It’s always a shame when new hardware is released, and developers fail to take advantage of it for their games. Every console is guilty of this to some regard, but console gamers first really began to feel the frustration with the Sega CD. A slew of cartridge ports with redbook soundtracks made it clear that many developers had neither the skill nor the interest in using the CD-ROM format to its fullest potential. Vrigin’s Links: The Challenge of Golf is a great example. With so much memory and CD sound, it’s a shame more wasn’t done to make it more than just a sub par (ha!) game that pales next to its PC siblings.
Tag: 1994
Ultraverse Prime
The Sega CD seemed to peak in the beat-’em-up genre with the early release of Final Fight, since few games that followed, if any, equaled that level of quality. Sony Imagesoft, known for its dreadful line of licensed games (Mickey Mania was a fortunate hiccup), tried to fill the void with Ultraverse Prime, a game based on the Malibu Comics superhero. To say the game is underwhelming is a major understatement, and it comes off as a digital checklist of how to make a generic brawler. It did have an interesting theme song though…
Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker
Billiards is a much loved game in the United States. Unfortunately, most Americans are unfamiliar with the game snooker (read more about it here), something our friends in England greatly enjoy. There was even a PAL Mega Drive release that understandably never came stateside, and it’s actually very good.
King of the Monsters 2
Takara made sure that all those gamers who didn’t have $500 to pony up for a Neo Geo AES system weren’t left without playing all the cool games that made the console so attractive. Genesis owners got a ton of ports, and while some weren’t up to par with the arcade originals, most were pretty competent. King of the Monsters 2 was one conversion that took a different route than its coin-op sibling, and the result was a game that was quite fun to play.
Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters
In this age of high definition, light gun games are increasingly rare (unless you count the Wii and its pointer controls). The Genesis may not have had a ton of them back in the day, but it did have some fun ones. A particularly successful light gun game was Konami’s Lethal Enforcers 2: Gunfighters. It’s limited due to the compromises made during the conversion to the home market, but it’s still a blast (ha!) to play. And it’s another reason to use your Justifier!