Bottle
1990
Alien Storm is an absolute blast of an arcade game, switching genres regularly and managing to be challenging without succumbing too much to that credit gouging mentality typical of these sorts of games. I was 100% not prepared for the credits, you gotta love that 80's SEGA energy.
1983
SEGA's take on Donkey Kong is certainly a looker, with expressive sprites and plenty of moving objects that outclass most other arcade games released in 1983. Unfortunately, it lacks the joyful simplicity of its inspiration, with an isometric viewpoint making the simple act of moving and dodging more ambiguous and challenging. It's an interesting game with a probably more interesting legacy due to the game's relationship with then-arcade board manufacturer ikegami tsushinki. The game, when judged on its own merits however, is just okay.
1991
Clunky controls and so-so puzzle design makes this a forgettable puzzle game for the Game Gear. It's decently long at 50 stages, but I don't see why you'd want to bother with this one. Don't be fooled by the cute anime girl on the cover, this is just another early 90's handheld puzzler that's best left forgotten.
1983
It's hardware limitations means that you're missing out on some gameplay mechanics, like some enemies and the bonus stages, but besides that this is remarkably solid for a SG-1000 title. I doubt many (if any at all) are choosing this as their Galaga of choice these days, but for 1983 this would have been an essential purchase for fans of the arcade version.
1993
Yeah, it might be prettier and more polished than the Mega Drive version, but is it better?
yes.
yes.
2015
Some very big issues here. You can overpower yourself very quickly, the melee weapon is the best weapon in the game and the main character swap mechanic, while neat is unlikely to be experienced due to the Zombie A.I not being nearly enough of a threat. This is all exacerbated by the compromises made in removing the second-screen mechanics from the WiiU original, which does nothing but hurt the overall experience. At its core however, there is a solid game here under all the jank that really deserved a better studio than Ubisoft at the lead. It's hard to recommend, but I don't think your time would be wasted playing it either.
1988
It's like Rolling Thunder only stiffer, because you're a robot, and a cop, some would say a RoboCop.
1991
The remake easily outclasses it, but this original version has its charms. It has the same issue as most early Ys games with its sudden and random difficulty spikes, but its manageable enough considering how fast you level. Music is great, bosses are not so great. Good fun.
1993
It's simple in presentation yeah, but whats here is really fun with great performance, music and more of a move list than I was expecting from a NES beat 'em up. Of all the Final Fight sequels I've played I didn't expect this one to be my favourite.
1988
Definitely feels like a pre Final Fight beat 'em up, but the destructible environments are welcome. Super punishing with the last two stages in particular feeling incredibly unfair, and you have to start from checkpoints so you can't credit cheese your way to the ending for this one either. Dated, but fun.
2006
All the extra features in the world can't make for how much I dislike this game's art style. I mean the characters are fine at least but the levels just look wrong. I understand they are using the same tools as the level maker, but it all just feels so fake compared to the original. Quite possibly the most soulless remake I've played in a while.
1991
A very, very basic shmup - probably one of the easiest I've ever played. I have no knowledge of the series this is a Spin-off of, but I doubt you need knowledge of it to "enjoy" this game. A very easy miss unless you are determined to play obscure Japanese Game Gear exclusives. It's short enough to not overstay its welcome at least.
1995
It was bold of Nintendo to base those final levels on the aftermath of The Great Ape War, but I think it payed off.
1985
I'm sure there was a novelty amongst Japanese SEGA fans in having a watered down arcade port of Spartan X on their home console. But I'm sure that quickly wore off when, within a few weeks they realized that Famicom would receive a proper port of that same arcade game, not only optimized for the system but also made by Nintendo's top developers as a warm-up for Super Mario Bros. Also haha name funny.
An absolutely bizarre game in which Mega Man fights an Air Conditioner. I think it says a lot that even though this came out after, people considered Mega Man and Bass to be the last classic Mega Man game during that 10 year gap between releases. I did like the stage that used the vertical orientation and the callback to the Game Boy Mega Man II was cool I guess. But honestly, this whole game just has big bootleg energy. Worth playing just to say you have, but don't expect anything that great.