Run 'n' Gun Games #10

Psycho-Nics Oscar (1987)
By: Data East Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 93,900
Also Available For: Nothing

I'll be the first one to admit that my coverage of the Commodore 64 has been pretty woeful here. The reasons why could be the subject for another post, but I have been meaning to review Turrican here for a long time. I decided to finally do so recently, only to find it was apparently 'inspired' by an earlier game, and an arcade game no less. Accordingly, my OCD will not allow me to review Turrican first, so here is a look at the curiously-named Psycho-Nics Oscar, released in 1987 by Data East. This puts it in their RoboCop/Dragon Ninja phase which was, in my opinion, their best period as an arcade developer. It doesn't seem to have much in the way of a backstory though. As far as I can tell, the player takes on the role of Oscar, but I'm not sure if he/it is a robot or a guy controlling a mecha. Hmm, anyway, whatever Oscar is, your simple-yet-difficult job is to liberate Ordio City. I am again unsure if this is a city on a future Earth or if it's on an alien planet, but who needs an excuse to neutralise alien (probably) filth?

Run 'n' Gun Games #9

Assault Suits Leynos a.k.a. Target Earth (1990)
By: Masaya / NCS Corp Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1 Difficulty: Hard
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: Wii Virtual Console, PS4, PC

I played rather a lot of games on my Mega Drive over the first half of the 90s and even knew all about the ones I didn't play too, thanks to the magazines of the day, but there was of course the odd one or two that slipped through the net. One of these, if you hadn't already guessed, is Assault Suits Leynos. It was released in Japan, and also in the US under a different name - Target Earth (actually not a bad alternative name for American standards) - but for some peculiar reason our humble territory here in Europe was apparently bypassed. Nonetheless, I still often knew about other import-only games and owned a decent number as well, since some of our magazines covered them, so why did they ignore this one? I don't remember seeing a single mention of it except in the listings of mail order companies. Oh well, time to once again educate myself I guess!

Run 'n' Gun Games #8

Green Beret a.k.a. Rush'n Attack (1985)
By: Konami Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 (alternate) Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 37,050 (one credit)
Also Available For: NES, Famicom Disk System, MSX, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, Atari 8-bit, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum (ports)
Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 (on compilations)

Although very popular at the time, and converted to every format under the sun, I'd still only played Green Beret on my trusty Speccy prior to this review. I didn't really like it too much back then either, even though I had it on disk for my mighty +3 which meant I could have it up and running within 30 seconds or so. Despite this, for no readily apparent reason it popped into my head spontaneously the other day, so I figured I'd give it the once over here as part of my run 'n' gun feature. This may make some people's eyes widen in shock but I would say it still counts as a run 'n' gunner - you do run around platforms taking out never-ending enemies after all. There isn't much in the way gunning though, I must admit, with the nameless stock military dude under your control here (we'll call him Gavin for review purposes) apparently preferring bladed weapons. So, it's a run 'n' stabber then? That's good enough for me!

Run 'n' Gun Games #7

Mercenary Kings (2013)
By: Tribute Games Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: PlayStation 4

It was over three years ago now that I first heard about Canadian indie developer, Tribute Games, which was founded by a trio of ex-Ubisoft developers. The game that caught my eye was actually their debut release - Wizorb - a slightly RPG-ish take on the bat 'n' ball genre. As unlikely a combination as that might sound, the result was undoubtedly the finest such game I've played to date, surpassing even the great Arkanoid for sheer awesomeness. As you might therefore imagine, I've been awaiting their next game with a great deal of interest, and now... it's here! Yes that's right, after these long years of waiting and hoping, Tribute's second game has finally arrived and, rather than being a Wizorb sequel or spin-off, it's an entirely new game too!

Run 'n' Gun Games #6

Cyber-Lip (1990)
By: SNK Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: SNK Neo Geo MVS First Day Score: 26,600
Also Available For: Neo Geo AES & CD

If you asked a random bunch of retro gamers what their favourite run 'n' gun game is, some would probably name a Contra title, one or two may go for Gunstar Heroes, but most will probably start talking excitedly about a Metal Slug game. It's a series the Neo Geo is famous for but before it came Cyber Lip. It was one of the first Neo Geo games and it's not one that's often spoken about with much affection. Like the aforementioned examples it's a two-player game; the heroes in this case are named Rick and Brook (snigger) and they are apparently our last hope to save Earth! The year is 2020 and our colonies in space have suffered several attacks. To defend them we built a military supercomputer but unfortunately both it and the army it controls have started malfunctioning which has seen hordes of crazy androids and lords knows what else go on the rampage back home!

Lynx Games #1

Electrocop (1989)
By: Epyx / Atari Genre: Maze / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Atari Lynx First Day Score: 15,475
Also Available For: Nothing

Atari's mighty Lynx was a funny machine. It was a 'handheld' which was rather too big to be comfortably used as one for starters, but it was a powerful piece of kit for sure. It soon gained a glowing reputation for the surprisingly faithful arcade conversions which formed the bulk of its software library, but there were a few original releases too. Many of them were by Epyx, the co-developer of the Lynx itself, and most of these appeared at or soon after the machine's launch - presumably they were developed especially for the occasion to give the system a slightly more varied line-up. One of these was Electrocop. It gained a decent reputation at the time but it never seems to get mentioned these days any time the Lynx is mentioned. Has it dated that badly or has it been unfairly neglected in the intervening years?

Run 'n' Gun Games #5

GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island (1991)
By: Irem Genre: Run 'n' Gun Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 224,700
Also Available For: Nintendo SNES

Whether they involve complex strategies or just straight-out chaotic shooting, war games are almost always an exciting proposition. Some of them are based on real conflicts through history, or even assumed ones in our future, but others give you few details of your cause, just or not. This early 90's effort from Irem is apparently one of the latter. It's a two-player game starring two unnamed soldiers. The brief intro sequence shows one or both of them parachuting from a plane into what appears to be a jungle. I guess that means it could be a game based on the Vietnam War, or perhaps a battle to oust a South American or African dictator, although I'm not convinced it's any of these judging from some of the equipment up for grabs! Wherever (or whenever) it is though, you're now deep behind enemy lines and thrust straight into the action.

Master System Shmups #6

Quartet (1987)
By: Sega Genre: Shooting / Run 'n' Gun Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega Master System First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Arcade, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

In the late 80's when I was a proud owner of a Master System I only had a handful of games but I was immensely fond of them. Inevitably though, there were others I used to see in magazines that intrigued me and one of them was Quartet. So little did I know about it that, even until recently, I thought it was a platformer, but once again my humble little blog does its job and rights another of my oversights! Like many early Master System titles, this one was originally an arcade release which was released the previous year as a game that could be played by four players simultaneously. Finally getting around to playing this conversion, which supports only two players, reveals that, while it is a game that features some platforms, and you can walk on them, it's actually more of a shmup than a platformer.

Run 'n' Gun Games #3

Exolon (1987)
By: Hewson Consultants  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: ZX Spectrum First Day Score: 15,850
Also Available For: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Enterprise 128

Having recently revisited one game by the great Raffaele Cecco, and the one I knew best, I thought it might be time for a long overdue look at another, this time on the system where he made his name. I was always enticed by the attractive-looking screen shots of Exolon in the Speccy magazines I enthusiastically read in the mid-to-late 80's too, which makes the fact that I never played it all the more odd. There's no story here as such with the game merely plonking you on some alien-infested planet and advising you to proceed from left to right wiping them out! This involves guiding your battle-hardened space marine through 124 screens filled with everything the aliens can throw at you.

Run 'n' Gun Games #2

Rolling Thunder (1986)
By: Namco  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 86,120
Also Available For: Nintendo NES, Atari Lynx, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Good old women, you can always rely on them getting themselves into some sort of trouble, can't you! In the case of this mid-80's Namco classic it's Leila Blitz, an agent of Interpol's espionage unit, Rolling Thunder, who's gone and got herself abducted by a highly mysterious society called Geldra. Now it's down to you as Albatross, a fellow Rolling Thunder agent, to defeat Maboo, leader of Geldra, and rescue her before she's ravaged or something else equally dastardly. This involves making your way through ten stages filled with apparently infinite hooded 'Maskers' as well as several other kinds of enemies. The stages are all based in various parts of New York and are split into two groups of five - after you've completed the first five stages, they'll repeat but with more numerous and more aggressive enemies.

Run 'n' Gun Games #1

Atomic Runner a.k.a Chelnov (1992)
By: Data East  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis  First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Arcade, X68000
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Having recently looked at an 'on foot' vertical scrolling shmup in Elemental Master, this seems like a good opportunity to look at a horizontally scrolling game of the same type, and it's a game that got off to a some- what dubious start. Originally released as an arcade game titled Chelnov in 1988, it seemed to take its inspiration from the Chernobyl nuclear incident! After surviving a catastrophic explosion at a nuclear power plant, Chelnov, a coal-miner, finds himself highly irradiated and the recipient of some new abilities. Seeking to harness his new abilities for their own questionable ends, an evil organisation attempts to capture him. In order to evade their clutches, Chelnov must fight, using his abilities to defeat the organisation. Needless to say, this story didn't really go down too well, particularly in light of the game featuring Soviet iconography too!

3DO Games #1

Captain Quazar (1996)
By: Cyclone Studios / 3DO  Genre: Shooting  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: 3DO
Also Available For: PC

Despite its innovations, I think it's safe to say the 3DO didn't exactly set the world alight, sales-wise. There are various reasons for this, but when I think about how scarce some of its games were back then, it hardly seems surprising. I can't remember how I had heard about Captain Quazar now but I knew I wanted it. But even when it was originally released, I never saw it in any shops - I had to buy it on mail order, so scarce was it. It's therefore hardly surprising that most gamers haven't even heard of it, let alone own it. So, is it one of those 'flashy-but-no-depth' games that were so common in the early days of 32-bit gaming, or is it actually any good? Read on!