I had Dick Tracy from when it was current and it has surprised me twice now. When I first got it I was pretty sure it would be lame. Thinking back I can’t remember why I chose to get it? A gift maybe?… But what I do remember is enjoying this game.
The game is similar to Shinobi in that you walk from left to right, jump, duck, and shoot or punch. But what brings it above mediocre and into the realm of good games is the Tommy Gun and how it works. On some levels there are basically to plains. In the foreground where you are you can punch enemies or shoot them with your pistol. Enemies appearing in the background get cleaned up with the Tommy Gun. When you’re firing the Tommy Gun you slide the bullet spray across anyone you want to take out and it really works. It’s easy to do and really feels like your firing a fully automatic weapon. Switching back and forth between enemies in different locations creates a great dynamic to the game and helps keep things interesting.
My second Dick Tracy surprise was this game still holds up. The mechanics and feel still really work. And it’s not an expensive game 🙂
This Dick Tracy of mine got the Sharpie marker treatment in a few spots along the bottom of the cover sleeve. It was very easy to clean up but because of this I’d say it’s in good condition instead of excellent condition.
ZOOM! is an ok puzzle game. It’s no Poyu Poyu but if the puzzle genre is your thing it’s worth a look. ZOOM! has a small crack in the case but it’s still in very good condition.
The Kick Boxing… maybe that should be “Kick Boxing” or “The Kick Boxer”? 🙂 Well, we know where they’re going with this one and it seems like an OK game. The graphics are actually pretty good and it feels like this game was taken pretty seriously. It’s definitely not a button masher. Although I wasn’t very good it feels like there are some real solid game mechanics at here. Even though I didn’t notice right away once I did I found it weird that there was no music during game play. But the sound effects are really good for a 16-bit game. This one is in excellent condition.
Minato No Trazia is yet another RPG that I wont be able to play but I still enjoy getting RPG’s into the collection. The video clip below isn’t going to show much… I thought youtube had everything? I might have to get into recording my own stuff. Minato No Trazia has a very small crack in the case but it’s still in very good condition.
Super Daisenryaku. The best thing I can say is it was cheap and in excellent shape. It’s a tactical combat game that’s here to be a back drop for the games I actually like. Maybe it’s a good game but I’ll never know. Only those gifted with the Japanese language could say.
It is in excellent condition and has two unique manuals.
Dick Tracy
ZOOM!
The Kick Boxing
Minato No Trazia
Super Daisenryaku
So again, nothing super exciting but some good with some filler.
Dick Tracy – $12.00
ZOOM! – $5.00
The Kick Boxing – $5.00
Minato No Trazia – $10.00
Super Daisenryaku – $3.00
Plus $15.00 for shipping. Which is less than $10 per game.
For a long time I’ve been curious about Runark. I didn’t know about it when the it was new I only started to get familiar with it during my Internet hunting. On occasion I would see it and it was always pretty expensive. When I youtubed it I thought it look pretty good. I wasn’t able to get a great deal on it but I bought it anyways. It has great artwork and it’s in excellent condition.
Runark is Streets of Rages meets Indiana Jones. Except you’re not digging up ancient treasure or bringing a beat down to the criminal underworld you’re rescuing animals from evil poachers.
Ok, good enough… Plot was never a real concern for the 8bit and 16bit era.
There is a lot of variety to this game. Four Heroes to chose from, all sorts of in game weapons including plenty of items in the levels to interact with. It’s not as good as Street of Rage or Golden Axe and Runark is not afraid to re-use sprites but it’s still a really good game. This one surprised me.
Star Cruiser sucks but it’s in excellent condition and it will help fill up the shelves up.
Wrestleball looks like it could be ok but I doubt I’ll ever give it a real shot. It’s here to fill up the selves. It’s in excellent condition.
Speed Ball 2 is pretty close to the same game as Wrestleball but the graphics do seem to be a bit better. Again it’s in excellent condition and it will do it’s part too.
Runark
Star Cruiser
Wrestleball
Speed Ball 2
As always I’m pretty happy with cheap games that are in great shape even if the game itself isn’t that hot. And thank goodness the one expensive game is actually a good one.
There are some games that I really want in the collection.
I’ve started noticing that a lot of these games are the earlier releases from when I was most into my Genesis. Shadow Dancer is definitely one of those games. It’s a great game from a great series. The mechanic of your companion dog was really well done. It wasn’t over powered but still very useful. You could set your dog on an enemy and while the enemy was busy wrestling with the dog he wasn’t able to do anything else allowing you to easily take him out. This is a very good game.
This copy is in excellent condition and cost me $20 including shipping.
I’ve surprised myself at how pleased I am with these three new additions. Because of the language barrier I wouldn’t be able to play two of them and the third is unofficially ranked as the worst Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game ever… So why am I excited about these additions?
First, they’re were cheap and they are all in Excellent condition. Yay! Second, they all have pretty good artwork. And finally (and oddly) I found a positive review about Sword of Sodan on Sega-16.com that does a great job painting an entirely different impression of what is commonly thought of as a horrible game (more on that below the screen shots).
Rent a Hero looks like it could be a very cool game. I’ve read that it is a RPG that uses the Phantasy Star 2 engine but the combat is real time and similar to 2D fighting games. Sounds very interesting! I believe there is translated ROM lurking around the Internet. I might have to check it out.
Super Hydlide is a RPG that I almost bought back in the day. I loved the cover art so much I found it very hard to resist. A good friend was able to talk me down and save me from some disappointment. To this day I don’t know if Super Hydlide is bad or if it would have just been too complex for me as a kid… But now when cover art is enough I finally have this one for the Mega Drive side of my collection.
Rent a Hero
Super Hydlide
Sword of Sodan
Rent a Hero – $8.00
Super Hydelide – $5.00
Sword of Sodan – $10.00
Plus $14.00 for shipping (approx $12 per game)
Now, back to Sword of Sodan. I had never played this game and from all I read and what I saw of it on youtube I was ready to agree with the common consensus that it sucked really very hard. Then when browsing Sega-16.com I found a fans lengthy comments about his experience with Sword of Sodan and I was impressed. Not with the game but this gamers point of view and ability to explain the mechanics of the game and all the details that everyone else seemed to have missed.
Brothers and sisters, I am now among the few, the proud, the “WTF-is-wrong-with-you?”: for scarcely an hour ago, I beat Sword of Sodan on its highest difficulty setting. That is, Normal difficulty, three starting lives, and using the guy character — whose name is, I kid you not, “Brodan”.
Jokes aside, I think the game is far better than its reputation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got loads of problems, and I totally understand why people are frustrated and annoyed by it. It also didn’t help that the game defaults to the hardest difficulty setting — it makes the first level almost unplayable, at least without a lot of experience and patience.
But it seems like Sword of Sodan is yet another entry in the long line of offbeat games with strange controls, and apparently high difficulty, that get trashed relentlessly as “worst game ever” (paging Bokosuka Wars)…but which, if you actually take the time to learn their idiosyncracies, are totally playable and even fun. I’ve gotten to the point where, on any setting except Normal/Brodan, I can beat the game at least 50% of the time.
I think I even…am I allowed to say this here?…likeSword of Sodan. A lot of people complain about the stiff animation, but it doesn’t bother me at all — it’s as if I’m playing a medieval painting come to life. And I like the fact that there’s no music during the levels, it’s a welcome change from all the in-your-face Poochie power-chord bullshit that plagues so many games from the early 1990s.
For the record, I want to dispel a few myths and misunderstandings about Sword of Sodan:
“You have to crotch-stab everyone” – Totally not true, and a really bad strategy to boot. The overhead (Up+C) and thrust (Forward+C) attacks are the key to this game, and 99% of the time, they’re the only attacks you’ll use.
“The pits in Level 5 are invisible” – Again, not true, they’re just concealed. If you look at the backgrounds closely, there’s a little divot in the stone floor that shows you exactly where they are. Almost everyone gets this wrong, including the guy who wrote the GameFAQs walkthrough, but kudos to the Sega-16 reviewer who gets it right.
“The hit detection sucks” – OK, it kinda does, but at least it’s consistent. Once you learn where the hit boxes are on your enemies, they’re pretty reliable.
“It’s unbelievably gay” – I can’t really argue with that, because it’s easily one of the most homoerotic games I’ve ever played, on a par with NES Ring King even. (Cue Jerry Seinfeld saying “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”) I’d normally assume it was all unintentional, but when even the programmer bio in the manual says that “he may be on Uranus”, you really start to wonder. Actually, I think it’d be totally awesome if the whole game was deliberate camp; maybe John Waters could direct a sequel? “Sword of Sodan 2: The Battle of Baltimore!”
Having said that, there are two things that 100% suck in this game, at least if you’re playing on Normal difficulty. One is the first level, which is relatively easy with Shardan (the girl), but a nightmare with the guy, who doesn’t have enough reach to match the pikemen; a flaming sword (ahem) is the only answer here. The other one is the giant soldiers at the start of Level 5 where, unless you have an orange potion or a shield, it’s basically impossible to kill them if they double up on you.
There are some other things missing from the GameFAQs walkthrough, and I’ve thought about either emailing the author, or writing a second walkthrough of my own. For example, you can get through Level 4 (the zombie level) without taking a hit, simply by immediately jumping to the far right side of the screen and attacking repeatedly. Done correctly, it works every time: the zombies never have a chance, because you push them offscreen faster than the scrolling can catch up.
There’s a warp in Level 5, triggered by falling into the third pit (IIRC), that sends you straight to Level 6 and bypasses the rest of the giant soldiers. And in the final boss battle, you can actually drive him backwards just by kneeling right next to him! I also think he has some sort of regeneration timer — sometimes I’ve had to kill him three or four times before he changes into the wizard form, but if I do a lot of damage quickly, it only takes one cycle. (The occasional audio chime might have something to do with this? Not sure.)
So…anyone else out there who’ll stand up for this much-maligned but lovable freak of a game?
If you grew up in the ’90s in North America, you most likely have memories of the FBI logo screen and slogan “Winners Don’t Use Drugs” in most arcade games. Indeed, it has become a cultural icon of the time, although now merely relegated to a retro and sarcastic saying (Major League Baseball proved this false). At the time, it was on the forefront of the very serious War on Drugs… which in retrospect is sort of ridiculous.
However, to really get that arcade feeling, the kind people at Electronics Arts added a unique Easter egg for players looking for a quick fix. During the game, if you drink one of each kind of potion at the same time, your character’s chest bursts open and you fall to the ground, dying. Text appears that reads “Winners don’t do drugs.”
I’ve wanted the Final Zone the Genesis version of FZ Axis for a long while. It’s one of the few examples where the Genesis had different artwork but was also good. Good game, good artwork and very good condition. It’s a nice one for the collection.
Final Zone
Atomic Runner strikes me as an old style video game that managed to find it’s way to the Genesis. Similar to some of the Wonder Boy games where the levels always move to the right forcing the pace of the game. It’s also a one hit and you’re done game. I played it for a bit and it is very hard! It’s in very good condition and looks pretty good for the collection.
I know stopxwhispering over at retro-video-gaming is getting ready to post a review for this one but I’m guessing she still hasn’t beaten it; which for stopxwhispering is a prerequisite for her review. Good luck with this one! It’s a real challenge.
Atomic Runner
Global Gladiators is a franchised McDonald’s game. I wouldn’t have considered it except it was very cheap, complete and in excellent condition. The graphics are surprisingly good.
Global Gladiators
One of my main interests here is Land Stalker and unfortunately it’s not in as good shape as I thought it would be. I’d say the condition is good and I was expecting very good. I went back to the sellers pictures and there is no fault there. Sometimes pictures can be misleading. It’s a very good game but for the money I wish it was in better shape.
Land Stalker
Batman Forever was cheap and in excellent condition. <– That’s a big weakness of mine. But the game play is horrible. Global Gladiators is much much better.
Batman Forever
Final Zone – $24.95
Atomic Runner- $19.95
Global Gladiators – $5.95
Land Stalker- $29.95
Batman Forever – $8.95
Plus $3 for shipping. It wasn’t actually three but I was able to work out a deal and the seller took it out of the shipping cost. ($18.55 per game)
Here are four new addition for the collection. These four Mega Drive games are nothing too exciting but three of them are somewhat unique.
Darwin 4081 is another top down spaceship shooter. It’s in excellent condition and the game itself looks just ok. So nothing very special here.
Darwin 4081
Ringside Angel is the only Mega Drive/Genesis game to have a hologram cover and this copy is in excellent condition.
Ringside Angel
SHIKINJOH looks like it might be a good puzzle game. Music is good, graphics are simple and it could be a solid puzzler. What I like most about it is that it’s one of those few Sunsoft games to come in a very small case. If you look close you’ll also notice that the case spine is on the right. This style case is thoroughly Japanese! I’m curious why all Japanese Mega Drives games don’t open this way.
SHI KIN JOH
TEL TEL MAHJONG is another Sunsoft mini case and that’s the only reason I wanted this mahjong game.
TEL TEL MAHJONG
Darwin 4081 – $12.00
Ringside Angel – $10.00
SHIKINJOH – $12.00
TEL TEL MAHJONG – $10.00
Plus $23.50 for shipping (approx $17 per game)
Below is a picture of my four Sunsoft mini case games. I did a quick search and I couldn’t find any others. These might be the only mini cases releases for the Mega Drive. I do know that not all Sunsoft games come in these mini cases. Panorama Cotton for example has the over sized cartridge but with a normal size clam shell case.
Edit (Update): Roger posted a great comment below about these Sunsoft mini cases. Turns out there are seven in this style: Super Fantasy Zone, Batman, Shi Kin Joh, Tel Tel Mahjong, Flashback, Lemmings and Tel Tel Stadium. It might be hard to get these last three but I will try 🙂 Thanks Roger!
My Sega Mega Drive Sunsoft mini cases.
Edit (Update): My fellow collector geelw made a good point about Ringside Angel. What I described is not actually a hologram cover but instead a lenticular printing. But at the time of my original post “lenticular” wasn’t in my vocabulary.
geelw‘s comment below made me realize that I didn’t actually know what was on the cover and hidden by the lenticular printing. I was curious enough to pull it out and take a few pictures:
Lenticular Portrait
Lenticular Gun Show
So there is nothing too shocking (or interesting) here but finally we can put this Mega Drive mystery to bed.
Dick Tracy
ZOOM!
The Kick Boxing
Minato No Trazia
Super Daisenryaku
Retro Megabit 