Yawara 2

~ YAWARA! 2 ~

SOFIX / Hudson Soft

Super CD-ROM

1994

Yawara and the stumblebum journalist who starred in the first game are relegated to supporting roles here, which is fine by me, as I didn't like them much to begin with. But taking their place at the forefront is an awkward, ungainly moron who's less appealing than, well, just about every other character who has ever been granted a starring role in a video game.

She and a bunch of other klutzes train under an old, irascible coach and then participate in a series of boring, predictable judo matches.

There's plenty of whining, crying, and dull conversing to endure. There's also some "humor," most of which involves large people falling on small people.

Hilarious! Almost as funny as the below-average graphics and poor chip music (I should note that the vocal numbers actually aren't too bad).

The digital comic isn't the only "attraction" here, though. Among the extras are a judo mini-game; a quiz mode; a cooking lesson; and unlockable options that allow you to listen to the game's tunes and partake in othello matches, among other things.

Unfortunately, the "added bonuses" don't suffice to make the game worth a look.

Columns

~ COLUMNS ~

Telenet / Sega

HuCard

1991

Porting Columns to the PC Engine wasn't exactly a high-risk proposition for Telenet. Still, they did a job worthy of commendation with this conversion; it's a fine rendition of Sega's solid gemstone-placement puzzler. The PCE stands tall in performing the semi-brooding soundtrack (which was always the game's greatest strength). And I must say that I really dig the cover art.

Columns is no Puyo Puyo in any respect, as it lacks that title's charisma, charm, and vigor. It isn't as clever in concept as seminal Tetris, nor is it as addictive. But it remains one of the more enjoyable well-puzzle games released during its day, and playing it can actually be rather relaxing: you may find yourself in a comfortable zone amidst the methodical block-dropping and atmospheric score.

Your job is to make gems vanish by lining up three or more of a kind. There's a brief tutorial just in case you're baffled by that incredibly complicated concept.

Practice mode offers more options for customizing your play experience than does Arcade...

...but the mode you choose might just come down to which of the respective color sets you prefer.

Your point total will really soar if you can knock out lots of blocks at once and set off chain reactions.

Most of your chains will be pleasant surprises rather than products of clever maneuvering, but you can put yourself in position for success by setting up diagonal connections and combinations.

"Wildcard" gemsets will occasionally bail you out of jams.

Chase H.Q.

~ CHASE H.Q. ~

Taito

HuCard

1992

Enamored with the idea of hopping into a cop car and chasing down fleeing fugitives, a bunch of my buddies back in seventh grade were really into the Chase H.Q. arcade game. I, on the other hand, wasn't very interested in it and didn't even bother to give it a chance. I also failed to purchase the TurboChip rendition when it was released, and I was never in any particular hurry to obtain it, as it seemed to take a lot of heat in reviews. Now that I own it, I wish I had acted sooner; and I wonder what the heck is wrong with the people who pan it.

Maybe those people don't like the gameplay. At first, the controls do seem quite loose: your vehicle is prone to slipping and sliding every which way. But making wise use of your brakes and turbo boosts can mean all the difference in the world, and once you're in the zone, the action feels great, and the game actually becomes super easy... while remaining a lot of fun.

I mean, I don't get how anyone couldn't have fun chasing after criminals and ramming into their vehicles, which begin to flame up as parts go flying off, with sirens blaring all the while. No, it's not the deepest or most sophisticated game concept in the world, but I can't help but get a kick out of it. In fact, Chase H.Q. is at its best when it keeps things simple: little things that it incorporates in apparent attempts at depth, like gear shifting and forking roads, come off as frivolous and unnecessary.

Get briefed on your absconding adversaries, and then hit the road to track 'em down.

Not that you'll have much of a chance to admire them while you're playing, but the backdrops are pretty nice. Unfortunately, there aren't many of them, and you'll notice that ones employed for early levels get reused later in the game.

Once you catch up to the criminals, you'll be granted plenty of extra time to finish the job. Their car will start to flame up as you pummel it with your own.

Try to pound on the crooks' vehicles from the side rather than from behind. You'll have a much better chance of scoring multiple hits each time you move in.

Such despicable villains! The big house awaits them.

This is the "bad ending" screen. You'll need to go back and practice more...

...if you want to access the sixth stage and hunt down the real head villain.

Dead Moon

~ DEAD MOON ~

Natsume

HuCard

1991

Unlike, say, Gate of Thunder, Dead Moon isn't the sort of shooter that I can play and enjoy at any given time. Instead, it's a game that I'll power up only after spending a few years away from it. Once I do return to it, I inevitably find myself surprised at how enjoyable it is and proceed to soar through it three or four consecutive times. It's kind of sad, though, that once I wrap up those three or four trips, I always feel I've had my fill and can go three or four more years before giving the game another look.

DM has a lot going for it, including nice music (the intense melody that Scene 3 kicks off with is actually the sort of tune I'd expect to hear in a Castlevania game) and beautiful backdrops that feature stunning parallax. It also boasts a solid control scheme (aside from the requirement that the action be paused for ship-speed adjustments, but those aren't really necessary), post-stage play data, acceptable weapons that all come in handy, consistent pacing with hardly any dead space, and stage environments that connect up logically.

But there are two problems: the enemy armada is rather lame, largely consisting of nondescript "shapes," and there's nothing unique to speak of--no cool power-up system, no interesting theme, no memorable boss fights. The game's most distinct element is the automatic "about-face" that your ship performs when a boss decides to switch sides with it--not exactly the trump card you'd expect from an exceptional shooter.

Indeed, Dead Moon isn't exceptional. It's merely a good game that kinda lacks its own identity.

Here's a harsh contrast for you: the attractive multilayer backdrops and the all-too-basic enemy designs.

The skeletal bosses are a little more interesting than their "balls and blocks" henchmen, but fighting with fossils eventually gets a bit dull.

The midbosses are traditional pieces of machinery, the likes of which you can find in any ol' Gradius clone.

The weapons are serviceable. There's nothing at all original about green waves, red rings, and blue lasers, but at least here they look pretty cool and all have their useful moments.

Forget the "turning around during boss battles" stuff; the coolest thing about Dead Moon is that its levels connect up logically. For instance, your ship descends into a lake at the end of Scene 4, and then Scene 5, logically enough, takes place underwater. This might seem insignificant, but sensible level progression was often considered unnecessary in old-school-shooter game design.

At the end of each round, your kill stats are presented for a bit of extra fun (and a lot of bonus points).

Space Harrier

SEGA/Dempa/NEC Avenue - 1989 - USA
HuCard

The immortal, timeless Space Harrier. Space Harrier was 3D video gaming before polygons. It's also possibly the most inspired and ethereal game ever created. It blows my mind that Space Harrier is not cited more often than it is in discussions regarding revolutionary video games.

You are a nameless "Space Harrier," defender of a realm known as Dragonland, part of the aptly-named Fantasy Zone. Equipped with a jetpack and rocket launcher, it is your sole duty to extinguish evil and restore peace to Dragonland. Run, fly and blast your way through 18 of the craziest, most colorful and lush stages you'll ever experience. Space Harrier is an "into the screen" third person affair that has the "camera" following close behind our hero.

Straight away, I'll say I'm shocked Space Harrier isn't ever used as a demo piece for what the core TG-16 hardware was capable of in it's early days, on a mere 4 meg cart. Space Harrier was my first ever game for the system, pack-in aside, and I was mesmerized by the graphics growing up. The game suffers very little in it's conversion from the arcade original, despite having been released early in the system's cycle. The biggest casualty, hands down, is the checkerboard groundcover that is curiously missing. At least they substituted a colorcycling floor that matches up with the current level's theme. Another oft-cited flaw is sprite "shrinkage" the game suffered in the arcade transition. I actually don't mind this so much-- if anything, the shrinking is minimal, and it effectively makes the camera take a "step back" so you can see more of the landscape and enemies on screen. Last and certainly least is the scaling. Seeing as the arcade had dedicated scaling hardware, and the TurboGrafx does not, it's no small wonder the scaling suffers a bit. What's somewhat surprising however, is how good they actually made it, considering it's all done in software. To get the gist of what I'm talking about, play a stage or two of the Genesis port of Space Harrier II and then play a stage or two of Space Harrier on the Turbo.

One of four SEGA SuperScaler games ported to the Turbo (the others being Outrun, Afterburner II, and Power Drift), Harrier is no question far and away the best. There isn't a whole lot to the gameplay; dodge, shoot, repeat. But what Harrier lacks in strategy it makes up for in pure, unadulterated fun. The variety in flora and scenery from stage to stage is unmatched. You'll go from plains to cities to ruins to weird fungal formations and never see the same landscape twice. I'll be damned if Space Harrier doesn't utilize every single color in the Turbo's color palette and then some.

Enemy design is intricate, with some of the coolest dragons, creatures and bosses you'll ever lay eyes on. Here are four of my favorite bosses from the game:

Twice during the game you'll reach a bonus stage where you holster your rocket launcher and ride on one of the few remaining "good" dragons of Dragonland to collect bonus points.

Sound effects are reproduced faithfully, as is the music. Some of the boss tunes are just fantastic, particularly Ida's tune in stage 2 with the stereo effects. The regular in-stage tune is presented in four or five different variants throughout the game and is pleasant enough without really being spectacular either.

It's no secret that Space Harrier is my favorite game of all time. The Turbo port goes down in history as holding the crown as the best home port for many years until the SEGA 32X & Saturn arcade-perfect versions were released in the mid-late 90s. Every Turbo owner who doesn't have a copy of Space Harrier in his or her library is only doing themselves a great disservice.

Jack Nicklaus' Turbo Golf

~ JACK NICKLAUS' TURBO GOLF ~

Accolade

HuCard

1990

This isn't even close to being the complete piece of trash that everyone makes it out to be, but I can see why it receives so many beatings; it practically begs to be hated in a lot of ways. The most offensive element by far is the slow redrawing of the course that takes place in between shots, and at first I really thought I'd despise the game due to this one issue, as play seemed unforgivably slow and tedious. But even though I don't exactly have the patience of a saint, I actually grew accustomed to the methodical redraws after just a few holes. I use the seconds spent on them to survey the terrain as it pops into view, and the "wasting" of time here isn't as annoying as the multiple delays that afflict almost every shot in Power Golf 2 (which people never seem to come down hard on). Get over that aspect and you'll still need to accept the blocky, somewhat Atari-like course graphics and hideous color choices; and the lack of music during play certainly doesn't make matters any more exciting. But the gameplay actually isn't that bad at all: driving is standard-but-solid stuff, and the putting system is fairly challenging and rewarding. The game plays better and boasts far better course design than Power Golf, for sure. Of course, beating out one of the worst HuCards ever and its so-so CD sequel is nothing to brag about, and Fine Shot Golf on Human Sports Festival is still far and away the PCE's golf-game champ in my book; but JNTG, believe it or not, is actually a pretty respectable title.

With its blocky graphics and ill-advised color choices, JNTG looks more like an old computer game than it does a mighty TG-16 title.

Putting can be fun and rewarding. It feels great to sink a long one.

Take it easy while the "beautiful" scenery is drawn in.

You'll need to use the "overhead" view to get a good idea of where you should go with your shot, as it's often difficult to tell anything about the course from the ugly main playscreen. But as long as you're competent enough to hit the ball straight ahead, you'll usually be fine (unless you set the difficulty to "Expert," but screw that).

I mean, I paid very little attention to what I was doing, yet my scorecard still looked all right at the end of the day.