Thursday, March 30, 2006
The First CD-Based Console - The PC Engine
The PC Engine was released in 1987 by NEC, a large information-technology company who make everything from super-computers to Mobile Phones. around the same time a Nintendo's Game Boy and NES systems were in full swing and not long before the SNES and Mega Drive Dominated the computer games industry too and had a fair stab at it. The brightly coloured graphics of its games and the relatively high level animation was at the time ground-breaking and led to many major releases on this title. As mentioned in the title it was also the first console to use CD's.
I have reviewed a few games here that i have played. Given my 5 minute demo time on the emulator i used i didn't really have the chance to really get to grips with some of the more likeable titles I tested so i chose the simplest games, with the quickest learning curve;
HUDSON SOFT
Hudson was created in 1973 by Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo, and they were lucky enough to be the first company to create and market games in Japan. They were also the first 3rd Party games supplier for Nintendo, and helped create the PC Engines most famous games and technologies, by creating the first CD-ROm games for consoles as well.
BOMBERMAN, 1991
Bomberman is an institution in itself, and has been released on nearly all the major platforms of the nineties. Basically the idea is to use bombs to detonate blocks in the sort of lattice-shaped room you are entered into. The bombs are also intended to be used to detonate enemies too, and even yourself unless you have your wits about you. Various powerups to increase then number of bombs available to you and the strength or blast radius appear, all by destroying blocks.
Bomberman really shines in its two-player mode, which in later releases extended the action to up to four players with the ability to throw bombs over walls and even steal powerups and status abilities.
CHEW MAN-FU, 1990
This is a very obviously Japanese designed puzzle game that seems to borrow elements from the previously mentioned Bomberman games, the action (?) being placed in a static square room and your character moving around it.
The goal of the game is totally different however, you have to grab different coloured orbs and moved them onto the corresponding covered squares. There are enemies present you will attack you, and there can be engaged by either squashing them between orbs or kicking the orbs at them. A particularly clever aspect of this game is its similarity to Pac-Man in that if an enemy comes up behind you, you are particularly vulnerable. You can't turn round when holding an orb and so you actually have to perform a sort of three-point turn in a corridor entrance.
KEITH COURAGE IN ALPHA ZONES, 1989
This game is an American title that is very similar to The Battle of Olympus on the NES. So similar in fact that they are almost the same game, with a few different differences.
The bulk of the action is a Zelda 2 style 2D - platform slasher, with your basic sword, jump and duck abilities and the option of entering rooms and warp portals. When entering said rooms, the characters speak to the various friendlies inside, involving buying weapons, items and health power-ups.
The bizarre thing happens when you enter a portal and turn into a large robot! Armed once again with just a sword, and engaging much bigger but still un-necessarily difficult
enemies.
I found this game needlessly difficult to be honest, the enemies apear from nowhere and the control responses are very slow. To be fair, i couldn't get very far in this game due to my time limit, but i have completed Battle of Olympus so I know what sort of stuff to expect.
SEGA
Sega was originally founded in California as Standard Games, desinging arcade games for
Americna Military Servicemen. They later became Sega and were massively popular with arcade-goers. Their big break came with 1989's Mega DRive (aka Genesis) which batteld with Nintendo's Super Famicon (SNES) for over eight years for console supremacy.
Sega have now been reduced to making software for other consoles and formats, due to their recently unsuccessful efforts in the next generation console market.
However, Sonic the Hedgehog will never be forgotten.
2) FANTASY ZONE, 1986 (SEGA), 1989 (NEC AVENUE)
Fantasy Zone is a sort of Cute-Em-Up game similar to R-Type in that it is a side scrolling shoot-em-up. The bad guys aren't particularly menacing and there is little actual crazed blasting involved and so has more of a puzzley feel to it. Of course there are the arbitrary power-ups to get different guns (albeit for a limited period) and status such as invincibility, but nothing particularly interesting.
The main difference between this game and others similar to it, is the ability to switch direction from left to right and control the direction you travel, and therefore change the enemies you engage. This adds a different dimension to the side-scrolling shoot-em-up but i felt in this title it just made it more frustrating, you can't move backwards and fire (it'll just make you turn your back on the enemy you want to shoot)
VICTOR MUSICAL INDUSTRIES (aka Victore Interactive Software)
This little known company were primarily a music company (as implied by their name) and have been occasionally branching out under the name Victor Interactive with famous titles such as Super James Bond on the SNES and even assisted int he development of the first FIFA international on the SNES also. They have created some lesser-known title on the Sega Dreamcast and even as recently as the SOny PS2, but have yet to make a significant impact on the games market (hence their lack of presence on the internet).
VEIGUES TACTICAL GLADIATOR, 1990
This is another side-scrolling shoot-em-up with a few nice touches I felt. Firstly it appears to be one of the first and few side-scrollers that don't involve spaceships (as such), but rather a large robot. Also instead of flying up and down the screen, the character runs around the screen, and has a power-assisted jump. Your two forms of attack are a forward firing gun and and a blast punch close-range attack.
The problem i mentioned in Fantasy Zone, above, was that the option to change directions led to difficulty properly manoeuvering the screen. This problem is addressed in Veigues, but not necessarily solved. You can move forwards and backwards, and by pressing down you can change the direction of fire. However just couldn't seem to get my head round this and constantly kept turning my back on enemies by accident again - maybe I should leave the guns to the real heroes.
Also there didn't appear to be an option to shoot down, or even duck (hence the constant spinning on the spot due to my instinctive pressing-down motions) and so i found my self getting jumped by spaceships under my feet.
I have reviewed a few games here that i have played. Given my 5 minute demo time on the emulator i used i didn't really have the chance to really get to grips with some of the more likeable titles I tested so i chose the simplest games, with the quickest learning curve;
HUDSON SOFT
Hudson was created in 1973 by Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo, and they were lucky enough to be the first company to create and market games in Japan. They were also the first 3rd Party games supplier for Nintendo, and helped create the PC Engines most famous games and technologies, by creating the first CD-ROm games for consoles as well.
BOMBERMAN, 1991
Bomberman is an institution in itself, and has been released on nearly all the major platforms of the nineties. Basically the idea is to use bombs to detonate blocks in the sort of lattice-shaped room you are entered into. The bombs are also intended to be used to detonate enemies too, and even yourself unless you have your wits about you. Various powerups to increase then number of bombs available to you and the strength or blast radius appear, all by destroying blocks.
Bomberman really shines in its two-player mode, which in later releases extended the action to up to four players with the ability to throw bombs over walls and even steal powerups and status abilities.
CHEW MAN-FU, 1990
This is a very obviously Japanese designed puzzle game that seems to borrow elements from the previously mentioned Bomberman games, the action (?) being placed in a static square room and your character moving around it.
The goal of the game is totally different however, you have to grab different coloured orbs and moved them onto the corresponding covered squares. There are enemies present you will attack you, and there can be engaged by either squashing them between orbs or kicking the orbs at them. A particularly clever aspect of this game is its similarity to Pac-Man in that if an enemy comes up behind you, you are particularly vulnerable. You can't turn round when holding an orb and so you actually have to perform a sort of three-point turn in a corridor entrance.
KEITH COURAGE IN ALPHA ZONES, 1989
This game is an American title that is very similar to The Battle of Olympus on the NES. So similar in fact that they are almost the same game, with a few different differences.
The bulk of the action is a Zelda 2 style 2D - platform slasher, with your basic sword, jump and duck abilities and the option of entering rooms and warp portals. When entering said rooms, the characters speak to the various friendlies inside, involving buying weapons, items and health power-ups.
The bizarre thing happens when you enter a portal and turn into a large robot! Armed once again with just a sword, and engaging much bigger but still un-necessarily difficult
enemies.
I found this game needlessly difficult to be honest, the enemies apear from nowhere and the control responses are very slow. To be fair, i couldn't get very far in this game due to my time limit, but i have completed Battle of Olympus so I know what sort of stuff to expect.
SEGA
Sega was originally founded in California as Standard Games, desinging arcade games for
Americna Military Servicemen. They later became Sega and were massively popular with arcade-goers. Their big break came with 1989's Mega DRive (aka Genesis) which batteld with Nintendo's Super Famicon (SNES) for over eight years for console supremacy.
Sega have now been reduced to making software for other consoles and formats, due to their recently unsuccessful efforts in the next generation console market.
However, Sonic the Hedgehog will never be forgotten.
2) FANTASY ZONE, 1986 (SEGA), 1989 (NEC AVENUE)
Fantasy Zone is a sort of Cute-Em-Up game similar to R-Type in that it is a side scrolling shoot-em-up. The bad guys aren't particularly menacing and there is little actual crazed blasting involved and so has more of a puzzley feel to it. Of course there are the arbitrary power-ups to get different guns (albeit for a limited period) and status such as invincibility, but nothing particularly interesting.
The main difference between this game and others similar to it, is the ability to switch direction from left to right and control the direction you travel, and therefore change the enemies you engage. This adds a different dimension to the side-scrolling shoot-em-up but i felt in this title it just made it more frustrating, you can't move backwards and fire (it'll just make you turn your back on the enemy you want to shoot)
VICTOR MUSICAL INDUSTRIES (aka Victore Interactive Software)
This little known company were primarily a music company (as implied by their name) and have been occasionally branching out under the name Victor Interactive with famous titles such as Super James Bond on the SNES and even assisted int he development of the first FIFA international on the SNES also. They have created some lesser-known title on the Sega Dreamcast and even as recently as the SOny PS2, but have yet to make a significant impact on the games market (hence their lack of presence on the internet).
VEIGUES TACTICAL GLADIATOR, 1990
This is another side-scrolling shoot-em-up with a few nice touches I felt. Firstly it appears to be one of the first and few side-scrollers that don't involve spaceships (as such), but rather a large robot. Also instead of flying up and down the screen, the character runs around the screen, and has a power-assisted jump. Your two forms of attack are a forward firing gun and and a blast punch close-range attack.
The problem i mentioned in Fantasy Zone, above, was that the option to change directions led to difficulty properly manoeuvering the screen. This problem is addressed in Veigues, but not necessarily solved. You can move forwards and backwards, and by pressing down you can change the direction of fire. However just couldn't seem to get my head round this and constantly kept turning my back on enemies by accident again - maybe I should leave the guns to the real heroes.
Also there didn't appear to be an option to shoot down, or even duck (hence the constant spinning on the spot due to my instinctive pressing-down motions) and so i found my self getting jumped by spaceships under my feet.
// posted by PashionConscious @ 2:08 PM 
