If you lack Street Fighter 3 skills, fear not because this awesome video is here to help you become a street fighting master, what do you mean nobody plays 2d fighters anymore...

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Here's the intro to Snatcher for the Mega/Sega CD, if you like it, you should do your best to play it...it's pretty amazing, if you don't like it please email hideo.kojima@konami.co.jp and he will tell you where you can stick it!

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Here's a runthrough of one of my favorite ever shumps for your viewing pleasure.

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Well i haven't updated in a while because the last few days have been pretty action packed, but rest assured the last 3 days have been 100% retro! I want to thank everyone who had a hand in setting the Retro Revival Week up, and everyone who read my updates over the week (all 2 of you :P).

But for now, lets get this show on the road...the finishing post is in sight!

The first console i busted out was the old NES. Sadly my NES collection is pretty pathetic, but spurred on by Jir's memory lane series and the fact that NES games only cost about £1 that should change in the near future!


I bought this from a friend back when i worked at Lionhead, but i hadn't really got much of a chance to play it until now, i have to say i really enjoyed it alot. I'm a big admirer of Kojima's work and by playing his early games you can really see how he developed as a designer.


I picked this up for a few pounds a while ago because i remebered playing it at a friends house about 15 years ago, you play as Orpheus, the greek hero and visit a variety of Greek places and kill Greek monsters...it's pretty Greek...
My favorite item is the Sandals or Hermes which let you stick to the ceiling, their pretty rad.


Where would we be without Mario eh, i don't even really want to think about it...but it would be a bad place thats for sure!


This is probably my second favorite Mario game after Super Mario World, people say Miyamoto makes too many games about coins and Mushrooms, but i happen to be a big fan of Coin and Mushroom based entertainment...

The Next Console i hooked up was the Mega CD (Sega CD in the US) There are only a handful of games worht playing on it, and even less if your from Europe (No Lunar or Popful Mail for us :() but if you look hard enough you can find a few gems even in the this scant lineup. Day 6 was spent playing one such gem...


If you ever have a strange desire to buy a Mega CD, a Blues Brothers style mission from god, there is only really one game you need for it, Snatcher is the best game on the Mega CD without a doubt, thats not saying much considering the competition, but it really is a masterpiece. I am going to try and post a video of the intro movie at some point, it's awesome.

Finally i picked up my Neo Pocket, sadly the neo pocket suffered from poor advertising despite having some really awesome games, and an amazing d-pad that actually made it possible to do a spinning piledriver every time!


I'm a pretty big King of Fighters fan, and i was really surprised how well the game translated to a handheld, all the moves are there and the opponents are just as tough as ever, forget Alpha 3 on the PSP, if you want really good handheld 2d fighters get a Neo Pocket!


While they changed the formula a little bit, this version of Metal Slug still retains the feel of the original series, it's just been shrunken slightly, probably using some kind of voodoo...


This is my favorite Neo Pocket game, if i had to describe it, it kind of like Pokemon, except you fight using Capcom and SNK characters. I am pretty Pumped for the DS sequel..i hope they don't mess it up...

Well thats all for this Week of Retro fun, you take care now you hear!

The Sega Megadrive holds a special place in my heart, it’s the first console I owned that I had all to myself, it’s where I cut my teeth and learned the skills that would eventually make me into the amazingly skilful gamer I am today (i wish)

It was actually pretty tough to choose which games to play but I managed it in the end…want to find out what I chose…then read on dear friend..read on!

First up was Zero Wing although i'm going to be honest with you, i only watched the intro...it still raises a smile...

Next up was Phantasy Star IV, this is my favorite entry into the Phantasy Star series (although the original was also pretty amazing too). In Phantasy Star IV you play as a hunter named Chaz, who despite having a very un-heroic name goes on a quest to save the galaxy from the evil Dark Force...gripping stuff.

Gunstar Heroes! This has got to be one of my all time greatest MegaDrive/Genesis games, there's not really much more i can say about it...

This game features Bomberman...except this time he's MEGA.
More modern games should have the words Super or Mega somewhere in the title...I think I’ll suggest that to my boss for our next game...

 

Today i played Hella games, and i'm too lazy to write about them so...

Hold onto something ladies and Gentlemen, i'm about to unleash a righteous montage!

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When i walked into my local Gamestation a few months ago i didn't have any great expectations, little did i know i was going to find something magical hidden away in the retro corner...


TURBO EXPRESS GET!

I think the only reason it hadn't been bought within seconds was that these were never released in the UK, and nobody knew what the heck it was...still their loss is my gain!


Here's a little size comparrison between a Neo Geo, MegaDrive/Genesis cart and a TurboGrafx Hucard.

Yesterday i mean't to do a little micro review of each game i played, but i didn't have enough time, today is a whole different story however!


Blazing Lazers (called Gunhead in Japan) is a really awesome top down shooter, with some crazy weapons which must have been amazing for the time, each time you collect a powerup a recorded voice announces it, because back then voices were cool, even if they did sound like ass...


In Bonk's Adventure you play ask Bonk (duh!) a little caveboy with a gigantic head, the object of the game is the use Bonk's head to er...Bonk the enemies...
Thankfully for those of you without a Turbografx it's being released on the Wii virtual console...joy!


R-Type is a famous side on shooter which hit the arcades back in 1988, The TurboGrafx version is really good and keeps pretty much everything intact, including the crazy difficulty...I can't get passed level 4...

Apologies for the rubbish Pictures, my webcam was made in ancient times, anyway lets crack on. Hidden up on the top shelf away from kids with sticky fingers is the pride of my games collection, the thing I would grab first if my house was burning down, it will come as no surprise to learn that on this, the first day of Retro Revival week, that I should reach straight for



…My NEO GEO collection.

The first thing that strikes you when you pick up a Neo Geo game is the sheer size of the thing, their massive, put one outside in the garden and you could see it from space!



Thankfully every inch of these gigantic carts is filled with high levels of awesome, except if the game is Legend of Success Joe, that game sucks hard…

MISSION COMPLETE!

Retro Revival Week Day 1 Games Played: Metal Slug 3, KOF 98, Mark of the Wolves, Last Blade 2, Samurai Showdown 2.

I set out to find a picture of this weeks legendary game character and while doing so i stumbled across an article that explains him way better than i could, so i decided to steal it...
So without further ado i present to you an article which has had precisely zero input from yours truly, check it!



When you think of the Castlevania Series, ten-to-one says that the name "Simon Belmont" will come to mind. Those of you that think "Alucard" would be wrong, while those of you that think "swiss cheese" should leave this website immediately. Simon is the definative hero of the Belmont lineage, while Alucard was just lucky enough to star in one of the most successful CV games to date. If it was Simon and not Alucrad in that game, you know everyone would be hailing Simon.

Simon came from simple roots. He worked a day job at the local bookstore, where he made little monay, as most of the populace of Transylvania at the time was illiterate. In the evenings he fought evil, nasty things in crypts and dungeons... or had impure thoughts of Maria, who technically came 100 years or so after Simon, but that didn't stop the impure thoughts.

Simon's claim to fame came the day Castlevania appeared. For anyone else, a castle appearing out of no where would seem rather odd, maybe even strange or different. But not so for Simon... not that he'd actually seen castles appear before, and in fact it was rather strange, odd, and different for Simon, but in a rather expected way that only the really cool and dashing, and those who's family's history is intertwined with appearing castles, have.

In otherwords: He knew it was coming before it even knew it itself... or something...

And so it was that Simon went to this appearing castle, facing his destiny... which to his friends, co-workers, and the people who saw him in the street, made rude comments about him behind his back, and generally forgot to bathe, seemed certain death. But he surpirsed them all. He didn't die, nor did he run screaming into the night (unlike his second cousin, Bruce Belmont, who faced the Wandering Banshees of Transylvania, and survived only by running and soiling himself). He came out on top. He defeated Dracula... And all he had was a silly little curse to deal with.

Dracula, in a bout of intelligence not seen in later games (or earlier games depending on how you look at it), had cursed Simon. If his body was not put back together and his corpse resurected within a certain time, Simon would die. Simon was not a big supporter of this plan, and so he set off to try and find the body parts of Dracula, which the Dark Prince's minions had secreted across the countryside.

It comes as no surprise to Simon's fans, and those who have played his video games, that Simon succeeded (unless you play like I do, in which case he can't even get out of the first town). And yet, with Dracula defeated twice, Simon somehow is called into battle AGAIN.

Somehow the Dark Prince once again comes back from... well... wherever it is he goes when he is defeated. Maybe Jersey... And so Simon goes to Castlevania and defeates Dracula.

For those counting, that's three times (or four, if you count Vampire Killer, which I think takes place in the continuity around the same time as Castlevania... maybe even five, with Haunted Castle, which barely is in the continuity at all...). How many times has Alucard had to fight Drac? Twice, and he had help once. You don't see Simon needing the aid of a Buddy System to fight evil. He just has his wits and a really short leather skirt.

And that's why he's the man.

All words and pictures stolen from www.inverteddungeon.com

Simon Belmont Game apperances:
Castlevania NES
Castlevania II Simon's Quest NES
Super Castlevania IV SNES
Castlevania Chronicles PS1
Vampire Killer MSX
Haunted Castle Arc

Thanks to the magic of film I know what the future will be like, cars will be faster, sleeker and safer. Buildings will be like vertical cities, and Harrison ford will be there, just a bit younger looking, sporting a sweet brown mac. Infact it seems that everyone who is anyone in the future will model said mac, and after all why not, it’s a powerful coat, an adventurers coat, I coat that says. I’m naked under here. It will impress your friends just as it Rankles your enemies.

Unfortuately the future will not be a peaceful place, due to the inevitable attack of robots wearing the skin of their human victims.

Thank jebus for People like Gillian, with fashionable, mac wearing, people like him around we needn’t be afraid... Gillian Seed game apperances: Snatcher PC-8801/MX2/PCE/SCD/PSX/SAT