Special Feature - The Ugly Side of Super Nintendo Platform Gaming

The Super Nintendo is home to some of the best examples of 2D platform games in existence. It is also home to an absolute deluge of shit that simply beggars belief. This week I decided to spend some time checking out a vast array of 2D platform games on the system with the intention of writing about any hidden gems I found. While I did find a few enjoyable titles lurking among the 30+ games I tried, I was quite taken aback by how many truly abysmal games are on SNES. I genuinely had no idea. I am familiar with the hundreds of terrible abominations on the NES, but for some reason I had assumed (incorrectly) that the SNES had upped the quality control and avoided a library consisted of hundreds of piss poor efforts. 

Maybe it was due to the fact that the SNES cartridges were pretty pricey back in the day, so I only got hold of the cream of the crop after doing my research via CvG, Super Play and Total magazine (remember, this was pre-internet) before hassling my parents to fork out for it. Thus my memories of the 16-bit Nintendo machine consisted of a glorious dream-like haze in which I frolicked through a sunny meadow with such lovable characters as Mario, Donkey Kong, Earthworm Jim, Link, Simon Belmont, the guy from Pilotwings and even the 3d rendered unicycles from Unirally.

Steam Sale - Indie Game Special ( March 21-29th )

For all fans of PC indie titles, it is worth heading over to the Steam store as they are currently running an Indie Spring Sale. There are absolutely tons of great games reduced to ludicrously cheap prices. The sale runs from March 21st to 29th, so make haste and pick up some bargains.

Duck Tales Remastered coming this Summer!

Life is like a hurricane.. (sing along now!)

Oh my goodness. I am extremely excited and blissfully happy to bring you some awesome news. The NES classic, Duck Tales, has been remastered for modern consoles and will be landing this summer!

The wonderful 8-bit platformer created by Capcom in 1989 brought the feathered Disney characters to our screens and secured a place in our hearts. Fondly remembered by everyone who played it back in the day, Duck Tales (and its sequel) are exceptionally well produced platformers with gorgeous cartoon visuals, an insanely catchy chiptune soundtrack, a varied selection of stages containing many hidden secrets, and tight gameplay that is still a pleasure to play.

Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams - Out today on XBLA / PSN / Wii-U

The excellent retro platformer Giana Sisters : Twisted Dreams has been released today on XBLA and PSN, with a Wii-U version forthcoming.

I reviewed the PC edition back in November 2012, where I praised the game for its wonderful aesthetics, brilliant music by original composer Chris Hulsbeck and Swedish metal band Machinae Supremacy, the switching between sisters mechanism and the enjoyable, and challenging gameplay.

REVIEW - Bit.Trip presents RUNNER 2 (XBLA / PC)

So, Bit Trip Runner finally gets its well deserved sequel. The infinite runner was by far the greatest asset of the Bit.Trip series of games, as well as being one of the shining stars of the Wiiware service. Now the star of the show, Commander Video, is back with an assortment of oddball chums for another forced scrolling adventure in twitch platforming.

For those of you unfamiliar with the infinite runner genre, a brief synopsis may be in order. Basically, it plays much like a 2D platformer such as Super Mario Bros on NES, but instead of exploring the game at your own pace, the screen constantly scrolls to the right, with your character in a fixed position. This means you must use the abilities of the character in question to avoid the many pitfalls thrown at you from the right side of the screen, be they jumping, ducking, blocking and so on. 

Video Game Box Art From Hell - 01 : Wonder Boy (Master System)

As I have just finished writing about the classic arcade game Wonder Boy, as well as its many home console ports, I was unfortunately exposed to something that has haunted me since I first laid eyes on it back in 1990. I am, of course, talking about the European box art for Wonder Boy.

I intended to include the following discussion (or rant) in the Wonder Boy article, but I felt it deserved its own page. Plus it is a theme I wish to return to in a recurring series. So, before I start frothing at the mouth and tearing into the artwork in question, let's take a look at what other countries were given instead.

Coin-Op Classics - Wonder Boy (Sega) (including Adventure Island series)

Title : Wonder Boy

Year : 1986

Developer : Escape (later known as Westone Bit Entertainment)

Publisher : SEGA

Ported to : SG-1000, Master System, NES, Game Gear, MSX, C64, CPC, ZX Spectrum, PS2, Wii

The original 1986 coin-op classic, Wonder Boy is one of my all time favourite games. I first encountered this enchanting game in my early teens. It was in a hotel bar in my local seaside town, and I was immediately drawn to it due to the usual levels of excitement that occurred whenever I found an arcade machine. This was especially heightened by the fact that it was somewhere I wasn't expecting one. In those days, stumbling across a brightly lit coin-op with merry bleeps and bloops emanating from it was like finding the holy grail itself, and this time was no different. The game was, of course, Sega's Wonder Boy. The colourful cartoon world, cutesy characters, and catchy high speed music immediately appealed to me. Once the first coin clunked into the machine and I pressed start I was greeted by the adorable protagonist – a young cave boy with a large blonde mop of hair and a grass skirt – running excitedly on the spot, and I was almost doing the same. Little did I realise I was about to become enamoured with the game so much so that I would still be playing it, and writing about it, over 2 decades later.