Film Review #18

The Secret Of My Success (1987)
Director: Herbert Ross  Starring: Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, Richard Jordan, Margaret Whitton, John Pankow, Christopher Murney

Certificate: PG  Running Time: 106 Minutes

Tagline: "There's no such thing as an overnight success. Brantley Foster took two weeks"

I'm sure most of us had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do after school or college but those lofty career aspirations don't always work out how we planned. A similar problem befalls the star of this feel-good 80's comedy. Landing the lead role fresh from the success of Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox stars as Brantley Foster. Aiming to escape the confines of the Kansas farm on which he grew up, Foster graduates from college and moves to New York after lining up an apartment and a decent executive position. After arriving for his first day at work, however, he finds himself laid off before he's even started after his new employers fall victim to a hostile takeover. Having no luck with subsequent interviews elsewhere, his last chance is to ask him uncle for help, Howard Prescott (Jordan), who just happens to be CEO of the Pemrose Corporation...

Thunder Force Series - Part 6

Thunder Force AC (1990)
By: Techno Soft  Genre: Shooting  Players: 1  Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 564,850
Also Available For: MegaDrive (variation), SNES

Despite having two quality prequels, it was Thunder Force 3 on the MegaDrive/Genesis which really saw Techno Soft's innovative franchise take off. So much so in fact, that later in the same year that they lit up the MD's release schedule, its amazing success convinced them to take the unusual step of quickly creating an arcade version too! Developed by the same team and released by Sega on their own arcade hardware, the game was to all intents and purposes a 'Directors Cut' of Thunder Force 3. Whilst initially appearing to be a direct port of the MD game, it is actually home to a few unique features. Aside from some slight cosmetic changes, however, it takes a while to discover what is new here.

First Look NES #1

Hello and welcome to a new Red Parsley feature! As regular Red Parsley readers will know, my game reviews tend to be somewhat on the lengthy side. This is purely because I like to get the details as accurate as possible, but it does end up making each piece a rather time-consuming affair. This new feature will consist of much shorter reviews and my general first impression of the game in question. Some of them may be expanded into full reviews at some point, others will not. Hope you like them!

Booby Kids by Nihon Bussan Co., Ltd (1987) - NES

Having recently had a look at an entertaining maze game starring Doraemon, I thought it would be nice to see the game from which it was derived, and I was quickly able to see not only where the two games are similar, but also where they're not. The amusingly-titled Booby Kids is not set in such confining mazes as the later PC Engine game but it does have some things in common with it. Enemies are dealt with by digging holes and then burying them inside, and both games feature the same objective - namely, to collect all the items in each area (which look like pumpkins this time) to unlock the exit and progress to the next area. The graphics are actually pretty nice here featuring some appealing scenery and sprites and I particularly like the cheerful music. The game is very entertaining to play too, and unlike Doraemon's game it actually offers a decent challenge. The only problems here are somewhat sluggish controls, which I guess I could live with, but also that the whole stage resets when you lose a life. This is a real shame as it pretty much makes this a one-life game. A nice surprise initially but with a sizable flaw.

RKS Score: 3/5

Maze Games #2

Doraemon Meikyu Daisakusen a.k.a. Cratermaze (1989)
By: Hudson Soft  Genre: Maze  Players: 1  Difficulty: Easy
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16  First Day Score: Infinity
Also Available For: Nothing

Having recently introduced some Red Parsley readers to the wonder that is Doraemon (a post met with overwhelming indifference it seems!), I thought it might be timely to feature a game based on his antics. In fact, there are currently over 50 videogames based on or featuring everyone's favourite robotic cat, but this is one of the few to make it out of Japan. Well, kind of. For there was once a rather obscure arcade game called 'Kid no Hore Hore Daisakusen', better know in the West as 'Booby Kids' (snigger) which received an NES port. It was later also ported to the PC Engine (or rather a game based on it was released) but the sprites and theme of the game were altered to incorporate Doraemon and friends, naturally, given their popularity in their native realm. However, this version was then released on the TurboGrafx-16, but since most Americans don't know who Doraemon is, all the original graphics were put back into the game and it was released as 'Cratermaze'! This review, however, will focus on the Doraemon version of the game. Because I like him.

Exploring the Commodore 64 - Part 2

Having now had my first taste of the much-loved Commodore 64 (I was going to say 'recently' but it's actually an alarmingly long time since the first post - here), I figured it was time to revisit it and try a few more games. Like the first post, the games featured here were all available elsewhere but were probably most famous as C64 games, especially a certain few, but unlike last time I'm somewhat more familiar with these games, having played them or similar games elsewhere, which should actually prove better for familiarising me with the C64's abilities. One thing to note is that, as you may have noticed, all the games selected are arcade-style games. I thought this would be okay since I'm just seeing what the C64 is like as a system and I don't really have time to learn the intricacies of some of the great strategy and adventure games the system offers such as The Sentinel, Forbidden Forest, Citadel, etc, but I certainly intend to play them eventually, at which time I'm sure you'll hear about it here! For now though, here's my first impressions of these games:

International Karate (1986)

I've long been a fan of the supreme IK+ on the Amiga but I must admit I've never played this prequel before. As far as 8-bit micro's are concerned I was always an 'Exploding Fist' fan but if the time I've now spent on this is anything to go by, I've been missing out! IK+ is great fun but is pretty fast-paced, even manic at times, with its three simultaneous combatants. IK is a little more sedate. Since it's just one-on-one contests, you're afforded more time to try to out-fox your opponent and score a knockdown. I greatly enjoyed this one with its finely-honed gameplay, good selection of moves, and nice, varied backgrounds, and it will definitely see more play!

Top Five Movie Moments #3

#3 - Gladiator (2000)

Hello and welcome to another Top Five Movie Moments. Having recently watched this amazing film for the umpteenth time, I did toy with the idea of reviewing it (maybe I still will one day), but I guess it's safe to say, with a film of this prominence, you've either seen it or don't want to. Therefore, I decided to do a Top Five Moments from it instead, but even this ended up being somewhat predictable! Nevermind, obvious or not, they're still pretty awesome scenes among a movie full of them. Hope you like them! :)

Spoiler Alert: the Top Five Movie Moments featured here obviously assume that you've seen the film in question or don't mind knowing about its most prominent moments so don't come whining to me if they ruin a film that you haven't seen yet!

5..."People should know when they're conquered"

There's nothing like a good battle to open a film like this but it has to be careful to not be so good as to make the rest of the film seem like one long comedown.  Luckily, as most of us know, there was plenty of drama, intrigue, and action to come after this impressively shot scene pitting Marcus Aurelius' Roman army against the stubborn Germanic tribes. Far from revelling in the glamorous image many hold of the Roman Empire at its peak, Scott instead gets down and dirty, showing the battle to be as horrifying as they really were (though not to the extent of losing the film's '15' rating), with hundreds of muddy, bloodied soldiers, clashing in what looks like a disorganised mess (although this could never be the case with Scott directing!). A good few severed limbs, cut throats, and goodness knows how many other horrible injuries later, Maximus and his men emerge victorious, revealing what we needed to know before we go any further - that the hero of the title is not only a highly effective and respected leader, but a formidable warrior as well.

Platform / Puzzle Games #4

Lost Vikings, The (1992)
By: Silicon & Synapse / Interplay  Genre: Platform / Puzzle  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis
Also Available For: SNES, GameBoy Advance, Amiga, CD32, PC

Now that I think about it, the sub-genre of platform/puzzle games, on which I am rather keen, is a little obscure as genres go, but the combination of two older and exceedingly popular types of game has proved to be a fantastic partnership. Examples have taken many weird and wonderful forms over the years and one of the most interesting (though not necessarily best) is of the sort that includes multiple characters with differing abilities. This was of course made popular by the great Lemmings. Dozens of similar games soon appeared and most were average at best, but The Lost Vikings is a pretty rare example of another game taking that premise, putting a different slant on it, and actually succeeding.

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick message to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Red Parsley readers! I've been busy preparing for the big day so new posts have been a little thin on the ground here of late, but we'll be back in the swing of things soon. Anyway, here's wishing you all have a great time over the festive holiday period. So, from RKS, and indeed Doraemon:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Game Gallery #3

Fantasy Zone The Maze (1987)
Master System Version - full review here

Yes, an obscure game this may be, but it's also one that I'm very fond of. For a long time it's been a regular fixture of the two-player gaming sessions I've enjoyed with my good friend, Luke, over the many years we've known each other, and we still play it today. In fact, these very screenshots were taken from our last session, with myself controlling Opa-Opa and Luke controlling Upa-Upa, and we battled those heinous Menon malcontents to the very end. While it's true that I may be the only one who cares, I remain confident that I'm the only person to post shots of every stage this cracking little game has to offer. Behold, I present them thus:

Anime #1 - Doraemon

Anime, or animation originating from Japan, has been around in one form or another since the early 20th century but it still took until the 1980's to gain any sort of recognition in the West, and even then, in all that time there has still been a very small number of examples that have become successful outside of Japan. Younger fans seemed to be entranced by the likes of Pokemon, Dragonball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh! while shows like Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, and Full Metal Alchemist have also proved very popular. Some movies too, such as Akira (which arguably kick-started the West's interest in anime to start with) and more recently the stunning efforts from Studio Ghibli have become well known, with the latter even winning Oscars, but one of the most popular and enduring of all anime stars in Japan is pretty much unknown outside of the Far East.

Doraemon is a robotic cat who has travelled back in time from the 22nd century to help out schoolboy, Nobita Nobi. Who created him isn't clear but he was sent back by Nobita's great-great-grandson, for it seems that for one reason or another, Nobita's life was fraught with misery and misfortune causing his descendants no end of problems. With that in mind, you might think it'd be easier to send back a sports almanac (chortle), or perhaps even some winning lottery numbers, but a robotic cat? It would have to be one ultra-special robotic cat or I'd be a bit peeved, personally! Luckily, Doraemon is not only special but magic too! He is equipped with the kind of common sense and moral values that Nobita apparently lacks and he uses his many and varied abilities to try and teach these qualities to him, although Nobita is not only lacking in those but is also lazy and mischievous too, so it's not always easy for Doraemon! Much of the help he provides comes from the magical 4th dimensional pocket in his chest from which he can pull all manner of objects and gadgets from the 22nd century, including the Bamboo Dragonfly (a head-mounted propeller that allows flight), the Anywhere Door (takes the user anywhere they wish), and the Time Machine itself. I sometimes wonder why Doraemon bothers though as Nobita generally ends up misusing his various gadgets and getting himself in even more trouble!

Film Review #17

The Tourist (2010)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck  Starring: Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff, Rufus Sewell

Certificate: 12A  Running Time: 102 Minutes

Tagline: "It all started when he met a woman."

Angelina Jolie is hot. There, I said it. You probably weren't aware of that until I just mentioned it but it's actually true. You're lucky I was considerate enough to enlighten you too as it's this hotness which seemingly forms the basis for The Tourist, which, incidentally, is also a remake of French film, Anthony Zimmer. And therein we already have a problem. To say Hollywood has a patchy history as far as remaking films is concerned would be putting it mildly, but French films seem to suffer this fate even more than most (witness the horror of the 'Taxi' remake for proof of this). Combine this with the alarming amount of flip-flopping around the goodness-knows how many directors and stars did, joining the project then leaving soon afterwards, and it sounds like The Tourist was a disaster waiting to happen. With the likes of Jolie and Depp attached now though, it can't be that bad surely?

Top Five MegaDrive Platform Games

Though popular since the 70's, it was the late 80's and early 90's when gaming, particularly on consoles, really hit its stride, and like today there were a few genres that dominated release schedules. Among the most popular were shoot 'em ups but even more popular than these were of course platform games, and few if any consoles saw more examples of this genre than the MegaDrive. Most of them were average, some were horrifyingly bad, but there were still plenty of top-quality ones, and they took up a significant portion of my MegaDrive game-time. I've owned and enjoyed dozens of them over the years so picking the best five is no easy task. To make it a little easier I decided to not to include any of the MD's fantastic arcade conversions such as New Zealand Story, Rainbow Islands, etc, and the (at the time) splendid Sonic series only gets one nomination here too. Naturally, run 'n' gunners (Shinobi series, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Gunstar Heroes, etc) aren't included either, and nor are arcade adventures such as Flashback, Puggsy, etc. These categories are all good enough and numerous enough to receive their own Top Fives at some point. So, with all that in mind, here is my five favourite Mega Drive platformers.

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!

If I review any MD platformers in my upcoming feature that get really high scores, they don't appear in this Top Five because I hadn't played them before! (a.k.a covering my arse!)

5. Wiz 'n' Liz (1993)

I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only fan this poor old game has! I'm not usually a fan of fast 'n' frantic, against-the-clock type games, but Wiz 'n' Liz is so happy and cheerful (not to mention addictive), I can't help but love it anyway! The object is simple enough - one or two players must race through each of the themed worlds rescuing the many rabbits that populate each whilst also collecting magic fruits and other items with which to create spells and prolong your game. It definitely seems to be a 'hidden gem' in the MD's back catalogue but I don't really know why. Maybe it's the lack of violence and destruction but for me this has always been a top game - nice graphics, fantastic music, addictive gameplay, and even a few original ideas, equals a winning formula in my book.

Maze Games #1

Fantasy Zone The Maze a.k.a. Opa-Opa (1987)
By: Sega  Genre: Maze / Shooting  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega Master System  First Day Score: 421,610
Also Available For: Nothing

I don't know about you but the thinking behind some games is really confusing to me. After releasing ultra-cute shoot 'em up, Fantasy Zone, in 1985, even finding sufficient success with it to adopt its main character, Opa-Opa, as their mascot, Sega then released a similar but improved game in Fantasy Zone 2, also a psychedelic side-viewed shooting game. Both games were tough but proved very popular nonetheless and were converted to several consoles of the time. So after this success, and with the character and game series firmly in place, the logical next step would be Fantasy Zone 3, right? Actually, no. The next game in the series was Fantasy Zone The Maze, a curious combination of the first game and... Pac-Man?

MegaDrive Platform Games #1

Wiz 'n' Liz (1993)
By: Raising Hell Software / Psygnosis  Genre: Platform  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis  First Day Score: 1,487,025
Also Available For: Amiga

Released about mid-way through the MegaDrive's life, this quirky platformer for some reason seemed to slip under the radar for most gamers at the time. Is that because it sucks? Actually, no, and it was released on the most popular console and computer of the time, and came during a period when the genre was at its peak too, so it's a mystery to me why more people haven't played it! I actually first encountered it in a very favourable review in an Amiga magazine but it was the MegaDrive version I would ultimately purchase, purely because the MD is better than the Amiga as everyone knows (hee hee!), but the MD is also far better catered for as far as this kind of game is concerned too. So how did Wiz 'n' Liz fare against the likes of Sonic? Not too well, one might think, but could Psygnosis have a surprise in store?

Arcade Shmups #4

Gemini Wing (1987)
By: Tecmo  Genre: Shooting  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 85,980 (one credit)
Also Available For: ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, MSX, Sharp X68000

Like most people (or game fans, at least), I have a fairly extensive list of games I always meant to play but never got around to as a result of time or financial constraints, but Gemini Wing has never been among them. My only memories of it are the rather lacklustre reviews the home conversions received, notably on the Speccy (which had blue and yellow monochrome graphics as I recall), so when I decided to take a look at the arcade original of this vertical-scroller (which is actually a few years older than I realised), I didn't have very high expectations. Initially, however, it's been a pleasant surprise! I hope my luck holds, I could do with a decent new shmup to play...