Virtual console – Obsolete Gamer

Avenging Spirit

Different enemy types also give you varying speed, strength, jumping power, etc., in addition to their unique weapon. Of those enemy types, as mentioned, for a game from 1991, you get a pretty healthy selection to choose from. They include, as seen above, nefarious 1930s mobsters complete with pistols, and feisty Amazon women who look suspiciously like classic Wonder Woman, who use their raw power to punch waves of force at you. You can also play Rambo-esque commandos with machine guns, ninjas who are very agile and throw stars, goofy wizards with magic wands, a baseball player complete with a bat, a robot, an invisible man, and even a fire breathing DRAGON (probably the coolest thing you can play in the whole game).

TurboGrafx-16

Chris Bucci

Chew-Man-Fu

Perhaps it is the Japanese equivalent to the Ham-burglar. In Chew Man Fu your mission is to stop this hungry little man from stealing all the worlds’ fried rice and egg rolls. The game plays sort of like Pengo and you have to take out the enemies by firing the balls you place on each of the 500 stages. Developed by Now Productions and published by Hudson Soft and NEC in 1990 you can also find this game on the Wii’s virtual console.

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J.A. Laraque

Nintendo Download Highlights: Vol 23

The Legend of Zelda™ – Celebrate the Nintendo eShop “8-bit Summer” series with this smash-hit adventure, originally released on the NES™ console in 1987. Help Link™ restore the Triforce, rescue the princess and thwart Ganon’s evil plans. (For Nintendo 3DS™)

TurboGrafx-16

Simon Lethbridge

Air Zonk

In addition to the highly helpful ‘friends’, there are eight, somewhat unorthodox projectile weapons available for Zonk to use. These include homing missiles, a short range but powerful electric beam, flying metal jaw things, spinning boomerang things, eight-way lightning shot, flying boxing gloves, explosive playing cards, and something that shrinks Zonk down into a smaller form who can fire a multi-direction homing shot. On all but the ‘Bitter’ difficulty mode, Zonk also has the ability to cause significant damage to any enemies close behind him by using an after burner of some sort. It’s extremely short-range but is a big help in certain situations. On top of that, Zonk has the ability to fire an R-Type style charge shot. If the button is held down long enough, a smart bomb will drop onto the screen and take out all non-boss enemies too.

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J.A. Laraque

Bionic Commando: This week’s Classic Download

Fans of the classic GameBoy version of Bionic Commando will be able to purchase this classic on the 3DS, Virtual Console and Nintendo eShop. The Game Boy version of the NES classic BIONIC COMMANDO arrives on Nintendo eShop to take you on a daring action-packed mission. As Rad Spencer, use your high-tech grapple hook and assault rifle to infiltrate the enemy’s stronghold in order to rescue Super Joe. You can be the difference between war and peace. Are you ready for the challenge?

Game Reviews

Simon Lethbridge

F-Zero X

There’s quite a lot to F-Zero X for an arcade-style racer but it would all be for nothing if the widely-criticised graphics kept gamers away. Personally though, I can’t see what all fuss is about! I asked earlier if Nintendo’s decision to sacrifice graphical detail for increased smoothness and speed was worth the risk. Well, in my opinion it was an excellent decision. The backgrounds may well be somewhat sparse but they are colourful and varied but that’s not hugely relevant anyway

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J.A. Laraque

MegaMan X to the Virtual Console

Hundreds of years after his death, Dr. Light’s final creation is discovered. Released from his capsule by Dr. Cain, “X” is born into the world of the future where robot rebellions are a thing of the past. But when Dr. Cain tries to implement Dr. Light’s designs into a new series of Reploids, something goes horribly wrong.

Sega Genesis

Simon Lethbridge

Atomic Runner

The levels are set over a diverse range of landscapes and are one of the most appealing aspects of this game. They are titled Atomic Laboratory, Mutant Plant Zone, Mayan Jungle, Egyptian Desert, Treasure Room, Siberian Snowland, and New York, and all look fantastic – this is among the prettiest run ‘n’ gunners I’ve played with regards to the backgrounds and scenery graphics, and the sprites, weapons, etc, aren’t half bad either.

Editorials

Glen McNamee

Points Make Prizes

Like a lot of Nintendo users, I am a Club Nintendo member and have been frustrated by the service for a long time. First there was the short length of time the good stuff was available. But then, did I really need a Zelda statue or a storage rack shaped like Mario’s cap? (Ignore that small voice from inside me; I call him the Collector and often have to over-rule him). Then came the announcement that points earned from visiting the website (a massive five per day) and adding games to your collection would expire.

TurboGrafx-16

Simon Lethbridge

Alien Crush

Graphically, the game is a real treat, especially considering this was an early Engine game. I think it’s safe to say that the Alien movies were something of an inspiration for the visuals this game, though! Still, if you’re going to be influenced by things, it might as well be the best things, right? The sound, too, is decent enough. There’s the choice of two tunes before playing – Lunar Eclipse and the splendidly-named Demons Undulate, and the sound effects are suitably befitting of the game’s style.

Unreleased Games

J.A. Laraque

Star Fox 2

After the success of Star Fox on the Super Nintendo both Argonaut Games and Nintendo were excited to get to work on the direct sequel. As development began, the buzz was spread to a number of media outlets and everyone was waiting for its release in 1995. The Japanese version of the game was finished and was in the debugging and final beta stage when it was decided to hold the game back because of the upcoming release of the Nintendo 64 and their wish to release a updated version of the game which we all know become Star Fox 64.

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J.A. Laraque

Ghosts ‘n Goblins on Nintendo Virtual Console

Relive the fun and frustration of guiding Arthur to his bride to be as he takes on the hordes of hades along the way.

The Music Hall

J.A. Laraque

Faxanadu OST

In a nutshell the Evil One came to earth via meteorite (take that Superman). The Evil One transformed the Dwarves into monsters and had them attack the Elves who were all nice and peaceful living on the World Tree before this all went down. There is only one thing that can kill the Evil One and that is the Dwarven kings sword, too bad he swallowed it before he was transformed into a horrible and hard to kill monster.

Editorials

J.A. Laraque

Games I have never beat: Faxanadu

Faxanadu came out in 1989 by publisher Hudson Soft, it is an RPG where you main goal is to defeat the Evil One. After being away from home for an untold amount of time you return to find your homeland pretty much abandoned. The Eleven King asks you to kill the Evil One because somehow that will lower unemployment and balance the budget.

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J.A. Laraque

Games to Buy: Console Edition: Nov 21 2010

A new name and a new way of doing our weekly report on games coming out the following week. With so many games out there the fact is some will be worth the cash and some will not be. Beyond that some games may be worth picking over the others and so we have come up with a dollar sign rating system. One $ means it can wait until it’s in the bargain bin and five $’s means you should be waiting in line to purchase it.

The Music Hall

J.A. Laraque

Super Castlevania IV OST

If you haven’t checkout my review on Super Castlevania IV go see it now. SCV4 was one of my favorite games on the SNES and it featured a ton of great tracks. The music sounded great for even today, but back then it was really incredible. The game features a number of remixes of themes from previous games and many new ones. The Castlevania soundtrack is one of the best in the gaming industry.

SNES

J.A. Laraque

Super Castlevania 4

There were also some level changes which made me a sad panda including changing pools of blood from red to green, removing the blood dripping from the title screen and changing the topless status in level 6 of the game. Strangely enough the monster called Medusa remained topless however her nipples were removed, how kinky.