All 16-Bit

Review #6090 Wani Wani World Lizard Lode Runner MD 1992 Kaneko Arcade Arcade › N/a E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays exactly like Lode Runner. Hit a platform tile to create a hole, wait for an enemy to fall in it, and then pound them to kill them. Clear the map and move to the next stage. A few other attacks become available like a tail whip and bombs. The controls are more tight than any Lode Runner game I've played. I actually enjoyed my time with it, which I can't say for the others. The enemy hit boxes can be unpredictable but for the most part this is a competent single screen arcade game. 3 / 5 Level Design Nothing to knock your socks off, but the level designs have enough variet...

Review #6092 XDR - X-Dazedly-Ray Pew pew. Tap tap. Pop. MD 1990 Unipacc Shooter Shooter › Horizontal E 63 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I'm tempted to score it higher, but the extreme difficulty holds it back. Movement is responsive but there are only two weapons with a couple of powerups, including up to two trailing options, ala Gradius. Powerups are few and far between though. It reminds me of Aero Blasters, with it's thin sprites that are hard to shoot with your equally narrow shots. Overall it feels just ok 4 / 5 Level Design Good variety in enemies, enemy waves, and environmental hazards. The stages each have a distinct look as well. It begins flying over a cityscape, as per usual, and t...

Review #6094 Hybrid Front Unadvance Wars MD 1994 Sega Strategy Strategy › Turn-based Tactics F 52 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Completely random damage. Not obvious which units are indirect. Each unit has multiple weapons, each with its own ammo. Bases can be used to repair or replenish ammo, but not both. Decent menuing, but the grid is annoying to navigate. The controls are twitchy. 4 / 5 Level Design Clear objectives and well designed maps. 4 / 5 Theme Long sets of dialogue. Setting is in the 24th century and feels vaguely like Front Mission. 2 / 5 Art Style The map is hideous. No two ways about it. Same for the battle animations ...

Review #6093 Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyou Toitsusen Treasure's forgotten game MD 1994 Sega Fighting Fighting › 1v1 F 58 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Very slow gameplay. Every move is telegraphed from a mile away. Only two buttons for a weak and strong attack, plus a dedicated block button. This is necessary because left and right make you face that direction instead of backing away or moving toward your opponent. This feels so unnatural. Slow movement. Feels like you're fighting in a sticky mud pit. Jumps are short both vertically and horizontally. Combined with the small sprites, no character ever touches the top half of the screen, and they can't jump more than 1/5th the length of the screen. Despite the sluggish speed, weird...

Review #6088 Verytex Veryeasy MD 1991 Asmik Ace Shooter Shooter › Vertical D 72 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Pretty standard setup - adjustable speed, homing missiles to pick up, and a Gradius-style shield. Good stuff, for the most part. My only complaints are the meager weapons variety (there are only a couple worth using) and a severe lack of difficulty. I reached the end boss without much trouble. But then the difficulty spiked to 11 and ended my run. Still, everything leading up to that was a veritable cakewalk. 3 / 5 Level Design Uncreative. Once again, there's little difficulty. Stages are mostly as simple as hanging near the bottom of the screen and moving laterally every so often. There's only one stag...

Review #6089 Vixen 357 Sequel to Hisou Kihei X-SERD MD 1992 NCS Strategy Strategy › Turn-based Tactics F 59 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like the first game, but with some minor improvements. Your attacks still deal unreliable damage, but it's nowhere near as bad as the first game. Not a great experience, but an ok SRPG. 3 / 5 Level Design Again, the maps aren't all that interesting, since you can go anywhere. It's better than the first game but nothing compared to the better games in this genre. 4 / 5 Theme Mechs!! 3 / 5 Art Style Vast improvement over the first game. Again, not up there with the better game...

Review #6086 Undead Line Overhead Ghouls n' Ghosts MD 1991 PAL SOFT Shooter Shooter › Vertical H 39 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Slow movement. Five or six weapons but only one with spread capabilities. Everything else is a peashooter or has limited shots on screen. Several other pickups but these are acquired via a treasure chests which cycle through the entire list by shooting them. Good luck grabbing the one you want. Enemies are damage sponges, especially bosses. The only gimmick is a shield which blocks projectiles, but only if they hit you in an ill-defined hitbox. 1 / 5 Level Design I couldn't get past the first stage! Bullet hell plus huge hitbox and slow movement add up to unrelenting and unbe...

Review #6087 Uzu Keobukseon From Korea with love MD 1993 Samsung Shooter Shooter › Vertical F 50 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I've said this before, but this is one of the easiest shooters I've ever seen. Powerups are health, pickups are plentiful and the weapons are fairly OP, so this is a cakewalk through and through. Speed is slow, but not unbearable. You can switch between two weapons at any time, although the controls are annoying for it. 2 / 5 Level Design Unfortunately, stages are empty and repetitive. Not a complete trainwreck, but bad. Bosses are super easy as well, so long as you've got a powered up weapon. 2 / 5 Theme This was released only in ...

Review #6084 Uchuu Senkan Gomora aka Bio-Ship Paladin MD 1991 UPL Shooter Shooter › Horizontal H 38 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Movement is horribly slow. You have health (up to three bars) and your ship grows each time you get more health, making your hitbox enormous when at full health. You can pick up 5 options which attach to the top or bottom of your ship, depending on which part touches the pickup. These fire extra shots but will die if they are hit. Enemy hit boxes are unreliable. You can hit them repeatedly without any effect. It's weird. Enemies tend to explode into numerous shards which fly outward and pose a threat to you and your options. Imagine Asteroids as a horizontal shooter. Slowdown is frequent and obnoxious. It's so ...

Review #6085 Ultraman Why did someone port this? MD 1993 MA-BA Fighting Fighting › 1v1 X 22 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like the SNES version. And that's not a good thing. Only one fighter - Ultraman of course. Strange system of inputs. Press A to jump, B to kick and C to punch (excuse me, Ultra Kick and Ultra Punch) and B&C to execute a special move. There's a meter that's doesn't look like a meter that fills over time and can be used at any time but your have to store it up completely to deal a killing blow so you can't use it much. The killing blow is like a Fatality from MK. You have to get the enemy health to zero and then use the most powerful special move. I had to look this up in an FA...

Review #6083 Twinkle Tale Not as sissy as the title suggests MD 1992 Toyo Recording Action Action › Gun D 77 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Plays a lot like Pocky & Rocky or Legend of Valkyrie on PCE. You scroll the screen and in most cases you can't go back once it has scrolled. You've got three hits and three weapons to toggle between. Frequent power ups allow you to upgrade up to two times. The weapons give you a nice spread which makes enemies easy to deal with once you know their patterns and don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed. Full auto-fire and responsive controls round out the package. Fun shooter/run-n-gun. 4 / 5 Level Design You can chose your stage. Levels feature mini bosses, branching...

Review #6079 Tetris You can rotate when I SAY you can ROTATE! MD 1989 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Blocks D 71 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay I mean, it's Tetris, which is a perfect game. But they made two terrible choices that make it feel not quite right. First, you can't rotate a piece until it's fully on screen. They load in one line at a time so the line pieces, for example, take quite a while to load in. It's a minor annoyance when there aren't many lines, but is a game killer when the lines are stacking up near the top. When the pieces are falling slowly this loading mechanic just feels wrong. The second problem compounds with the first. Pressing down makes the piece fall, but it moves way too fast and without much animation. Plus it...

Review #6081 Tougiou King Colossus Illusion of Gaia rough draft MD 1992 Sega Adventure Adventure › Overhead E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Blatant Zelda clone without an overworld. Slow movement, short reach, basic inventory and equipment mechanics. Does nothing well, but nothing bad either. Enemies hit like a truck, making death a constant threat. Unspectacular but I could see playing it to completion. 3 / 5 Level Design A series of Zelda style dungeons with mechanics ripped from the original (keys, bombs) and LttP (drop down to a lower floor). Simplistic puzzles and some NPC interactions to set up fetch quests. 3 / 5 Theme Full of tropes. Your abusive dad sends ...

Review #6080 Top Pro Golf Eh, it's one of the Pro Golfs MD 1992 Soft Vision Sports Sports › Golf G 43 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay I HATE the meters and gauges in this game. They're so awful. Everything is on screen at the same time and there's no indicator to show what is currently active, so it's hard to know what you're currently changing. I usually hit B a whole bunch just to make sure I'm back in a known state on the club selection. And besides that there's a huge delay after making a selection so you're not sure when it's moved to the next thing. This is particularly awful on the final step because the power selector is made by pressing an holding A and releasing to make a selection. I can't tell you ...

Review #6082 Turbo Out Run OutRun 2 MD 1992 Sega Racing Racing › Arcade H 39 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Middle ground between OutRun and OutRun 2019. Plays like OutRun (that's bad) but you have full control over your turbo boost (that's good). As with all the OutRun games, I hate the restrictive time limit. I can't finish a race, even on easy. 2 / 5 Level Design No branching paths. Feels like a big step backward. Also, it's one big long race instead of being broken up into short segments like OutRun 2019. 3 / 5 Theme Not as iconic as the prequel, or as weird as the sequel. 2 / 5 Art Style Choppy graphics, perhaps even wor...

Review #6074 Snow Bros. - Nick & Tom Snowball Bobble MD 1993 Tengen Arcade Arcade › N/a E 68 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay One of the better Bubble Bobble clones. This one has slow movement but fast shooting mostly makes up for it. The main problem is the speed of enemies and their penchant for jumping through platforms. This makes the game more frantic than most of its peers. 4 / 5 Level Design Stages are designed with combat in mind. I appreciated how you can get to the top and throw a snowball to take out multiple enemies. You can even throw yourself to quickly get to the bottom. Good stuff 4 / 5 Theme You're snowmen with human girlfriends who've been ...

Review #6078 Teddy Boy Blues A violent Toy Story MD 1992 Sega Arcade Arcade › N/a D 70 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay One screen shooter with continuous scrolling on all sides. The objective is to kill and collect all enemies which spawn from enemy generators on set timings. In other words, it's Bubble Bobble with a handgun. However, the difficulty is extremely high due to enemies bouncing their drops around like tennis balls. The real enemy is the time limit which is dragged down when you fail to collect an enemy drop. I really want to love this game but the high difficulty holds it back. 4 / 5 Level Design The continuous scrolling stages are fun to explore. Most feature breakable walls and some endless shafts or lo...

Review #6075 Sonic Eraser Sonic blocks MD 1991 Sega Puzzle Puzzle › Blocks G 41 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Multi-colored blocks fall in sets of 4. Rotating them feels random, or at least unintuitive. Thankfully, you only need to connect two blocks, but you still can only aim to make one - MAYBE two blocks - per drop. So you wind up with far more garbage than in most block games. I don't think I'll ever revisit this one. 3 / 5 Level Design Lots of modes, although they all have an time limit. WHY would any of these games need a timer? So dumb. The modes have strange labels, including: 1P AND 2P (not sure why this mentions 2P since all modes are single player) - Round Mode - clear a special set of pieces (t...

Review #6076 Star Cruiser Star Faux MD 1990 Masaya Shooter Shooter › FPS H 25 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay I'm not sure how to classify this game. One minute it's a free-roaming shooter like Star Fox, the next it's a Doom-like FPS, and then it's a dungeon crawler. It's an FPS most often so let's go with that. Props to Masaya for trying to make this without an FX chip, but they really shouldn't have tried. It looks and plays horribly. 1 FPS framerate, laggy controls, barely workable gunplay (if you can even call it that) and otherwise awful controls. It's playable, just barely, but man is it a chore. 1 / 5 Level Design The flying sections feature some of the worst dogfighting ...

Review #6077 Super Fantasy Zone Defender, as a cute-em-up MD 1992 Sunsoft Shooter Shooter › Horizontal F 55 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Is this a sequel to Fantasy Zone or a remake? Maybe a port? In any case it plays the same - a lot like Defender I & II, except that the screen doesn't wrap around on itself. So I guess it has to be a sequel, then eh? The objective is to destroy a balloon-like creature on each screen. Doing so triggers a boss fight. Some enemies drop money which can spent in a shop for upgrades. These upgrades only last a few moments so what could've been a cool feature is a massive missed opportunity. Controls are responsive, if a bit slow. Draw distance better than the first game but still not great. ...