Forgotten Old Games – M.U.S.H.A.

Hi everyone! Such a long time since my last post… That´s because I´m spending lot of time in Oniken, trying to finish all the stuff to finally release it. This week´s game is M.US.H.A. for Sega Genesis, an awesome and yet very obscure shoot´m up.

First things first, let’s talk about the plot, it all starts in a distant future, when a supercomputer called Dire51, that controls a space colony, goes rogue and send its entire attack force to destroy the Earth, so it’s up to an elite squad of mech units to make a desperate stand to defend our homeland, so as you can see, this is going to be one hell of a ride.

You control Ellinor, the last surviving member of the elite squad, that despite losing all of his comrades, continues the mission to stop the evil computer Dire51.

Now to the important part, the gameplay. At first this game may see like an ordinary vertical shooter, but then you start gathering upgrades and new weapons, even some helpers that take out flanking enemies for you, also the game’s difficulty starts raising with every new level, these upgrades not only increase your firepower but they also increase your durability.

If you get hit while having some upgrades and power ups installed, instead of dying, you lose those upgrades, allowing you to survive a bit more and maybe the chance to recapture the upgrades you lost, this not only makes the gameplay a lot more fun, but also makes it a lot less frustrating.

About those helpers and new weapons, you can change the way they behave, by pressing the A button on the Sega genesis control pad, in a total of 6 modes, which not only makes the game more interesting, but it also allows your helpers to be put to pretty good use, depending on the situation you are facing.

The graphics are awesome for a game of its age, you see, this game is from 1990 and compared to games like Sonic Wings (SNES) from 1993, you can clearly see that they came up with good-looking visuals. You can notice pretty quickly how fluid the animations are, and how colorful the game is on the first few minutes of gameplay, also its worth mentioning the visual effects, like when you use the shield ability to destroy enemies projectiles you notice a cool fake transparency effect, not to mention the introduction, those are some freaking awesome pixel arts, you feel like you’re watching a cool mecha anime!

And yet again we take a look at my favorite section of our review, the sounds and musics! Man this game has some of the most cool soundtracks made for a game of this genre, the main theme, which plays in the introduction and at the title screen, is a great way to show what awaits you in this awesome game!

Well that’s it for M.U.S.H.A, I hope you enjoy this game as much as I have, for it’s an enjoyable shoot ’em up classic and all fans of this genre should at least try it!

Forgotten Old Games – The Flintstones

Hi! It’s been a while huh? I’m sorry for my absence. Lots of things happened, including me getting presented with a SEGA SATURN! Hell yeah! I’ll be posting reviews for this awesome console as well! Thanks to my friend Aline!
Well let’s get to work huh? Today’s game is a platformer from the past (duh?). Straight from the prehistoric era, I present you: The Flintstones for the Sega Genesis!

Released in 1993 by Taito this game is based on the famous Hanna Barbera cartoon show of the same name.
While capturing the essence of the TV show, this game has some little flaws that makes the experience less enjoyable.

Plot:
Playing as Fred, I’d be surprised if the game followed any of the TV Show episodes, but this is not the case. You just do some tasks related to the other characters, like saving Pebbles who got herself lost or helping Wilma find her necklace. Sure not as thrilling as saving the world, but hey, helping friends counts too!

This quest will avoid him from having to sleep on the couch tonight!

Graphics:
In order to mimic a cartoonish style the game features colorful graphics, but while the characters appear as detailed as they could be, the background doesn’t. Most of the scenery is generic, specially the ground, which, apart from the bottomless pits, features nothing more than a straight, smooth and flat path. Sure those STEAM ROLLER looking cars did a good job!
Another thing I should be mentioning is the poor enemy design, most of them are pretty generic, while some doesn’t make any sense at all. On one of the last levels you’ll be facing some enemies that resemble demons. Wtf? Stone age demons?

Clear path ahead, except for that bottomless pit...

He should have paid attention to that "downhill" sign...

 

Sound:
Most of the sound effects are simple. The average “Boing”, “Plop” and “Crash”. As for the songs, apart from being quite repetitive, they are ok.

Gameplay:

The average platform scheme, attack and jump. You can hold on to some cliff edges and give a more powerful attack by holding the attack button.
The good thing is that you’ll be playing in lots of different levels, from the slow and frustrating water levels, to the not less frustrating “killer scrolling” ones!
As for the game default controls:
D-Pad: Moves Character
A/C Button: Jumps
B Button: Attacks, hold for increasing power (Makes Fred moves slower and not being able to hold on to cliffs)
Start: Pauses the game

Shark surfing! Like a boss!

I hate water levels...

...and water rising levels as well!

I’ve played lots of platform games, and I think this one has quite unresponsive controls. Which IMO is the major flaw of the game. The game itself is not hard, but the controls make sure you die a lot.

You're gonna die...

...and die...

...and...whoa, close one!

The game features 6 Stages divided in three levels. The levels are not separated, but often marked with a numbered sign. Each Stage has a boss you must defeat in order to proceed to the next level.
At each level you’ll be finding a variety of items and power ups, including an invincible.
A good game if you like The Flintstones TV show, but unfortunately not with a very good replay value, unless you like finishing on each difficulty level!
I’ll finish by showing you a gameplay video. See you next time!

 
 

Forgotten Old Game – Robocop vs Terminator

Hello and welcome to another FORGOTTEN OLD GAME!
I hope you fellas had an awesome holiday! We’re gonna start 2012 with some violence straight from the last century! It’s ROBOCOP vs TERMINATOR for the Sega Genesis!

Released in 1994 by Virgin Interactive, this game features our favorite action movie characters against each other. For those who don’t know Robocop, he were once a Detroit City policeman called Murphy. After being tortured and almost killed by drug dealers, they somehow fused his consciousness and organic parts with a robotic body. I think I don’t need to explain Terminator, do I? Since they made a new movie not long ago…

Just like the Robocop movie, this game has lots of violence and gore. When shoot, the enemies explode in a pulp of flesh and blood, which is very nice! The graphics are good, but the characters animation leaves to desire. Especially Robocop. I mean, he was really kind of stiff while moving, but in game he looks ridiculous. Some of the enemies are pretty generic as well.

As for the gameplay. I’ll resume it using a few words. It’s Contra with worse gameplay and a health bar. In Contra you could precisely control where you wanted to shoot. You can’t exactly do the same here, and since Robocop’s hitbox is kinda huge, you’re gonna get hit…a lot…

A funny fact. The health item is… baby food. It’s just like in the movie, where they had to fed him that so the organic parts could survive.

The basic controls are:

D-Pad – Moves Robocop, crouchs, climbs.
A Button – Changes weapon
B Button – Shoots
C Button – Jumps

Notice that the weapon inventory looks exactly like the one in Contra games. You can have 2 weapons, by pressing A, you switch between them. If you get another weapon, the one you’re not equipping will be replaced.

Not the best soundtrack around, but they’re good action songs that goes well with the levels. When I was a kid I even managed to create dirty lyrics for some of them hahaha.

Featuring 10 stages, you’ll go from the streets of Detroid to the heart of Skynet. As you progress through the game, as expected, it gets harder, with lots of enemies firing at you at the same time, which can be very frustrating, so save up as much lives as you can!

Overall, Robocop vs Terminator is the kind of game you should play when you want lots of blood, fast action and some frustration. I didn’t try to finish it while writing this post, but I remember that when I was a kid I only managed to do so by using a 3rd party Turbo controller, which raised the firerate making Robocop’s handgun fire like a machinegun! Sweet good’n old hardware cheats :P

 

Forgotten Old Games – Daze Before Christmas

Since it’s almost Christmas, there should be no better time to talk about a game whose main character is Santa himself! Ladies and gentleman, this is DAZE BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Developed by FUNCOM this game was released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis and some time later for the SNES.

You can read the plot in form of a poem when you start the game, but I’ll resume it for you. The evil Louse the Mouse kidnapped Santa’s elfs, reindeers and presents. And now it’s up to Santa to kick some ass and retrieve what has been taken from him!

Featuring 24 levels, this game can be considered fairly easy. Most of the stages are well detailed, but some are poor designed or too short.

If Santa drinks coffee...

...he turns into some sort of DEVIL-SANTA...what?

The gameplay is pretty simple as well, as Santa, you can jump and throw magic to defeat your enemies. You must retrieve the presents and let free the elves. When you kill an enemy it could drop a blue present, which are used for the bonus stages. If you manage to get a cup of coffee then things gets weird and you become Anti Claus (a devil looking Santa Claus), which can..huh…beat the crap of enemies using his big sack… Yeah! Apart from that you become invincible as well, but other than hitting some big walls that blocks you way at some stages, it’s useless.

Basic Commands:
D-Pad – Moves Character
A and C- Uses Magic/Hits with Sack(as Anti-Santa)
B- Jumps

These are some items that you will be finding in the game:

PRESENTS – The presents you must retrieve. Some of them may contain enemies, bombs or hats.
HAT – Energy/health
FIRE POWER UP – Turns Santa’s magic to fire, making him able to melt ice.
COFFEE – Turns Santa into Anti-Claus, making him invincible, but unable to open presents.
BOMB – Found inside presents they harm you if you’re near then when they explode.
BELL – Checkpoint. If you die, you’ll return to this point.
STAR – Exit for some levels.
EXTRA LIFE – Gives an extra life (duh)

I'll not try to explain this one...

The soundtrack isn’t really exciting…unless you get turned on while listening to Christmas remixes. Other than that, they fit the game really well.

This game does not bring anything new, it’s pretty much a generig adventure/platformer, but it’s one of the few that features Santa as the main character. Back then it was really fun, as most of the kids loved this kind of game. Unfortunately I doubt any kid would try playing it nowadays. They’re pretty much playing the last blood-filled FPS at their modern consoles. But, i you’re really into Christmas and want to have some fun while playing a simple and decent adventure while feasting on some turkey, this is your game!

Forgotten Old Games – Garfield: Caught in the Act

Hello and welcome to another FORGOTTEN OLD GAME!
Today I’m gonna show you a game from a very famous strip comics character: Garfield!

Released in 1993 for the Sega Genesis, Garfield: Caught in the Act is a Platform/Adventure game featuring Garfield and his friends.
Lazy as always, Garfield was lying on the sofa watching some tv, when suddenly Odie scared him by letting out a really loud bark, making Garfield fall on the tv, breaking it. In an attempt to fix it, he put it altogether somehow…except for some “extra parts” as he said. But as soon as he turns the TV on, a bizarre monster that looks like some sort of ant with ac plugs instead of hands appears and zaps him with some sort of ray. Garfield then found himself trapped inside the TV, and it’s up to you to help him escape while travelling through different tv shows.

The game features 6 levels, subdivided in several stages. Each stage is a “movie” in wich you start inside the tv circuits, then proceeds to the main “movie” and you face a boss at the end of the level. There is also a bonus level, called “commercial break” if you get the item for it. The game offers a brief explanation about the items just as seen on the next image.

If coffee really granted invincibility, I'd be a GOD!

The “pizza” and the “burger” replenishs energy. The Ammunition is a throwable item that you can use to hit enemies. The “way marker” is a checkpoint, the “tv remote” is the end of the stage and the “mallet key” is the item you must get in order to play the bonus stage.
Now I’m gonna explain the game screen.

That must hurt!

The “TV” represents your HP, in other words, how many times you can be hit before you die. The Garfield face is the number of lives you have. The “fish” there is the number of throwable items you have. As for the basic commands:

D Pad- Moves character
A- Throws item
B- Attacks
C- Jumps

Remember, DC electricity kills!

The graphics are just decent. I say that because even if Garfield and the enemies are well drawn and animated, the background is poor in terms of color and details. The level design is not good as well, just take the second level as an example, it’s an straight run. As for the game music and sound effects, they are OK, nothing exceptional, but they’re not bad.

Garfield’s appearance (as well as the other characters) changes depending on the level you’re playing. At the first level Garfield looks like a vampire hunter, while Odie is like Dracula haha! There is a level where Garfield looks like a Sabretooth, and even a Pharaoh.

YOU ARE A PIRATE!

I hate pyramid levels, period.

The "Catsablanca" level is a tribute to "Casablanca"

Garfield: Caught in the Act may not be exactly a pearl from it’s time. But for sure is a game worth playing, specially if you’re a Garfield fan. If you happen to like him and like Genesis as well, give it a try!

 

 

Forgotten Old Games – Toki Going Ape Spit

Hell-o! It’s wednesday! Day for another FORGOTTEN OLD GAME!
Today I’ll show you another Sega Genesis game. An epic adventure game…ok maybe not so epic, but funny! The game name is:  Toki Going Ape Spit

Released in 1991 by TAD Corporation, this adventure game is a port from the arcade version released 2 years before. Yeah I know! The cover doesn’t really makes you want to play it huh?

There isn’t any text telling about the story from this game. But I managed to play the Arcade version and here’s what it tells you: You are Toki. You and your girlfriend Miho were having a great time until out of the blue a giant hand kidnaps her and an evil wizard turns you into a big headed monkey.  Now it’s up to you to rescue your girlfriend and defeat the evil wizard…and hopefully retrieve your humanity…
You may be asking what’s the good thing about this game? Besides being hard, I find it pretty…weird! Seriously. At least for me, every time I face up a boss I get paralyzed in awe, wondering WHAT THE FUCK is that thing I’m facing, which also adds to the fun factor.

Wizard stole mah girl!

The controls are pretty BASIC. I don’t need to get into details. Since this is just like any other side scrolling/shooter game. The button layout is as below:

D-Pad – Moves character/crouch/climbs ropes
A/C – Jumps
B – Shoots

The only problem with the controls are that…well they don’t respond THAT WELL. It’s pretty easy to miss a jump or a shot which most of the times will end up with you dying.

The graphics are not as good as the arcade version of course, they’re just average for that time. Not much colors neither details. The enemies are pretty generic as well,  but at least the Toki’s face is funny xD

Yes...I missed that jump...

 The soundtrack is good. Every song compels you to move forward and face that bastard who stole your girl. The sound effects are just ok.

First Boss... WTF?

While beign just a generic shooter/platform game, Toki also manages to be funny, hard and WEIRD. I recommend you to play it specially for the WTF factor. I don’t have any idea what were they thinking back then, but oh well we have plumbers who moves through mushroom worlds using pipes huh? Give this one it a chance and have fun!