Startling Adventures is a 2001 PlayStation disc by Capcom containing three entirely independent adventures, all of which can be played in any order or even flitted between at will. In this regard it feels very much like Level 5's "Guild" series for the DS; a varied compilation of games released under a single unifying label, a digital … Continue reading One bad apple…
Barely a minute into Super Wing Commander and I've already hit a big and on reflection very obvious problem: How the heck am I supposed to control this 3DO (and Mac) remake of Origin's sci-fi flight sim classic using the console's five button controller? On DOS PCs (and in the game's other computer ports too) this … Continue reading Wooooow~
Pocket Dungeon is as much a succinct description of the contents within as it is a game's title. You see, even though this game was sold as a PlayStation disc, the portable part of Pocket Dungeon is not a cute minigame to be put aside after five minutes or a clever extension of a traditional title, … Continue reading Battery powered dungeons
Dempa's X68000 remake of Falcom's eternally popular Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished opens with a superb digitised recreation of the sumptuous Yoshitaka Amano illustration found on the front of the game's box. As first impressions go, this would have been about as perfect as anyone could've hoped for... if only any care at all had been taken … Continue reading Ancient style vanished
This Famicom port of Mugen Senshi Valis is a picture-perfect example of how fast and loose early ports could treat their subject matter, a pre-existing brand seen as a list of ideas more than it was a list of unbreakable rules. Released in 1987, a year after the PC-88, FM-7, and PC-98 versions of the first Valis … Continue reading Valisvania: Yuko’s Quest
Eldorado Gate Vol. 7, the final disc in Capcom's ambitious Dreamcast RPG saga, opens not with the usual fourth wall breaking intro from party leader/player host Bantross but a quick recap of the previous disc's finalé, Razin's tablet shattered into four pieces and scattered who knows where. With just two scenarios to go I was … Continue reading All good things…
What "What" is the easiest part: This is a ramble covering the topic mentioned in the title above - playing arcade games at home, specifically using real arcade hardware connected to an ordinary TV rather than bringing a cabinet into the living room. I will stress this is not a guide as such, more "practical … Continue reading The what, why, and how of playing arcade games at home
Hataraku Chocobo does something so incredible when you turn it on I'm almost reluctant to talk about it, because when typed out it sounds as if I've resorted to pathetic "My uncle at Nintendo said..." level lies. You see, Squaresoft's game was exclusively designed for and released on Bandai's WonderSwan - the original monochrome WonderSwan, the … Continue reading Feathered friends in new frontiers
The back of Parodius Da!'s box promises 1991's idea of gaming perfection - the arcade experience at home. This was always an eye-catching boast thirty years ago (if not necessarily as accurate as the excitable text implied), but it was even more so here as this particular release appeared on computer shop selves only about a … Continue reading A non-sense fantasy
There are just two scenarios contained within Eldorado Gate Vol.6's GD-ROM, and the first is short even by the series' already pleasantly zippy standards. The chapter title "Operation: Wipe out the Gabri tribe" wastes no time in establishing the threat to Eldorado Gates' cute and colourful mascot-type monster by those pesky holy knights first introduced a … Continue reading The beginning of the end
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 