Another game off that SNK 40th Anniversary Collection thing I found Prehistoric Isle on. The game title really doesn’t match anything in the game itself, which is a platform shooter starring Athena (the SNK girl who is in a few of their games) and there aren’t any soldiers, psycho or otherwise. And you know what? I really enjoyed it!

It’s quirky, very different to other superficially similar titles from the same era, and Athena sings her theme tune as you play. Incredible work on a system which presumably had a pretty simple sound chip that plays samples rather than the ability to play back digital audio files like you’d get today. You also turn into a dragon for some reason every now and then.

Surprisingly, Psycho Soldier wasn’t impossible without infinite credits. In fact, I even managed to complete a few levels without dying at all. Unheard of for an arcade game, especially one I’d never played.

I totally forgot (again, I expect) that I had access to that SNK game collection on my Steam Deck. I think it came from Amazon original, so isn’t Steam-native, so maybe that’s why. Anyway, stumbled across it again and had a look, and Prehistoric Isle caught my eye. So I completed it.

Standard Arcade Shooter Disclaimer applies: yes, I used All The Credits. These games are designed to swallow 10ps, so I’ve no shame in pumping it full of virtual coinage in order to progress. Especially in a game which, although not bad, isn’t really good enough for me to spend long enough Gitting Gud on so that the not-real money I’m spending on extra continues can be saved.

As you’ve probably guessed, Prehistoric Isle is a side scrolling shooter in the vein of Gradius and R-Type only this time most of the baddies are dinosaurs and, Flintstones historical accuracy style, cavemen. Which means, realistically, the majority are some sort of pterosaur because none of the others can fly. Bosses are big ol’ dinos as you’d expect.

Shooty-wise, you get a few powerups with the usual Option-like orbiting thingie, which you can – if you’re able to do so without dying – rotate around your plane in order to shoot in different directions or with different attack types and arcs. Apart from a couple of vertically scrolling sections I found this more trouble than it’s worth so just left it at “forwards”.

I’ve said before that except in rare circumstances, shoot ’em ups aren’t really for me, and although this one is fine – and I liked the change in setting to the usual space/WWII stuff – it’s nothing fantastic.