Hey retro maniacs. Sorry for the lack of activity. I've been a bit busy with.. stuff. Sure I love retro gaming, but there's only so many things you can do in your spare time. Anyway, so let's talk about NBA Jam. Originally, NBA Jam was a basketball arcade game (aka coin-op) from 1993, and quite good it was too. Like most good arcade games, it benefited from not being too complex, not offering a simulation of the sport, but rather a simplistic version of it, but which was playable enough to entice both the basketball buff, as well as the occasional gamer.
Now let's be clear about this, technically speaking, this Sega Mega-Drive conversion is excellent. The graphics are brilliant, the action is fast and furious, and even the voice commentary has been retained from the coin-op. But let's take a look at how the game is played first. Well, no nuclear science here, you pick your NBA team and then go head to head with the computer (or a friend) on a match. The action is being portrayed from a horizontal semi-3D view, similar to television footage, and also reminiscent of Commodore's ancient International Basketball, or even 1987's Basket Master.
The game uses some poetic licence in that you don't get to play with all five players, as normal in basketball games. Instead you play only with two, the stars of the team, say, Shaquille O'Neal and Scott Skiles in the case of Orlando Magic. This not only simplifies things, but it also speeds up the action. Another thing that is ommited is the fouls and resulting free throws. Again, this works in the game's favour since it speeds up the action significantly.
However one aspect which the programmers got wrong with this conversion is the difficulty. In fact, it's possible to "hijack" the game, so to speak, by using the following little trick. Now, in NBA Jam there is this thing whereas if you score three successive times while the opponent doesn't, you get "on fire" and your chances of scoring increase dramatically. You are also rewarded with the ability of interfering with the ball while on its downward flight to the basket, which is normally a violation.
Herein lies the game's loophole. If you do that on an opponent's shot, while the game considers this as a violation and thus as a scoring shot, if you proceed to score, it considers it as if you've scored while your opponent hasn't (even though the score is normal). So by doing this, you can easily get "on fire" and thus win all matches easily. It is because of this little bug that I give this 7/10 and not 8/10. Thankfully, the following NBA Jam Tournament Edition omitted this flaw and as such is the version to get.
7/10
I've already written about the C64 version of The Addams Family, so why not take a look at the 16-bit version as well? It's quite a different game, so let's start with the similarities. This is still a platform-game, and you still play the part of Gomez who's on the look for his family that are scattered here and there in the gargantuan Addams residence.
Also, it still takes it's cues from the ancient Jet Set Willy, meaning that basically, as you roam around the screens, there's enemies galore that are moving in set patterns and which you must either avoid, or kill by either jumping on them, or shooting them - if you got the necessary power-up.
The major difference is that this is not a flick-screen affair, but a fully scrolling environment moving in all four directions. Also, the levels are completely different to the ones found in the 8-bit game. It pretty much is a different game altogether. Now, seeing as the good ol' C64 coped admirably well with conversions of such 16-bit classics such as Sleepwalker and Chuck Rock, I don't see why they couldn't do a proper conversion of this as well, but oh well, what can you do about it.
Like I mentioned before, basics apply here. You run around, jumping on platforms, jumping on enemies etc. There's also switches to activate, which in turn activate platforms, walls etc. The levels don't follow a linear pattern, meaning that you don't start in Level 1, proceed to Level 2 etc. Rather the game offers a more interactive environment, whereas you start outside the mansion and you pretty much choose where to go. A doorway leads to one level, another doorway to another etc. The levels feel more like different areas of one bigger landscape in that respect.
The atmosphere is special, what with such fairy-tale environments like the catacombs and the ice-world, and with a batch of decent tunes to accompany the action. I'd say it's a great game, if it wasn't for one major fault: it's hugely difficult and frustrating. Gee, I swear, in later levels the frustration-o-meter hits red as you die in the same spot, time and time and time again. Who would blame you if you played this with save states? I wouldn't.
This game is so difficult that even power-ups can be a nuisance, like when you get the shoes, with which you run faster and jump further. Cool, eh? Well, no, because apart from running faster, it feels as if you're sliding on ice, making those pixel perfect jumps nigh on impossible. I pretty much made a habit of avoiding this power-up as altogether.
So there you have it, the silly difficulty curve spoils this gaming experience. Bah.
7/10
So the story goes in this platformer for the Sega Mega Drive that in the Valdi Planet System an evil pirate, Kaiser Greedy, has taken over and is ruling with an iron hand. You, as the hero Ristar sent by the Star Goddess, must free the planets from Greedy.
Interestingly, this was developed quite late in the Mega Drive's lifespan by the Sonic Team, and I'm saying interestingly because as a game this is a lot different to the exhilarating speed of Sonic The Hedgehog. The pace is slow and laborious, and isn't helped at all by the control method. Ristar doesn't shoot or jump in order to kill enemies. Instead he uses his hands. And also uses his hands for everything else, from climbing and snatching, to jumping over walls.
This control method is fairly tricky to get to grips with. And no sooner than planet number four, this cute little platformer is transformed to a monstrous dexterity test that will frustrate even the most hardened of players. Indeed as I was playing this, memories of Commodore 64's Thing On A Spring came to mind. Such is the difficulty of this game. Also you will need to use the grey cells a bit, as later levels offer obscure routes and mild puzzles.
The thing is Ristar would be an average game if it wasn't for the fantastic graphics. And when i say fantastic i don't mean that there are ten million layers of parallax or ultra high resolution modes or anything like that. Instead I mean that the programmers have created some of the most beautiful worlds you will ever see in a 16-bit game, from magic forests and frozen planets, to music factories and underwater palaces. This is true artistry, it's fairy-tales gone alive.
So to conclude, purely as a game Ristar is not anything to get terribly excited about. But as a virtual tour and a testament to the programmer's imagination it is really something. Try it out on an emulator with save states and see what I mean.
6/10
Sega didn't waste time releasing a sequel and rightly so. Such was the success of the first game that it boosted the Mega-Drive's profile significantly. And even though it is Sonic 1 which can be considered the real gem, this second offering adds enough improvements to justify classical status. Let's check them out.
First of all the graphics are much improved, more colourful, with many more layers of parallax etc. It really is a case of bigger/better. Also this time Sonic spins, gathering momentum and then rushing off at insane speeds. This gives the game a roller coaster-like feel and of course adds to the excitement.Then a new character has been introduced, Tails the fox, which can be controlled by another player. So there's simultaneous 2-player action. And finally there's two zones in each world instead of three. Thus we get many more worlds, including a few classic ones (the Hilltop zone for example).
So in the end what we have here is not any radical departure (far from it), but rather a refinement. Sega were really on a roll with the Sonic titles on the Mega Drive (as opposed to, say, on the Gameboy Advance). Yup, I can recommend this one.
8/10
It was 1991 when Sonic The Hedgehog was released (duh). Prior to that Sega lacked a mascot (whereas Nintendo had Mario) and arguably it was bound to stay behind Nintendo in the console wars (Mega Drive's direct competitor was the SNES). Sonic changed all that. But more importantly it changed platform games in general.
Platform games, eh? Let's take a brief look at how this particular genre evolved. In the earlier jump 'n' runs, like Jet Set Willy and Monty On The Run, apart from avoiding enemies and the like, the emphasis was on searching and solving the odd puzzle. They were mostly arcade-adventures truth be told. The "pure" jump 'n' run came a bit later, highlighted by Mario's adventures on the NES. Sega took the concept and revitalized it with Sonic.
How then? Well, with speed for starters. A lot of people think that Sonic is a game of speed, but the truth is that Sonic enchants you with speed so that you make mistakes. It feels great going really fast as you pave your way through the levels, but then you won't see the spike coming out of the ground just like that. So it's up to you finding the balance between the slow and the fast bits. Gameplay wise (and apart from the speed), Sonic uses an arsenal of platforming tricks (springs, elevators, tunnels, underwater parts, slides etc etc), which up to this day set the blueprint for all Sonic 2D games (or 2D platformers in general). That says something about how good this game is, no?
OK then, the graphics have lost some of their bite. But the game still comes up with some of the most distinctive level worlds Sonic has ever been in (my personal favourite is the Star Light Zone). And the thing with retro-gaming is that you can fill the gaps the graphics may have with your own imagination.
So to sum up, Sonic is a great game which all platforming fans should try in these great days of emulation heaven. My favourite Mega Drive emulator is Gens, which is terribly easy to set-up and use. So, er, try if you haven't. -)
8/10
