All 16-Bit

Review #11128 Zero Wing All your base are not belong to us PCE CD 1992 Naxat Soft Shooter Shooter › Horizontal F 57 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Three weapons which are upgradeable and always awarded in the same sequence. Red, blue then green. Red is a normal shot. Shot blue is laser and green is seeker. You always have two options, one above and the other beneath your ship and they're huge so they take a lot of hits which makes the game pretty easy. You can also upgrade your speed a couple of times. You lose everything when you die and restart the level R-Type style. I'm fact the entire game is a slow deliberate crawl in the tradition of the much better R-Type. The only gimmick is a tractor beam which lets you grab an enemy dir...

Review #11126 Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys PCE CD 1993 Hudson Soft Adventure Adventure › Overhead F 54 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Major improvements to the gameplay, even if it is a polished turd. Bumping enemies is still the only means of attack but they phase into you less and your alignment doesn't have to be so perfect. Insane amounts of grinding are still required and the inventory and magic systems are antiquated by 1993 standards. 3 / 5 Level Design Mostly more of the same linear world design. Feels a little better than prior games. 3 / 5 Theme The story is confusing and all over the place. But the presentation is top-notch, with excellent anime trappings such as cutsce...

Review #11125 Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence This one goes hard PCE CD 1994 NEC Adventure Adventure › Overhead F 56 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Dang, I wish the gameplay on tap here were better because the narrative is unlike anything else of the era. However, all you get is a plodding overhead hack and slash with way too short reach and terrible hit detection. Movement is slow but eight directional, which is about the only plus I can give it. You can jump for a little bit of platforming, but the lack of weapon variety or magic or anything else massively holds this back. The only other noteworthy mechanic is an occasional party member who follows you around and auto-attacks enemies. But hey're weak that they may as well not be there....

Review #11120 The TV Show Bomberman. Emphasis on BOMB PCE CD 1995 Right Stuff Arcade Arcade › N/a X 12 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Easily the worst Bomberman ripoff out there. Instead of dropping your own bombs you must pick up preset bombs and use them to open chests containing diamonds. Collect them all and you move to the next stage. The only thing you can do is throw the bombs, whose fuse lights when you pick them up. After a set time they explode. Throwing a bomb sometimes cause it to stick to whatever it hits while others bounce off the wall, making it nearly impossible to ensure they are where you want them to be when they explode. Placement is absolutely critical since there are only so many bombs and their blast radius is tiny...

Review #11121 Valis Better than the Genesis version PCE CD 1992 Telenet Japan Action Action › Hack n Slash E 61 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Significantly better than the Genesis version. The draw distance is increased to about 50% and the movement is slightly faster. Hit detection is s much better! This is the most substantial gameplay improvement. There's also a new movement mechanic where you can crouch and slide, but this is only useful during some boss fights. It's not a super compelling experience, but I enjoyed my time with it more than the other version. 3 / 5 Level Design Minimal platforming. Just go to the right and kill enemies as they appear on screen. There's a little more t...

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 #11124 World Heroes 2 Street Fighter for Dummies PCE CD 1994 Hudson Soft Fighting Fighting › 1v1 E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays like a dumbed down Street Fighter, which I don't mind. Better simple than complex in my book. I'm looking at you Weaponlord. Only two buttons, like the original. Most fighters only have 2-4 special moves plus an all powerful throw. Plays significantly better than the original. No more sliding around on ice. Excellent hit detection. Things connect how they should. Three speed levels are nice and the fastest one is quite speedy. 14 fighters to choose from! 3 / 5 Level Design Stages have nice animation in the background Only the versus and story mo...

Review #11123 Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou PCE CD 1992 Konami Shooter Shooter › Horizontal C 80 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay It's Gradius without the auto-upgrade mechanic. Movement is tight, weapons are great (can't beat that laser), and auto fire is on. Life is good. The only negative is the constant slowdown. This might be worse than Gradius III on SNES. Sheooot is it bad. 4 / 5 Level Design Maybe this is nostalgia speaking here, but I like the stages in the first game more than these. They're good, but not great. The difficult curve is steep here. I didn't come close to dying until stage 3 and even then it was my own dumb fault. But then the difficulty ramps up like a hockey stick. It's a doozy...

Review #11119 Tenchi wo Kurau PCE CD 1994 NEC Action Action › Beat Em Up E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Has a Mega Man X style charge shot and a 3x combo attack. The strat is to consistently move up and down to avoid enemy attacks. Once I figured this out the game became super easy. The 1 and 2 buttons attack left or right like Double Dragon 2. 4 / 5 Level Design Enemy waves have just enough variety to keep your interest. But the set.poeces are what gives the game personally and a degree of fun. Every now and then there's an autoscroller section with barriers that will kill you. 4 / 5 Theme Medieval Chinese warfare. I love the novelty of the setting along with the g...

Review #11118 Tecmo World Cup: Super Soccer The one with a Metal soundtrack PCE CD 1992 Media Rings Sports Sports › Soccer F 55 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays quite different than the Genesis version but with most of the same mechanics. For starters it retains the side view. Movement and passing are much slower but are still relatively easy to accomplish. Just like the Genesis version, I love that you can rapidly pass and kick the ball around. No sim here. Unlike the Genesis version, however, are the long animations and awkward timing required for receiving or kicking a passed ball. I was successful maybe 10% of the time. Overall this is an ok (for soccer) game, but pales in comparison to the Genesis version. 2 / 5 ...

Review #11115 Super Darius II Zoom and enhance PCE CD 1993 NEC Shooter Shooter › Horizontal E 68 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Has an auto fire capability and other configuration including difficulty levels, lives and continues. Movement is fast and fluid. Powerups are plentiful although it takes a long time to fully power up. The only complaint is your ginormous hitbox. Seriously, it's bigger than Air Zonk. 4 / 5 Level Design I love the branching paths, Out Run style. Makes for some replayability. 4 / 5 Theme Darius! The between stage cinematic entrance is cool the first time and a little weird from there on out. 3 / 5 Art Style ...

Review #11114 Super Darius Looks and sounds ever so slightly better than the HuCard version PCE CD 1990 NEC Shooter Shooter › Horizontal F 51 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay The constant mashing of two buttons is giving me carpel tunnel. There are no weapons to power up with and the peashooter shot and bombs are no ideal. Enemies also take too many shots. Deaths are even more punishing than Gradius because powerups are few and far between and are lost after a death. Insane difficulty. 3 / 5 Level Design The stages are sooooo long! Enemies are placed to flood the screen with projectiles. The only way to progress is to know exactly where to position and mash those buttons. 4 / 5 ...

Review #11116 Super Raiden A few powerups would be nice... Please? PCE CD 1992 Hudson Soft Shooter Shooter › Vertical E 69 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Like so many other shmups this one is brutally difficult. You can get screen filling firepower with bullets and homing missiles although you lose everything if you're hit. Powerups relatively few and far between so it's tough to keep going after taking a death. Movement is very slow with no way to adjust your speed. Good but has some flaws. Only two weapons 4 / 5 Level Design Good level design. Enemy waves are understandable with some randomness in their bullets. Several sections require bullet hell reflexes but the slow controls will test ...

Review #11117 Sylphia Navi's righteous anger PCE CD 1993 Tonkin House Shooter Shooter › Vertical F 59 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Good speed which isn't adjustable. I like the pickups - four weapons with three levels of powerup, plus health which is acquired by gathering mirrors dropped by some enemies. Gather enough and they'll fill a meter and give you a hit point. Only two hit points are shown, although you can gather more than that so the visual is misleading. No subweapons is a bummer. No real depth or hook to keep your interest. Also, relatively low difficulty when using the heat seeker weapon. 3 / 5 Level Design Nothing inherently wrong with the stage design - it's just boring...

Review #11108 Star Parodier The one where you can play as the console PCE CD 1992 Hudson Soft Shooter Shooter › Vertical C 82 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Star Parodier is to Super Star Soldier what Parodius is to Gradius. Like it's inspiration, this game suffers from a severe lack of difficulty. Per up your weapon and your basically unstoppable. The fun is in finding weapons and subweapons you like. There are three ships to choose from (Bomber Man, PC Engine, spaceship), each with three weapons and a unique subweapon. Great movement speed. 4 / 5 Level Design Lots going on. A mini boss and final boss per stage. Hard to tell what is an enemy vs an environmental hazard. 4 / 5 Theme ...

Review #11112 Super Albatross Look it up, all albatrosses are super PCE CD 1989 Telenet Japan Sports Sports › Golf F 57 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Weird power mechanic. You press and hold II and let go to select the power, but it's a really tight window and difficult to get just right, especially when putting. And the only indicator oyu've got is a tiny sprite who animates poorly. There's no guage to help you see the power level. Also, choosing the direction is done via a free moving cursor instead of a directional arrow. This allows for more refinement in the direction, but is also more cumbersome. Everything else is ok. 3 / 5 Level Design The menus are all in Japanese so it's har...

Review #11111 Strider Hiryuu I hiryuu, Strider PCE CD 1994 NEC Action Action › Hack n Slash E 67 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Slow movement. Maybe even a touch slower than the Genesis version. I think this is how all arcade action games from the late 80s operate. Stiff movement, esepcially on jumps where you can't correct midair. Best to stay grounded as much as possible. Main attack has the most massive hitbox in video game history. So satisfying. Hard to tell when I'm hitting bosses. 4 / 5 Level Design Slopes. Slopes everywhere. The grab-anything mechanic is equal parts awesome and horribly annoying as you constantly grab stuff you don't intend. Still, this game has a variety of obsta...

Review #11109 Startling Odyssey II: Maryuu Senso DQ2 16-bit Remake PCE CD 1994 RayForce RPG RPG › Japanese D 79 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Simple RPG mechanics with plenty of QoL features. There's almost no depth to speak of, but battle speed is fast and the auto battle option is very welcome. Plus you can hold on A to fight without mashing. My main complaint is the extremely high encounter rate. It's insane. My other complaint is how brain dead simple the game is. Magic and Attack are you only options, making this as complex as a first gen RPG. Still, movement is good. Think of it as a Dragon Quest 2 16-bit remaster. 4 / 5 Level Design Extremely linear map and story design. Hop from place to place in mini...

Review #11113 Super Daisenryaku Advanced Age Wars PCE CD 1990 Micro Cabin Strategy Strategy › Turn-based Tactics H 33 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Plays like an early, early version of Famicom/Advance Wars. The same mechanics are here - build units at a base or airport, move them along a grid, take neutral or enemy bases, and attack enemy units which has strengths or weaknesses against certain kinds of units. Unfortunately, that the UI is clunky and dated, and everything moves at a snail's pace. It was 45 minutes before I had my first encounter with an enemy unit. On the first map. The other huge complaint I've got is the jilted scrolling of the map. Only full tiles appear on the screen, and moving the cursor toward the border of the screen ...

Review #11106 Spriggan Mk. II An interactive episode of Spriggan PCE CD 1992 Naxat Soft Shooter Shooter › Horizontal E 67 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Feels like Cybernator/Target Earth as a shoot em up rather than a ground based action title. The weapons and enemies are on the clunky side. Enemies take so many hits that it's often better to focus on shooting down the missiles they fire at you rather than trying to hit them since they will at least go off screen at some point while most missiles will track you down. So yeah, at its core this is a "peashooter with damage sponge enemies" shooter, even after you acquire the more powerful "Mark 2" mech. The saving grace is the Halo-style regenerating shield/health ba...