Released: 30 May 2012 Originally Released: 2 August 1991 Developer: M2 Original Developer: SEGA Also Available For: Arcade, GameCube, Game Gear, Master System, Mega Drive, Mobile, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Sega CD, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
The Background: Back in the mid-nineties, sidescrolling beat-‘em-ups were a popular fixture in arcades, and demanded little more than players hold right and mash buttons to take down waves of generic enemies and continually part with their hard-earned pocket money. Beat-‘em-ups were also prominent on home consoles thanks to the ports of Final Fight(Capcom, 1989) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time(Konami, 1992), so it made sense for SEGA to develop the beat-‘em-up series, Bare Knuckle Streets of Rage (SEGA, 1991 to 1994). Essentially a rip-off of the Final Fight series, Streets of Rage was the brainchild of Noriyoshi Ohba and Hiroshi Momota and stood out from others in its genre by foregoing the arcades entirely. Having previously helmed The Revenge of Shinobi (SEGA, 1989), Ohba drew fromDouble Dragon (Technōs Japan, 1987) and Starsky & Hutch (1975 to 1979) to compete with the likes of Final Fight and he and his nine other developers managed to pull the first title in the series together in just six months. Streets of Rage was incredibly popular upon release; critics praised the colourful graphics, two-player gameplay, and range of attacks offered to players and Yozo Koshiro’s soundtrack was equally lauded. Having been re-released in various compilations over the years, Streets of Rage and its sequels made it to the Xbox 360 as part of the SEGA Vintage Collection, with this version including additional modern quality of life elements such as save files, a replay feature, and bonus content.
The Plot: The once a peaceful and prosperous Wood Oak City has fallen into the hands of a crime syndicate led by the mysterious Mr. X. The Syndicate has absorbed the city’s government and even has the police department in their pocket, causing crime and violence to run rampant. Police officers Adam Hunter, Axel Stone, and Blaze Fielding decide to take matters into their own hands and take to the streets as vigilantes to put a stop to the Syndicate.
Gameplay: Streets of Rage is a 2D, sidescrolling beat-‘em-up in which players pick from one of three playable characters and battle swarms of thugs on the mean streets of Wood Oak City across eight stages (referred to as “Rounds”). You can do this either alone or alongside a second player, and the game has four difficulty settings ranging from “Easy” to “Hardest” which dictates the amount of lives and continues you have and the aggressiveness of the game’s enemies. Each Round carries a time limit that can only be extended by clearing the current wave of enemies from the screen; if you fail to do this, you’ll get a time over and lose a life, but will respawn on the same screen with the time replenished. While the game has a slow, almost plodding pace and movement can be equally sluggish, you’re given a surprising range of attack options considering you only really need to press one button to attack. By default, A throws a punch, B lets you jump, and X calls in police backup to fire a screen-clearing missile from their squad car. You can switch up these buttons to your heart’s desire in the main menu, and even activate a rapid fire option so you simply hold down your chosen attack button to make mincemeat of enemies, but the only way you can move and attack at the same time is to pull off a flying kick. There are no dash or dash attack options here but, open getting close to enemies, you can stun them with a nifty combo, grab and pummel them, hop around behind them to pull off a slam or German Suplex, and toss them across the screen and into other enemies, down holes, or send them crashing through destructible objects. Enemies can also grab and throw you, however you can fend off their buddies when they’re holding you still and eventually throw them off if you hit the buttons fast enough.
While each character controls the same, they have different attributes to make their gameplayunique.
While Adam, Axel, and Blaze all essentially play the same, each has different attributes that changes the way they play; Adam is slower, for example, while Axel has a shorter jump and Blaze has a weaker attack but is much faster and dramatically speeds up the pace of the game, so it definitely changes the way you play depending on which character you pick. With the exception of two Rounds, your only goal is to travel from the left side of the screen and to the right, taking out larger and more varied groups of enemies as you progress. Defeating enemies and snagging pick-ups will award you points; you’ll also earn bonus points at the end of each Round depending on how much time and life you have left, and you’ll gain an extra life once you reach a certain increment in your score. While you’re quite durable, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and lose a life; if you do, you’ll respawn right where you died with your specials and time replenished and even send all onscreen foes flying as a bonus, but you can’t afford to get too cocky as it’s pretty easy to burn through lives, especially on later Rounds and bosses, and then have to rely on your small stock of continues. Streets of Rage’s challenge definitely increases the further you progress; enemies become more aggressive and numerous but are also quite shy and linger just offscreen to really run down the timer. You’ll also have to deal with instant-death holes, conveyor belts, and crashing hazards, though these can all be used against your enemies as well. As is the tradition in any sidescrolling beat-’em-up worth its salt, you’ll also have to contend with a vertical elevator stage in which a small platform will rise up the outside of a skyscraper and wave upon wave of enemies will shuffle in from different floors or drop from above, though you can easily make short work of them by tossing them over the side.
Graphics and Sound: Streets of Rage features a very catchy, thumping beat of a soundtrack that really helps to make the monotony of its beat-‘em-up gameplay more appealing. Boss battles at accompanied by an ominous theme song and a congratulatory little melody plays upon completion of a Round. Characters will scream, grunt, and groan as they attack, are hurt, or die and you always know when you’ve picked up an item or earned an extra life or special thanks to an audible jingle. If you’ve played The Revenge of Shinobi before, however, you may recognise that the game’s font, heads-up display, and many of the sound effects are ripped from that game, which I always felt cheapened Streets of Rage a bit since no other Mega Drive game I’d played at the time did this unless it was a sequel or part of a franchise.
While many sounds are recycled, the game has a thumpin’ soundtrack and some impressive visuals.
Sprite work is pretty impressive here; the three protagonists and their enemies are a little small, but you can adjust the screen size in the options to make them a bit bigger (though this does pixelate them) and, when left alone, they have very minor idle animations to give them some personality. While the main story narrative is told only through text, the ending features some nice detailed sprite panels showing the trio emerging victorious, and you’re even presented with a dialogue box in the final Round of the game. Where the game really shines, though, are its locations; from the streets to the beach, a factory, and Mr. X’s penthouse suite, the environments are all very detailed and full of little things to see and graphical effects, such as enemies emerging behind shutter doors, rain, windswept rubbish, statues, and the looming lights of the city at various distances in the background. Foreground elements such as lampposts, cars, and the raging sea pop out at you, and you even end up on a boat at one point that rocks up and down from the current.
Enemies and Bosses: Unlike other beat-‘em-ups of the time, enemies don’t display their names or individual life bars when attacked; life bars are reserved only for the game’s bosses, but it won’t take more than a few hits to take out the low-level scum you encounter in the first few stages. These are made up of denim-clad thugs who sometimes wield knives, yellow-jacketed punks who grab and throw you, and karate-kick throwing martial artists who hop about the place. Very quickly, you’ll encounter more aggressive, palette-swapped versions of these enemies who carry other melee weapons, can deal more damage, and seem to recover faster after being knocked down. You’ll also come across whip-cracking dominatrixes, jugglers who dance around the screen using fire-bombs and axes as makeshift shields and projectiles (that you can, thankfully, hit with your attacks) and even buffet carts that come hurtling at you from off-screen.
Large, hard-hitting bosses await at the end of the Rounds and even reappear as regular enemies.
Seven Rounds means seven bosses to contend with but you won’t be facing any of them just once as all of them will reappear as regular enemies in later Rounds, though without life bars. The first you’ll encounter is Antonio, a large man wearing denim and carrying a razor-sharp boomerang; Antonio will linger just off-screen, circle around the area, and either toss his boomerang your way or deliver a hefty kick when up close but is undeniably the easiest of the bosses despite being the first formidable enemy of the game. The second boss, Souther, is much more difficult and starts a trend of the bosses being accompanied by a gaggle of thugs to distract and annoy you. Souther sports two sets of metal claws for hands and drifts around the screen swiping at you or unleashing a fast-paced barrage of slashes that can easily tear through your life bar, so it’s best to try and stay on the move and anticipate where he’ll be so you can pummel him with your grapple attacks. The hulking Abadede awaits you at the end of Round 3; this Ultimate Warrior rip-off lumbers in from off screen with a charge or devastating uppercut but, despite his size and strength, can easily be taken down by quickly hitting jumping kicks rather than trying to match fists with him.
Bosses are soon accompanied by a swarm of thugs to really put a crimp in your day.
At the end of Round 4’s bridge, you’ll have your first encounter with Bongo, a rotund fire-breathing man who homes in on you to try and set you ablaze. While it can be difficult to avoid his flaming breath, you also need to avoid trying to throw or suplex this guy as, in a fantastic piece of attention to detail, you’ll end up taking damage and being crushed from his hefty weight. After battling through the boat and fending off recoloured versions of Abadede, you’ll have to fight two bosses at once: Mona and Lisa, easily the laziest bosses in the game as they appear to simply be palette swaps of Blaze. These gals are also extremely slippery devils as they’ll flip all over the place, try and throw kicks at your head, and send you flying with judo throws, so it can be really tricky just trying to land a hit on them in the first place. Two Southers await you at the end of Round 6 and, while you won’t face any bosses in Round 7, you do have to endure a gauntlet of enemies on the elevator and all of the previous bosses hounding you throughout Round 8. Round 8 concludes with a showdown with Mr. X; beforehand, he’ll offer you the chance to join his cause. If you answer “Yes” in two-player mode but your friend answers “No”, you’ll have to battle each other to determine who gets to take him on. The battle against Mr. X is fraught with a never-ending slew of thugs; the big boss himself wanders back and forth, spraying bullets across the screen and trying to brain you with the butt of his rifle, but actually isn’t too tricky to take out (on “Normal” mode, at least) despite Round 8 not allowing you to use specials.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Be sure to smash everything you see in each Round, from phone booths to tyre stacks and wooden crates, as these will yield apples or roast dinners that will restore some or all of your health. Very occasionally, you’ll find a 1-up or an extra special hidden in these too, or a bag of cash and gold bars to add to your high score and edge you closer to an extra life. These destructible elements, and enemies, can also hold a variety of melee weapons, from knives to pipes and baseball bats, to stun grenades, all of which can help turn the tide in your favour by adding extra range to your attacks and hitting multiple enemies at once. You can throw knives and the grenades, limiting their usefulness, but weapons won’t break upon use; if you get hit and drop them enough times, however, they will eventually disappear from the screen and, if you miss anything, you can’t go back and get it so just grab it when you see it or it’s safe to do so (which can be easier said than done, especially if a couple of weapons or pick-ups are staked next to each other). Finally, although there are three characters to select, each with their own attacks and gameplay variants, there’s only one special move which, while useful, is a little disappointing.
Additional Features: There are four Achievements to earn in Streets of Rage, and two additional Achievements as part of playing all three games in the SEGA Vintage Collection. While two of these require separate playthroughs as Adam and Blaze alone, there are unfortunately no Achievements for playing as each character or alongside a friend, and the other two amount to simply tossing an enemy and recovering from a throw, which is a bit disappointing consider the game as multiple endings and opportunities for fun Achievements, such as crushing an enemy with a stage hazard or tossing a certain number to their deaths. This version of the game also comes with a variety of display options that allow you to set wallpapers, scan lines, and smoothing in addition to customising the controls to your liking. There’s also a jukebox that lets you listen to the game’s rockin’ beats, the ability to switch between the Japanese, European, and North American versions of the game (which seem to amount to cosmetic differences and little else, certainly no extra Achievements), and adds save states and replays to the game to make it dramatically easier. Probably the most significant additional feature is the “Trial” mode, which tasks you with achieving a high score on four different difficulty stages against a time limit or lasting out against enemies on the elevator Round (though, again, there are no Achievements to be gained from this). Finally, you can play with a friend locally and online, and the game includes at least two endings, one where you defeat Mr. X without question and a bad ending where you usurp him and become the new crime boss.
The Summary: I do enjoy me a good sidescrolling beat-‘em-up and there’s a lot to like in Streets of Rage. Without a doubt the game, and the series, is one of the Mega Drive’s most prominent titles, and yet the series is often forgotten about these days and SEGA have been uncharacteristically reserved about churning out sequels and spin-offs or even featuring Streets of Rage characters in their other titles. If I had to pick between Streets of Rage and Final Fight, however, I’d pick the latter; for a console-exclusive beat-‘em-up the game does really well, but the sprites aren’t as big and detailed and the gameplay isn’t as fluid as an arcade title. The lack of a dash function and unique specials for each character are issues as well, as is the troublesome difficulty curve, though many of the game’s more tedious aspects were obviously refined in the sequels. As a first entry, it’s pretty basic and recycling music and sound effects from The Revenge of Shinobi doesn’t really help the game stand out too much but it’s certainly not an unplayable piece of trash. This version of the game greatly improves the original experience with save states and other bonus options, though it’s disappointing that more Achievements weren’t incorporated into it to add to the replay value. Overall, this is a pretty fun little beat-‘em-up with a surprising amount of attacks, some funky music, and some decent sprite work on offer though it can’t be denied that Streets of Rage was effortlessly eclipsed by its sequel/s.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Are you a fan of the original Streets of Rage? How do you think it compares to the sequels and other beat-‘em-ups? Which of the three characters was your go-to and which of the sequels was your favourite? Did you enjoy the additional features added to this version of the game and would you like to see more from the series in the future? Which beat-‘em-up game or franchise is your favourite and why and what is it you enjoy about the genre? To share your thoughts on Streets of Rage, sign up to leave a reply below or comment on my social media and be sure to check out my other retrogame reviews!
In 1981, Shigeru Miyamoto and his team at Nintendo R&D1 created Donkey Kong, an arcade title that was not only one of the earliest examples of the platform genre but also introduced gamers everywhere to two of Nintendo’s most recognisable characters: Mario and Donkey Kong. Mario, of course, shot to super stardom but today’s a day to celebrate everyone’s favourite King Kongknock-off and to say: Happy birthday, Donkey Kong!
Released: 15 July 2020 Originally Released: 18 November 1994 Developer: Nintendo Original Developer: Rare Also Available For: Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), SNES Classic Edition
The Background: After establishing themselves in the United States with the financial and critical success of Donkey Kong (Nintendo R&D1, 1981), Nintendo then captured the home console market with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and their moustachioed mascot, Super Mario. Although Donkey Kong wasn’t completely forgotten during this time, featuring in sequels and spin-offs during the NES’s lifecycle, it was legendary British developers Rare who breathed new life into the cantankerous ape with their Donkey Kong Country series (Rare, 1994 to 1996) that pushed the SNES hardware to its limits with their revolutionary pre-rendered graphics. Rare impressed Nintendo back in the day with their ability to reverse-engineering the NES and publishing over sixty titles for the console, and by utilising Nintendo 64 workstations to produce SNES titles. Wishing to compete with SEGA’s Aladdin (Virgin Games USA, 1993), and seeing the long-dormant Donkey Kong franchise as low risk, Nintendo handed the character to Rare and they assembled a team of twelve developers (their biggest yet) to develop the title. Inspired by the level design of Super Mario Bros. 3(Nintendo R&D4, 1988), Rare sought to make the game’s levels short bursts of challenging fun that tailoured to a player’s increasing skill level. Kevin Bayliss redesigned Donkey Kong to be more muscular and cartoonish to aid with animation and Rare were given license to completely redesign Donkey Kong Jr. into a brand-new character, Diddy Kong, to act as DK’s physical opposite. Donkey Kong Country was one of the first videogames to utilise pre-rendered 3D graphics; their computers ran night and day to decompile the 3D models into traditional 2D sprites and, although physically taxing for the team, the result was the third-bestselling game on the SNES. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with the game seen as a significant benchmark in the presentation of videogames; the visuals and soundtrack have stood the test of time and the game is still heralded as a classic. Donkey Kong Countryre-established the popularity of the brand was followed by a couple of equally well-regardedsequels but has only been sporadically released on other hardware due to legal issues. Thankfully, it was later included in the SNES Classic Edition and to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers in 2020 and developers Retro Studios made the franchise relevant again with their 2.5D rebranding of this influential title.
The Plot: When the greedy King K. Rool steals his beloved banana hoard, Donkey Kong and his nephew, Diddy Kong, set out to recover them from the king’s Kremling army.
Gameplay: Donkey Kong Country is a 2D, sidescrolling action/platformer that, thanks to the benefit of its pre-rendered sprites and backgrounds, takes on a bit of a 2.5D aesthetic at times. Players take control of the titular ape, now reimagined as a tie-wearing, banana-obsessed scamp more likely to bop on a lizard’s head than toss a barrel at a plumber, but the game does support two players and offers two characters to control. You can go it alone, tagging between the brutish Donkey Kong and his nimbler nephew Diddy Kong with the A button, or play with a friend in simultaneous co-op not unlike Sonic the Hedgehog 2(SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), or take it in turns to clear levels in a competitive contest mode. Both Donkey and Diddy Kong share many of the same abilities but are physically distinct in a number of ways: B allows your Kong to jump, Y sees Donkey roll into enemies and Diddy cartwheel into them and also allows both Kongs to pick up and throw a variety of barrels. Donkey Kong is slower, a far larger target, and has a bit of a stunted jump compared to his more agile nephew, though he can slap the ground by pressing down and Y, but you’ll probably want to switch to Diddy to make getting past larger obstacles a little easier or have more control when making jumps. Both Kongs can also squeeze through small gaps and act as the game’s health system; if you have both Kongs onscreen, a hit from an enemy or obstacle won’t kill you, but it will send your partner running off, though you can call them back by finding and tossing one of the many DK barrels scattered across the game’s environments.
The Kongs can use their allies, jumping abilities, and barrels to progress through levels.
For the most part, Donkey Kong Country has you hopping across gaps (often with the aid of swinging ropes), bopping on enemies and collecting bananas. It’s not long before you’re jumping into barrels to clear greater distances and progress forwards; some of these rotate or move side to side and up and down, some automatically fire you and some are activated by a button press, with timing being key to avoiding a fall down a bottomless pit or damage from a spiky Zinger. Platforming quickly becomes trickier as the game progresses, with gaps becoming longer, requiring a roll or cartwheel into a jump for a longer jump, slanted platforms and greater hazards all testing your reaction times. Some stages require you to jump at special Stop & Go barrels to briefly light up the area or deactivate Rockkrocs so you can progress, others are set underwater and see you swimming about with no means of defending yourself unless you find one of the Kongs’ many animal friends, Enguarde. One of the most prominent stage designs are those set in the mines where you’re stuck in a runaway mine cart and must make split second decisions to jump over gaps, hazards, and from mine cart to mine cart to progress, which can be difficult with the low lighting and oncoming enemies. Level hazards soon play their part in the platforming as well, with snowy stages robbing you of your traction, Gnawties trying to crush you in giant wooden wheels, and flaming oil drums not only spitting out an endless supply of baddies but also charbroiling you when you hop to them as temporary platforms. As if falling and moving platforms didn’t make things difficult enough, there’s also a time where you’re forced to jump from a moving conveyor belt to grab fuel drums; you can’t afford to miss a single one or else your platform will fall and won’t come back so you need to make quick decisions about when to jump.
Use lighting, runaway mine carts, and animal buddies to progress and rack up those extra lives.
The game features forty levels, all accessed via a word map; between levels, you’ll automatically progress onwards into new areas, including jungles, rainforests, temples, mines, and caverns, and interact with the Kongs’ allies. Funky Kong allows you to fast travel across the island once you’ve visited at least two areas, Cranky Kong offers fourth-wall breaking advice that comes across more like bitter criticism, and Candy Kong allows you to save your progress (though you can obviously create a save state at any time using the Nintendo Switch’s menu options). The Kongs are also aided by allies within levels as well; they can ride Rambi, Enguarde, Expresso, and Winky to bash through enemies, charge through water, temporarily fly, and spring up even higher, respectively, while Squawks will light your way with a useful lantern. These buddies also act as another hit point and, if you’re hit or jump off them, you can often hop back onto them as they run around the environment, and you can use their abilities to find secret areas in each level. These lead to hordes of more bananas, balloons, or K-O-N-G letters. Collecting a hundred bananas, all four K-O-N-G letters, or a balloon awards an extra life and you’ll be stockpiling a fair amount of these without even trying, but you’ll also find golden buddy statues that will take you to bonus games where you control that animal and must collect as many bananas as possible within a time limit. This all adds to your completion percentage and injects a little gameplay variety to the title, but also encourages exploration as sometimes bananas floating just out of the way indicate a hidden barrel or tossing an explosive barrel at a wall will open up a new bonus area.
Graphics and Sound: If I’m being brutally honest, I never really thought too much of Donkey Kong Country’s visual presentation; even as a kid, seeing these pre-rendered 3D models pixelated down to 2D sprites looked a little messy and not quite as crisp as other 2D platformers of the time. However, having said that, I rarely had the chance to be hands-on with the game as a kid, or in the years since, so this is my first time actually playing it from start to finish and the visuals work really well when in motion. Donkey and Diddy Kong are full of life and personality, sporting idle animations and having distinctive movements and quirks when performing the same or similar moves. Their enemies are equally charming, sporting that exaggerated anthropomorphic quirkiness that Rare did so well back in the day, though their animations are noticeably less varied than the two protagonists. One thing I did enjoy was how clean the screen is; the heads-up display is absent until it’s actually required (appearing when you grab pick-ups or earn or lose a life), allowing you to really appreciate the variety of visuals on offer here. While you’re not going to see anything you’ve not seen in a hundred other platformers from Donkey Kong Country’s environments, the game presents them in a wholly unique way with its pre-rendered aesthetic. You’ll be swinging through jungles, jump to broken mine cart tracks in dank mines, and hopping to conveyer belts in a rusted factory all while some absolutely jamming tunes play throughout the game.
The pre-rendered graphics, while a little fuzzy, definitely add to the game’s visual appeal.
There are some opportunities for exploration and experimentation (try charging walls when on Rambi or jumping to bananas up above on Winky) and the game does a fairly decent job of recycling its level tropes with new hazards and such, like having Croctopi chase after you in later underwater sections rather than just spinning around or having you bounce on tyres on moving platforms to cross gaps and gain the extra height needed to avoiding enemies and obstacles. Even better, the game’s locations are bolstered by some environment effects; day turns to night, jungles are battered by thunder, lightning and rain, the frozen mountains become swamped by blizzards, and the mines and caves are seeped in low lighting. Often, there’s no lighting at all, with your sprites being the only things being visible onscreen until you free Squawks or activate a light-up barrel, and the use of lighting and foreground objects really helps to add to the tension when trying to avoid slipping off the edge of a platform and jump to another. Although the game is light on cutscenes, they story is effectively told using dialogue strings between the Kongs and their allies, though the focus here is very much on dropping you into the next action-orientated area to take on an ever-escalating challenge rather than trying to overcomplicate the simple plot. All you need to know is that the banana hoard has been stolen and Cranky is better than you.
Enemies and Bosses: Donkey and Diddy Kong will face a number of King K. Rool’s most disposable pawns in their quest, from regular Kremlings like the Kritters to their more jumper variants, to voracious little crocodiles, sharks, and slippery snakes. Wasp-like Zingers will often be found hovering around in mid-air, usually surrounding a platform or a barrel you need to blast to; larger enemies will prove difficult for Diddy to take out without a barrel so you might want to switch to Donkey Kong if you’re having trouble, and orangutans will incessantly throw barrels at you in a fun call-back to the original Donkey Kong. Spiked wheels, hungry fish, and vultures will also cause a headache, especially the latter as you’re often asked to fire your Kong/s at a flock of vultures to bounce off them and reach out of the way platforms, which can be tricky to do as if you hold the directional pad for too long you could overshoot and if you don’t hold it long enough then you’ll undershoot.
While Queen B. stands out, the repeats of Gnawty and Necky were disappointing to see.
Each area of Donkey Kong Country houses a boss battle; victory against one of King K. Rool’s elite earns the Kongs a large, Nintendo-branded banana and allows them to progress onwards to the next area but, while you’ll fight seven bosses in the game, only three of them are unique and the others are, disappointingly, reskins and repeats of each other. The first boss you’ll take on is Very Gnawty, a giant beaver who hops about in a cavern full of the Kongs’ bananas; with each hit he takes, his jumps get a little faster, but it doesn’t take much at all to put him down. It’s thus disappointing when this same boss is repeated for the fourth battle, even though Really Gnawty jumps much higher and is noticeably much more aggressive in his attack patterns. The second boss you’ll fight is the Master Necky, a huge vulture who pops his head in from the left or right side of the screen to spit bouncy coconuts at you; thankfully, there’s a tyre conveniently placed in the centre of the boss room that you can use to avoid his projectiles and hop onto his head. This boss is recycled for the penultimate boss battle as well; again, Master Necky Snr. might have a different colour palette and be a bit more aggressive, but he’s essentially the same boss battle, which I can’t help but be a little let down by considering how good the game is otherwise. Thankfully, Queen B. mixes things up a little bit; this gigantic Zinger flies around the arena in a specific pattern, immune to all attacks except a barrel to the face. However, she becomes temporarily invulnerable and hyper aggressive after each hit, so you’ll need to position yourself in the right place to avoid her erratic swoops.
While Dumb Dum destroys itself, King K. Rool tricks you into thinking you’ve won…
Dumb Drum also stands out as a unique boss battle; a giant, sentient drum, this guy tries to crush you from above and spits out a number of enemies into the area that you’ll need to take out. You can’t damage Dumb Drum no matter how hard you try; you simply have to outlast it and it’ll take itself out from ramming the ground once too often. Finally, you’ll confront the Kongs’ mortal enemy, King K. Rool, onboard his pirate ship, which stands as the final area of the game. King K. Rool has two methods of attack; first, he’ll run from one side of the screen to the other and try to charge into you, then he stands on one side and tosses his crown at you as a projectile. When he does this, it leaves him vulnerable to attack so you can jump on his head and, after a few hits, he’ll fold like paper and the credits will roll. Well, the “kredits”, at least, and it turns out that this is a fake-out as King K. Rool pops back up for another round. This time, his charge is much faster, and he also causes bouncing cannonballs to rain down from above, which can be difficult to avoid unless you make use of Diddy’s smaller hit box. Otherwise, your strategy remains the same; jump over him, avoid his projectiles and hazards, and hop on his head until he’s done in for good and you get to enjoy the real credits sequence (and Cranky’s embittered criticism of your performance).
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Your primary power-up in Donkey Kong Country will be those DK barrels; you’ll want to break these open every chance you get to have both Kongs at your disposal and stave off a death from your next hit but be sure to not accidentally break them if you don’t need them. Star-branded barrels acts as checkpoints and a number of other barrels (wooden, metal, and TNT ones) can be thrown as projectiles to take out one or a whole group of baddies in single throw. Otherwise, you’ll want to collect every banana you see and hunt down those K-O-N-G letters and red balloons to rack up some extra lives and keep an eye out for golden buddy statues or hidden rooms where you can earn more of them to access bonus stages. Finally, of course, there are the buddies themselves, with Enguarde being especially useful to making navigating those maze-like coral reefs that much easier.
Additional Features: The ending you get (or, at least, the feedback you get from Cranky Kong) is directly tied to how many of the game’s secrets you uncover; this includes finding all of the K-O-N-G letters, hidden rooms, and bonus areas, all of which adds to the completion percentage seen on your save file. However, while you’re free to revisit and replay every level in the game and try to find every secret, it’s not actually necessary and you don’t get anything for it except for bragging rights. Thankfully, the Nintendo Switch Online version of the game allows you to make use of the save state and rewind features to make playing this game a breeze; now, if you make a mistake, you can just rewind or reload your game and try again, which is a God send in some of the game’s trickier sections.
The Summary: It’s always exciting for me, a childhood SEGA boy, to finally play classic Nintendo titles. I’ve always had a fascination with the SNES and love to get my hands on the system’s most famous games whenever I can, and a full playthrough of Donkey Kong Country has been a long time coming for me. Despite my apprehension concerning the graphical style, the game holds up really well; environments pop through some fun and unexpected weather and lighting effects and Donkey and Diddy Kong never fail to impress when they’re onscreen, controlling and animating beautifully. Enemy and hazard placement becomes increasingly challenging, but not impossible, and I liked how many of the levels were short, sharp bursts of action that tested your reaction times. I can’t imagine playing the game on the original hardware without the aid of save states or the rewind feature, however, as I think it would’ve become quite frustrating quite quickly even though the game dishes out the extra lives like they’re going out of business. It’s a little disappointing that the game didn’t do more with its levels and bosses; repeating boss battles is always as much of a let down for me as a boss gauntlet, but I enjoyed the addition of ridable animal buddies, the hidden secrets and bonus rooms, and that trademark Rare humour that pushes you to find everything. In the end, I can see why Donkey Kong Country is so beloved; I’ve definitely played better 2D platformers but there’s so much more happening here than the unique visual style and it’s easily one of the best, basic platforming adventures of the 16-bit era.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
What did you think to Donkey Kong Country? Did you own the game for the SNES as a kid and, if so, were you surprised by Donkey Kong’s dramatic visual overhaul? Did you find all of the game’s secrets and bonus rooms? Which of the animal buddies was your favourite to control and did you favour Donkey or Diddy Kong when playing? Were you disappointed that the boss battles weren’t more diverse and what did you think to the fake-out ending? Which of the Donkey Kong Country games is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Donkey Kong’s anniversary this year? Whatever your thoughts on Donkey KongCountry, leave them below or share them on my social media.
Released: 15 April 2010 Originally Released: 25 November 1989 (Final Fight) / 25 July 1990 (Magic Sword) Developer: Proper Games Original Developer: Capcom Also Available For: PlayStation 3 (This version); Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, Commodore 64, CPS Changer, Game Boy Advance, Java ME, Mega-CD, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, SEGA Mega Drive Mini II, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), X68000, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, ZX Spectrum (Original, Ports and Re-Releases)
The Background: The arcade scene was in a boom period during the late-eighties and early-nineties; coin-operated machines stole weekends and pocket money away from an entire generation as they frantically went head-to-head and traded secrets in the playgrounds. For me, two of the biggest names in arcade gaming were Konami and Capcom, both of which produced many of the most celebrated fighters and beat-‘em-ups of the era. Designed by Akira Nishitani and initially planned as a sequel to the modest arcade hitStreet Fighter (Capcom, 1987), Final Fight was redesigned with an original premise and characters and took many thematic and narrative cues from movies. Despite switching from a one-on-one fighter to a sidescrolling brawler, Final Fight was a huge hit in arcades across the globe; although concessions and revisions had to be made for the home console release, these ports were also highlypraised and the game spawned not only a number of sequels but was also absorbed into the Street Fighter canon. Although arguably far less well known, Magic Sword was also a popular arcade title; though the home console port was criticised, Magic Sword lived again when it was included alongside the more influential Final Fight in this digital bundle that included a host of additional features and even received an Xbox 360-exclusive physical release alongside some of Capcom’s other digital titles.
The Plot: Crime runs rampant in Final Fight’s Metro City; Mayor Mike Haggar, a former pro wrestler, is forced to recruit expert fighters and martial artists Cody Travers and Guy when the Mad Gear Gang kidnaps his daughter, Jessica, as an intimidation tactic. Meanwhile, the world of Magic Sword is threatened by the dark lord Drokmar and only the Brave One and his allies have a hope of opposing him by scaling Drokmar’s hazardous fifty-floor tower, the Dragon Keep.
Gameplay: It’s tough to get much better for pure, classic sidescrolling beat-‘em-up action than Final Fight and I say that as someone who’s never even played the game out in the wild; my experiences have all been through emulations and ports such as this collection, which I first owned on the PlayStation 3, and yet everything about Final Fight so perfectly encapsulates this genre of arcade game for me. A lot of that is due to the game setting many of the standards that its successors would build upon and improving upon the gameplay of its predecessors, making for a much faster and more action-packed experience than the comparatively slow and clunky Double Dragon (Technōs Japan, 1987). This simplicity is echoed in the controls; X and Y see you attack with a few punches and kicks that, upon landing, turn into a surprisingly complex and lengthy combination of attacks, and A and B let you jump. You can, of course, perform jumping attacks such as a flying kick when up high and a knee strike when in mid-air, and pressing an attack and a jump button together sees you perform a super attack at the cost of some health. There’s no dash function, unfortunately, but the game’s pretty brisk so you don’t really need it; you can alsograb and toss enemies to wipe out others when you attack up close and you can pick up and use a variety of weapons you find strewn over the streets.
Fight alongside a friend to bring law to the lawless with fun combos and special moves.
Final Fight can be played alone or alongside one other friend, either locally or online; players can pick from three characters – Guy, Cody, and Haggar – and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Guy (my preferred choice) is a bit faster, throws short jabs and a lot of kicks, and seems to be a little weaker; Cody is much more of an all-rounder in comparison, and Haggar is a slow, powerful brute of a man who sends foes crashing to the ground with devastating wrestling moves. Your goal, as ever in this genre, is to get from the left side of the screen to the right, pummelling enemies and collecting loot for points as you go; you’ll also be battling a timer that counts down at the top of the screen, though the pacing of the game is such that you’re never dawdling in one area for too long. The game is made up of six stages (referred to as “Rounds”), with each one comprised of a number of screens to add some visual variety and onscreen hazards to watch out for; plumes of fire, Molotov cocktails, and “granades” will set you alight and rolling barrels will send you flying but, on the plus side, these hazards will also damage your foes. Naturally, there’s a section where you’re confined to a rising elevator and must battle enemies as they drop in; you’ll also be forced into a caged ring to battle a couple of the game’s tougher enemies, though you can take advantage of the nearby weapons to even the odds in both cases. Finally, there are two bonus stages to break up the action and rack up some extra points; the first sees you kicking the shit out of some poor dude’s car and the second has you smashing glass panels. The time limit is quite strict for both, but I particularly struggled with the latter; the panels simply rotated when I hit them and wouldn’t break so I’m not sure what I did wrong there. Although there’s no end of level scoreboard or anything, you’ll want to smash up crates, phone booths, and barrels to grab loot as you can earn yourself an extra life with enough points. You also get to enter your name on the high score table and upload your score to the online leaderboards, so you’ll want to get as many points as possible if that sort of thing is important to you.
Team up with AI allies to tackle fifty floors of medieval madness!
Although Magic Sword features the same basic controls and the premise of getting from one side of the screen to the other, the gameplay is quite different. X and Y still allow you to attack but a meter also allows you to unleash a magical projectile and you can of course attack while jumping with A and B or whilst crouching and press attack and jump together for a screen-clearing magic attack, again at the cost of some health. Magic Sword is like a more action-orientated and chaotic version of Ghosts ‘n Goblins (Capcom, 1985); though one hit won’t kill you, you are beset by an endless, constantly respawning swarm of medieval and fantasy enemies and asked to crack open chests for keys, loot, and the occasional power-up or hazard. Drokmar’s tower is full of locked doors generally holding an ally prisoner; freeing them sees them join your quest and there’s a decent variety of AI-controlled partners to follow you about, from spear-throwing knights, to winged gargoyles, wizards, and ninjas. They have their own life bar and unique attacks and will be replaced with whoever you free next, so if you find one you like it’s best to not open every door you come across (especially as some hide enemies). An ally will also join your side after you enter a credit to continue and they’ll often drop loot and health after you free them. A second player can also join in the fight, though they’re basically a palette swap; AI partners will also unleash stronger attacks depending on how full your magic meter is, and you can acquire items to provide temporary buffs. There’s also a basic level-up system; I didn’t pay that much attention to it but you are awarded a new sword after every boss, changing the appearance of your blade and the projectile it fires (replacing it with flames or lightning, for example), and you’ll grow in levels as you progress but I’m not sure how as I was too busy focusing on the action. Gameplay is more basic than Final Fight but also far more hectic; this is a game designed to eat up your pocket money as there’s so much danger happening all around you, but the levels are nice short, bite-sized chunks of action so there’s definitely an addictive element as you want to keep getting higher and higher.
Graphics and Sound: Of the two, Final Fight is definitely the graphically superior; sure, there’s more happening at any one time in Magic Sword and the game’s faster and has more visual appeal thanks to its fantasy aesthetic, but Final Fight favours quality over quantity. Magic Sword’s sprites aren’t onscreen for very long to have many frames of animation and the avatars are required simply to perform basic functions so, while they look great, they’re not exactly the most detailed, especially compared to Final Fight. Guy, Cody, and Haggar all have very distinct visual identities that tell you everything you need to know about how they play and fight just by looking at them; Cody might be extremely basic compared to the hulking Haggar and skilled Guy but the range of animation in his combos is impressive for such a simplistic game. Both games feature some very appropriate and bopping tunes, though again I favour Final Fight’s as the soundtrack perfectly matches the beat-‘em-up gameplay and switches mid-level, too, though that’s not to say that Magic Sword’s fantasy-themed soundtrack isn’t suitably appropriate, just that it’s easy to dismiss when you’re ploughing through floors so quickly. Both games utilise large sprite art and text/dialogue to tell their story, but only Final Fight sees your characters strapped to a chair before a stick of dynamite if they run out of lives and includes them walking back through the previous stages as the credits play (though I still don’t get why Guy attacks Cody at the end…) There’s essentially at least fifty rooms to Magic Sword; many don’t look much different but are still unique enough and contain hazards such as falling axes, flaming pits, damaging water, and deadly spikes. A helpful compass, of sorts, at the top of the screen shows you whether you need to go right or, shock of shocks, left towards the nearest exit; though there’s no onscreen timer and most floors are pretty short, there are a lot of enemies onscreen and a timer will appear if you dawdle.
Both games have fantastic presentation.
While there’s a fair amount of depth and attempt at variety in Magic Sword’s environments, there’s no getting around the fact that you’re stuck inside a stone tower for the entire game save for the start, where you battle through a village, parts where you’re on the outside of the structure, and the finale, where you face Drokmar in a surreal, cosmic room. Some rooms feature an impressive shimmering heat effect to sell the notion of the boiling hot flames, others are overrun by vegetation or have strange Lovecraftian monstrosities in the background, and others have more of an Aztec/Egyptian flavour to them, but most are simply palette swaps of the same stone blocks and platforms. It works because each floor is so brief but there’s only so much you can do with that aesthetic; the developers could have leaned more into the elemental themes for a few floors, had some take place underwater or completely in forests, but that would probably be a bit out of place in a stone tower so you have to settle for crashing waterfalls, flame pits, and what looks like blood rapids here and there. By contrast, there’s quite a lot of visual variety in Final Fight; ironically, you spend more time on the city streets than in SEGA’s home console counterpart and will battle through the desolate slums, the subway (complete with flickering lights and moving subway train), a busy and dangerous factory, a construction site, and the elaborate inner sanctum of Belger, head of the Mad Gear Gang. There’s always something happening in the background, from barking dogs to enemies emerging from doorways to graffiti on broken toilet doors and chandeliers dropping from the ceiling. It’s a far more urban aesthetic, to be sure, and one that has been done to death in the genre, but it really works here thanks to the multiple transitions to different areas in each Round.
Enemies and Bosses: Every scumbag and roided-up thug in Metro City is out to get you in Final Fight; each one has their own name (many of them being named after rockstars like “Axl” and “Slash” and “Poison”) and life bar, with some defeated in a couple of hits and others taking a bit more punishment. The basic skinheads and punks aren’t much of an issue, but they’re often accompanied by more skilled fighters who stab and toss knives at you, annoying buggers who quickly appear just to toss Molotov cocktails, cartwheeling hookers who hit you with flipping kicks, and larger thugs who have an annoying tendency to guard against your attacks. You’ll also face larger, more rotund enemies who charge at you from off screen, though you can still toss these with ease, and members of the “Andore” family; these hulking brutes have all the grace, finesse, and power of the late wrestling legend André the Giant and will charge at you with a body strike, effortlessly toss you aside with their meaty hands, and often spam a jump splash to easily drain your health bar. In Magic Sword, Drokmar’s forces encompass a wide spectrum of supernatural and fantastical foes, most of whom are defeated in a single hit: lizard-like gargoyles fly about throwing spears at you, skeletons attack with swords, wizards cause rocks to fall, summon lightning, or surround themselves with flame-spitting skulls while teleporting about, bats, poisonous rats (who temporarily keep you from attacking), and Mummies are all over, as are elemental dragon-type enemies who leap out of fire and water alike. Wandering spirits, mace-wielding ogres, raging bears, and large stone golems also inhabit the near-endless tower, as do strange rock monsters modelled after the Easter Island heads and little dragons who flutter about the place. Unlike the enemies in Final Fight, who can be “shy” and stay offscreen, Magic Sword’s charge at you head-on and never stop coming; you also will need to be wary of your partner in Final Fight as friendly fire cannot be disabled, unlike in Magic Sword where co-operation is often key to survival.
Three of Final Fight‘s bosses can be tough customers to take on, especially with a friend!
Six Rounds means six bosses to contend with in Final Fight, though you will have to face two (or three in two-player mode) Andores at once in a cage halfway through Round 3. Each boss except for one is joined by a slew of regular enemies but this can actually be beneficial as you can toss them into the boss to do some much-needed damage. The first boss, Damnd, is the only one who actively calls for reinforcements with a wolf’s whistle, briefly taking a powder from the action to do so. Apart from his flipping about and the usual tendency of this game’s bosses to just tank through your attacks, he’s not especially difficult to beat down but the fight can drag a bit with him hopping away for a breather. After fighting through the subway, you’ll end up in an underground fighting ring where you’ll face the far tougher Sodom; this hulking armoured samurai wields two katana that he slashes at you. Though you can disarm him and use them against him, be sure to jump away (or in for an attack) after doing so or knocking him down as he has a pretty annoying dash attack that can be hard to dodge. Next, you fight Edi. E, a rotund police officer who looks like a reject from the Village People and who beats you senseless with his truncheon when up close and fires bullets from the hip from a distance. Probably the most annoying boss is Rolento, a super-fast military man who jumps and rushes all over the place, leaping at you with a diving kick and raining “granades” all over the arena. He also whacks you with his little stick-thing when up close and can be a real pain to land a decent hit or combo on due to his incredible speed. Battling Round 5’s Abigail isn’t all that different to fighting an Andore, making him the most disappointing boss; he does have the biggest life bar of any enemy you’ve faced up until the point, though. Finally, after battling through a gauntlet of the game’s enemies in his elaborate headquarters, you’ll get to fight Belger; oddly, he starts the fight in a wheelchair and with Jessica held hostage, though this is soon destroyed by your attacks. Belger will wander and jump about firing and raining arrows with his crossbow; luckily, you can hit these out of the air and he’s not too difficult to defeat as long as you can keep up with him and stave off the endless hoards.
While you’ll face a lot of repeating bosses in Magic Sword, Lord Drokmar poses a real challenge.
Although Drokmar’s tower boasts fifty floors, there are only eight bosses to face and you’ll battle two of them three times each, just with slightly different palette swaps and attack patterns. The first of these is Quimyra, a Chimera-like creature sporting three heads (a dragon, a lion, and a ram), wings, and hooves. While the Skull and Queen variants (who are referred to as Chimeras) are surrounded by skulls, the first one isn’t, and the battle goes pretty much the same for all three save for the arena differences (with spike pits and other enemies and hazards occurring in later bouts) and the Chimeras being capable of spitting fireballs in addition to relentlessly pouncing at you. You’ll also face three different dragons: the first, the Gold Dragon, swoops about an elaborate throne room shooting lightning while you’ll have to battle the Emerald variant without the aid of platforms and a weaker version even appears mid-way through one floor of the tower. The final dragon is actually a blue, two-headed hydra; it attacks in very much the same way, though in an ominous cathedral and with added speed and a swirling fire attack. Aside from these reskins, you’ll also have to contend with two Celestial Serpents; these monstrous, skeletal worms snake out from an asteroid in the background and can be tricky to dodge as they’re so big, but they share the same health bar and have no projectile attacks so they’re technically the game’s easiest bosses. Finally, at the end of the game, you’ll face the demonic Lord Drokmar himself; this vile demon floats around the swirling arena blasting lightning bolts from orbs and his hands to create walls of flames. His attacks only increase as you do damage, with him adding wheels of flame to his attacks, but once you defeat him he’ll offer you the chance to take his place as the King of Evil or bring peace to the land by destroying his magical Dark Orb. What you choose to do is entirely up to you…
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Compared to Magic Sword, Final Fight is a little lacking in this area; both games see you picking up loot (gold, jewels, and the like) for points and various food items (roasts, fruit, and such) to replenish your health but only Magic Sword sees you acquire useful items from chests that can aid your journey. The King’s Crown will increase your ability to take damage, the gauntlet increases your attack power, the crystal ball allows hidden chests to appear faintly visible, and the diamond ring allows you to befriend certain enemies, among other useful buffs. You can also acquire additional shields from chests and will be awarded new swords from boss battles that change the nature of your projectile attack, though be warned as these can both be sent flying out of your hands by certain enemies and attacks. Some chests contain hazards, but others also destroy all onscreen enemies, so there can be a degree of chance at work whenever you open a chest. In Final Fight, you’re limited to your individual character’s special attack and the weapons you can use against your foes; you’ll find knives, pipes, and swords all over the place, all of which are great for some crowd control but be careful not to stand over a pile of them or you’ll leave yourself wide open for an attack as you endlessly swap or pick up weapons.
Additional Features: There are twelve Achievements up for grabs in Final Fight: Double Impact; five for Final Fight, six for Magic Sword, and one tied to both games. You’ll earn Achievements for beating Final Fight as all three characters, for finishing all Rounds in co-op, and for between every level using less than eighteen continues. This latter is true for Magic Sword, where you’ll also earn some G for completing all levels (which you might need another run at as it’s possible to find secret exits and skip a floor or two), finishing any level without being hit or using your magic, and for seeing both endings, all of which are more than do-able. The last Achievement involves unlocking all of the concept art and bonuses in the game’s “Vault”; this is achieved by competing a number of in-game challenges for each title, such as finishing levels in a certain time or with certain characters or within a set number of lives. This is where Final Fight: Double Impact’s true challenge lies as some of these can be very demanding, but it’s fun seeing them pop up (even if they can obscure the gameplay) and looking through the concept art and such. Also on offer in this version are save states (though these are somewhat limited; once you finish a game, you cannot replay that save and they only save from the last checkpoint, usually the start of a level, rather than literally where you were when you saved the game), display and border options, leaderboards, and the ability to pick between the remastered and original music. I have to say I really dig the menu interface for these options, which is done up like an arcade cabinet, and there is an option in Magic Sword to start from certain floors to help with those challenges and Achievements.
The Summary: Even now, years after I first played this collection on the PlayStation 3, I’m a little confused by it; why did Capcom pair Final Fight with Magic Sword and not, say, the other two Final Fight games? Don’t get me wrong, it adds some variety to the package but it’s a bit of an odd pairing, to say the least. Still, the number of options and unlockable bonuses on offer make this an attractive collection; the in-game challenges add a nice bit of replay incentive and the Achievements are largely nice and easy to earn, but all of that pales in comparison to the gameplay. For me, Final Fight set the standard for what an arcade beat-‘em-up should be; three distinct characters, an urban environment filled with disposable goons, bigger, tougher bosses, and some fun bonus stages to break up the action. It’s not too short and not so long that it outstays its welcome; it may be missing a dash attack, but the combo animations, super moves, and weapons are all the template for the genre, to say nothing of the thumping techno-rock soundtrack and large, detailed sprites. And then you get Magic Sword as a bonus, an addictive if quickly repetitive sword-and-sorcery adventure that stands out from similar games with its AI allies, basic level-up system, and floor-based mechanics. These would also crop up in other arcade titles, from Capcom and by others, but they’re implemented well here, even if the title’s not as memorable as Final Fight. Ultimately, fans of classic, 2D sidescrolling brawlers from the arcade heyday should find a lot to enjoy from this double pack and I certainly found it to be hugely enjoyable, mainly because of the simple and impactful gameplay of Final Fight, and it’s a shame that this particular version of the game isn’t as easily accessible any more, but thankfully Final Fight is still out there to play and you should absolutely seek it out if you get the chance.
Final Fight Rating:
Magic Sword Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Fantastic
Pretty Good
Have you ever played Final Fight: Double Impact? How do you think it compares to other versions of Final Fight, and which of those versions do you have the most experience with? Which character was your go-to in Final Fight and which of Magic Sword’s allies did you prefer to fight alongside? Did you struggle with any of the bosses and levels in either game and, if so, which ones? Were you able to unlock everything in the game’s Vault? Why do you think these two were paired together for this collection and would you like to see more arcade titles re-released for modern consoles? What’s your favourite beat-‘em-up videogame from this era of gaming? To share your thoughts on Final Fight and Magic Sword, pop down to the comments or leave a reply on my social media and be sure to check out my reviews of SEGA’s answer to Final Fight next week.
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on this day back in 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon and, in keeping with tradition, I have been dedicating the entire month to celebrating SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: 14 November 2006 Developer: Sonic Team Also Available For: PlayStation 3
The Background: It always surprises me how often I see people online touting the myth that Sonic the Hedgehog (henceforth Sonic ’06) is some under-rated classic and worthy of your time and attention but this really isn’t the case. As a life-long Sonic fan, I first played it on the PlayStation 3 and, while I enjoyed the cutscenes and the soundtrack, I was unimpressed with the many glitches, load times, and dreadful gameplay experience and haven’t returned to it since finishing the main campaigns some seventeen years ago. Sonic ’06’s development is an interesting story; intended to celebrate the franchise’s fifteenth anniversary, Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka was eager to reinvent Sonic for the then-current generation of high-definition consoles and even had the game take the simple title of Sonic the Hedgehog to indicate its status as a series reboot (despite its numerous narrative ties to previous Sonic games). Tools like the Havok engine allowed the developers to use new lighting options, a day and night system, and craft a far more realistic setting for Sonic and his friends, who were redesigned to better fit in with this aesthetic. Two characters whose gameplay greatly benefitted from the Havok physics engine were Shadow the Hedgehog, who was able to drive and pilot a variety of vehicles, and newcomer Silver the Hedgehog, whose telekinetic powers gave him more options for interacting with the environments. It wasn’t long, however, before Sonic ’06 ran into problems; Naka left the project, and Sonic Team, to form his own company, developing the cutscenes proved problematic, and the development team was split in two to develop a concurrent Nintendo Wii-exclusive Sonic title. Despite impressing with some pre-release footage, Sonic ’06 was met with universal derision upon release; while the graphics and music were seen as somewhat impressive, the level design and camera were heavily criticised, as was the awkward romance between Sonic and Princess Elise, and the game is generally seen as the worst in the franchise. Although it received a fair amount of downloadable content (DLC) following its release, Sonic ’06 was one of many sub-par Sonic games de-listed from online marketplaces for the longest time, and SEGA scrambled to make good on their next mainline Sonic title, which was the shot in the arm the franchise desperately needed after this travesty of a game.
The Plot: Doctor Eggman kidnaps Princess Elise of Soleanna to harness the destructive “Flames of Disaster” within her, and only Sonic the Hedgehog can save her from his clutches. However, his quest is obstructed by the mysterious Silver the Hedgehog, who has travelled back in time to stop a disaster he believes Sonic causes, while Shadow the Hedgehog works to uncover the truth behind the evil spirit Mephiles, who has stolen his form.
Gameplay: Sonic ’06 is a third-person, action/adventure platformer that divides its gameplay between three different main playable characters, three main story episodes, and largely attempts to focus on speed or action but also muddies its concept with janky physics, puzzle solving, and exploring a large hub world. Clearly taking inspiration from Sonic Adventure(Sonic Team, 1998), the game’s characters will wander around the large, mostly barren castle town of Soleanna, chatting to eerily lifelike non-playable characters (NPC) for hints or side missions when not taking on one of the nine main action stages. Also like in Sonic Adventure, you can only play as Sonic to start with and will unlock Shadow and Silver’s stories as you progress and encounter them and you’ll occasionally get to play as other characters during action stages and in the hub world as the story dictates, though this time you do get a rudimentary (often useless) compass to guide you around Soleanna and its other areas.
Run, grind, and spin about as Sonic but good luck controlling him in the awful Mach Speed sections.
Across the game’s three main characters and nine total playable characters, the controls are largely the same but each one has different abilities and play styles. Pressing A lets you jump or interact with characters, X will perform a special action, and you can use the Right Trigger to activate certain character abilities as dictated by a power meter that builds up as you defeat enemies (or stays constantly full if playing as Sonic). Sonic is, naturally, geared more towards speed; pressing A in mid-air will allow him to dash forwards towards the nearest enemy, spring, or other interactable object with the Homing Attack. Tapping X performs this super janky sweep kick and slide that allows you to slip under certain walls and often leaves you sliding about on your ass like an idiot, but holding X lets you charge up and release a Spin Dash. It’s worth noting that you cannot defeat enemies just by pressing A; even though Sonic’s in a ball as normal, this won’t inflict any damage and will cause you to lose Golden Rings, the life source of your characters. Sonic’s stages are full of dash pads, springs, loops, and other gimmicks designed to get him moving as fast as the sluggish game engine and messed up camera will allow; often, you’ll be battered about like a pinball and it’s usually better to simply relinquish control of Sonic or make very small inputs to the control stick or else you could miss a jump pad or just randomly fall through the environment. Sometimes, you’ll be told to “Jump!” and have to press A to hop from wall to wall to progress; other times, you can take a short cut on a rail, and you’ll soon acquire upgrades that let you dash along a trail of Rings with X (if the game actually registers your inputs) and perform a bounce move to gain extra height on your jump, along with other far more broken mechanics I’ll talk about later. Speaking of broke, though… Sonic has a unique gameplay feature wherein some stages will require him to “Speed up!” in a “Mach Speed” section. Here, Sonic will blast ahead at the speed of sound (or the closest approximation this sluggish engine allows), barely giving you any time to react to incoming obstacles and enemies. You’ll need to jump way ahead of time to clear these hazards, and sometimes the controls and camera will force you to run towards the screen or at an angle, practically guaranteeing that you’ll take damage, fall through the environment, or just be sent spiralling to your death. As a precursor to the later “Boost” mechanic, these are some broken, glitchy, messed up sections that can burn through your lives faster than the shit-ass collision detection and are easily one of the worst parts of Sonic’s gameplay.
Shadow’s geared more towards awkward combat and janky vehicle gameplay.
After clearing Sonic’s episode, I played Shadow’s story, which is kind of akin to the hard mode of the game (outside of the DLC). Shadow plays a lot like Sonic; he’s fast, performs a Homing Attack and Spin Dash, hops on the same rails and boost pads and uses the same gimmicks as Sonic, such as flying on an eagle and riding water currents. Unlike Sonic, Shadow’s gameplay is geared more towards activating switches, destroying stuff, and combat; kind of like in the under-rated Shadow the Hedgehog (SEGA Studios USA, 2005), Shadow can perform the Chaos Spear in mid-air by pressing X (or holding X to charge it up), which will stun nearby enemies, and you can mash A after a Homing Attack to do a little combo. More often than not, this will either miss or see you attacking thin air; while this often still damages enemies, so broken is this game, it usually leaves you vulnerable. Shadow can also perform the Light Speed Dash and he also has a meter that builds up as he defeats enemies; once full, he can pull off a “Chaos Boost” with RT that smashes certain rocks and seems to increase his attack power (but not his durability), and this can be upgraded with Memory Shards you purchase from shops. Although Shadow doesn’t pick up and use guns and weapons like in his solo title, he can hop into a number of vehicles; you’ll take the controls of buggies, motorcycles, hovercrafts, and gliders either as an option or by choice in order to progress. You can press Y to hop in and out, A to accelerate, X to reverse, and use the vehicle’s weapons with RT, though you can’t be too trigger happy as weapons will need to cool down or reload over time. When in the hang glider, the game switches to a kind of auto scrolling shooter and has you blasting enemies and obstacles and dodging hazards to not get hurt; the hovercraft allows you safe passage over quicksand and instant death water, but they can both be tricky to control and it’s not always clear where you need to go, with Dusty Desert requiring you to pass through a series of stone columns to open a door. Other vehicles, like the buggy and motorcycle, are more optional and often ill advised; it’s better not to have to contend with the buggy’s janky collision detection and tumbling physics in Crisis City but the motorcycle can help you to catch up to Dr. Eggman’s speeding train…if you can control its breakneck speed, of course!
Silver’s far slower and has to endure frustrating platforming and puzzles.
Last of all, I played as newcomer Silver, who’s this naïve little telekinetic hedgehog from a wrecked future who’s come back in time to kill Sonic. He’s basically Future Trunks but far more gullible. Of the three main characters, Silver is the slowest; he trots along like he has rocks in his boots and can neither Spin Dash or roll into a ball when jumping, though he can still bounce on springs and be propelled along (and through the environment…) by dash pads. His gameplay is significantly different thanks to his telekinesis, which allows him to float by holding A, grab incoming projectiles or nearby crates and objects with RT, and hurl them back at enemies or towards destructible targets with X. These powers are tied to his meter, which refills automatically as long as you’re not jumping, and Silver can also create paths, construct bridges, or turn girders and such into springs to progress onwards by holding RT on special glowing circular spots. Silver’s gameplay is much slower and more deliberate and more focused on exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving; side quests see him navigating through rings in platforming challenges, for example, or moving or tossing objects with his mental powers, and action stages are reconfigured to allow him to charge certain platforms to spring himself upwards, carry him across gaps, balance weights with boxes, or guide large balls of magnesium through laser traps. One of his most frustrating gimmicks crops up in Dusty Desert; here, you must use Silver’s telekinetic push (which can be used with a tap or charge of X) to knock giant billiard balls into holes within ten moves. Later, you have to hit one such ball down a narrow, winding corridor trying to avoid holes and such, which can be very tricky, and Silver’s piss-poor jump and expendable meter can make platforming across temporary and sliding platforms a chore in later stages.
You can briefly also control a bunch of slippery supporting characters who can break the game.
As you play through each episode, you’ll get the chance to switch to one of the other three playable characters mid-way through certain action stages as their paths cross, and each character is supported by two allies who occasionally follow them across Soleanna and throughout the action stages. Sonic teams up with Miles “Tails” Prower and Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow is joined by Rouge the Bat and E-123Ω “Omega”, and Silver falls in with Amy Rose and is supported by Blaze the Cat. Each of these has their own unique playstyles, though some are shared. Knuckles and Rouge can both glide and climb walls (though good luck detaching from some walls and fighting against the camera, which tends to freak out while following you) and can attack with punches and kicks (though not with their glide…), Tails can toss Dummy Ring Boxes at enemies with X and “snipe” at them by holding the button, which Rouge can also do with her bombs (though she can also place these on walls). Tails can also fly for a short time and will get a boost by flying through mid-air rings like in Sonic Adventure, while Omega can float along and awkwardly boost up to platforms with his jetpack, target multiple enemies by holding X or perform a big power shot by pressing X in mid-air. Amy uses her signature Pike-Piko Hammer to smash enemies, but its range is so short and broken that it’s hard to avoid taking damage; she also has a pretty broken double jump but is largely a shadow of her former Sonic Adventure self. Blaze is also pretty broken; she has this homing tornado attack that sees her just dart about like she’s possessed and can also perform a flaming twirl; she’s okay as long as you keep the reigns tight with her but she (and all of these “amigos”) are very slippery and unwieldy. Generally, you switch to them to platform across a small area, take out enemies, and hit switches but you’ll also switch to controlling them in the hub world for side quests and take on easily the most frustrating stages in the game in the final chapter. When playing as Sonic, you’ll also have to carry Princess Elise to safety a few times; in these stages, she’s constantly in your arms but you can still perform a version of your Homing Attack and she’ll even shield you from quicksand and water when you hold RT, though this is dependent on your meter.
Graphics and Sound: One of the best things Sonic ’06 has going for it is it’s awesome soundtrack; Sonic games have always had great soundtracks but, ever since the pop/punk-rock direction of Sonic Adventure, the 3D games just went from strength to strength during this time. The main theme, “His World”, is a suitably catchy tune from Ali Tabatabaee and Matty Lewis of Zebrahead, while long-time Sonic collaborators Crush 40 performed an awesome cover of “All Hail Shadow” as Shadow’s theme. Even Silver’s disco-infused jive, “Dreams of an Absolution”, is pretty great and there’s even a sappy lyrical cover of Dreams Come True’s “Sweet Sweet Sweet” by Akon included. While the hub worlds don’t exactly impress in the music department, the action stages and boss battles all fare pretty well, with the music (like much of the game’s presentation) again harkening back to Sonic Adventure. Where the game falters, however, is in the voice acting; once again, the Sonic X (2003 to 2005) cast return and, once again, I remain unimpressed by Jason Griffith’s stilted, unenthusiastic portrayal of the character. Every word out of his mouth is lacking in emotion or passion and just sounds like someone reading a script, and Amy Palant is at her most grating as Tails but, to be fair, the script is absolutely awful at times with such cringe-worthy lines as “It looks like the princess has been moved to another location”, words not matching the subtitles, and even a botched take included. Thankfully, Mike Pollock is still great as Dr. Eggman and even Dan Green does a decent, if over the top, job as the unnecessarily dark Mephiles.
Despite the high-quality cinematics and music, this game is a laggy, buggy, glitched mess.
Graphically, the game is an equally mixed back; the high-quality cinematics are fantastic and another of the game’s few highlights, showcasing Sonic and his friends and enemies in all their glory. The cutscenes that use the in-game engine, however, aren’t quite as impressive; characters plod about like puppets, the physics are as all over the place as during gameplay, and there’s a distinct lack of polish to these. The NPCs are even worse, flailing their arms about and yapping their mouths just to say “Thank you” and very few of them make an impression beyond the agonising load times. Any time you want to start a side quest, you need to talk to an NPC; accept their mission and you get a load screen, then the NPC says something like “Go for it!” and you get another load screen. Clear or fail the mission and you get another load screen, then another dialogue box, then the results screen…and then another load screen. Loading screens even interrupt the action stages as well, with new areas needing to be loaded in mid-way through and this can even screw up your run as you can be dropped into the action without warning, which can cause you to miss dash pads or get hit by enemies. While the gameplay is generally okay, the controls, overall, are as slippery and finnicky as the camera; the camera never seems to be where you want it, freaks out for no reason, and is a constant source of frustration but sometimes the game just won’t register your inputs, or randomly decides it doesn’t need any inputs…until it does…or you just run head-first into an obstacle or through the environment and to your death. There are times where characters glitch out, erratically flailing all over the place, times when you can walk on vertical surfaces or ceilings, and times when the ground suddenly loses its collision detection. Collision detection, on the whole, is broken to all hell in Sonic ’06; you’ll pass right through objects, enemies can fire at you through walls and doors, and the entire game’s performance suffers as bad as an 8-bit title sometimes when too much is happening on screen.
Stages are varied, but nothing new and basically rip-offs from Sonic Adventure.
Sonic ’06 is also a bit weird in terms of its environments; taking the real-world-meets-fantasy premise of Sonic Adventure and really running with it, the game takes place in a castle town that’s similar to Venice or Europe but, while Soleanna looks pretty, it’s very lifeless and there’s not much to see or do. Action stages are accessed using mirror gates, which is a step down from Sonic Adventure, and many are just poor recreations of gimmicks from that game; we’ve got a beach (complete with killer whale), a snowy mountain (complete with snowboarding section and giant snowball), a volcano level (which includes a frustrating light puzzle that you’ll be doing at least three times), and even the Egg Carrier shows up again (though you don’t get to visit it here). You’ll also cross a desert (complete with instant death, barely tangible quicksand), a swamp-like jungle filled with ruins and featuring springboard lilies and turtles to ride, and storm through Dr. Eggman’s underwater base, which is full of annoying bubbles of magnesium and glass doors but does have some interesting visuals in its aquarium motif. Two of the worst stages in the game are Kingdom Valley, a ruined castle-like environment full of water and collapsing columns, and Crisis City, an apocalyptic city full of fire traps and besieged by a raging tornado. For the most part, the visuals actually aren’t too bad; the level of detail in Crisis City’s destruction is a stark contrast to the bright, cheery joy of Wave Ocean, and there are a few unique gimmicks in each stage; sometimes you’ll be jumping over mace-filled sand waves, or springing from ropes, or racing across the surface of the water desperately hoping that the game will stay stable, but mostly you’re just charging to the finish, ranking be damned, and trying not to die.
Enemies and Bosses: For the most part, Sonic ’06 does away with the traditional Badniks and replaces them with very Sonic X-esque mechs; these military-style robots drop from the sky and hobble about shooting missiles, bullets, and plasma shots at you and, upon destruction, will fill your meter and award you points for your score ranking. Some hover in the air shooting lasers, some are smaller and more akin to Badniks and can be destroyed by targeting their leader, and some are much bigger, shooting their arms at you and requiring that you knock them down to target their power core. As the story progresses (or sooner, depending on who you play as), you’ll also battle Iblis Monsters that are very similar to the Black Arms from Shadow the Hedgehog; there’s leaping and fire-breathing lizards, flaming bats that swoop down at you, big projectile-spitting worms that burst up from the ground at the worst moments, and large magma-like titans who hurl rocks at you. Sonic and Shadow can chain together successive Homing Attacks to get past all of these, each of which slows the action down with a life bar, but Silver and Tails and the like will have to resort to throwing stuff at them. For the most part, they’re just obstacles, as annoying and inconvenient as the spikes and spike walls and flame plumes, but they’re incredibly generic for Sonic enemies and get repetitive very quickly.
Dr. Eggman’s contraptions are sadly few and far between, and quite repetitive.
There are eleven bosses in Sonic ’06; three are fought by all three main characters in slightly different locations in the story, two are rival battles, four are exclusive fights, and one is, obviously the final boss. First, let’s talk about Dr. Eggman’s massive mechanical monstrosities, the Egg-Cerberus and the Egg-Genesis, though neither are much of a threat. The Egg-Cerberus races around the arena smashing down columns and towers, occasionally pouncing at you, and emitting a destructive shockwave that you need to jump over. Sonic and Shadow must avoid these attacks and then grind up the robot dog’s tail to Homing Attack the control antenna on its head, then you need to awkwardly direct the machine to run into a wall to damage itself. When you’ve dealt enough damage, it’ll jump to the background and let Egg Gunners shoot at you before trying to squash you, and the fight is made trickier with Shadow as he has that janky melee function. The Egg-Genesis is much easier by comparison; this floating battleship fires missiles, Egg Fliers, and Egg Gunners at you and can only be damaged by attacking the glowing core underneath it (as Sonic) or by sending missiles and objects flying at its arms and core as Silver, Omega also battles this boss in the DLC, though this is even easier thanks to his greater arsenal of weapons, however you do have to be careful to avoid its high-powered homing laser attack and its suicide run when it’s health is drained. The only time you’ll battle Dr. Eggman one-on-one is in Sonic’s story in a variation of the Egg Viper boss from Sonic Adventure; floating amongst the clouds outside the crumbling Egg Carrier, Dr. Eggman will attack you from the Egg-Wyvern, swooping by and firing projectiles at you, blasting a big homing shot, and destroying your platforms with its harpoons. When it swoops over the gantry, you need to quickly Homing Attack the antenna and try and cause it to fly into some debris; Dr. Eggman will then send out some pods you can attack to hit him directly but, again, he’ll try and obliterate you with a suicide run near the end so be on your toes.
Iblis comes in many monstrous, frustrating forms, though Mephiles is ridiculously easy.
Another recurring boss is the flaming demon who has ravaged the future, Iblis. Essentially the fire counterpart to Chaos, this mindless beast is encountered in three different forms, with Silver having to battle two that are exclusive to him. Sonic and Shadow will battle Iblis’s second form inside a volcano after clearing Flame Core; this is a slow and boring battle that can get very annoying as you basically have a few rock platforms to jump to and Iblis will routinely cause more to drop from the ceiling while also destroying some in its attempts to attack you, which almost always manages to hurt you. Hop over the platforms to one of the three orbs and wait for Iblis to prep for its jump, dodging any flaming projectiles it sends your way. When it’s about to jump, activate the orb with a Homing Attack and Iblis will get stuck, allowing you to attack its weak spot on its head, and then the whole thing repeats with Iblis’s attacks becoming more aggressive and it even trying to ram you for the final hit. Silver battles Iblis’s first and third form at the start and end of his story and on a 2.5D pane; in the first encounter, Iblis blasts flaming rocks at you and tries to crush you with entire buildings, but you can simply avoid these attacks and telekinetically toss its projectiles back at it to break away its rocky outer shell. The last battle is a bit trickier; Iblis is constantly moves towards you, again raining projectiles across a small stone platform that it will chip away at until it’s completely destroyed. Iblis also sends out flaming shockwaves that you either need to jump over or stand under and conjures a massive flaming comet to throw at you. However, don’t be intimidated by its size; simply catch it with your telekinesis and send it back to the creature along with any other projectiles you can; eventually, it’ll collapse near your platform and you can float over to use the psychokinesis pad to deal big damage. Shadow also gets two exclusive battles against Iblis’s other half, Mephiles; in the first fight, you need to continuously attack his mini shades until you can perform a Chaos Boost, which will draw him out from your shadow and allow you to land Homing and melee attacks. After enough damage is dealt, you’ll switch to Omega and finish him off with the robot’s massive cannons, but you won’t have any help in the second battle. This time, Mephiles is protected by a shield and conjures large, laser-firing shadow monsters that you must defeat to build up your meter. Activating Chaos Boost again draws Mephiles out so you can attack him, though he darts about to make himself a harder target, commands his shades to swarm you, and fires a massive energy ball at you before forcing you to chain together Homing Attacks to reach him for the final hit.
After struggling through the rival fights, all three hedgehogs power-up todefeat Solaris.
Like in Sonic Adventure, you’ll also have to take on rival battles against Sonic, Silver, and Shadow. The first of these is probably Sonic ’06’s most infamous legacy; when you face Silver in Soleanna, he’ll throw shit at you and, if you attack him directly or even face him, he’ll grab you with his telekinesis and send you flying with a cry of “It’s no use! Ta-ake this!” Literally nine times out of then, you’ll get locked in a vicious cycle where he does this over and over either until you’re dead or you have to restart as you keep collecting one Ring upon damage, but you can get around this. Basically, you need to grab some Rings and run around and far away like an idiot; you won’t be able to see Silver because the camera is awful but, eventually, you’ll here him cry “How about this!”, which is when he gathers up projectiles to throw at you; this is your chance to attack him but for God’s sake dash away immediately after or else he’ll grab you. This is slightly harder with Shadow as you can’t easily chain Homing Attacks, meaning you’ll end up attacking the air instead of escaping, and Silver tends to blast you upwards as well. When playing as Silver, these battles are much easier but can still be annoying; both Sonic and Shadow can attack from afar with their Homing Attacks and you’ll have to run around like a moron waiting for projectiles to pop back in for you to throw at them. If you’re able to keep from rage quitting when playing through the ridiculously hard final stage, with its instant-death time rips and wonky physics, you’ll take on Solaris in the final battle. Here, Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Silver have to take it in turns to attack the raging Sun God; you can switch between them with Y (the other two will “collect Rings” in the mean time so you shouldn’t ever run out of power) and attack with X (Super Sonic charges ahead, Super Shadow launches and charges Chaos Spear, and Super Silver captures projectiles with LT and tosses them at Solaris). It’s not massively clear (ironically, unlike other Sonic games, the supporting cast doesn’t give you clear direction) but, to start with, you need to destroy Solaris’s arm with Super Silver, then the other arm with Super Shadow, and finish it off with Super Sonic all while it throws projectiles and screen-filling lasers at you. In its second phase, Solaris is much more aggressive but it’s pretty simple to stay out of range of its lasers and switch to whichever hedgehog it’s not shielding against to defeat (and probably for an S-Rank as well).
Power-Ups and Bonuses: As in pretty much every Sonic game, Golden Rings are your life source; as long as you have at least one, you’ll survive most attacks and, with a hundred, you’ll earn an extra life. As ever, you’ll also find Item Boxes strewn around the action stages that’ll grant you a speed-up (practically a death sentence with this game’s wonky physics!), the rare invincibility, an extra life (which annoyingly won’t respawn if you die after a checkpoint), a bunch of rings (either five, ten, or twenty), or fill your meter so you can perform Chaos Boost or telekinesis. You’ll also spot rainbow rings around the place, which will give you a score boost and act as shortcuts, and there are a decent number of checkpoints (though sporadically; some stages need more, some don’t need any). When you finish a mission or action stage, you’ll receive a ranking based on your score, time, and performance; the higher your ranking, the more Rings you earn and can then spend at shops around Soleanna. This allows you to buy upgrades for Sonic, Shadow, and Silver, such as the Light Speed Dash, bounce, and Chaos Boost, but you’ll also be able to perform more powerful attacks as Shadow and Silver to stun nearby enemies. Sonic’s upgrades take the form of gems and change the colour of his shoes; you can switch between these with the directional pad and activate them with RT for some truly bizarre and game-breaking effects. Sonic can toss an emerald and teleport to it, stop in mid-air to charge his Homing Attack, blast ahead with Mach Speed at any time, shrink, create a magnetic shield to attract Rings, and whip up a tornado to deal damage though, honestly, I never used any of these and found most of them were either useless or didn’t work as intended.
Additional Features: There are twenty-three Achievements up for grabs in Sonic ’06 and they’re all pretty rubbish. You get an Achievement for clearing each episode, and then finishing the last story, and another three Achievements for fully upgrading each of the three playable characters. You’ll also get Achievements for finishing the story on Hard mode, completing every side mission (easily accessible from the main menu, thankfully), and for finding and earning every Silver and Gold Medal in the game, meaning you need to complete every mission and stage with an S-Rank. Silver Medals are scattered throughout the stages and Gold Medals are awarded for clearing stages and, as I said, getting S-Ranks so good luck in obtaining all of them with this dodgy game! Sonic ’06 was also bolstered by some DLC, which includes an even harder difficulty setting, a boss rush, and the “Team Attack Amigo” pack. This is somewhat similar to the last stage of the game and has you playing through short sections of the main story as the supporting characters (Tails, Rouge, etc), culminating in a boss fight against the Egg-Genesis as Omega. You’ll also unlock a sound test and movie theatre and can play a rudimentary multiplayer mode similar to the one seen in Sonic Adventure 2(Sonic Team USA, 2001) in which two players either work together to find Chaos Emeralds or race against each other, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to play this mess of a game with you.
The Summary: This is the first time I’ve played Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) since I first finished it on the PlayStation 3 and there’s a damn good reason for that. Yes, surprise surprise, I do not hold Sonic ’06 in high esteem; for me, this is one of the absolute worst Sonic games ever made, and one of the worst videogames ever made, and nothing and no one will ever convince me otherwise. The potential is there, and that actually makes things worse; the high-quality cutscenes, the soundtrack, even some of the new characters and concepts are all very appealing. The call-backs to Sonic Adventure are fun…on paper, but the whole game feels like a downgrade and a poor imitation of that far superior and varied classic 3D Sonic title. But what really kills the game is the gameplay; Sonic ’06 is just all over the place, juggling too much and stretching itself too thin, and the game engine cannot handle it. Slowdown, glitches, and diabolical hit detection combined with ridiculous load times and an absolutely atrocious camera are enough to drag this game down but when you factor in the almost unplayable Mach Speed sections, the janky vehicle combat, and Silver’s slow, frustrating gameplay then you hardly have a winning formula. I give the game props for having other characters be playable, even in supporting roles, but they’re poorly implemented and it’s a missed opportunity to not allow the “Amigos” to be playable in every stage and mission. A lack of boss variety, unclear objectives, and some game-breaking shit like the Silver boss and Sonic’s upgrades only exacerbate the game’s issues; the side missions basically amount to defeating enemies or passing through rings and there’s just not much on offer to keep you coming back. Sonic ’06 is more than a slog; it’s like stumbling through quicksand and it throws some ludicrous roadblocks in your way, from racing to stop or destroy a train to desperately trying to dodge instant-kill hazards. To me, there’s little saving grace to this game; it certainly wasn’t the big reboot or return to form the franchise needed and was, instead, a slap in the face to gamers everywhere and a massively rush, missed opportunity for SEGA’s high-speed mascot.
My Rating:
⭐
Rating: 1 out of 5.
Terrible
Can you think of anythinggood about Sonic ’06 that isn’t the soundtrack or cutscenes? What did you think to Silver and the three different gameplay styles on offer? Which was your favourite and did you enjoy playing as the likes of Tails and such? What did you think to the story, Mephiles, and the never-ending quest to rescue Princess Elise? Did you ever find all the Medals? What’s your favourite Sonic game, good or bad? How are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary today? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic ’06, share them down below or start the discussion on my social media.
In 2013, DC Comics declared the 12th of June as “Superman Day”, a day for fans of the Man of Steel the world over to celebrate Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, the superpowered virtue of “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” who is widely regarded as the first ever costumed superhero. This year, I’m spending every Monday of June celebrating the Man of Steel as I expand Superman Day to “Superman Month“.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: 22 November 2006 Developer: EA Tiburon Also Available For: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Xbox
The Background: As I mentioned in my review of the film, Superman Returns(Singer, 2006) was supposed to be a pretty big deal for DC Comics, Warner Bros. and Superman in general. Absent from cinema screens since 1987, Superman had seen a fair amount of representation in videogames in the intervening years and ever since 1979, but the Man of Steel has had a difficult history with pixels and polygons and it’s not as if videogame tie-in to movies have an esteemed reputation. Add to that the fact that Superman Returns didn’t exactly impress critically and the videogame tie-in was off to a troublesome start before it even released. Developed by a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, EA Tiburon (who had developed a handful of sports-based games for the publisher) and incorporating a large open world version of Metropolis that required players to minimise collateral damage, Superman Returns received mostly negative reviews and Superman has continued to struggle with transitioning into a successful videogame adaptation.
The Plot: Acting as part-prequel- part-midquel, and part-retelling of the events of the film, Superman leaves Earth to investigate the remains of his home planet, Krypton. There, he incurs the wrath of the tyrant Mongul and, upon returning to Earth after five years, finds his arch enemy, Lex Luthor, enacting a diabolical plot for revenge involving Kryptonian technology while also battling some of his most notorious villains.
Gameplay: Superman Returns is an open-world action game that places players in the cape and tights of the Man of Steel, as portrayed by Brandon Routh in the movie of the same name. The main objective of the game is to defend the impressively-realised and expansive city of Metropolis from a variety of threats using Superman’s awesome powers, all of which are available to the player from the moment the game begins. By pressing Y, players can take to the skies and can even rocket away by holding the button down. While it is a bit disorientating once you’re in the air, it doesn’t take long to adjust to it and it can be quite a thrill to blast through the air and between skyscrapers at Superman’s full speed. By holding down the Left Bumper, you can speed through the sky, going faster and faster until everything around you becomes a blur and Superman breaks the sound barrier, however it can be very difficult to make tight turns and avoid flying head-first into buildings when going at full speed. You can land with Y and, when on the ground, sprint at superspeed by holding LB, which is equally unwieldy at times.
Rocket through the sky at breakneck speeds or blast enemies with Superman’s array of powers.
You can target enemies with the Left Trigger and attack enemies with, primarily, X; repeatedly pressing X and adding in presses of Y and A will see Superman pull off more elaborate combos to deal more damage, although there is a significant input delay when trying to perform combos (in a change from most games, it seems that you have to press each button deliberately rather than as quickly as possible). Superman also has the full scope of his superpowers available to use as well; these are assigned to the directional pad and activated with the Right Trigger and allow you to blast at enemies with heat vision, freeze them with Superman’s freeze breath, or put out fires with his superbreath. All of these can also be augmented by double-tapping the direction and can even be worked into your combos but be sure to keep an eye on the power meter, which will deplete as you use your superpowers and take some time to refill (though you can speed this up by flying up into the sky to bathe in the sun’s rays). One of the constant problems with Superman videogames is that, thanks to the prerequisite for character’s to have a health bar, the Man of Steel is often neutered or susceptible to damage and death rather than being the powerful, superhuman hero he is known to be. Superman Returns comes up with a truly inspired solution to this problem; not only are Superman’s powers restricted by a power meter, not only does he come up against powerful alien foes and robots that are able to bash him about like a ragdoll, but he must also ensure that Metropolis doesn’t suffer too much damage from the constant barrage of attacks that befall it.
In an ingenious twist, Metropolis takes damage in Superman’s place.
Enemies will attack civilians, set fire to buildings, and the environment is highly destructible, meaning that cars, trees, walls, and other objects and parts of the environment can be used as weapons or destroyed and, if the city is damaged too much, Superman will fail his mission and you’ll have to either restart the chapter or reload your last save. Replenishing Metropolis’ “health” can be quite a chore; you can pick up injured civilians (one at a time) and carry them to a specific ambulance to restore a bit of the city’s health but the best way to bump its health back up is to get rid of all the enemies or the threat in play or reload your last save. Unlike the vast majority of videogames, Superman Returns doesn’t appear to autosave after you complete objectives and missions; instead, you can/must manually save from the pause menu, which also lets you view Superman’s combos, statistics, and the experience points (XP) you’ve accumulated. XP is earned by defending Metropolis from incoming comets, burning buildings, and attacks from aliens, robots, and Cadmus’ monstrous creations; when you gain enough XP, Superman will level-up and his superpowers will automatically become more powerful as a result. Superman Returns features a nice little mini map on the bottom left of the screen that shows you where enemies and ambulances are located and Superman will pick up cries of distress and be able to see objective markers thanks to his super-senses. You can also view the entire city map by pressing the ‘Back’ button but this really isn’t all that helpful as no areas, secrets, or places of interest are highlighted and the only place you can fast travel to and from is the Fortress of Solitude.
Gameplay gets extremely tedious and frustrating very quickly.
Gameplay gets extremely repetitive very quickly and the game’s pace is all over the place; you cannot progress the story until you’ve defended Metropolis from a certain number of random attacks, which occur either so sporadically that you’re flying around aimlessly like an idiot or happen so often and have so many enemies that it becomes annoying. You cannot just fly away from these incidents and ignore them, either, as that’ll cause a game over but, even though you’re playing as frickin’ Superman, you often end up getting bashed all over the place by a barrage of attacks and are forced to mash buttons to get Superman’s useless ass back into the fight. A certain amount of strategy is required to take on enemies, who can race away across the city or are vulnerable to certain superpowers, but it all gets very frustrating and mind-numbing very quickly. Incidents where you have to blast meteors from the sky, put out fires, save citizens, or tackle incoming tornados help to break the monotony up a bit but they’re few and far between.
Graphics and Sound: Similar to the movie it’s based on, Superman Returns makes extremely poor use of John Williams’ iconic Superman theme; in fact, the rousing “DUN-dun-dun-DUN-DUN” doesn’t appear at all in the game and is replaced by a very generic soundalike that really undermines the entire experience. Stars Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey all return to lend their likenesses and voices but, sadly, like many videogame adaptations of movies, the game’s interpretation of the film’s events leaves out many of the characters and sub-plots from the source material and provides only a very basic recap of the film as story-based missions.
While the cutscenes look terrible, Superman’s character model is okay, especially when he’s flying.
Plus, while these actors do lend their likenesses, only Superman appears as an in-game character model. The game’s cutscenes are quite low-quality, very blurry, and extremely limited in their detail and length but, thankfully, Superman himself looks mostly okay. When you leave him standing around, he’ll strike a heroic pose (the camera even automatically changes position for the best possible shot) and NPCs will continuous be in awe of his presence, feats, or begging for his help. Superman looks best, however, when flying at high speeds; his head and neck seem a little disproportionate to his body and, like many Xbox 360 character models, he looks a bit more like a malformed action figure than an actual person with a logical skeletal structure. Superman ragdolls around when attacked and seems quite unwieldy at times as he’s both superfast but also clunky and his attacks are slow and have a limited range; additionally, there are some wonky instances of cape physics as well but, still, it’s probably the best rendition of the character in a solo videogame I’ve seen yet.
Metropolis may be big and impressive but it’s incredibly lifeless and empty.
Superman’s enemies aren’t exactly much to shout about either; indeed, it seems like the developers put all of their time and effort into creating a vast city for you to fly around in. However, considering how good a job Superman Returns does of recreating Metropolis, it’s quite a dull and uninspiring experience; although cars drive through the streets and non-playable characters (NPCs) wander around the place, the city feels extremely empty and lifeless and there really isn’t that much to do or see beyond iconic buildings like the Daily Planet and areas such as Suicide Slum. Metropolis may be very grey and barren at the best of times but you can damage and interact with a fair amount of it (which is actually to your detriment as it’ll cost the city health) and the environment does change at the start of the game, where you fight Mongul and his warriors on Warworld, and in the final chapters when the city is bathed in an ominous darkness and a tumultuous thunderstorm but you never get to go inside any buildings or freely visit other environments so it all becomes very underwhelming and boring very quickly.
Enemies and Bosses: There are three types of enemies Superman will have to defend Metropolis against: the alien forces of Mongul, killer robots created and controlled by John Corben/Metallo, and the various monstrous clones created by Cadmus. As you play though the game’s story, you’ll encounter each of these, and their many variants, in successive fashion and, by the end of the game, entire groups of different enemies will attack the city and its inhabitants. For the most part, enemies fall into some recognisable tropes no matter their appearance, being susceptible to heat vision or freeze breath or more vulnerable against objects (such as cars and debris) being thrown at them. Some are smaller and faster, zipping around on the ground or flying through the air and firing Kryptonite lasers, energy blasts, or elemental plumes at you; others are larger, requiring more combos to damage or blocking your attacks; and others will directly attack the environment to distract you with fires and such.
Bosses like Overcast and Metallo eventually grow to gigantic proportions.
You’ll learn the basics of combat at the start of the game, where Mongul forces you to fight his minions, Phalanx and Overcast, before taking you on himself. This teaches you how to engage with multiple enemies, use the environment to deal damage to gigantic enemies, and the importance of holding B to block or pressing B to quickly dodge behind opponents. Each group of enemies you face from that point on is directly related to the main villain who serves as the recurring and final boss of that particular chapter; thus, when trying to put a stop to Metallo, you’ll first have to stop his robot minions from attacking the city. Complete enough of these missions, and Metallo will spawn into the map and you can fight him; similar to the enemies you battle on Warworld, Metallo attacks by pummelling you, blasting you with a massive Kryptonite laser, shielding himself like a bitch, and spawning in minions to distract you. Like Overcast, Metallo eventually grows to enormous proportions and begins trashing the city, forcing you to hurl cars at him. Once you deal enough damage, he’ll try to destroy the city with a missile, necessitating that you chase after it and complete a quick-time event (QTE) to stop it and bring him down once and for all.
Unless you use your powers in the right way, Bizarro and Riot can be a right pain in the ass.
Next, a breakout at Cadmus Labs sees a whole slew of vicious, demonic monsters roam rampant around the city, attacking blimps and causing massive damage with their big explosive attacks. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Superman’s flawed doppelgänger, Bizarro, is also running rampant; compared to Brainiac, Bizarro is a much easier fight as it’s much simpler to avoid his lumbering attacks and land some combos on him. To put him down for good, however, you’ll need to chase after him and ram into him to stop him destroying the city with his heat vision and complete another QTE in a test of heat vision, all while desperately trying to fend off swarms of flying monsters who pummel you relentlessly. That’s nothing, however, compared to fighting Frederick von Frankenstein/Riot, who duplicates himself every time you land a melee attack and can only be defeated by blasting him and his doubles with your freeze breath and then your heat vision, which can get very tedious.
After taking out Mongul, you’ll battle Superman’s ultimate nemesis: a giant tornado!
In the game’s final chapters, Mongul arrives on Earth looking for revenge, bringing with him an army of Phalanx warriors and Overcast, with all three spawning into the map at inopportune times to cause massive amounts of damage. Battling Overcast’s gigantic form while also juggling an endless swarm of Phalanx warriors and contending with Mongul is a hell of a tall order but, thankfully, you can (and totally should) focus on Mongul alone in order to compete this story mission and can worry about the rest later. The opening of the game teaches you that Mongul is a cheap bastard who likes to constantly block your attacks and that’s true in the endgame as well but he’ll also attack citizens and cars and spawns in more and more minions the more damage you do. Personally, I found it easier to just keep throwing cars at him until he goes down. Ultimately, the game concludes with a series of deadly tornados threatening the city; you must blow and freeze them away, put out the fires they cause, and rescue citizens from their path before contending with Superman’s most deadly and iconic foe…a giant tornado! To dispel this swirling mass of destruction, you must blast its core with either your heat vision or freeze breath all while cars and debris relentlessly slam into you but, with enough patience, it’s pretty simple to bring this chore of a game to a close.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: There’s nothing. Seriously, you fly all over the city fighting bad guys and righting wrongs and there’s literally nothing. The only way you can replenish health is to rescue citizens, stop whatever the current threat is, or reload your save and the only tangible power-up you get is from levelling-up. Unlike most videogames, you can’t freely spend your XP upgrading Superman’s skills individually, though; instead, his powers increase automatically, taking all agency and effort out of your hands entirely.
Additional Features: Superman Returns has a whopping eighteen Achievements for you to earn; six of these are directly tied to defeating the game’s villains and finishing the story, while there are others for fully powering Superman up, defeating enemies with cars, lifting a certain amount of weight, or playing the game for twelve hours total (as if you’re ever going to bother doing that…). Sadly, despite the size of the city, there aren’t any fun Achievements tied to, say, knocking the globe off the Daily Planet or finding all the Planet Krypton restaurants or even finding much of anything for that matter.
Rescue kittens, race against Mr. Mxyzptlk, or cause destruction as Bizarro!
That’s not to say that there isn’t nothing else to do in the game; there are a hundred kittens hidden throughout the city that you can find for an Achievement and, at various points around the map, you’ll encounter Mister Mxyzptlk who’ll challenge you to completing increasingly-challenging races against him. These are quite fun but by far the most entertaining side mission are the instances where you get to play as Bizarro and cause as much damage as possible in a time limit. You can input some cheat codes to make the game easier but you won’t earn any Achievements (except for a 0G one) if you do this. As you play and level-up and explore, you’ll also acquire trophies to view in the Fortress of Solitude and unlock a couple of additional suits for Superman, which is nice, but there’s really not much to entice you back to this game once you’re done trudging through this God-awful borefest.
The Summary: Superman Returns may very well be the most accurate and impressive Superman game I’ve ever played; being able to fly through and across an impressively-rendered recreation of Metropolis is a real blast and giving the city a life bar instead of Superman was an ingenious solution to the problem of having Superman take damage or be killed when he really shouldn’t be. Sadly, though, these aspects are the only real saving graces of this game, which is clearly a rushed cash-in produced solely to tie-into the movie. The story is basically nonexistent, the combat and gameplay extremely repetitive and boring, and the presentation is wildly inconsistent as, while the city and Superman look pretty good, the cutscenes and music and dreadful. In the end, only die-hard Superman fans will really be able to enjoy this one and, for the rest of us, it’s just a quick game to plough through to increase your Gamer Score that is more monotonous and frustrating than fun and entertaining so I’d say that it’s best avoided.
My Rating:
⭐
Rating: 1 out of 5.
Terrible
Have you ever played the videogame adaptation of Superman Returns? If so, what did you think to it? Did you enjoy the wide, open world of Metropolis and the feeling of having Superman’s full abilities at your fingertips? Were you also disappointed by how empty the world is and how tedious the gameplay was? Which of the game’s villains was your favourite and why and what did you think to how the game expanded upon the plot of the film? What is your favourite Superman videogame and would you like to see something like this tried again but with a bit more time, effort, and money put into it? How did you celebrate Superman Day this year and what are some of your favourite Superman stories?
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon and what better way to honour SEGA’s supersonic mascot than by celebrating his birthday all throughout June.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: 28 November 2012 Originally Released: June 1996 Developer: SEGA Original Developer: SEGA AM2 Also Available For: Arcade, GameCube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
The Background: As you’re probably aware, Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) was a massive success for SEGA; it catapulted them ahead of their rivals, Nintendo, and changed the face of the “Console Wars” forever. Sonic the Hedgehog 2(SEGA Technical Institute, 1992) not only continued that success but also catapulted Sonic into mainstream popularity. SEGA were quick to capitalise on Sonic’s popularity, licensing the character out for comic books, cartoons, and all kinds of merchandise and producing a number of spin-off titles for all kinds of consoles and placing Sonic into many different genres, from racing games to puzzle games and, of course, a fighting game. Sonic the Fighters (also known as Sonic Championship) was developed by SEGA AM2 after the team were spotted dabbling with Sonic character models during the development of Fighting Vipers (SEGA AM2, 1995), whose game engine formed the basis of Sonic the Fighters. I was lucky enough to play Sonic the Fighters at SEGAWorld back in the day but, for many, their first experience with the game was when it was released as part of Sonic Gems Collection (Sonic Team, 2005). Although the game has been criticised for being nothing more than a basic fighting title, Sonic the Fighters was eventually brought to PlayStation 3 and Xbox Live as a digital title that not only gave the game a new coat of paint but also added additional characters and gameplay modes.
The Plot: Doctor Eggman and his new version of Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic Model. 29 (or “Rocket Metal”), have constructed a spherical battle station, the Death Egg II in orbit. Sonic, his allies and some disreputable types, are each in possession of one of the eight Chaos Emeralds but Miles “Tails” Prower’s Lunar Fox rocket ship can only seat one so they decide to hold a one-on-one tournament to determine who will fly up to stop Dr. Eggman.
Gameplay: Sonic the Fighters is a 3D polygonal fighter in which you pick from one of eight playable characters and battle the other remaining fighters on a series of garish 3D planes, including a mirror match against a monochrome double of your character, before blasting up to the Death Egg II and battling Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman. You can select from series staples Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, and Espio the Chameleon and some of the franchise’s more obscure characters Fang the Sniper (also known as Nack the Weasel), Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite. Whichever character you pick, you’ll be tasked with pulling off a variety of rapid-fire punches, kicks, and special attacks using the Y, B, and A buttons in co-ordination with other buttons and directional inputs. You can throw your opponent, duck and sidestep attacks, and raise a barrier by pressing X to block incoming attacks. If your opponent shatters this barrier, though, and you run out of barrier energy, you’ll be left stunned and vulnerable so it’s best to time the use of your barrier to when it’ll be at its most useful. You can also press back, Y, and B to expend some of your barrier’s energy and enter “Hyper Mode”, which will bestow you with some sparkles and increase your speed and attack stats.
Each character has a variety of special moves tailoured to their unique physical attributes.
As a 3D polygonal fighter, Sonic the Fighters allows for a series of basic combos and character-specific special attacks that are awkwardly pulled off using directional inputs and button presses or combinations and change depending on where you’re standing and the position of your opponent, meaning that it’s easy to enter a button combination and simply spam the same moves over and over again. Each character controls a little differently and focus on a slightly different method of attack: Sonic is all about his trademark Spin Dash, Tails can charge at opponents head-on using his twin tails like helicopter blades, Knuckles can glide across the screen, Amy wallops her foes with her Piko-Piko Hammer, Bomb tosses a variety of bombs, Fang uses his rapid-fire popgun, Espio tosses opponents around with his tongue, and Bark is all about the grapples and high-impact punches. Each is just different enough to add a bit of variety to the fast-paced and simplistic gameplay, with Amy favouring barriers, Bark being slower but hitting harder, and Espio being notably aggressive in his attack but you can easily just mash at the buttons and come out on top more often than not.
Sonic the Fighters is all about fast-paced, frantic, cartoony combat and very little else.
Perhaps fittingly, fights in Sonic the Fighters are extremely quick and frantic; health bars seem to drain extremely quickly, especially when you’re hit with a few frenzied punches or a throw or two, and it won’t take you longer than ten minutes or so to blast through the arcade ladder on the easiest setting. You can customise the difficulty of the single-player arcade mode, the length and number of rounds, and set the strength of attacks and number of barriers characters have from the main options menu, which can make the game easier and harder depending on your setup, but it’s a rapid fighting game that bombards you with colours, cartoony slapstick, and a quick burst of adrenaline rather than being a deep or complex fighter. Unlike a lot of fighters, there’s very little to break up the action in Sonic the Fighters; there’s no bonus stages or mini games to worry about and variety only comes into play in the garish and colourful stages and the brief little cutscenes that play in the game’s final stages. Every time you play the game, you’ll battle the same opponents in the same order in the same stages, which only adds to the game’s repetitive and predictable nature, and the only option you’re really given to try and spice up your fights is that you can press the Start button to switch the perspective to slightly behind your character (though I found this a bit disorienting for a one-on-one fighting game).
Graphics and Sound: Characters are brought to life in the finest polygonal graphics the arcades had to offer; fighters are large, colourful, and extremely expressive, spewing Golden Rings every time they’re hit, squashing when hit with big moves, and reacting with an over-the-top, cartoonish slapstick that really adds to the game’s charm. And, honestly, it’s a good job that these aspects are present in Sonic the Fighters as these kind of graphics (while impressive and trend-setting at the time when the industry was swamped with traditional 2D fighters) really haven’t aged well at all. Seriously, games like Virtual Fighter (SEGA AM2, 1993), Soul Edge (Project Soul, 1995), and Tekken (Namco, 1995) might have shown what the next generation of home consoles and 3D polygonal graphics were capable of but they look pretty ass these days and Sonic the Fighters is no exception with its harsh edges and blocky textures. Still, the game is very bright and colourful and really pops out at you…well, I say “pops” but really it screams in your face with how vibrant and garish it can be. Every character stands out from even the most colourful backgrounds thanks to their large, blocky size, cartoonish expressions, and vivid, recognisable colour schemes (Sonic is a stunning blue, Fang is a unique purple, and Bark is a big cream-coloured polar bear, for example). The character designs really are spot on, with each character having their own unique little quirks and animations to help them stand out; Fang bounces on his tail like a pogo stick, Tails flails his arms around in a little flurry, and Bean haphazardly tosses his bombs with reckless abandon.
Stages are vividand mostly based on the franchise but very restrictive and a bit bland at times.
The game’s final bosses only continue this, with Metal Sonic rendered beautifully in 3D (he is probably the most smooth and impressive of all the game’s characters) and even Dr. Eggman’s little mech looking both cute and perfectly in character (if a bit small). Each of the game’s eight characters has their own stage and the majority of these stages are based on recognisable Zones from across the Sonic franchise but, ironically, the four core characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy) seem to have been slightly misplaced in these stages. You’d think that you’d face Sonic in the Green Hill-inspired South Island and Knuckles in Mushroom Hill but, actually, you face Knuckles in South Island and Espio in Mushroom Hill, which is a bit odd. Fang, Bean, and Bark and all perfectly placed in Casino Night, Dynamite Plant (which seems like an amalgamation of Chemical Plant, Oil Ocean, and Metropolis Zone), and Aurora Icefield, however. Stages are limited to a very small, restrictive 3D plane that, yes, you can freely navigate around using movements and sidesteps but they’re not very big. You won’t have to worry about ring outs, however, which is good, and you can smack your opponent into, and bounce them off of, the walls of each stage, which can produce comical sounds from the Sonic sound effects library. One area where the game really excels in its music; jaunty, upbeat, energetic tunes accompany the start, end, and duration of each round and it (like the game’s general aesthetic) reminds me of the look and sound of Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island/Sonic 3D Blast (Traveller’s Tales/Sonic Team, 1996) and even the Sonic the Hedgehogoriginal video animation (Ikegami, 1999). When you win a round, you’ll also view an instant replay of the last few moments of the fight, much like in Tekken, and a handful of quick, simple cutscenes (which utilise the in-game graphics) show Dr. Eggman copying your fighter for the mirror match and relay the general plot of the game as well as the dramatic ending that sees you battling against a strict time limit.
Enemies and Bosses: As a one-on-one fighting game, you’ll be tasked with battling every character in the game in your quest to secure the eight Chaos Emeralds and take on Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman. No matter who you pick, though, two things are guaranteed: one is that you’ll battle a monochrome double of yourself and the other is that you’ll face the same fighters in the same order every time, meaning you can prepare accordingly for the unique traits of each fighter without being taken by surprise, though it does make the single-player arcade ladder very predictable and repetitive. I played the game on the easiest difficulty and found that the first few fights were pretty much a walk in the park: Knuckles is extremely unaggressive and rarely even tries to launch an attack against you, Amy likes to hide behind her barriers to drag out the battle, and Bark, for all his size and power, is pretty easy to dominate with the faster characters. Things always seem to take a turn for me when I go up against Espio, who appears to be much more aggressive in his approach, and Fang, who is extremely cheap to both play as or fight against since his popgun just blasts projectiles with relentless abandon.
Once you get past the tough Metal Sonic, you’re given just fifteen seconds to take out Dr. Eggman.
Once you conquer all of the fighters and secure the eight Chaos Emeralds, you’ll rocket up to the Death Egg II and do battle with the game’s toughest opponent yet: Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic is a fast, aggressive move thief, busting out a version of Tails’ helicopter drop and Knuckles’ glide by rocketing across the screen like a torpedo. He can also blast out a large laser from his chest and drain your health bar with just a few combos and is easily the most frustrating opponent in the game made all the more annoying because of the game’s dodgy controls and requirements to properly pull off special moves. Once you finally take out Metal Sonic, though, the Death Egg II’s self-destruction sequence begins and Dr. Eggman comes stomping out in his little pincer mech and tries to keep you from escaping before the space station explodes. For this battle, you’ll automatically be placed into a permanent Hyper Mode but, on the flip side, you’ll also be given fifteen seconds to defeat Dr. Eggman in a single round fight and, if you fail, it’s game over. Thankfully, Dr. Eggman is no real threat (at least on the easiest setting) and you can simply trounce him in no time at all by spamming whatever attacks and combos you know before he even has a chance to unload his best attacks against you.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: There’s no extraneous power-ups or onscreen collectibles to worry about in Sonic the Fighters; it’s about as bare bones as you can get for a fighting title and the only power-up you have at your disposal is the Hyper Mode, which can be activated for a few seconds at the cost of some barrier energy and can help turn the tide if you’re struggling. If you manage to reach Metal Sonic without losing a single round, and score the win in the first round against him, you can activate your Hyper Mode to transform into Super Sonic for the remainder of the game. Obviously, this only applies when you’re playing as Sonic and no other character gets this buff and, unfortunately, there’s no way to play as Super Sonic outside of this requirement but it’s pretty cool to wreck Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman as a fully powered up Super Sonic if you’ve got the skills and luck to activate this form.
Additional Features: There are twelve Achievements for you to earn in Sonic the Fighters and you should probably be able to get them all in one quick playthrough without any real difficulty. Seven of the Achievements are earned simply by completing the arcade mode on any difficulty; you’ll also nab another from playing arcade mode and battling your monochrome doppelgänger and, as long as you press the attack against a defending opponent, you’ll most likely grab another at the same time, too. The only ones that you might have to think a little harder about are ‘A Small Transformation’ (which requires you to get squashed by Amy’s hammer attack), ‘Perfect’ (which requires you to complete one round without being hit), and ‘Honey the Cat’ (which requires you to press Start when selecting Amy).
This version of the game adds three extra fighters to play as, which is a nice touch.
Speaking of Honey, this character was officially added to the game’s playable roster of fighters in this console port, which is very much appreciated. You can also play as Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman by pressing Start when selecting Sonic or Bean, respectively, but you can only play as these two outside of the arcade mode, which is a bit of a shame. Equally disappointing is that other cut variants of the bosses were still inaccessible even in this game and that there’s no way to play a one-on-one fight against a computer-controlled opponent outside of the arcade mode. You can, however, fight against a friend in both couch co-op and online and compare your scores and winning streaks with others with the online leaderboards but, sadly, that’s it; there’s no gallery or character models or anything, which is a bit of a shame.
The Summary: Sonic the Fighters is a fairly decent little blast of fun that should keep you satisfied for about, maybe, half an hour at the most. The arcade mode is a breeze to blast through in about ten minutes, depending on your skill level and the difficulty settings you set up, and there’s some fun to be had playing as each character and basking in their vibrant, animated 3D models. As an obscure entry in the Sonic franchise, you could do a lot worse and it’s great seeing Fang, Bean, and Bark brought to life in 3D and given a chance to shine. I’ll never understand why it took SEGA so long to bring these fantastically-designed characters back into the franchise and that, and my brief experience with the game at SEGAWorld, means I have a bit of a soft spot for this mostly forgotten entry in the franchise. However, it can’t be denied that Sonic the Fighters isn’t really that good of a gaming experience or a fighting game; it’s bright and vibrant and full of quirky, cartoonish charm but there are definitely better 3D fighters out there from the same time and the game is just too fast and too frantic for its own good, meaning it’s a disappointingly short and underwhelming experience that is only worth your time because it’s kinda cheap, the Achievements are dead easy to get, and you can breeze through it easily enough even when facing the game’s cheaper, more frustrating opponents.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Are you a fan of Sonic the Fighters? Which of the game’s roster was your favourite and why? What did you think to the game’s aesthetic and gameplay? Did you struggle with the controls and button inputs or did you discover a depth to the gameplay that I missed while madly mashing buttons? Did you ever play Sonic the Fighters out in the wild or did you first experience it when it was ported to home consoles? Would you like to see SEGA attempt a Sonic fighting game again sometime, maybe in the mould of the Super Smash Bros. series (HAL Laboratory/Various, 1999 to present)? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic the Fighters, leave a comment down below.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: August 1985 Developer: Atari Games Also Available For: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum
The Background: In 1981, director Steven Spielberg joined forces with George Lucas and Harrison Ford to bring Indiana Jones to life in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981), a critical and financial success that launched one of cinema’s most beloved franchises and expediated Ford’s rise to superstardom. The movies soon led to a wealth of multimedia merchandise, including toys, comic, a spin-off television series, and videogames, beginning with an extremely basic 8-bit adventure for the Atari. Although Spielberg’s sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom(ibid, 1984) made slightly less than its predecessor at the box office and attracted controversy for its performances, potentiallyinsensitive cultural depictions, and its darker aspects, it too was accompanied by a videogame. Thanks to a graphically superior version being released in arcades, Temple of Doom was allegedly the first Atari System 1 game to include digitised speech, voice clips, and even John Williams’ iconic music. Seen as a marked improvement over its predecessor, Temple of Doom was also reportedly the fourth-most-successful upright arcade unit of August 1985 in Japan and has been noted as being one of the best videogame adaptations of a movie at that time.
The Plot:Archaeologist and adventure-seeker Doctor Henry Jones Jr., better known as “Indiana Jones” (or simply “Indy”), infiltrates a Thuggee cult to free the children they’ve kidnapped as slaves, recover the mystical Sankara Stones, and defeat the cult’s leader, Mola Ram.
The Review: Anyone who actually makes a habit of reading my reviews will notice that this review is laid out a little differently from my usual ones and there’s a very good reason for that: there’s honestly not enough to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to warrant a more extensive analysis. Considering the accolades it apparently received at the time, I was left very disappointed by the barebones presentation and mechanics offered by the game, which is a simple 2D adventure that takes place entirely in the lava-and-ladder-infested caves of the Thugee cult. Players, obviously, take control of Indy, in an extreme basic control scheme that allows him to whip in multiple directions, including diagonally, but unable to jump. Indy’s whip will only stun the Thugee enemies who relentlessly pursue him, however; to actually kill them, you’ll need to whip an explosive barrel or knock them to their deaths. Luckily, the snakes and weirdo, dinosaur-like bats can be killed but this is a small consolation considering how many enemies swarm you at any one time.
Whip, swing, and explore to reescue the children from their cages.
Upon starting the game, you’re presented with a pretty decent piece of sprite art depicting Indy and one of the game’s handful of voice samples from the film, which are muffled and painfully basic. From there, you select to play with either three or seven lives (which you’d ever pick less is beyond me) and pick from the Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty setting and are tasked with rescuing several captured children from cages scattered all around the looping screens. Here, you’ll need to run up ladders, avoid slipping from platforms, swing over gaps using your whip, and try not to fall into lava as you rescue the kids and allow access to the minecart that acts as the level’s exit. Unfortunately, Indy is not only extremely limited in his abilities, being unable to jump, duck, punch, or shoot, but he’s extremely fragile, too. One touch from an enemy or spikes will do him in and, while he can drop from small heights, a high plummet will also kill him and the game’s clunky, slippery controls make it very easy to fall to your death and end up being asked to enter your initials on the high score table. Luckily, you’ll be granted an extra life after accumulating a set number of points and the only time you’ll face a time limit is when picking your difficulty setting; however, the amount of kids you need to rescue, and the hazards and enemies you’ll face, increase with each playthrough and it doesn’t matter how many credits you have, once you get a game over you’re done, so I recommend playing on an emulator to make liberal use of save states.
Even if you somehow best the minecarts and acquire the stones, you still have to face Mola Ram…
Gameplay is broken up a bit by two other sections; after reaching the minecart, you’ll race along a track just like in the film, leaning this way and that to avoid dead ends, and using your whip to dispatch enemies or set off explosives. At this, these sections are quite fun but, by the end, they feature such fast-paced, winding, and hazard-filled tracks that I have no idea how you’re supposed to legitimately get past them. After each of these, you’ll need to snag one of the three Sankara Stones from Mola Ram’s volcanic altar. You’ll need to quickly cross a wooden bridge, avoiding the trapdoor that leads to the lava, or swing across from the far ends of the room while fending off Thugee enemies. Once you have all three and conquered one final, vertically inclined cave section with ten children to rescue and more enemies than you can shake a stick at, you’ll reach the wooden bridge from the finale of the film for a final confrontation with Mola Ram. Mola Ram randomly appears during the game’s other stages, teleporting in and sending a flaming heart that is very difficult to hit and follows you around incessantly, and he represents the game’s most frustrating challenge here. Thugee will constantly spawn in from behind as you clunkily cross the bridge, forcing you to quickly whip them to the deaths and then turn the other way to smack Mola Ram’s projectiles out of the air, which requires split second timing and more luck than this game sees fit to gift you. If you somehow do get close enough, a cutscene will play showing Indy collapsing the bridge and you’ll get to play through a bonus round in the cave section where you run, climb, and slide about whipping golden statues for extra points until your lives are exhausted.
The Summary: I was excited to play Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; I love old arcade games, and even got to play it in the wild at an arcade place a short drive from where I live. Technically, the game’s presentation is pretty good; sprites are large and colourful, if a bit crude and repetitive, and the handful of environments certainly are faithful to the movie. If you were a fan of anything other than the temple scenes, minecart chase, and the final, though, and characters other than Indy, Mola Ram, and random Thugee cultists, you’re shit out of luck as the entire game is built around these few individuals and locales. The classic Indiana Jones music is barely included, playing only as a celebratory jingle, and the voice samples, while cute, aren’t really worth praising. The main issue with the game is its crippling, unforgiving difficulty; this is another rare arcade game where credits mean nothing, a clearly conscious decision to account for the game’s limitations and short length. Indy is depressingly fragile, crumbling from the lightest touch, and the weird, quasi-isometric perspective our untimely death makes it far too easy to slip from platforms to your untimely death. It’s a shame as Indiana Jones could easily have worked as a fun, mindless run-and-gun (or run-and-whip) adventure, with thrilling minecart chases and button mashing sequences sprinkled throughout. Instead, the developers went for the cheapest, easiest route to force kids to waste their hard-earned pocket money trying to shift Indy’s useless ass around the cave and make blind, near impossible decisions in the minecart, making for a frustrating experience that looks far more appealing than it actually is.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Have you ever played the arcade version of so Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? If so, what did you think to it and were you also put off by its unrelenting difficulty? Were you impressed by the visuals and the voice samples? What did you think to Indy’s limitations and vulnerability? Did you enjoy the minecart and Sankara Stone sections and were you ever able to best Mola Ram? Which Indiana Jones videogame is your favourite and why? Whatever your thoughts on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and classic arcade games, feel free to share them in the comments or on my social media.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: 1991 Developer: Data East Also Available For: Amiga, Amstrad GX4000, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), ZX Spectrum
The Plot: Detroit is being over-run by gangs, crime, and corruption thanks to the machinations of Omni-Consumer Products (OCP) and only cybernetic police officer RoboCop can hope to maintain law and order on the city streets.
Gameplay: Like its predecessor, RoboCop 2 is a 2D, sidescrolling action shoot-‘em-up in which players once again assume control of Alex Murphy, cybernetic police officer RoboCop, and are tasked with cleaning up the streets of Detroit. Much like every RoboCop title I’ve ever played, RoboCop remains a sluggish, clunky, and awkward playable character. The controls couldn’t be simpler; you move RoboCop left and right with the joystick and can fire his iconic Auto 9 either directly ahead or directly behind him, allowing you to blast at enemies quickly and efficiently (though I did have some trouble remembering which button corresponded to which direction, and you can’t just hold down the fire button like in other run-and-gun games). RoboCop can’t duck but he can still haul his metal butt into the air to jump; thankfully, you won’t be required to do any kind of platforming and this is purely to allow you to hit certain bosses in their weak point with a “Jumping Shot” since you can’t aim your Auto 9 in any direction but the one you’re facing.
RoboCop must blast away thugs both horizontally and vertically, and chase them down on his bike.
You’ll have to contend with quite a few onscreen enemies at once, as well as a time limit, but each credit you enter will give you two lives and RoboCop is far more durable this time around. When enemies get up close, RoboCop will unleash a few piston-like punches and toss them away, which is super useful not just for clearing enemies off you but also dealing damage as enemies can take quite a few shots before going down but seem weaker to your melee attacks. You won’t really have to worry about anything except battling your way ever onwards, no matter how different the environment around you gets; you’ll occasionally get to fire at barrels or crates for power-ups or smash through pipes and doors, but I found these often just blinked out of existence rather than exploding. Gameplay is mixed up a little bit with a brief instance where you must frantically mash the fire button and waggle the joystick to overpower a car and, more consistently, when the perspective shifts to a vertical shooter and you have to pick off goons when they pop out from behind columns like a shooting range and in first-person bonus stages where you’re riding on a motorcycle or in a car for a bit of rail shooting.
Graphics and Sound: One area where RoboCop really takes a hit is in the sprite work; sure, RoboCop and the enemies he encounters are much bigger and more detailed than in the last game, but they’re lacking in personality and animations. There might be a few voice samples from the films included but RoboCop doesn’t have an idle animation anymore; he just stands there like a statue until you get him plodding along. He’ll twirl and holster his Auto 9 after clearing a stage, which is all very well and good but, ironically, he only seems at his most alive when he’s being knocked down or killed. He scrambles to his feet and is rendered a smouldering mess of limbs upon death, which is a nice touch, but sadly this kind of detail is missing from his active sprite.
Sprites and environments are big, detailed, and accurate but lack animation and personality at times.
Thankfully, the recognisable bosses and areas from the movies fare much better in this respect; you start off on the graffiti-stained wreckage of the Detroit streets, passing behind wrecked cars and battling through the arcade past arcade machines and an air hockey table and into the Nuke production factory, and eventually end up at the OCP building. Like the gun shop and the Nuke factory, this area is ripped straight from the movie (it even has the little model of Delta City in the background) and you’ll battle through its hallways, up a lift, and fall from the rooftop to the streets below just like in the movie’s finale. Various pixelated shots from the movie are incorporated into the game’s opening sequence and the title screen, though the ending is related using only simple text; however, if you’re playing the Japanese version of the game, you’ll be treated to a pixel-art recreation of the first film that plays before and during a whole new opening stage that recreates RoboCop’s showdown at OCP headquarters from the end of that movie.
Enemies and Bosses: Detroit’s finest scumbags are out in force in RoboCop 2; these mohawk-wearing punks initially attack with knives and guns but are soon busting out axes and large mallets to pummel you with. They’ll also race around on motorcycles, sport some nifty karate moves, and whip out heavier ordinance when you reach the gun shop. Soon, you’ll match wits with OCPs security droids, have arcade machines tossed at you, and be shot at by laser rifles and rocket launchers. Punks will also take shots at you from the backs of vans and from helicopters in the rail shooter sections, and you’ll find the enemies get mixed and matched as you reach the end of the game.
Despite Cain having a gang of thugs in the movie, they don’t really show up as the game’s bosses.
Each stage ends in a boss battle that’s made all the more tedious by the fact that each once can absorb a great deal of damage before being put down. Even the first stage boss, which is just a frog-footed motorcycle thug swinging a chainsaw around, doesn’t go down easy, and things quickly escalate when you come across a goon in a mechanised suit. This bugger flies around dropping mines everywhere and blasting at you with a machine gun and missile launcher, and even crops up again later in the game for a rematch; be sure to shoot at the pilot when he ejects, if only for a bit of catharsis. In the Nuke factory, you’ll encounter some mutated enemies clearly inspired by the first film’s “Melting Man” effect, and even battle a monstrous version of Catzo after dunking him in a vat of the stuff. You’ll also have to contend with a massive hopping cannon than leaps about the place blasting at you with its main weapon, tosses grenades at your head, and fires a machine gun at you. While you won’t take damage if you touch it and the main cannon can be put out of commission, it’ll become more erratic and aggressive when near defeat.
Battle ED-209 and then take on your would-be replacement in a multi-stage battle!
When you get to the OCP building, you’ll finally face off against one of the franchise’s most memorable foes, the Enforcement Droid 209/ED-209. Of course, you initially battle against this in the prelude in the Japanese version, but both battles are the same; you must avoid ED-209’s machine gun fire and missiles and shoot at its big domed head with your jumping shot. This is all you really need to worry about as ED-209 doesn’t really move that much or have other attacks but, while you’ll employ the same strategy against RoboCain, you’ll find this final boss much more formidable and mobile. First, the battle against RoboCain takes place over three phases; in each phase, RoboCain gains more health and adds additional attacks to its arsenal. At first, RoboCain plods about blasting at you with its machine gun arm and swiping at you with its metallic talon, then it gains its extending arm attack and flails its arms around like a whirlwind, and then it attacks with its electrical claw up close and fries homing missiles at you. When you crash to the ground outside the OCP building, RoboCain will lose some of its armaments the more your pour on the attacks, eventually crumbling to its knees and leaving itself wide open for RoboCop to rip its brain out and end its threat once and for all.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Health is extremely scarce in RoboCop 2, but you can occasionally grab pills to refill your health bar. Your main in-game upgrade, however, will be the additional, extremely temporary weapons you can grab here and there as you battle through each stage. You can grab such state-of-the-art bang-bangs as the Cobra Assault Cannon, a mini gun, and a bazooka, all of which deal heavy damage but are only good for a few shots before you lose them, which is extremely disappointing.
Additional Features: Your main reason to replay RoboCop 2 will, of course, be to beat your high score. However, the game can be played in two-player co-operative mode, with player two taking control of a blue chromed RoboCop for twice the action. As mentioned, the Japanese version also features an additional opening stage so it’s probably best to play that version of the game so you can wring a little more game time out of it.
The Summary: RoboCop 2 is very similar to its predecessor in a lot of ways; it remains a simplistic, action-packing shoot-‘em-up with a little variety thanks to the first-person and vertical shooter sections. While RoboCop is far more durable this time around, so are his enemies and, although there’s far less onscreen hazards to have to worry about, RoboCop remains as unwieldy as ever. The game features some nice big, detailed sprites and environments that are ripped straight from the movie, but the lack of personality and animation frames makes it all the clunkier to play. It’s a decent enough way to spend about forty minutes of your life, but it really doesn’t bring anything new to the table and is, in a way, a little less appealing than the first game due to the lack of enemy variety and entertaining action sequences. RoboCop 2 just about saves itself with an impressive amount of attention to detail, especially in recreating the brawl between RoboCop and RoboCain, and the additions found in the Japanese version absolutely make that the definitive version of this game, but you’re not really missing out on much if you skip this one or only play about ten minutes of it.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Did you ever play RoboCop2 in an arcade? Which RoboCop videogame is your favourite? Would you like to see a new RoboCop game; if so, what genre do you think would best fit the source material? Which RoboCop movie is your favourite? Either way, leave your thoughts about RoboCop2 below, or drop a comment on my social media.
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on 23 June 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon and, in keeping with tradition, I will be dedicating the entire month to celebrating SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: 20 June 2013 Originally Released: 22 September 1995 Developer: SEGA Original Developer: Aspect Also Available For: Game Gear, Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One
The Background: Thanks to SEGA largely ignoring them these days, many people forget that Sonic’s iconic and much-lauded Mega Drive titles were accompanied by a fair few videogames for their 8-bit consoles. The 8-bit versions of Sonic the Hedgehog (Ancient, 1991) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Aspect, 1992) were considerably different from the 16-bit counterparts, featuring entirely different Zones, gameplay gimmicks, and features, and this continued to Sonic’s other8-bit titles, which tended to be more experimental compared to the mainline games. This is best evident in Sonic’s long-time kid sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower , getting a few spin-off titles of his own, with this particular game facing criticism upon release for its slower pace and only really finding its fans later in life as retrospective reviews appreciated the role-playing elements of the game, though the back-tracking and inventory management was seen as a downside. Since Tails Adventure was a Game Gear exclusive title back in the day, I didn’t play it until it was featured in Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut(Sonic Team, 2003) and, even then, I never actually sat down and put effort into playing through it until I picked up this Nintendo 3DS port of the game.
The Plot: Before Tails met Sonic the Hedgehog, the two-tailed fox cub used his various gadgets and inventions to travel across Cocoa Island to liberate it from the Battle Kukku Empire, an evil empire that sought to conquer the world using the legendary Chaos Emeralds.
Gameplay: Tail Adventure (oddly referred to as “Tails Adventures” in-game) is a 2D, sidescrolling action/adventure game that emphasises slow-paced exploration and backtracking, making it more like a “Metroidvania” style game than a high-speed platformer. Players are placed into the role of cute little two-tailed fox Tails, who plods along a number of fairly samey island environments tossing bombs, acquiring new gadgets, and using his twin tails to fly to new areas. Although you don’t have to contend with a time limit when playing, Tails’ flight is restricted by a meter, which drains the longer you fly; rather than tapping A to gain height, this will cancel the flying state so you need to use up on the directional pad (D-pad) to get higher and you can extend your flight meter by finding the six Chaos Emeralds across the game’s stages. The B button sees you make use of your currently equipped item; Tails starts off with a regular bomb, which can be tossed when standing still or dropped when flying, but can carry up to four at once and you can switch between them from the pause screen by pressing left or right on the D-pad. Tails can look up and duck down to scroll the screen vertically, which is useful for spotting enemies just out of sight or spikes, and can even toss bombs while ducking to take out smaller enemies. He will also automatically clamber up small ledges and walls when near to or jumping to them, but his default walking speed is incredibly slow and you’re not able to perform signature Sonic moves like the Spin Dash or Super Sonic Spin Attack without a specific gadget.
Tails embarks on his own solo adventure with his trusty bombs and helicopter tails.
As ever, Golden Rings are your life source; however, this time around, you lose a certain number of Rings depending on how you take a hit and they act more like traditional hit points in a role-playing game. You can pick up Rings from defeated enemies or find them either lying around a level or behind destructible walls and they’ll respawn when you leave the area, allowing you to farm them if need be, and Chaos Emeralds will also increase your maximum Ring count. Once you clear a stage (each of which is generally comprised of about three different screens with different paths accessible by your different gadgets and skills and capped off with a boss battle), Tails can navigate across Cocoa Island using a map screen. From here, you can jump back to Tails’ House at any time to swap out your gadgets, review your password (necessary to continue your game when you get a game over), or kit out Tails’ submarine, the Sea Fox. When in the Sea Fox, the game becomes a sidescrolling shoot-‘em-up of sorts as Tails explores new areas underwater, blasting at enemies and blocks with missiles and mines to reach new areas on and around Cocoa Island. Like Tails, the Sea Fox can be equipped with up to four different gadgets but it also comes with a drill appendage to plough through walls, though you’ll need to manually turn the submarine around with the A button, which can be a bit clunky.
Hop in the Sea Fox and explore your environments to find new gadgets and solve puzzles.
The bulk of the game is focused on exploration; at first, you’re somewhat limited to where you can go and will be teased by upgrade pods and areas of each stage that you can’t reach yet. Tails can blow through blocks and walls, push rocks and springs to climb and get higher, and often has to contend with blasts of wind that either hold him down, push him back, or blast him upwards. Many stages are rife with spikes, fireball-spewing lava pits, or in pitch black darkness, requiring careful navigation or new gadgets to get through; others are slightly maze-like and contain multiple exits, with some depositing you back on the map screen rather than advancing you forwards. Each time you get a new item or gadget, it’s worth equipping and experimenting with it to see how it might open new paths to new upgrades or stages in places you’ve already explored, and this is actively encouraged as it’s the only way to complete the game. You’ll be revisiting many areas but especially returning to Lake Rocky as you upgrade the Sea Fox, and a number of stage hazards will slow you down; you’ll have to redirect conveyor belts with your wrench, blow through walls with your bombs or napalm, dodge missile turrets, press switches to lower electrical barriers, and send your little Remote Robot through small gaps to grab items or solve puzzles. Occasionally, you’ll need to perform some tricky platforming, often with enemies hovering right in the way, making your way upwards on drafts of air and watching for ceiling spikes; other times, you’ll be hopping around on rapids and being blasted around under water (with no fear of drowning, thankfully), and returning to Tails’ House again and again if you get halfway through a stage and realise you don’t have the right item equipped (though there is a teleporter than makes this much faster than going back through the whole stage).
Graphics and Sound: If you’ve played any of the other 8-bit Sonic videogames, Tails Adventure will look and sound very familiar to you; many of the sounds (such as Ring collection and boss hits) are recycled from those games and the music is right in line with the jaunty chip tunes of those often overlooked titles. While the heads-up display is very sparse, even for an 8-bit Sonic title, the game does suffer from noticeable slowdown when there’s a lot happening onscreen. Not only does the game include include the signature “SE-G-AA!” jingle during the opening and a brief opening sequence in which Tails and Flickies are panicked by the Battle Kukku Empire, other cutscenes play when bosses appear or when Tails hops into the Sea Fox. Tails also has a cute idle animation where he digs in the ground or fiddles with his wrench, his flying sprite changes and becomes more dynamic as his meter increases, and he even has a pretty spectacular death animation that sees him sent flying.
While the environments can be a bit bland, the sprites and animations are pretty good.
There are twelve stages in Tails Adventure, though many are quite similar, with recycled foregrounds and sprite elements being recoloured and shuffled about. There are some interesting visuals considering the limited hardware, however; Volcanic Tunnel is full of flickering fire, and lava pits, and Cavern Island is beset by water rapids. While the second part of Polly Mountain is similar to Volcanic Tunnels except requiring the Night Vision item to cope with the darkness, the first part is very vertical, with a pretty impressive landscape in the background and gusts of wind to contend with. Green Island sees you venturing through hollow trees, Caron Forest has a big waterfall in the background, vines hanging down, and tree trucks as bridges. When in the Sea Fox, you’ll explore underground coral reefs and hop around on rapids above water as you blast at enemies and, after conquering all of the main stages, the Kukku Empire’s Battle Fortress rises from the map and you end up exploring a purely mechanical location that recalls classic Sonic stages like Scrap Brain Zone.
Enemies and Bosses: The Battle Kukku Empire is made up of heavily-armed birds and robotic enemies not unlike Doctor Eggman’s Badniks; the Battle Kukku Empire’s birds pilot little hover pods and mechanical walkers, firing projectiles or flamethrowers at you, or fly around dropping bombs on you. Smaller ones can be harder to hit and move a lot faster, quickly being spawned in from gates, and the Kukkus will pilot their own submarines and even snipe at you from behind the environment by the end. You’ll also have to contend with robotic bats and mice, but probably the worst enemy in the game is a simple beehive that keeps spawning in bees until you destroy it, which causes the queen to pop out and chase after you, so it’s best you use your Napalm Bomb to quickly dispatch these little buggers.
A number of mechanical bosses will test your bomb-throwing prowess.
There are eight bosses to contend with throughout Tails Adventure, with one fought twice and some new upgrades being acquired after defeating them, and the first one you’ll battle with is the Bird Walker amidst the flaming background of Poloy Forest. This is a pretty simple boss that stomps and hops towards you and tries to fry you with its flamethrower; you can toss your bombs at it, or fly over it and drop them, but it’s worth noting that it can also shoot flames from behind. At the end of Cavern Island, another mechanical boss awaits: Mecha Golem (5-gou), which attacks with a swinging arm, causes boulders to rain from the ceiling, and takes a few more hits to destroy as you have to first blast off its cockpit to expose the pilot, and then continue attacking to finish it off. A similar boss is faced at the end of the Volcanic Tunnel; entirely stationary, it sits there firing a whole mess of projectiles at you. Some of these can be destroyed and you can avoid others by flying behind it and attacking the cockpit, but this was actually the most difficult boss in the game for me because of the sheer number of projectiles onscreen and the slowdown they caused. After finally getting the Sea Fox upgraded, you’ll encounter the Kukku Cruiser in Lake Rocky, which is a pretty simple and non-threatening boss battle as you simply avoid the depth charges it drops and unload on it with your Anti-air Missile until it goes down in flames.
The Battle Kukku Empire’stop dogs offer some diverse challenge.
The Battle Kukku Empire’s executives are somewhat more memorable boss battles; the first one you face is Battle Kukku XVI (or “Speedy”), a green rooster who initially confronts you on Polly Mountain in what amounts to a race. While you can throw bombs at Speedy and it registers as a hit, you’re actually supposed to avoid him (and the ceiling spikes) as you fly up without the restriction of your regular meter. Speedy will dart down at you like an arrow and can be tricky to avoid but gives up a Chaos Emerald once you reach the top. You’ll fight him properly on the Battle Fortress at the end of the game, however; this time, Speedy travels around the arena and fires a big projectile bolt at you. You need to anticipate where he’s going to appear or come around next and toss a bomb at him before quickly dodging his projectile and being hit by him as he barges past you, which can be tricky. Doctor Fukurokov also awaits on the Battle Fortress, though you don’t battle him directly; instead, he drops you into a mechanical arena full of lasers and spikes but these won’t harm you as you’re directing your Remote Robot through a narrow maze and having it drop a rock on the doc’s head. Finally, after besting Speedy, you’ll fight with the final boss, Great Battle Kukku XV; this large bird grabs and throws you if you get too close and tosses bombs at you. While you can fly over these, and him, to avoid many of his attacks, he becomes much more aggressive as you deal damage, spewing out bombs and walking across the arena to make himself a more difficult target to hit.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: To begin with, Tails is quite limited in his abilities; he can throw a regular bomb and replenish one Ring of his health with each Golden Ring he picks up, but he won’t become more versatile without exploring high and low for Chaos Emeralds to increase his flight meter and maximum Ring count and acquire additional gadgets to progress further and increase his attack repertoire. Tails can acquire new bombs that help him progress in different ways; the Remote Bomb can be rolled through small gaps and remotely triggered to destroy anything blocking your progress, the Large Bomb destroys all onscreen enemies and bigger obstacles, the Napalm Bomb sends a burst of flames out for wide coverage and to get past dense grass, and the Triple Bomb sends a spew of explosions out. You can also acquire Night Vision goggles to light up dark areas, Speed Boots to dramatically increase Tails’ walking and flying speed, a Hammer for a close-range attack, and a Helmet to deflect enemy projectiles.
Tails has a variety of gadgets and upgrades available to him to help him fight and progress.
Tails can use his Wrench to reprogram conveyor belts, teleport back to his house with the Teleport Device to save you backtracking, and lift heavy objects with the Super Glove while the Item Radar helps you find hidden items and the “Raido” lets you change the in-game music, Probably Tails’ most useful item is the Remote Robot, and indestructible little robot that you can direct, hop, and fly through narrow passageways to solve puzzles, and you can also grab Sonic, Fang, and Knuckles items to perform a Spin Attack, increase your chances of finding Rings, and punch enemies, respectively. The Sea Fox can also be upgraded with new weapons, such as mines and Anti-air Missiles to clear enemies or blocks below and above you, respectively, and the Vulcan Gun and Proton Torpedo to shoot down enemies in front of you. You can speed yourself up, gain the ability to jump up rapids by holding A and releasing it at peak charge, destroy all onscreen enemies with the Spark, and use Extra Armour for an invincibility that protects you until you leave the current screen.
Additional Features: There are six Chaos Emeralds and a total of thirty-four gadgets to be found in Tails Adventure. While you’ll naturally come across many of these, especially the ones that are necessary to progress, others are more hidden and optional. When you finish the game, you’ll be told your percentage of items found, but it appears as though you can’t return to your cleared save file as selecting ‘Continue’ simply restarted the game for me. Naturally, this 3DS version of the game allows you to save at any point with its save state feature, but you can also apply borders to the game, including a Game Gear border to recreate the original gaming experience.
The Summary: Although I never owned a Game Gear growing up, Tails Adventure has been on my list for a long time. I’ve dabbled with it, generally on Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut, but never actually sat and properly played it until now. It’s definitely a curio amongst Sonic’s vast library of videogames and obviously very different from its mainline titles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though; if you like Metroidvanias then there’s a bit of that flavour here, if maybe a little dumbed down for kids. The game has a very slow, deliberate, whimsical pace, feel, and aesthetic to it that makes it very visually appealing, if not necessarily too challenging or action-packed. It can be tricky and an obstacle to try and figure out what gadgets you need to progress and which stages to revisit and when to get everything you need, and a lot of the environments are a bit bland and repeated, but it was fun discovering new pick-ups and upgrades for Tails and his cool little submarine. I enjoyed how it wasn’t just Dr. Eggman and his Badniks and that the villains were visually interesting and quirky and I’d love to see the Kukku Empire crop up again in a videogame some time. Tails fits this genre of videogame very well so I could totally see this getting a revisit or a new coat of paint similar to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, 2014) if SEGA ever actually decided to dust off their sadly forgotten 8-bit titles. With some fun, cartoony sprites, a variety of interesting weapons to and secrets to find, and some wacky boss battles, Tails Adventure more than makes up for it slack of challenge and the limitations of its hardware with its presentation and tight gameplay.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Are you a fan of Tails Adventure? Did you enjoy the emphasis on exploration and item usage as opposed to high-speed adventuring? Which of Tails’s gadgets was your favourite to use? What did you think to the Battle Kukku Empire and their quirky bosses? Did you ever own this on the Game Gear or did you play it in a later compilation or port? Would you like to see the Sonic franchise dabble in other genres using their many characters such as this? Whatever your thoughts on Tails Adventure, leave them below or drop a comment on my social media and be sure to check out my other Sonic content!
Throw on your proton pack and get ready to bust some ghosts because June 8th is, officially, “Ghostbusters Day”! Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984) was first released on this day back in 1984 and, since then, has become a majorpopculture franchise that includes comic books, a popular cartoon and line of action figures, and videogames and it is, easily, one of my favourite films and franchises from that era.
This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper. If you’d like to support the site, you can do so at my Ko-Fi page.
Released: 30 June 1990 Developer: SEGA / Compile
The Background: Ever since Ghostbusters was released and became a bighit, the concept of four somewhat-bumbling New York parapsychologists snagging troublesome spirits has developed into a pretty significant franchise. We’ve had the under-ratedsequel, a questionablereboot, and a decent enough modern follow-up, a couple of popular cartoons, a whole slew of action figures and comic books, and, naturally, videogames. The first Ghostbusters-branded videogame was a multi-platform release from Activision that was a huge success despite being wildly different across each home console and containing humourous grammatical errors. Although the much-loved cartoon spin-off failed to replicate its success at the arcades, Japanese developer Compile made up for this with a much-sought-after Mega Drive title in 1990. The game, which was oddly missing Winston Zeddemore from its roster, was largelypraised for its graphics and addictive gameplay, but criticised for its music and sound design. Although ranked highly among Ghostbusters videogames, the Mega Drive title is also seen as one of the strangest titles in the franchise for its unique art style and gameplay mechanics.
The Plot: After saving New York City (and the entire world) from Zuul, business is slow for the Ghostbusters. However, when ghosts and ghouls rise again, the three supernatural exterminators rush to help (and earn some cash in the process) and solve the mystery of an ancient stone tablet.
Gameplay: Ghostbusters is a 2D, sidescrolling run-and-gun with light platforming elements and an emphasis on exploration, purchasing upgrades, and choosing which missions to undertake. Players can pick from one of the three Ghostbusters, and there are slight differences between each character: Doctor Peter Venkman is the allrounder, with normal speed and stamina; Doctor Ray Stanz (referred to as “Raymond”) compensates for his slow speed with a higher stamina; and Doctor Egon Spengler is fast on his feet but has less health than his fellow Ghostbusters. In this case, I guess it makes some sense to leave Winston out of the game as his stats would inevitably mirror one of the others, but it’s still a kick in the teeth that all four Ghostbusters aren’t playable. Despite the fact that Ghostbusters was very much an ensemble movie and focused on the camaraderie between the main characters, the videogame is a single player experience, and once you pick a Ghostbuster, you can’t switch to another one mid-way through the game.
Explore a number of locations zapping and trapping ghosts to earn cash.
Regardless of which Ghostbuster you pick, the game’s primary controls and mechanics remain the same; pressing A will see you toss one of your limited supply of bombs to deal damage to or defeat enemies, B will fire your current weapon from your proton pack, and C allows you to jump. Oddly, you cannot change these controls, which is a bit of a shame as I’d much rather have A be fire, B jump, and C throw bombs but it’s not too difficult to adapt to the controls. Pressing Start brings up the game’s inventory screen, where you can select a different weapon, activate a shield, use items such as food or the infrared scope, and view the grid-like map. The map gets coloured in as you explore and will give you a vague idea of where the “middle ghosts” and bosses are in each level, but it’s a very barebones map screen not unlike those seen in the early Metroid videogames (Various, 1986 to present). The heads-up display (HUD) will show your stamina (basically your health bar), proton pack energy, remaining lives, the number of bombs you have left, and how many ghosts are left for you to catch in the stage you’re in. When you start the game, you can pick from one of four different locations in New York City; each building has a different number of spooks that you need to catch and will net you a different cash pay-out, and basically the amount of money you can earn determines how difficult the stage will be. Once in the location, you need to seek out the ghosts and try to catch them; along the way, you’ll encounter some basic enemies that’ll you need to blast and hazards to avoid or hop over. The Ghostbusters can fire while moving and shoot both upwards and diagonally, which is extremely helpful; they can also crouch through small gaps and vents and swim without worrying about drowning. Your goal is to “encounter” the stage’s resident ghosts, which act as sub-bosses; once the ghost has been defeated, its spirit will float around the immediate area and you’ll have to hold down fire button (or tap it, it’s not very clear) to snag the spook in your proton stream and try to drag it over the ghost trap to capture it. If you manage to do this (and it’s easier said than done sometimes), you’ll see some of your health and energy restored and get a cash bonus; if you fail, either due to running out of energy or taking too long, the ghost will run away and you’ll lose out on these bonuses.
There’s some freedom to level and item selection, and the difficulty shifts accordingly.
However, you don’t actually need to capture these ghosts in order to progress; you just need to battle and defeat them and tick them off in the HUD in order for the boss ghost to appear on the map. You can freely navigate your way back to the start of the stage to exit back to the Ghostbuster’s headquarters and purchase additional health, items, and gear if you need to and you’ll have a limited number of continues at your disposal to carry on playing if you lose a life. The game can be played in either Easy, Normal, or Hard mode; I played on Easy and had nine continues, but I imagine the harder modes limit your continues (possibly your lives as well) and potentially make enemies more aggressive. Enemies will respawn when you leave the screen, or sometimes when you hang around too long, and you’ll encounter such hazards as spikes, lava, limited visibility due to lack of lighting, swinging axes, and projectile-spitting barriers that block your progress. Thankfully, there’s no time limit to worry about so you can take your time exploring each location, and you’ll need to search all over to track down the ghosts and figure out how to progress further. This can be confusing at times, thanks both to the map and how familiar some of the stages are laid out and appear, and the screen sometimes doesn’t scroll up fast enough for you to see temporary platforms or ladders that lead to a new area or the final boss. There are also no checkpoints in the levels so, if you exit or lose all your lives and have to continue, you’ll have to play through the entire stage from the start again but, on the plus side, you won’t have to capture the middle ghosts again.
Graphics and Sound: I’ve played the 8-bit Ghostbusters videogames, and the arcade shooter, and I have to say that I have long been intrigued by screenshots and gameplay footage of this title. The game immediately stands out by utilising a charming chibi-style aesthetic than compresses the characters down to squat, cartoonish sprites with comically oversized heads! This gives the Ghostbusters a great deal of personality and expression, especially when hit, dying, or left idle; you’ll even see their breath in the frozen apartment stage, and you’ll be treated to a 16-bit rendition of the iconic Ghostbusters theme alongside some jaunty and catchy tunes to keep you invested in even the more uninspiring locations. While the bog standard enemies aren’t much to shout about, the sub-bosses and bosses are extremely creative and unique in terms of their appearance; the game even includes some fun homages, such as a giant man-eating plant not unlike Audrey II (Levi Stubbs, et al) from Little Shop of Horrors (Oz, 1986), alongside familiar enemies like Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Though the locations are a bit bland, the sprites are comical and expressive and the story’s told well.
Indeed, Mister Stay Puft will be a constant presence in the high-rise building stage, leering in through windows and punching through the background as you progress upwards. The game’s main four stages are all quite similar in terms of their basic layout, containing doors to pass through, ladders to climb, and spikes to avoid, but the more profitable stages are noticeably bigger and more maze-like. The “Home Sweet Home” stage is a haunted mansion that just about separates itself from the high-rise building with dining tables and falling (and candle-tossing) chandeliers; the apartment stage grows increasingly frozen as you progress, with falling icicles dropping from above (but, thankfully, you don’t have to worry about the ground being slippery); the woody house requires the infrared scope to cast some light in the darkness and is filled with lava and narrow (or temporary) wooden log platforms. Once you’ve beaten the main four stages, you’ll head to a mossy, dungeon-like castle and, finally, descend into a deep hole full of diamond-like glass and damaging globs. The story is told through text boxes and pixelated renditions of the characters and their clients as they discuss the mysterious tablet pieces they acquire and the dialogue captures that amusing Ghostbusters banter that made the film so memorable; some limited sprite animations also help progress the story, but the majority of the cutscenes take place in these small box windows that somewhat limit their appeal.
Enemies and Bosses: Each stage is filled with some minor enemies who dog your progress and don’t offer any pick-ups or cash upon defeat; you’ll encounter leaping slime balls, possessed cutlery and tablecloths, ice-like golems, big jellyfish, bouncing orbs, flaming bat-like spooks, gaunt zombies, and demonic teddy bears. Each of these can be dispatched in just a few hits but, as enemies will respawn and have a tendency to follow you, it’s quite easy to get caught off-guard or swamped with enemies at times, and this can be frustrating as you’ll experience some knock-back upon taking damage with can cause you to drop to a lower area or fall onto some spikes or lava.
You’ll need to wait for a lot of the middle ghosts to reveal themselves so you can properly damage them.
There are ten middle ghosts that need to be fought (and, ideally, captured) in order to refill some of your health and energy, snag a cash bonus, and unlock the stage’s boss battle. These “encounters” take place in an isolated area in each stage and, since you can take on the main four stages in any order, their difficulty can vary depending on which route you take. I played “Home Sweet Home” first, which sees you battling Silk Hatton, a headless gentleman ghost who resists your projectiles; you can only deal damage to this spirit when its demonic, dog-like “head” pops out of its top hat. You’ll need to avoid (or shoot) Silk Hatton’s projectiles and, once you deal enough damage, it’ll split into two disembodied parts that need to be blasted to reduce it to a catchable spirit. You’ll battle the ice giant Crystarobo in the apartment stage; this crystalline monster lumbers and hops about, blasting lightning that spawns small minions, swinging overhead, and even detaching its limbs to attack you and it can only be damaged by shooting its head. You’ll also need to battle the Siren, a witch-like entity that flies about at the top of the screen shooting a three-way projectile at you and splitting into three to fire large shots your way; it’s invulnerable when flying overhead and you’ll need to shoot the correct Siren in order to whittle her health down and snag her spirit. In the woody house, you’ll encounter the Fire Dragon and Fire Giant; while the “giant” is anything but and leaps all over the place spitting embers at you and is comparatively weak, the dragon is a pain in the ass as it randomly pops up through the floor to breathe a long plume of fire at you that is very difficult to dodge.
Monstrous creatures, possessed Ghostbusters, and even Death itself must be conquered to progress.
In the high-rise building, you’ll come across the 100-Eyed Centipede that worms around in mid-air and splits into separate, sweeping parts as you damage it; the 3-Way Shot upgrade is super useful here as the creature spreads itself across a large area and can be tricky to dodge as a result. You’ll also battle the Shell Beast, a green, glob-like ghost that shields itself from attacks with a pink shell and bounces around the arena; you must fire up at it when it cracks open, but can blast its projectiles to make this one of the easier encounters in the game. Finally, in the castle, you’ll battle the massively annoying Broccoli Worm that’s a bastard to jump over and splits into separate parts, the Grim Reaper himself (who flies about swinging his scythe at you and sending flaming blades spinning around the arena, and who can only be damaged by hitting his head), and even possessed versions of your kidnapped Ghostbuster pals! These two will mimic your currently-equipped weapon and match you shot for shot but, oddly, cannot damage you on physical contact; equally, the only way you can free them from their possession is to get around them to blast the spirit floating around near them, and I recommend equipping the Phaser Shell weapon as it’s slow and easier to dodge than other shots.
Bosses can take quite a bit of punishment, and love hopping about and firing projectiles.
Once you’ve captured the middle ghosts in each stage, you’ll be able to fight the boss can acquire a piece of the tablet or other key item to progress the story. There are five main bosses, one for each of the main levels, and four of them will need to be battled again in the “Deep Hole” stage before you can tackle the game’s final boss. In the apartment stage, you’ll find Scalon, a reptilian creature that rolls and hops about and is protected by its scales. When it attacks, it sends its scales flying off its body, exposing its true form and leaving it vulnerable, but you’ll need to fend off these projectiles and try to hop over or run under it as it moves back and forth across the arena. The frozen apartments are home to a demonic Snowman; this frosty customer floats above your head and spawns smaller versions of itself that shoot their carrot noses at you, but is pretty simple to take out, especially if you have the 3-Way Shot equipped. One of the more laborious bosses for me was the Wall Man from the woody house; in the first encounter, this massive projectile-spitting face is fought over a gap that leads to a lava pit, but this obstacle is missing in the “Deep Hole” stage, making the battle a lot easier. Basically, you need to fire diagonally upwards or jump-shoot at the eye that appears on the Wall Man’s forehead or chin, avoiding the enemies and projectiles he spits out, but he appears (seemingly at random) on either side of the screen, making this an exercise in trial and error.
After defeating a couple of familiar foes, you’ll face the newest God of Destruction on the block!
On the roof of the high-rise building, you’ll have a rematch with Mr. Stay Puft; this joyous kaijiu looms in the background firing lasers from its eyes, will-o’-the-wisp-like flames from its mouth, and trying to punch you from either side of the screen. However, it’s surprisingly simple to just blast away at Mr. Stay Puft’s grinning visage and put him down for the count. Easily the most difficult boss you’ll encounter before the finale is the Insect Trapper, a huge man-eating plant and fires a large laser from its gaping mouth and constantly spawns fines and snapping plant minions to attack you. I couldn’t quite tell if he creature was immune to my shots when its mouth was closed, so I simply poured on the firepower non-stop and kept low to the ground, switching to 3-Way Shot to dispatch the smaller minions. Once they’re all defeated, you’ll face off against Janna in a two-stage encounter; first, the massive, armoured monstrosity sits stationary and tosses an easily-avoidable bouncing heart at you and launches a spinning scythe that you need to race all the way to the left to avoid. Damage her head (her one weak spot) enough and she’ll detach from the background and float around, constantly hovering just out of reach of your attacks and tossing her scythe at you; however, if you stay on the move, duck and crawl when necessary, and take to the high ground when she exposes herself, you can take her down without too much trouble.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: In-game power-ups and pick-ups are few and far between, making this a tough experience at times; you’ll come across Slimer in every stage (sometimes more than once, and usually right before or after an encounter) and can blast him for a health or energy boost, but he won’t respawn unless you lose a life or use a continue. If you’re extremely lucky, you might stumble across a 1-Up in a stage, which is massively useful, but you’ll generally be dependent on capturing ghosts or defeating the boss to refill your health and energy meters outside of buying items. You’ll find safes in each level that can be destroyed to gift you bags of cash (or damaging bombs) and you can spam-collect these by entering and exiting stages over and over so you can buy everything you need.
Slimer will drop power-ups, but you’ll need cold, hard cash to purchase new weapons and gear.
There are two shops at Ghostbusters HQ; an item shop and a weapon shop. At the item shop, you can buy health-restoring items, bombs, and infrared scopes but these items will sell out pretty quickly so be sure to use them sparingly in stages. At the weapon shop, you can purchase new weapons and shields to make things easier on yourself; I found the most useful weapon to be the 3-Way Shot but you can also get the Phaser Shell (which fires a slow, but powerful, burst of energy), the Bubble Projectile (a slow, floaty bubble that I had little use for), and an explosive shot to damage multiple enemies at once. These additional weapons do drain your energy meter a lot faster, however, which can limit their use and your ability to capture ghosts. You can also upgrade and extend your energy meter and buy protective gear like the Special Suit that reduces the amount of damage you take for a limited time and the Barrier, which renders you temporarily invincible at the cost of draining your energy meter. Each of these items and weapons can be equipped from the inventory menu, carries a hefty price tag, and often can only be used once per life.
Additional Features: Although Ghostbusters is a fairly lengthy game for its era, there’s not too much extra material to spice things up. As mentioned, there’s no two-player mode and there isn’t even a high score to try and beat. Instead, the replayability comes from the addictive gameplay, the option to play as a different Ghostbuster, and the freedom in picking which order you play the first four stages.
The Summary: I have to admit that I was a little intimidated and concerned when I finally sat down the play Ghostbusters; the game is so expensive and so hard to come by that I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype I’d built up for it or the promise of its graphics. Thankfully, the game definitely delivers a solid experience; the controls are tight and responsive and blasting ghosts and enemies is a lot of fun, despite how difficult I found it to be to actually capture the little buggers. The graphics are charming and amusing, especially the sprite work on the main characters and the enemies, which more than makes up for some lacklustre environments. I actually really enjoyed earning cash to purchase new items and weapons; while you will need to grind a bit if you want to buy everything on sale, you don’t necessarily need to have every item the game offers to you and can fare well enough with the default weapon and setup. While it’s a shame that the game doesn’t include some kind of two-player mechanic or the ability to play as Winston or drive Ecto-1, Ghostbusters is easily the best videogame adaptation of the film I’ve played from this era of gaming; it’s tough but fair, presented wonderfully, and kept me engaged from start to finish. The only real drawback is how hard it can be to get your hands on a physical copy; I got lucky with mine, but it’s probably best you emulate it to save your money and also take advantage of save states to make things even easier on yourself.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Have you ever played Ghostbusters on Mega Drive? If so, what did you think to it and how does it compare to other Ghostbusters videogames from that era? Which of the Ghostbusters did you play as, and were you disappointed by Winston’s absence? Which of the bosses was your favourite and did you also struggle with capturing spooks for cash? What memories do you have of Ghostbuster merchandise like cartoon and action figures? How are you celebrating Ghostbusters Day today? Whatever your thoughts and memories of Ghostbusters, go ahead and share them below.
Dr. K's Waiting Room 
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