| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | |||
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| Grade: C- |
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Last modified 2007/10/15.
The overriding criteria is how fun the game is to play, although control, graphics, and sound are also taken into account. |
Screen shots courtesy of Video Game Museum, GameScreenShots.com, NES Player, Video Game Advantage, Pro-NES, Moby Games.
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What is T&C Surf Designs supposed to be, a line of summer clothing? Whatever it is, I've talked to several people who have fond memories of playing this cartridge, which offers both skateboarding and surfing action. This is an ideal game to play on a hot summer day. Skateboarding is easily the highlight, as you cruise down a boardwalk while jumping over obstacles and collecting coins. It seems like every time you play you advance a little bit further. Surfing, on the other hand, isn't as enjoyable due to its hard-to-grasp controls. Just remaining upright on your board for more that a few seconds is a major feat. Fortunately the two games can be played separately, allowing you to forgo the mediocre surfing altogether. T&C features appealing, bright beach graphics, and the background music is fun to listen to. There's a two-player mode, but it's alternating only, and that's too bad. On the whole, T&C Surf Designs is not great, but it gets by on its addicting skateboarding action.
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Advertised as an "electronic fortune teller", Taboo is more like a fortune cookie generator. After prompting for your name, sex, and birth date, Taboo lets you ask it a question. My first question was easy: How old am I? If the program had any intelligence at all, it would have determined my age from my birth date, but Taboo couldn't even figure that out! Taboo responds to any question by playing mystical music while displaying psychedelic graphics, and then displaying a series of cards one by one. The cards reveal very general (and often confusing) "revelations" such as "Your near term goal or destiny is or is influenced by great determination", "Your present situation/attitude is criticism or quarrel", and "Others view you as search for solitude knowledge or self denial." It didn't take long for me to realize that this cartridge is a pointless waste of time. You'd think the developer (Rare) might have snuck something clever in there like "You enjoy playing Nintendo", or "You will witness a murder tonight!" But no, it's always very vague and uninteresting. Once all the cards are read, you're presented with a series of "lucky numbers". What's especially annoying is how you need to re-enter all of your personal information before every question. Maybe little girls at a slumber party could have some fun with Taboo, but I doubt it.
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The original Renegade game wasn't great, but at least it had a unique control scheme. Target Renegade on the other hand has absolutely no redeeming qualities. It's like Double Dragon minus the fun! As you guide a pudgy muscleman through repetitive scenery, you face the same group of thugs (who all dress the same) over and over again. The non-stop punch/kick gameplay is mind-numbing, and the ability to jump-kick cyclists off of their bikes provides little relief. The generic backdrops are awful, and serious breakup occurs in the character graphics. The bosses are large, but after they promptly whip your ass you don't even get a lousy continue for your troubles. And where's the two-player mode? Playing Target Renegade is pure agony.
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Despite some flaws, Tecmo Baseball is a pretty good sports game. An intuitive pitcher/batter screen makes it easy to track incoming pitches, and it's always fun to watch the catcher's mitt magically "float" away from his body when a pitch is far outside. When a ball is put into play, a high overhead view is displayed with small, squat players and an enormous outfield. The fielders move way too slowly, but the throwing controls are good. There's no infield fly rule, and you can take advantage of this to pull off some really cheap double plays. After a homerun, the scoreboard shows the hitter rounding the bases, and he looks really queer waving his arms up and down (not that there's anything wrong with that). Between innings the scoreboard displays bizarre messages like "Go ahead!" and "Fight!" The players are completely fictional, the stadium is generic, and the crowd looks like a huge pair of plaid pants. A catchy theme song plays throughout the entire game, and I kind of enjoyed it. Tecmo Baseball has its quirks, but nice controls and brisk pacing makes it playable enough.
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It's hard to have a legitimate conversation about classic football games without the word "Tecmo" coming up a few times. Before Madden came along, Tecmo was the only football game that mattered, thanks to its intuitive controls, simple arcade gameplay, and outstanding graphics. Sanctioned by the NFL Players Association (but not the NFL itself), the game features real player names but only twelve teams (referenced by city name). The action is viewed from the side of the field, and the only drawback to that is how you can't see receivers going deep. A handy dotted line on the field indicates where you need to reach for a first down (long before TV adopted this mechanism). The well-animated players are not only decked out in their proper uniforms, but even their skin color is correct! The visuals are exceptional, but it's the tight gameplay that makes Tecmo Bowl so special. A simple passing scheme makes it easy to target receivers, and throwing to a well-covered man usually results in an interception. The running game lets you tap the A button to break tackles, and that's just awesome. Defenders can dive and dodge tackles, and blockers sometimes get tossed clear across the screen. Unfortunately, you can't switch defenders during the play, and it's very easy to get burned by a missed tackle. Tecmo Bowl shows its age with its limited number of options. You can't adjust the game length, although I found the 1:30 minute quarters to be optimal (the clock stops after each play). You only have four plays to choose from (two run and two pass), so you can't execute anything elaborate. A catchy melody plays throughout the contest, and there's a modest amount of voice synthesis as well. As an added treat, half-time features some surprisingly suggestive cheerleader graphics. Tecmo Bowl's computer opponent is competent, but the game excels at head-to-head competition (trash talking optional but recommended). Tecmo Bowl is pure football joy, and it's held up surprisingly well over the years.
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Three long years after the original game was released for the NES, Tecmo damn near perfected their pigskin masterpiece with this phenomenal sequel. Fully endorsed by the NFL, Super Bowl delivers all the excitement of the original game plus all the NFL teams and players, a larger play selection, an improved kicking system, spectacular cut scenes, player statistics, injuries, timeouts, and last but not least, a battery backed-up season mode! What more can you ask for? The players are slightly smaller, but this allows more room on the field for sophisticated plays to unfold, including double reverses and flea flickers! You also can see a little further downfield. Like the first Tecmo Bowl, the field is viewed from the side, but it looks sharper and more realistic. Cheerleaders line the top of the screen and the first few rows of fans are visible. Interspersed with the on-field action are dramatic cut scenes that highlight diving catches, punts, sacks, and touchdown celebrations. During field goals, you get an awesome view of the ball sailing through the uprights. Field goal kicking uses an accuracy meter instead of a power meter, which is far more challenging and satisfying. Receivers automatically leap for high passes, and many passes are tipped (which unfortunately you can't catch). As usual, there's some provocative cheerleader graphics shown during half-time. Why modern football games haven't adopted this cheerleader "feature" is beyond me! Packed with features and infinitely playable, Tecmo Super Bowl is without a doubt the ultimate football game for the NES.
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Based on the wildly popular cartoon series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is entertaining but unpolished. A slick opening sequence introduces our four zany heroes, armed with their respective weapons. You only control one turtle at a time on your quest to rescue hottie journalist April from arch-villain Shredder. By roaming around an overhead map (and avoiding its steamrollers) you enter doors and manholes that lead to side-scrolling stages. These stages offer generic jumping and punching action, but some of the bad guys are surprisingly intimidating, especially the mechanical spiders and scary thugs with chainsaws. Pizzas replenish your health, and occasionally you'll find special weapons like throwing stars and boomerangs. The turtles control very well but are prone to cheap hits when walking near the edge of the screen. Once a turtle depletes his health, you choose another to take his place. The game doesn't end until you use all four, and three continues are available. The graphics are mediocre at best. The turtles themselves look okay but some enemies can be hard to discern, and the fighting action is somewhat sloppy and plagued by heavy flicker. Swimming and driving stages effectively break up the monotony, although swimming through narrow caves of electrified seaweed is very difficult. TNMT's audio includes some catchy musical numbers that are bound to bring back memories for long-time NES gamers. It's rough around the edges, but I think this oldie is still worth checking out.
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I think its subtitle is quite appropriate, because Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (TMNT2) has a distinct arcade flavor the first game lacked. Too bad the gameplay is so repetitive and boring! The unimaginative storyline pits our green heroes against Shredder, who has once again taken hottie reporter April captive. The game's visuals feature fluidly-animated characters, but instead of being limited to a 2D plane, they can move between the foreground and background like a Double Dragon game. The stages look clean but unspectacular, ranging from city streets, to sewers, to a snowy central park. In the street stage, you can look into a store window at see Shredder and April on the TV news, which I thought was pretty clever. TMNT2 is one of the first console games I can recall that features blatant advertisements - in this case for Pizza Hut. Despite its polished look, TMNT2's gameplay is positively mind-numbing. Enemy ninjas make dramatic appearances by breaking down doors and jumping out of manholes. These guys are always pulling out new weapons like stars, dynamite, and even snowballs. In addition to your normal attack you have a jump-kick, but it doesn't work well and you tend to leap right over your target. Other problems include excessive flicker, poor collision detection, and bosses that require upwards of 30 hits to defeat. It's especially annoying the way hazards like huge bowling balls pass harmlessly through the bad guys. A two-player mode is included, but the flicker and slow-down make it nearly unplayable. Even the music is weak. TMNT 2 might look like fun on the surface, but playing it proves otherwise.
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Would you believe that bastard Shredder has kidnapped April again?! Will someone please keep an eye on that woman?! I swear this [expletive] is more trouble than she's worth! And oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Shredder has also unearthed the entire island of Manhattan and flown off with that too. So begins the third exciting chapter in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle saga, which trumps its predecessors in every way. Not only does it look sensational, but it's also a rip-roaring good time. TMNT3's vibrant, sharp graphics are among the best I've seen on the NES. The flicker and slowdown is minimal in the one-player mode, although the two-player mode is still a mess. The improved graphic quality is particularly evident in the scenic backgrounds, which include a beach, a massive submarine, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Most importantly, TMNT3's gameplay is far more appealing and satisfying than previous chapters, thanks to additional moves that spice up the action. Not only can you impale and throw those dirty ninjas at will, but you can even toss them into other enemies. The jump kick has been improved so you can even kick bad guys in fairly close proximity. The standard attacks are more effective as well, sending thugs flying all over the place. The bosses look sharp and are far more reasonable to defeat than the last game. TMNT3: The Manhattan Project is a real treat. Konami made all the right moves with this one.
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What more can I say about this game that hasn't already been said? Tetris is the chess of the video game world, providing timeless fun that never gets old. This particular version has colorful but unremarkable graphics, pinpoint control, and catchy music. Speaking of music, you can choose between three classic tunes, each of which grows more frantic as the blocks stack up. One or two players can play, but not simultaneously, which is the game's single glaring flaw.
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Tiger-Heli isn't the best-looking vertical shooter for the NES, but it's definitely fun. It puts you in control a stealth helicopter penetrating a terrorist base. You begin by flying over a suburban neighborhood, where it's possible to blow up the cars and houses of innocent people. Your real enemies however are tanks, cannons, and ships, which fire large, slow-moving projectiles. Your copter can rapidly fire four missiles at a time, and you also have two bombs at your disposal. For some odd reason your bomb count isn't displayed on the screen, and that's irritating because it's hard to remember if you have any left. Since you can't fire backwards, bombs are critical for destroying enemies that approach from behind. One cool feature is how you can augment your firepower by hooking up with smaller helicopters that latch onto you and fire forward or sideways. Once you hook up two of these, you're nearly unstoppable. Tiger-Heli's animation is a little rough, which is probably the reason why no two-player simultaneous mode was included.
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For many old school gamers, the words "classic NES action" evoke fond memories of Track and Field in all its button-tapping glory. Picking up where the joystick-wiggling Olympic games of the early 80's left off (Summer Games, Decathlon), Track and Field combines simple controls with addictive, competitive gameplay. Your athlete competes in eight fun events: 100 meter dash, long jump, hurdles, javelin, skeet shooting, triple jump, archery, and high jump. Each event is brief and easy to learn, and a few can be played by two people at once. In general the controls involve tapping a button to gain speed, and then holding down the directional pad to measure your angle. I remember back in the 80's when people were coming up with all sorts of crazy techniques for tapping the buttons, including running a coin back and forth feverishly over the controller. When you qualify for an event, the crowd roars and flashes enthusiastically, but breaking a world record is the ultimate achievement. Most events are terrific but the difficult is uneven, and I found games like skeet shoot and high jump to be excessively difficult to qualify for. Another issue is the obvious lack of playing modes, probably due to the game's arcade origins. You basically keep playing events until you fail to qualify, at which time your game ends abruptly. Upon completing a round, you advance to the next with a higher difficulty. Track and Field is a bit simplistic compared to latter day track and field games, but in terms of sheer fun, it's hard to beat.
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With the success of the first Track and Field, Konami went all out with this sequel, dramatically enhancing the presentation and expanding the event list. It's hard to compare this to the first game, because it's completely different. First of all, the graphics are nothing short of spectacular. The athletes look absolutely huge and well proportioned - a far cry from the cartoon characters in the first Track and Field. In fact, these graphics may be the best I've ever seen on the NES. The audio is commendable too, with numerous voice samples sprinkled throughout. Track and Field II is more like Summer Games than Track and Field, with more realistic action and sophisticated control. The extensive event list consists of fencing, Taekwondo, triple jump, pole vault, freestyle swimming, canoeing, high dive, archery, clay pigeon shooting, hurdles, hammer throw, and horizontal bar. To be honest, I'm not sure if many of these events deserve to be in a Track and Field game. Fencing and Taekwondo play like mediocre fighting games, and I'm still clueless about how to use that stupid horizontal bar. The highlights of the game are the "real" track and field events like the pole vault and hammer throw, which tend to employ the same tap and hold controls from the original game. The archery and shooting events have been completely overhauled from the previous version, and these new versions are brilliantly conceived and satisfying to play. Track and Field 2 also offers new playing modes include training, championship, and a two-player versus contest. Unfortunately, the two player "versus" mode is sorely lacking, with only three events: Taekwondo, fencing, and… arm-wrestling?! There's no good reason why more two-player events couldn't have been incorporated. Overall, Track and Field II is an impressive technical accomplishment for the NES, but players who crave head-to-head arcade action will probably gravitate towards the original game.
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This is what classic NES action is supposed to be - simple in concept but still challenging and addicting. When you play Trojan and hear that distinctive music you'll feel as if you're back in the 80's again (if you were there the first time around). Trojan takes place in some war-torn, post-apolocalyptic world, and the idea is to hack up enemies with a sword while blocking projectiles from snipers above. Most NES side-scrollers have some kind of gimmick, and in this case it's a shield which can be positioned at five angles. This adds some much-needed strategy, particularly against the bosses. The action starts in a run-down city but later moves on to jungles and caves. Although the game is fairly linear, you'll occasionally wander off the beaten path, by falling into a sewer for example. Some enemies look like knights with maces, and there's a red guy who looks suspiciously like M. Bison of Street Fighter II fame. Since Capcom made both games, it might not be a coincidence. I did encounter some minor problems with the jumping controls and collision detection, but overall Trojan is still a good time.
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Twin Eagle is just your average vertical-scrolling helicopter shooter. As you encounter enemies on the ground and in the air, they unleash missiles in the form of big, slow red dots. Your helicopter moves slowly, which is not all bad since dodging these missiles requires some precision. A few power-ups are available, but they don't boost your firepower dramatically. The best weapons are the smart bombs which effectively decimate all enemies on the screen. You'll want to save those for tight situations. The scenery includes water, desert, and jungle, and an enemy fortress. In certain stages you can actually blast enemy strongholds to reveal hostages to rescue. Twin Eagle's graphics are plain and lack detail. Soldiers have huge heads, and the green ones look more like Martians. Instead of bosses, the end of each stage bombards you with high speed enemies. A limited number of continues are available. Twin Eagle is not a great one-player game, but the two player mode drastically increases the fun factor.
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Here's a full-court, five-on-five basketball game along the lines of Double Dribble. Unfortunately, Ultimate Basketball doesn't offer the same level of playability or arcade charm. The players all appear to be holding their "johnsons", and the controls are awkward. Passing is problematic, and too many inbound passes sail right out-of-bounds, which is inexcusable. Stealing is hard, but drawing underserved fouls seems to be no problem at all! No warning is given as the clock ticks down at the end of each half, which is really irritating. Ultimate Basketball's graphics are very good, with a finely detailed court and even players sitting on the bench. Dunks, three pointers, and foul shots are rendered with impressive full-screen animations. These high-flyers are fun to watch, but it's hilarious when they "forget" to dunk and come down with the ball instead - resulting in a traveling violation! The CPU opponent is excessively cheap, intercepting and stealing at will, so you'll want to stick with the two-player action. Ultimate Basketball offers a half-time show, but it's incredibly boring, so what's the point? One thing Ultimate Basketball does have going for it is the music - it rocks. But despite high marks for audio and presentation, Ultimate Basketball takes a back seat to Double Dribble when it comes to b-ball action on the NES.
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Ultimate Stuntman is absolutely terrific, but its name is somewhat misleading. The game offers a variety of unique and exciting stages filled with fast-paced, non-stop shooting action. The first stage plays like a turbo-charged Spy Hunter, as you careen down a road in a car, flying off ramps and shooting everything in sight. The second stage resembles more of a traditional side-scroller, as you jump between platforms, collect keys, and shoot the bad guys. My advice for this stage is to shoot constantly, even when jumping. Next there's a Crazy Climber-inspired level where you scale the side of a building while avoiding falling objects and giant spiders. Subsequent stages feature additional challenges like bomb disarming, bosses, and more driving action. I had so much fun playing this game that it was hard to stop long enough to write the review. The graphics are outstanding and the control is right on the money. If you want to have a good time on your NES, you can't go wrong with Ultimate Stuntman.
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Is Nintendo really responsible for this worthless piece of crap? Granted, most old fighting games (especially pre-Street Fighter 2) have aged poorly, but this one-on-one slugfest is pathetic. With its cheesy graphics, hokey music, and unresponsive controls, playing Urban Champion is a colossal waste of time! The two cartoonish fighters look and control exactly the same, except one has blue hair and the other has green hair! Your lame attacks are limited to high and low punches, and you can also block. The fights tend to unfold in slow motion, and the sluggish controls negate any chance of skill or strategy playing a role. The sheer monotony of trading punches with the other guy is only relieved by the occasional police car driving by, or a lady dropping a flowerpot from a window. It's somewhat comical how the fighters strike innocent poses until the cop passes, but that novelty wears thin in a hurry. Once you push your opponent to the edge of the screen, he'll roll off, letting you progress to the next screen. Urban Champion's backgrounds are uninspired to say the least, with generic storefronts that cycle endlessly. You can duke it out against a friend or the computer, but I strongly recommend you don't. Personally, I prefer to play a game with more depth - like Pong for example.
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Sammy is a first-class game developer, so it's no surprise that Vice kicks some serious ass. In Project Doom's storyline aliens have infiltrated the human race and your team of investigators is trying to expose them. Project Doom has a real cinematic flair. Like a motion picture, you play the first stage before you actually see the title screen! Likewise, well executed cut scenes convey an interesting tale between the stages. Most levels are your standard NES "jump and shoot" fare, but Project Doom is a big step up in terms of quality. Your character, decked out in jeans and a leather jacket, is realistically animated, especially when climbing ladders. He's equipped with short, medium, and long-ranged weapons. Thugs range from spiky-hair creeps, to pumpkin-head freaks, to giant ferrets, to guys in hoods on pogo sticks (huh?). The platform stages are well designed, but occasional narrow ledges account for some cheap deaths, and the only thing worse than falling off a ledge is being knocked off (curses!). Besides the platform stages, there are also break-neck car chases and first-person shooting levels. The car stages play like vertical shooters, with flying cones and roadblocks that are great fun to plow into. The backgrounds look outstanding, with gorgeous city skylines comparable to those in Streets of Rage on the Genesis. With its killer graphics, additive gameplay, and nonstop action, Vice: Project Doom will push your NES to the limit.
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It may look awful, but Volleyball isn't so bad once you get the hang of it. The controls aren't particularly intuitive, so it might take a few practice games before you get comfortable. The teams are six-on-six, and the court is presented from a raised side angle. Behind the court you can see a crowd and scoreboard, and there's even a referee sitting at one end of the net. Between serves there appears to be a lot of "dirty dancing" happening on the court, with players thrusting their hips in a suggestive manner. I have no idea what that's all about. Once the ball is served, one button is used to bump and set, and the other for spike and block. Performing a set requires judging the ball's shadow and carefully positioning your players. Spikes are tough to execute because you need to time your leaps perfectly. It's undeniably satisfying when you execute one though, especially when you nail some poor schmuck in the face. Volleyball is mildly entertaining against a friend or the computer, but I should point out a few issues with the game's design. First, you control three players at a time, but don't know which trio will be selected until the last possible instant. Second, the high-flying ball often goes off the top of the screen, which is seriously problematic when you're trying to time a spike. Volleyball will do in a pinch, but as you've probably guessed by now, there are better volleyball titles for the NES.
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If you let a bunch of chimpanzees program a video game, I'm guessing you'd end up with something like Werewolf - only much, much better! This side-scrolling calamity is so heinous that merely describing it makes me ill. It begins with a caveman standing next to a sign that reads "Don't Knock". What the [expletive] is that supposed to mean?! Your first order of business is to defeat a boss. Why? I guess the developers wanted us to think they were some really wild and crazy guys ("What?! A boss already?? No way! This game is freakin' insane dude!!"). The muscle-bound boss isn't hard to beat however, considering your punches don't even need to make contact to wear down his health meter. That's right - you'll be punching from a safe distance and he'll still be blinking red and taking damage! That's the caliber of collision detection you can expect throughout the game. Upon picking up a red "W" icon, your caveman transforms into a werewolf via an unremarkable cut-scene (can you say "Altered Beast"?). As a werewolf, you're equipped with blades attached to your hands (how fast can you say "Wolverine"?). Next you must cross a spiked pit, which requires you to latch onto the ceiling. But even when you know exactly how to perform this move, it takes about twenty attempts before the non-responsive, piece-of-[expletive] controls kick in. Aggravating the situation are two bats that continuously fly across the screen and knock your hairy ass down if you don't swat at them first. Grabbing walls, on the other hand, is something your wolf does easily and with annoying frequency - usually when you don't want him too. It actually requires quite a bit of button mashing just to make him let go! Werewolf's stages are mainly uninspired mazes of underground passages rigged with electrical beams. In addition to fighting the obligatory ninjas, you'll face pistol-packing thugs in Spiderman outfits who yell "OH!" for no apparent reason. Icons provide health and power-ups, but some are actually harmful! Werewolf's graphics blow enormous chunks. The animation stinks, and when the screen scrolls sideways, unsightly artifacts flash along the edges. Werewolf is a case study in "bad", and the only silver bullet I could find was the "off" switch.
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In the climax of many old western movies, it was common for the hero and villain to face each other in a shootout in the middle of an empty street as the townsfolk looked on. Each man would place their hand near their gun, but neither would draw until the other guy flinched. Wild Gunman recreates the scenario over and over again, trotting out one gunslinger after the next. There are a nice variety of foes including a tall lanky gunslinger and a short Mexican wearing a poncho. When they yell "fire!", you have literally a fraction of a second to get off a shot. Wild Gunman's controls are very forgiving and highly responsive. Your reaction time is actually displayed on the screen after a successful shot, and it's interesting to see how fast your reflexes are, with times as low as .27. A successful shot results in a comical animation, like a hat flying off or pants falling down. The first of the three variations is easy and repetitive, and I played until I was bored. The second variation adds more challenge as you face two villains side-by-side. Sometimes they both shoot, but sometimes only one will draw, so you need to pay attention. The third variation depicts the front of a saloon with various characters appearing in the windows. It sounds like fun, but like the first variation, it's too easy and drags on for too long. While not particularly challenging or addicting, the game does have a certain degree of charm and personality.
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It's hard to find fault with such a faithful translation of this "semi-classic" arcade game. Xevious was not only the first vertically-scrolling shooter, but offered the ability to fire missiles at airborne enemies while bombing ground installations below. For best results, I suggest holding down the fire button the whole time and concentrate on timing your bombs. By precisely aiming between two closely-positioned ground targets, it's possible to take both of them out with a single bomb. The scenery consists of generic foliage and brown roads, and the buildings lack the 3D illusion they conveyed in the arcade version. Another difference is the difficulty level. The arcade game was relentlessly hard, but this version is far more accessible. The problem is, once you become proficient at the game, you'll still have to sit through the tedious early stages each time you play. Xevious was also one of the first games to incorporate large "bosses", and thankfully they're not very hard to destroy. One thing I don't like about Xevious is those black missiles that seem to materialize out of nowhere. The game includes a two-player mode, but it's alternating turns only. Xevious hardly seems like the groundbreaking game it once was, but this well-designed shooter is still a good time.
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Coming on the heels of the addictive puzzler Yoshi, Yoshi's Cookie provides a completely different challenge. This time you are presented with a grid of cookies of various shapes. You rotate the rows and columns trying to create a complete row or column of the same cookie, which eliminates that row. You must clear all the cookies to advance to the next level. Meanwhile, new rows and columns approach from above and to the right. I like the fact that you can actually "clear" the levels as opposed to playing until you get overwhelmed. I also enjoyed how it's possible to stumble across cool combos accidentally. Yoshi's Cookie is original and fun, but it didn't quite suck me in like the original Yoshi did.
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As Zanac beautifully illustrates, a shooter doesn't need cutting-edge graphics or devastating explosions to be satisfying and fun. This game appears totally generic on the surface, but its addictive gameplay is anything but! A vertical shooter of the highest quality, Zanac excels with crisp controls, clean visuals, imaginative weapons, and rock-solid gameplay. Your ship is quite agile, and despite the barrages of missiles you encounter, a skilled player can always find an escape route. The enemies are simple in shape and modest in size, but since they are generated at random, you'll encounter a different pattern of attacks each time you play. That's a pretty innovative concept for an NES title. Your upgradeable main cannon fires forward, but you also have a devastating "special weapon" that comes in four varieties including a spinning force field and timed smart bomb. Special weapon icons are labeled by number, so you can strategically select the best one for your current situation. The game is a blast to play, and there's no sign of slowdown even when dozens of objects fill the screen. Zanac's background graphics are attractive renderings of planet surfaces and space stations, and the high-energy soundtrack will really get the blood pumping. With little fanfare, Zanac's gameplay achieves that perfect balance few other shooters can match.
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Werewolf: The Last Warrior