Reviews – Page 12 – RETRO GAMESMASTER

Night Warriors – Darkstalker’s Revenge

7th January 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Capcom Entertainment, Inc. Developed by Capcom Co., Ltd. Released 1996 Also For Arcade Night Warriors – Darkstalker’s Revenge was released for the Sega Saturn in 1996 and is an absolutely fantastic 2d beat em up. The gameplay is very similar to the Street Fighter Alpha series (no surprise as this game is also made by Capcom) but the difference here is rather than using the likes of Ryu, Guile and Ken you have access to a wide range of supernatural based characters (including a Yeti and Vampire hunter). The graphics are superb…

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

6th January 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Square Soft, Inc. Developed by Square Co., Ltd. Released Oct, 1992 Platforms SNES, Wii, Wii U Published by Square in 1992, Mystic Quest is known as “The beginner’s Final Fantasy” or beginner’s RPG in general. Our protagonist, Benjamin is given the quest to save elemental crystals to restore balance to the world. Reviving and saving crystals from falling into the wrong hands is a staple to Final Fantasy storytelling. Apart from that feature, Mystic Quest does not share many of the same elements as other titles in the franchise. One of…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

5th January 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Konami, Inc. Developed by Konami Co., Ltd. Released 1992 Also For Arcade Being a huge fan of The original cartoon series I was very excited at the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time on the Super Nintendo. This game is absolutely fantastic, for many many reasons. Firstly the graphics are fantastic! Massive chunky detailed sprites, bright vivid backgrounds and superb animations. Also worth mentioning is the incredible 3d scaling effects, where you can throw an enemy into the screen (not possible on the Megadrive due to the lack…

Soul Calibur

4th January 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Namco Hometek Inc. Developed by Project Soul Released 1999 Also For Android, Arcade, iPad, iPhone, Xbox 360 Released by Namco for the Sega Dreamcast in late 1999, Soul Calibur was a sequel to the excellent Original Playstation game Soul Blade. Many people rate this as the very best Dreamcast game ever released and I would put it right up there as well. Firstly the graphics are totally fantastic! Massive detailed sprites, colourful backdrops full of life and superb animations. The music matches the action perfectly, the controls are very responsive and…

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs

1st January 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Tradewest, Inc. Developed by Rare, Ltd. Released Jun, 1993 Also For SEGA Master System Battletoads in Battlemaniacs was released for the Super Nes in 1993, a follow up to the awesome Battletoads games on the original Nintendo. Sadly this game cannot compete with those earlier games in terms of gameplay or level design but still has much to enjoy. Firstly the graphics are excellent with chunky colourful characters and richly detailed backgrounds, the music is superb with some really meaty sound effects and the basic gameplay is fun with excellent…

Sega Rally 2

31st December 20158th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by SEGA of America, Inc. Developed by Sega AM9 R&D Division Released Nov 27, 1999 Also For Arcade, Windows Sega Rally 2 was launched alongside the Dreamcast console in Europe in October 1999, a sequel to the classic Sega Saturn game. This game is fun but really compared to its predecessor it has to be seen as something of a disappointment. Firstly the good points, the graphics are excellent (especially for a console launch title), textbook Sega chunky cars and colourful blue sky and backgrounds. There are many more tracks to enjoy this time around,…

The Adventure of Link

30th December 20158th April 2022 Peter Ward

Developed By: Nintendo R&D4 Published by: Nintendo Platforms: Famicom/NES, GameCube (Collectors Disk), Gameboy Advance, Virtual Console Released (initially): January 14, 1987 (Japan) September 26, 1988 (PAL) December 1, 1988 (North America) The Adventure of Link: Want a game that is/was unforgiving, old school and wished that an emulator with a save state existed back in 1988? Well, here’s the challenge! (GEG NOTE: Think 1988, readers! WILL NEVER INCORPORATE time line theory until if and when Skyward Sword is reviewed thank you!) As a Zelda fan: I still have yet to…

Street Fighter Alpha 3

29th December 20158th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Capcom Co., Ltd. Developed by Capcom Co., Ltd. Released 1998 Also For Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PSP, SEGA Saturn The Sega Dreamcast was home to a great many high quality beat em ups, one of the very best was Street Fighter Alpha 3 released in the summer of 2000. This was the last of the Alpha series and is probably the best, this game has everything you could want from a one on one 2d fighter. Firstly the graphics are lovely, massive sprites full of life with magnificent backdrops full…

Altered Beast

28th December 201524th May 2021 Peter Ward

Published by SEGA of America, Inc. Developed by Team Shinobi Released Aug 14, 1989 Also For Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS,iPhone, MSX, NES, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, SEGA Master System, TurboGrafx-16, TurboGrafx CD, Wii, Windows, Xbox 360, Zodiac, ZX Spectrum Before the launch of Sonic The Hedgehog in 1991 Sega’s Megadrive console came bundled with Altered Beast in Europe and the USA. As a result a great many gamer’s first taste of the 16 bit machine was with this game and overall it left a positive impression. Essentially Altered Beast…

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest

24th December 20158th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Nintendo of America Inc. Developed by Rare, Ltd. Released Dec 01, 1995 Also For Game Boy Advance, Wii, Wii U Released in 1995 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest is the follow up to the immensely successful Donkey Kong Country released the year earlier (both for the Super Nes). This game improved on the already fantastic original by upping the difficulty level, offering a new character (Dixie Kong who replaces Donkey Kong who was kidnapped), speeding up the gameplay and adding even more variety to the levels (such as on board…