This is a fairly good conversion of the Amiga game with a fantastic OST and a few added quirks. You're now able to do short hops off ladders, and the ladders themselves are even able to collect flowers for you if they make contact. There's also the option to have an actual jump, but it's not really needed in my opinion. There's also a few additional levels that attempt to turn the game into a more traditional 2D platformer for their duration, but to be honest, they were the weakest part of the experience and (again) not really necessary. You also get the option to continue this time, and you're going to need it as the bee enemies are twice as fast and now shoot a barrage of missiles from their stingers. The last proper stage is pretty much a middle finger to the player as there are around eight of the bastards that proceeded to consume all the lives I'd been stockpiling like tic tacs. Still, had a great time although Amiga is still the way to go for this game to me.

Another weird ass game I played a lot in high school that doesn't have a review...I'll bite seeing as I replayed it in the past year.

Super Widget is based off a show I've only seen snippets of. The jist of it (and the game itself) is that you're an alien that finds himself crash landing on Earth and subsequently assigned to help clean it up. Because, you know, protecting the environment was a big deal in the 90's.

Widget's primary gimmick is that he's able to shape-shift into various creatures, which works well enough in the context of a basic A to B sidescroller. The power-up system is lifted straight out of a Mario game, with the various forms you take providing you an extra hit point before reverting back to plain ol' Widget and (of course) dying if you take a hit in that form. You'll be able to turn into a sumo wrestler, an insect, a hermit crab and eventually a whole ass saucer as the game progresses. Again, I'm not too familiar with the show, but it was a lot of fun seeing what the hero would turn into next as I'd honestly forgotten about most of the game in the past decade.

As this was a game meant for kids (and one of those rare instances where the devs actually understood that they were making a game for kids), it's not a very difficult game to get through for the most part. It's a tad bit longer than I would've liked and some bosses can be extremely difficult if you're stuck as regular Widget, but it also feeds you lives and I don't recall ever running out of continues.

Although the level design was nothing spectacular, the game did at least try to innovate in some ways. There's a ranking system tailored to speed and combat, but unfortunately, going for high ranks in the stages didn't seem to amount to much. As far as I know, you don't get a better ending or any changed dialogue for improving your times or score.

I'd say Super Widget is worth playing through in 2024, but only if you've already exhausted the rest of the platforming library on SNES since there are so many great must-plays in this department.

An adorable mini-Metroidvania starring some kind of wizard/witch girl as she goes through six fairly large stages. The character is a blast to control for the most part (the grappling hook felt really finnicky at times) and even if the levels are large and open-ended, I never really got lost or annoyed in the same way I have in other backtracking-heavy platformers. As with most games of this type, combat is very simple and while the bosses may be larger than life...they don't put up much of a fight.

I do think the level design drops off a bit in the last stage especially, hence why I didn't give this four or more stars. It relies just a bit too much on the whole "press this switch and rush back to the other end of the room before the door shuts" gimmick for my taste. I also found one point where I intentionally had to die because I did not have enough magic stars (the game's equivalent of magic points that allow you to use the abilities you find scattered throughout the stages) to get up to a ledge.

Still, if you can forgive that (and a few annoying sound effects), you're in for a good time that feels surprisingly modern.

I think calling this "the worst kind of rom hack" is a bit of exaggeration. Scorched Quest has some nice ideas that go beyond "oh shit all these classic zones are on fire now". I found the supersized badnik bosses to be cute even if they do suffer from Superstars syndrome (too many hits+too much waiting around) and I liked that the special stages expanded upon the formula from Sonic 1 8-Bit.

I think the biggest problem with this hack other than the crappy music at times (especially Super Sonic's theme...blegh) is that the level design isn't all that interesting compared to the best Sonic hacks or fangames such as Sonic Time Twisted. Although you can beat the game with all of the emeralds, it's unfinished and it really shows in some spots.

All in all not a bad playthrough and its design never reaches the lows of something like Sonic Megamix, but not one I can see myself coming back to anytime soon.

I can't say this is my favorite game to come of the $5-psuedo arcade game trend that I've seen take place over the past couple years, but it's still a solid effort and fully worth your time. Essentially, Hop Top meshes a contemporary mobile game (Doodle Jump) with the arcade classic Galaxian. It's a novel idea, but I feel like the execution is hurt a bit by its randomness in the main campaign.

The formations stay the same, but depending on your luck, it seems like you may either get a really easy set of obstacles to contend with or a harder set. You may get 1-ups and plenty of power-ups (keep in mind that, in campaign mode, you don't get extends based on scoring at all) or you may not. I understand that a lot of people love roguelike design, and by default arcade games always do have a bit of randomness to them, but I much prefer the "fixed" layouts of games like Donut Dodo and Cash Cow.

Still, despite my gripes, this is a fun pick-up-play experience and I will give it credit for going out of its way in a way even my favorites didn't. You actually get two games in one here- an arcade mode that shows what "Hop Top" would've looked like in the 80's and a campaign mode that gives the game a gorgeous 32 bit makeover. This was brilliant, and the latter gives off serious "Arranged Mode" vibes from the Namco Museum collections in the PS2 era for those old enough to remember. I would love to see this kind of thing done more often.

The best way to describe it is arcade racing comfort food. The cabinet itself is loud and the back seat is going to vibrate as you tear through the handful of tracks available. Despite being so contemporary, it has that 90's feel. The announcer will shout "WOAH DINOSAUR" as one pops its head out in one track, and you'll literally be turning cows into steak patties in another. There's also a few ridiculous "bonus cars", including a Triceratops.

As for the game itself, it's rather basic and not difficult to place well in. The only thing you need to worry about other than steering are the nitro boosts, but I do think the game is a bit scripted in the sense that you are always going to be going toe to toe with either the person sitting next to you or the AI. This really isn't a "skill" based game, but it's still a lot of fun.

If you're ever in Illinois, they have a set of Cruis'n Blast cabs at a new startup bar/arcade called Game Over in Alton. At the time of writing, all of their machines are set up for free play but you ought to do your part and buy some booze or food (wings and fried mushrooms are to die for) to support it.

Among the very last physical games I bought from Best Buy before they began to phase out physical media along with PacMan World:Re Pac. This is a suped up port of the arcade game, and to its credit, it does add quite a bit more content. There are far more tracks and far more "vehicles" including a whole ass unicorn and tank. While it's still enjoyable on account of just how ridiculous and arcadey it is, something definitely gets lost on its trip to the living room. Part of the fun of this game, to me, was the cabinet itself. It's very loud, over the top and flashy- not necessarily something you can really emulate on a couch. The main disappointment, however, is the lack of online multiplayer. This kind of game feels made for that, but at least there's still couch co-op present.

Like Cruis'n Blast, this cabinet is really loud and over the top. The announcer is as 'Murican as you can get, but I got a laugh out of how stereotypical he sounds. The game itself is basically a mix between Twisted Metal and your standard arcade racer, with plenty of powerups ranging from a mounted machine gun to oversized tires to flatten your rivals with.

The primary gimmick is jerking your wheel to slam into the guy next to you, as well as a gnarly skull-headed crank for you to pull to trigger power-ups. The more aggressive you are, the more your "Jerk-O-Meter" goes up. It's delightfully edgy in an early 2000's sense.

Dirty Drivin' isn't the most deep or engaging combat vehicle/racer out there, but much like Blast, it's a nice little slice of comfort food worth checking out if you can find a cabinet. Although I couldn't see a direct port faring well on account of its simplicity, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing another arcade racer marrying combat with traditional racing like this. It would just need more content and a little more depth.

I played this a lot around the same time I was discovering shows like Beavis and Butthead as a kid, so that probably had something to do with the amount of enjoyment 9 year old me got out of it. As it stands, it's a decent platformer based around the gross-out humor of the 90's, but it still has the trappings of western game design. Wonky hit boxes, large (sometimes confusing) stages and of course secrets tucked behind phony walls. It's not as good as Earthworm Jim, but it's serviceable if you can look past those qualities.

While I prefer Brutal Doom to the vanilla Doom 1, I can't say I prefer Brutal Doom 64 to the N64 original. I appreciate that there is a bigger bestiary this time around (including a scrapped two-headed hound) and how some window dressings have been enhanced to bring out the atmosphere even more, but it fumbles a bit on the balance towards the end. No Escape in particular becomes a slog due to the revenant and spider mastermind spam on top of two cyberdemons that will no doubt empty out your BFG/Unmaker ammo. It also seems that the Demon Keys are entirely useless here since I got to the end with them and still had to deal with incessantly spawning fodder (as it would be if you don't pick them up in the original).

It's interesting and does do its part in enhancing the atmosphere, but Brutal Doom 64 is by no means the definitive way to play.

I was initially very excited to replay this. I remember being completely blown away by the presentation when I played a ps3 demo unit at our local Game Crazy when I was 11 years old and a couple years later I eventually made enough money to snag a ps3 slim and this game from a pawn shop (life was tough when I was a teenager but that's somewhat irrelevant I guess). And for the first half...this game held up to my memories of it.

Then you get to the ice planet and the game becomes the Webster dictionary definition of "unbalanced". Suddenly, every weapon but the alpha cannon becomes weak sauce and a single bullet from anything can drop health by 75%- even with the "best" armor in the game. The cragmites are the worst offenders and even when you know how to stun lock them...they still take an eternity to kill and ruin the pacing. Tachyon, the final boss, is equally as obnoxious and nigh impossible to kill unless you have the RYNO. I did it without just to say I've done it, but I don't think it's worth it for the average player. It's almost like this weird case of 90's US rental market philosophy applied to a game made in 2007 when rentals weren't nearly as big of a deal.

Worth playing? Maybe. But even the first game, which the fanbase seems to enjoy crapping on, has aged far more gracefully. Sure, you don't get as many hit points, but at least you'll never be one shotted outside of the obvious scenarios.

(Completed for both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo)

One of the better euro-style platformers on the 16-bit consoles that isn't Mega Turrican. The plot actually (sort of) tries too- you're a man capable of turning into a werewolf on a mission to rescue your father from the evil Chimera organization. The game itself is split up into five semi-open stages complete with the phony walls this particular breed of platformer is known for. Collecting lightning bolt icons boosts your health and, at a certain capacity, triggers the transformation. As a human, you just have a shitty low-range punch but the werewolf is capable of all sorts of projectile-based attacks.

The primary difference between the Genesis and SNES versions (other than the Genesis having a slightly larger field of view which is par for the course) is that the SNES game allows you to stockpile powerups and swap between them. This is actually a big deal since some powerups are amazing (such as the homing and giant blasts) and others are downright garbage. The Genesis version is made unnecessarily harder due to this omission- and it's quite baffling considering one of the face buttons on even a 3 button pad could've handled this. (Or, they could've gone the way of Shinobi 3 and had some sort of code for six button play, but AFAIK no such thing exists for this game)

Due to being able to swap weapons as needed, the SNES version comes out on top in terms of playability. Still, it's not a bad time either way you go. A pleasant surprise after recently suffering through Chuck Rock. (Also made by CORE)