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Metal Slug (Evercade): COMPLETED!

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Yes, yes. We’ve all played Metal Slug before and own it on various compilations a hundred times over but that doesn’t stop it being good. And! This time I completed it in co-op with my daughter, which I’ve never done before.

It has horrible slowdown, which I don’t remember from any other version but apparently even in the arcade it did that. Not what you’d expect from what was, at the time, the most powerful gaming device in the world. Probably.

Doesn’t matter though because it’s great and silly and why isn’t Metal Slug 2 (or 3/4/5/6/7/8/9/X) on the Evercade yet, eh? Ridiculous.

Oh yeah, and I know the screenshot that accompanies this post is rubbish but – again – you can’t take screenshots on an Evercade so it’s from the Evercade website.

Ironclad (Evercade): COMPLETED!

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Ironclad is a pretty standard side-scrolling shooter, originally for the NeoGeo but I played it on the NeoGeo Arcade Evercade cartridge. I found it a lot easier than most games in the genre, which is especially odd for an arcade game, but I’m not going to complain!

It’s got a nice weapon upgrade system, a floaty drone thingy and some interesting bosses (like a big train), but the biggest draw is the graphics. Backgrounds seem to be pre-rendered, and remind me a bit of something like OverTop. Sprites are pretty decent too, and they feel a bit like Metal Slug in art style, just zoomed out.

So yeah, it’s OK, nothing incredible but perfectly playable.

Gradius: The Interstellar Assault (Switch): COMPLETED!

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No, I don’t know why I played this either. It wasn’t that great, with very flickery graphics, was very short, and did nothing much other games (even at the time of original release) hadn’t already done far better.

Probably a miracle it managed as well as it did on the Game Boy hardware, although, I suspect, impossible to see on the original device’s blurry screen – it’s bad enough on the telly – but still average at best.

Donkey Kong (Switch): COMPLETED!

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I’ve always loved this game. It’s the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong, also sometimes referred to as “Donkey Kong ’94”. I talked about it more last time I played it, which I thought was maybe three years ago but it turns out it was FOURTEEN years ago. Cripes.

This time, I played it on the Switch’s Game Boy game service thingy, but it’s just the same game as it ever was before. It’s still really slick, and plays well to the Game Boy’s limitations.

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure (Mega Drive): COMPLETED!

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Since I had my Retroflag GPi out for the Mandatory Playing Of Mega-lo-Mania, I thought I’d play something else afterwards. Perusing those Mega Drive games I’d not really played before, but I remember having reasonable reviews, I came across Buster’s Hidden Treasure and gave it a punt.

And you know what? It’s alright actually.

The 8 and 16-bit console eras were drowning in character platformers, and yet none really touched Mario or Sonic. Even the big games like Dynamite Headdy or Rocket Knight couldn’t really compete, and licenced games specifically generally fared badly, especially on the Mega Drive and SNES.

Turns out that this Tiny Toon Adventures game isn’t anywhere near as bad as most similar platformers. Sure, it’s never going to be in anyone’s favourites list, but it manages to get the physics right (have you ever played Bubsy the Bobcat? Oh my) and have some genuinely fun levels and bosses. It’s by the numbers, but does it well. Even if Buster is trying very hard to be Sonic.