CAPCOM Vs SNK

Dreamcast PAL 2001

In the world of 2-D fighting games, there are two superpowers; Capcom with Street Fighter and SNK with King of The Fighters. At the time there had already been an assortment of Someone Vs Someone titles but the announcement of Capcom Vs SNK was just…..WOW!

This game has it’s roots in gaming history as it was announced at a time when SNK was closing it’s doors after many years of making some brilliant games.

Gameplay is a more pure 2D 1 on 1 beat’em up. There are no 100 air-hit combo’s or enormous special moves just fast ‘n‘ furious fighting. As the title suggests characters from Capcom’s games and SNK’s games are pitched against each other. You choose a team of 2 members which can be mixed Capcom or SNK characters and you fight until a team is eliminated.

Another technicality involved is a ‘groove’ which is the way your power bar operates. This is different between Capcom games and SNK games.

With the Dreamcast being king of 2D the speed and graphics are superb with great music to complete the setup.

There are 33 characters in total; 28 opened by default and 5 unlockable. As a versus title the game has virtually unlimited replay value. To really get the most out of this game you need a Saturn pad with a Dreamcast Total control converter.

The game has gone on to have a sequel Capcom Vs SNK 2 Millionaire Fighting 2001 on the Dreamcast and Capcom Vs SNK 2 EO on X Box to name just 2.

GUNSTAR HEROES

Mega Drive PAL 1994

Gunstar Heroes was the first game from Treasure and is arguably one of the greatest action games of all time.

The game is a side scrolling action platformer. You control your character under the basic rule of shoot everything. In addition to using your firepower you must also ride mine carts, slide down hills

The peaceful planet of Gunstar 9 has been invaded. Four powerful gems have been stolen….

The game has a nifty concept of combining weapons to create a new weapon. For example, a flame thrower and be combined with a homing shot to create a homing fireball. The 2 player co-operative modes makes for a brilliant game.

During the course of the game you will ride mine carts slide down hills Bosses are a plenty ranging from robots to plants.

The game showcased some of the best graphics ever seen in a mega drive. The visuals are highly colourful, the bosses are enormous and brilliantly animated. This game was also released on Super Nintento and apparently not a snitch on the Mega Drive version.

VECTORMAN

Mega Drive Pal | 1995

From Blue Sky comes a platformer of the highest quality and a stunning piece of Mega Drive software.

Earth has become a toxic dump and is being cleaned up by orbots. When their leader Raster goes messed up and threatens to destroy Earth, only Vectorman with his morphing abilities stands a chance at stopping him.

Gameplay is simple and addictive. You will take Vectorman through a series of backdrops jumping and blasting at the enemy bots all at a pretty quick pace. At times you will need to morph into different forms to make it through certain areas. This could be a sub-water craft or even a bomb.

This game smashes through all the graphical limitations of the Mega Drive showing some truly stunning effects.

Vectorman was one of the Mega Drives later titles. A sequel Vectorman 2 was released on the Mega Drive in 1996.

A re-make of the game was in development for Playstation 2 but was cancelled during development.

SPARKSTER

Mega Drive PAL

Komani’s second instalment of Rocket Night Adventures. You again play Sparkster, the Rocket Knight with the sword and rocket pack.

Since defeating the pig army of the Devotindos Enpire and their spaceship – the Pigstar your home of Elhorn again falls under the mercy of an evil empire. The Empire of Gedol uses sorcery to make themselves powerful. The King of this new empire has learned of the legendary Sparkster and has sent out the order to destroy him.

The game sticks with the same platform formula as the previous title and the same bright cartoon graphics though there are a few effects here and there.

This game was also released on Super Nintendo. Since this there have been no further games featuring Sparkster the Rocket Knight.

WONDER DOG

Mega CD PAL

Originally created for the Commodore Amiga Wonder Dog is one of the Mega CD’s very first titles.

Our dog is an alien sent to Earth to avoid the conquest of his home planet K-9. Unfortunately the aliens have tracked him down.

The game is a basic platformer with lots of running and jumping. Our hero is equipped with super jumping ability and has powerful throwing stars.

The game sports cutesy cartoon style graphics with a variety of colourful stages as well as several hidden bonus stages with a boss creature at the end of nearly each level.

A very average platformer that plays quite slowly. Not anything of particular note in the game unless you’re doing Mega CD research.