A Genesis exclusive, Saint Sword seemed to be more impressive in the box then plugged into the console. Taito missed the boat with this one in a big way, failing to take advantage of the excellent transformation dynamic. What it instead gave us was a generic action slasher, with some morphing tossed in for good measure. Even so, Saint Sword is playable and might be worth looking into.
Tag: 1991
BlockOut
The early ’90s saw a flurry of console developers hopping on the 3D bandwagon. As games like Electronic Arts’ Block Out demonstrate, sometimes adding an extra dimension isn’t a good idea. Read our full review and do yourself a favor, stick with Tetris.
Mario Lemieux Hockey
The thing I remember most about Mario Lemieux Hockey is that it came with a real hockey puck. The oversized box protruding from the store shelf is an image that I’ll never forget. Unfortunately, that might be about the only thing this game has that makes it stand out, and Sega more or less only succeeded in simply filling a hole in the Genesis library by releasing it. Like many of the early sports titles on the console, it wasn’t anything to write home about – except for that cool hockey puck.
Crossfire
Called Super Airwolf in Japan, Crossfire had almost nothing to do with its namesake, except for the whole military helicopter thing. Origin aside, the game itself is another mediocre vertical shooter that’s more novel for its rarity than for its gameplay.
Wardner
The 16-bit era distinguishes itself for having produced some amazing platformers, and a lot of those were really, really hard. Some weren’t as amazing, but they sure did get the “hard” part right. Mentrix’s Warnder was one such title, and while it was quite faithful to the arcade original, most players remember it for being brutally difficult.