Sega Mega Drive: Splatter House 2

Year: 1992
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 1
Our Rating: 8/10

Mini Review

“She doesn’t have to die Rick”. Chilling, just chilling from the first screen to the last. I have to admit this game won’t be to everyone’s taste, the subject matter will alienate anyone with decent morals and the wooden controls will alienate anyone born in the analogue joypad generations. However, I’m a child of the ‘80s so the idea of a violently graphically jaunt around a house full of Hells finest demons fills me with glee. As with most games the plot isn’t too much of a novel. Rick’s girlfriend Jennifer has been captured by the demons in the house.

In order to save her Rick must don the horror mask again and battle through some of game histories nastiest demons to rescue her. Splatterhouse II is superbly made, the animations, music and sound effects are just perfect for creating a sinister atmosphere. There’s a real sense of dark insanity to this game. You will pick up plumbing pipes and smash the undead in to a bloody mess, you will punch 8ft demons square in the mandibles and you will almost certainly want to keep the lights on when you play this one. I may be slightly biased on this one but I would have to rank this as one of the definitive games of the 16-bit era. Splatterhouse II was not the last outing of the series but is possibly the most revered by the critics. Try typing Splatterhouse in to YouTube and you will find dozens of entries of highlights, walkthroughs and even time attack challenges. Splatterhouse never really went away because it was a one of a kind. I’m not always keen on remakes or resurrecting old series. However, to see what a modern version of Splatterhouse with the same attention to detail would be truly terrifying!

Splatterhouse II Video Introduction and Level 1.

Sega Mega Drive: Mortal Kombat III

Year: 1995
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 7/10

Mini Review

Mortal Kombat III revisited the beat ‘em up blood fest genre it helped propagate in its previous editions. The game boast more characters, more blood, more combos, more special moves and finishing moves. The game also offers a new password system at the start of each battle. If you are quick on the joypad you can enter special combinations of symbols to unlock special characters and modifiers. The game play itself remains consistent to its predecessor.

The ever faithful uppercut is a reoccurring favorite move, especially if used as part of a combo. The main mode will see you going round after round with the cast, ranging from elemental ninjas to robots. By this time in the series it was fully self aware. The shock value of the original game barely registers as the series developed. Instead the developers took the 2D franchise down the “larger than life” pantomime route. I for one am glad that they did as a straight shock fest would have little impact on a third outing. Although the game is ridiculously bloody it’s the comedy that you notice first in the finishing moves. Finishing moves such as Cyrax dropping tones of grenades and Scorpions fire deaths are a joy to relive. Overall Mortal Kombat III is about as good as the concept will allow it to be. It’s full of energy and has a strong game identity. Personally I like this edition of the game but I perhaps choose to overlook some of it’s limitations.

Sega Mega Drive: Mortal Kombat II

Year: 1993
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 7/10

Mini Review

Mortal Kombat II: The second outing of the popular and brutally violent series. The premise of Mortal Kombat is unchanged. You must win the tournament to secure the safety of the world. The first game laid down some good foundations for it’s sequel, it’s obvious that the team went back and kept the original larger than life feel of the game and exaggerated it even more. The character selection has been greatly extended with additions such as Baraka, Reptile, Kung Lao, Kitana, Jaxx and Melina.

The arenas themselves have been upgraded a knotch too, some with multi-platform reached by an uppercut, others with background animations to breathe a bit of life in the atmosphere. Perhaps the biggest change/improvement of the game though is the characters themselves. Whilst still a little stiff at times the animations and controls seem a little smoother and easier to get used to making this game much more enjoyable than the first. Each character has a range of in fight special moves. The characters each have their own Fatality, Friendship, Animality and Babality finishing moves too. There’s plenty here to learn and there is excellent replay value in mastering the finishing moves. Some of the most frustrating aspects of this game are the boss fights. Kintaro in particular seems to just be making fun of the learning curve. His teleport stomp must be one of the most annoying moves in beat ‘em up history. Overall though Mortal Kombat II is a solid fighting game, As is usually the case, the two player option is by far the most fun. If you haven’t played this game before it is worth a trial.

Sega Mega Drive: Mortal Kombat

Year: 1992
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 6/10

Mini Review

Mortal Kombat: The game that glorified graphic violence, digitised animation and atrocious spelling. The Mega Drive version is a fair representation of the game although the aficionados will no doubt tell me that they miss the bonus round in the Amiga version or the use of a superior sound chip in the SNES.

After this many years there’s really nothing new that anyone can tell you about the franchise. This simple game escalated in to dozens of sequels, movies, TV series, cartoons, action figures and game crossovers. This is a game that gained recognition through shock value alone. Back in the ‘90s video games were blamed from everything from teen smoking to creating a generation of mass murderers. Every few years it becomes big news, the question “Are violent video games bad for our children?”, the question will never die. Personally I’ve never seen any 12 year old turn in to a dragon and decapitate a lightning God in real life. This first outing seems horribly dated to play, the controls are so stiff I was amazed when I had a recent replay. The game is one that I don’t often return to as all of its sequels offer something a little more. In terms of nostalgia value though the memories of “Finish Him” followed by that chaotic moment of button mashing to get Sub-Zero to rip out someone’s head and spinal column are priceless. You’ve probably stumbled upon this page hoping to read a positive review of a classic. It’s true that the game has much notoriety. However, I would recommend checking out Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat III if you do need a retro gore fest.

Sega Mega Drive: Mega Bomberman

Year: 1994
Genre: Party
Players: 1-4
Rating: 9/10

Mini Review

Hudson Soft have a long running series in the Bomberman franchise. The game has long lasting appeal based around the notion that blowing up your friends is fun (and it is). The basics of Bomberman are that you can place a bomb to blow up a destructible block from the level. Under the block you may discover a power up such an extra bomb, upgraded fire power, throwing glove, remote detonation bombs, kick ability, push ability or even line bombs.

The one player version can become rather dull as there really is no deep planning to your strategy, it’s simply a case of mining your way to the exit. However the multi player version is fantastic. You will find yourself scrambling for power ups, trying to trick your opponents in to dead ends, give them disease power ups, steal their Louies (mountable creatures with special attributes) and maybe even steal their joy pad. Once a player is blown up his/her collected power ups will re-disperse across the level to be collected by the remaining bombers. Vs battles usually end with two super equipped bombers laying line after line of super powered bombs.

This version of the game has some nice additional detail such as being able to select different versions of Bombermen including midgets, miners, policemen, robots and more. Mega Bomberman is one of the better versions of the franchise and I can highly recommend for evenings in with friends.

Sega Mega Drive: Mega Turrican

Year: 1994
Genre: Shoot ‘em up
Players: 1
Our Rating: 8/10

Mini Review

Now let’s get this straight, we’re talking about Mega Turrican for the Megadrive/Genesis. Not Turrican 1, Turrican 2, Super Turrican, Super Turrican 2 or any of the many other variations. The series is one that the fans love to argue over. For my two cents Turrican 2 on the Amiga 500 is still the best of the series *awaits death threats from the hardcore console players*. However, no matter which Turrican you personally regard as the best I would still tip my hat at the Megadrives Mega Turrican as a highlight.

OK, so the sound chip on the Sega system was, well let’s say “quirky”, the overall game play is surprisingly good. The back story is ridiculous so I won’t even go there. It’s as shallow as mechanoids fighting for galactic peace right through to being as influential as “Catcher in the Rye” according to how influenced/mad you are. Again type “Turrican” in to Google and you will notice that the game has escalated in to its own religion. You have your armored suit, equipped with a grappling tool and a multipurpose gun. It’s a very smooth run and gun platformer. The gun seems to be upgraded every few seconds and the explosions and action are everything that you would want them to be on a 16-bit console. It’s a nice game to pass the time and it really doesn’t matter really how bad a gamer you are, everyone looks good when the screen is filled to the brim with bullets. Whilst the debate of whether this is the best Turrican will never be resolved I think that if you’ve never played this version you may genuinely be surprised by the high enjoyment level.