Forgotten Old Games – Marvel Super Heroes in War of the Gems

Hello everyone. Welcome to another Forgotten Old Game!
I’m sorry for my absense. I’ve been pretty busy lately and couldn’t even find time to play anything! But I’m back now, and ready to hit you with another blast from the past.
Today I’m gonna tell you about a game from the Marvel universe. And no, it’s not a fighting game, but a 2d platformer with hints of beat-em-up for the SNES. I’m talking about Marvel Super Heroes – War of the gems!

Released in 1996 by Capcom, one year after it’s arcade fighting counterpart, this game is also based on the same comic books series as the Arcade one, “The Infinity Gauntlet”. By acquiring the six Infinity Gems which controls Time, Space, Mind, Soul, Reality and Power and becoming a God, Thanos proceeds to exterminate half of the sentient beings in the universe, which includes most of the heroes, just because of his love for Death (the being, not because he likes to kill err…maybe he does). The remaining heroes(Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Wolverine) guided by Adam Warlock unites to battle against him, retrieve the Infinity Gems and undo all this crazyness.

Graphics 

 This game has good graphics, huge and well drawn backgrounds with lots of stuff and enemies on screen at the same time. The characters are also very detailed and the animation is good.

The Stage Select screen

Sound
The game music is just okay, nothing that really stands out. The same can be said about the sound effects.

Gameplay
Plataform + Beat-em-up = Fun! The controls are simple, responsive and fast!
Also for the game basics controls:

D Pad: Moves Characters
Y: Attacks
B: Jumps

Well drawn and animated scenarios!

On the start screen you can choose if you want to start a new game, adjust options or enter a password. Yes, this game does not have a save option, instead it uses passwords to keep track of your progress.
In the Options menu there isn’t really much to set. You can adjust the control setup and if you want Stereo or Monoaural sound.

Choose wisely, some stages requires skills from specific heroes!

This games works basically as any other 2d platformer, but as I said it’s kinda of a beat-em-up as well, allowing you to use special attacks of your heroes, and even combos! Don’t think it’ll be easy though, once you die, you lose that hero you’ve chosen and have to choose another one.  There are specific attacks for each hero, using simple sequences like  pressing Down, Forward and Y.

This item lets you perform a special attack once if you already have one of the Infinity Gems.

While looking for the gems on every stage, you’ll find lots of differents enemies and bosses. There are also items that recharge your health, allows you to use a special attack if you already have one of the Infinity Gems and even ressurrect a fallen hero.
Equipping one of the Infinity Gems will give your character a special ability. They are:

Time Gem: Hero moves 2 times faster.
Space Gem: Gives the hero the double jump ability.
Reality Gem: Shows hidden places/items.
Soul Gem: Doubles HP.
Power Gem: Doubles attack power.

You’ll be visiting lots of places in your quest for the gems, at first you can choose one of the following stages: The Avengers Base, Boston Aquarium, Amazon, Alaska and Dr. Doom’s castle, but more places will show up as you progress trough the game.

Conclusion
Marvel Super Heroes – War of the Gems is a real GEM for that time. It could be better if it had better songs, but otherwise it’s still a good game, and I truly recommend you to play this one! ‘Till next time!

Forgotten Old Games – HARD DRIVIN’

Hello and welcome to another FOG!
Today I’m not gonna bring you another hidden treasure from the golden era of gaming. Instead I’ll show you a bad port. Yeah, a bad driving simulator game, called HARD DRIVIN’ for the SEGA GENESIS.

Released in  1991 by TENGEN this was originally an arcade game with 3D Polygon graphics. The reason why it got released for the Genesis? No idea!

Straight from the manual:

“Sure, driving a real high performance car can be quite a blast. But where can you go to do vertical loops, high-speed races and high flying jumps? In Hard Drivin’, that’s where! Hard Drivin’ is so real you’ll feel like you’re burning up the road in a high-powered car. Two tracks provide plenty of challenge – put the pedal to the metal on the Speed Track or get airborne on the radical Stunt Track! Jump a drawbridge! Do a 360 loop! The true 3D screen display will have you hanging on for dear life! If you lose it, you get to see an instant replay of your accident. Like the incredible arcade hit, this Hard Drivin’ is looking for a few hard drivers. No license – or cars – required!”

Unfortunately these are all lies. The arcade game had it’s merit. But this horrible port is far away from all those promises.

The first hint that shows you're playing a bad port...

Graphics: Awful. I mean there’s plenty of good 2D racing games for the Genesis, this one features really bad ‘3D’ graphics running very slowly compared to the original arcade game.

Slow game + Time attack = FAIL

Sound: Not so different from the original (which wasn’t great by the way). But it’s not as bad as the graphics

Gameplay: This is one of the main reasons why this game shouldn’t have been released for Genesis. The main reason you would play this game back then, was to get the feeling of driving a real car, which you could barely achieve by playing the original arcade. Even if Genesis had a Steering Wheel and Pedals it would still suck, because the controls lack response and precision. And since the game feels like you’re playing in slow motion, you’d have to steer slowly as well. Cool huh?
There’s another thing I should mention, despite they having said the game features TWO TRACKS, you have only one, divided in two: Speed and Stunt.

As for the default controls:
D-Pad LEFT/RIGHT – Steers car
D-Pad UP/DOWN – Gear change (manual mode only)
A – Accelerate
B – Brakes
C – Clutch (hold and press UP or DOWN to change gears)

It doesn't matter if you were hit on the back, your windshield will always get damaged.

Just don't ask me...!

 

But I’m gonna tell you something. I knew the game was terrible, but I played it quite a few times when I had a Genesis. The reason? THE REPLAYS! Everytime you crashed an instant replay starts, showing you from a far camera, what happened to your car. And seriously, I found that quite hillarious. I could spend hours, just crashing, watching the replays and laughing. Yeah I know, silly me…

This is one game to keep very away from you. Unless for completeness of your collection, of course. A true “FORGOTTEN OLD GAME” with lots of reasons for that.
And as always, a video for your delight. This time I’ll show you videos from both versions. See you next time!

GENESIS Version:

ARCADE Version:

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 – Clock Tower

Hello and welcome to another FORGOTTEN OLD GAME.
When I ask you about an old survival horror game, which one comes in mind? Resident Evil? Silent Hill?
Well the one I’m bringing you today can be considered the predecessor to both series! We’re talking about Clock Tower for the Nintendo Snes.

Developed by Human Entertainment, Clock Tower made was released in 1995 only in Japan, as an action/adventure game with an horror storyline. As most Nintendo games from the time, you won’t see any blood spilling, but even without blood this little bastard was pretty successful in leaving you frightened.

Clock Tower tells the tale of a girl named Jennifer, an orphan that along some others has been adopted and now is heading to their new home, a huge weird looking house with a Clock Tower in the middle of the woods. After a small cutscene, you find that the other orphans have gone missing, and you are completely alone. Maybe they’re playing hide-and-seek you think… but when you decide to explore the house you start to uncover it’s hideous secrets…

Yeah..sure...

The graphics are good, lots of dark places. There’s not a great variety of scenarios, but since most of the game events happens inside the mansion it’s ok.

Even though most of the game is played in silence, the soundtrack (when present) blends perfectly to the game helping to create the dark and eerie atmosphere, specially when you’re being chased by something. The same could be said about the sound effects, they’re great! As for the gameplay… well…it’s really, really slow. It resembles those old point-and-click adventures for PC, where you had to click where you wanted to move your character or at the objects you wanted to interact, but Jennifer doesn’t seem to move like her life is at a stake, even when she’s running. But I don’t think it’s that bad, because it adds to the experience, since you have no weapons. When being pursued, if you try to walk Jennifer will run, and she can even trip while doing so, making things more tense. When in danger, Jennifer’s portrait flashes red and blue, you must tap B button in order to avoid dying.

The basic controls are:
D-Pad – Moves cursor around the screen.
Y Button – Makes Jennifer walk in the direction of the cursor/area. Double-tap to run.
X Button – Stops Jennifer.
A Button – Opens Inventory.
B Button – When in danger, tap furiously to escape.
L button – Runs left.
R Button – Runs right.

For the sake of GOD! RUN!!!

The game features 9 different endings, depending on what you accomplish. Unfortunately as I said, the game is only available in Japanese, but you probably can find a translated version or IPS if you really want to have a look at it. And if you really like the survival horror genre, I strongly recommend you to do so!

Forgotten Old Games – D&D: Tower of Doom

It’s time for another FORGOTTEN OLD GAME.
Today’s game is based on the famous RPG D&D. I’m talking about Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom

Released in 1994 by CAPCOM, D&D:ToD was some kind of attempt to draw the attention from people who didn’t really liked RPG games. It’s blends the loved beat ’em up style, with RPG elements directly from D&D, like equipment durability, leveling up and loot.

A group of adventures in search of glory and fame travelling the world facing dangers and collecting treasure, that’s all the game is about. Up to 4 people can play together. If you choose to play solo you can choose one of the 4 characters available: The Fighter, The Cleric, The Dwarf and The Elf, each one has it’s own atributes, just like you’d expect from D&D, but they kinda simplified things.

The elf is hot. Period!

The graphics were pretty good, lots of sprites and effects on the screen at the same time. The characters are somewhat generic, but that’s part of the RPG experience it gives to you, just like the fact that you must name your character yourself.

FIREBALL!

Each character has unique skills. The Elf for example can use strong magic attacks, like the fireball, the other characters can use some magical attacks too, by using magical rings, but they wear off after use. There are some throwable items too, like the knifes and hammers, and even a bow to shoot arrows.
The controls are simple as shown below:

D-Pad/Stick – Moves character
Button 1 – Attack
Button 2 – Jump
Button 3 – Use Item/Magic
Button 4 – Select Item/Magic

Right below your character’s name there’s a simple in-game inventory, displaying your items and/or magic. In order to choose one, you must keep pressing the Select Item/Magic button, until the one you want is shown, then you use it with the Use Item/Magic button. It’s that simple! You can also run by tapping twice to left or right. If you hold the D-Pad/Stick to the direction you want and press the Attack button, you’ll unleash a stronger (but slower) attack.

Wish I had got that gold back there...

The game is divided in seven stages, which one you’ll face will depend on your choices on the way. You’ll be fighting monsters, earning experience points and then fight a boss in the end of each level. After that you’ll spend a night at the Inn, and head to the shop, where you can buy supplies. You’ll be needing the loot that monsters and chests drops, so be sure to get everything you can, otherwise you won’t be able to buy anything.

The first BOSS fight

POWER UP...Err I mean LEVEL UP!

The music is nice, they give each moment the right atmosphere. The sound effects are good too, except for the voices that are kinda annoying.
I got quite surprised when I first saw this game at the arcade. If you start playing, be careful otherwise you’ll be losing all your coins hahaha. Indeed the game got so popular that they released a second one, named SHADOW OVER MYSTARA in 1996. Later on, both games made their way to a compilation released to the Sega Saturn.
If you like beat ’em up or RPG, or even better, both, you definitely should play this game. I’ll leave you now with a gameplay video footage, cya!