah Cotto, Vincent Laresca, Anthony 'Treach' Criss, Denise Richards, Rafael Baez, Sonia Braga, Nestor Serrano, Isabella Rossellini

Certificate: 15  Running Time: 95 Minutes

Tagline: "Two worlds collide"

It's not often that I go trawling through bargain bins for DVD's, especially in cheap supermarkets, but on one occasion, probably more than two years ago now, I did just that and spotted two films that looked like they might not be the utter tripe that usually fills these baskets. One of these was Empire, which as I recall cost me the princely sum of £2. However, still nervous about the source of these films, they've sat on my shelf at home until now, untouched. I kept meaning to watch them but... well, you know, something better always came along. However, at the urging of my wife, we finally sat down to watch one of them and selected this one. Despite the decent-looking cast list, I was braced for the worst though.

Puzzle Games #4

Adventures of Lolo (1989)
By: Hal Laboratory  Genre: Puzzle  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo NES
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

The gaming public is funny when it comes to game mascots. Some characters have a lot of work put into them only to fall at the first hurdle while others, seemingly created on the back of a stamp during a bored, day-dreaming doodle, become successful. Take Lolo, for example. He's a blue sphere with eyes, hands, and feet. That's it! And yet he, and the games in which he has starred, were big hits. Logically, the success of a game character would be down to the quality of the game rather than the character itself, but that's not always the case. Lolo has taken the lead role in around fifteen games so far, mostly on the Famicom and MSX systems. Many of these were only released in Japan where the series, known as the 'Eggerland' series, is most popular, but here I'll take a look at the first game of the series to be released outside Japan to see what Lolo has to offer.

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?

F-Zero Series - Part 4

F-Zero X Expansion Kit by Nintendo EAD (2000) - Nintendo 64DD

Nintendo certainly do their best to get the most out of their hardware don't they? The Famicom had its Disk System, the SNES had the SuperFX chip and also had a CD-ROM in the final stages of development before being cancelled (which went on to become the PlayStation, of course), there was a million Game Boy variants, something paralleled more recently with the multiple DS releases, and then there's the N64. Already heavily criticised for making the console cartridge based, did Nintendo try to rectify this by releasing a CD system for it? No, they decided the best way to boost flagging N64 sales was... another Disk System. Released only in Japan, the 64DD (Disk Drive) sat beneath the N64 and allowed it an additional 64MB (coincidence?) of optical disk storage. Long delayed and, unsurprisingly, a commercial failure, only nine games were released for the 64DD. Today the system is almost solely sought out by collectors and enthusiasts for just one of these games - F-Zero X Expansion Kit.

Mobile Games #2

Spaghetti and Marshmallows (2010)
By: Emil Segerås  Genre: Puzzle  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Android  First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Nothing

Spaghetti is pretty lush and everyone know marshmallows are supreme, but a game based on them? Yumm! I discovered this quirky little game totally by accident recently (when looking for Angry Birds updates, of course) but it seemed pretty interesting so I gave it a shot. But how an earth can you make a game about spaghetti and marshmallows? Well, I'm glad you asked. The game, you see, takes place on a small 2D landscape. Somewhere in the sky are target rings in which you must place a marshmallow. These are placed simply by touching a spot on the screen, but if you try to place one in a target ring straight away it will fall to the floor. You know, gravity and stuff.

Top Five Saturn Fighting Games

After revitalising the fighting game genre with Street Fighter 2, the mid-90's saw a huge influx of titles. The 16-bit consoles got a lot of good (and not so good) ones and this continued with the 32-bit systems with the added bonus of some fancy new 3D ones too. Many franchises popular today were born during this period, with the Saturn as well as the PlayStation getting some top titles. Given the unfortunate lack of success for the Saturn outside its native territory, many of its best games never left Japan including a lot of fighting games. Consequently there's still a lot I haven't played, but of the ones I have played, these are my favourites:

Games-Related Top Fives Disclaimer: I've traditionally stuck to the games I know and love so far, and these game-related top fives reflect that. One of the purposes of this blog is diversify my gaming experiences, to play games I haven't played before, so I will do new game-related top fives in a few years to see how different they are!

5. Vampire Saviour (1998)

This third (and so far, final) entry in the Darkstalkers series from the awesome Capcom was only released in Japan so I wasn't really able to play it until I finally got my lovely Skeleton Saturn. My copy of the game unfortunately came without any instructions too, so I had to try and work out most of the moves myself, but it was worth the effort! This highly creative series never really seems to get the plaudits that Capcom's other franchises do which is strange as its horror/monster themed character roster gives it huge potential which is largely realised with some outrageous combatants and special moves. The graphics and music are also of the usual Capcom high quality and there's really no bad points to be found here. Another one please, Capcom!

Film Review #21

A Knight's Tale (2001)
Director: Brian Helgeland  Starring: Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, Shannyn Sossamon, Rufus Sewell, Laura Fraser, James Purefoy

Certificate: PG  Running Time: 138 Minutes

Tagline: "He will rock you"

Times have been lean in RKS-land of late. With so little resources available, I'm afraid visits to the cinema have been even more infrequent than usual, so I shall instead take a look at one of my favourite films and hopefully convert a few new fans in the process! It is, as you may have guessed, A Knight's Tale, featuring a superb ensemble cast headed by the late Heath Ledger. Although he was an immense talent, I was never what you might call a Heath Ledger fan and didn't really know who he was when I first saw this film, but it soon became one of my most watched DVD's, thanks in part to his charismatic performance, and I was very saddened to hear of his premature passing, around three years ago now. He was a versatile actor whose talents saw him portray a number of varied roles. This one, which is the second directorial effort from acclaimed writer, Brian Helgeland, is set in 1370's France and tells the tale of peasant squire, William Thatcher.

Arcade Racing Games #1

Chase HQ (1988)
By: Taito  Genre: Racing  Players: 1  Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 4,723,860 (one credit)
Also Available For: PC Engine, X68000, Master System, Game Gear, NES, Game Boy, Amiga, Atari ST, MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Before the days of polygons, it was pretty rare to find a decent driving game. Even in the arcades they were pretty rare. If you asked any gamers around my age to name their favourite, most would probably say OutRun, and with good reason - it was a revolutionary game that made a huge impact. There was a few other good examples from around that time as well though, and one was Chase HQ. This effort from the awesome Taito was clearly influenced by OutRun - what else wasn't in the years after its release? - but it's not just a shameless rip-off, no sir. Whilst the basic gameplay has shades of Sega's classic, Taito also injected it with themes taken from some of the American buddy cop movies and TV shows which were so popular at the time. It sure sounds like a perfect combination but how does it stand up today?

Exploring the NES - Part 1

As I briefly mentioned in my 'Exploring the Commodore 64' feature, the computers or consoles we look back upon with most affection are usually the first ones we got, and these are usually gifts from our parents for Christmas or something similar. Just as I missed out on C64 gaming by virtue of receiving the splendid gift of a ZX Spectrum, I also completely missed out on Famicom / NES gaming by becoming a Master System owner. Although it wasn't a gift this time (the details surrounding the purchase can be found here), the enjoyment my MS provided soon turned me into a Sega fanboy who looked upon the 'inferior' NES with scorn.

Of course, the fact that the NES was a bit of a flop here in the UK just reinforced my belief that I had chosen wisely, it was irrelevant that it was crushing all before it in Japan and the US, and in a coincidental parallel of my Speccy situation, I didn't know a single person who owned an NES. This meant I missed out on Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, Castlevania, and all the other classic franchises born on this famous console, but I didn't care at the time - it took the SNES to break my disdain for Nintendo and by then the NES was old news. Fortunately however, it turned out my evolution as a gamer meant that once I'd reached the Dreamcast and my beloved Sega had gone down (well, as a hardware manufacturer), I fell out of love with modern gaming and instead sought refuge in gaming's past.

First Look Wii #1

Okami by Capcom (2008) - Nintendo Wii

Even after quite a few years of them, there's still very few games that have come close to inspiring me to buy a current console. The only one of the three that I've even used much is the Wii which a friend owns. He's usually showing me his latest Animal Crossing larks and tomfoolery but one day he made me miss my bus to show me... Okami. At first I thought it was some pretentious nonsense that would make me dislike modern consoles even more, but no... Okami, you see, is more a work of art than a videogame which has so much more to it than I've yet discovered. At its most basic you could call it an arcade adventure or action RPG in whose stunningly crafted game world you take the form of a God disguised as a wolf and must complete all sorts of varied quests and solve puzzles. Just look at those graphics though! Cel-shading has never looked like this before. It's an amazing game for certain and I really need to play it some more! Any of you played it? Is it as good as I thought after my brief exposure?

RKS Score: 5/5

I don't usually include video clips but this game has to be seen moving!