All 16-Bit

Review #12504 Earnest Evans Totally not Indiana Jones MD CD 1991 Wolf Team Action Action › Hack n Slash H 31 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like the Genesis version - horribly. The ragdoll physics and weird movement tech makes gameplay feel like Getting Over it With Bennett Foddy or Surgery Simulator. Your main form of attack is to wave your bullwhip around like it's on fire. It works alright but looks as dumb as it sounds. Enemies have no hitbox and you get no knockback or i-frames so if you get inside them they tank you in a matter of seconds. Pervasive slowdown, just lke the Genesis version. 2 / 5 Level Design The levels aren't terrible. Typical platform stuff but enemies are the key thing t...

Review #12507 Heavy Nova The laziest CD port ever MD CD 1991 Micronet Fighting Fighting › 1v1 X 11 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Looks and plays exactly like the Genesis version. No added FMV or anything else to improve the game. Lazy The most unresponsive controls ever. Turning around requires double tapping but it works maybe half the time. Hits register randomly, like maybe 25% of the time. Actually that's being generous. It's more like 10%. No idea how to pull off special moves. 0 / 5 Level Design You traverse a very short 2-3 screen "level" with obstacles and enemies which only serve to demonstrate how horrible the controls are before having a 1v1 fight with another mech. ...

Review #11122 Valis IV Plays more like Regular Valis IV PCE CD 1991 Telenet Japan Action Action › Hack n Slash F 58 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Slow movement Responsive movement Nice sword and projectile powerups but wish they had a committed button rather than up+Y. Feels like this was made for a two button controller like TG-16 or NES 2 / 5 Level Design Pretty boring levels Mostly empty space 3 / 5 Theme Typical anime stuff with spindly 80s characters 3 / 5 Art Style Early SNES games but attractive, colorful graphics 3 / 5 Audio Unimpressive stuff but not offensive either Mor...

Review #11100 Seirei Senshi Spriggan Orbs PCE CD 1991 Naxat Soft Shooter Shooter › Vertical D 75 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Fast movement Four weapons types that are collected in sets of three. Every combination gives a different effect which theoretically allows for strategy but in practice feels random. However you can drop a weapon or as a bomb when picking up a new one. This is very helpful for boss fights. Overall a good but not great shooter. 3 / 5 Level Design Boring level design. Everything is on front of you, there are no environmental hazards, and enemies are easy to deal with. Just move laterally to hot everyone. 4 / 5 Theme Serious anime theme. Voice acting on the cut...

Review #11097 Road Spirits Let's take a leisure Sunday drive PCE CD 1991 Pack-In-Video Racing Racing › Arcade F 55 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Extremely forgiving controls. You rarely need to lay off the gas to make any turn. It's more like a pleasure cruise across the world than a serious race. Gameplay is fast but very easy. 2 / 5 Level Design Levels have no features whatsoever. Just turn right, then left, then right, then...you get the idea. Each "road" is 4 minutes long although I finished each in about 3:15 with no problem. The only praise I can give it is that each road is in a distinct locale, like the Florida Keys, the Nile, etc. 3 / 5 Theme ...

Review #11094 Rayxanber II The shooter with invincible enemies PCE CD 1991 Data West Shooter Shooter › Horizontal H 30 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay The teeny tiniest ship firing the teeny tiniest shot ever. And there's almost no point in firing because enemies are damage sponges. I gave up and just started avoiding them until they inevitably left the screen. I've never seen anything quite like it. There are at least three weapons that offer weird spread effects. A few shot forward but at least half will give you up/down or even reverse weapons. You can only carry one and can't switch so tough luck if you're stuck with a terrible one. But again, you can't kill anything so why bother? Movement is very slow and there's no s...

Review #11090 R-Type: Complete CD The one with cinematics and a bad soundtrack PCE CD 1991 Irem Shooter Shooter › Horizontal C 83 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay It's funny because this game shares some flaws that I gripe about in other games, like slow movement and insane difficulty, but it does everything with such style that I can't help but overlook the downsides. And besides, this game is hard but completely fair. This is the original git gud game. Incredible power-ups. Iconic and fun option mechanic. 5 / 5 Level Design The best designed levels in a shooter. Every few seconds there's another memorable and unique encounter. This isn't an endless series of identical enemy waves like so many oth...

Review #11075 Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu - CD Soccer Hen The precursor to Mario Strikers PCE CD 1991 Naxat Soft Sports Sports › Soccer E 60 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Checks off most of my sports game checklist - arcadey, simple, fun. You only control a single player on your team. All others will take your orders to pass or shoot, but you only have direct control of the one guy. I like how simple this makes things, which is a double-edged sword because the gameplay loops gets stale quickly. Plays and the ball move at a snail's pace, and players stop to receive a pass, so there's no opportunity to set up even rudimentary passing plays. The only gimmick is a power-up meter by holding down B to create a hard kick. ...

Review #11062 L-Dis No, Dis a W PCE CD 1991 Masaya Shooter Shooter › Horizontal D 77 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay This is Parodius in everything but name. Before starting you pick from one of three weapon sets, the name of the game is to pick up three options which each get their own weapon from the aforementioned set. This and the three difficulty levels adds some replayability. Easy is just that, which I appreciate. By and large this is a fun no nonsense shooter. It's great 3 / 5 Level Design Stages are pretty standard stuff. Just a single screen high with chaotic wave after wave of enemies. Nothing spectacular or memorable. 4 / 5 Theme Again, this is a Parodius clone so expec...

Review #11050 Hiho Densetsu: Chris no Boken Tomb Raider Jr. PCE CD 1991 Pack-In-Video Action Action › Hack n Slash E 68 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Castlevania clone with the standard features like slow movement, tricky platforming, and good ranged weapons. The weapons are the highlight, including a wedge projectile, a boomerang, and a long sword. The slow movement is what holds this back the most. 4 / 5 Level Design Each stage has a very short time limit. Dilly dally for even a few seconds and you'll run out of time, which is measured in days! Stages are linear and long, and feature tons of one-time, interesting set pieces. There's a fair amount of precision platforming and annoying enemy pl...

Review #11049 Hellfire CD soundtrack and empty space PCE CD 1991 NEC Shooter Shooter › Horizontal D 70 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Big upgrade from the Genesis version. The slowdown is gone, movement is much faster, and the large sprite is less of an issue. Overall it plays well and can be fun at times. More on that later. Four main weapons (up/down, back, forward, and X) can be cycled through at will. 2 / 5 Level Design Oh these stages? Who designed these? There are long stretches of nothing on screen. You'll kill a small wave of enemies and wait 3-5 seconds anything to happen! It's insane. Slow and mostly boring. 4 / 5 Theme The addition of long beautiful cutscenes cert...

Review #11027 Download 2 Don't Google the plot PCE CD 1991 NEC Shooter Shooter › Horizontal D 72 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay A few big changeups from the first game. There's no more subweapon (good riddance) and you can cycle between five weapons (yay!). However, one of the weapons is literally useless and the health-for-powerups system is replaced by one-hit deaths. Still no difficulty settings. 3 / 5 Level Design Embarrassingly short levels. 3 / 5 Theme The Akira theme is both ramped and down at the same time. Long animated cutscenes emphasize cybernetic, biotechnic goings on reminiscent of Akira, but the art style and setting are far more generic than the first game. It...

Review #11021 Daisenpu Custom Tanks for playing PCE CD 1991 NEC Shooter Shooter › Vertical F 59 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Slow movement and no weapons - only a couple of levels of powerup for your peashooter. One hit death and a large hitbox. Most enemies go down in one hit but larger tanks can take a lot of punishment. A severe lack of variety in enemies causes some boredom. Overall decent but decidedly forgettable. 3 / 5 Level Design As average as the gameplay. The usual city, ocean, enemy base stages from all these WW2 shooters. Stages are incredibly long without clear breaks between them. 4 / 5 Theme I'm a sucker for these WW2 shooters. Having one set in Eur...

Review #10042 Ys III: Wanderers from Ys Dat soundtrack TG-16 CD 1991 NEC Adventure Adventure › Platform H 33 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Horrible hit detection Enemies with no collision Weapon has better reach than the SNES version but still is awful to use. Insane difficulty - grind to win gameplay. Zero skill required or rewarded. Enemies don't respawn as quickly as the SNES version which oddly enough I found annoying because I could't grind as easily. 2 / 5 Level Design Linear story is easy to follow. Just go to the next area, beat a boss, and grab a statue. Repeat. Levels are short and boring 3 / 5 Theme Standard hero story. Impressive anime cut scenes at the sta...

Review #10033 Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Elementary, my dear Watson (but only if you're Sherlock Holmes) TG-16 CD 1991 NEC Adventure Adventure › Point n Click F 54 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay As far as these point and click games go, this is about as good as it gets. The UI is intuitive (except for the newspaper) and the cursor moves slowly at first, which allows for precise movement, and gradually speeds up to allow for long movements. A perfect solution for the lack of a mouse. Minimal loading times, for the time. 1 / 5 Level Design As much as I enjoy the setting and the gameplay in this title, the cases are so obtuse that you'd have to be a savant or using a walkthrough to figure o...

Review #10018 It Came From The Desert Tremors: the video game TG-16 CD 1991 NEC FMV FMV › N/a X 20 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay There is virtually no gameplay. Just move from video to video with the occasional menu to pick the next location to visit or a short shooting sequence. 0 / 5 Level Design The most linear FMV title out there. A few menus break up the movie but the story progresses only after picking the correct option. 2 / 5 Theme So bad it's good video clips are fun for a little while but wear out their welcome. You're a motorcycle riding adult Marty McFly pretender living in a radiated Southwest city overrun by talking ant monsters. Uh, ok ...

Review #10019 J.B. Harold Murder Club 20x20x20 Questions TG-16 CD 1991 NEC Adventure Adventure › Point n Click H 30 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Reminds me of the Carmen Sandiego games. In this case you're a detective trying to solve a murder mystery by interrogating everyone within the victim's orbit. The gameplay amounts to a seemingly endless series of menus. The gameplay loop amounts to: Go somewhere. Talk to someone. Ask them 20 questions. Go somewhere else. Repeat. Eventually you find evidence and obtain warrants which allows you to arrest and officially interrogate individuals. Be prepared to take a lot of notes. 2 / 5 Level Design The number of locations and individuals quickly becomes overw...

Review #10000 Addams Family Mary Poppins wants her broom back TG-16 CD 1991 NEC Action Action › Platform X 20 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Nothing like the Genesis/SNES version. You play as a lawyer looking dude with an umbrella that fires projectiles with limited range. Floaty controls and enemies that are damage sponges and swarm to you for constant damage. No fun. 1 / 5 Level Design Explore a mansion with clearly marked gated doors. Find the right colored key to open the next gate. Rooms are small but filled with enemies that spawn endlessly. 1 / 5 Theme Still from the movie, theme song from the show, voice acting from a B movie casting call, artwork and gameplay...

Review #9901 Aldynes Whatever you do, don't die! PCE SG 1991 Hudson Soft Shooter Shooter › Horizontal F 57 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Initially, over the first couple of stages, I was digging this game. The movement was fine and I started collecting option ships that were quickly making me overpowered. Things were good. But then in stages 3 and beyond I started to loathe my time playing. The main problem was the truly awful weapons and the behavior of those option ships. There are only three weapons and getting a new one is rare, especially in the later levels. In a baffling twist, once powered up, two of the weapons are almost useless. The "spread" shot turns into a laser which bounces and "walks" along walls. If...

Review #9900 1941: Counter Attack P-38 Lightning in a bottle PCE SG 1991 Hudson Soft Shooter Shooter › Vertical B 86 / 100 Amazing Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Such a tight, great feeling game. It's brutally difficult, but undeniably fun. Powerups and weapons operate the same as 1943 (expire after the timer hits zero) and are much better to collect as well. No more Twinbee bell mechanics!! 5 / 5 Level Design Incredible. Every stage feels unique and features memorable set pieces and dynamics like moving construction cranes, canyon runs, missile bases, etc. So awesome 5 / 5 Theme Such a cool game. Take everything I wrote about 1943 and multiply by 5. 5 / 5 Art St...