All 16-Bit

Review #6846 Ultimate Soccer Yet another so-so soccer title MD PAL 1993 Sega Sports Sports › Soccer G 45 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Lots of customization options, including game speed and difficulty. It plays fast, even on Slow speed. I was able to score a fair amount on Easy difficulty, which is always a plus. This is a result of braindead AI that doesn't even try to possess the ball. The controls are weird but functional. Movement feels wonky at time, with you suddenly and randomly losing possession of the ball from time to time. Also, there isn't a dedicated pass button, but instead you have two kick buttons that sometimes feel like a light and heavy kick but don't feel reliable in any way. 3 / 5 Level Desi...

Review #6848 Xenon 2: Megablast MD PAL 1992 Virgin Shooter Shooter › Vertical X 13 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay I'm being very generous here. Horrible FPS, terrible hit detection, and slow firing rate makes it hard to hit anything. Your ship has an enormous hitbox. Slow movement. 0 / 5 Level Design You can softlock on this game by choosing the wrong path. Getting stuck doesn't kill you like other shooters but instead stops the scrolling. So you can literally get stuck without any way to die or start over. Who designed this? Besides that, stages are a boring slog. Enemy waves are easier to avoid than engage. They're long and generally loop all the way around the screen. 1 / 5...

Review #6849 Yogi Bear: Cartoon Capers Looks better, sound worse than the SNES version MD PAL 1994 GameTek Action Action › Platform E 64 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Passable Sonic and/or Adv Island clone - gotta continuously collect clocks to maintain time remaining No attack, just jump and bob enemies who are only the obstacles Tons of collectables - the main draw is to get a high score Decent controls although there's a delay stopping as it completes the run animation. 3 / 5 Level Design Just get to the end of the level. Follows DKC model of tons of optional collectables. Lots of blind jumps Easy to spot platforms Collectables include picnic baskets you can bounce off one before they disap...

Review #6847 Worms Don't play solo MD PAL 1995 Ocean Puzzle Puzzle › Platform H 27 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Probably only works as a multiplayer game. The only mode I can find allows me to play as every player using a single controller. Controls are fine, although movement is annoying. It's turn based and you can select a weapon and fire it at a nearby enemy Worm. The novelty wears off quickly. My main complaint is an inability to move the camera to see the map. How am I supposed to aim at anything outside of my immediate area? 2 / 5 Level Design The stages seem random and the game places players all around the map in clusters. Who ever goes first in these groupings has an advantage. Mm k ...

Review #6843 Tintin in Tibet Archie x Indiana Jones MD PAL 1996 Infogrames Adventure Adventure › Platform H 29 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Laggy controls like Prince of Persia which favor animation of responsiveness. You only have a run and jump button. Jump is extremely short. No platforming. Instead, the gameplay involves ducking to avoid environmental obstacles. That's about it, really. You have a huge hitbox, low health which doesn't refill between stages, few health pickups, nothing to collect or items to use, and an oppressive time limit that gives you barely enough time to finish each stage. 1 / 5 Level Design Stages are only about 1 to 2 minutes long and require some combination of talking to peo...

Review #6844 Total Football Total football? Naw, it's just soccer. MD PAL 1995 Domark Sports Sports › Soccer H 33 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay This is one of the late-gen titles that play so heavily into the simulation side of things that I can't do a dang thing. Every pass is intercepted, the opponent passes and dispossesses at will, and I can't get a word in edgewise. The isometric view is the rancid cherry on top. No thanks. 2 / 5 Level Design I think there are all the usual modes but the unmarked icons so popular in these Europe releases have me all kinds of confused. 1 / 5 Theme I hate these European soccer titles. The over-the-top goal celebrations set this ap...

Review #6845 Two Tribes: Populous II Flatten out that land MD PAL 1993 Virgin Strategy Strategy › RTS H 29 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Once again the gameplay amounts to raising or lowering the ground. This allows your little minions to build bigger and bigger cities. There's got to be more to it than that, but I couldn't figure out how to do anything else. 2 / 5 Level Design There are two modes - Conquest, where you fight another god, and Custom, where you just play around. 3 / 5 Theme Same old. God sims are cool 3 / 5 Art Style For what it is, it looks decent. The scrolling is faster than I thought it might be, and much better than ...

Review #6842 Super Skidmarks Super Mini Cooper Off Road MD PAL 1995 Codemasters Racing Racing › Overhead E 61 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I really want to like this game, but the controls are so squirrely. Actually, they're slippery as an eel. I like what the devs were trying to do but I feel like my car is out of control at all times. I gave up trying to make tight turns and instead used the walls as bumpers like it's a pinball machine. The other problem is that with 5 other racers, small tracks, and narrow roads, you bump into each. A LOT. In fact, the game always puts you at the back of the pack to begin each race so the main challenge in the game is to deal with the other racers, PvP style. Another complaint is the lack of ...

Review #6841 Super Kick Off The one where you dribble MD PAL 1992 U.S. Gold Sports Sports › Soccer H 28 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Super fast movement and even though it's configurable to three different speed settings, the lowest speed is still too fast. The weirdest thing about this game is that you have to actively maintain possession of the ball. In most games. You pass to a player and they handle all the dribbling and maintaining the ball. But in this one, if you're running fast, the ball will run out ahead of you faster than you can even get to. So you have to maintain your dribble by moving diagonally towards the direction that you're headed. It's a very strange mechanic and difficult to figure out how to work with. That...

Review #6840 Striker The one with horrible AI MD PAL 1995 Sega Sports Sports › Soccer G 42 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Same game as Elite Soccer. Fast speed and responsive controls. Computer AI is impressively awful. NPCs are constantly on the wrong side of the ball so every possession is a breakaway. So weird One interesting gimmick is the ability to toggle between three camera views - behind, side, and top-down. Did the SNES version have this? I'm not sure, to be honest. 3 / 5 Level Design Tons of game modes 1 / 5 Theme I hate soccer 2 / 5 Art Style Everything's ugly but it moves nicely 1 / 5 Audio ...

Review #6839 Street Racer Play the SNES version instead MD PAL 1995 Ubisoft Racing Racing › Vehicle Combat E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Responsive controls, but a severe lack of variety or mechanics holds this one back. It's a decent racing game, like OutRun as a competitive racer. 2 / 5 Level Design The lack of Mode 7 makes this one seem like all the other arcade racers, always moving toward a horizon that you'll never actually reach. This makes the concept of laps seem foreign to the gameplay. Tracks simply end without any notice or buildup. The "tracks" are simply a series of left and right turns. They all seem very similar to one another, save for different cosmetic coloring...

Review #6838 Spirou Not the purple dragon game MD PAL 1995 Infogrames Action Action › Platform E 65 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Has that laggy feel of a cinematic platformer (Prince of Persia, et al) but nowhere near as bad as most games in that category. Actually plays pretty well, for as little that it asks you to do. There's no attack, items, or other mechanics. Just run, jump, and climb on ladders and ledges. The ladders and ledges are my main complaint, as it's a crapshoot whether you will actually grab them. I've tried holding up, slowing my momentum toward the target, and trying to find the exact sweet spot, but I still can't figure out a consistent way to grab. 4 / 5 Level Design ...

Review #6836 Smurfs: Travel the World Smurfette is in the house MD PAL 1996 Infogrames Action Action › Platform G 46 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Far better controls than the first game, but not without faults. My main complaint is that it's so dang boring. Just like the first game, all you can do is jump and run. No powerups and no abilities. Also, the controls are laggy making the game eat inputs. The best tactic is to jump slightly too early. Enemies follow set patterns and can be bopped, but most have chaotic paths and are hard to hit. 1 / 5 Level Design The same find-all-the-stuff to end the stage nonesense prevelant in so many Western games. I hate this design philosophy with a passion. Many stages, including ...

Review #6834 Sensible Soccer: European Champions The Amiga one MD PAL 1993 Sony Imagesoft Sports Sports › Soccer E 64 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay I'm guessing this is a rebranded version of the horribly named International Sensible Soccer Limited Edition: World Champions game because it plays exactly the same. See all momy notes on that one. It's so much better than the sequel, Championship Soccer '94. 3 / 5 Level Design Tons of game modes 1 / 5 Theme I hate soccer 2 / 5 Art Style The teeny tiniest sprites you've ever seen in a video game. These guys are about 4 pixels tall I swear. I estimate they're about...

Review #6837 Snake Rattle 'n' Roll Isometric's final boss MD PAL 1993 Sega Action Action › Platform F 50 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like much about this games gameplay. It's isometric, to start with, but the real problem is the bizarre and unreliable eating mechanic. Add to that the way that enemies and collectibles bounce around like they're on speed and you've got a perfect recipe for frustration. 4 / 5 Level Design It's a shame the controls and game mechanics are so awful because the level design is superb. New obstacles and light puzzles are everywhere to keep things interesting. The isometric view makes platformin...

Review #6835 Smurfs Precision Smurfing MD PAL 1995 Infogrames Action Action › Platform G 40 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Plays much better than the SNES version, which I played first. Still bad, but more playable. All the Westerm hallmarks. Slow movement, horrible hitboxes, inconsistent means of attacking enemies. I'm fact only a couple of enemies can be killed by bopping. Most can't be dealt with at all. Also a 40% draw distance. 1 / 5 Level Design Plays to all of the gameplay's deficiencies. Precision platforming is required everywhere. Perfect jumps are required to cross gaps, climb a tree in stage two, ride birds in stage three, and avoid enemy attacks. Very difficulty as a result. Puddles don't k...

Review #6832 Sampras Tennis 96 What a racket 96 MD PAL 1995 Sportsmaster Sports Sports › Tennis G 46 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Plays a lot like the original. Good movement. Ball moves very slowly and dies when it bounces. Your hits aren't strong enough to get it past the opponent, except when the opponent is a donehead and doesn't get near the ball. It's as if they took the first game, where they always got to it, reduced their IQ by half, and called it a day. The first was impossible to score a point, and in this game the only way to score is by an unforced error by the opponent. 2 / 5 Level Design Exhibition, tournament, tour, and a Neo Geo-style video tutorial 2 / 5 The...

Review #6833 Second Samurai Samurais in Time MD PAL 1994 Vivid Image Action Action › Hack n Slash E 60 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I debated whether to call this a beat em up or a hack n slash but I went with hack because you're a samurai for crying out loud. Your sword is you natural environment, even if you can lose it and be forced to punch your enemies. Movement is slow, like most games in this genre, so you have to mash as you walk. Enemies pour in from all sides at all times, even on Easy difficulty. This is Super Star Wars-level of enemy spawning. And like all Amiga/western games of the era, the enemies swarm to you, have no collision and will sit inside your hitbox until you die. One of my major pet peeves. Thankfully, the...

Review #6831 S.S. Lucifer: Man Overboard! Sink MD PAL 1994 Codemasters Puzzle Puzzle › Platform F 59 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays just like the SNES version, but with more responsive controls. 3 / 5 Level Design Some of the same levels as the SNES version, but a much improved learning curve. I got further into this game and didn't get stuck. 2 / 5 Theme You're a scuba guy. Actually you're Scuba Steve from Big Daddy and you ride in a yellow submarine, like The Beatles. Your job is to rescue idiots on a sinking cruise ship, ala The Poseidon Adventure. So yeah, there are a whole bunch of very dated pop culture references in this one. Oh and you look li...

Review #6830 Rise of the Robots Real Bad Steel MD PAL 1994 Acclaim Fighting Fighting › 1v1 X 11 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Battles are long. Even on Easy and the longest time allowed (60 secs) most battles end when the time runs out No special moves that I could find Enemy attack have ridiculously long reach and most can't be blocked Only one robot to fight as. Dragon is the only other fighting game I can think of which did this. Well, also Ultraman. Basically unplayable without a 6 button controller since I can't figure out how to kick using a 3 button. So it's even worse than the SNES version, which I gave a zero. 1 / 5 Level Design Just a bunch of metallic, vaguely futuristic w...