Adam Ezagouri
TheRetroCritic is a film and game reviewer specialising in all things great and retro. He runs a blog at retrocriticblog.blogspot.com and can be found ranting on Twitter @TheRetroCritic.
You know what?
I don’t think I’ve actually ever reviewed a retro racing game for 1MoreCastle thusfar, which is weird because it’s not like I never played any! I always had a few racing games lying around for every console I owned back in the day and a lot of them I still remember having a ball playing.
Hell, I even recall playing OutRun in the Arcade and loving it!
Weirdly, one of the first racing games that comes to my mind when thinking back to some I played and enjoyed during my childhood is Street Racer for the Sega Genesis.
Originally released for the SNES, it took the go-karting formula of Mario Kart and did its own thing with it, giving you a decent choice of goofy characters, each with their own unique vehicle, and allowing you to bomb and attack your opponents during the races themselves.
Some games are so wrong, they’re almost right.
Let’s talk Operation Secret Storm, shall we?
After reviewing that old classic Aladdin Genesis game, I thought I’d go the other way and find something absolutely ludicrous to play while I complete a new video review for y’all.
Thankfully, Color Dreams is something of a goldmine when it comes to off-beat unofficial NES games that should not have been but somehow were. And this little gem is certainly right up there with some of Wisdom Tree‘s (one of their spin-off companies) most misguided religious 8-bit efforts.
Told you I’d get to this one at some point.
Considering Disney’s Aladdin was one of the games I played the most on the Sega Genesis, I suppose it was kinda unavoidable.
A big fan of the movie as a kid, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one and it sure didn’t disappoint. Right away, the game had me hooked: its gorgeous visuals, its fluid animation, its clever yet goofy sense of humour, its creative, unexpected approach to some of the classic scenes from the movie, it was just everything I hoped the game would be and more. I tried the Super Nintendo version of the game around about the same time I got the Genesis one but for me there was honestly no contest: as decent as the SNES version was, Sega had already sunk its teeth into my neck and turned me into one of them.
What better way to end my Star Trek retro gaming review trilogy but with a Picard game?
Yes, this week I’ll be looking at Star Trek: The Next Generation (Future’s Past), on the Sega Genesis. And after that unreleased Star Trek V NES game, I gotta say, it’s been a breath of fresh air.
For one thing, there’s about 12,000 more things to do in this game. You can actually go around the Enterprise and get involved in every single aspect of it, whether it’s modifying settings in the engineering room…
What does God want with a starship?
Or a Star Trek V game, for that matter?
Nothing, it turns out, since that game does exist but really doesn’t, if that makes any sense.
A Star Trek V 2D platform game was indeed created for the NES but it never saw the light of day and remains mostly unfinished and only available as a bug-full rom. It was developed by Bandai to coincide with the film’s release but for some reason they decided to give up on that idea and to this day you can only play what might have been so this won’t be a full-on review just a sneak critical peak into what I’ve seen/played of the game.
The game starts with Uhura fan-dancing naked to an 8-bit rendition of William Shatner singing “Rocketman.”
I’m kidding.
The search for a fun Star Trek game to play and review was long and eventful, finally I settled on this little outing mostly due to the fact that it’s actually pretty decent and works as a kind of 4th Season for The Original Series.
The good thing about this game is that, in the CD version anyway, the original cast of the series actually voice the characters and add a certain authenticity, nostalgia and validity to the whole thing. This really does feel like you’re playing through further adventures the old gang would have undertaken.
When it comes to the Game Boy, I’m something of a purist. Although growing up squinting over those tiny colorless pixels might just be the reason why I currently wear/need glasses, I still love that unique feeling of nostalgia that occurs when I play a game on it.
When it comes to the Ghostbusters movies, however, I’m not one of those who are married to the first film and see the sequel as a dead raccoon the first film gave birth to through its ass. I love Ghostbusters II with its evil paintings, its goofy art dealers, its river of slime, its Nintendo-controlled Statue Of Liberty… what’s not to like?!
The Ghostbuster games have the unfortunate reputation of being terrible. This is mostly due to that first NES/Sega Master System release indeed being absolutely awful. But there ARE good Ghostbusters retro games out there. My favorite being Ghostbusters II on the Sega Genesis: fun, cartoonish visuals, crazy new villains, a good choice of levels you can approach in different ways, cool game overall.
Ghostbusters II on the original Game Boy, I’m happy to say, is another good one. The game begins with a cut scene showing adorably tiny Bill Murray and adorably tiny Sigourney Weaver walking around with their baby in a pram.
After looking back at the first Earthworm Jim game on the Sega Genesis for Review A Great Game Day, I thought that I might as well check out the sequel, a game I actually always found superior to the original.
Earthworm Jim 2, also on the Genesis, takes what made the first game great and just… makes it better.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the first game but I was never a huge fan of that bubble-sub water level and those mini Psy-Crow space races did get somewhat repetitive after a while. This time around, the game feels much more consistent and I recall back in the day playing it and completing it way more often than the first game just because it had a better overall flow to it. Not that it’s that much easier than the first game, it’s still quite challenging in places but you can get through the game far more smoothly than the original Earthworm Jim.
Now I’m not one to usually play AND promote Disney games but, you know what? When Disney games are good, they are sublimely good.
Take Aladdin on the Genesis for example: I played that game so much, the movie almost seemed lame in comparison after a while. And I loved the movie! Very rarely have I played a game based on an animated feature and felt it captured what made the source material great but Aladdin was spot-on.
I’ll get to that one another time, though.
In the meantime: let’s talk Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures Of Mickey Mouse.
“Greeeeetingssss” indeed.
Welcome to the weird and wacky world of obscure-Amiga-games-it’s-crazy-but-awesome-they-even-made. A world where nothing makes sense and things that shouldn’t be are but a world you can appreciate nonetheless.
Yes, there is a Plan 9 From Outer Space game based on Ed Wood’s iconic Z-list movie about plastic UFOs on strings, silent undead weirdos and cardboard plane cockpits. The game was released on the Amiga but also DOS and, being a fan of Ed Wood’s demented attempts at filmmaking, it’s one I was certainly very happy to discover.
But I was also curious: could a game based on a bad movie actually transcend the inherent silliness of the original source material and blossom into something…
Dare I say it…
Good?
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a game that I played once and it made me cry…
Not really, I just wanted that opening line to rhyme.
Anyway, let’s take a look at The Wizard Of Oz on the SNES to celebrate the release of Oz: The Great And Powerful, yet another James Franco ape-centric feature.
After taking a look at the somewhat obscure movie-sequel-turned-good-and-bad-games Predator 2, let’s get back to basics: demented arcade beat ’em ups.
More specifically: Crude Buster or… rather Two Crude Dudes.
Though born in the arcade, we’ll be looking at the Sega Genesis version of the game which bears the latter title.
Much like, say, Wolfchild, Two Crude Dudes is not only great thanks to it being a genuinely good game but also thanks to just how overall nuts it is! The plot sees two muscly dudes with silly Guile-style haircuts, U.S. mercenaries, take on a terrorist organization called “Big Valley” and reclaim a post-apocalyptic New York City.
You know how some movie sequels split audiences into two halves? With one half claiming the follow-up film is an underrated gem and the other just not going for it at all?
For example, I really enjoy the likes of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and Ghostbusters II but they’re not for everyone. When it comes to Predator 2, however, that’s one I just didn’t get back in the day…
Like, how did we get from Arnie “getting to the choppa,” having his pals get picked out one after the other in the jungle to a weird Danny Glover flick about voodoo practitioners and drug lords in the city?
Whatever, I’m not here to talk about the movie. Need to re-watch it anyway, if only for Gary Busey. No, I’m here to talk about the game!
Welcome to the party, pal.
Movie-based games very rarely achieve what they endeavor to achieve. Either they end up being rushed, cheaply made and clunky as hell or they just miss the mark completely.
Or they’re good but that’s a rarity.
Remember Ghostbusters on the NES? Sure you do, I’ve mentioned it many times before. Talk about not capturing the essence of the source material…
Howdy, partners!
Time for some good ol’ fashioned NES game reviewin’!
This week, Western-themed game Cowboy Kid takes center stage as we go back to the classic Nintendo console for more retro shenanigans leaving the Commodore 64’s shocking Psycho shlock and the weird and wonderful world of Weird Dreams far behind, for the time being.
Cowboy Kid sees you play as a gunslinger who goes from town to town on various missions. Ironically, you start off without a gun but instead walk around town stabbing anyone that comes your way.
You ever meet someone, fall in love then later find out they were possessed by some kind of demon when they attempt to poison you and transfer their evil to you through messed-up dreams which slowly kill you from within?
No?
Then that must be the plot of Commodore 64/Amiga game Weird Dreams.
Back in the day, nothing annoyed me more than games based on movies which had absolutely nothing to do with the movies they were based on. Or games which simply got everything wrong adaptation-wise.
Remember Ghostbusters on NES?
Oh sure it had some “ghost busting” in it, technically, and an ending somewhat related to the film but as a whole it was nothing short of insulting. Total Recall had cats you could punch and Jaws had you mindlessly killing stingrays for ages, fine, but they were still playable at least.
Then I start playing Psycho (aka Psycho: Arcade Quest) for the Commodore 64.
Taking a little detour from actual retro games and entering the dark and twisted realm of fan-made retro-themed games, here’s a little something I’ve been dying to talk about for some time.
Black Lodge is, believe it or not, a Twin Peaks Atari 2600 game. Or, rather, a free Atari 2600-style Twin Peaks game made recently and playable on your Mac or PC. A homage to both the classic console and the cult TV series, essentially.
I haven’t worshipped too many games in my life. Many games I’ve really liked, even loved but worshipped? Very few.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of a handful including Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Sega Saturn, the very first Tomb Raider on PC, Shenmue and of course its sequel, both on the Dreamcast. I was especially hooked by the latter and, like many other gamers out there, the second game’s ending not only blew me away but left me wanting more.
Happy New Year 1MoreCastleers!
Yes it’s 2013 and what better way to start the year than with a review of a retro game based on one of the best animated series ever made?
Well… an animated series that was… made, anyway.
We all remember Captain Planet: the so-not-subtle environmental messages, the power rings, the bizarre voice actors, that misguided AIDS episode…
Classic.
But what of the Sega Genesis game?