Spider-Man vs. NYC

I grew up playing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin for the Genesis, and it is one of the earliest games for the system that my family owned. Maybe it was because of that, or because it was at the height of the comics boom, when everyone loved Spider-Man, but my brother and I loved this game. It's really not a very good game, but all that mattered was that it is a game that a kid can play as Spider-Man. It was the first game developed by Technopop, a company that only lasted through the nineties, whose only other notable game was the early console FPS Zero Tolerance, also for the Genesis.

Brown Before It Was Cool: Desert Strike

It's strange how much things stay the same. Back in 1992 EA's biggest success was a military shooter based around real world weaponry and a fictionalized version of a modern conflict in the Middle East. Some people were saying that it was in bad taste. It was a whole big thing. On the other hand, much of the success of Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf was based on the way it was different from the other shooters at the time. It isn't about just blowing up everything on screen and never getting hit by a single bullet, but about going around, completing objectives, and tactically dealing with any opposition there might be.

Ariel: The LIttle Mermaid

I imagine there are at least a few people out there that are fond of The Little Mermaid for the NES. It is a Capcom game for NES, after all. But that is not what this post is about, it is about 1992's Ariel: The Little Mermaid for the Genesis, which was most definitely not made by Capcom. Actually, it was made by a company known as Bluesky Software, whom aren't responsible for many games, but did make Jurassic Park:Rampage Edition. While I kind of like Rampage Edition because it was pretty much an insane expansion pack to the first Genesis Jurassic Park, they apparently aren't that great at making their own good game from the ground up.

Ghostbusters: The Old Good One

Ghostbusters is a franchise that has always had a pretty shaky history when it comes to video game adaptations. This probably stems from the fact that the series started in the early eighties, and there wasn't much developers could do to make a good game based on the series for primitive systems like the Atari 2600. Even though the NES or Master System could theoretically host a good Ghostbusters game, they didn't because the games were based upon earlier versions. Thankfully, when Compile developed Ghostbusters for the Sega Genesis they started from scratch and ended up making a fun game.

Baby's Day Never Got Out

Some weird stuff just can't be found in stores.  For example, I found this. . . thing while browsing a Genesis rom set.  Now, I don't really remember the Baby's Day Out other than the name, but apparently it was a movie that bombed horribly and spawned a game that was mercifully canceled.  The first name I noticed when starting the game up was Hi Tech Expressions, the publisher that inflicted that Beethoven game upon the world, but it was actually developed by a studio called Designer Software, who's only release was some Mickey Mouse game.

Maximum Carnage: Listen All You Fools

I think there are a lot of people my age out there who have fond memories Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage from Software Creations. It is something I don't think anyone who grew up after the 90's comic book collector's bubble burst would quite understand. It's a Spider-Man game that also has Venom as a playable character, it has a bunch cameos of other Marvel characters, and the big boss is the crazy serial killer Carnage, whom all the kids loved at the time. On top of all that, it had music from Green Jellÿ, and in retrospect that is really the only good thing about it.

Pac-Man 2: An Unexpected Adventure

If I were to ask the common man what the sequel to Pac-Man is, the response would mostly likely be Ms. Pac-Man. But, in reality Ms. Pac-Man wasn't so much a sequel as a hack, originally called Crazy Otto, but that is story for others to tell. The only time Namco had the courage to name a game as a true sequel was with 1994's Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, which isn't at all like the previous games in the series, but is weird and interesting in its own right. I played it on Genesis, but as far as I know there isn't a big difference between that and the SNES version.

Bubsy: Insert Cat Pun Here

Back in the early nineties there was a race to create the next big mascot character. Publishers saw the success of Sonic the Hedgehog, and they wanted some of that sweet money of children. A lot of companies that didn't need a mascot ended up with one just so they could make a bland platform game based around him, and one of the best examples of this is Accolade's Bubsy. It may have not been that great of a game, but the character of Bubsy the bobcat had enough 'tude to sell a bunch of games and green light a few sequels.

Streets of The Punisher's Final Fight

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Best of the Something: Championship Karate

The best part to start complaining about Best of the Best Championship Karate by Electro Brain for the Genesis has the be the back of the box. First of all, the screenshots appear to have been made by taking pictures of a television, so you can already tell the quality of this game must be very high. The graphic design is also quite bad, with a giant wall of text off to the left. The writing makes it sound like it was made by some people that sure liked the kung fu movies of the eighties. This is cemented by the fact it says it is about a tournament called the “Kumate.” Obviously, they were going for “Kumite,” like in the movie Bloodsport, but even that movie was weird in it's choosing to name a deadly fighting game tournament something that translates to “sparring.” I don't know much about Japanese, but I'm fairly sure a “kumate” would have something to do with bears.

Shadow of the Beast II

I have a weird story about Shadow of the Beast. One time I was playing random roms at my brother's house while he was on the phone with a friend of ours. Our friend hears the sounds coming from the stereo and asks “are you playing Shadow of the Beast?” My brother asks me, and I say that I don't know because I didn't even stop read the title. So, our friend goes on to describe the game, and as it turns out I was in fact playing Shadow of the Beast. I promptly forgot about the game because it wasn't interesting any in way, and that is probably how I unwittingly purchased the game's sequel, Shadow of the Beast II  for Genesis.

Fun'N'Games'N'Shit

I am thoroughly disappointed by Fun'N'Games.  When I saw the game sitting on the shelf it seemed like something right up my alley.  It appeared to be another game like Art Alive! for the Genesis, but with extra non-painting modes like Mario Paint.  It even was capable of using the Sega Mega Mouse, which I don't have, but that's cool, right?  I've never come across one of these non-games that I couldn't squeeze some fun out of by doing some weird shit.

Blades of Vengeance: An Intense Battle With Unbelievable Evil

When looking through Genesis games at a used game store today, a friend of mine decided to purchase Blades of Vengeance simply because under the title was written “Intense Battle With Unbelievable Evil.” Quite frankly, that description was worth dropping the two US dollars. It just sounds like it would be kinda fuckin' metal, and that seems like it would be entertaining. The game was made by Beam Software in 1993 for the Genesis. Beam Software has made quite a few games, but the only one I've ever actually played is the SNES version of Shadowrun, which was pretty neat.

Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday

During the “console wars” of the 16-bit era, one of the major complaints about the Genesis was its lack of RPGs. Sure, it had the Phantasy Star series and the Shining Force series, but it never had the sheer volume of RPGs that the SNES had. One thing it did have were more western-style RPGs, such as the much more pen-and-paper RPG influenced version of Shadowrun, and the subject of this post, a port of SSI's Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. The original PC version is based on the pen-and-paper Buck Rogers XXVC universe, and the Genesis version released a year later was an interesting case of compromise between deep RPG roots and console usability. I am probably one of a very small group of people in my generation whom has treasured childhood memories of Buck Rogers.

Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude!

Nobody makes games like Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! anymore. It seems increasingly rare that a game company takes a wacky subject and runs with it. I guess games are just too expensive to do something risky these days. Greendog is a 2D platformer for the Genesis released in 1992. It was developed by the Sega Technical Institute, Sega of America's group of programmers that created Comix Zone and Kid Chameleon, as well as assisted on various Sonic titles and Die Hard Arcade. The team was eventually fell apart with the cancellation of Sonic X-Treme, their Sonic game for the Saturn.

Eternal Champions: A Fate Worse Than Death

The popularity of fighting games in the 90's has more than a few pitfalls. As primitive as the early Street Fighter games were and as much as I don't like Mortal Kombat, I have to admit they became the basis of 2D fighters because they got the core of the game right. Most of the games that tried to capitalize on their popularity superficially recreated the games they aspired towards, but messed up the formula. Eternal Champions  was Sega's attempt to make a 2D fighter, and it is definitely one of those games that doesn't really understand what makes fighters good.

An Art Alive Exhibit

Art Alive is generally remembered as “Sega's Mario Paint,” which in spite of the fact it came out a year before Mario Paint is pretty much accurate. It's not like Sega invented the idea of a console art program anyway, I mean, wasn't there that dinosaur coloring game for NES? Art Alive wasn't as robust as Mario Paint, and it didn't have a mouse, but it was a decent little paint program. Instead of talking shit for a few paragraphs like I usually do, I'll just display some of the wonderful art I made using this game. I hope to see some detailed interpretations and critiques in the comments.

There Is No Justice Like Cyborg Justice

The coolest thing about Cyborg Justice is the name. I mean, it just sounds like it would be the name to something awesome, like the title to a cheesier version of Ghost in the Shell. Sadly, it is just a weird beat 'em up for Genesis that doesn't execute well on its interesting ideas. Still, it is probably one of the better games from Ecco the Dolphin  creators Novotrade International, later known as Appaloosa Interactive. One weird thing that caught my attention is the title on the box. It's very similar to Streets of Rage, which also has the first part in a wild red font and the second part in a more reserved font, in white, contained in a blue box. What does it mean? Nothing.

Predator 2: Worth A Rental

I don't remember the Predator 2 movie, and based on the fact only the first film is ever replayed on classic film channels, I think nobody else wants to. It doesn't really matter though, because I'm here to write about the Predator 2 game for Genesis. It was developed by a company known as Teeny Weeny Games, and fact they thought that was a good name for a company and that they also made the abysmal Wolverine: Adamantium Rage is why I am glad they are out of business. At least this game is slightly less completely unlikely than Adamantium Rage.

Jurassic Park-athon Part 2: Rampage Edition

This is the 2^nd part of my Jurassic Park-athon, where I plan to play every Jurassic Park game in roughly chronological order. I was trying to come up with a combination word like Chrontendo, but I've got nothing. Anyway, you can find part 1 here. Today I hope to get through all of the games from around the time of the first film.