retro — Page 35

Sonic 3 & Knuckles (MD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 08/05/2016 Written by deKay

I’ve completed this many times through the years, but it’s been quite a while since last time, and even longer since a full all-emeralds run. So I did that.

It’s clear that Sonic 3 & Knuckles is still the best Mega Drive game. It looks and sounds incredible, has varied levels, gimmicks and bosses, and is actually huge. Yes, I know it sort of cheats by spanning two cartridges, but that’s irrelevant as far as I’m concerned as together they are the best game. Some people will say Sonic 2 is better. Those people are wrong.

In total, it probably took about four hours. I’d forgotten just how big it was. I only died three times, one death being a Time Over on Flying Battery 2 (I’d spent ages looking for Super Emeralds, and just squeaked past the final lamppost when the time ran out – lucky!), but then the game was never really difficult – especially once you’re able to be be Super or Hyper Sonic. Nor does it matter that it wasn’t hard – it’s just great. Apart from Tails. Oh god does he need to die. He actually killed me on one of the end boss fights as he hit Eggman first and I fell through him instead of bouncing off.

Click to view slideshow.

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Streets of Rage 3 (MD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 07/05/2016 Written by deKay

Streets of Rage 3 is certainly the hardest of the trilogy. As far as I recall, I’ve only completed it once before, and then I don’t think I got the best ending.

And so it is that I didn’t get the best ending this time either, unfortunately. I reached the chief in Stage 6 too late (and only just too late as well), and so Shiva was the final boss for me. It’s frustrating, as I played through the game three times today, and on the second attempt I did save the chief – then died on Stage 7. On my third and final try, I didn’t save him. Annoying.

Click to view slideshow.

Streets of Rage 3 probably isn’t as good as Streets of Rage 2. It has lots more moves, bigger sprites and in some parts (like the disco) some incredible graphics, but SoR2 plays better and has more variety and much, much better music. Also, Zen (in 3) is rubbish. Where has Max gone, anyway?

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Hudson Hawk (GB): COMPLETED!

Posted on 07/05/2016 Written by deKay

I seem to recall, back in the day, that although the film Hudson Hawk was utterly dire, the games based on it for various platforms were actually rather good. The Game Boy version, which I decided to play today for no specific reason, wasn’t fantastic as it turned out, but was reasonably playable.

Hudson Hawk is a platformer (because of course it is – pretty much all film licences at the time were), where Bruce Willis throws balls at things and steals paintings. There are two puzzles in the entire game, both really quite simple, and aside from not being able to see very far ahead of you (making some baddie appearances a bit of a surprise), the whole game was surprisingly easy. And short. It’s a very short game, especially since the first mission is longer than the other two combined, giving you a false sense it’ll be a much bigger than it was.

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Psycho Fox (MS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 10/04/2016 Written by deKay

I’d completely forgotten how easy the bosses were in Psycho Fox. In fact, I’d completely forgotten anything about the bosses at all, and I wasn’t even 100% sure there were any! Admittedly, much of the rest of the game is quite difficult (mainly because of so many leaps of faith or baddies that appear too quickly to react to), but the bosses? Complete walkovers.

That said, because I’m awesome and somehow managed to remember the locations of two warps despite not having played the game in probably 20 years or more, I actually skipped all bar two of them – the tigery one and the end of game boss.

Click to view slideshow.

I’d also forgotten just how many lives there are to collect, finishing the game with more than twenty – and I didn’t even get any in the after level bonus game! One part of the final level actually has three lives in eggs right next to each other. It probably helped that I managed to take the highest routes in most of the levels as that’s where most of them lurk.

It surprised me how good the game still is after all this time. The jumping takes a while to get used to (you jump very high, but not very far at all unless you take a run-up) and you’re a bit skiddy, but apart from that and the very old school rule of the game not scrolling left, it was still excellent and holds up well.

I think I’d like to give Kid Kool on the NES a go next. It’s a very similar game by the same team, and I’ve never played it.

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The Legend of Galahad (MD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 03/04/2016 Written by deKay

With Puggsy completed, I was reminded of The Legend of Galahad on the Mega Drive. The main character actually appears as a statue in Puggsy, and I think both games, and Wiz ‘n’ Liz, were developed around the same time by pretty much the same team. Oddly, the game is only known as The Legend of Galahad on the box, bearing the shorter title of “Galahad” in-game. It’s also the same game, bar some minor differences, as the Amiga title Leander.

It’s also an annoying platformer filled with too many unexpected deaths. You can’t look up or down, so many leaps are into the unknown. Some pits are spike-filled, but others are not. Baddies respawn, some after a few minutes and some almost instantly. Some spikes that spring up from the ground can be destroyed, some cannot. And there’s know way of knowing any of these things without trial and error!

Thankfully, it’s actually quite enjoyable despite the frequent deaths, and lives and energy are plentiful so although it’s a challenge, it’s not too difficult. Money, to improve your armour and weapons, is incredibly easy to come by and once I’d found the first shop in the game I’d more than enough for the best sword already – making most of the baddies simple one hit kills. With the rest of my money spent on bombs (which make you immune for a few seconds in addition to causing massive damage) even bosses were a walkover.

Except the final boss, where your ability to use bombs is removed! I had 40+ bombs to use up on him and couldn’t activate any! In the end it didn’t matter as although I died five times to him, the damage you’ve inflicted carries over when you die, so it was a simple case of just having enough lives to sustain myself while I chipped away at his energy, which didn’t take long.

The Legend of Galahad was never a “top tier” title at the time, and it’s not surprising it has probably been forgotten by most people now. It has problems, but it’s not a bad game. Has it aged? A little, yes. More so than Puggsy, certainly.

Click to view slideshow.

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