All 16-Bit

Review #12502 Devastator The red car Transformer, not Darth Vader's star destroyer MD CD 1993 Wolf Team Action Action › Gun C 80 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Three weapons - spread, wavy lasers (how is that a thing?), or useless bombs. My only complaint is that enemies take too many hits, but even so, this feels great as a run n gun. Not top tier, but a small step down from Cybernator, Turrican, R2, and the like. Jumping and platforming work great, although the jump is a bit short. 4 / 5 Level Design Great variety. Levels snake up and around in all directions and don't open up into annoying mazes. Bosses and mini bosses appear just as you'd expect. Every few stages you get a horizontal shooter. Thes...

Review #12501 Cyborg 009 MD CD 1993 Riot Action Action › Gun E 61 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays nothing like the SFC version. Whereas that game was painfully slow and laggy, this one is shockingly fast and hard to control. That's mostly due to a difficult-to-manage dash mechanic. You can dash left, right, up, or diagonal, but the timing of inputs is a mess. You have to press C to dash while holding a direction. Seems easy enough, but for a diagonal or upward dash you also have to hit jump at the same time, otherwise you'll do a horizontal dash. And you can change direction mid-dash, which leads to weird unwanted shifts. Even worse, the camera doesn't keep up with you and takes several seconds to catch up, leaving you with zer...

Review #12125 Terminator Come with me if you want to ROCK! Sega CD 1993 Virgin Action Action › Gun C 83 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay So much better than the SNES or Genesis versions! It's night and day. The controls are a little wonky since you can't stop to aim and shoot but this is easily worked around by carefully planning where to stand or crouch. Movement feels great and the rapid fire guns are fun to play with. Enemies lock onto you but have movement and attack patterns that give some variety to each encounter. And your grenades are fun to use, even though they require some forethought given how they travel. Tons of pickups through the stages. 4 / 5 Level Design Labyrinthine level maps but they...

Review #12032 Earthworm Jim - Special Edition The best version of this classic Sega CD 1995 Interplay Action Action › Gun C 84 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Way too hard Floaty controls make platforming a chore Gun has no projectiles making it hard to aim Can't move while shooting Whip has a long animation so timing it is challenging when swinging or using a weapon 4 / 5 Level Design Tremendous variety. So many fun set pieces. One extra stage. Memorable levels like Heck, Puppy bouncing, Snot bungee, Submarine, Tires. 4 / 5 Theme Very very goofy and original 5 / 5 Art Style Impressive all around. Incredible animation is even better ...

Review #12025 Demolition Man Stallone puts his knitting skills to good use Sega CD 1995 Acclaim Action Action › Gun F 57 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Decent controls. Far less laggy that the SNES and Genesis original. I think those versions suffered from a lot of slowdown because this version plays much more smooth. Very short jump so you're mostly grounded. Uses a cover system where you duck and hide behind boxes. Can't just go guns blazing like Contra. But the top down levels are much faster. Switches between side and top-down, like two games knitted together. Practically no hit detection in side view levels. Typical western stuff like endless spawning baddies Enemies sometimes disappear instantly 3 / 5 ...

Review #11074 Mystic Formula Anime Mercs PCE CD 1993 Micro Cabin Action Action › Gun G 46 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Decent top-down run-n-gun, but with a couple of crippling problems. The first is an age-old shooter problem, and that is that your gun is a pea shooter. Enemies swarm in from all angles and your narrow shot doesn't cut it. Prepare to weave and dodge tiny enemies while firing in 8 directions without the benefit of a dual stick. The other problem is the charge shot mechanic. Hold down on the button and your shot becomes frequent but short. Pause between shots and your bullet travels the length of the screen. Tapping shots gets old. I would've preferred to ditch the powerup shot, especially since there's barely any difference b...

Review #11056 Jim Power The nausea-inducing parallax scrolling is gone PCE CD 1993 Micro World Action Action › Gun G 47 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Cheap enemy spawns One-hit death tho enemies take multiple hits Can't walk and shoot simultaneously No rapid fire Weird physics - your descent after jumping feels horribly unnatural. And the height of the jump is both short and horribly unreliable. Also, the sides of platforms are rounded such that you roll off them and more or less warp off them. Again, unnaturally. 2 / 5 Level Design Stupid water drip enemies everywhere Short jump and cheap hits makes platforming beyond tough 3 / 5 Theme The original's guy with a gun is en...

Review #11051 Horror Story Kill dem monstas PCE CD 1993 NEC Action Action › Gun E 61 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Autoscroller. Five weapons to select by collecting the slowest moving power up of all time. It's nearly impossible to avoid and doing so can ruin your run because you could pick up the useless bomb or short range wave guns. The laser and 3 way are the only good guns so half the battle is avoiding that dumb power up. The other challenge is avoiding waves of enemies that spawn at the most inopportune times. Actually, the third pillar of pain is the horrible double jump. You have the narrowest of windows to initiate the second jump, mere moments after the first jump. If you miss it, that's it. And the second jump is at...

Review #11038 Gain Ground SX Cross-pollination of Bomberman, Gauntlet, and Smash TV PCE CD 1992 NEC Action Action › Gun D 70 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Crazy slow movement, but I don't mind it much because everything moves slowly. Plays a bit like a mix between Gauntlet and Smash TV. 5 or 6 characters to play as. Some can fire at enemies who are up on ledges. Most everything is a one hit kill. 4 / 5 Level Design Every level has 10 rounds. Probably a long ish game. Set up a lot like Bomberman. Enemies and layouts keep things interesting. In the original the levels were all single screen but here thet are all multiscreen, but only one screen wide. The objective is to defeat all enemies and/or to reach the exit...

Review #11025 Doraemon - Nobita no Dorabian Night Doraemon in Time PCE CD 1992 Hudson Soft Action Action › Gun E 60 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Perfectly adequate platforming, but with slow movement. The jump is just right for the level design. Your only attack is a gun that stuns enemies in the first and second worlds (ala QuackShot) but kills enemies in the third world. That's pretty weird and turns a platformer into a run n gun. It's a jarring change of pace but honestly was welcome. But the mechanics stop there - there's no depth. This is an easy game. Feels like it was aimed at very young gamers. Health pickups are everywhere and death pits are rare. 3 / 5 Level Design Hum drum but...

Review #11013 Browning Cybernator this ain't PCE CD 1992 Telenet Japan Action Action › Gun H 37 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay The initial impression is good, but doesn't take long to wear off. You have a simple Vulcan gun that can't be upgraded or improved, enemies are damage sponges, and you can't turn around to face left! Your mech jump and hover for a short time, although this is rarely helpful since enemies zoom around faster than you can keep up with and again are damage sponges. Plus, running into most enemies causes massive damage to you. Your health automatically recharges but at a very slow rate that conflicts with the short stage timer. Infinite continues but the difficulty is through the room, primarily due to the terri...

Review #10028 Monster Lair Baby Cuphead TG-16 CD 1989 NEC Action Action › Gun D 71 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Simple, responsive controls. Short jump. Great hit detection. It's an auto scroller with the health mechanics from Adventure Island and constant weapon pickups straight out of Metal Slug. The weapons only last for 10 seconds or so but enemies are constantly dropping new ones. Some enemies deal minimal damage while others kill you in a single hit. Feels extremely random. 3 / 5 Level Design Every stage is an auto scroller and they toggle between a platformer and then a shoot em up stage. Kind of like Cuphead, now that I think of it. The boss fights are always in the shmup sections and are more difficul...

Review #10022 Last Alert Overhead Contra TG-16 CD 1990 NEC Action Action › Gun D 79 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Plays like an overhead Contra. Great movement and slow projectiles make for a bullet hell experience. Also enemies continually spawn so you can't progress slowly and clear the room. Got me out of my comfort zone. Three primary that you acquire over time, including an Uzi and then machine gun which both let you lock your direction. Easy to shoot diagonally. Secondary weapons are actually helpful and can be used at the same time as your primary. Once you're powered up the game gets fairly easy but it's a rollicking good time. 4 / 5 Level Design Each mission is broken up into three stages, with...

Review #10014 Final Zone II Ikari Warriors, in mechs TG-16 CD 1990 NEC Action Action › Gun F 57 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Top-down view replaces the isometric view of the first game. And mostly for the better. It plays like so many of its contemporaries, but with crazy fast movement. The camera doesn't keep pace with movement, so gameplay amounts to move, stop and shoot for the camera to scroll, move, stop and shoot, repeat. You've got two weapons - the primary vulcan cannon with unlimited ammo, and a secondary weapon with limited ammo and such a terrible firing rate that it's almost never worthwhile to use. Frequent pickups restore health or ammo. Few weapons have spread capabilities, so combat isn't much fun. You ...

Review #9903 Daimakaimura The one where you can shoot up PCE SG 1990 NEC Action Action › Gun E 69 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Stiff controls which are the hallmark of this series. You can shoot upward. Yay 4 / 5 Level Design Design is simple but there are still lots of memorable moments and set pieces. The enemy placement feels extremely cheap here, even more so than in other G&G games. Still good but requires memorization more than reaction. 5 / 5 Theme 3 / 5 Art Style Black background. Love the enemy designs but poor animation and effects take away from the experience. I know it's a product of its time but Super G&...

Review #8152 Youkai Douchuuki Ghouls 'n Ghosts with one life PCE 1988 Namco Action Action › Gun X 23 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay This could've been a decent game, but falls flat in almost every aspect of its gameplay. The controls themselves are responsive and pleasant. Mega Man this ain't, but jumping and shooting work just fine. My only complaint about the gunplay is that if you fire rapidly your shot flies back and circles around your sprite, for no real reason and to no advantage either. So you have to carefully fire individual shots. Enemies are weird - most die in one hit but others take dozens of hits. Others can't be killed at all. Of those, some can be jumped on like they're a platform but other invin...

Review #8145 Valkyrie no Densetsu Slow Pocky, no Rocky PCE 1990 Namco Action Action › Gun E 63 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Slow pace of play. Everything from enemy projectiles to moving platforms crawl along at a snail's pace. But once you embrace this slowness there's a lot to like here. You can fire and jump and your shots are large, with generous hitboxes. Your shot cancels out enemy projectiles, so it's possible to move along without taking hits. You can purchase power ups at shops but they're costly so you'll rarely hold more than one and can only use one at a time anyway. They don't stack. You can't choose which item to use either. They run out randomly and are replaced by the next item you'...

Review #8125 Shinobi Missing those ninja throwing star stages PCE 1989 Asmik Ace Action Action › Gun F 53 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Good movement and up to three projectiles on screen makese combat feel good. Uses the multi-plane mechanic from Rolling Thunder. Actually, maybe RT uses it from Shinobi? Either way, it feels weird here because there's no vertical scrolling, so the upper planes are on the screen. You can jump up to the level of enemies above you but you can't attack them without being on their level. Strange. 2 / 5 Level Design Enemies like to position themselves such that you must perform a perfectly timed throw while jumping, which makes for a ton of cheap deaths and annoying en...

Review #8091 New Zealand Story, The The great, great granddaddy of Super Meat Boy PCE 1990 Taito Action Action › Gun H 26 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Plays like a mix between Bubble Bobble, Mega Man, and Balloon Fight. Enemies spwan in routinely and can be killed in one hit (so are you) but many are riding on balloons or birds which permits them to fly. You can either pop their balloon or kill them and take it for yourself. Laggy controls, especially while flying. There's a good second of lag between starting or stopping movement. It's frankly unbearable and reason alone to avoid playing this game. 2 / 5 Level Design In concept, I like the stage design, but it's hard to determine what's a platf...

Review #8082 Märchen Maze Alice in Top-down Shooter Land PCE 1990 Namco Action Action › Gun D 72 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Good, almost great controls, but slow movement makes for an overly challenging experience. You fire bubbles in rapid succession or charged up Mega Man X style. A powered up bubble disappears if not used quickly. I really wish it had remained indefinitely. You can also jump but you can't fire while jumping. There are three power-ups, but they are exceedingly rare. A rabbits makes gives temporary invincibility, shoes make you jump much higher (think the frog in Mario Odyssey), and the rarest of all is a three-way shot. Unlike the power-ups, enemies are plentiful. This is a game where progress should be made slowly and meticulo...