All 16-Bit

Review #7087 Veigues Tactical Gladiator Press down to turn around TG-16 1990 NEC Action Action › Gun H 32 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Truly bizarre control scheme. II punches and I guess a cannon. Both attacks have a long animation that leave you vulnerable. Pressing down on the d-pad turns you around with another insanely long animation. Pressing up jumps although you have minimal control while in the air. That would all be fine if the enemies were better designed but alas they are annoying. Some deal no damage while others hurt you on every frame. Some home in and fire at you while others ignore you altogether. Many are too low to the ground to be hit by either of your attacks and nearly all of them take so many hits to kill that they leave the s...

Review #7084 TV Sports Basketball Pick a play TG-16 1991 NEC Sports Sports › Basketball H 32 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Awkward movement and shooting. For the life of me I can't figure out how to hit a jump shot. Tapping the button fires off a quick shot which always misses. Pressing and holding the button causes a long animation to play, and it also always results in a missed shot. I can't win. The only way to score is to drive or pass to the hole and make a point blank shot. Even then you're more likely to have the ball stolen or blocked. Oh and did I mention that passing is done with the same button as shooting? The II button inexplicably is used only to pick up the ball and pump fake. So half the time you want to pass you wind up...

Review #7093 Yo, Bro Berenstein Bears ate my Neighbors TG-16 1991 NEC Adventure Adventure › Overhead H 36 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like Zombies ate my Neighbors. The objective is to kill all the monsters while rescuing innocents. However the controls are unbearable. The, see what I did there? Imagine if 720° we're a twin stick shooter. Yeah, the incredible momentum based movement doesn't work in a shooter, especially when enemies are bullet sponges. 3 / 5 Level Design Each area is a big square town full of people and enemies. A handy arrow directs you too the nearest target. 1 / 5 Theme Your character says something 90s each time you pick up an item or ki...

Review #7089 Vigilante Scrolling Urban Champion TG-16 1989 NEC Action Action › Beat Em Up X 17 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay I suppose this is what a beat-em-up was before Double Dragon came around. There's nothing wrong with a strictly 2D side-scroller view for this sort of game, so long as it's done well. See Ninja Warriors for an example. This is not one of those well-made games. It's a lightly upgraded Kung-Fu. Enemies spawn infinitely and come at you from both sides which is really the only element of gameplay other than walking to the right and mashing the attack button. Oh and don't drop those nunchucks or you may as well reset. 0 / 5 Level Design Go to the right ...

Review #7092 World Sports Competition I hope to never play one of these games again TG-16 1992 NEC Minigame Minigame › N/a X 7 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Rapidly press I and II. I don't understand these stupid games. Who on their right mind would do this? It's maddening and painful! and unless you've got three hands you can't possibly do the events where you have to press the d-pad to jump out whatever while running at to speed. My hands and forearms can't take this abuse. 0 / 5 Level Design Alternate between I and II. Every event is the same thing 1 / 5 Theme They couldn't even get the Olympic license. Generic 2 / 5 ...

Review #7090 World Class Baseball The best Japanese baseball game TG-16 1989 NEC Sports Sports › Baseball D 79 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay I've used this word to describe several TG 16 games, but I'll use it again here. This is just a streamlined baseball video game. All the fluff is cut out. The game plays quickly and well. Hitting is fun. You can move around in the batter's box forward backward left or right, so there's nine different positions to hit from. And success is determined by your position in the box and the timing of your swing. Baserunning is also simple as is advancing all or some of your runners. It just seems to work as you'd expect. Pitching and fielding is also simple, although the opponents run pretty fast s...

Review #7088 Victory Run OutRun minus charm TG-16 1989 NEC Racing Racing › Arcade G 44 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay I've never really liked the OutRun formula. Actually, it's the Pole Position formula but OutRun defines the arcade racer genre because it's got an X factor which so many similar games lack. In any case, this game is as run of the mill as you can get. Your car looks cool but everything else is just blah. Making turns is tough, avoiding traffic is even worse, and that darn checkpoint mechanic is here in full force. Worse still, taking even a single crash effectively ends your run. It's fun for a minute, but you won't spend much time with this game. Oh and before I forget you have to shift gears. There's no option ...

Review #7091 World Court Tennis TG-16 1989 NEC Sports Sports › Tennis E 68 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays a lot like Super Tennis or Jennifer Capriati Tennis. It's just good ole fashion overhead Japanese tennis. You can direct the ball where you want it to go and hit detection is good but not great. I missed a lot of hits that I didn't think I ought to. The only real problem is that you only have two buttons. I is the regular hit and II is the useless lob. 4 / 5 Level Design The best thing about this game is a light RPG mode similar to the one in Final Lap Twin. This predates Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Golf Story by many years but it's the same general idea. Here you play random encounte...

Review #7083 Turrican How did this spawn a successful franchise?! TG-16 1991 Accolade Action Action › Gun H 25 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Commits virtually every cardinal sin imaginable. Virtually unplayable. Pressing up makes you jump. This leads to frequent unintended jumps. Enemies have no hit boxes and drain health on every frame. So do their projectiles. You'll die constantly. 30% is completely unacceptable on a run n gun. No rapid fire. Tons of flying enemies but no ability to shoot up or angled. Controls are reasonably responsive, but everything else about the gameplay is horrid. 1 / 5 Level Design I can't get past the first level, so I have no idea what other levels look like, but the firs...

Review #7082 Tricky Kick Tricky doesn't adequately describe the difficulty TG-16 1990 IGS Puzzle Puzzle › Overhead G 46 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Like all good puzzle games this one has an incredibly simple design. Just kick two like tiles together. There are some other rules that I had to look up on the internet. I couldn't figure out the game just by playing so that's a knock against it. Suffice it to say this is one of those easy to understand but difficult to master puzzle games. For what's worth the controls are fine but again, the concept is confusing but simple. Each puzzle has a restrictive time limit. Why do they do that in these games? 1 / 5 Level Design This game is maddeningly brutal. ...

Review #7081 Timeball I can't get past level 1 TG-16 1990 NEC Puzzle Puzzle › Overhead X 8 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Plays a lot like Junction on the Genesis. It's a sliding tile puzzle with an unbelievably short time limit. Not much else to say. I can't even beat the first level. What. The. Heck. I hate this game with a burning passion. 0 / 5 Level Design As I said, this game is quite literally impossible. 0 / 5 Theme I like overhead puzzle games but this is the worst one ever. It's got no presentation. 1 / 5 Art Style Very very simple 3 / 5 Audio The music isn't hal...

Review #7080 Time Cruise The other TG-16 pinball game TG-16 1992 TTI Arcade Arcade › Pinball F 50 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Screen scrolls like Devil's Crush. Makes it hard to react as you can't see what's below you. 2 / 5 Level Design Big table, with three levels and two columns connected horizontally. But each level is so boring that it doesn't feel very large. It's hard to move around the levels and again, there's barely anything to hit. Also the tables are so busy with colored elements which do nothing that it's hard to see what can be interacted with. 2 / 5 Theme I guess you're traveling through time or something. Maybe. I...

Review #7079 Tiger Road If only it had hit detection TG-16 1990 NEC Action Action › Hack n Slash G 48 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Difficult combat. Horrible hit detection. Enemies bound around randomly. You can find one of three or four weapons. Enemies have a longer reach than you and attack rapidly so it's hard to avoid taking damage. It's a shame because movement feels ok and the weapons and fun to use. 3 / 5 Level Design Whoever designed this was playing a lot of Ninja Gaiden at the time. Or perhaps it was the reverse. Either way the level designs look like they could be straight out of NG. Actually, they don't use as much platforming. Combat is the name of this game. 3 / 5 ...

Review #7085 TV Sports Football Before-Madden was a weird time TG-16 1990 NEC Sports Sports › Football X 12 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Yes, there are 11 players on each team but only 5 or 6 move at any given time. On defense, you can't move into the backfield, nor can you dive. You just have to walk into the opponent's hitbox which will initiate a tackle. If that sounds rough then wait until you get a load of offense. Offense is extremely strange. Passing is an absolute crapshoot. The QB takes a few steps back and pauses. This is your cue to press right or left to choose the angle of your throw. Press II to throw and hold down until it reaches the distance you need to hit the receiver. Good luck even getting the throw off b...

Review #7086 TV Sports Hockey Easily the best (and worst) hockey game on the TG-16 TG-16 1991 NEC Sports Sports › Hockey H 34 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Slow, difficult movement. Actually, skating in a straight line works fine but lateral movement is stilted. It's not terrible, but not fluid either. Shooting is done by holding down the button which causes a moving cursor to appear in the goal. You shoot by releasing the button when the cursor is where you want it. Sometimes this initiates a cutscene showing the goalie block the shot. Other times the puck just goes in. Passing is impossible so there's no point in trying. Defense is weird - pressing II switches to the nearest player and I does nothing, so far as I can tell. Basically you ...

Review #7078 TaleSpin Disney Afternoon peaked at DuckTales TG-16 1991 NEC Action Action › Platform H 30 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Typical platformer but your only attack is throwing some sort of projectile. It goes about 1/3 of the length of the screen so you have to be fairly close. Enemies love to throw their own projectiles, often from off screen making it hard to avoid their attacks. Short jump, so you're grounded and platforming is a challenge. Jump has a landing animation which prevents you from jumping until it finishes. This causes you to pause after each jump or risk missing it and walking off cliffs. Weird and unnatural. 2 / 5 Level Design Very short levels. Pick which one you want, Mega Man styl...

Review #7077 Takin' it to the Hoop Double Dribble Jr. TG-16 1989 NEC Sports Sports › Basketball G 43 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Plays a lot like Double Dribble. Drive to the hoop and jump to start a very simple and easy quick time event to dunk the ball. Jump shots never go in so dunks are the best bet. Then again opponents are so insanely aggressive that you're far more likely to be fouled or have the ball stolen. I played a full game and scored more than half my points from the free throw line. It's ridiculous and ruins what would otherwise be a pretty decent basketball game. 2 / 5 Level Design All the usual modes. 3 / 5 Theme I like the idea. It's a very video ...

Review #7075 Super Star Soldier Good, but not as good as the sequel TG-16 1991 NEC Shooter Shooter › Vertical D 74 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Far more difficult than its sequel Soldier Blade. And more often than not it's because you have to memorize the movement of an enemy that moves too quickly for you to avoid it. There are four weapons (one useless one) and three speed levels instead of two in the sequel. This one seems overstuffed compared to the lean and streamlined sequel. Still very good. 3 / 5 Level Design Bosses are a bit unfair. Enemy movement is too fast and they come in huge waves making it nearly impossible to survive when not fully powered up. 3 / 5 Theme Gener...

Review #7076 Super Volleyball Naw, just normal volleyball TG-16 1990 NEC Sports Sports › Volleyball H 25 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Plays exactly like Hyper V-Ball on the SNES. One button gameplay. Bump set spike, bump set spike, repeat. Just painfully boring stuff. Pong has more engaging gameplay 1 / 5 Level Design No modes 2 / 5 Theme Pick a country and play. Doesn't even have the sci-fi theme from Hyper V-Ball going for it 2 / 5 Art Style Flat as a pancake. Animations are fine, but this game isn't impressive in the visual department. 2 / 5 Audio Does have the annoying sound from the Genesis ver...

Review #7074 Splatterhouse Gore, and little else TG-16 1990 NEC Action Action › Punch n Kick E 61 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like the Genesis sequel. Slow movement, laggy controls, short jump, et al. 3 / 5 Level Design I could swear this has the same levels as its sequel. Or maybe they're just so simliar that neither one stands out. In any case, meander to the right for a little while. 4 / 5 Theme Lacks some of the oomph put in its sequel, but this game still oozes style. A bloody, gory style, but style nonetheless. 3 / 5 Art Style Lacks detail compared to its sequel. Also, the colors used are very bright. Doesn...

Review #7073 Space Harrier Much better than the sequel TG-16 1989 NEC Shooter Shooter › Corridor H 36 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Framerate and gameplay are much better than the sequel on the Genesis. Still not great, mind you. There are fewer boss fights and the levels are super short. Far easier than the sequel as well. Ultimately just a boring game. Kind of a one trick pony. I'm sure it was impressive in 86 but not anymore. 1 / 5 Level Design Levels are about 45 seconds long and composed of a handful of enemy waves that repeat. Some levels have a much of obstacles. 3 / 5 Theme 1 / 5 Art Style Some of the worst artwork on the 4th genera...

Review #8132 Street Fighter II: Champion Edition The measuring stick. For fighting games anyway. PCE 1993 NEC Fighting Fighting › 1v1 D 70 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay This is an impressive port, but it's clearly inferior to both the SNES and Genesis versions. I mean, come on, there's a reason why this is never included in compilations. There was even a SMS version, if you can believe that. The controller holds this game back big-time. You use I, II, and Start for attacks and Select to switch between punch and kick. Lovely, no? 4 / 5 Level Design Love SF2's distinct fighting arenas. 4 / 5 Theme Same game as before. I like the post fight insults, even if they're in...

Review #7071 Somer Assault Combat Slinky TG-16 1992 NEC Action Action › Platform F 57 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Imagine playing a platformer as a Slinky. You've got a gun on each side of your body which shoots parallel to the wall when you're not outstretched or up from the wall when you're stretched. Most of the challenge is not the combat but it's just slinking around the walls and platforms of the level. It's...different, but not very engaging. You can obtain power-ups which enhance your gun, speed you up, or give you the ability to jump between walls that are very close together. There are 12 levels, each with a boss. 2 / 5 Level Design The first level is straightforward b...

Review #7069 Sinistron R-Type with a bird beak TG-16 1991 IGS Shooter Shooter › Horizontal E 61 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Blatant R-Type clone. Options hang out above and below your ship but don't do much since enemies swarm to you and therefore come at you from the front. Only three weapons and none are very interesting. Only minor upgrades too. No rapid fire. 3 / 5 Level Design Long stretches of nothing. Short bursts of something. Very slow progression. Boring boss fights. 2 / 5 Theme Piss poor presentation. There's no cutscenes. No story, no fanfare at the end of a level. Nothing at the start of a level. They're not even a menu on the title s...

Review #7070 Soldier Blade The best 16 bit shooter? TG-16 1992 NEC Shooter Shooter › Vertical B 91 / 100 Amazing Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 5 / 5 Gameplay Amazing controls, weapons, health progression, and bomb mechanic. This is shoot em up perfection. Select toggles between fast and slow movement. No messing around with a medium speed. II shoots and I fires a bomb by spending one of your three power-ups which are shown on screen. Health diminishes when hit and powers you down one level. All enemies have fair patterns. Only three weapons with the power levels each. 4 / 5 Level Design Levels are short but jam packed with action. Enemy waves vary between a line of small enemies, a couple of big heavy enemies, those that shoot, etc. Great ...

Review #7072 Sonic Spike Volleyball Volleyball is a beach TG-16 1990 IGS Sports Sports › Volleyball H 30 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Looks and feels a lot like that old NES Dodgeball game whose name I don't recall. It's a 2v2 beach volleyball game. Movement is fast and loose. You tend to move between invisible tiles on the floor. You can't move in small increments. The controls are also weird with II being your jump button but also the button to bump the ball. Hit detection is awful. This is most noticable on the serve (when do I hit the ball?!) and when bumping a weak hit. It's basically a completely random experience. You can place yourself in the same place 10 times in a row and you'll get different outcome every time. ...