Retro Gaming Australia

Remember when people thought that 2D fighting games would be better in 3D?

While not the first SNK fighter to be given the 3D treatment, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is probably the one best remembered for the transition. It ditches the team system, retains less than half of the average King of Fighters roster, and introduces a bunch of new characters that nobody really liked. It’s not that bad as fighting games go, but the disappointment of the audience overshadowed any redeeming qualities the game had.

Probably the best looking launch title ever. Certainly raised my expectations for what to expect from the Dreamcast.

Soul Calibur is the second game in Namco’s Soul series. Originally released into the arcades in 1998, Namco decided to rebuild it from the ground up for the Dreamcast, creating a game with visuals that surpassed everything that was available at that time. This ad is for the French release of the game.

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One series that Capcom needs to stop neglecting.

Dino Crisis was directed by Shinji Mikami and developed by much of the team that would become Capcom Production Studio 4. The game was promoted by Capcom as being “panic horror”, as opposed to the survival horror of sister series Resident Evil, since there is quite a difference between worrying about wasting ammo on a couple of zombies versus the “oh shit” feeling of being chased by a giant T-Rex.

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“Classics” from a bygone era.

Yep, that’s right. Acclaim attempted to capitalise on many of the games they published and licensed by producing LCD versions of them.

Late, late, late!

Yo! Noid is a NES platformer developed by Capcom with a reputation for being really goddamn hard. The game’s main character, the Noid, was the mascot of Domino’s Pizza in the 1980s. It’s actually a localisation of Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru with the plot and characters stripped out.

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Amusing concept, terrible game.

Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure is an unconventional platformer where the titular character uses snot, farts and burps to subdue his enemies. Although it has an amusing art style and is wonderfully animated, Boogerman‘s gameplay is quite terrible. This ad is for the UK release.

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One of a handful of Contra games not released here.

Contra Force is the third and final game in the series released for the NES. It was originally scheduled to be released in Japan as Arc Hound, a title completely unrelated to the Contra series, but Konami decided to cancel the Japanese release and localise it for release in America as a Contra game.

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A favourite of mine from the mid 90s.

BioForge is an action-adventure game developed by Origin Systems. It was produced around a time where the company was favouring Hollywood style production values, deep plots and lots of voice acting. Due to the demanding hardware the game required when released (almost a trademark of Origin’s), BioForge didn’t have a lot of success on release – an enhanced version of the game called BioForge Plus was cancelled due to poor sales of the original. Also, you can cut off a guy’s arm and beat him with it. Or stab him with a fork.

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There’s something I don’t like about Nintendo of America’s mid 90s advertising, but I can’t pinpoint it.

Killer Instinct was a fighting game developed by Rare for the arcade and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The arcade cabinet famously claimed that it was running the same hardware as the upcoming Ultra 64 console, which was proved to be false. The SNES version of the game is a pretty huge technical achievement, but in reality, the underlying game is not particularly memorable when the graphics are stripped away. This ad is for the SNES release.

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Worth playing for the soundtrack alone.

Streets of Rage was one of Sega’s early success stories on the Mega Drive. Heavily influenced by arcade beat ’em ups like Double Dragon and Final Fight, Sega put its own spin by giving players more moves and access to a screen wiping Police backup attack. However, the reason why people consider the first game memorable (as the second game blew it out of the water) is the soundtrack – Yuzo Koshiro is a master of the Mega Drive’s sound chip. This ad is from the US release.

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