King of the Monsters (Arcade, Neo Geo, SNES, Megadrive/Genesis)

 

King of the Monsters (Arcade, Neo Geo, SNES, Megadrive/Genesis) :

There's always room for some Kaiju-battling, and this fighting game from SNK gives you plenty of apartment-block sized baddies to bash!  Originally released in the arcades in 1991, there's not really a whole lot to say about the gameplay of this title...it's exactly what you would expect!  You fight either the computer or another player after choosing your character from the selection available, and battle it out until the other one's energy has dropped enough for you to finish them off!

I guess the way you have to pin them for three seconds, wrestling style, is a bit different from the usual Streetfighter-style of ending a match...and being able to pick up planes, cars, etc. that are passing by and fling them at your enemies is a little different, at least from most other beat-em-ups, but it's all pretty much par for the course with regards to other Kaiju battlers!

The arcade version is definitely the one with the most stuff to look at and interact with, and has an excitable guy who pipes up every now and again at the start of a match to shout about the giant beasties, but I found the Megadrive/Genesis game to be a bit speedier and slightly more fun as a brawler.

The Super NES version is probably the worst of the bunch, as it seems slower and clunkier. It's still okay, but you'd definitely be better off with one of the other versions if you're able to choose.  

The Final verdict then,  is that King of the Monsters is fine. But it's just fine. It's nothing special, but there's just enough fun involved for it to be worth a go if you fancy some beat-em-up action.  Oh, and yes, when I was recording the video, I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to press to pin my opponent, but worked it out eventually! Hehe....

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Avenging Spirit - (Arcade, Gameboy, Modern Consoles and PC)

 

Avenging Spirit - (Arcade, Gameboy, Modern Consoles and PC) :

Today we have a cutel little possess-em-up-platformer from Jaleco!

So the premise behind this game is that while out walking with your girlfriend one night, you are both attacked. Whilst your girlfriend is kidnapped by these odd gangster types, a far worse fate has befallen you, and you have kicked the bucket completely.  

 As luck would have it though, your belle's dad is a scientist who has been dabbling with the paranormal and summoning your spirit into a jar, he informs you that he thinks he knows where your girlfriend might be being held and teaches you how to possess enemies so you can use their own powers against them as you go on a hunt-and-rescue mission to save your lady!

It isn't going to be as easy as you would first think though, due to the fact that you require spirit energy to maintain these possessions, and any hits that you take from projectiles or any bashes you receive  from enemies, will decrease your energy until your spirit pops back out of whatever body you are currently possessing and you'll have to find another body before your 'un-life' force runs dry!

Taking control of the different enemy types is what really makes this game stand out from the platforming crowd, as each new baddie comes with it's own unique set of skills, and playing around with them until you find what suits can be great fun, as you traverse some tricky platforms and the usual jumping sections you find in such stuff.

I'm most familiar with the arcade version of the game, but it did also come out on Gameboy, and playing both again for this article, I have to say that the Gameboy version was a lot more speedy.  I was emulating both games though, and the arcade version seemed to be a bit slower and clunkier than I remember, so it might be an emulation issue, but nevertheless, both versions are worth a look as they each have their plus points!  And I think the game was ported to all the modern consoles a year or two ago as well, so it should be really easy to find somewhere to play it. It's definitely a cute little curio to play for the spooky season!

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Zombie Raid (Arcade)

Zombie Raid (Arcade) :

This is a funky lightgun shooter that was released in the arcades in 1995 by Sammy ! It had a shotgun attached to the arcade cab apparently, although I've only discovered it's delights via MAME and using a mouse, so it's probably lost some of it's atmosphere there...

Set in England in the early years of the last century, you play the part of Detective Edward Windsor and go roaming around graveyards and sewers battling zombies, werewolves and other creatures of the night! The screen pans around letting you pick off the baddies, who like to hide behind trees, gravestones and the like before leaping at you and biting your face off or shredding you with their claws! Occasional innocent humans will run across your screen too though, so you best avoid shooting them, or you'll lose some of your precious health!

There are a few bonus items to be found hidden behind destructible scenery, and a few other surprises like corpses hiding behind gravestones that suddenly slump forward, etc. that help add to the splendidly spooky setting!

This is a truly gruesome game, with bits flying everywhere as you blast the baddies away...it certainly isn't afraid to show you some gore! It has a nice variety of ghosties, ghoulies and long-leggity beasties to brutalize too which keeps it interesting as you advance through the game. It's all pretty standard lightgun-type stuff to be honest though, and there really isn't much more to say about it other than it's a lot of fun and should keep your trigger finger happy for a bit! Oh, and that you might have to fiddle around with the settings a bit to get mouse control working properly if you're playing it via emulator, but once you do you'll have a blast! 

Domain Of The Undead (Atari 800) & Satan's Hollow (Arcade)

Domain Of The Undead (Atari 800) :-

The box-art is probably the best thing about this stinker! It's basically a really poor Ghosts 'n' Goblins clone where you just move from one side of the level to the other, repeatedly shooting the rather rubbishy skeletons whilst also combating falling asleep from boredom! I don't think you should bother wasting your time with this....I'm certainly not wasting any more......

Satan's Hollow (Arcade) :-

After Domain Of The Undead, I needed to play a proper classic....Bally Midway's 1982 shoot-em-up was just the ticket! It's a rather groovy game, where all you have to do is defeat Satan's evil army of swooping Gargoyles, who are out to put a stop to you building a bridge to cross a lava-filled chasm leading to the big bad himself!

Flying in formation at the top of the screen, these fiendish flying freaks will drop eggs of fire and bombs to try and destroy your bridge building work, before swooping down to the screen and dive-bombing you...Luckily, you have a shield that protects you from attack for a short while, and you can fire back at the enemies as you move from the left side of the screen where you collect the bridge parts, to the right of the screen where you plonk them into position...

Occasionally, Satan's disembodied head will appear and try to spew flames on you too, so you'll need to avoid that as well! Every time you beat a wave of enemies, a little flag gets added at the side of the screen to keep tabs, but we'll get to that in a minute...

Once the bridge is complete, you can slide along onto another screen, where Satan appears and flings his trident at you. If you manage to defeat old devil-bonce, your little flags you got when kicking gargoyle-butt get added up as a bonus score, and you pop back to the first screen to fight ever more aggressive nasties!

Fairly simple in design, but actually pretty challenging, it's classic arcade gaming that will have you adding credit after credit for another go! Go get Satan behind thee now........

Magical Crystals (Arcade)

 Magical Crystals (Arcade) :-

You're an odd little wizardy type in this game, and all of your little pixie friends have been captured by some horribly nasty monster and stuck into these magical crystals....so you'll have to use your magic powers to defeat all the crazy enemies and break them back out, and go kick some baddie beastie butt!

And you'll encounter a weird bunch o' baddies indeed....everything from jelly monsters who split into smaller versions of themselves, to mad teacup-men who rush at you and try to drown you with their liquid filled heads!! 

Your main weapon appears to be mystical balls of energy or something,which you hurl at the enemies whilst also trying to avoid falling off the edges of the levels, which seem to suspended on nothingness... way, way up in mid air. 

Every now and then you'll come up against a boss (such as the aforementioned jelly thing) which will drop a huge crystal containing a Queen Pixie when defeated...or at least that's what I think is going on? I couldn't really find much in the way of story or instructions online to back up my theories...

Anyway, after you beat one of the bosses, you get treated to something a little different in one of the cool bonus mini-games! The ones I've discovered so far are pictured below, and involve a tug-of war with a random monster and some sort of whack-a-mole type thing. 

I believe there are others when you beat more bosses too...I can remember seeing a sort of skeet-shooting one when watching footage of the game on Youtube a while back....

As I mentioned earlier, the levels are just sort of floating in mid-air, and you often have to hop over large gaps in the level, or onto little moving platforms. Sometimes you'll land on one which will disappear after a short time, meaning you have to take extra care not to plummet to your doom. So you'll need to keep your wits about you....

You can also find the occasional power-up to help you out on your journey, my favourite being one which turns you super-size and lets you stomp on everything around about you! Great fun that one! 

And I think the pixies act as some sort of barrier when you collect them too, as they whirl around your body and seem to fly off if a stray enemy projectile hits them....

As you can see from the screenshots, the game looks great! And it pretty much is.....

It can get a little tricky when there are lots of projectiles flying around, or you hit a particularly nasty stretch of platforming, but overall it's a really fun game that any fan of cutesy-weirdness (or wizards.... or mad teacup-men....)  will really enjoy!

Arcade Games Special No.1

As these reposts would be a little scarce by themselves, I've collected a few of the Arcade games I reviewed over at Blog of Stuff into one special post! 

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Bogey Manor (Arcade) :

Groovy little arcade game that you won't have a clue how to play at first, which is frustrating, but once you work out you can stop the ghosts with your Bee-Gee-esque disco moves, thus allowing you to smack them with your stick, it becomes a lot more fun!

Anyhoo, run around smashing the mystical orbs and defeating the baddies and bring Bogey Manor crashing to the ground! Some nice platformy fun...

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Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters (Arcade) :

The evil Reptilons have taken the beautiful scientist Sarah Bellum hostage and it's up to our heroes Jake & Duke to rescue her and the other captives enslaved by these evil Robot Monsters in this isometric-arcade shooter from Atari...

As you traverse the various levels, you'll have to dodge bullets, rays. homing devices...all manner of nasty stuff chucked your way by the nicely animated enemies. Switches need to be flicked to activate stairs and the like, and you have to be extra careful not to shoot the various hostages that are busy working away for their alien slave-masters! Every now and then you'll get to pilot a little spaceship too for added enjoyment...

There are loads of secrets to be found in this B-movie style blaster, and it's loads of fun shooting everything in sight to see what it does. There's tons of stuff I could witter on for hours about, but as time is short I'll just tell you to seek it out...either in the wild,  via MAME or the retro compilations it's appeared on....even most of the conversions to other computers like Amiga and the good old Speccy....and just give it bash for yourselves! You won't be disappointed.... 

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Dark Tower (Arcade) :

This one blatantly steals graphic from other games (Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Black Tiger), nicks the music from Double Dragon and puts them together into something that plays very much like Bubble Bobble, only instead of capturing the baddies in your spit balloons, you smack them over the head with a club! Nothing special, but alright for a go or two...

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Monster Bash (Arcade) :

1982 Sega arcade game where you have to light candles to activate a magic sword, which you then use to defeat the villians of the piece....Dracula, Frankenstein and the Chameleon! Be careful though, as they have minions such as spiders and werewolves who'll try to get in your way too...

Simple, addictive gameplay and some spooky sounds make for another classic horror game experience...

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Nightmare In the Dark (Arcade) :-

Some Bubble Bobble/Snow Bros type stuff with this game, although it's a bit better presented than Dark Tower! Very similar gameplay-wise though, as you shoot fire at the baddies until they become a ball of flame which you can then send bumping around the levels to hit other baddies!

It all looks suitably spooksome, and if you like any of the other games mentioned in the paragraph above, you should find this pretty enjoyable too!

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Mutation Nation (Arcade) :

It's time for another wholly-unoriginal-but-still-perfectly-decent scrolly beat-em-up! This one has you battling against some evil mutants that have been created by some nasty scientist chappy....you'll know what to expect if you've played any side-scrolling beat-em-up ever!

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Demon's World (Arcade) :

This one's a freaky-deaky, side-scrolling shooter that sees you come up against various monsters and ghosties, and even features what looks like Jason from the Friday The 13th films...

Your character seems to be loosely based on the Ghostbusters, and you can get various different weapons to shoot the baddies with, including 3-Way-firing guns, Bombs, Laser guns, etc....

Again, it's fairly funky and filled with enough beasties to make it sufficiently scaresome, so go give it a go!

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Tricky Doc (Arcade) :

In this 1987 coin-op from Tecfri you play the role of Tricky Doc as he runs around his labs trying to control all his bizarre creations that have escaped from their cages! You do this by running up and down stairs and zapping them with some sort of monster-bug-spray or by punching them in the face! There are also a few obstacles and pit-falls to avoid...

Not much to say about this one really, as it's all pretty much straightforward platformy fun! Although as the title suggests it's also quite tricky! Still, it's well worth a go or two if you can find it out in the wild.....

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Big Karnak (Arcade) :

This one is a groovy little arcade platformer where you play as a pharaoh out to rescue his lady friend from a big winged creature that's swooped down and carried her off! You'll be using swords, magical scepters and even your good old fists to pummel the creatures between you and your goal...

There's lots of them too! Zombies, mummies, eagles, beetles, cat men, skeletons, snakes....and loads more...all out for your blood! There are lots of traps too in the form of spikes, pits and the usual tomb-like terrors you'd expect to find in Ancient Egypt...

Had lots of fun playing this one, and although it can be a bit tricky in parts, it's only pharaoh 'nuff that you give it a go! HAH! See what I did there? Pharaoh nuff! Hehehe......aheh....ha......*coff*.....sorry....best end this post here, eh!?

Ninja Kids (Arcade)

Ninja Kids (Arcade) : 

In this crazy 1990 arcade game from Taito, an evil cult is attempting to resurrect "The Satan"....yes that one.....well, probably...I mean how many Satans are there? Ach, it doesn't matter, apparently thee Satan is the one that these cultists want to resurrect!

Obviously, this would be a Bad Thing, and so The Sensei decides to get the Ninja Kids on the case and put a stop to the cultists evil schemes! Now...I'm not quite sure if the Sensei is really big and the Ninja Kids are really small, or if it's just a perspective thing, but as you can see from the pic above, the moment he sends them off on their quest looks a bit odd! They do sort-of resemble puppets, but then so do all the baddies, so I don't know...and if Sensei is really big and the cultists are tiny like the Ninja Kids, surely he could just stomp on them all rather than send his puppety minions off to battle....maybe I'm just thinking about it too much and should just get on with telling you about the actual game...

It's a typical side-scrolling, hack-'n'-slashy, beat-em-up of the type that you'd find all over the arcades in the early nineties, but has enough charm and playability to stand out from the crowd. There's really not much else to say about it, apart from point out the general weirdness that gives it that aforementioned charm!

The first enemies you'll face are street punks, whose bodies unusually fall apart when you smack them, so I guess they must be zombie street punks..unless they are indeed puppets! Which would explain that particular weirdness away, but not the weirdness that means they're somehow alive and helping a puppety cult try to resurrect The Satan! Anyway, you'll eventually come to your first boss, which is actually a prisoner that a cultist turns into a werewolf that sends packs of puppy-werewolves after you as a special move!

Luckily, each of the four ninjas you can choose from has their own special powers they can use against these The Satanists! Blue Ninja Hanzo has water abilities, Yellow Ninja Sasuke has wind, Red Ninja Akame fire and Green Ninja Genta uses earth abilities. Each set of powers can be leveled up a few times for a different effect, kind of like they way magic works in Golden Axe...

 

After beating the first section, you'll play a bit where you have to climb up a wall avoiding stuff the cultists are throwing out of windows... It's all gone a bit Crazy Climber! There's also big fat dude baddies who burst when you kill them, giving even more credence to the puppet theory....

Prisoners will often be dotted around the screen, or can be heard calling from behind doors, and you can rescue them for bonus points. Sometimes the ones behind doors turn out to be enemies trying to trick you though, so watch out!

Sometimes the translation can be a bit wrong, like the above "Here is a graveyard of you!" but it just adds to the funniness and grooviness of the game. As do the animations like the zombies heads just dropping to the ground when you kill them, or the cartoony mishaps like when you get hit by fire....

There's another climbing section on a plane, more badly translated text and more supernatural-themed baddies in the later levels, and it all adds up to a very enjoyable, weird, funny game that's great to play for Halloween, hence its addition to the list! It's on the Taito Legends Compiliation too, so if you have a PS2, Xbox or PC you can find it there, rather than trying to find a non-existent arcade...

All that remains once you've faced off against the big bad The Satan himself is to ponder whether he was ever really that much of a threat, given that if our heroes are indeed tiny puppets, he's only about as big as a human head... hmmmm....

I think I might still be a bit sleep deprived.....