Soldier Blade

~ SOLDIER BLADE ~

Hudson Soft

HuCard

1992

Pre-release screens of this shooter caught my eye thanks to the often-depicted big-ass laser super-shot, which is absolutely awesome.

As cool as the energy overload weapon is, though, the featured boss assemblage is the game's pride and joy. Soldier Blade's multi-part machines can really take a beating, and they have lots of different weapons to hammer you with. Dismantling them is a pleasure.

The coolest fellows in the lot appear during Operation 6:

This craft utilizes the armaments of slain bosses before tearing pieces from the wall and chucking them at you...

...while this huge contraption can teleport you to distant spots in space...

...and that isn't the only trick he has up his sleeve.

The standard stage foes are a stout bunch for the most part, though some of them have a very-flat look about them; and by Operation 5, enemy redundancy becomes a bit of a problem. But the action is consistently heavy; SB's strips never reach the level of intensity that Blazing Lazers' last few stages attain, but they don't contain BL's stretches of dead space either. They also look a good bit better than decent. Operation 3's blasted-up city was drawn extremely well, as was the sixth-level base, but for whatever reason, I've always found the cloud depictions in Operation 2 most appealing.

The most interesting progression of events occurs in Operation 4:

You can see your enemies maneuvering below you before they fly up to assault you. After you fend them off and defeat a good, tough midboss...

...the ground opens up. Soar through the steel-lined fissure until you find a gateway that somehow sucks you into outer space...

...where a flame-throwing robot confronts you.

The music is nice, if not particularly special except in a couple of stages. SB has the sort of opening-level music that every shooter should have: the track flaunts a catchy hook and gets you involved and excited at once. And Operation 5's up-tempo number adds to that respective strip's intensity.

For some players, Soldier Blade might seem to lack a certain "wow" factor. The action and the visuals, while quite solid, never really reach a point where they could be considered mind blowing. This might be a concern since SB costs a decent chunk of change relative to most other chip shooters. I got mine on the cheap years ago and have never looked back, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to plunk down a good $30-40 for it. There's no question that it's one of the strongest chip verticals.

Dragon Egg

~ DRAGON EGG! ~

NCS/Masaya

HuCard

1991

I think I'm getting soft in my old age. I really enjoy this silly little game. I wasn't crazy about it at first, as it seemed like a fairly uninspired run-and-jump-and-bop sort of thing featuring a bumbling, dragon-egg-toting protagonist and so-so gameplay, but its graphics encouraged me to maintain hope. Vibrant colors and a few well-implemented effects enhance the attractive locales. Among my favorite of DE's graphical aspects are the clouds that calmly drift by in its pretty blue skies and the undulating, scenery-reflecting river of a log-riding strip.

Thank goodness the visuals are so appealing; otherwise, I might not have stuck with the game long enough to hatch out and hop atop the clumsy heroine's dragon ally and realize that the gameplay actually isn't so bad. While in control of a full-powered beast, you can shoot plenty of large, enemy-seeking fire bullets and reach previously out-of-the-way platforms and icons. If you're a decent player, you'll have the big lizard fully strengthened and ready to cause some major damage very early on, meaning you won't have to spend much time goofing around with lesser phases--unless, of course, you die at some point.

But you won't die, not once you're powered up--unless you fucking suck. And that brings us to the main issue most folks will have with the game: it's a complete cakewalk while you're riding the redoubtable dragon. Bosses (even the last guy) go down in no time at all, and you seldom have to put forth any real effort while playing through the stages themselves. Consider the aforementioned log-riding scene: by simply standing in one spot and firing away, you can make it to the end of the level without taking a single hit. Of course, you can avoid the dragon power-ups if you want some additional challenge, but then the game will play like an uninspired title again, and, well, it'll still be really easy (aside from the final battle).

Another aspect of DE that some won't like is the fact that the three stages that make up the second half of the adventure are very, very short. The brevity of Stage 4's log ride is understandable, as the stretch basically constitutes a mere "gimmick strip" anyway, but there's no reason that the desert and castle boards shouldn't have featured more sub-sections to fight through, especially considering that the first three levels all offer multiple areas to explore. It makes you wonder if, at some point, the designers just decided to speed things up and get the project out the door.

Pleasant visuals inspired me to trudge onwards when the gameplay seemed unspectacular.

The third area is large and mazelike, but subsequent scenes--including the short desert strip--are very straightforward.

Take a good look at the bosses now, as most of them will last for only a few seconds onscreen before your mighty dragon destroys them.

As if you weren't already practically invincible, you can purchase a protective barrier to drop the level of challenge to a degree below laughable.

Final Soldier

~ FINAL SOLDIER ~

Hudson Soft

HuCard

1991

Someone will have to explain to me why this vert has the reputation of being markedly inferior to its PCE Soldier siblings. I put off buying FS for ages because many people had pronounced it mediocre, and I ultimately came to regret my procrastination. Once I finally got around to buying the game, I discovered that it rules.

The armament system is initially the most impressive part. FS allows players to select a number of weapons from a huge batch that consists of all sorts of beams, flames, bubble bombs, and swirly ring-type things. Its large assortment of devastators is quite preferable to the skimpy gun sets offered in Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade.

Its visuals are also pretty nice, much more appealing than SSS's. Granted, some of the backgrounds come off as uninspired, but that's kind of the way of things with this series. At least FS's graphics are very sharp and fairly colorful, and they improve as the game goes along. The rockin' music is pretty good too. The influence of Blazing Lazers can be detected in the last-level tune.

I can think of only two aspects of the product (other than the at-times-drab backdrops) that people might consider flaws. For one thing, the levels are quite long... but at least the action is consistent and there are midbosses to contend with. For another, FS is a lot easier than SSS and SB... but I don't particularly care about that, as it's a lot of fun anyway.

You get a sleek ship to pilot and lots of weapons to deck it out with.

Space verts often commence with an assault on an outpost, but this opening level is anything but generic.

While their respective tunes are nice, the second and third boards don't offer up anything particularly fresh visually...

...but the fourth level's urban area and its awesome eagle boss mark vast visual improvement on earlier stages and adversaries.

Enemy bases are generic visual downers in most shooters, but the one here is actually quite impressive.

The final boss's lair is the most memorable strip of all.

Riot Zone

~ RIOT ZONE ~

Hudson Soft / Westone / TTI

Super CD-ROM

1993

It's too bad that this game kicks off with its infamous "WHEAR'S THAT WARRANT" line, as it's actually a perfectly acceptable brawler with an undeserved bad reputation. Yes, it's a shameless Final Fight clone, and no, it isn't as gritty as FF, nor does it feature characters and tunes as memorable as FF's. But it does boast smooth controls, nice backgrounds, and huge sprites (which, admittedly, are not animated very well).

People cite the relative lack of "moves" as a major issue, but I don't particularly care about it, as I'm a button-masher for the most part when I play old-school beat 'em ups, and I find that hard-core fans of the genre who make claims of utilizing "strategy" are usually full of crap. It's rather odd that the designers didn't include canisters and the like to annihilate and weapons to pick up, but again, such elements typically play minor roles in brawlers: tossing the occasional knife or lugging around the occasional wrench never adds much in the way of "variety" for me.

Lack of a two-player mode is something that even I find fault with, however. (The omission comes off as especially egregious when the two heroes pledge to "go down fighting together" in the heartwarming opening cinema.) Also, the adventure drags a bit towards its conclusion. The developers did a decent job as far as early-stage enemy variation goes, but the the same few bums appear ad nauseam during later rounds. This is typical for a brawler, but even the tunes repeat themselves here.

It all leads up to a final battle that the designers had a nice idea for (but consider yourself warned that the last boss, as well as all of his cohorts, is easy as cake to beat) and that's accompanied by a quality tune, one that starts off with Metallica-esque riffs before hitting its stride with a catchy hook. Most of the tunes are pretty good, actually, although many of them are a little too laid back and upbeat if you ask me; I prefer Final Fight's urgent, gritty numbers. I must admit that I get pretty pumped up whenever I hear the track that plays during the opening cinema, however.

There's no way that Riot Zone deserves to be lumped in with the likes of Rival Turf and Captain America at the bottom of the old-school-brawler heap. Sure, it's a "biding time" sort of affair, and it isn't likely to engross you, but if you're willing to accept that, you'll probably have a good time with it.

Someone forgot to tell these clods they're in a one-player game.

So, who will it be... Cody or mohawked Haggar?

The designers came up with some cool enemy and environment designs, but repetition does become a problem during the last few levels.

The Dragon Zone bosses aren't very difficult to track down...

...but the last couple certainly are interesting.

John Madden Duo CD Football

~ JOHN MADDEN DUO CD FOOTBALL ~

Electronic Arts / Hudson Soft / TTI

Super CD-ROM

1993

Boasting expansive playbooks and impressive production elements; promising strategic, realistic gameplay; and buoyed by a significant amount of media hype, EA's Madden games were huge hits and major system sellers for Sega's Genesis. The Turbo's fate had long since been decided by the time it was tossed a bone in the form of Duo CD Football. While I was one of the few who had stuck with the floundering system, I hadn't lamented the lack of a Madden TG entry and didn't care a great deal when one finally came down the pike, as I'd always felt the strategic elements of the series were overstated, and the manner in which the virtual players tended to pinball off each other never seemed particularly realistic. I preferred Tecmo Super Bowl for its focus on stats, its high-speed gameplay, and its "toss the clipboard out the window and just have fun" attitude. Still, I couldn't deny that it was nice to have a Turbo-based alternative to the hardly wonderful TV Sports Football.

This is my favorite of the classic-style Madden games for two reasons: Visually, it's very colorful and smooth (just as a Duo rendition of a game should be); and passing is handled extremely well (as the omission of the series's trademark receiver-following windows means you get a nice, clear view of the field).

Some Madden vets aren't as high on it for two reasons: They don't like using Run as one of the passing buttons, and they view the sporadic FMV sequences as unnecessary low-budget fodder. I don't find anything about the passing scheme unfairly challenging or uncomfortable, and personally, I think the FMV skits are quite hilarious--hilariously bad, sure, but hilarious nonetheless.

Shots from the "special" polygonal opening.

You're presented with typical pre-game options and post-game stats.

NFL team nicknames aren't used, but real clubs are here with the names of the cities they represent (though you may question my use of the word "real" when you discover that this Detroit is actually superior to a number of other squads).

Similarly, NFL players from the year the game was made can be identified by their uniform numbers. Detroit running back #20, for instance, is Barry Sanders, and wide receiver #84 on the same club is Herman Moore.

You just know the designers got a kick out of creating these brief FMV horror shows.

You too can win the coveted Madden Trophy. (Goodness, if the Lions can do it, anybody can.)