All 16-Bit

Review #12137 Wolfchild The Genesis version. With cutscenes and load times. Sega CD 1993 JVC Action Action › Punch n Kick D 74 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay You have two forms - a puny human and a werewolf. The human has only a weak punch but the wolf has a projectile attack. Gotta keep from getting hit so you can keep the wolf, ala Zelda or Altered Beast. Controls are very responsive although your jump is way too short. Movement feels good aside from the short jump. Lots of promise Would really benefit from a password system. Enemies have hit boxes but only hurt you when they attack. Love this. 3 / 5 Level Design Linear with some boring level design. Actually it's not terrible but there are a ton of cheap hits...

Review #12088 Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure Yet another David Perry camera Sega CD 1994 Activision Action Action › Punch n Kick F 59 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Cut from the same cloth as Maui Mallard, Lion King, Jungle Book and all the similar games. Spastic camera, floaty controls, hard to distinguish platforms, maze-like levels, crappy hit detection, cheap hits, etc. 2 / 5 Level Design Maze-like. Hard to tell where to go. Requires precise platforming and the ridiculous vine grabs from Lion King. Enemies pop out for cheap hits. Lots of blind jumps. 3 / 5 Theme I love the original! I'd love for this to be a good game. 4 / 5 Art Style ...

Review #12014 Bram Stoker's Dracula Batman Forever's Halloween friend Sega CD 1993 Sony Imagesoft Action Action › Punch n Kick X 14 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Completely different than the SNES/Genesis version. This version looks and plays like Batman Forever, with prerendered graphics and slow, cumbersome movement. It's very nearly unplayable. You move like you've got a load in your pants. Inch along to the right and punch or kick enemies the rush at you from difficult-to-determine levels. Many enemies drop in from above you, especially the bats and spiders, but you can't perform a jump punch or kick. You can't attack while in the air at all. It's a maddening experience. 0 / 5 ...

Review #12005 Amazing Spider-Man vs The Kingpin Let's get swinging Sega CD 1993 Sega Action Action › Punch n Kick D 77 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay This is the only 16-bit Spidey game that gets his movement right. It feels great to swing around, jump, crawl on buildings and walls and ceilings, although the latter is more finicky. Combat is a mess, unfortunately, with terrible hit detection and awkward movement from your standing or crouched position. If this were better I'd give it a 5. 4 / 5 Level Design I wish it were better, but there's a lot to like here. An overmap lets you choose where to visit. Stages range from outdoor streets with skyscrapers to climb to sewers and warehouses with narrow corridor...

Review #11096 Renny Blaster Punch and kick Castlevania PCE CD 1995 NEC Action Action › Punch n Kick E 67 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay They were making PCE Engine games in 1995?! This one looks and plays like a clumsy Castlevania game with magical charge attacks and even more laggy controls. Combat is strange. There's a long pause between attacks so if you don't land a hit your vulnerable. Maybe there's a party system that I can't quite figure out. Sometimes attacks so nothing and other times they melt away health. Charge up three attacks which can be selected between stages. You earn new ones Mega Man style after beating a boss. 4 / 5 Level Design Stages look and feel very distinc...

Review #11092 Ranma ½ Gender bender PCE CD 1990 Masaya Action Action › Punch n Kick H 35 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Horrible hit detection! Slow movement. Kick and jump kick. You can really spam attacks but hits rarely register the way you'd like. Boss enemies have much farther reach, powerful attacks, and far more health, making those fights nigh impossible. You also can't move while attacking, expect on the weird auto-runner stage, of course. I'll never go back to this oddity. 3 / 5 Level Design Some goofy stage design almost makes up for the terrible gameplay. Almost. Stages range from a standard platformer to an auto-runner to 1v1 battles. The sheer variety keeps you guessing, even though the st...

Review #11003 Altered Beast Wise fwom yourw gwave PCE CD 1989 NEC Action Action › Punch n Kick G 41 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Still worse than the Genesis version but plays a smidge faster than the HuCard version. Hit detection is far worse than the Genesis version and results in a lot of cheap hits by enemies. The lack of a third button means there's no jump button. Instead you have to press Up but the animation is incredibly slow. Enemies love to swarm you and can kill you in seconds once they get inside your hitbox. 3 / 5 Level Design Levels are significantly longer than the Genesis version. They're probably 2x3 as long, even though they feature all the moments from that other version. Still, this game...

Review #10031 Shadow of the Beast Rubbish TG-16 CD 1992 TTI Action Action › Punch n Kick X 10 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 0 / 5 Gameplay Impossible. Enemies run at and right through you. Atrocious hit detection. Unless you time your hit perfectly you're taking damage. And even then you often have multiple enemies come at once and there's no way to stop them. Punch is your only attack. Long attack animation and even longer turn around animation makes it impractical to even attempt fighting enemies who spawn behind you. Checks all the Western boxes and then some. This game is unplayable. Complete rubbish 0 / 5 Level Design Go to the right. Nothing resembling platforms or any other story of obstacle or f...

Review #8149 Wonder Momo It's no wonder PCE 1989 Namco Action Action › Punch n Kick X 18 / 100 You've been warned Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Laggy controls and bad hit detection, but decent range on your attacks. The key is to kill enemies as quickly as possible to prevent them from swarming you. Kick and jump kick. Terrible scrolling with only 10% draw distance. A whirlwind appears to power you up. A hula hoop bounces in and can be thrown. A final pickup makes you invincible and kills everything on screen for a good 10 seconds. 0 / 5 Level Design Zero design. Each level is perhaps two screens wide but enemies spawn in without scrolling so there's no need to move. It's a single screen brawler. A boss enemy a...

Review #8070 Altered Beast Wise fwom yourw gwave PCE 1989 NEC Action Action › Punch n Kick H 37 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Worse than the Genesis version is almost every way. Hit detection is far worse than the Genesis version and results in a lot of cheap hits by enemies. The lack of a third button means there's no jump button. Instead you have to press Up but the animation is incredibly slow. Enemies love to swarm you and can kill you in seconds once they get inside your hitbox. 3 / 5 Level Design Levels are significantly longer than the Genesis version. They're probably 2x3 as long, even though they feature all the moments from that other version. Still, this game is very short. 4 ...

Review #8034 Dragon Egg! Eggscellent controls PCE 1991 Masaya Action Action › Punch n Kick E 66 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Responsive controls. The key is to power yourself up until you're riding a dragon and spouting homing fireballs that melt all enemies and bosses in seconds. This turns an easy game into an absolute breeze. Thankfully there are three difficult levels. 2 / 5 Level Design Stage 3 is a confusing maze of doors. Stage 4 is a short boat ride autoscroller with absolutely no challenge. It's one of the easiest levels I can think of in a video game. The game only has six very short stages that will only take about 20 mins to run through. 4 / 5 Theme ...

Review #8023 Cyber Cross: Busou Keij Shinobi starring Power Rangers PCE 1989 Face Action Action › Punch n Kick G 48 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Begins as a standard Kung Fu clone. Enemies spawn in from the left or right and you only have a punch to take them down. Nearly all go down in one hit and they barrel towards you so the entire gameplay loop is timing your strokes to hot them without taking damage yourself. You can gain health and a Power Rangers power up that gives you an improved weapon. There are three - a sword, gun, and boomerang. The sword has a wide overhead arch, making it great for taking out flying and jumping enemies. With it, the game feels like Shinobi. The gun turns the game into Rolling Thunder. And the boomerang is an abomination t...

Review #8022 Cross Wiber: Cyber Combat Police Don't miss those canisters PCE 1990 Face Action Action › Punch n Kick H 29 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Slow movement and only a punch/kick attack make for a boring an plodding gameplay loop. Unlike the first game, there are no power ups, no move, no gimmicks. Nothing. Bare bones at best. You've got a jump and can attack while jumping though this is only useful for attacking the canisters that fly by with precious health pickups. Without these you have no chance of completing the stage and with them all it's virtually impossible not to finish the stage. Sorry for the double negative, but I hope you get what I'm saying. All you need to do is walk right while mashing attack as enemies sw...

Review #2406 The Great Battle Gaiden 2: Matsuri da Wasshoi Really, really, really weird genre mashup SFC 1994 Banpresto Action Action › Punch n Kick H 35 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Uhh, wut? The game is a mashup of many genres. The primary mode is side scrolling action but little shops that fly around let you play a match 3 puzzle game, an arkanoid clone, and other mini games. Each of these plays surprisingly well. In fact the main platforming mode is by far the worst one. The main problem is that enemies swarm at you, spawn incessantly, and bounce around the screen like mad men. And of course they take multiple hits, have no collision, and love to stun lock you. You attack with a short range punch attack and can pick up limited use projectile weap...

Review #2404 Tetsuwan Atom Zero Mega Man SFC 1994 Zamuse Action Action › Punch n Kick H 36 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Slow, cumbersome, frustrating gameplay. Stupid slow movement. Flying requires a long press of R,L, or X for about 5 long seconds and you can have almost no control of your movent while flying. Your only attack is a weak, short punch. The jump attack is completely useless as it punches downward, making it's reach even shorter than a standing punch. Terrible hit detection. Your hitbox is massive while enemy's are tiny or ill-defined. 2 / 5 Level Design Very little platforming. Levels are underwhelming at best, especially when compared to other games in the genre from 1994. ...

Review #2243 Nankoku Shonen Papuwa-kun Mega Man, with only kicks SFC 1994 Enix Action Action › Punch n Kick D 75 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Movement feels great, although the jump is rather short. Your offensive capabilities include a standing punch, a jump kick, and slides to the right or left using R and L. Unfortunately the reach is short and enemy hit boxes are quite small, so it's hard to make your attacks connect. Enemies hit extremely hard, although most die with a single hit. Overall it feels really nice. It's 1994 and this game has no pause button! 4 / 5 Level Design Great variety in the levels, with a good amount of vertical and horizontal movement. Exploration is encouraged and often required,...

Review #2196 Kishin Douji Zenki: Batoru Raiden Demon Genie SFC 1995 Hudson Soft Action Action › Punch n Kick E 63 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Copious amounts of slowdown. Slightly stiff controls. You have to be deliberate in your movements and platforming is difficult. You've got a useless punch and a jump kick. There are two forms - a little kid and a big guy. This reminds me of Illusion of Gaia. The big guy hits harder but moves slower. They have the same moves. 3 / 5 Level Design I was enjoying the levels until I reached a barrier that couldn't be broken. The girl told me that I should be able to figure it out but 15 mins later I just gave up. 4 / 5 Theme ...

Review #2194 Kikou Keisatsu Metal Jack Thank you for your cooperation SFC 1992 Atlus Action Action › Punch n Kick F 55 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Not too shabby, but there are a lot of better games. The controls are stiff - you have to be very deliberate in your jumps and attacks because if you time it wrong you'll fall into a pit or get hit by a charging enemy. Enemies have no collision and love to stand inside your sprite to stun lock you. Most doe with a single hit (on easy anyway) so if you time everything right you're good. But they run at you at a breakneck speed so it's all about inching forward and having the reflexes to react when an enemy suddenly appears. You have a punch, jump kick, and a gun with very limited...

Review #2186 Jungle no Ouja Tar-chan: Sekai Man'yuu Dai Kakutou no Maki Cho Aniki meets Prince of Persia SFC 1994 Bandai Action Action › Punch n Kick G 47 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Frustrating movement, reminiscent of Prince of Persia or Flashback. You've got a punch and a jump kick as offensive weapons plus a powerful punch to remove breakable barriers. Enemies mostly stand in place in the third level. There are guys who throw hadoukens which can't be avoided. There's a ton of platforming, way more than combat, and it's quite frustrating given the stiff slow controls. The only really good gameplay mechanic is Metroid Fusion-esque ledge grabbing. 3 / 5 Level Design The levels are very long and...

Review #2135 Go Go Ackman 3 The prison break SFC 1995 Banpresto Action Action › Punch n Kick C 82 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay See notes from the previous games. The only difference is that there are levels where you play as the angel Tenshi! He has a double jump but his offensive capabilities are the same. 4 / 5 Level Design Even more more variety in level design than the prevoius games. It starts out regular but veers into a mult-level prison with branching paths and elevators. 4 / 5 Theme A much more cinematic structure. It's a funny story about your angel nemesis and you both running from the law (the Angel Police). There's a lot of humor and even some homoerotic te...