There have been quite a lot of excellent 2D Mario games over history, which makes the Game Boy Super Mario Land series easy to overlook. All three Super Mario Land games, however, are stunning and unique ‘best-in-class’ examples of what the Game Boy is actually capable of – ie. shifting lots of sprites around the screen, smooth scrolling, great sounds and perfectly responsive controls.
Continue reading Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Game Boy
Released in its native Japan in 1992, and everywhere else in 1993, Landstalker is a memorable real-time action adventure in a well-defined fantasy world. The Megadrive‘s answer to Zelda, in some respects.
No Second Prize is a 3D motorbike racing game from German developer and publisher Thalion, with mouse controls and an emphasis on fun, rather than realism.
Which suits me, because realism in these games can really become a problem when all you want to do is complete one lap of the course without crashing, but can’t seem to be able to do that.
Infogrames‘ Alone In The Dark is one of the earliest survival horror games to use 3D graphics (mixed with 2D graphics), and it really broke new ground when it was first released back in 1992.
Known as Gimmick! in Japan and Mr. Gimmick everywhere else, this 1992 release was an attempt by Sunsoft to push the graphical powers of the Nintendo Entertainment System further than they’d ever been pushed before (in order to compete with the Super Nintendo, which was relatively new on the market).
In order to do this, Sunsoft used all kinds of clever programming techniques using graphical tilesets and colours, and the end result is very striking. But it wasn’t enough to compete with the newer consoles of the time and Mr. Gimmick sank without a trace, into relative obscurity.
Road Rash II (1992) is an excellent continuation of the Road Rash theme, this time with more variety (you can now kick, as well as punch and use weapons, such as bike chains), and simultaneous two-player, split-screen play.
Konami‘s Axelay is considered a cult classic among shoot ’em up fans.
First released on the Super Nintendo in 1992, Axelay cleverly mixes side-scrolling and vertically-scrolling blasting action, and also makes excellent use of the Super Nintendo‘s infamous ‘Mode 7’ scaling technique, to create a weird ‘cylindrical’ rolling effect on some of the levels.
One of the biggest-selling games on the Super Nintendo, Street Fighter II Turbo (to use its informal name), is faster and more varied than its predecessor, and also allows play of any of the four previously ‘locked’ boss characters (Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison) from the outset.
Continue reading Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super Nintendo
The spiritual successor to Smash TV (in the same way that Smash TV was the spiritual predecessor to Robotron 2084), and a brilliant overhead shooter with 360 degree blasting action.
The King of Grabs 