I know I just did a Saturn post a week ago, but I've been working on a few more things, this and one other list which will be done soon too. This one isn't just because I want to make a list, though; I really did just get this system a few weeks ago, so it's an appropriate lttp thread and system history as well as a short-reviews-of-the-few-games-I have thread.
Anyway, yes, I got a Magnavox Odyssey 2 a few weeks ago. I only have twelve carts, with 16 games on them total, it's a start at least. It's an interesting system; I've never had a working second gen machine before, so it's a new thing for me. I do have an Atari 2600 with some games, but it doesn't work, and I haven't spent the money to get a working 2600 or 7800 yet. So yeah, this is my first working second gen console. I'd been unsure for years about how much I really wanted to get into pre=NES gaming -- the NES is the console I knew as a kid, so this stuff is somewhat foreign to me. Games were different before the NES, with so many endless games, multiplayer-only titles, and extremely short games... very different styles of gaming from what would develop starting from 1985 and afterwards. Overall I have mixed feelings about this system; it does have a pretty small library, and a lot of really short or not so great games. Still, the few good games are interesting enough that I feel like it was worth the purchase. You can't play O2 games anywhere else, legally, either -- there are no collections of O2 games on newer systems, something not true for the 2600 or Intellivision.
Very cool box, wish mine came with one!
System looks okay to good.
Hardware and Background History
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The original Magnavox Odyssey was of course the first ever home videogame system, released in 1972 and designed by Ralph Baer. This system wasn't designed by Baer, however, but it was the first videogame console that is a successor to an older one. After making some dedicated systems in between, the Magnavox Odyssey 2 was Phillips Magnavox's second videogame console. It is a second generation machine and released in 1978 in the US, so it released over a year after the Atari 2600 that was its main competition. In the US, it was supported from 1978 to 1983. In Europe, where it was called the Phillips Videopac G7000, it lasted from 1980 to 1984. During that time, the system amassed a small, and almost entirely first party, 45-50 game library; the O2 had minimal third party support. In fact, even the first party stuff was mostly by one single guy -- Magnavox didn't have a large staff to make games for its new system to say the least, so basically this one guy had to do most of them. He ended up making 24 games, a majority of the games released for the system during its lifespan. This results in a lot of games with very similar looking graphics -- there's a reason for that beyond the hardware design, many are by the same person. The system has one addon, the voice addon The Voice. It was only released in the US, and adds English-language speech effects to the nine games that support it (plus homebrew titles; most of them support it too). No games require it, however, unlike the IntelliVision's IntelliVoice voice addon; it's optional, flavor-speech stuff.
The Odyssey 2 was supposed to have a successor in 1983, the backwards-compatible Odyssey 3. However, because of the videogame crash that started that year, the US release was abandoned while the system was still in testing. Some prototype O3s exist, but it was not released. This system was released in Europe, however, as the Phillips Videopac+ G7400. I'll call it the Videopac+. The Videopac+ has three exclusive titles, and twelve more games that were released in Europe as dual-mode titles. These games play the same on either a Videopac or Videopac+, but have high-color backgrounds behind the playfield on the Videopac+. Those three exclusive games use the upgraded graphics hardware in the foreground too. Unfortunately Videopac+ systems and games are all entirely PAL region, so you can't play them in the US unless you have a PAL television to play them on. Many O2/Videopac games do work on either PAL or NTSC, but the Videopac+ console itself will not. O3 prototype systems cannot run Videopac+ games without modification, either. Homebrew O2 releases often have Videopac+ backgrounds, but I don't know of any that require it; that'd cut off almost all of your American audience, after all. The system does seem a bit more popular in Europe than here, but still, homebrew games just support it, and The Voice, they don't require either.
So, the Odyssey 2 may have a small game library, and only a relative few of those are good, too. And on top of that, many of the better ones are games inspired by more popular arcade or Atari titles. Even so, I find it an interesting system with some fun games; I don't regret buying this, actually. The system's graphics are simple, but actually in terms of hardware power it's actually more powerful in many ways than the 2600, even if you can't always tell by looking at the games. The system uses an Intel CPU, rare at the time, so programmers weren't too used to it. Some of the homebrew titles released in recent years show that the system is actually capable of much better visuals than are seen in most of the titles released during its life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcD6qczYIJY - Here's the trailer for the 2012 release Mage: The Enchanted Crystals. This trailer has the Videopac+ background, but apart from that it'd look the same on O2. The music might be from The Voice. Looks like a decent game, and it's in a genre that the system doesn't have much of, action/adventure games. There's a cancelled and thus unofficial-release-only release of Tutankham, this, and not much else.
As with was normal for the era, many O2 games are two player only titles. This is, of course, frustrating today, but that's how games were. This means that some games are more playable than others with only one person, excepting the one player only games of course which are fine. Also there's no saving of anything, so it's vital to write down your scores for the games -- apart from sports games everything else here is score-based, and without any other form of saving, writing down scores is the only way for the games to mean anything.
Beyond those usual basics, though, O2 gameplay has some idiosyncrasies, some of which surely result from one guy making so many of the system's titles. Most (first party, but almost all O2 games are first party; there are only 5-8 third party releases anywhere) O2 games seem to fall into one of five categories. First, sports games (Football, Baseball, Bowling, what have you). Second, games which use the keyboard (there are analogs of Simon, Hangman, Concentration, and more.). Third, action games where you have one life, and start a new game after dying once (the KC games, UFO, Pick Axe Pete, etc.). Fourth, competitive games where you play to ten points (usually against a human, sometimes a computer; examples include Alien Invasion Plus, Out Of This World, etc.). And fifth, timed games, where each game is 2-3 minutes long. Few games don't fall into any of these five categories, though I guess a couple of the racing games could be a sixth category, racing games that aren't timed but instead end after you go through enough laps/gates. Yeah, the O2 has some unique game design elements, most notably in the one-life stuff.
The system also has three boardgames with O2 videogame components. I am very interested in two of these, Conquest of the World and Quest for the Rings. Both sound pretty interesting, regardless of how good they are. The games have a boardgame element, where you move around or strategize on an actual, physical board, and a videogame element, where you avoid enemies, fight eachother, and what have you. Obviously these are multiplayer only games.
As for hardware design, the system looks like something out of its time. That is, it looks very late '70s to early '80s. I love some of the box art design -- the flying letters and logos look really cool. The box art of the system and games is a real highlight of the system, and is one of the reason I'd always recommend getting complete copies of games, or at least copies with the manuals (all of which have the box art on their covers) -- it's great stuff! Sometimes the box art and manuals are better than the games, that's for sure... I'll post some examples of box arts here. Really cool stuff. The cartridges themselves all have handles, which preclude the use of end labels, but the boxes make for good storage devices anyway, with the flap covers, so that's alright.
The system itself is well enough designed. It's nothing amazing looking, but it'll do the job. The built-in flat keyboard is a nice touch. Some games play on the keyboard, so you'll need the system close. Of course, with controller cords as short as second-gen cords all are, you'll need the system close anyway. On that note, the controllers are basic, Atari-inspired controllers, but they're not the same as Atari joysticks. Unlike those these have more throw, so you can move them farther in each direction. They're eight-direction sticks, too, with notches cut out of the sides of the well, so that you can lock the stick into any of the eight directions. This is handy in many titles. It is a digital stick and not analog, but that's okay. Like with the Atari, though, the system has only one button. One more might have been nice... oh well. The system I have has black, hardwired controllers, and a flat keyboard. Six models of O2 systems were released in the US, but the one I have seems one of the most common kinds. I just got it a few weeks ago, and it's working fine. The system attaches to the TV via an RF box. It has twin leads on it, but fortunately they are attached to a small box with a normal (UHF) cable plug on it, so I don't need to buy a special adapter to use it with my television, since of course no TVs from the last 25-plus years have those two-prong plugs on them. It does have one of the old-fashioned slide switches, though, so you need to manually switch it to game mode; it won't autoswitch like the NES and beyond can do. The antenna out part on the switch IS twin lead, so instead of using an adapter I don't connect this system directly to my TV, where the cable input is, but instead hook it up to the VCR. That works well, and I can leave the switch on "on" that way too and not have to keep messing with it. Unfortunately the RF box is hard-wired, so I do need to remove it when not using the system -- and unlike all my other consoles, I can't keep this one plugged in all the time. The system is pretty large and needs to be right at my feet, where my pile of controllers for other systems is... The power supply plug is removable, but the RF and controller plugs are not. (except for inside the system, of course.)
I got the system locally and paid $50, which might have been a bit too much, but I thought it was worth it because it was guaranteed to work, returnable, and came with six games (mediocre games mostly, but games), and all of the games were complete, too. Not bad, I love the boxes as I've said. Honestly with less cool boxes, I might well have passed... but it does. The manuals are all in full color, and are printed with white text on black paper, just like the boxes. They look very stylish, and are full of art, full color screenshots, and very detailed descriptions of how to play the games. The writing is often silly stuff -- whoever worked in O2 marketing and manual-writing were marketing geniuses! Seriously, O2 games trumpet things such as "digital scoring", and the sports games all talk about how "extremely realistic" the simulations of their sport they are. It's great stuff. :D O2 game boxes are cardboard in the US, plastic in Europe. The cardboard ones are fine, I think. They have flip-open covers, sort of like the IntelliVision. This makes accessing the game in the box easy.
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I don't have this one, but wow is that amazing boxart.
I have twelve games now, those six, plus six others I got from an EBay lot. All twelve are complete.
Honorable Mentions: Speedway!, Alpine Skiing!, Out Of This World!, Pick Axe Pete!, Spinout!
(Oh, before I begin, yes, all titles have exclamation points at the end of their names. It's just a thing Magnavox did.)
My best high scores so far:
UFO: 103
Pick Axe Pete: 99 (starting from screen 1)
Acrobats: mode 3: 451. Mode 0: 461. Mode 7: 897. (7 is the easiest mode by far...)
Thunderball: 38,840
K.C. Munchkin: 317 (mode 1). 136 (mode 2). 110 (mode 4). 189 (mode 3). 1-3 are the easy-hard preset maps; 4 is normal random maps.
Software
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Box
Game. The left player has missed gates, the right hasn't yet.
Alpine Skiing! - 1979, Two player simultaneous racing game. Alpine Skiing is a very simple ski racing game where two players ski down a mountain. One player is on each side of the screen, and this is a two player only game so either you play on your own, or against someone, but either way both skiiers will be on screen (even if the other is doing nothing). There are three courses in the game, Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Downhill. Each course has a different gate layout, with different spacing between gates as you'd expect from those different events. There aren't really any turns in Alpine Skiing; instead, you just go down. The only turns will be to get through the gates. That doesn't mean that the game is easy, though. Quite the opposite, Alpine Skiing is a hard game. The primary reason for this is that if you miss one gate, it's game over. The only way to get a finishing time is to go through all 44 gates on the course; otherwise, all you'll be told at the end is how many gates you missed. As usual on the O2, once both players are down the hill, the game will lock, requiring a press of the Reset button to continue. The graphics are extremely basic, with the usual O2 "man" character, on skis this time, as the players. The gates look like gates, and that's all there is to the visuals. You have good control of your skiier with the stick, as left and right turn while up and down adjust your speed. Alpine Skiing is a simple game, but if you want to finish in a good time, you'll definitely need practice in order to finish without missing gates. Alpine Skiing isn't a great game, and it is too bad that there's no computer opponent (of course, such things were normal back then, but still, it's too bad), but at least you can play for time with one player. This is an alright game, really simplistic but not too bad.
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Okay cover, though somewhat average for the system.
Bowling.
Bowling! / Basketball! - 1978, 2-in-1 cart.
Bowling! - One to four players. Bowling is a horrible bowling game, and might be the worst bowling game I've played before. The graphics are extremely simplistic, but worst is the physics -- the pins don't move around after being hit, in this game, so there's almost no possible way of dealing with a split, for instance. To play, the ball moves back and forth along the bottom of the screen. Press the button when you want to roll the ball. Once it's moving, you can adjust its movement with the stick. The game is for one to four players, but of course in one player mode you're all by yourself, there's no computer opponent. The gameplay certainly isn't anywhere near good enough to be something you'd want to play with others, either, not with this complete lack of physics or graphics of note. Don't bother with this one.
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Basketball
Basketball! - Two players required. Basketball is a two player only side-scrolling basketball game. I haven't played it properly yet, but it looks like a pretty mediocre game that might be amusing for a few minutes. The graphics are extremely, extremely simple; this is an early O2 game, and looks it. The baskets are barely recognizable as such. The game is side-scrolling 2d, and the controls work like this: So, one player starts with the ball. The other player will take the ball if they pass through the first player. You can shoot, however, with the button. You can't adjust the shot power or trajectory; it'll be random, pretty much. If it goes in the basket, you get 2 points. The takeaway ability is kind of amusing, and that's the only hope that this game has to be any fun at all, I think... I'll have to try it. I'm not expecting much to say the least.
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Box. Note the map of the course.
Gameplay isn't quite as bad as it might look.
Computer Golf! - 1978, One to four players. Computer Golf is a simple topdown golf game. The game plays on a nine hole course. Each hole has a different design, and you'll have to avoid the sides of the hole and the trees as you try to hit the ball towards the green. Trees and the sides are the only obstacles in the game, but it's enough. Once on the green the screen will zoom in to a green view, where you try to hit the ball into the hole. The game is slow paced, as your character walks slowly and the ball isn't too quick either. Hitting the ball also will take a little practice; read the manual and practice, because it explains which direction the ball will go in from each character position on screen. It's not entirely intuitive just by looking at it, but you'll get used to it. You'll often have to rotate around in order to hit the ball in the direction you want.
Overall, this is a bland game, but I don't like golf in general, so considering that it's not too bad. I do like how the cover of the box (and the manual) have a map of the nine holes, showing how they actually arrange into a connected course that you never see in the game -- nice touch! The manual also gives you par numbers for each hole and the course, which is good to know. This is a slow, simple golf game, and of course you'll only have opponents if you're playing against another human, but it was entertaining to play through once, at least.
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Nice box.
Gameplay
Football! - 1978, Two players required. This is a very basic single-screen football game that I haven't yet played. I don't like football, and this isn't exactly the two player game I'd want to play for sure. The players are all your usual "small person" O2 figures. Decent box though.
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The box is really cool looking! I love this box.
Gameplay is just as good.
K.C. Munchkin! - 1981, One player. K.C. Munchkin is the Odyssey 2's best known, and most popular, game. The game is most infamous for being banned from sale after Magnavox was sued over how much the game is like Pac-Man. Magnavox lost, but ironically, this game actually has some real differences from Pac-Man -- it's not just a straight clone. I think the courts got it wrong. Fortunately the game was on sale for long enough before being banned that plenty of copies are out there, so this is not a rare game.
K.C. Munchkin is indeed a game working from the Pac-Man playbook, but it does some of its own things, as I said. First, the game plays on a strict, 7x9 grid. This really is a tile-based game. Press the stick in a direction, and K.C. will move one space that way. You can't stop moving halfway into a space and turn around if enemies have moved into it; you're doomed if that happens. This is somewhat restrictive, but it does work. The upside of this is that this grid system allows for any possible wall configuration -- unlike Pac-Man, this game does not have only one maze, it has near-endless mazes, within the rules. But more about that later. The other major difference from Pac-Man are that there are only twelve dots to eat in each level, three in each corner of the map at the start, and they move. And not only do the dots move, but as you collect more dots, the remaining ones speed up. The last dot on each level will move at the same speed you do, so you'll have to strategize a bit and cut it off. Nice. After a couple of screens, the game will speed up and dots will occasionally go through walls, making things tougher, so it does get more difficult over time.
As you'd expect, there are enemies trying to get you, called Munchers, though only three instead of four like Pac-Man has. With the small playfield, it's plenty. Four of the dots are power pellet analogs which allow you to eat the Munchers. Once you do this the Munchers will change color, and can be eaten. Eaten Munchers will flash white and won't be a threat again until they go to the center block and stay there for a few seconds; only then can they return to life. This takes a while, so often you'll finish the level before they return. Munchers you don't eat will turn back to their normal dangerous state after a couple of seconds, though, and this game is one of the O2 action games where you only get one life (like in reality!), so one slipup and it's game over. K.C. Munchkin has three built in mazes, an easy, medium, and hard one. It also has a random maze option which creates a maze for you. Unfortunately this maze won't change between stages, so once you're playing on it it's set, but still it's a very cool option. The other four game modes are for invisible maze versions of the first four options. In the invisible modes, the map can't be seen while you're moving. If you stop or hit a wall, the walls will appear. Needless to say, this adds quite a bit of challenge. Cool feature.
Lastly, the game has a map editor, so you can create your own map. You cannot remove the rotating thing in the center of the screen where the ghosts start (and on that note, this rotating block is interesting and makes for some great game mechanics in some stages; too bad you can't move it or add more of them), you can't change the one warp (where you travel from one side of the screen to the other), and the dots will always start in the four corners of the screen, but you can put the walls whereever else you want. Of course you can't save custom maps, so the random map mode is probably more useful, but still, for 1981 this has to have been a very cool feature. K.C. Munchkin deserves its reputation as one of the O2's best games; this certainly is a very good game. It's better than I was expecting, too, after having watched some gameplay videos of the game. It may not look like too much in videos, but it's actually a lot of fun to play. Since you have only one life per game games are short, and the game keeps you coming back for more, trying to get a bit higher score next time. All the different maps mix up play quite a bit, too.
Gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J0jrd_kuHI
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Box. Great cover art! And note how it only reflects one of the two games in the package... that's saying something.
Out Of This World is decent.
Out Of This World! / Helicopter Rescue! - 1979, 2-in-1 cart.
Out Of This World! - Two player simultaneous. Out Of This World, completely unrelated to the other Out Of This World game released much later, is a two player gravity spaceship sim game. It's in the "first to ten wins" category of O2 games. In this quite challenging game, your goal is to connect your spaceship with a floating command module ten times. Think Apollo moon lander modules taking off and connecting to their command modules above before the return to Earth, that's the idea here. However, you have very limited energy (fuel), so getting anywhere near ten connections, and winning the game, won't be easy. You start with just 50 energy, which the manual says is measured in megajoules. When you hold down the button, you'll burn energy at a rapid clip. However, you need to do this, because you have to land very carefully and slowly, or you'll crash. Crashing takes away 10 energy, while landing successfully will score you 20. Meanwhile, the Command Module zips by overhead again and again. You need to touch it again, just right, in order to connect and score a point. If you miss, and you will... well, too bad. You'll probably be too low on fuel to continue, so get your timing just right, every time! That's easier said than done of course. If either player does connect, both are reset to 50 energy (provided that they are alive that is, and the process starts again until either one player scores ten points, or, more likely, both players run out of fuel and lose. If one player runs out of fuel the other can keep going, but scoring a point won't bring back the one who has failed.
The game has three modes of play, each with a different gravity level. There's a very low gravity mode (the Moon), a medium gravity mode (Mars), and a high gravity mode (Jupiter). The manual says that higher gravity should be harder, but I found it a bit easier, because it's a bit easier to hover in place with the tighter controls you get in higher gravity. Of course fuel will burn more rapidly, but control is better. Overall, I liked this game. It'd be fun to play against someone, I think, but even with one player it's got some play value, until you're good enough to connect ten times of course that is. It is of course very simple, but well, second-gen games are like that. This game could be better, but it's not too bad.
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Helicopter Rescue, however, is atrocious.
Helicopter Rescue! - One player only. Unlike the other game on this cartridge, Helicopter Rescue is a completely atrocious, abysmal waste of time. This game is one of the timed games, and it has no modes or options -- there's only one mode of play, and it's brain-dead simple, two minutes long (literally), and has almost no replay value, either. Yes, this game is that bad. You can tell that it's kind of just thrown on here, because the game box and cartridge only have Out Of This World art on them. Even in the manual, there's no Helicopter Rescue art, only spaceships and such. Even marketing knew that promoting this game didn't make sense... but really, they probably shouldn't have released it at all.
The problem here is that the game has nothing to it. This is a single screen rescue game where you fly a very large helicopter across the screen, pick a person up from the other building that is apparently on fire (you can't tell, ingame, that anything's wrong with it), fly back to your base, drop them off, and repeat until the two minute timer runs out. Each pickup or dropoff is accomplished by raising or lowering a basket, and this takes some time. You'll probably score about five or six points in this game. The scoring shows double digits, but I don't know if it'd be possible to score ten points. I don't think it's worth trying out. There's absolutely no reason to play it any more and try to get better. The one and only draw here is the rotating chopper blade, which is nice for the second gen I guess, but the "game" is so, so limited that it's kind of amazing that this was actually shipped.
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I know it's from 1982, but it's so '70s it hurts!
Simple graphics, okay gameplay.
Pick Axe Pete! - 1982, One player only. Pick Axe Pete is a challenging platform action game. It's an okay game, but not great. It clearly took its largest inspiration from Donkey Kong, but it goes off in its own direction in several ways, so this is not just a clone. At a glance it might look like one, with a screen made up of lines, spheres bouncing around you have to avoid, and a little guy with a swinging weapon, but the actual gameplay is quite different. This isn't a game where you just go to the end of a level; instead, it's a more freeform title. The game is difficult and has a fairly high learning curve for a second-gen title; this isn't one I was good at right away. The 16-page manual is essential, too, as it goes into detail about all of the game's systems.
Essentially, this is a score-based game. As you'd expect, yes, you get only one life per game, so expect short games and low scores, like in other O2 action games. That's alright, the one-life thing is more unique than bad, I think. The graphics here aren't anything new; as usual on the O2, most of the sprite work is reused from other games. I've certainly seen this "person" figure before, multiple times. Passageways are just colored squares, too. Yeah, bland graphics. Oh well, it's not too bad. As for the gameplay though, there are six ways to score points in Pick Axe Pete. First, avoiding a rock via jumping or ducking will score you a point. Next, hitting a Gold with your pick gets 3 points. Getting a new pick gets 5 points. Getting a key gets 10 points. Last, going through a door gets 20 points. While you have a pick, you'll destroy rocks with ease. However, the picks are timed, so after a fairly short amount of time you'll lose it. At this point, you'd better polish up your rock-avoidance skills. To jump in this game, you press a direction with the stick, and then hit the button. Pete will jump, or duck, in the direction you pointed. So, diagonal up will make a flying leap, left or right a longjump, or straight down to flatten yourself to the floor. Pete will point his arms in the direction you're going to jump, before you press the button. The manual shows all the signals. This gives you a lot of different moves, but using them well, and effectively avoiding the rocks, is quite challenging.
In order to get keys, or new picks, you'll have to wait until rocks hit each other. When two rocks run into eachother, there's a chance that the collision will create either a pick or a key. Picks will fall to the bottom level of the field; keys will go to the top one. Both will only stick around on the screen for a few seconds, so the best way to get one is either to stick around the top or bottom of the screen, or to try to get in position to grab it as it goes up or down the screen towards its resting place. If you do get a key and go through a door, you'll go to the stage that the color you went through represents. The game has ten different stages. You can start from any stage, by pressing different keys (0 through 9 will start on each different level), but you won't stay on the one you choose; the keys warp between levels. The levels are all similar, except for the placement of the holes in the platforms, but still, it's a nice touch. Oh, and unlike Mario, Pete doesn't die if he falls; you can fall down holes no problem. Also, ladders appear regularly, but at random, for you to climb up or down levels. The manual suggests that if one appears right under a door, you can get up to the next level anyway (since you cannot pass through doors without a key but have to jump over them) by getting on the ladder and then doing a diagonal jump, which will take you to the next level. This does indeed work.
Overall, Pick Axe Pete is a somewhat complex scoring-based, Donkey Kong-inspired platform action game. It's tough, and I don't know how much fun it is, but it certainly isn't a bad game, anyway, once you get used to it.
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Decent box.
The gameplay however is maybe even more bland than it looks.
Pocket Billiards! - 1980, two players required. Pocket Billiards is another pretty awful O2 sports game. As usual it has a great cover, but the contents sure aren't great. This game is a basic game of pool for a couple of players. You have to play with two people, unless one player plays as both players of course. This is a slow, and extremely bland, pool game -- rotate around the white ball, press the button to hit it, and watch it inch along at a slow speed. You don't get much speed control here, and hitting the balls into the pockets is neither easy nor fun. Really, play a different pool game instead of this one, on some other system. The basic graphics have some charm, but the game is so slow, bland, lacking in ball physics, and tedious that it's not really worth playing. It's fairly comparable in quality to Bowling, except here the balls at least do move around when hit, unlike those pins, so it's slightly better than that one.
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Box. Very '70s costumes...
Good fun game, with decent graphics.
P.T. Barnum's Acrobats! - 1982, one or two players, The Voice enhanced. Acrobats is, in a few words, a Circus Atari clone with some almost painfully '70s acrobats on the cover. Just like that game, in Acrobats you play as two acrobats on a seesaw springboard in a modified game of Breakout. One starts on the seesaw and the other on a platform. You have the one above jump down, land on the empty part of the seesaw, and send the other one flying into the air. Your goal is to break as many balloons as you can before you run out of tries. There are three rows of balloons in the air, and if you pop all ten in one of the rows, that row will be replenished. Where the acrobat lands on the empty end of the seesaw determines how high the other one will be flung into the air -- the closer to the end he lands, the higher the other one goes. Watching the little guys bounce around is fun.
Unlike most O2 action games, this one actually gives you ten tries, so it's not another one-life-and-done game. This is perhaps because of how tricky the game is -- in Acrobats, or Circus Atari, in order to keep the game going and not lose a life the clown in the air has to land exactly on the end of the empty, raised part of the seesaw. If you miss, and he lands on the ground or too close in on the seesaw, you'll lose a try and the guy will climb up the side back to one of the starting platforms and you'll continue from there (though, again, this will NOT reset your score, the game won't end until you've missed ten times). So yeah, it's exactly like Circus Atari, as far as I know; I haven't played that one myself, but this game is an obvious clone. The game is pretty fun, and the graphics are solid -- unlike in Circus Atari, the balloons in this one actually look round, and not square, because the O2 does have better graphics than the 2600 when programmed for well. :) This game is one of only nine officially released titles that supports the uncommon, and US-only, The Voice speech unit addon, too, for some voice bits here and there. If I ever get one, I'll have to see if it adds anything. It's the only The Voice game I own so far.
Acrobats has a good number of modes, too. You've got six basic modes, with two basic variables. First, there are either stationary bubbles, or moving bubbles. Second, there can be no shield, a static shield, or a shield which appears in a new, random location each time one of the acrobats springs off the seesaw. This last one is quite tricky, needless to say -- the shield is a hindrance, not a help, as it creates a platform somewhere above the field that the flying acrobat might hit. And if he hits it, he'll bounce down, and probably then land on the ground and cost you a try.
The game has two two player modes, too, in addition to the one player game, and each can be played in any of the six modes. First, you have a standard mode, where each player plays until they lose a guy, at which point it switches to the other one. Second, you have a much more challenging sounding co-op mode where play switches every time that an acrobat springs off of the seesaw. So yes, after every hit the other player will get control. Might be interesting, might just be frustrating. Overall, while Acrobats is just a clone (a clone with a well-known license, but a clone all the same), it's a good one. This is one of the best O2 games I own -- I'd probably put it in third, after UFO and K.C. Munchkin.
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All three games are represented on the boxart.
Speedway. Simple but fun.
Speedway! / Spinout! / Cryptologic! - 1978, 3-in-1 cart released as a pack-in with the system at launch.
Speedway! - One player only. Speedway! is a timed game. Each game is two minutes long, no longer. The game has two modes, Practice (1) or Race (2). On the slower speed, the game's pretty easy. In this game, you control a car which is driving along a straight, endless (until time runs out) road. Your goal is to avoid hitting all of the cars coming down the screen at you. On difficulty 1, this isn't too hard; max speed isn't too high, so getting a perfect game, getting through two minutes without hitting anything, won't take long.
Difficulty two is another story, however. This one is clearly the main game, and it's a lot more challenging. Speedway has about the simplest graphics around for a racing game, with no animation on the cars and only dashes on the sides of the road to show the environment, but it's a fun game that I enjoyed playing. This is a fun one to put in and play a couple of minutes of. Of course, the game ends after two minutes, but you can always try again and try to master it. Maybe if I manage a perfect game at the faster speed (should be somewhere around 6,000 points, I think) I'll stop playing, but that'll probably take a while... it's hard to avoid all of the cars coming at you at the high speed, and when you crash you stop getting points until you start moving again, so each hit results in a sizable point reduction. Oh, and your score is tied to your speed, too -- you get points based on distance, so the faster you drive, the higher your score will increase. Speedway is an incredibly basic racing game, but it's fun. As usual on O2 games which end, once time runs out the game freezes. You'll have to press Reset to try again, but I guess it's nice to give you a chance to write down your score first.
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The basic Spinout track.
Spinout! - Two players versus (required for anything other than time-trial). The box claims that this is a one or two player game, but it isn't; this is a two player only game, unless you're just trying for a lap time or something, and don't mind having to race as both players for the race to actually end. Spinout is a top-down racing game, along the lines of an extremely basic Super Sprint. There is one track with four variants. The base track's a loop with a bump on it; it will always be the same, underneath. The variants add some walls you'll have to go around, and obstacles to avoid. There are two different modes in this game, three lap or 15 lap. I haven't played it in multiplayer yet, but it seems like an okay, if unexciting, topdown racing game. I like top-down racing games, of course, but without anyone to race against it's a bit boring. Of course, it doesn't help that there's only really one track. This game doesn't have car controls either, really -- instead, the car goes in the direction you point the stick. Holding the button down gives you turbo speed. When you hit the other car, it spins out, hence the title of the game. This game is alright for 1978, but there's little reason to play it for more than a few minutes over other, much better top-down racing games. Still, I would say that this 3-in-1 cart is worth getting; at least you're not paying for this one on its own.
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Cryptologic has ... basic ... visuals.
Cryptologic! - Two players required. Cryptologic is the only game I own that actually uses the keyboard. There are a bunch more that do, but I don't have them yet. As I don't have another person to play with I haven't tried this game yet, but it's an extremely, extremely simple Hangman-style game, except without a visual hangman. To play, one player types in a word. Then, the computer scrambles the letters, and the other player tries to guess what the word is. The game keeps track of how many tries it took to guess it, and displays which parts you've got right too. And that's really all there is to the game. Yeah, give this one a pass. I mean, anyone with the system surely has it on this extremely common cart, but don't bother playing it, I don't think.
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The promise
The reality
Thunderball! - 1979, One player only. Thunderball is a subpar pinball game. You get five balls per game in this title, and can score in the tens of thousands of points, so it breaks all the rules of O2 games, probably in the name of being more accurate to the type of game it is supposedly representing. Unfortunately, the actual pinball table in question isn't anything to speak of. The game has a rectangular "table" that fills the screen. Various targets are arrayed around the screen, and you whack the ball up and try to keep it going as it randomly bounces off of them. There's virtually no skill here that I can tell; the only real "strategy" is "keep the ball alive, and hope it hits stuff for points".
Thunderball has one unique element, which of course the O2 marketing people trumpet on the box. (I mean, if "Digital Scoring!" is such a big point, this is sure to make the box!) That is that you can move the paddles left and right slightly, within the center of the screen. This is somewhat helpful, but certainly not enough to make this game interesting or all that fun. Oh, the button activates both flippers at once; you don't have independent flipper control. The best thing about Thunderball by far is the very cool box art; the actual game's boring and not very fun at all.
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Cool box
Simple graphics, but it's a very good game! There are usually more enemies on screen than this. Also, you can't really see the circle around the player's ship; it blinks, so screenshots won't catch it.
UFO! - 1982, One player only. UFO! is a space shooter, and my favorite O2 game of the ones I have. UFO has only one gameplay mode, simple graphics (pluses, ovals, and such represent enemy spaceships), only three enemy types, and absolutely no options, but fortunately the one mode it does have is incredibly fun and addictive. (Oh yeah, and the box art is amazing too, as expected from the O2!) The game's a "one life and you die" game, as expected, but you do have a shield on your ship, so there is some protection. This game is an original and unique take on the single-screen shooter genre.
The game is always mentioned as having been primarily influenced by Asteroids, and I see the comparison, but that comparison ends with the basic visual look of the screen. In terms of actual gameplay, this game is entirely different from Asteroids, and in fact is well ahead of its time. Indeed, if it hadn't been completely forgotten, I'd say that later titles like Robotron 2084 or Every Extend Extra might have been taking a few notes from this title. Yes, essentially this is an arena shooter. Now, in Asteroids, you control a spaceship which flies around a field of rocks, and you shoot them. Alien ships appear every so often, and shoot back, but the regular rocks just fly around. Shooting rocks breaks them up into smaller rocks, which fly around faster and are harder to hit. Your ship has momentum when you move, and you rotate when you press turn instead of moving directly in the direction you press, so careful movement is required. You also have a warp which places you in some random location on screen.
UFO! takes a few ideas from that, but not many. First, in UFO you have a shield. When you press fire, or when an enemy hits your ship, the shield goes down momentarily. You only have one life of course, as I said earlier, so be careful while firing -- you're vulnerable during the moments after shooting. Second, in UFO, your ship moves in the direction you press -- no Asteroids-style controls here. Firing is entirely different from the norm too, and that's why I mentioned the later title Robotron -- while UFO does not have full twin-stick controls, it has something about as close to that as I've ever seen from a pre-Robotron title -- you shoot not just in the direction you're pointing, but in the direction that the white dot on the shield ring around your ship is pointing. The dot rotates, one point at a time, clockwise only, towards the direction you are currently moving in. This takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get it, it's easy to hit targets. The key is understanding which direction the firing cursor is currently pointing in versus where you're trying to hit. If you're moving left and it's full left, it won't move. If it's one point south of left and you move left, though, it'll spin all the way around the ship until it reaches left. If you stop moving, it'll stay where it is until you move again, so you'll be able to fire in the direction it's pointing as much as you want while standing still. This is, of course, really, really handy, and incredibly unique. I love this single-stick take on a twin-stick control method, and this is from 1982 too, several years before Robotron! Really cool stuff. And also, there's one more thing -- when you kill an enemy, they shoot out three small pellets, one each at a diagonal up left, diagonal up right, and straight down direction. If those pellets hit another enemy ship, it'll destroy that ship too in a chain reaction. You don't get bonus points for these beyond the regular score for each kill, unfortunately, but still, it's really cool to set up chain reactions (and yes, this is what made me think of Every Extend).
For the three enemy types, the first one are randomly drifting shapes which simply float across the screen, the analog of Asteroids' regular asteroids. One point to kill one of these. The second kind are Hunter-Killers, which follow you and try to ram your ship. Three points each. Last are the Light-Speed Starships. These nasty guys come out of the corners of the screen and shoot straight at you with fast-moving bullets. These guys can be hard to avoid getting hit by, so most games of UFO will end when you get ambushed by some Light-Speed Starship fire.
The game will speed up a bit as you stay alive, so it does get somewhat more challenging over time. There aren't any more enemies, or modes, or anything, though. That is disappointing -- this is a great game, but some alternate play modes would have been cool. The game is certainly lacking in variety, no question. Still, UFO is incredible for a game from 1982. I love arena shooters, and this is a very early, forgotten arena shooter that most people have probably never even heard of. Well, now you know. Go play it! Oh, the European version has Videopac+ support, so it's got a color background. The background is black here, but the gameplay is the same.
Wow, the HP printer and scanner repair wizard is the most worthless thing ever. My scan over network wasn't working, so I did all the usual things I checked my driver version, looked for software updates, ext. It still didn't fix the problem, so I decided to try running HP's printer diagnostic utility.
All I can say is that this is the most worthless thing ever! It has about 5 or 6 tests that it runs, and as far as I can tell after every test, it can give only one response, "Reset your printer, and restart your computer." Now, I have a network printer, so when the test came back that windows was unable to communicate with the printer driver, what is rebooting my printer really going to do!?!? Since the printer isn't connected to the PC via USB, powering down isn't going to affect anything, driver wise. In fact powering down a network printer has no effect on it's clients at all! Seriously, after every test it gave the same answer, reboot your printer. It's like this program was designed by a third grader.
Finally, I broke bad and removed everything HP from my machine and re installed the printer driver, and now it's working again.
Looks incredible! I also like how they've added in a female playable character; it was disappointing how Rayman Origins didn't have one for the 4-player mode and copied NSMBWii in having two generic little guys instead (Teensies, Toads, same idea).
And yes, those do seem to be what WiiU box covers will look like.
Apparently, Japan is 7000 years more advanced than we are, with flying spaceships, cyborg brains, and watches that connect to the internet and video conference. Also, in Japan everyone has mystical powers, can control the elements, and ride dragons. Yes, there are dragons running around, ice dragons, and people trap them in Poké Balls, and then battle them for sport. In Japan spinning tops are controlled by your will and spirit, contain animal gods, and are made by man. Also, if you lose the battle someone will still your sole.
Am I missing anything?
Robots run around with soles, sometimes burst through your head, solve crimes, and clean your house while solving crimes. Wolf spirits run around hot and naked, are responsible for a good harvest and are great at economics. If you wear a cape, you’re evil, if you wear a white cape you’re not. People, can force you to do things with their red glowing eye which spawns graphic cinematics that for a brief moment replace the world just for effect. People can turn metal rods into sculptures using only their mind, and its called a science. If you lose an arm or leg you can replace it with a machine that functions just like the original organ. And, finally the dead walk around and fight evil. Wow, their department of tourism must be a busy place.
I have about 66 Saturn games, including 6 imports, not including the two demo discs, so it's a whole lot less games than that N64 list I posted a while back. This is a work in progress. Some of the completed reviews might be improve too later on of course. I'd also like to add all of the save file sizes.
One other thing to know is that I do have an Arcade Racer wheel and Mission Stick joystick, as well as the 3D Controller (and regular model 2 controllers too, of course, though I don't use them), so I will be saying how games work with those controllers. I think that not enough people know about how games work with the Saturn's analog controllers, so explaining about that is certainly one of my goals in this list.
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 - Mission Stick supported. One player, has saving. This collection includes the arcade versions of Battlezone, Centipede, Missile Command, Tempest, and Super Breakout. The ports of the games are solid, and the collection does save your scores and settings. The Mission Stick support gives you analog controls in Super Breakout, Centipede, and Missile Command; the other two games always were digital. For Centipede and Missile Command especially, it makes a big difference and really makes those games better. I'm not so sure that it improves Super Breakout, though -- in this game, in analog mode basically the stick acts as the paddle, so it'll be on the left side of the screen when you move the stick fully left, at the center when centered, or on the right when you push it all the way right. That is, it doesn't move the paddle, but instead basically the stick is the paddle. It's kind of odd. For those other two though, huge improvement with analog. The analog mode will NOT work with the 3D Controller, so you'll need a Mission Stick to make use of it. This collection also has some bonus materials, including developer interview videos and information stuff; this is one of the top reasons to actually buy this collection, or its counterpart PS1 version, now, because these materials aren't available elsewhere. Also released on PS1, SNES (without saving or the extras), and PC.
Astal - Two players, no saving. Astal is a beautiful, but somewhat empty, anime-styled 2d platformer. You play as Astal, a superpowerful little anime character who has to save the world and rescue the girl, as usual. The game has very good 2d graphics and animation, but unfortunately, the greatness ends with the graphics. The game's boring level designs don't hold up well, and the gameplay suffers a lot as a result. Basically, you just go to the right in every level, and there aren't enough obstacles, or variety, to keep me interested long enough to keep playing. Given the price this game usually sells for, I don't know if I'd recommend it or not. Still, it is an okay 2d platformer on the Saturn, and the Saturn doesn't have too many of them. Oh, the two player mode has player two controlling this little thing that flies around after Astal; it's not a full versus mode or something. Think Mario Galaxy's two player mode, and stuff like that. Saturn exclusive title.
Baku Baku - Two players, has backup save. Baku Baku is a block-dropping puzzle game from Sega, and was the primary ... inspiration ... for Capcom's much more popular game Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. Basically, Puzzle Fighter is a blatant ripoff of Baku Baku. And yes, Baku Baku came first, it isn't the other way around. I've read some excuses saying that Puzzle Fighter took ideas from a third, earlier game too, but that one's quite different... no, it's just Baku Baku with a few additions. Now, I do think that Puzzle FIghter's additions make it a better game overall than Baku Baku is. The additions of the timed drop blocks and the way that blocks next to eachother will (in Puzzle Fighter) combine to form larger, higher-value blocks are great features that Baku Baku does not have. However, apart from that, the only real difference between the two games is the graphics. In this game, you play as some prerendered anime style characters who have to capture all of the escaped zoo animals. So, to use Puzzle Fighter terms because that's the game I'm the most familiar with, playing the role of the regular gems are food blocks, and playing the role of crash gems are the animal blocks. It's a cute game, and a lot of fun; Puzzle Fighter is one of the best puzzle games ever made, and this one is nearly as good too. This is a fantastic game, and you'll get it for a lot less than the Saturn version of Puzzle Fighter, too! Also released on PC and Game Gear.
Battle Arena Toshinden Remix - Two players, no saving. This is a modified version of the first Toshinden game from the Playstation. For the most part it's a port, but they mixed up a few things, and added another character I believe. The graphics aren't quite as good as they were on PS1, but otherwise the game's intact. Toshinden is an early attempt at a 3d fighting game. It's great that you do actually have full 3d movement -- that was rare at this point, most polygonal fighters on the Saturn don't actually allow you to move in three dimensions -- but the game only sort of works, and can be frustrating. Toshinden never was all that great of a game, and I think the graphics and novelty were the things that really made the original PS1 release so popular in 1995. I will admit that this isn't a terrible game, though; it's not that good, but occasionally can be amusingly fun. Also released on PS1.
Battle Monsters - Two players, no saving. Battle Monsters is a unique 2d fighting game. The game's not the greatest game, but at least they did try something different, which counts for something. To give a comparison, Battle Monsters is essentially the Super Smash Bros. of digitized-people (Mortal Kombat-style graphics) fighting games. First, the arenas often have multiple levels, with different platforms to jum between, The combat system isn't exactly like SSB, but does make me think somewhat of it, as Battle Monsters has as simplified fighting system where all of the characters activate their special moves via basic, one or two direction plus button commands, and the game only has two attack buttons, punch and kick. That may sound simple, but there's enough depth in the different moves, and characters, to give it some decent lastability, if you like it that is. The graphics are only okay; for a digitized-people game, this is probably lower tier. It's pretty hard to figure out what some of the characters are supposed to be, or even gender in a few cases. Still, even if it's certainly not one of the Saturn's best fighting games, as a unique attempt at something clearly different from all of those Mortal Kombat clones, and indeed perhaps more of a predecessor to SSB than a clone of MK, Battle Monsters deserves a look. It's fun for a few playthroughs, at least, for sure. Saturn exclusive.
Black Fire - One player, has saving, and supports the Mission Stick. Black Fire is a helicopter sim from NovaLogic, a company which made many sim games in the '90s. NovaLogic mostly worked on the PC, but they did a few console games, obviously including this one. Black Fire isn't the most hardcore of helicopter sims -- this is no Jane's Longbow II, let's just put it that way -- but with a Mission Stick it's not too bad. I wouldn't really recommend it without the Mission Stick, though; without the analog flight controls it gives you, it just isn't the same game. This game is NOT 3D Controller compatible -- it uses the analog stick's throttle wheel for vertical movement, so controls on a 3D Controller in analog mode won't work. This game is really something for genre fans. If you like somewhat simmish helicopter shooting games you might enjoy it. It's not a great game though, I think; I've definitely played better helicopter games before, like, well, the aforementioned Longbow II. I think I might enjoy the ThunderStrike games a bit more than this too, though they're close. Saturn exclusive title.
Blast Chamber - Four players (with multitap, two without), has saving (17 blocks). Blast Chamber is a multiplayer-focused action game from Activision. It looks like they put some money into its marketing, but I just don't like the core gameplay very much, and find this game disappointing and not very fun. I must admit that I've never played it with other people, though; that'd probably be better than it is against the CPU. Still though... not so great. The game does have an original concept, I just don't know how much I like it. On that note, as for the gameplay, Blast Chamber is a single-screen game. In the game you find a four-sided, rotating chamber, the Blast Chamber. You play one of four "contestants" who are in this game of death. You don't get weapons, though. No shooting here. This game is a bit more complex than that. Basically, all four players each have a life timer. When your timer runs out, you die. In order to add more time to your timer, you have to grab the crystal items and carry it to your colored base. If you do that, you get time added. If anyone ELSE brings a crystal to your base, though, you lose time. The only attack in the game is punching; you can hit the other players, and when they fall over they'll drop the crystal if they're carrying one. Genrally one player has their base on each side of the room, and that's where the room rotation comes in to play. See, at certain points, you can rotate the room. The person who rotated the room will stay on their feet, but everyone else will fall down to the new floor, again dropping any crystals they have. You can also jump, for more complex rooms with more obstacles and such in them. And that's the game. You compete in Blast Chambers, either against humans or computers. And... meh. My first impression wasn't too good, and it's stuck. I just don't have enough fun to want to keep playing. Also released on PS1.
Blazing Dragons - One player, has saving. This game is a classic-style graphic adventure game for consoles. It's funny and has good 2d art, like the best classic adventure games. Well, this one isn't the best adventure game -- it's far too short, for one thing -- but while it lasts, it is a pretty fun, and entertaining, game. If you like graphic adventures, you should play Blazing Dragons. In the game you play as a dragon, not a human, which is great; nice change from the usual adventure game thing. This was also released on PS1.
Bootleg Sampler (demo disc) - demo disc with some game demos and some videos. I think this one has Clockwork Knight 2 and some others. Nice, for the few minutes they last.
Bug! - One player, has saving (2 blocks). Bug! is an early attempt at a 3d platformer. It's very, very '90s, with a wisecracking anthropomorphic animal (bug, to be specific) as a character, but I think that gives it some charm; I think Bug's lines are sometimes amusing, myself. The game is part 2.5d platformer, part 3d platformer. I think that it's a very interesting, and really good, game, but it's a very good game with one significant flaw -- it's incredibly hard. And that really is a big problem. This game is HARD. The save system is unfairly designed, too -- not only can you only save between worlds, but it actually limits how many times you can load your save file on each level before you have to go back to an earlier level! You can get around this by backing up your save file to a memory card and copying it back for each use, but still, it's a pain. As for the controls, Bug! controls okay. The controls are entirely digital, as you'd expect in 1995, but most of the gameplay is two dimensional, so it's not too bad. That is, the levels are three dimensional mazes of platforms, traps, and challenges, but you're almost always on a path that only allows you to move along one plane, except for when it intersects with other ones. This system works well. This clearly was a team trying to figure out how to merge three dimensional worlds with traditional platformer gameplay. They succeeded, I think. There are some bumps, mostly in the difficulty level and the very long length of the levels, though. On that note, yes, the levels are very long too, and checkpoints are infrequent so when you die, expect to go back a long way. And of course, on game over you go back all the way to the beginning of the world. And each world is made up of three long levels and a boss. Still, overall, I like Bug! a lot. I don't know if I'll ever beat it, it's just too hard, but I like it a lot even so. Bug! is one of my favorite Saturn games. Saturn and PC only.
Bug Too! - One player, has saving (1 block). Bug Too!, the second and unfortunately last game in the Bug series, is a very similar game to the first one across the board. The game makes a few changes, such as improving the graphics even more and giving you three different characters to choose from, instead of just Bug, and also in having more areas with depth, instead of just 2d paths. Yes, this time fewer paths will be strictly flat, so you'll have to deal with depth issues this time in ways you rarely did in the first one, where most of the time you were moving on a (horizontal or vertical) 2d plane only. I like that they were trying to mix things up, and add something new that the first game didn't have, but they needed more 3d-friendly controls to go along with the level designs, I think, and I don't know if this camera works the best for these levels either. However, this game does have some really cool sequences, both visually and gameplay-wise, so these are just criticisms of a great game, not game-breaking flaws, in my opinion. Still, as I said I wish that they'd added 3d controller support, it was out by the time this game released. Instead controls are the same as the first game, so you do still have to move only one one plane at a time. This doesn't mix all that well with the game's more open levels, I think -- the depth issues make the game harder. Judging depth in a game like this can be quite tricky. Still, it's a fantastic game... the complaints above are blemishes on this game, but the great graphics and good gameplay carry it through, if you can handle it. Yes, Bug Too! is probably even harder than the first game. As with the first game you can only save between worlds, and that means beating three long, LONG levels with a bare minimum of deaths, and then beating a boss, before you can save. Good luck, you'll need it. Even the first world is brutally difficult -- finishing it is a real test of skill. Apart from the difficulty and sad lack of analog controls I like this game a lot, but it is somewhat crazily hard. Saturn and PC only.
Bust-A-Move 2: Arcade Edition - Two player, has saving (69 blocks). First, for those who don't know it, Bust-A-Move is one of the classic puzzle game series, and BAM2 is a great early game in that series. But this version of BAM2 isn't just a great game. No, Bust-A-Move 2's Saturn release is by far its best anywhere. Indeed, the Saturn version of BAM2 has some major features that don't exist in any other release of the game. First, on the Saturn there is a second puzzle mode with an entirely different set of puzzles. So for that main single player mode, you've got twice as much content here as in other versions of BAM2. And second, BAM2 for Saturn has a puzzle creator. BAM3 and BAM4 had puzzle creators standard, but this is the only version of BAM2 with one. Beyond that, this is the same great puzzle action you can find in other games in the series. BAM2's main options are the puzzle mode, where you play as Bub or Bob and go through a pyramid-shaped cone of levels, choosing your path at each branch (with, as I said above, two different entirely separate level sets, the second exclusive to this version), vs. CPU mode, where you play through a sequence of CPU opponents, and 2-player mode, in addition to the puzzle edit mode. I do think that BAM3 eclipses BAM2, and that one is my favorite in the whole franchise, but BAM2 is still a great game too, and this is the version to have. BAM2 is on many platforms (PC, N64, PS1, GB...), but they don't have this one's extras.
Choice Cuts (demo disc) - I believe this one is just videos, disappointingly.
Clockwork Knight - One player, no saving. Clockwork Knight is a 2.5d platformer. You're a toy knight and have to rescue the kidnapped toy princess. Sigh, yes, it's THAT plot again. Fortunately the gameplay's a bit better than the story. This game's only barely 2.5d, though. Quite unlike Bug! and its large 3d levels, in Clockwork Knight you just go to the right. This game doesn't even have the perspective shifts you'll find in most later 2.5d platformers. This is basically a 2d game with some polygonal elements. Of course however this game was a very, very early Saturn title, launching in December 1994 in Japan, so it deserves some lenience, and with that in mind, it is a fun game. Clockwork Knight is about as 4th gen like as 2.5d platformers can get, and it's a simple game, but it's a fun simple game, so that's alright. I like Clockwork Knight. It might be a little under-rated, though certainly there are plenty of other platformers as good as it is, you rarely hear it mentioned even on that list. Saturn exclusive.
CrimeWave - Two players, has saving, has Arcade Racer support. CrimeWave is a 3d polygonal overhead isometric driving combat game. The game has some really good points, and some really bad points. Overall I love the game, but its flaws are so huge that while playing it I'm almost as likely to hate it as I am to love it... but I do like it a lot overall. First, the graphics. I like the visual look of the game; the game has solid 3d graphics for its time. I like the art design too, each area and vehicle has a good look to it. There are two zoom levels; I recommend the farther zoom, because you can see more. It'll be a little slower, but it's worth it. On either zoom though, slowdown is a definite problem. It is the biggest graphical blemish the game has by far -- the slowdown is frequent. That's unfortunate, but doesn't ruin the game in my opinion. The good visual design shines through the framerate issues. As for the gameplay, your goal in CrimeWave is to destroy the offending cars. You're a bounty hunter working for the government, and have to destroy the threats to the city. Problem is, the government strapped a bomb to your car, so if you fail to destroy your enemy within two minutes of closing in on them, your car explodes and you lose. And no, I don't mean that you lose a life. You only get one chance in this game. Blow up once, and that's it, start over. And that timer ticks down FAST. You do have a large array of weapons to use, and there are even more lying around the stages, though, so you do have a chance. However you lose all weapons you picked up when you die, so even though you will respawn until time runs out, dying once can be a game-ending error, sometimes. So, memorize the levels (learning the road networks is key!), memorize where the enemies come from and their patterns, and figure out how to not die. It won't be easy, though. CrimeWave's world is made up of eight interlocking areas. Once you beat an area, several others will be opened. You begin the game with two available as a starting location. Your starting area will determine which car you use throughout the game -- each car is specific to each of the eight starting areas. While you cannot continue after dying, as I said above, you can unlock more starting locations by beating levels. However, you don't unlock an area as a start point (and unlock its vehicle) by just reaching them. Oh no, that'd be far too easy. Instead, you have to actually finish a level in order to unlock it. Yes, seriously. Just reaching a level isn't enough, you have to beat it in order to start from that level, they are that cruel. And that too-high challenge level really is this game's biggest problem, in my opinion. The hardest challenge is saved for the end of each area, too -- the end of level bosses are brutal. You MUST have a powered up car, with lots of powerups and a large array of weapons, or you've got no chance at all of beating the bosses. So, for area one, I recommend first memorizing some of the weapons cache locations hidden around the area, and getting them. Also, somewhere late in the level but before the boss, maybe also blow up some civilian cars intentionally, in order to get docked points. The goal here is to repeat the 9th enemy, so that you can have more points; it'll be hard to beat the boss without blowing up civilians, and if you get docked too many points and don't have 500 after winning, you'll... have to fight the boss AGAIN, because the last enemy is always the boss. Ouch! The bosses are often faster than your default car speed, too. If I go straight to the boss, I'm never fast enough to actually keep up, and if you can't keep up, time will tick away and it'll be game over. So have turbo powerups before facing that thing. Oh, as for the Arcade Racer support, it does work (and is only analog with the wheel, important to note), but I'd rather use teh gamepad, overall. The (gamepad) controls definitely take some getting used to, but I think I have quicker control with the pad, and you need that. Finally, the two player mode is a co-op mode - a second person can join in to the main game at any time, and the screen will go to a split. Pretty cool, though I'm sure it hurts the framerate even more. Overall, CrimeWave is really frustrating, but I like it anyway. The game's fun to play, while I can stay alive. I just wish that it hadn't been so cruelly designed... but even so, good game! I like CrimeWave, and I definitely think that it's under-appreciated. Is it a casualty of its difficulty, its slowdown, or that it was a Western-developed Saturn exclusive? Whatever it is, despite the game's significant problems, it's too bad that most people seem to have discounted it. It's good. Saturn exclusive title.
Criticom - Two players, no saving. Criticom is a terrible 3d fighting game. This IS a true 3d game, so you do have full 3d movement unlike something like Virtua Fighter, but that sure doesn't mean that it's anything other than atrocious. Don't buy this game. This game has two sequels of sorts, or at least, two more 3d fighting games were made by this same team. The first is Dark Rift for the N64 and PC (releasing it on other platforms so as to spread out the pain, were they?), and the second is Cardinal Syn for the PS1. Avoid all three of them! Just like this game, the others are also atrociously bad. Another thing they all have in common is an insane challenge level -- Criticom and Dark Rift are both excessively difficult games, so much so that they're not any fun at all, if they ever were fun to begin with (that's doubtful). Also on PS1.
Cyber Speedway - Two players, has saving, has Arcade Racer and Mission Stick support. Cyber Speedway is an early futuristic hovercar racing game for the Saturn. On that note, no, this is NOT a Wipeout knockoff. It actually released before Wipeout did, in fact. It's just in the same genre, and while decent, admittedly is not as good as that classic. You can tell that it's an early release, too -- the graphics are rough and early. This is not a pretty game, art design aside. On that note, yes, one of the highlights of this game is the art, which was done by legendary sci-fi designer Syd Mead. It's pretty good, but the ingame graphics... not so much. Cyber Speedway is broken into two circuits, the first with five tracks, and the second with six, the first five new tracks in the five environments from the first circuit (and these are entirely new tracks, not variants or something), and the last an all-new final course. Eleven races may sound like a good bit for this time, but actually this game is pretty short, and won't take long to finish. Still, as a futuristic racing game fan, I liked Cyber Speedway. The game has a story too, told with conversations between races and backed by Syd Mead art, and it's fun to go through. Overall, the game, while not amazing, is solid, anyway. Also, it works quite well with the 3D Controller; the 3D Controller emulates the Mission Stick mode, which is better than the Arcade Racer controls are thanks to the better up/down control (you can't tilt the wheel up and down, after all...). And yes, this game does have splitscreen, unlike the other racing game released around this same time, Daytona USA. Get Cyber Speedway if you find it for cheap, but don't pay too much. Saturn exclusive title.
Cyberia - One player, has saving. Cyberia is an early FMV title made up entirely of prerendered CG. The game was released on various platforms, and was somewhat successful too. However, this game is very much a relic of its time. You've got your standard turret-shooting sequences, you've got some prerendered adventure game elements where you have to explore a base and decide what to do, etc. This is all par for the course stuff for anyone with experience with early CG FMV titles. At least the game supports saving and saves at every major point... it's needed. Cyberia's a game which has aged badly, like the rest of its genre. Still, this isn't really a bad game; it's alright. I'd just rather play other things... but as one of the better examples of a popular early kind of 5th gen game, it's maybe worth a look, though I don't know about a buy. Also on PC, PS1, and 3DO. (Oddly, the sequel, Cyberia 2, was released only on the PC.)
Daytona USA - One player, has saving, has Arcade Racer support. This first version of Daytona is somewhat controversial. A few people love it, while most others can't stand it and think it's the worst version of Daytona around. Well, I'm in the former camp -- I like this version of Daytona a lot. Sure, it has the worst graphics of any version of Daytona, has no multiplayer, and only has three tracks. It also doesn't have a championship mode, so the only thing you can do here is single races. That problem is one that plagues most racing games on the Saturn, and all of Sega's racing games on the system -- they never have any lasting single player mode (Virtua Racing does, but that port was outsourced, which is probably WHY it does. Sega's ports on the Genesis and 32X don't.). Why they didn't realize that championship modes are absolutely vital in racing games? It makes absolutely no sense, and is annoying. At least they finally figured that out on the DC... but anyway, Those things are all true. However, Daytona USA is an incredibly fun game even so. Sure you have to make your own challenges, but it's a very tough game and will take time to get good at. This version probably has the best controls of any console version of Daytona, which means a lot. I simply think that this version controls better than the CCE, CE, or 2001 (DC) versions. This game works fantastically well with the Arcade Racer or Mission Stick. Daytona games just have never quite worked well with analog gamepads, an issue that this version shares, but I actually think that Daytona plays really, really well with the Mission Stick joystick. I wasn't expecting it to when I first tried it, but it does... and you can't use a joystick with any later console version of the game, only gamepad or wheel. The handling in this version is perfect, it really is. With a 3D Controller the controls are too jerky, but later versions of Daytona wouldn't really improve on that much, they'd just ditch the joystick support. I think that this game's graphics are okay too; yes, it has a draw distance, and the visuals could be better, but they're certainly not bad. Good enough to do for sure, and better looking than, say, Cyber Speedway. I think it's quite acceptable looking. Overall, Daytona USA has a thin feature set, but great controls and fun gameplay. This is a good game, and I have no idea why people liked the first Ridge Racer title for the PS1 over this; I think that there's absolutely no question, Daytona USA is a much better game. It's more fun to play and has got more tracks (three versus 1.25 or so for RR), too, so even if three tracks isn't many -- and it isn't -- at least it crushes its main competition, Ridge Racer. Other versions of the game are also on arcades, PC, and PS3/360 download. Enhanced versions were also released on Saturn, PC, and Dreamcast.
Daytona USA Circuit Edition (Japanese import) - Two player, has saving, has Arcade Racer and 3D Controller support. Daytona USA Circuit Edition is the final Saturn version of Daytona USA. This version has five tracks, so two more were added. It has better graphics than the first release too, and all the music, both the original game's songs and the instrumental pieces from CCE. You can choose which music goes with each track. CE also has eight cars instead of the first version's two. There still isn't a championship mode -- you'll only find that in the Dreamcast version -- but it does have more tracks and cars, at least, and splitscreen multiplayer. For the controls, while the intermediate Saturn version, the US/EU-released Daytona Championship Circuit Edition, had more Sega Rally-esque controls, this one returns to controls very much like the first Saturn version. I think that that one has slightly better controls than this one (or the DC version, which controls very much like this release) does, but it's certainly okay here, at least, and is better than CCE's controls anyway. I was disappointed to find that the Mission Stick doesn't work with this version, though, as I said earlier that is my preferred controller for the first version. It's the same with CCE; that native 3D Controller support came at the cost of the Mission Stick, apparently. Whichever version of Daytona you play, the controls with analog gamepads are far too jerky and imprecise; Daytona somehow seems to absolutely need a wheel or, for the first Saturn Daytona, joystick to control well. At least the wheel is still supported in this version, and it works very well. This version is also on PC, and the DC version is an enhanced version of this release. NOte that Daytona CE actually did get a US release, as the incredibly rare and expensive Daytona CCE Netlink Edition. That version is widely stated to be identical to the regular CCE release except with online, but I've read that actually it's a US release of this version, the CE. Of course, given the price, just get the import like I did. There's absolutely no Japanese text in the game; only the manual is in Japanese. The game is in English.
Die Hard Arcade - Two player, no saving. Die Hard Arcade is Sega's first 3d beat 'em up, and it was a popular title in the arcades. Die Hard Arcade has okay 3d graphics, but they're nothing great. Acceptable for the Saturn, I guess. The game is essentially a single-screen-at-a-time game; areas don't scroll, instead you fight in a room, and after beating the enemies will move to the next room automatically. There are some QTEs in the segments between rooms, and failing them can lead to you having to do an extra room. Unlike its Dreamcast sequel Dynamite Cop, this game is pretty much the same each time, with one route and minimal alternate paths. It also doesn't save, and the only way to get more than a minimum number of credits is to, at the beginning of every single game, play a lengthy game of an early Sega arcade game. This game's a bit boring though, so I don't think this was the best design decision. Dynamite Cop has an early arcade game in it too, but you don't have to play it that time, it's optional. Better design there. Overall though, while lacking in variety and with a few questionable design decisions, Die Hard Arcade is a good, and fun, game. The sequel is essentially an improved version of the same thing, though, except on a cruise boat instead of a large building as this game is. Saturn and arcades only.
Fighting Vipers - Two player, has saving. Fighting Vipers is one of Sega's many 2.5d fighting games for the Saturn. I call it 2.5d because much like the Saturn Virtua Fighter games and some others, you don't have direct 3d movement control. Instead, all you can do is just move on a 2d plane, even though the characters and arena are fully polygonal. In all of these games some moves do do a bit of 3d movement, but for the most part they are 2.5d, and where you go around the arena isn't something you can easily control. I prefer 3d fighting games to actually have 3d movement, but of the Saturn 2.5d fighters I've played, this is my favorite one. Yes, I legitimately enjoy this game, unlike, say, Virtua Fighter. It's a bit faster paced and more fun, in my opinion. I like how they made it more than just a VF game. The arenas are all walled cages, too, which is nice, though it makes me wish for 3d movement even more -- it's frustrating that it's so hard to maneuver the computer against the wall, 3d movement would make that much simpler. Oh well. The graphics are pretty average for the Saturn. The character designs are a bit silly -- this game looks pretty '90s -- but are okay. As with many 3d fighting games rounds, and games, are pretty short, which I've never liked; I prefer longer rounds in fighting games, like you find in the King of Fighters or Last Blade games. Too long isn't good, but games like this go too far the other way. Still, at least it's not as short as games like Tekken; it'd have been nice if Fighting Vipers rounds were a bit longer, but I don't mind them too much as they are. It is a short game though, unless you get into it and want to get good. They try to make up for it with the higher, harder difficulty levels, and plenty of depth in the move system of course. Whether that's enough or not is something that's a matter of opinion, probably. Still, for a 2.5d Saturn fighter, this game's pretty good. Saturn and arcade exclusive.
Frank Thomas: Big Hurt Baseball - Two player, has saving. This version has the same name as the 4th gen version from the year before, but is in fact a sequel. This game, from 1996, is Acclaim's last baseball game before the first All-Star Baseball game, so it has some similarities to that series. Overall, it's an okay game, but a bit slow-paced and boring; I love baseball, it's my favorite sport by far, but did they really need to make the pitchers take almost as long to throw the ball in this game as they do in real life? It's kind of ridiculous. Also, you only have three pitches to choose from, and aiming your pitches works in a very 16-bit style, and by that I mean that it's somewhat limited and imprecise. You can supposedly change pitch speeds too, but I have trouble getting that to work right. Also, I found figuring out the timing for batting really hard -- it took five or six innings before I even made contact once, I think, in my first game. Yeah, this game has very tight batting timing. It feels kind of unfair when I can barely even make contact while the computer keeps batting around... Still, overall this game isn't bad. If you like baseball as I do it might be worth a try, but there are definitely better baseball games out there. Still, it's better than some, anyway. The game works, fielding is good, the graphics (3d camera with sprite characters) are fine, and once you manage to figure out the batting timing, and learn to deal with the slow pace, it can be fun. Also on PS1 and PC.
Galactic Attack - Two player, has saving. This game is a shmup, and oddly enough is the only Saturn shmup that I own, right now at least. Galactic Attack, also known as RayForce in Japan, is a great shmup from Taito. The game is entirely 2d and looks fantastic. This isn't just a standard vertical-scrolling shooter, though; instead, perhaps inspired by games like Xevious or After Burner and such, you have missiles that you can lock on to enemies with. In this 2d game, that functions as being able to lock on to things farther in the background, that your gun cannot shoot. The lockon uses a targeting cursor located in a specific position above your ship -- like in Xevious, you can't move it around, it's just in front of you a certain distance up. It works well enough, I guess. You can get powerups that let you lock on to more enemies at once, too, which is nice. The lockon system really is central to this game; indeed, at times the guns feel peripheral, as if they're only there because people expect shmups to have guns, while in fact most of the game is really designed more for the missiles, with guns as a backup for things you miss on the first pass. At other times you are expected to use both, however, so there is a good mix of things. But the missiles are central to the game, and it does make it feel slightly gimmicky at times. I didn't love this game when I first played it; bad memories of Xevious, which I've never liked, surely didn't help me like the lockon-in-a-2d-shmup design. I came around over time, though, and now I'd say that it's a very good game for sure. It's a tough one -- you have a continue limit and no way to unlock more credits -- but it's great fun. Oh, the saving just saves your options and top seven scores, that's it. Still, it's very nice to have. Arcade and Saturn exclusive, in the West at least. Japan may have a PS2 release.
Gex - One player, password only saving. Gex, a multiplatform 2d platformer starring a very '90s wisecracking lizard voiced by a comedian, has system saving on the 3DO and PC, but passwords only on PS1 and Saturn for whatever reason. Beyond that though, this is a fine, very accurate port of this good platformer. At least those passwords aren't too long. I don't find Gex quite as fun as, say, Rayman (another major 5th gen 2d platformer released in that same year, 1995), but it's not nearly as hard as that game at least. Gex is a good game. The game has large levels with lots to find in them, so there's plenty to do in each stage. Game and level design is solid; there's not a lot to complain about here. I just don't find it quite as fun as stuff like Mario. As for the comedy, it's amusing, but Bug!'s is about as good, and that game's better overall than this one in my opnion. Still, Gex is a solid B-grade platformer that's well worth playing. I'd ay it's a lot better than its sequels, too, or at least what I've played of them... I haven't played Gex 3, but Gex 2's not so great. Also on 3DO, PS1, and PC.
Ghen War - One player, has saving, has Mission Stick support (minimally). Ghen War is another one of those often-forgotten Saturn games, overlooked because of its Western origin and 3d graphics. Saturn fans usually seem to be very focused on the system's 2d, Japanese-developed efforts, and forget about the other stuff. Well, this one isn't one of the best Western Saturn games, for sure, but it's not the worst either. Ghen War is a mech first person shooting game. In the game, you go through a series of large levels, having to cleanse them of evil aliens. The levels aren't just cooridors, but are instead large areas full of hills and valleys to traverse. However, while it can be fun to play, Ghen War has some issues that hurt it. The game has mediocre graphics, first. I know this is an early title, but still, the Saturn can do way better than this. The draw distance is way too close, too; there's a black wall not far away in the distance at all times. Also, the game doesn't have any analog controls (the Mission Stick support simply switches the buttons around so that fire is on the main trigger, it doesn't give you analog control of your mech; that's why I said "minimally" above. It's disappointing, but better than nothing for sure! Fire on C would have been a real pain.) Still, Ghen War's an okay game. Look past the graphics, and you'll find a moderately entertaining mech-FPS. Kill those evil aliens trying to exterminate the human race! Saturn exclusive.
Grandia (Japanese import) - One player, has saving. Grandia was Game Arts' first major RPG after the Lunar games, and it's a very good one. However, this version of course is in Japanese, as it wasn't released outside of Japan, sadly, so it's not much fun to play. There is an English translation, but it's just a text file and not a patch, and only covers the first and last thirds of the game; for the middle part you're on your own. Still, I thought this was worth getting because I wanted to see how it differs from the PS1 version (which, yes, I also own), and because there's an addon of sorts to Grandia, Grandia Digital Museum, that's Saturn-exclusive. I don't have Digital Museum yet, but I'll definitely get it eventually; it has some new dungeons and minigames, with a party of Justin, Feena, and Sue. Good stuff. As for this though, it does have slightly better graphics than the PS1 version. The ground map in the starting town makes more sense too. Still, there's not much reason to get this really; the PS1 version doesn't look much worse, and it's in English. Get this if you want to get the most out of Digital Museum or if you really want to see the platform differences. Also on PS1.
Grid Runner - Two player, has saving. Grid Runner is an okay, but not great, topdown 3d action game. The graphics are alright for the time, but unspectacular. Visually it doesn't leave a strong impression either way. The game has some strong puzzle elements, inspired by, perhaps, Lode Runner, but it plays on an isometric grid instead of on a wall. This game isn't as good as Lode Runner, but it's okay. It's not just a clone, though; this game is its own thing, and mixes things up by having each level center around a 1-on-1 challenge. You face off against a single opponent in each stage, and the goal is to get to the flags on each stage, and turn the required number to your color. The first player to turn enough flags to their color wins the round. Your moves include jumping, attacking, and creating platforms to fill in gaps in the pattern. However, if you're hit while creating a platform it won't build, so you need some space to make them. Flags are often surrounded by holes, so you'll need to make platforms to get to them. Of course, the computer can make platforms too. There are powerups on the maps you can collect and use as well. The game's somewhat mediocre overall, but can get frenetic at times, so it's fun sometimes, anyway. This would probably be fun in multiplayer, too. (And yes, I like it more than Blast Chamber.) Also on PS1.
Hi-Octane - Two player, has saving, has Arcade Racer support. Hi-Octane is a port of the PC game of the same name. This is a futuristic racing game built on the Magic Carpet engine, which is an interesting use of that engine. The game has somewhat ugly graphics, particularly in this Saturn release, a somewhat close draw distance (though it is far enough away to see where you're going, so it's not too bad), and lacking analog in its controls (even the wheel's a bit digital...), but I do in fact like this game. Part of that's because I love futuristic racing games in general, so they have to do a lot wrong for me to hate them, but it's also that this is a genuinely fun game. The graphics may be ugly, but they do the job, and the tracks are all large, complex, and fun to race through. This games' track designs are great. The games' weapon system works well as well -- shooting at your opponents is always entertaining. The game has some design and balance problems, such as how hard it is to hit the other cars with some weapons, and can be hard, but it's fun most of the time, for me at least. The good weapon action, good track designs, and fun challenge carry this game through. I'd say that in terms of game design, they got more right than wrong. The Saturn doesn't have enough games like this. Hi-Octane is a good game overall. Also on PC and PS1.
Impact Racing - Two player, has saving. Impact Racing is a mediocre futuristic car combat game. This is sort of a combat/racing cross -- in each stage, you drive along a largely straight road, and have to kill a certain amount of enemies before the race ends in order to continue. How you do laps while always going straight ahead, I'll never know... :) Oh, and yes, there is a timer always counting down, so you can't just stop or something. There are a bunch of different weapons to collect and use, but overall this is a very simplistic game, with a basic concept and execution. The graphics are strictly average at best; below average, perhaps. The controls are about the same. They work, but no one would call them great. This game doesn't even have any analog support; though the lack of Arcade Racer support is somewhat justifiable with how it uses the shoulder buttons for triggers, and does use the face buttons too, there has to have been a way. And of course they could always have supported the Mission Stick. Too bad, analog is better in racing games. It's not too surprising that such an average game as this wouldn't have it, though. However, even if it's bland, driving along and blowing up cars can be entertaining for a little while, so I don't dislike this game, really. It's not good, but it's the kind of thing I find entertaining. Also on PS1.
Independence Day - Two player, has saving. As with the above title, but with even worse repercussions, Independence Day is a game with digital-only controls. As the title suggests, this game is a flight combat game where you play through the invasion of Earth, as seen in the ID4 movie, and fight back and defeat all of the alien motherships. The game's pretty bland and generic, but it's not as terrible as many reviews make it out to be, I think. Or at least, it's not on Saturn; I do like how the draw distance appears to be better on Saturn than on PS1. For instance, on PS1, the motherships seem to just draw in in the distance and all you see beyond is blue sky, but on Saturn you can see a (lower-detail) mothership going far into the horizon. It definitely helps the game, that's for sure. As for the gameplay, this is a generic flight combat game. Fly around and shoot planes and targets. And do so with a d-pad only; as I said above, don't expect there to be any analog controls. With Mission Stick support this game could have been pretty fun, I think, but as is, it's average at best. Too bad. Still, I don't hate it, and it probably is the better version of the game, for what that's worth. Also on PS1.
Iron Man / XO Manowar in Heavy Metal - One player, saving via (26-character) passwords only. Yes, that's right, this game saves via TWENTY-SIX CHARACTER PASSWORDS. On the Saturn and Playstation. And yes, the PS1 version is the same in that regard. Absolutely unforgivable! Beyond that though, this game actually isn't too bad. I know that most reviews seem to absolutely trash this game, but it doesn't deserve it. Iron Man/XO Manowar in Heavy Metal, or Heavy Metal as I'll call it, is a sidescrolling, probably 2.5d, platform/action game. You control one of these two nearly identical superheroes and explore large levels, looking for enemies to blow up, things to destroy, and bosses to fight. In addition to jumps, punches, and kicks, you also have a longrange laser shot, and hover jets. Yes, you can fly in this game! You do have a meter, so flight is limited, but still, I love the jetpack. Quite fun stuff. The action is fun as well. As I said above the levels aren't always entirely linear, so there's a bit of exploration, which is fun. The graphics are solid, too -- the game has a nice 2d/2.5d mix look, and it works well I think. The visuals are a bit dark, but it's not too bad. Overall I like the visuals and gameplay. However, the game's somewhat unforgiving -- it's often hard to avoid damage, health ups are uncommon, and the password saves how many continues you have used, and they are most definitely limited, too. This combination can make progress after the first few stages tough. Still, I had fun with what I played of this game. Well, until it started getting hard, that is. And I certainly didn't enjoy having to copy down those passwords. What happend there, how could they have not supported memory cards? Gah... oh well. But the actual gameplay of this game is a lot better than many of the reviews suggest. It certainly has some issues, but even so anyone who likes 16-bit-esque sidescrolling action games should check this out. I wouldn't be surprised if one reason why it did badly when it released was simply because of how 16-bit the gameplay is, and because people wanted more "next-gen" 3d experiences... but it's not that bad, it really isn't. Also on PS1.
Last Bronx - Two player, has saving. The last of Sega's 2.5d fighters for the Saturn, Last Bronx released after Sega's 3d fighters, Virtual-On and Fighters Megamix, but sadly does not have 3d movement. Instead, this game feels very much like Virtua Fighter or Fighting Vipers, but it's even less original or interesting, in my opinion. I don't know, Last Bronx just feels generic. This game's not bad, it's just absolutely nothing special either. It's got your usual Virtua Fighter-inspired movelist, except with weapons this time; that's Last Bronx's main gimmick, but it doesn't change things enough to make it too distinct from the rest of them, I think. It also has generic '90s anime characters to control, barely more than a shred of storyline (there are character descriptions in the manual, but that's about it really, don't expect endings worth mentioning for instance), and not much else. It does have nice graphics, I guess, but gameplay-wise this is as generic as this genre gets. There are two modes of play, Arcade or original, but they're quite similar. I also find it disappointing that it doesn't have 3d movement, given its 1997 release date. Come on Sega, get with the times. There are more problems with this game than just that, though. It's just so bland... Released on arcades, Saturn, and PC.
Magical School Lunar! (Japanese import) - One player, has saving. I love the Lunar series, and this game is no exception. Magical School Lunar! is a console remake of the also Japan-exclusive Game Gear Lunar game, Lunar Walking School. This Lunar spinoff title is set in an entirely different period of history from the two main titles, and stars a group of three girls who have been accepted at this eponymous floating magical school. The game's a 2d game, as with both Lunar remakes, but unlike those sadly does not have visible enemies -- this game returns to the classic style of annoying invisible foes. Too bad. At least it still does have save anywhere, as with all Lunar releases. The gameplay's classic RPG stuff, except it's all centered around this one "town", the school, and the grounds on its island; only occasionally do you adventure off to other places. The characters are amusing, and I like the main cast -- the three main girls are all good characters, and the lead is great. She's a strong character and a good lead, and it's great to see a Game Arts RPG with a female lead. There are three rival boys who never can quite match up to them, their flaky teacher, and several other characters. It's all very anime, but in a good way. Obviously this game is in Japanese, but it is a Japan-only Saturn-exclusive, so if you want to play it you have no choice but to play this version. There is a translation patch for the Game Gear original, but this version is much enhanced from that one, and it doesn't have a patch. There is a text-based translation on Lunarnet, though. It doesn't translate all of the flavor text, but does translate the whole main story, and tells you where to go next too, and some of what the people are saying along the way. I still would absolutely love to see a full translation patch, but in the interim this one's great, and will get you through the game understanding what's going on. That's important here; the story may not be the most complex thing, but it's fun and amusing, and with all the time you spend in town, you really do need to know what people are saying, too. Otherwise the game would be very frustrating. Anyway, this game has a somewhat mixed reputation, but I think that it's good. It's not as good as Lunar 2, but it's by far the best of the Lunar games made after Lunar 2. I actually kind of like Lunar DS (I kind of hate it, but I kind of like it), but this is a better game for sure. Saturn exclusive title, though it is an enhanced Game Gear remake.
Mass Destruction - One player, has saving. Mass Destruction is a rarity -- it's a Western third party game released in 1997 that was actually designed first for the Saturn. There weren't many of those, to say the least. It shows, though -- Mass Destruction looks pretty nice for a 3d Saturn game, and apparently the game actually has better graphics on Saturn than it does on PS1, too. This is a good game, and was a nice find. Mass Destruction is a top-view isometric tank action game. In the game, you drive around in your tank blowing up buildings, gun emplacements, and enemy tanks. It won't be as easy as it might sound, though. You'll quickly find that damage is something to be avoided. You have a lot of health, but can take a lot of damage in a hurry, so learning how to fire accurately while strafing is essential. As your vehicles are tanks you can turn the turret and drive in different directions, and at least basic strafing is a must if you want to get anywhere in Mass Destruction. This game isn't the longest game, but it definitely gets tough in a hurry. That's a good thing, though -- too easy, and this wouldn't be as much fun. I like that it puts up a challenge. There are various different environments to drive around, too, and blowing up buildings is always fun. Sure, you often have to stand thre shooting at a building for a while to make it blow up, if you're not using special weapons, but the payoff when it does go makes it worth it. And plus, some buildings drop powerups after being destroyed! Yeah, this is fun stuff. The controls are entirely digital, sadly, but are solid beyond that. Recommended. I only wish that it had multiplayer, that'd be great. Released on Saturn, PC, and PS1, but the PS1 version is the weakest.
MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat - Arcade Combat Edition - One player, has saving, has Mission Stick and 3D Controller support. MechWarrior 2 for the PC is one of the greatest mech games ever made, but this version, while good, isn't quite up to the level of the original. This consolized remake of the PC classic cuts out a lot of the original's complexity, but, particularly with the Mission Stick, still is a very good game. If you want the full mech sim experience you'll need to play the PC original, but while I definitely prefer the original PC version, this more arcadey take on MechWarrior works fairly well too. It's not quite as good, but it's also pretty good, if that makes sense. Essentially, in this game you go through versions of most of the same missions from the original PC game, but everything has been streamlined to make it more action-packed. There are more enemies, your mech's systems have been simplified somewhat, and more. It fits with the console audience fairly well I think. Still, if you play with the Mission Stick, MechWarrior 2 still has a good mech-game feel. With the 3D Controller, or worse a regular digital controller, it's not nearly the same game that it is with the joystick, but with a Mission Stick this game is great fun. Sure, the graphics aren't quite as good as other versions -- and yes, it does look a little better on PS1 -- but they visuals here are reasonable enough that I think they look fine. And, well, I have a Mission Stick, but not the Playstation Analog Joystick that I'd need to play that version acceptably. Those things are even rarer than Mission Sticks are. Overall, MW2 is good and a must-buy for joystick owners. Also on PS1, and a simplified port of a PC game.
Myst - One player, has saving. Okay port of the PC original. I think it's an okay version, though Not quite as good as the PC original. I never liked Myst all that much anyway, though... but if I did want to play it again for whatever reason, it'd be on the PC and not any of the console ports. Also on lots of systems, originally PC.
Need for Speed - Two player, has saving, has Mission Stick and Arcade Racer support. Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed (PC/PS1/Saturn) is an enhanced version of the 3DO original. While this version doesn't have quite the feature set of the PC-only SE release, it's close. As the 3DO version doesn't have any of the circuit tracks, I'd say this is certainly the better version. The game has good controls too, and works well with the 3D Controller too, in addition to the wheel and joystick it directly supports. As for comparisons to other versions of the game though, I only also own the game on PC, and the PC version looks better than this Saturn release, for sure, though from what I remember it's close between the Saturn and PS1. However, for consoles the Saturn version doesn't look too bad. It does have ugly car models, but all versions of the game have that. The car interiors look great, and it's cool that the game has an in-car view, unlike most later NFS games, but the exteriors... not so much. Still though, with four circuit tracks and three long 3-part one-way courses, NFS has a fair amount of content to race through, and can be fun. It's definitely not one of my favorite racing games -- I prefer futuristic racing games to realistic ones, and don't think this game is as good as some later NFS games, including NFS4 (High Stakes) and NFS Hot Pursuit (2010), but this first NFS game is a solid one. It will take a while to get good at the game, as there's a definite learning curve with the cars, and crashes are punished severely (seriously, don't crash much at all if you want to win), and it's not always fun, but it is an alright to good game overall. Also on PC and PS1, and an enhanced version of a 3DO game.
NHL All-Star Hockey - Twelve player (with multitaps; two without), has saving. NHL All-Star Hockey is a very early Saturn game, and you can tell -- this game's pretty ugly looking. As for the gameplay, I haven't played it all that much, so there's not much I can say. It seems to be an okay, but unspectacular, hockey game. It works, but isn't as much fun as Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey on the N64, for sure. :) Of course that's a somewhat unfair comparison, arcade-styled game against this, but this probably isn't as good as EA's NHL serise either. It does have polygon characters, while at this point NHL still used sprites, but there are at least as many disadvantages to the polygons as there are advantages. Saturn exclusive.
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge - Two player, has saving. This game is DarkStalkers 2, and it's a pretty good port of that Capcom 2d fighting game. Darkstalkers is a somewhat simpler game than Street Fighter, with moves that aren't quite as hard to pull off. Still, there's plenty of challenge to be found here, and the game certainly rewards skill. Oddly, Capcom released DarkStalkers 1 as a PS1 exclusive, and almost at the same time released this game as a Saturn exclusive. Well, the Saturn came out very much on top there -- this is a much better port than that PS1 port of the first game, and it's got more content too, as it's the sequel. This can't compare visually to the import-only Darkstalkers 3 (Vampire Savior) for Saturn, but it's about as good looking as Darkstalkers 3 for PS1, and has similar load times to that title too. Of course that one has a lot more content and features, but in terms of visuals and loading this matches up. It's a great game, well worth it for 2d fighting game fans. It's not one of the most expensive 2d fighters on the system, either; this one's actually affordable. Saturn and arcade exclusive.
NiGHTS into Dreams... - Two player (has to be unlocked, one player at the start), has saving, has Mission Stick and 3D Controller support. NiGHTS is one of the Saturn's most legendary titles, and for a reason -- it's a great, great game, and Sonic Team's premiere "platformer" for the console. It is also my favorite Saturn game. NiGHTS is a 2.5d flight game (flying platformer, sort of), essentially. It's got some minimal 3d platformer elements, but if you're good you should never be in the 3d platformer side of the game. Instead, you fly around along railed paths, defeating enemies, going through rings, and trying to get the best score you can. Occasional boss fights put you in an arena of some time, facing off against a challenging foe. There's a clock too, and the game richly rewards you for finishing levels with speed. Indeed, NiGHTS is a game that centers around your score. The game has two characters to play as, though actually don't spend any real time as them, you play as NiGHTS in either path. You do play different stages in each route though, and see different (CG) openings and endings, so they're both worth playing. The game won't take too many hours to finish, going by how long getting to both endings will take. Some of the later stages can be tough, particularly in the boy's route, but still, this isn't a long game. Beyond that, the main draw would be trying to get better. And there, at least, there is length -- getting good ratings will take some real effort, and you'll have to learn the game well in order to accomplish that. So yeah, this is a mid '90s Sega game through and through. I found the game tough -- learning the levels, and figuring out what to do for the best score, can be tricky -- but a lot of fun, the first time through. And yes, going back to try to improve those frustratingly low scores is worth the effort, once you finally figure things out in a stage. NiGHTS is a fantastic game. As for the graphics and sound, the visuals are standard Saturn 3d. The art design is good, but the graphics... well, it's the Saturn. It looks okay to good, but the art design carries things more so than the technical graphics. The audio's great though. No issues there. The game controls perfectly with the 3D Controller in analog mode, and was designed for it. The analog stick perfectly controls NiGHTS's flight. Play it with that, and not anything else. As for the multipayer mode, it's an unlockable versus mode, Nights against Reala. You play it like the bossfights, essentially. It's alright, but there's better multiplayer games around. Saturn exclusive (outside of Japan; Japan got a PS2 port).
Panzer Dragoon - One player, no saving, has Mission Stick support. Panzer Dragoon is one of the first Saturn games, and it's also one of the best. This exceptional rail shooter is an absolutely amazing experience beginning to end, and started off arguably the greatest rail shooter series ever. This first game does not have saving, instead using cheatcodes to access all of the hidden content, so look up the codes online. There's some fun stuff hidden away in this game. What Panzer Dragoon does have is fantastic gameplay, great controls (particularly with the Mission Stick; this game is significantly improved with it, get a joystick today!), outstanding art design, good graphics for the time, one of the Saturn's best soundtracks, and more. With the joystick, the controls work so essentially the joystick is your targeting cursor -- when you point the joystick to the upper right the cursor will be in the upper right corder of the screen, etc. It's much like Super Breakout above. This takes a bit of getting used to, but unlike that game, I think it works well here. However, that is also why this game doesn't work well with the 3D Controller -- you can't fire into the corners thanks to that stick's circular gate, versus the rectangle on the Mission Stick. Returning to the music though, I think that PD1 probably has the best music of any of the three PD rail shooters, and that's saying a lot; all three are outstanding games with great soundtracks. Orta is probably my favorite overall PD game, but this one keeps things close -- it...
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