Did the DC version try and improve anything do we know or was it a lazy port?

Fighting Force 2 was PS1 and DC apparently. Not played it but I might take a look...

133. Annalynn - Switch (75mins)

Modern retro styled arcade game in a similar vein to the excellent Donut Dodo, which still stands as the best example of this sort of thing for me.  This is a strong effort though, it just doesn't quite feel as perfectly executed as Dodo on the whole.  It's a similarly bitesize experience, but at 16 short stages it's a slightly different beast to the default 4x2 format of DD.  In an interesting (and welcome) approach Annalynn allows you infinite credits to tackle its oddly named 'campaign', with your score halving with every continue used.  This is great for familiarising yourself with the layouts, and completion even unlocks a practice mode so you can tackle individual stages repeatedly.  Of course the aim is to finish the game with as high a score as possible, and presumably some players are capable of doing so without using a continue, but I was happy to push through, then fiddle around with the cheats that unlock post credits.  Unlike Dodo it's not one that I'm willing to finish 'properly', as it would take weeks of practice I would've thought, but if pure arcade thrills float your boat the main mechanics stand up to scrutiny for sure.

The gameplay is basically 'Pacman but if Pacman could jump', and it works very well on the whole.  They've also added some Donkey Kong Jr. style ropes for certain stages and added a smattering of selected pilferings from elsewhere, but somehow this still manages to play like its own thing.  Collect the coins and avoid the ghosts snakes (which have their own movement patterns depending on colour), but grab a gem and the hunted can briefly become the hunter.  Snakes emerging from tunnels is annoying on occasion, and the ropes never felt quite right to me, but such annoyances are essential to what this aims to be tbf, so I can't really knock it for the times when it feels a bit too mean - early 80s score chasers often were.  On my first playthrough I thought this was too hard to be as long as it is, but after working out how continuing impacts on the scoring system, running through the campaign again with some unlocked cheats on, then having three or four proper attempts to get as far as I could on one credit, I realised that this is legit and gittin gud is a definite option for the dedicated.  I've still got no idea what the parameters are for the minecart bonus stages appearing (I've only seen one once it random mode), but other than that I was very satisfied with what I got out of this for the £2.69 it cost. [7], but there's an [8] in here if you want it. 



A nice little summary:

That looks great. Don't remember it getting a mention in here but it looks like a wariospeedwagon kind of game so maybe.

Nice. Nice nice nice.

I'm not sure about Agent Intercept now that I've clocked the weird isometric view.

Ah fuck. Missed it too. Lol.

Another wishlist entry has been reduced though, the remaster of that Westwood studios Blade Runner. I'll have that for £4 and just enjoy the vibes.

I love how the second anyone mentions an indie game,, no matter how obscure, Moot both knows it and has the info.

Invaluable.

134. Mutation Nation - Neo Geo CD (50mins)

I've had to start double checking if I've already played these now. If Game Pass offerings are pub grub some of the forgotten belt scrollers are like 1980s school dinners - not enjoyable per se, but they do sate the hunger.  This was about as bland as ravioli in a polystyrene cup followed by pink blancmanche, but I enjoyed it enough to see the credits.  Bugbear: specials that require a button to be held for charging, rendering them practically useless mid-fights.

Only really worth checking out if you've recently played 30 better scrolling beat 'em ups and still want another one. [2 out of 6]



 
135. The Adventures of Batman & Robin - Mega CD (80mins)

I fancied replaying Clockwork Tortoise's technically impressive, reasonably good yet atrociously balanced The Adventures of Batman & Robin (MD) and made the mistake of assuming that this was that game with super scaler style driving stages tacked on a la Batman Returns.  It turned out that this was all driving (and occasionally shooting) all the time, and none of it is particularly good.  Yes, the visuals are technically impressive in a few places, but only for that blink-and-you'll-miss-it sweet spot of 1994/1995 - it mostly looks a bit rough now.  

I hated most games with time limits at the time, but I hate them even more now as they're not conducive to a good ol' save spam - it's too easy to manually save in an unwinnable state.  Stewart Lee angry voice: "It's poor design!!".  Which meant I had to make sure I was doing well before clicking my special scrub button shortcut.  Unfortunately it's hard to tell when you're succeeding in a game as dodgy and lacking in feedback as this, which meant pretty much the whole playthrough was a fun-free endeavour.  Not sure what to score this one really, it's absolutely an of-its-time turd and I can't think of many redeeming features (some nice music - although not as good as the Jesper Kydd MD tunes - some good cut scenes, couldn't have been done on base hardware).  Its the sort of thing that might've been knocked up and shipped in about 12wks.  I'm glad I visited it as a curio (I'm not even sure if I knew there was an AoB&R on the Mega CD before browsing my SuperConsoleX3+ folders), but it's really not worth anyone's time in 2023.  39%



136. The Terminator - Mega CD (1hr)

This is more like it, although it's still not quite as good as I wanted it to be.  I was a fan of the Master System and Mega Drive T1 games (1992 was when I levelled up from 8 to 16-bit, and the double Probe efforts appeared early that year - I got the MS game at launch and the MD one in early '93). I missed out on this one due to never owning a Mega CD but I remember reviews being mixed/erring on the side of average so I was never particularly gutted about it. The other games weren't exactly critical darlings either though.  Mean Machines awarding the Mega Drive game A PALTRY 47% is probably my earliest memory of review rage, although in reality the opinion was pretty much spot on as they praised almost everything about the game other than the ridiculously short length.  I reckon I could speedrun it in about 15 minutes even now, so fair play to them for gunning it.

Anyway, this one.  It's somewhere between solid and good, but lets itself down with some fiddly directional fire control on stairs, needlessly annoying instant deaths (such as being crushed by lifts, which is admittedly amusing) and a general pop-gun feeling to Reese's main weapon.  It's absolutely not a disaster, and compared to many similar games of the era it's decent, but don't go in expecting a worldie.  Restart points are generous enough to allow non-l33t dedicated players to see the end, I'd imagine, but overall this is much tougher than the other Sega T1 tie-ins despite the fact that Reese has more than one life here.  I don't know why the streetpunks in 1984 soak up more damage than the hyper alloy combat chassis brigade in 2029. Games gonna game I guess.

One thing I wasn't prepared for was the music, which was both all over the place and absolutely banging.  Tommy Tallarico is a name I recognise as something of a big deal within the game soundtrack sphere, but off the top of my head the only other games I can think of that bump TC music are Cool Spot and Skeleton Warriors on Sat/PS.  And maybe Earthworm Jim? [citation needed].  The music is pushed to the front of the sound mix, so they clearly knew they were onto something with the juicy CD quality tunes, but even so I wasn't really prepared for this as I entered Tech Noir:





...and in terms of wow, I think this might be the best new-to-me piece of retro music I've heard in recent years (and let's be honest I've heard a lot of it): 



Epic.  Do the rest of the hodgepodge of RAWK and breezy bouncers fit a Terminator game?  Not necessarily, but it doesn't matter because the overall vibe is so strong and it fully commits to the CD audio USP.  A pretty good game.  81%

Loving the percentages!

OK this is great so far.  



I couldn't bring myself to watch the 90min DOOM video but I'm tempted to get the popcorn in for the rest of this.

I hadn't read moots post before the video, so I went in thinking this was just going to be a video on a sound effect, but my God.

21. Super Mario World (SNES) - 5hr 15mins 

Not a lot to say that people don't already know. Still one of, if not the best 2D platformer ever.

Only real negative for me is that the graphics in places can be quite bland. You can tell Nintendo were cutting their teeth on the new hardware, and the fact that development began as a 16-Bit port of SMB3 shows a little.

Being the first time I've played this in a good 15 years or so, I gotta say the Star Road and Special Stages have a Mario Maker vibe about them. You can tell that the shackles were taken off and the designers were allowed a bit more freedom.

Like I said in my SMB3 write up last year, I constantly go between that and this as my all time platform game, and today its most definitely SMW.

Masterpiece.

10/10

My list

Been playing a lot of Streets of Rage 4 survival mode recently.  A little frustrated as I've reached my skill ceiling!  In my good runs I get to around level 30ish and am looking good, then just get annihilated.  It's still just about a perfect game, the only thing that gives me the shits is how many characters in survival mode have special moves that pause everything while they power up.

23: Metal Slug 3 (PC) 7/10

This is probably a little better than 2 but I'm a bit done with the series for the time being.  I did like the extra long last level.

Wouldn't mind revisiting the series at some point with X, the only other game I own.

24: Zero Wing (Switch) 7/10

It was nice to play the game that is mostly famous for the old meme.  Turns out, it was a pretty normal side scrolling shooter and I liked it fine.  No way would I have beaten it without liberal save states but it hit the spot.

25: Final Fantasy 16 (PS5) 8/10

This was a really nice game to follow Zelda with, in that it's a nice, tightly structured RPG with great swordfighting and a good dark fantasy story (at least for a while, it did lose me towards the end).  The story is pretty ambitious and it covers a pretty large chunk of the main character's life, through some different periods.  I thought it was mostly enjoyable.  I'm not sure if it exactly gets bad towards the end, if it goes too long, or maybe I've just played too much RPGs lately but maybe 3/4 through I found myself zoning out during cutscenes and not caring at all.  The fighting was always good though, as was the music.

26: Quake 2 (Switch) 9/10

An excellent port on Switch, the shooting and movement's still great years later.  The big thing about the port is that you can now press a button and it will tell you which direction to walk.  It's a gamechanger in this kind of game for me.  With Doom (1,2,64), those games I always get to a point where I shoot everyone, them I'm just walking round a level for 15 minutes looking for an exit (I don't think Quake 1 was like that, and maybe it's my favourite Id game).  I'd love for this to be patched into the Switch classic Dooms.

Also comes with a bunch of expansions including apparently a new one.  Great value and a top game.

Ooh, I didn't realise that had survival as well.  Haven't got it either (leant my copy to a mate so no point getting it just yet) but will definitely get to it at some point.

Anyway we've got Slaps n Beans 2 later this month so that takes priority.