Shot97 Retro

Prince of Persia Amiga, 1990 (Original Apple II 1989) Broderbund $39.95 *My video review for Prince of Persia *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings *Game best played in NTSC mode with 4:3 aspect ratio When it comes to platformers, my mind tends to instantly wander to thoughts of Super Mario Brothers, Castlevania, or some Sonic the Hedgehog. In other words, I tend to think of console games. It's when thoughts of simulations, adventures, strategy and role playing games pop up where my particular brain goes to the computers. It's not that the consoles didn't have the previously mentioned genres, or that computers lacked platformers, but generally speaking consoles seemed to live and die by their platformers, and the computer was most at home being different. If I think specifically of computer platformers, my thoughts usually end up to the flurry of 1990's DOS shareware titles. Even a lot of games that were not specifically...

 Hillsfar Amiga, 1989 Westwood Associates/SSI $49.95 *My video review for Hillsfar *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings *Introduction music recorded directly from my Amiga *Game best played in NTSC mode with 4:3 aspect ratio Over the past ten years, I've sat down in an attempt to play Hillsfar on multiple occasions, never able to get too far into it. It had come in the "Silver Collection", a late 1990's DOS compilation of mostly Gold Box titles. Compared to those other games, Hillsfar just didn't seem to connect. Indeed, when I originally sat down this time to cover it, I was at first in the exact same spot I had previously been in. I just didn't seem to get it. Luckily, despite modern reviewers wanting to correlate themselves not understanding it into the game actually being bad, I was able to keep in the back of my mind that the problem probably laid with me, not the game. ^Created character, world map, the ...

Hostage: Rescue Mission/Hostages Amiga, 1989 (Original Atari ST 1988) Infograms/Mindscape $44.95 *My video review for Hostages *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings My father never seemed to be that much of a fan of the traditional side scrolling game. Rarely would you find him on our NES or Genesis, and when you did he'd be playing a card game, or a sports game, perhaps a simulation. He'd be playing the types of games you'd more often see on a computer, not a console. When it came to our Amiga, he spent no shortage of time on that machine, happily in front of those same types of games. When you did find his hands on one of those side scrollers, they would largely be unique computer games that would bare only minor resemblance to their console brethren. Hostages comes to mind as one of those select few games I remember my dad playing that bore some resemblance to what I was playing on the consoles, but at the same time was noth...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES, 1989 Konami/Ultra $43.95 *My video review for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings "Did you beat the swimming level? I beat the swimming level! Isn't driving around in the Turtle Van cool?" The schoolyard banter of some tiny, but surprisingly capable, gamers. Seemed like everyone you knew with a Nintendo Entertainment System had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) in their arsenal of cartridges. In fact, it ranks as the eleventh best selling NES game, with four million units sold. Yet today many would have you believe it was an awful game that nobody liked, and nobody could get too far into. As is often the case with these tall tales designed for humor, a small amount of truth gets distorted, consumed by those who had little experience with said topic, and morphs itself into a perceived reality.  ^Whom will you choose? Guess what? You can play as any of them thr...

SimAnt Amiga, 1992*(N1) Maxis $59.95 *My video review for SimAnt *Next article *Previous article *Alphabetical list of writings *Game designed and best seen in NTSC mode with 4:3 aspect ratio *(N1) Despite 1991 copyright, all research points to 1992 release All of my retained knowledge on ants I owe exclusively to SimAnt. Not even school was as good a teacher on the subject as this 1992 Maxis title. It was the third in the "Sim" line of games. After SimCity and SimEarth, most were thinking universe for the next incarnation, instead it would come on the macro level. Originally designed on the Macintosh, ports to DOS, Windows 3, and the Amiga soon followed. 1993 would even see a console port on the Super Nintendo, albeit in a different form. ^Starting our brood Despite being a part of a franchise, where you have a high risk of being formulaic, SimAnt would become something truly unique. Plopped at the far side of a suburban backyard, you start the g...