Super Darius II

~ SUPER DARIUS II ~

Taito / NEC Avenue

Super CD-ROM

1993

My first experience with Darius' second chapter was provided by the Genesis title Sagaia. It wasn't a game that I believed to be exceptional, but I appreciated its sweet music and smooth gameplay and ended up playing through it lots and lots of times. So I was quite excited when I first obtained Super Darius II, as it appeared to boast visuals far superior to those sported by endearing little Sagaia. The graphics lived up to expectations, but I noticed a bit of a problem with SD2's gameplay right off the bat. The relatively slow speed that the screen moves along at and the relatively large sprites that the game employs make SD2 reminiscent of R-Type and Sinistron in pace and appearance, while the intense bullet-dodging action screams Thunder Force. This merging of conflicting styles was the result of NEC Avenue's desire to stay faithful to the three-screen-wide arcade original visually, but it leads to some awkward moments, even after one eventually becomes accustomed to it.

But SD2 actually ends up excelling despite its gameplay issues. Its success has a lot to do with its bosses and mini-bosses, ferocious behemoths who are special not only because of their size but also because of the clever tactics they employ. A gargantuan swordfish utilizes its razor-sharp beak not to slice you apart but to slash up the ceiling in hopes of crushing you with falling debris. And then there's Revenge Shark, an absolutely unforgettable two-screen-long battleship. It swamps the playfield with bullets as fighter jets take off from its backbone, squid-like soldiers emerge from its underside, and gun-bearing warriors and laser-spewing cruisers attack from its flanks (as if the big metal beast needs any help).

You'll battle your mighty aquatic enemies across a total of twenty-eight stages. Actually, the trip from the sun to Jupiter, including a stop at our planet’s moon, constitutes a seven-level affair, but SD2 offers up multiple paths for you to follow, with various goofy endings standing as your reward for returning to the game and taking different courses through the adventure.

Accompanying the action is a quality soundtrack; T's Music gave this episode's solid tunes the PCE CD’s trademark rock-and-roll treatment. Some of the most charming tracks didn’t make the transition particularly well, as overly indulgent guitar solos annihilated their simplistic appeal. But for the more subtle numbers, the tracks that concentrate on establishing atmosphere and are essential to the success of later levels, the power chords and snare drums do their work admirably.

As alluded to earlier, SD2's visuals are nothing short of outstanding, with the excellent artwork not limited to the various sea monsters described above. The backdrops are gorgeous, particularly the first level's wall of undulating flame.

The scenery is so attention grabbing, in fact, that it actually leads one to discover another of SD2‘s shortcomings. Soaring over a serene rocky landscape leading to gorgeous blue caverns can be plenty of fun, but imagine the shock of an aspiring Johnny Turbo upon making a startling realization:

“Hey... wait a minute. This is the same serene rocky landscape leading to gorgeous blue caverns that I soared over THREE PLANETS AGO!”

Such is life with a Darius game. Yes, backgrounds do pop up more than once throughout the twenty-eight stages. Actually, so do certain bosses and musical tracks. But hey, something has to be working well for one to be willing to replay the game enough times to discover the repetition, right? Indeed, with fantastic visuals, bullet-packed playfields, atmospheric music, and amazing boss creatures, Super Darius II has plenty of things working in its favor. And we shouldn't forget about the endings themselves--what a matter they are!

Cyber Knight

~ CYBER KNIGHT ~

Compile / Group SNE / Tonkin House

HuCard

1990

I bought Cyber Knight only because it was priced at a mere two bucks and I was looking for some cheap throw-ins while wrapping up a huge transaction. I had no idea what it was about, but going by just the name, I suspected it to be an awful, archaic action title. It's actually a mecha RPG; I guess you could view it as sort of a "prehistoric" Xenogears.

Once I discovered the truth, I wasn't exactly more eager to play the game, as I didn't expect much from ancient chip RPGs at that point. But I was compelled to give it a fair chance by its incredible opening, which depicts spaceships locked in combat.

The sequence isn't particularly special visually, but it's extremely intense thanks to the accompanying tune, which absolutely rocks and features some of the best drum sounds to be found in a chip game. In fact, CK's soundtrack impresses from start to finish, with a number of other excellent tunes included in the high-quality batch. The game is worth playing through just to hear some good (and atypical) HuCard audio. But before you get going with it, you'll want to make sure that you've got two things:

1) A good guide. There's a great web page devoted to the Super Famicom version, and 95% of the walkthrough it links to is applicable to the PCE game, so you'll know where to go and what to do when you get there. There are a couple of areas mentioned in the FAQ that I either didn't have to or wasn't allowed to visit, and some cited events occurred at unexpected points in the adventure for me; but everything that you need to do to beat the PCE version is covered.

2) Knowledge of katakana. I'm not usually one to try to dissuade folks from experimenting their way through an import RPG, but I really don't see it happening with this one. The game is just too complicated for people to fiddle their way to victory.

How complicated is it? Well, you know how annoying it can be when you're wandering around a town in a Japanese RPG and you're just trying to talk to the right person to trigger the next event? Well, imagine if you didn't have to bumble around a mere six-house village but THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE instead. Cyber Knight has you travel not only to different planets but also to separate solar systems. And there isn't a defined path through the stars. The game grants you access to lots of different locations at once, and you often have a number of separate quests that you can set off on at any given time. Yes, the aforementioned FAQ does tell you where to go, but it won't help much if you can't read the in-game katakana.

The Cyber Knight play system is not simple by any means. You can select three of the six available characters for any given quest, and you'll want to take into consideration their respective classes (each character specializes in a particular field, such as science or mechanics), as certain skills are needed for certain missions. You've also got five different mecha (each with its own respective strengths and weaknesses) and many different weapon types to select from. You can lug along everything from lightsabers and plasma guns to rocket launchers and nova-flame emitters, and you'll need to experiment with all of them to figure out which ones work best against which foes. There are also assorted defense fields to mess around with. And even aboard your home base (a starship), you'll have lots of different menus to work out.

It might seem like a lot to contend with; Cyber Knight comes off as a modern RPG trapped in the body of an old one. But as is often the case with quality modern games, once you get rolling with CK's system, it'll seem pretty simple after all, and then you'll get to enjoy the finer points of the adventure. You'll rush to the aid of cavemen, robots, and large pink whales...

...while utilizing your mighty weaponry to annihilate foes ranging from fearsome dinosaurs to bizarre, indescribable aliens.

Actually, the adventure itself might prove to be a bit too simple for some. You usually aren't asked to do much exploring once you arrive at a planet. You just talk to a particular person or solve a simple maze (only two locations have labyrinths that are at all complex) and then move on to the next area of importance.

The appeal of the game, outside of the audio elements and the interesting acquaintances you make, mainly lies in the strategic combat, as you get to position your mecha on the field while considering the weapon selection/experimentation aspects. But while the enemies you run into are conceptually intriguing and can put up a fight, they don't look very good. CK isn't a top-tier title visually by any stretch of the imagination. You don't even get to fight any sizable creatures aside from the berserker queen at the end of the game.

But CK should still prove to be a very enjoyable RPG for those who are up for the reading requirements. From what I gather, there's a translated rendition of the Super Famicom version somewhere out there. But we all know that the cool way to play the game is on the PC Engine in a language we can't understand.

Faussete Amour

~ FAUSSETE AMOUR ~

Naxat Soft / AiM

Super CD-ROM

1993

This colorful action-platformer reminds me of Super Castlevania IV (with its multidirectional attack system and "hook-and-swing" gameplay sequences) and Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts (with its "take a hit, lose your armor" damage system). Now, SC4 and SGNG are certainly the best SNES games ever made--yet Faussete Amour outdoes them both. FA has no unnecessary spinning rooms and no adventure-halting slowdown, and its stripped-when-hit star is a cute girl rather than a hairy fellow. So, with this one game, the PC Engine officially defeated the entire SNES library.

Seriously though, I enjoy Faussete a heck of a lot more than I thought I would upon reading the many lukewarm (at best) reviews of it. Yes, the heroine (a lass named Corque) walks quite slowly, and the first three levels move along at a rather lackadaisical pace. But things really start to pick up during Scene 4, which presents some extremely tricky platforming gauntlets to navigate. And the last few stages drive the slow walking element completely out of mind by constantly having the player utilize Corque's chain-and-blade weaponry for hacking, swinging, spinning, and bounding.

The graphics are bright and appealing from beginning to end...

...the bosses are monstrous and memorable...

...the cinematics are abundant and nicely done...

...and the music is, er... interesting. Really, it's very different from anything you'd expect to hear in this sort of game... and I like it! I know that some folks will HATE it, though.

Some folks might also find themselves under the impression early on that FA will be easy. Indeed, it is very easy... for a while. Its later levels, however, feature a number of tricky spots and wily creatures. The two bosses at the very end are particularly tough and sure to give players fits.

Aside from its pacing issues (which most people will view as negligible by journey's end), Faussete Amour is a very cool platformer, one that action-game fans should pick up if they can do so at a reasonable price.

Ryuuko no Ken (Art of Fighting)

~ ART OF FIGHTING ~

SNK / Hudson Soft

Arcade CD-ROM

1994

Maybe this is an example of what low expectations can do for a game that, in reality, isn't all that great. I expected very little from this fighter, as I'd always thought its characters seemed terribly generic. And the fact that I wasn't particularly thrilled with Fatal Fury 2 made me skeptical of the purported quality of its hailing-from-the-Neo Geo kin. Well, AoF's graphics aren't as impressive as FF2's, and its characters aren't as cool as Terry Bogard's crew, but I have a strong preference for its actual fisticuffs, and I get a kick out of its goofy plot. In fact, it plays well enough and has proven amusing enough to rank among my favorite fighters for the PCE.

Story Mode has you choose one of these two dudes to ride around town and batter people with.

The combatants are pretty large to begin with...

...but they're rendered gigantic once they approach each other and the game "zooms in" on them. It's a gimmick, but a very cool one, and the Duo pulls it off pretty darn well.

The bonus rounds aren't very exciting. Hit the button at the right moment, or mash said button as rapidly as you can.

Loading screens like this one appear between matches and remain up for what seems like an eternity--the only real downer in an otherwise extremely enjoyable fighting game.

Meteor Blaster DX

MindRec - 2004 - U.S.A.

Super CD-ROM

For years I lamented the void in the TurboGrafx library created by the lack of an Asteroids clone and thereby all the thrills and chills I was missing out on. Asteroids is such an enthralling experience, after all. Lucky for me, after nearly 15 years of waiting, Meteor Blaster DX showed up to save the, uh, decade.

While obsolete consoles such as the Genesis and Dreamcast are enjoying successful lives after death with extraordinary original games such as Pier Solar and Last Hope, the Turbo is turning over in its grave with the release of ancient Commodore 64 ports and clunky arcade games that had long since retired when the console was still in its heyday.

All that said, Meteor Blaster DX brings nothing to the table that hasn't already been done previously (and better) in the genre. There is only so much that can be done with the Asteroids template, and I'll concede MB does just about all of it. Twice nothing is still nothing, however, as the game does a good job of proving.

You have the option of flying one of four ships, none of which are too inspired design-wise. As a matter of fact, the ships look downright ugly and out of place over the pleasant backdrops and alongside the competently detailed asteroids. Each ship has its pros and cons, but ultimately it doesn't matter which one you choose as the differences aren't realy significant enough to affect gameplay.

The Emerald Falcon is the pinnacle of spacecraft design.

If you found Asteroids plodding, slow, monotonous, and boring the first, second and third time around you probably won't be thrilled to hear that little has changed in that regard. For this outing, the developers saw fit to add a techno soundtrack extremely similar in style to the one they used in Implode. While I thought the techno tracks worked surprisingly well in Implode, they unfortunately fall flat here and only work to enhance the dreary ambiance. The core gameplay still feels dated as ever, and you'll suffer one cheap death after another from bits of rock that wrap around from the opposite side of the screen to whatever spot you happen to occupy. Meteor Blaster's attempt at a "wow" factor is the addition of actual bosses every 10th stage. Trouble is, you face off against the same boss (albeit palette-swapped) over and over again. The action drones on for a much-too-lengthy 99 levels. If you actually make it to the end, you deserve a medal. Not for skill, mind you, but for unparalleled stamina and endurance. I turned the game off long before reaching that point.

Cutting the length of the game by about 70% and introducing some other bosses and enemies to shoot at would've done wonders for Meteor Blaster. The "silver lining," if such a thing exists in this game, is in the presentation. The in-game visuals are pretty nice for the most part, and the package feels polished. That is, of course, excepting the physical disc itself. Someone thought they could save some dough by distributing the game on blue-dye CD-R, rendering the game unplayable on about 50% of Turbo consoles out there. The good news is that 50% isn't missing out on anything novel.

Be it stage 3 or stage 16 (or stage 28 or stage 52 or....), you can count on more of the same.

Coming soon: a look at the brand new port of an Atari 2600 game so old we're having trouble with the carbon dating process.