Wonder Boy Collection Review (Switch)

ININ games are well versed now in the release of retro compilations. We’ve had Space Invaders, Darius, Turrican and now Wonder Boy gets the treatment. As before, this collection comes in two forms. You can go the Strickly Limited physical route and get a pretty comprehensive collection which includes more games and multiple versions of each, or this one which is far stingier in its content.

The standard Wonder Boy Collection contains four games. You get the arcade versions of the original Wonder Boy and Wonder Boy in Monster Land and the Genesis versions of Wonder Boy in Monster World and Monster World IV. The biggest and most obvious omission is Wonder Boy III: The Dragons Trap, but it is available as a separate release. Monster World IV is also available elsewhere with a recent remake, the physical version for which also includes the Genesis version and of course you can get the two arcade games as arcade releases as well. Confused? We won’t mention Monster Boy in the Cursed Kingdom or the fact the two Genesis titles were originally going to be on the Switch Mega Drive collection then.

The four games come with the usual selection of extras now expected as standard with these types of collections. That means save states, display options and the ability to remap controls. There’s also a rewind function. There’s gallery content which is a bit weird as it’s full of box art and instructions for versions of games not included but it’s nice to have.

In terms of the games themselves they hold up well. The first Wonder Boy is very different to the rest of course. Here you simply run along a route trying to avoid obstacles and throwing things to hit enemies. It’s a classic arcade style game and lacks much depth. It’s unlikely you’ll spend much time with it as it was never a massively great game in the first place.

Wonder Boy in Monster Land is where the series starts to really take shape. Despite being an arcade game it’s an adventure platformer where you can pick up armour and spells as you make your way through linear platform levels with explorations elements. It’s a really strange choice for an arcade game and the timer element seems forced but it’s great fun. Sadly, if you want the home Master System version, you’ll need to buy the more deluxe collection.

Monster World and Monster World IV see the series move to fully fledged console game adventure platformers. Both are good and will keep you occupied for a fair while. The only real complaint is that the reach of your sword is so tiny that combat can be frustrating at times. But there’s a lot to explore and find and there is enough inventiveness on show to set them aside from the Metroid’s and 2D Zelda games of the world.  

The biggest issue is who will buy this. It’s considerably cheaper than the deluxe version of course but it relies on people not having bought the three already available games or just really wanting to get hold of Wonder Boy in Monster World. The fact Wonder Boy III isn’t here is also a big issue. That said, if you have avoided all the previous releases and don’t want to go for the deluxe version then what’s here is good and provides a shot of quality retro fun for a near budget price.

Overall 7/10

Tanglewood and Xenocrisis (Evercade Review)

While the main selling point of the Evercade has been emulated collections of software, this cartridge tries something different and has grouped together two new games made for the Sega Mega Drive. The two games could not be more different either with Tanglewood being an atmospheric platformer and Xenocrisis a top down shooter. Individually the games will set you back somewhere around £15 each so to get them together for the usual Evercade cartridge price is an attractive proposition and one that we can see the Evercade using more of in the future.

Xenocrisis is a game that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. Smash TV and the Chaos Engine are the clear inspiration for one of the most intense shooters we’ve played in years. Players have to clear all monsters in a room before moving onto the next. Eventually, a boss monster will be found resulting in all hell breaking lose as you frantically avoid a storm of projectiles and roll out of the way of their often huge forms. It takes a little while to click but when it does it's pure, adrenaline fuelled gaming from the 16-bit era and it’s glorious.

There’s a basic levelling system in play as well which allows you to increase life, ammo, strength of weapons and buy extra lives by picking up dog tags from defeated enemies and rescued soldiers. It gives a reason to try and find all the secrets on each level and put yourself in danger to get hard to reach rewards and in this respect it does the job really well. We should point out that the game seemed to improve massively with the 1.3 firmware update. Before this there seemed to be a lot of missed inputs which in this type of game is pretty much fatal. Once applied though everything really stepped up a gear in terms of how the game played and was much more enjoyable.

Tanglewood is a much slower and calmer game. A puzzle platformer at heart it invokes memories of Abe’s Oddyssey, kind of. The basic premise is that you need to get your fox-like creature Nym through each stage by moving rocks, avoiding the wild life and picking up special abilities. Abilities include being able to float on air streams, slowing down time and taking control of creatures in the forest – but they only last for a limited time and require activating by rolling a little glowing creature into the correct place.

There are some rough edges here though. We found the game world felt a bit empty and the screen really could have done with being pulled back a little as it is often difficult to tell where you are jumping. Leaps of faith is one thing from the 16-bit era that we would happily leave behind. It’s also very slow in the early going and that may put some players off. Stick with it though as it does begin to come to life more after the first few levels. The whole thing looks absolutely lovely as well.

Overall, though there are only two games on this particular cartridge, this still feels like good value for money. Both games are very much worth playing and the juxtaposition between their styles means players have two very different experiences ahead of them. Both games deserve to do well on the more traditional platforms but here they serve as great evidence as to how good carefully selected indie titles can be on the Evercade.

Game Ratings

Xenocrisis 4/5

Tanglewood 4/5

Nintendo Switch Retro Roundup 1

Ikaruga

The hardcore shooter has remained pretty much the same as it ever was in its transition to Switch. There are some orientation modes but little else to distinguish it from other versions. Its colour swapping mechanic is still unique and it will always be a great game. Having it on the move is the real attraction here- just don’t smash your Switch in frustration.

Bloodstained Curse of the Moon

Preceding Ritual of the Night, Curse of the Moon is a rather brilliant homage to the classic 8-bit linear Castlevania games. Closest to Castlevania 3 in terms of mechanics it is a Castlevania game in all but name. Fans should love it and while challenging it’s not as completely unforgiving as the Konami NES games. It is Well worth a look for fans of the series.

Sonic Mania Plus

It finally took someone outside of Sega to make the Sonic game we have been wanting for years. The game is made up of remixed version of favourite stages as well as some brand new ones. The DLC is also included on the ‘Plus’ version which adds two new characters and a further remixed level mode. This is arguably the best Sonic game ever and rarely misses a beat in terms of level layout or design. Highly recommended.

Sega Megadrive Classics

The Sega Classics collection is a real mixed bag on the Switch. The biggest issue is that the Wonderboy games have been removed for no apparent reason. The Switch controls also seem very twitchy and awkward and having Sonic 3 and the Ecco the Dolphin games absent is annoying (along with a host of unlockable games from older versions of the collection). There are also a few games we can only describe charitably as ‘filler’.

The big highlight is that Treasures Mega Drive back catalogue is here with Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Light Crusader and Dynamite Headdy all present. Add in Landstalker, Ristar and many other Mega Drive classics and it still justifies purchasing – it could just have been so much more definitive and a whole lot better.

Dynamite Headdy Review (Mega Drive)

Anyone who has played a game developed by Treasure knows that the company is capable of creating some of the most ridiculous game plots. Even by Treasure’s strange standards Dynamite Headdy is utterly bizarre. Headdy’s puppet theater is under threat from the ‘Dark Demon’ who plans to take over all the puppets in the land. Furthermore, Headdy has a rival that will stop at nothing to take his place at the head of the stage, his name is ‘Trouble Bruin’. So Headdy must set off with his interchangeable head and stop both of them. We would love to meet the person responsible for these story lines, if only to ask what they where taking at the time.

Dynamite Headdy at first seems to be a standard platform adventure however, the more you play the more you realise there is a subtle genius at work within the game mechanics. First of all you attack enemies with your detachable head, which is a touch unique to say the least. That said, the main form of invention arrives in the shape of fourteen interchangeable heads that Headdy can use. As well as standard power ups giving you a stronger head, there are also more tactical heads available. For instance certain Heads act to stop time allowing the player to batter some poor creature to death without it having a chance.

Level design displays a great deal of inventiveness combined with a wide variety of different stages offering something new to the player at each turn. One level may have you having to shrink yourself in order to get through small gaps, whilst another has you moving along on a constantly tilting stage with different levels of field meaning you have to walk in and out of the screen to avoid obstacles and enemies. With the constant invention on display each new level remains fresh and a joy for the player to experience.

Graphically, Dynamite Headdy is colourful, very colourful and extremely bright (bordering) on being plain garish at times. But somehow it just seems to work, after all the game is centered around a circus run by mad puppets. Characters are animated well, though at times there is so much going on in the backgrounds of the levels it can become confusing and players may find that they lose Headdy with alarming regularity.

 In terms of how the game plays there are some problems. First of all characters do not seem to feel very solid - meaning you are never that sure if you have hit someone or not. Furthermore, when you need to grip onto something with your head the rest of your body stays rooted to the ground and this can be incredible confusing. Hitting things with your head can also be quite difficult at times, especially when dealing with monsters that have to be hit in certain spots as they always seem to be situated at an angle that you cannot make Headdy hit. Problems aside though Headdy himself moves around well and with practice most problems begin to fade away.

Dynamite Headdy is a fun title from the warped minds of Treasure and fans will find a lot to enjoy. It contains a lot of charm and inventive, timeless fun. Unfortunately, the title has not aged that well and feels a little unpolished overall. It's a good platform game, though not necessarily an essential purchase for someone starting up their Mega Drive collection.

Overall 7/10

Sonic Spinball Review (Mega Drive)

Tired of being constantly trounced on the head by our little blue friend, Robotnik takes a new approach in his ongoing struggle to cause mayhem and to generally immobilise all things cute and fluffy. The evil maestro's latest plan has seen the ovoid villain build a huge fortress in the style of a massive pinball machine - surely, Sonic should now succumb as he is bounced from pillar to post by huge flippers?

Each of the levels in Sonic Spinball is built around a pinball template. However, unlike conventionally-themed games of this nature, this perhaps became the first 'goal-based' pinball titles and also contains a few deft touches of platforming action. Specifically, the goal of each level remains in line with previous Sonic titles - that being to seize the Chaos Emeralds. Though players must now go about this in a far different way than before. 

Table design in Spinball is of an excellent standard with a great deal of imagination being poured into the different levels. Each specific area consists of multiple routes, which in turn lead to the scattered Chaos Emeralds. The tricky part is, after you lose a life all switches and levers are reset, meaning everything has to be reactivated in order to progress. This can prove frustrating, but is uniquely counterbalanced by a high level of fun, which soon wards off anxiety. Each map is a huge puzzle hybrid rather than just a simple pinball table. This helps to raise the standards of brilliance. 

Graphically, the game is not as memorable as you would like it to be, though this has more to do with limitations of the console and thus can be overlooked, especially when the game plays so well. Limited by its colour palette, the 16-bit graphics do the job well and you can clearly see everything that is meant to be seen - there is even a touch of background detail thrown in for good measure. Even more impressive is, that whilst Sonic is being thrown around the screen at a ridiculous pace, the image never blurs or slows down which means you are always in control of the little hedgehog as he remains more or less in the centre of the screen throughout. 

If there is something that does tarnish the finish a little it is the difficulty. Initially when starting a level, you will have no idea what you are meant to be doing. The player is simply expected to launch Sonic about until the direction finally clicks into place. Because of the speed you are moving at, it can sometimes be difficult to gauge what needs to be activated, while simultaneously keeping Sonic safe from harm. This coupled with the fact that when you lose a life you have to activate everything all over again (and when all your lives are expired you have to restart from level one),could lead to players giving up early on.

Overall, Sonic Spinball is an imaginative and ingenious use of the licence. It's clear the game is much more than just a cynical cash-in on the name and indeed is right up there with Sonic's more traditional adventures. Still fairly easy to acquire, anyone who is a fan of pinball games - or Sonic in general - should pick it up at the first opportunity. A timeless, playable release which speaks to the countless character-based iterations that followed (such as Kirby Pinball and Pokemon Pinball), this simply reinforces the indefatigable influence of Sonic. 

Overall 8/10

Mortal Kombat Review (Mega Drive)

Launching in 1992 amidst huge amount of hype and outrage, Midway’s Mortal Kombat went on to become a landmark title. The main selling point was of course blood in vast quantities, which set a trend for future video games. During matches the combination of punches, knives, spears and much more besides causes your opponent to shed pints of blood. 

Such oozing was on a scale never before seen and the levels of violence apparent were topped off with a brutal ‘finishing’ manoeuvre. Subzero, on reflection, was perhaps the main culprit with a move which had the Ninja removing the head of his victim with the moving spinal cord still attached. Surprisingly perhaps, Mortal Kombat was not all style over substance, as beneath the blood lay a decent (if not spectacular), game in its own right. 

As a simple one-on-one 2D fighting game, Mortal Kombat implements the usual contrived story often found in the genre. This time around the greatest warriors from earth have to face off against the creatures of ‘Outworld’ in a battle that will decide the future of the planet. A selection of seven cliched warriors range from the usual Bruce Lee rip off to more obscure characters like the God of thunder 'Raiden' and a dead Ninja from hell. 

Mortal Kombat is an American series, developed in a genre dominated by Japanese heavyweights. However, to its credit it maintains a unique flavour, partially due to the character designs. Mortal Kombat managed to set itself apart at the time of release through digitised visuals for the fights. The characters were incredibly realistic, something that stands up quite well even today- at least until they move. 

While characters are digitised the backdrops are drab by comparison and static - creating an uneasy juxtaposition between the two. Each character has sufficient animation but a few more frames whilst walking would have been appreciated, but overall it's acceptable and the blood is lavishly red. 

Blood and hype cast aside, the foundation of the game relied on a decent engine. It's certainly not up to the standards of the Street Fighter series, but good enough to avoid frustration for the player. However, matches can become a mass of projectile moves at times, as normal punches and kicks seem to lack something in the heat of battle. This over-the-top opera of violence and bizzare finishing moves set Mortal Kombat apart - even today. With the blood activated it actually helps the gameplay as when attacking everything seems to be more solid, giving the graphical illusion that punches are connecting with the other character something that was sadly lacking in the Super Nintendo version of the game. 

If there is a criticism to be found with the game it would have to be that apart from special moves the characters on offer are not dramatically different from one another. This is especially noticeable with the Ninja characters. This is only a minor gripe in a surprisingly enjoyable and playable title though. 

Overall, despite the hype, Mortal Kombat is well designed and implemented and certainly put Midway on the map. It offers a welcome experience, different from those offered by the Fatal Fury and Street Fighter series'. The inclusion blood and fatalities helps to make it really stand out from the crowd. With so many versions released on multiple platforms it is worth noting that the Mega Drive version is really the only one worth owning and is a worthy addition to any Sega owner’s collection. 

Overall 7/10

(Enter Blood Code at 'Code of the Warrior' Screen - ABACABB)

 

Story of Thor Review (Mega Drive)

Once upon a time a young prince named Ali discovered a sacred golden armlet that allowed him to control four powerful spirits. Ali must now search for another sacred armlet taken by an evil sorcerer intent on doing all sorts of nasty things to people. During this quest he must find the four spirits that the golden armlet controls- the Water Fairy, Shadow Spirit, Carnivorous Plant and Giant of Fire. With these powerful allies at his disposal Ali will be able to end the demonic ambitions of the silver armlets owner once and for all.

Set very much in the same genre as the Legend of Zelda series, the game follows much the same layout. You move around talking to villagers and fighting monsters above ground before entering a dungeon of some sort where you must solve puzzles and discover hidden objects, before facing off against some nasty monster at the end of it all. However, to say the title is simply a Zelda clone could not be further from the truth, in fact few 16 bit releases can match its identity and style.

The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis outside Europe), is presented with unique comic book graphics from a top down viewpoint. The characters and enemies are big and well animated, whilst everything is beautifully coloured. Backgrounds and Dungeons are varied in both colour and style - thereby helping to maintain interest, as enemies types are somewhat repetitive. A number of nice touches are also present within the game. 

For instance, once found Ali can summon one of four spirits to come to his aid, each one offering something different. The twist is that summoning spirits can only be achieved by finding an item that relates to it. for instance to call the fire giant you need to summon him near a burning torch or flame. Without question this adds a welcome touch of strategy to the proceedings. 

As well as the spirits you can call upon a number of weapons during your quest, ranging from swords to bombs. Each weapon only has a limited amount of uses and therefore must be used only in desperate situations. Unfortunately, the control system lets down what otherwise would be a classic title. The problem is that Ali cannot move diagonally resulting in enemies being hard to hit, as you always have to be facing or side on to them. This increases the danger of you taking damage and it also makes moving around screens extremely frustrating. After a while the action does become repetitive, and you will find yourself constantly hitting the attack button over and over trying to hit some monster that refuses to move into your field of vision. 

Overall, The Story of Thor is a game that could have been an awful lot better. While it arguably looks better than Zelda on the Super Nintendo and contains more charm in certain areas, the controls are just not flexible enough to allow you to pull off the moves you require, which leads to frustration. This is a solid adventure game for fans of the genre or anyone looking for a something a bit different, and worth hunting for, just be prepared to forgive its short comings.

7/10 

Castlevania: The New Generation Review (Mega Drive)

Set in the year 1897, this episode in the Castlevania timeline centres around the female vampire Elizabeth Bartley - executed in the 15th century for preying on around eight hundred girls in Romania. A witch named Drotia Tzuentes has now revived her, and Elizabeth's first thought is to resurrect the master of evil himself - Dracula. 

Enter John Morris, son of Kincy Morris from Bram Stoker’s story, and his good friend Eric Lecarde. Both must set out to assault Dracula’s castle and stop the world from falling into the hands of evil once more. Life is never easy in Castlevania.

Following the traditional Castlevania style, The New Generation (known as Bloodlines outside Europe), is a side-scrolling hack and slash platform adventure. John and Eric must make their way through six areas split into smaller sections while taking on the usual minions of Dracula. In the middle and end of each section our heroes must face off against a particularly nasty monster, and each seems particularly fond of filling up half of your game screen.

While John Morris dispatches the threats by utilising his trusty whip, Eric breaks with tradition of the Castlevania series to this point and wields a spear; each character and weapon playing slightly differently from each other, so the game is flexible enough to take into account players with different styles.

The world of Castlevania is resurrected well on the Mega Drive: while not being as graphically ambitious as either of the Super Nintendo outings, different environments are easily distinguishable and enemies do not disappear into the detailed backgrounds. Characters and enemies, although a tad small, are well-animated and move convincingly without flickering or dropping frames. 

Unfortunately, there aren't a great choice of enemies to be slain, with most levels containing only one or more types of land-based and flying monsters, and little else between. Not a major issue as such, because good level design compensates with a variety of obstacles that unsettle the player. 

In terms of gameplay, things are solid without being fantastic. Characters are responsive and leap about while attacking, but there just seems to be something missing. It's less noticeable with Eric Lecarde, whose spear-based attacks lend a certain flair and enthusiasm to the game - and would be expected of someone trying to save the world. 

On the other hand, John seems much less inspired. His whip can only be used to slash to the left or right while standing. This seems underexploited after Super Castlevania IV and we would have loved to see a full three hundred and sixty degree field of attack back in play. Diagonal moves are possible when jumping but it still leaves a lack of flexibility at all other times.

Castlevania: The New Generation is a competent enough adventure. Although six levels of hacking and slashing will not exactly last you a lifetime, the game is undeniably good fun to play, and the maps and monsters have clearly been commissioned with purpose. It's hard then to really pinpoint any major shortcomings with the game, outside of those mentioned above. Solid Castlevania fare, but it does nothing spectacualr to single itself out from others in the series.

7/10

ToeJam and Earl Review (Mega Drive)

ToeJam and Earl has you searching planet earth for missing parts of two funk aliens space ship. The title is set in a sort of top down free roaming environment, players can move around the level in any direction with the aim of finding a missing part of the space ship or the elevator that will lift you up to the next area. Along the way our dynamic aliens can pick up boxes scattered around the levels in order to find new gadgets and items to help you get past the many enemies and obstacles that will attempt to halt your progress.

Toejam and Earl has a very different look to other games on the Mega Drive. However, while the graphics are somewhat different they are also quite bland. Levels on the whole are made up of a few differing shades of green and brown to represent grass with either blue or black used to represent water or space. Furthermore, levels are fairly empty with a distinct lack of creatures present on most occasions which can lead to the aliens wandering around aimlessly for large periods of time.

While levels are somewhat plain individual characters and enemies are varied and imaginative. Among the enemies that you will come across are - hamsters in balls, mad hovering grannies, hula girls and stupid Cupid’s. This enemies are a nice break from the normal creatures inhabiting sixteen-bit titles at the time. The imaginative use of enemies helps to keep the game fresh for far longer than it otherwise would be, and somehow it makes the bland level textures fit the style of the game.

Playing the title is a strange affair as all the game really consists of is wandering around looking for things. Once the level is empty it's off to the elevator to move up to the next one. Our beloved aliens move around nicely, if a little slowly, and the presents help to keep play varied as you can use all manner of strange devices to negotiate each area. However, the game is very slow paced and some players will find things incredibly dull, while others will become caught up in the charming ambience of it all. It really is a game you have to be in the right mood to play and with most people it comes down to a case of ‘you either get it or you don’t’.

What does help to make the title stand out though are a few nice touches and innovations. First of all each level is randomly generated offering something a little different each time you play. Even more commendable is the fact that a two-player mode is present, which considering the free moving level design is a good achievement and a very welcome addition. Finally, of no real importance but fun none the less is the jam section of the game. Accessed from the title screen, it allows players to ‘get down with their bad selves’ by sort of free style mixing over one of the tunes from the game.

Overall, Toejam and Earl is both good and bad in equal measure. If you get to grips with the tone of it there is a lot of enjoyment to be had, however the pace and style of the game may well put off a lot of players as things are very slow at times. As a piece of gaming history it's definitely worth checking out as there is nothing else like it around and it is a nice example of originality from the sixteen-bit era. Like it or not the two funky aliens are good characters and though the most recent game (Toejam and Earl 3), was also a touch hit and miss it is a good thing the ‘bad mother Hubbard’s’ are still mixing it in today’s market.

(if you like the sound of the game but don't have a Megadrive you can find an HD remake on both Live Arcade and the Playstation Network)

Overall 7

Chiki Chiki Boys Review (Mega Drive)

With a title like Chiki Chiki Boys, deep down you realise that this is going to be a little strange. The story goes that as one night after king Chiki Chiki’s wife had given birth (to twin boys), a group of nasty creatures decide to end all the love and joy flowing throughout the land. The principality is soon home to various monsters, and the only hope is offered by the king's twins, who must now save the day. 

The game is a side scrolling platform/beat’em with the player having the option of controlling either of the boys, as they make their way through eight action packed levels. The diet of action is fairly straightforward and in classic Capcom arcade style requires the player to continuously hammer the attack button, as endless waves of enemies fly at you from every angle imaginable. 

Graphically, the title has a style filled with charm and humour. On display are huge, brightly coloured, sprites which are animated with simple, but effective movements that help to make the action seem fresh and good-natured throughout. Each of the Levels enjoys a distinctive look - with varying location themes such as being set underwater, high amidst the clouds or the more grounded earth based levels.

The enemy creatures are quite repetitive but with so many sprites on screen at once you don't really notice as you are keep hacking through the conveyor belt of monsters. At the end of each level you face the boss monster. These huge beasts possess wonderful expressions on their face when hit, often wincing from the pain or in some instances crying. Furthermore, though the screen is constantly filled, there is no visable slow down or flickering present, which is quite impressive as many other games with similar levels of detail slowdown horribly. 

 In terms of play mechanics this is classic old school style arcade action. One attack button and one jump button are complimented by the obligatory ‘magic’ attack that we have seen in Golden Axe and Shinobi just to name a few. But with thistype of game that’s all that's really needed, as the emphasis is set heavily on pure enjoyment rather than any claim to be the next big thing in gaming.

The twins move well and are extremely responsive and can attack fast enough to plough through wave after wave of monsters without taking a hit. So while not being particuarly inventive what the game does, it does well.

Overall, Chiki Chiki Boys is a great little title from the vaults of Capcom and one that remains fairly unknown to this day. For pure enjoyment this pushes all the right buttons. It may not be particularly long or hard but it really isn't and issue as you come back to it once completed. This is everything an old arcade game should be - big, colourful and fun.
  
8/10

Gunstar Heroes Video Review (Mega Drive)

A review of Treasure's excellent Gunstar heroes on the Sega Mega Drive.

ToeJam and Earl Video Review (Mega Drive)

A video review of ToeJam and Earl on the Sega Mega Drive.