RADIANT SILVERGUN

Saturn | 1998

The mother of all shoot em ups. It is the masterpiece of vertical shooter perfection and definatley stands as one of the best Saturn titles ever, one of the best shooters ever and easily one of the greatest games ever!

Created by Treasure it represents one of their very few forays into the territory of the arcades. It was released onto the virtually dead Saturn market in 1998 for it to become a legend. It also showed a ability of the under exploited Saturn with some of the best graphics to ever be seen.

Your ship is part of a group of rebels who have witnessed the destruction of Earth. You begin the journey to restore the planet.

Your ship is armed with several weapons. A key element to the game is knowing which weapon to use at the right time.

Gameplay consists of basically destroying almost everything on the screen. Though there is an additional depth. For the most part the enemies will be huge bosses. It has a nice tough difficulty and will take well over 90 minutes to complete. The 2 player co-op mode is a great feature.

This game is highly collectible. Copes of this game sometimes go to about 200 on Ebay because it is that damn good.

An official sequel was released in 2002 for the Dreamcast and Game Cube entitled Ikaruga.

SONIC ADVANCE 3

Gameboy Advance | 2003

Sonic and crew return for their 3^rd outing on the Game Boy Advance. Its claimed to be the fastest Sonic title ever and really push the GBA hardware.

Robotnik has used the power of Chaos Control to split the world into 7 parts. Sonic and Tails after being separated from their friends team up and prepare to take Eggman on to prevent him from building his empire. To repair the damage the group need the power of the Chaos Emeralds but adding danger is Robotniks latest invention coined the ultimate fighting robot who will be standing in Sonics way.

As well as 5 playable characters you can also choose which acts you want to play. There are a few extra game modes such as the Multi-Player Co-Op mode.

POWER STONE

Dreamcast Jap | 1999

This is beat em up kings Capcoms early works for the Dreamcast.

In this game you are pitched against an opponent where literally anything can be used as a weapon.

Through out each round you fight for the possession of 3 Power Stones. These are jewels of immense power. When your character has all 3 you will turn into your all powerful version of yourself.

The first one to knock out the opponent wins the round.

This game is a great 2 player game.

A sequel was released and allowed up to four player simultaneous combat.

JAMES POND 2: CODENAME ROBOCOD

Mega Drive | 1992

The return of James Pond on the Mega Drive from Electronic Arts. This time he has a secret weapon Stretchability!

You have been sent to the North Pole toy factory to deactivate the penguin bombs planted by the fiendish Dr Maybe and save the toys for Christmas.

There are plenty of levels in this game spanning all areas from running around the inside of a cake to flying a bath tub. Some become challenging. For example being bounced around on a landscape of jelly upside down!

The graphics are sharp and bright which is pretty good considering this was an early Mega Drive game. There is a somewhat annoying background tune that does not go away.

This game is a classic platform title by any standards.

James Pond later appeared in The Aquatic Games and James Pond 3.