It was first released for the Playstation in 1996 and cast the player in the role of a Special Tactics and Rescue Service operative (understandably shortened to S.T.A.R.S. in the game). You could choose to play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine and each character had slightly different abilities and unique overlapping scenarios which made for great replay value.

You began the game in the main hall of a creepy mansion. Sent in as part of Alpha team to try and find out what happened to Bravo team (you’d think Alpha team would be sent in first but never mind). The opening of the game was beautifully done and as a gunshot rang out you got control of your chosen character for the first time. Loading screens between rooms in the map were cleverly masked by a door opening animation which served to heighten the tension as you held your breath in fear of what you might find on the other side.

I’ll never forget my first zombie encounter in Resident Evil, it was a true highlight of my gaming life. As I searched for the source of the gunshot I entered a corridor and could hear the faint crunching and squelching of someone eating. Walking slowly up the corridor the source of the sound was revealed to be the corpse of my fallen Bravo team comrade being eagerly ripped apart and eaten by a hideous zombie. As he turned toward me with blood dripping from his gaping maw I back-pedalled in horror and filled him with enough ammunition to fell an elephant, maybe even a zombie elephant.

At the time the graphics in Resident Evil were breathtaking and the zombies were skilfully modelled and animated. The game featured then unsurpassed high-poly character models, detailed textures and impressive particle and lighting effects. The fixed camera positions also made the most of the 3D environment and the artful direction helped to increase the sensation of playing through one of your favourite horror movies.

There were a number of different creatures to fight from flocks of crows to a man-eating plant and even a shark and while they helped to introduce some variation into the game-play the real stars of the show were definitely the zombies. They were the same shuffling breed of flesh eaters that featured in Romero’s classic living dead films and while they were slow moving you had to be careful not to get too close or they’d grab you and chow down.

You’d think slow moving zombies might not provide much of a challenge but the game-play mechanics were clever and had several features which increased the general level of tension. While individual zombies could be overcome or avoided quite easily you would often come across hordes of them. The combat was made more challenging by the limited ammunition available and the frighteningly slow reload and fire rate on most of your guns.

Most of the difficult choices in the game came from the limited inventory slots; your character could only hold a certain number of items although you could find chests around the mansion in which to save items for later use. Resident Evil also featured a great save system which kept you immersed in the game world. You had to collect typewriter ribbons and could only save your progress if you found a typewriter. Since the ribbons were limited you had to ration them carefully and make tactical choices about when to save.

The game-play was linear and you had to work your way through a series of connected rooms and corridors clearing up the horrors that lay within and solving the mixture of simple and irritatingly difficult puzzles that blocked your progress. It was a very challenging game made when developers were still allowed to produce games difficult enough to have you on the verge of throwing your controller at the screen in frustration, something that publishers have gradually forced out of gaming.

For all its brilliance there is no doubt Resident Evil had flaws. The worst thing about the game is the diabolical voice acting. It was originally a Japanese title called Biohazard and I don’t know where Capcom found their voice actors for the western version but they are unbelievably bad. It’s also fair to say that the script features some terrible lines of dialogue and I can only assume that something was lost in translation.

The control system was always a little awkward and while the fixed camera angles were great for heightening the horror they could be very annoying especially when you knew a zombie was lurking in wait on the next screen but couldn’t see him. There were also some frustrating puzzles and the need for careful inventory management could become tiresome after a while. Still none of the flaws were particularly serious and they certainly didn’t stop the game from enjoying massive success and spawning a series of sequels and film adaptations.

When I first played Resident Evil it was easily the scariest gaming experience I’d ever had. From the grotesque monsters and zombies to the rotting and decayed creepy mansion the game just oozed with chilling atmosphere. Survival horrors have become popular in gaming since then but I’ve yet to play anything that had the same impact on me as this enjoyable zombie-fest.

Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers 2 for the NES was my favorite childhood game. And interestingly  it was my favorite even though I didn’t understand it at all.

Why you might ask? Because it was in Chinese.  My mother bought me a chinese bootleg of this game for half a dollar.
But to be honest, there’s not much plot to this game to begin with so I don’t think I lost out on much. The real meat, the real pleasure was saved – the gameplay.

I still reminisce about the good old days when I would spend  two hours playing this game, reaching the next-to-last level and then dying, only to have to begin from the beginning.

It’s a very fond memory for me because back then I didn’t mind it at all. I considered it just a training in persistence. I think that nowadays games make it just to easy for players to play them. But I digress.

This game was made in a time  in which the fact that a game was based on a movie or a television show did not decrease it’s chances of becoming a great game. This might be partially because at that time capcom liked to do these sorts of games.

And I have to say that I have heard that the first game in this series was actually better, but at the time I only could afford one game, and so I can’t express my opinion about the other game. But I personally feel that the other reviews of this game judge it on the basis of it’s prequel and so omit the fact that this is an amazing game in of it’s own.

The game is a very enjoyable platformer in which you can pickup objects and throw them at your enemies, and in each area there’s a boss you have to defeat. The standard stuff.

But only problem that was annoying me in this game as a kid is that there are not many characters from the actual TV shows as bosses, the bosses in this game are more often than not completely different villains than the villains we got to know through the animated tv series, and since as  a child I loved the TV series to bits, that really annoyed me.

Another actual problem with this game and in all NES games in general is that you simply couldn’t save between levels. When I was a kid I very often cried because  my rodent died in the final boss battle and I had to play the game from the very beginning which got annoying after a while, but ultimately thought me the value of persistence.

In summary if you’re a fan of this classic animated television show, I would really recommend you to pick up this game and play. It’s one of the most entertaining platform games I ever played, and I have played many since then. And I am sure that the prequel (which generally gets even better reviews) is just as good if not better.

Matt Neputin spend the entirety of his seventh year on this planet on only playing this game so he knows what he’s talking about.

This article is from Hamish Smith, from The Retro Underground.

Ys (pronounced “ease”, not “wise”) the Vanished Omens is a top-down action RPG for the Sega Master System. Published by the now legendary Falcom in 1987 on a number of platforms, it would become the first in a very long running series that continues on to this day (well, in Japan at least). Most fans of the Ys series agree that the Master System version of the Vanished Omens is one of the best and that is the one I have used in this review.

In the game, you take on the role of Adol, a wanderer who has found himself in the town of Minea. Adol encounters a mystic named Sara, who tells of a great evil sweeping the land. The only way to stop this evil is by collecting the six books of Ys. So naturally Adol ventures forth to find the six volumes and save the day. It might not sound like much of a story line, but for a game released in the late 80s it was just fine.

I have never personally valued graphics over gameplay, but Ys the Vanished Omens looks really good, especially considering its age. The graphics in this game, especially the character portraits in the dialogue screens, really help to give the game a rich atmosphere. The music, while nothing amazing, adds to the overall experience as well. There have been a few remakes released over the years on various systems which update the games graphics and they do look pretty good while managing to keep the overall tone of the original, however the Master System’s 8-bit graphics have a certain kind of charm which can’t really be replicated.

What really makes Ys unique is its battle system. At first glance one could be forgiven for thinking it might play like an early Zelda game. However Adol attacks enemies simply by running into them. I’m not sure if it was intentional, or if it was made that way due to hardware limitations at the time, but the “nudge-to-death” battle system would go on to become a hallmark of the series. There is a little method to the madness, however. The damage you give and take when engaging an enemy depends on the angle at which you ram yourself into them. Hit them head on and you will do a bit of damage but also take a few to the chin. Hit them from behind and you will do even more damage. The best tactic, however, seems to be attacking and enemy from the side, so that only half of Adol’s body is colliding with whatever monster you have decided to pick a fight with. This off center “clipping” approach yields the most damage to the enemy and the least damage to Adol.

Any way you look at it, Ys the Vanished Omens is a difficult game, especially at the very start and the very end. You will probably find yourself dying all the time, but that is to be expected. The final boss is absolutely ridiculous in terms of difficulty, while at the start of the game you are almost too weak to kill anything at all. Thankfully though, the difficulty serves as challenge more than a chore. There are weapon and armor upgrades available throughout the game, along with items to   help you on your quest. The one major gripe I have is that you can only hold one of each item at once, meaning that once you use an item, you have to go all the way back to town to buy another one. It’s even worse when you find an item you already have in a treasure chest and you have to leave it there.

All things considered, Ys the Vanished Omens is a classic. As Adol you will adventure through a land filled with monsters, secrets, colourful characters, abandoned mines, mountain ranges and everything in between. I played this game for the first time a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes old console RPGs and also enjoys a challenge.

Ninja Gaiden is a long running game franchise starring Ryu Hayabusa as the main protagonist. The basis of most, if not all, of the early Ninja Gaiden games is fast-paced sidescrolling action. Thankfully the Sega Master System adaption is no exception. As far as I know this is the only Ninja Gaiden game released on the Master System, but it is also one of the best I have ever played. This version most closely resembles the NES version, in terms of gameplay at least, but all things considered it is a very different game.

Ninja Gaiden is a pretty game. It looks quite polished, if not a little basic, and the sprite animations are very fluid. It really is quite impressive for an 8bit title. The game sees Ryu battle through an ancient forest, down town Tokyo, Antarctica and even through a Japanese castle. The level backgrounds and scenery changes dramtically as you move from one stage to the next, as does the music. Many of the game’s enemies need more than one hit to take out, which ups the anti a little, but I personally found that the hardest parts of the game were the tricky platforming sections. Like most other installments in the series, Ryu can jump onto a wall, grab on to it and kind of propel himself up in the opposite direction. The game makes full use of this ability and most of the more difficult platforming challenges in the game are based around this maneuver.

The music and sound effects are adequate, but nothing to write home about. About what you would expect from an 8bit action title. In saying that, to this day I still have the back ground music from the Tokyo levels stuck in my head.

What really makes this game shine is the gameplay itself. The controls are spot on perfect, the hit detection favors neither you nor your enemies, the boss battles are varied and all require different tactics, the levels progress at good pace and there are no “cheap tricks”. I could go on all day. Ryu has a simple close range attack, his Katana, and a space for a projectile attack as well. The projectile attacks range from simple ninja stars to homing missiles, however Ryu can only have one at a time and the projectiles cost ninja points to use. Both the projectile weapons and ninja points (along with extra health and other bonuses) are found inside of scrolls which are placed throughout the levels. There is no shortage of scrolls within the game, but not all of them are useful; you may have the ass kicking homing missiles only to find a scroll containing the lowly ninja star.

I think what really sets this version apart from the NES version is that the level of difficulty is spot on. The Master System version could be called “challenging”, where as the NES version would be better described as “impossible”. Anyone who has played the NES versions knows what I am talking about. The Master System version, on the other hand, never gets too hard. There are some challenging spots for sure, and some of the bosses might take a couple of attempts to defeat, but overall it is a very well balanced game.

It’s definitely a shame that there were no more Ninja Gaiden games released for the Master System but, all things considered, were are lucky there even was one released on the console at all. This is definitely one of the better games available on the SMS and a must-play for anyone that owns one.

The game is a tough retro shooter, with amazing graphics and fantastic sound (you can read the full review here). To win this game, all you have to do is do the following:-

1. Follow @retrogarden & @r0ckmint on twitter.
2. Tweet: “I want to win #fireflyvegas by @r0ckmint from @retrogarden! - http://bit.ly/fireflyvegas – RT to Enter” (or click here to tweet it)

Entries must be received by Midnight GMT on 24^th May, with the winners contacted by that Friday. One entry per person. Good Luck!

One game that sits on the XBox Indie Game scene is FireFly Vegas, a game that is firmly entrenched in it’s retro roots.

Lets get one thing straight – this game isn’t a epic masterpiece like Mass Effect. You don’t absorb yourself in it’s complex storyline. However one thing is for sure – the game is good for a quick blast.

The game is a mixture between Robotron and Asteroids. You play a spaceship that has to shoot almost everything in sight. There are powerups that appear along the way, as well as a “jump” button (that I must admit I never managed to get work once during the time playing this review). Instead of a hyperspae as in Asteroids, protection is provide by a finite supply of smart bombs that destroy everything on screen. The controls are unbelievably solid, with the game adopting the Robotron controls of 1 control for movement and the other is for shooting. You get full 360 shooting, which is pretty solid as well, so not screaming at the telly like with Robotron.

There are two game modes – time attack, which gives you five minutes and three lives to score the highest score possible, and survival, which gives you three lives to score the highest score possible. Scores are achieved by shooting anything and collecting bonuses. Both game modes are fine, however I found that there was no differential between them, which is important, as both games were fairly tough – it was tricky to survive more than about 2 minutes in both game modes. Furthermore, with scoring being between 10-100 per target & the default high score being 500,000, it can be tricky to make a name for yourself.

If you are a glutton for punishment, there is also an expert mode, which changes the game in that instead of your ship rotating on the landscape, the landscape rotates on the ship. Both game modes are included in this mode, it works actually surprisingly well, still tough but works well.

One thing that needs to be mentioned is the game is absolutely gorgeous. Great graphics and a thumping soundtrack, this adds to the experience and really lends to it’s Robotron roots.

So in conclusion the game is pretty good for a blast, but frustrating when you play it for long periods of time. Also I’d prefer a little more differential between the “time attack” and “survival” modes, though the expert mode is actually rather fun. It’s a tough retro style game that is well worth picking up, particularly if you enjoy either Robotron or Asteroids. But be prepared to die a lot.

The game is available on XBox Live Indie Games for between $1-$3 from RockMint Games, who you can follow on Twitter here and on Facebook here.

Buy FireFly Vegas from XBox.

This Review is by Dave from Retro Gamer Japan

Movie-based games for the NES were very common, and it’s safe to say that most of them aren’t the best games you’ll ever play. The same can also be said for games based on comic book games. Combining the two genres usually spells an instant recipe for disaster. However, unlike most games, the 1989 release Batman game, based on the film of the same year, is an exception to this formula.

Developed by Sunsoft, Batman is far from a trend-setter; it is similar in style to games such as Shatterhand and Castlevania. However, Batman takes the formula established by other games and makes it its own.

Batman features one primary weapon and three sub-weapons, again similar to Castlevania. However, unlike that game, Batman has access to all three sub-weapons at any time and can rotate them by pressing Start. In addition to his primary punch attack, Batman features his standard batarang, a batarang that explodes into three rockets and, in an odd choice for Batman, a gun that shoots rockets. Each weapon can be refilled by obtaining power-ups from defeated enemies.

The remainder of the controls are decent: A jumps while B attacks. Batman was one of the first games to include a wall jump, allowing him to climb two walls that are in close proximity to each other. One slight annoyance is the delay in jumping. Before every jump, Batman crouches on the ground for half a second before jumping, which can sometimes lead to timing problems.

Like most NES games, Batman is a challenging game, often in the platforming that is required to traverse a level. Levels often scale vertically and your greatest enemy is not the enemies themselves but the placement of them; it’s not uncommon for any enemy to be placed next to a jump. While Batman does have a life bar and can survive more than one hit, you will frequently find yourself dying.

The graphics in Batman are appropriate for the subject matter. The color palette features dark colors and the characters, while presented realistically, work well. Batman himself is presented in a dark purple which allows him to stand out amongst the dark background. Characters are animated well, especially Batman. After each set of levels, you are treated to a cut scene that, while not the greatest showcase of what the NES can do, is still impressive as cut scenes were not found in most NES games. One interesting note is that when Batman is defeated, he disintegrates as flames consume him, rather than just fall over and perish; it’s always fun to watch, which is good, because you’ll be seeing it often.

The sound effects are average, but where Batman really stands out is its soundtrack. Arguably one of the best soundtracks of any NES game, every track in this game features impressive beats that you will remember long after the game is turned off.

The only difference between the NES release and the Famicom released is in the aforementioned soundtrack. The Famicom version features the same songs as the NES game, just in a different stage order.

Overall, Sunsoft did very well to bring Batman to the top of its genre using its unique graphics, great soundtrack and impressive gameplay. If you enjoy platforming games of the Castlevania variety, and are up for a good challenge, you will have no problems getting into this game.

If you like Japanese video games, check out Dave’s site: retrogamerjapan.com. He’s got a nice collection of Famicom and Super Famicom consoles and games.

Expect this to happen, a lot!

Long before 3D Sonic games were all about bad camera angles, unreliable homing attacks and Big The Cat types, their main focus was on impeccable timing and awesome music – Sonic 3D was no exception!

Before being ported to the good old Sega Saturn to join the likes of Sonic R and Sonic Jam, this legendary 3D platformer shocked the world with its isometric camera angles and diverse gameplay. Little did we know that Sonic 3D would end up proving to be one of the most challenging games in the blue hedgehog’s career!

Nodding its head to the formidable platforming elements found in Snake, Rattle and Roll, Sonic 3D was a tough cookie of a game that required a keen eye for detail and a lot of patience! Successfully landing on a single platform would involve you judging distances and keeping a close watch on our blue hero’s shadow, whilst defeating enemies required a high level of both skill and patience. This game ultimately waved goodbye to easy boss fights and put a stop to speedily making your way through linear zones.

Special stages were somewhat familiar as you were thrown into a pre-set path that involved jumping over spiky obstacles and surviving with enough rings to earn yourself a brand spanking new chaos emerald. However, entering a special stage was a whole new ball game. Instead of simply finishing a stage with 50 rings and jumping into another dimension, you would have to hunt down your two-tailed sidekick or Knuckles and deliver a requested amount of rings to them. This was a superb way of forcing you to explore each and every zone and it definitely increased the games overall play time.

Isometric camera angles at their finest

The main aim of Sonic 3D was to relentlessly seek out and destroy Robotnik’s mechanical monstrosity’s and free the poor little flickies that were trapped inside. Sound familiar? Sure, but the twist was that you couldn’t possibly progress further into the game without first rescuing all flickies in the current stage. Easy as it sounds, once you had reached Spring Stadium the games difficulty increased by ten fold as it became a quest to keep your flickies free of harm – no easy task when danger was lurking around each and every corner!

Despite Sonic 3D’s development falling in the hands of Travelers Tales, Jun Senoue’s handy work still played a part in the games final product. Equipped with two separate soundtracks, Sonic 3D was a collection of catchy mellow rythms and pumped up trance – of course this was dependant on which system you owned it on. The Sega Saturn version boasted the most impressive sounds and graphics, whilst the Mega Drive was pushed to its capabilities with memorable stage music and never before seen visuals.

Unfortunately, Sonic 3D’s reign over the platforming genre is long gone, but such an innovative masterpiece will remain in the heart of every 90’s kid for years to come. Fantastic music, challenging boss fights and plenty of exploration to be had, what’s not to love?!

The Western Release

Black Belt for the Sega Master System is a side scrolling beat ‘em up with a decidedly Japanese overtone. The game is actually a localised version of the Japanese game “Hokutou no Ken” which is known in the west as “Fist of the North Star”, which in turn is based on the manga series of the same name. However, when the game was first released way back in 1986, Fist of the North Star was virtually unknown in America and Europe, thus the need for localisation. While this game has background featuring Japanese castles and the like, the original game was actually based in post-apocalyptic urban setting. Needless to say they changed the look of the game quite a bit. Black Belt is also a very rare occurrence of reverse localisation, as the game had a western like urban theme in Japan which was changed to a traditional Japanese theme for release in the west.

The game was published in 1986 by Sega. One of the programmers of Black Belt was Yuji Naka, who would later go on to become the lead programmer of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. This game was release quite early in the Master Systems life cycle, but it still looks pretty good. One annoyance is that the game is prone to a lot of pixel “clipping” or “flickering” when there are a lot of sprites on the screen at once (which is all the time).

The core mechanics of the game remain intact. There is more kicking, punching and feet-to-the-facing than you can shake a stick at. Although the basic enemies all look the same, and shatter (I repeat, shatter) when you hit them, each stage is broken up by a couple of sub bosses. These sub bosses were actually characters from the Manga series, but not knowing who they are doesn’t really change anything.

Japanese Release

I wouldn’t exactly call this game easy. The sheer number of enemies you face at once can be staggering, and often causes physical problem within the game; sprite flickering and slow down. The sub bosses that break up the levels all have predictable patterns of attack but remain a decent challenge. The end of level bosses pose more of a challenge, as while they also follow predictable patters, your timing has to be spot-on to land a hit.

There are various power-ups available throughout the game. They come in the form of icons that fly across the top of the screen. Here is where things get a little tricky. The stock standard jump isn’t high enough to reach the power-ups that fly across the screen. You can however perform a high-jump by holding down first and then up (up on the D pad is used to jump). The problem with this is that while you are crouching and getting your timing right to nab a power-up, you are also getting your ass handed to you by the half-a-million enemies also on screen. It’s not impossible to get the power-ups, but it is a lot harder than it looks.

At the end of the day, Black Belt is a lot of fun and a decent challenge. The game doesn’t let anyone push it around, but at the same time it is not so difficult that it will make you want to give up in the face of defeat. I would recommend this game to fan of the side scrolling beat ‘em up genre, and also fans of the Manga and Anime series Fist of the North Star.

Maybe it’s infused into humanity’s DNA. The instinctual hunger for power can lay dormant for years, suddenly awakening at the most opportune moment. Some cannot satiate their appetite, with the promise of fame, fortune and glory an irresistible prospect. Unfortunately, there can only be one who holds the ultimate position of power. Only one who can be worthy of holding the Power Stone; a stone which can make your wildest dreams come true. Talk about an attractive proposition!

Power Stone was unlike anything I had ever played. Frantic, fast, hilarious and genuinely exciting; the game was a mad dash to grab enough gem stones (whilst pummelling your opponent) to transform into a powerful, near-invincible bringer of destruction. Two players battled it out in beautiful, interactive environments, littered with powerful weapons and objects which could be used to force your opponent to drop their precious stones. That’s right, you could literally be one stone away from transforming when BAM! , barrel to the face, a stone scatters and you’re suddenly staring helplessly as your opponent collects what was once yours. This back and forth gameplay created truly unpredictable counters, as you relied on your character’s combos, the environment and ultimately, the ability to efficiently collect the stones in your attempt to win.

After collecting three gem stones, which appeared randomly across the map, the transformed player had access to a long range special move and a close-range special move. If performed successfully, the character could inflict significant damage to their opponent, considerably shaping the battle in their favour. It was vitally important to judge the timing and position of your moves, as if you misjudged it or took too long (the power up only lasts for a short period of time), your character is consequently stripped of the stones, scattering them across the map.

There were ten characters to choose from and a number of different environments to compete in; my particular favourite was a delightful, Japanese garden. Each character was quirky and unique in their fighting style and appearance, with a cartoony graphical atheistic complimenting the game’s attractive qualities. The often inventive gameplay truly felt next generational, a refreshing and bold approach after the wave of 2D fighters that dominated the market. I salivate slightly when I think about how glorious Power Stone could be if placed in the hands of the right developer if it was to be recreated this or in future generations. Extremely detailed barrel to the face, scattering even more gems in a bigger wackier environment? Please make it happen Capcom! I’ve even thought of a fantastic slogan for Power Stone 3.

“Power Stone 3…Time to get Stoned!” Maybe I’ll leave it to the experts…

Power Stone and its sequel Power Stone 2 were later ported over to the PSP, providing accessible pocket power to the masses. The gameplay holds up extremely well to this day, even though the lack of modern features such as competitive online play are unfortunate.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of battling your mates in this fantastic, fighting thrill-fest then I encourage you to check it out.