runnging battle

It’s been so long since I’ve added a Sega Master System game to the collection I decided to hunt one down. I’ve actually been looking for a long time and it’s been difficult. I have so many Master System games that it’s been hard to find one that I’d want to add to the collection.
Did I want to add Running Battle to the collection? Not really. Not after playing it but it does have a few things going for it.

First, it’s complete and in Excellent condition. Second, it’s an action game (beat’em up/shooter). It even has a cool little back story but… Despite having reasonably good 8bit graphics it falls short on some key things. It looks isometric like Double Dragon or Golden Axe but it’s actually only 2D; there is only left and right and jump. And it has poor hit detection. Shooting an enemy with a gun is easy, no problem. But for a lot of the game you fight hand to hand and it’s really hard to hit someone and not get hit back. It feels inevitable that you’re going to lose some health anytime you try to duke it out. Often it’s safer and easier to just jump over an enemy and let him run away. However, I will admit that the player in the video below is playing better than I did.

Running Battle