Those sound like excellent choices.
Also, F-zero retrospective is up at df retro.

Like Mario, Zelda and Metroid, F-zero was incredibly influential for it's genre. It spawned the likes of Mario Kart, WipeOut and all the clones notably Sega all star racing .

Shame the ip is on hiatus after F-zero GX but what a high note to end on.

I owned Tiny Toons and thought it was superb.  Will definitely revisit that one first as I'm not sure if it's a great platformer or just a good one for the time.  It was definitely much longer than most MD games in the genre and looked magnificent.

I can give Tiny Toons a go.

No experience of Konami on the MD. My highlights on SNES were Tiny Toons:Buster Busts Loose,Mystical Ninja, Castlevania IV, Pop n Twinbee, Rainbow Bell Adv, Contra, Prince of Persia and Zombies (though those last 2 might have been Konami published only). Marvellous stuff.

Buster Busts Loose was a spectacular looking and sounding game. Real "next gen has arrived" stuff at the time. Big sprites, that SNES colour and sound, tight controls, variety. Gorgeous, gorgeous game. That Western themed 2nd level is one of the best and most enjoyable platforming levels I have ever experienced.

Must get my MD emu to have a look at their counterparts on MD as my cart collection isn't that big.

It was awful on the MD, I remember not even trying to defend that one in the playground.

From memory when I last revisited Tiny Toons on the MD it has a weird jump with no inertia, It might be if you stop holding the direction you just drop, I can't fully remember tbh.

How did tiny toons SNES compare to MD? really enjoyed the variety on offer in the SNES one, bit short tho

Konami played to the strengths of the consoles - most games were different and not straight ports.

Forgot they did Parodius on SNES too - great ports they were.


Re the whole MDvSNES thing - the SNES sound and colour scheme and seeing Pilotwings on Gamemaster are what swung it for me. I didn't get the vs thing though as a mate had an MD so we got the best of it. I loved Monaco GP on MD - a real generation highlight for me that game. I suppose being mid-20s there wasn't much of school playground rivalry around it.

Broadly speaking though SNES was Eastern tastes and MD was West. So I always had a leaning to the SNES. It was quite a big deal for me to drop my alliance with Atari at the time - I still had hopes they would make a comeback but the Jaguar was DoA.

Early thoughts from Tilly: 'it's a flat game but I still like it for some reason'.

She's not as into side scrollers as I am...

Accidentally posted elsewhere:

Moot_Geeza wrote:

It's good, and it's almost very good compared to most platformers of the time. But it also falls into the trap of being a fast paced platformer that only rewards slow play. I guess that's cool, if you know the layouts you could speed run it, but there's a lot of GOTCHA enemy placement.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure - Megadrive (2hrs)

I had this in 1993, bought after glowing reports in numerous magazines of the day.  Sega's Power, Force and Pro, Megatech, Mega, Mean Machines Sega, Mega Action, Sega Megadrive Advanced Gaming and the rest; I'm pretty sure they all gave it the double thumbs up somewhere in the 80s/low 90s range.  And having owned this at the time, coupled with a refresher course over the weekend, I can confirm that that's exactly what this is - an 89% kind of 16-bit platformer.  It doesn't go the extra mile to be truly considered alongside the genre greats of the era but it does do enough to get a mention in dispatches.  For comparison's sake, it'd be bobbing around the outskirts of a top ten alongside the likes of Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventures, Toejam & Earl 2, Addams Family and Demon's Crest, and might even squeeze into a MD only list. 

I'm astonished this is a 4-meg cart, to the point where I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't double checked the size of the ROM.  Anyone doubting Konami's prowess as developers in the early 90s need look no further than this really - it's a looker, with way above average sprites and animation, solid audio and a lengthy quest.  This was one of their first efforts on MD hardware too.  The bosses are one of a kind battles and mostly well designed (if a little on the easy side).  The levels are punctuated by a Mario style map screen, and there are even a few hidden exits/stages to find.  Gameplay is solid, with unexpected flourishes such as a wall jump and a high bounce if you time the head bops correctly.  Basically, it's kind of a big deal - this isn't some flotsam & jetsam licensed platformer, it's a legit attempt to make a good game.  As previously mentioned, the gotcha traps are a bit off when it comes to hazards and enemy placement, but this can be mitigated by careful play.  The swimming sections are poor, and there's not quite enough variety in the main stages for this to be considered for inclusion in the toppest tier, but if you can get used to the elasticated jump and slightly derivative action there's a very good game here.  89%    

Nice.

Nicer to see an MD game that doesn't look brown either.

And I added Hyperstone Heist to the list this morning.  Quick capsule reviews!

Contra: Hard Corps - MD (70mins)

I'd played this in Probotector guise once or twice - once near launch when I either borrowed or rented it - but filed it alongside Batman & Robin in the 'lovely stuff but too difficult' zone.  According to a spot of recent research the JPN release is the easiest and the NTSC-U/PAL versions are roughly on par, despite major cosmetic changes to the latter.  Maybe I had my gaming hat on last night, but I found it much more tamable than I remember.  I watched a Youtube guide first and mimicked the Jack/top routes/reliance on weapon C tactics, and felt like I was legitimately cutting my way through it, albeit with judicial use of save states.  Some mags gave this huge scores at the time - 94% in the Official Sega Magazine iirc - and the more I played the more I realised it probably deserved it.  I've not played a lot of Contra in my time (I've probably played more Blazing Chrome tbh), but this is seriously legit.  Like, marginally better than Gunstar Heroes legit.  Really enjoyed it, and the branching paths mean that this wasn't a one-off-the-wrist Megadrive effort either.  Super strong gameplay, big sounds and some neat visual effects help push this somewhere close to the top 10 MD games ever.  Absolutely brilliant, I'm shocked that it took me this long to fully appreciate it.  93%

Sunset Riders - SNES (80mins)

Terrific arcade action, non-stop coin dropping fun.  Polished and chunky with sampled speech aplenty and a nasty-but-fair gameplay loop.  It's basic compared to plenty of 16-bit games but the simplicity makes it sing.  Loved it, my only complaint is that some of the bosses just felt a touch too evil. 88%

Sunset Riders - Megadrive (40mins)

I knew the MD version took a hit in certain ways but wasn't prepared for this level of nerfing, this stands out as a hugely inferior port when played back to back.  Gameplay wise it's similar, and the graphics are a decent enough approximation, but the length is a joke.  Not only are half the levels missing but the brilliant Hogan's Alley style bonus stages are replaced with weak wagon chases.  Still fun, but boy does this get pulverised in a head to head. 79%

TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist - MD (50mins)

I loved the arcade original but it's an evil coin guzzler at heart, the console follow ups were much more balanced.  Big fan of the speedy, fluid brawling in this and can't imagine ever booting this (or Turtles in Time) up without having fun.  Not the longest and never would've won any prizes for variety but an absolute blast to play.  The diagonal downwards kick has to be the most iconic aerial attack in scrolling beat 'em up history.  Can't wait for the upcoming spiritual successor.  86%

Speaking of Konami Retro, and Tiny Toons.

https://twitter.com/DisplacedGamers/status/1445049758217818115?s=20

NES version yeah.

It seems like they legit reverse engineered it.

It's frame for frame.