Spent some time on Fantasia....while the gameplay isn't actually THAT hard once you realise you can stomp enemies in the same way as Castle of Illusion, unlike that game it is totally devoid of charm. The levels are dull looking, without any interesting features and are made up of inexact platforms. Add in some dodgy control , headache inducing music and a sparsity of variety (I made it to world 2 and could see just more of the the same thing stretching out in front of me) it is one to avoid.

Not in the "so bad it's funny category" - just really dull and it's a disgrace that a title like aimed at kids has been made so hard so as to alienate them. I doubt anyone ever got value out of this.

davyK wrote:

Spent some time on Fantasia....while the gameplay isn't actually THAT hard once you realise you can stomp enemies in the same way as Castle of Illusion, unlike that game it is totally devoid of charm. The levels are dull looking, without any interesting features and are made up of inexact platforms. Add in some dodgy control , headache inducing music and a sparsity of variety (I made it to world 2 and could see just more of the the same thing stretching out in front of me) it is one to avoid. Not in the "so bad it's funny category" - just really dull and it's a disgrace that a title like aimed at kids has been made so hard so as to alienate them. I doubt anyone ever got value out of this.

I finished it out of sheer stubborness, having spent good money on it. The collision detection is awful and the controls very unresponsive IIRC. That was what created most of the challenge. I think there might have only been 4 worlds, thankfully.

I suppose I expected it to be a solid platformer like the other Mickey Mouse games of the time. And it looked nice in screenshots. And it hadn't been reviewed yet. Obviously in hindsight it had nothing to do with any of the other games. Stupid boy.

After Fantasia, I had a go at Marko's Magic Football last night (and no - that it is not a euphemism).

It looks really stylish but the control is quite irritating - particularly jumping when there are overhead hazards - the charm of it and the nifty ball kicking mechanic makes me doubt it's a crap game though -undecided - anyone else try this one?

Master System today.

Alf [3]

Probably not as bad as I expected it to be.  A cross between Bart Vs the Space Mutants, Home Alone and Alex Kidd in Hi-Tech World, which isn't really a great mix tbf.

Cyber Shinobi [4]

Again, not as bad as I thought it would be.  I never played this because it only got 58% in Mean Machines, and it is pretty poor.  The levels themselves are passable but the bosses are awful.

Ace of Aces [1]

I had no idea what was going on whilst playing this.  It seems to be a dog-fighting game where you judge your tilt/ascent/descent by the cloudline, but that doesn't explain how I crashed my plane into a pure white ground.  Probably the worst MS game I've ever played, and I used to own The Flintstones.

Bram Stoker's Dracula [6]

I assumed this would be poor, because it was developed by Probe (who had no qualms producing piss-poor licensed games), and the film didn't fare too well in game form elsewhere (for example the awful Mega CD effort).  It wasn't bad at all in the end.  Apart from the fact that it's criminally short and quite easy, it's probably the best Castlevania type game on the system after Master of Darkness.

Shadow Dancer [6]

This really doesn't deserve a 6, because it's a shoddy, flickery, glitchy mess of a conversion, with ridiculously over-sized characters and unresponsive controls - and one hit kills, btw - but I've got a soft spot for this as a borrowed it as a kid and had an enjoyable couple of weeks with it.  The sprites have an odd digitised look to them, which is unusual for the console, and some of the animation (although low in frames) fools you into thinking it looks ok.  If that makes sense.  Definitely better than Cyber Shinobi, despite its shortcomings, and reasonably playable once you get used to the enemy patterns (of which there are only four or five).  Very short though - four stages and four bosses.  They kept the ninja dog in, but he's completely unnecessary in terms of getting through a stage unscathed. 

ESWAT [6]

Not a great conversion by any means, but I thought this had its charms as a kid looking for Robocop arcade style action at home, and I still do.  Probably only deserving of a 4 if I hadn't completed this in the early 90s, but worth playing just to hear the awful scream sound effect if you hit the indestructible woman tied up in front of the second boss (who reveals his bum crack when he dies).

Yeah, it's pretty great. I had it on SNES and bought it again a few years back on Virtual Console. Not sure if I fancy playing again now. It might be good to play it on emulation just fro save states though, because I'm pretty sure I've never finished it. After a fairly gentle start it gets super tough by around level 8 or 9 IIRC.

Will update the OP a bit later.  I've been playing it properly for the first time today (watched mates play through it before but had the sense to only nag them for the pad on the easier levels), and I'm up to a two headed dragon/snake/waterfall boss.

Missed the D-Headdy section. With Jibs on it all the way. Difficulty notwithstanding a good moan, it's one of the most aesthetically well-realised games of its or any era. Just a shame that I'm too crap at it such that I kind of have to admire it from a distance.

Best of the series with Rondo of Blood imo, Bloodlines comes a close 3rd.

I dont remember giving this game much time back in the day. I just downloaded it now, Il have a butchers and see what I missed.

I remember owning it but like you I had super Tennis and that was a goto party game. Super Soccer was good in memory but shit to play now. As soon as Killer Instinct dropped though my SNES was used just for that and mario kart with mario world as a chillout game. I still listen to Killer Kuts now!

im enjoying the game so far. Feels weird playing with a 360 pad but thems the brakes!

Happy to say I have this complete in box and in pretty good nick. Was shocked at seeing some completed eBay sales - around £80. Cheap cart only of course.

For those playing this cart only or ROM, you can hold the whip button down and then use the dpad to flail the whip around a bit - not that useful but cool - can be effective against certain bosses' fire patterns and those pesky Medusa heads. Think IV is the only version that lets you do that - and there's 8 way whip control too.

Look out for the hooks you can snag your whip on and use to swing across gaps with.....something that wasn't really used enough.

hylian_elf wrote:

Anyone remember the guy with dog in a secret room under green floor tiles about 2/3 of the way in? I love the music in that bit, so melancholic, and when you kill the dog and the ghost/guy starts crying. Games need more bits like that. *sigh*

hadn't heard of this.

Ok, couldn't resist. I've started Castlevania 4. Just done a couple of levels so far. That music...

In the meantime I also finished Soleil on the MD. I owned it once many years ago, I think when I worked in Game (or whatever it was then). I bought it, played it loads for a few days, finished it, then took it back for a refund. I can see why playing it again. It's basically Zelda light - absorbing enough action RPG stuff, but simple and not very taxing. If they'd gone to town a bit more on the dungeons, made better use of the items (animals) in the later stages, and made the bosses vaguely challenging it could have been a classic. Still decent enough though.

I thought Story of Thor, Soleil and Landstalker made a pretty good trio as the pinnacle of what used to be known as 'action RPGs' on the Megadrive.  Gamers would have raved about Thor for for decades if it had been twice as long, and I also think Soleil was within touching distance of something great, but Landstalker was THE ONE.  I still don't know whether I prefer it to Zelda III, I honestly thought it was that good.  I tried to play it again recently, but the diagonals are knackered on my Caanoo, as I've mentioned a lot in recent weeks.  Time for a new open handheld console so I can take Nigel treasure hunting again.