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35 Articles

Welcome to THE NES BOOK

The Nintendo Entertainment System was a remarkable success for Nintendo. Redesigned for the Western market – it was known in Japan as the Famicom – it arrived following the great videogame crash and helped to reignite interest in the console market. It wasn’t quite as successful in Europe, but in Japan and America it reigned supreme, and eventually went on to sell over 60 million units-not bad for a machine that many wrote offas a toy when it was first released. Many huge franchises like Metroid, The Legend Of Zelda and Mega Man started offon the NES and it helped turn Nintendo into a huge force in the console market. Indeed, for a long time it was Nintendo’s most successful home console, being only eclipsed by the staggering success of…

Welcome to THE NES BOOK

» PUBLISHER NINTENDO » YEAR: 1986 » GENRE: ADVENTURE » FEATURED HARDWARE: NES HISTORY Nintendo’s Metroid remains one of the best adventure games to appear on the company’s 8-bit console. And while it’s clearly been eclipsed by later games in the series, there’s still something magical about returning to the original. For those unaware, Metroid tells the tale of Samus Arun, a bounty hunter who heads to the planet Zebes to retrieve a parasitic organism called a Metroid that has been captured by Space Pirates. It’s a simple plot to be fair, but it’s one that’s rather epic in scale due to the huge environments that make up Zebes. One of the most interesting mechanics of Metroid is that Samus only starts the game with a small number of abilities,…

“THIS NEW MACHINE ESTABLISHED NINTENDO AS A WORLD GAMING POWER OVERNIGHT” Not For Your Eyes Over the years there have been many titles which either went unreleased, were altered several times before release, or were simply never translated from Japanese to English – great games which were painfully out of our reach. Thankfully in recent years, with the advent of the internet and obsessive fan groups, it’s now possible to ’acquire’ various unreleased titles, along with Japan-only games which have been fan translated. Frank Cifaldi’s LostLevels.org is one such repository of unreleased games, making available titles like California Raisins (the beta cartridge of which sold for around a thousand dollars), Sunman, and also the uncensored version of Maniac Mansion. Elsewhere you can find the official English translation of the unreleased…

PERFECT TEN GAMES

DUCK HUNT » RELEASED: 1984 » PUBLISHED BY: NINTENDO » CREATED BY: IN-HOUSE » BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: DONKEY KONG 01Billed as the quintessential game for the clunky NES Zapper, Nintendo’s repetitive duckmurdering simulator allowed gamers to test their aim with the aid of canine-cohort, Mr Peepers. It was his job to startle a ball of petrified feathers into the air and yours to sight them in your pistol’s crosshair. You had three shots per target and the later levels, which included infinitesimal clay pigeons, called for either a swift dead-aim or the cowardly act of pressing the gun barrel against the television. The game had a neat feature, which allowed duck-welfare enthusiasts to control the direction of the fleeing birds with a second pad and save them from a…

PERFECT TEN GAMES

NES and the rest...

01 DR MARIO 02 PARODIUS 03 SPY VS. SPY 04 DUCK TALES 05 IKARI WARRIORS 06 ROADBLASTERS 07 ARKANOID 08 GALAGA 09 LODE RUNNER 10 SOCCER 11 GUN.SMOKE 12 BALLOON FIGHT 13 MANIAC MANSION 14 ROD.LAND 15 COBRA TRIANGLE 16 KUNG FU 17 THE NEW ZEALAND STORY 18 MIGHTY FINAL FIGHT 19 XEVIOUS 20 LEMMINGS 21 BLUE SHADOW 22 THE GOONIES II 23 PUYO PUYO 24 SUPER MARIO BROS 25 THE LAST NINJA 26 DONKEY KONG 27 PIRATES! 28 SOLOMON’S KEY 29 CASTLEVANIA 30 KICK OFF 31 RAMPAGE 32 GAUNTLET II 33 BASEBALL 34 LIFE FORCE 35 ADVENTURE ISLAND 36 IMPOSSIBLE MISSION II 37 SHATTERHAND 38 DOUBLE DRAGON 39 LUNAR POOL 40 RIVER CITY RANSOM 41 TENNIS 42 METAL GEAR 43 EXCITEBIKE 44 MS PAC-MAN 45 RENEGADE 46 NINJA GAIDEN…

NES and the rest...

ULTIMATE GUIDE: SUPER MARIO BROS. 3

Instant Expert Prior to its release, Super Mario Bros 3 was revealed to the public through a canny piece of product placement in Hollywood movie The Wizard At one stage in development Nintendo considered a centaur suit for Mario. This was later dropped in favour of the raccoon suit Although the Koopalings are all named after celebrities, their appearances were based upon seven of the programmers working under Shigeru Miyamoto At 17 million copies sold, Super Mario Bros 3 remains one of the bestselling non-bundle games ever released. The Virtual Console version and the GBA release have sold a further 1 million and 5 million copies respectively The idea of Mario 3’s ingenious overworld map was later used again, albeit in simplified form, in Super Mario World, and was more accurately…

ULTIMATE GUIDE: SUPER MARIO BROS. 3

THE CLASSIC GAME: MEGA MAN II

IN THE KNOW » PUBLISHER: NINTENDO » DEVELOPER: CAPCOM » RELEASED: 1990 » GENRE: PLATFORM Mega Man – he’s an invention, built from machine parts by an old guy in a laboratory. He’s the videogame equivalent of Pinocchio, but with the difference being that the puppet’s rubbish in comparison to Capcom’s titular hero. Why? Because the dummy is wooden, has a nose that prevents him from cheating on his marionette girlfriend and has a cockney, top-hat-wearing cricket for a friend. Now Mega Man, on the other hand, is a cool shade of ice-blue with overtly chunky shins, has a laser cannon where a hand lives, and boasts so much bravado he somehow manages to persuade a robotic dog to be his friend. He also goes by more than one name…

THE CLASSIC GAME: MEGA MAN II

“As with other Nintendo games, it’s a piece of people’s childhoods. Anyone who grew up owning a NES remembers it fondly Jerry Momoda ” Most gamers of a certain age will almost certainly have played Duck Hunt, for one simple reason – it was paired on a pack-in cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System along with one of the most popular and groundbreaking console games of all time, Super Mario Bros. But while Shigeru Miyamoto’s platform classic was undoubtedly the more attention-grabbing title of the compilation, Duck Hunt retains the endearing nostalgia of childhood, a cartoon shooting gallery with a sniggering canine companion and the hapless quacks of animated flapping ducks brought down by the simple act of pulling a plastic trigger. The grinning face of Duck Hunt ’s dog,…

» PUBLISHER NINTENDO » YEAR: 1983 » GENRE: PLATFORM » FEATURED HARDWARE: NES HISTORY It’s amazing to think that by the time Donkey Kong finally arrived on the NES numerous other systems had already found great success with Nintendo’s hit arcade game. Before the NES version arrived, Donkey Kong already existed on the likes of the Atari 2600, ColecoVision and Intellivision. It’s important to remember that these versions were all released before Nintendo’s own console had even been released, so it’s hardly surprising that Nintendo wanted a slice of the profits. It’s also not surprising to learn that Donkey Kong was one of the first games to be released on Nintendo’s Famicom (as it was known in Japan) and while it’s not the most perfect of ports, it’s arguably the…

The Wizard is very much a guilty pleasure. When the film was released it was panned by critics and flopped at the box office, yet many people still talk about it in hushed, almost revenant tones over 15 years after its release. Although many critics will tell you that it’s nothing more than a Nintendo advert masquerading as a 100-minute feature film, just as many people will talk excitedly about Power Gloves, Ninja Gaiden and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when asked to give their opinion on this much-maligned popcorn flick. Here at Retro Gamer we fall firmly into the latter camp. The Wizard had a profound effect on us, not only because it was the first place we saw Super Mario Bros 3 in action, but because it’s actually pretty good, too. Ironically for a film that…

The History Of WIZARDS & WARRIORS

When it comes to videogame trilogies, the NES provided gamers with some of the most memorable. Mario and the Belmont clan are still going strong after carving out their names in Nintendo’s three iconic Super Mario Bros. games and Konami’s trio of classic Castlevania s. Even NES favourite Ninja Gaiden made a longawaited return to the console scene in 2004 with an Xbox adventure, 13 years after Ryu Hayabusa sliced and diced his way through the last of three incredibly challenging NES games from Tecmo. Often forgotten among this list of NES trilogy heroes is Kuros, the valiant knight who first hefted his blade in Rare Ltd.’s Wizards & Warriors, published by Acclaim in North America in 1987, although Europe had to wait until 1990 to play it. Kuros returned…

The History Of WIZARDS & WARRIORS

THE CLASSIC GAME: PUNCH-OUT!!

IN THE KNOW » PUBLISHER: NINTENDO » DEVELOPER: NINTENDO » RELEASED: 1987 » GENRE: SPORT (BOXING) » EXPECT TO PAY: £3+ The 2006 film Rocky Balboa saw the iconic boxer step back in the ring, in a fight that pitted the fibrous veteran against a younger, technically superior opponent. Chicken chasing, meat pounding and inspiring fanfare aside, the film poses the question: if you took two heavyweight fighters, from two different eras, who would prove victorious? So what would happen if you pitted the former Eighties videogame champ Punch-Out!! against a new breed of boxing brawlers? Cue montage. Back in 1984, Nintendo released an innovative arcade boxing game called Punch-Out!!. Its cartoon tale about a transparent pugilist working his way up through a rank of oddball fighters quickly attracted droves…

THE CLASSIC GAME: PUNCH-OUT!!

THE GREATEST NES GAMES

“One of the first games that I tested at Rare. Tricky controls but mastery bought a huge sense of accomplishment. I vividly remember tonguing the giant foot on the moon to win. Gregg Mayles, Rare SNAKE RATTLE ‘N’ ROLL ▪DEVELOPER: Rare ▪YEAR: 1990 ▪GENRE: Platform 25Born from an experimental drive to create a small NES cartridge, Snake Rattle ‘N’ Roll sees players chasing down and eating Nibbley Pibbleys in order to grow their snake, in order to tip the level’s scales and open the door to the next stage. Rare’s isometric action game is a tricky one to categorise – but that’s not a bad thing, as it’s a unique experience. Be sure to try the simultaneous two-player mode, too! BUCKY O’HARE ▪DEVELOPER: Konami ▪YEAR: 1992 ▪GENRE: Platform 24The spotlight…

THE GREATEST NES GAMES

Like Donkey Kong Country, Battletoads marked a pivotal point in Rare’s journey. In the same way that DKC was Rare’s last hurrah for the SNES – although not its last SNES title – Battletoads was Rare’s swansong of sorts for the NES – although not its final NES effort. Both games were, though, the culmination of everything that Rare learned about the intimate workings of Nintendo’s earliest consoles. And while Rare’s later SNES and NES games innovated in terms of gameplay, they had little scope to improve technically on their iconic predecessors or, indeed, to squeeze more into their carts. “Yeah, it was really full, if you know what I mean,” agrees Kevin Bayliss, Battletoads’ codesigner, “there wasn’t a lot more we could cram in. We were constantly measuring the…

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

Instant Expert The Legend Of Zelda is the most non-linear adventure in the series. You can tackle the dungeons in almost any order you like, and the game can be finished without ever collecting the sword. The Legend Of Zelda was the first NES title to sell over a million copies and went on to sell 6.5 million in total. Though the map for Zelda’s third dungeon resembles a Nazi swastika, it is actually the much more innocuous manji, an ancient religious symbol used by Japanese Buddhists, which is the reverse of the infamous emblem and is common in Eastern philosophy. Link is an unusual hero in that, in the first game and canonically throughout the series, he is left-handed. Perhaps by coincidence, the word ‘links’ is German for ‘left’.…

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

» PUBLISHER: NINTENDO » YEAR: 1986 » GENRE: PLATFORM » FEATURED HARDWARE: NES HISTORY There are some who regard Kid Icarus as an unsung hero of the NES. But while I’d be the first to admit that the game looks and sounds pretty – thanks to it running from the same guts as Metroid, and having that sublime Tanaka music. For me, it’s ruined somewhat by some frustrating little design flaws. Kid Icarus still demonstrates that good ol’ Nintendo template; creating a videogame based on three central characters: a good God, a bad God, who’s been turned into an evil medusa by the good God, and an unlikely hero with a stupid name. Essentially trying to cram platform, shooting and RPG elements into one game and, for the most part,…

NINTENDO ENTERT AINMENT SYSTEM

Why it’s collectable In 1983, Nintendo unleashed one of Japan’s finest products to date. The Family Computer (Famicom) was the latest 8-bit console to be released, and it would become the bestselling system available by the end of 1984. Upon its US launch, the rebranded Famicom, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), refuelled the country’s dying videogame industry. Homeward bound, however, what did Europeans have to get excited about with the iconic console? It certainly wasn’t the lack of localised releases, nor the fact that Nintendo really took its time delivering what the rest of the world was already talking about… Prior to the console’s European release, gamers had been drowning in an ocean of low-quality software. Atari had exhausted the 2600 with just about everything its dated hardware could handle,…

NINTENDO ENTERT AINMENT SYSTEM

Welcome to the Master System Book

Sega’s Master System is a misunderstood console that doesn’t get the love it deserves. This misplaced loyalty for Sega’s machine could be down to the fact that it never secured the same success in Japan and America as it did in Europe, or it could be down to people simply not realising how good a console it actually was. In addition to featuring some extremely impressive arcade conversions in the form of Space Harrier, Operation Wolf, Shinobi and Bubble Bobble, it also delivered plenty of original content as well. Phantasy Star, Zillion, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and Castle Of Illusion were just a few of the original games that harnessed the power of Sega’s 8-bit console, while it’s technology would be largely used to form the inspiration of…

Welcome to the Master System Book

» PUBLISHER SEGA » YEAR: 1991 » GENRE: ARCADE ACTION » FEATURED HARDWARE: MASTER SYSTEM HISTORY With Sega having so many classic arcade games of its own, it perhaps surprising to learn that some of the Master System’s best conversions were actually of non-Sega games. Nevertheless, Bubble Bobble, The New Zealand Story, R-Type, Gauntlet and Klax are just a few of the gems that were a massive improvement over Sega’s own arcade conversions (which were still very good) and should be in every Master System owner’s collection. If we were held at gunpoint however and was forced to chose just one arcade conversion for Sega’s 8-bit console, we’d easily pick the excellent Operation Wolf, as it’s everything you want from a great arcade port. Virtually everything about the Master System…

Year released: 1986 (US), 1987 (UK and Japan) Original price: £99 (Core Pack) Buy it now for: £15+ Associated magazines: Mean Machines, Computer+Video Games Why the Master System was great: With a far brighter colour pallette than Nintendo’s NES and some superb arcade conversions, the Master System proved to be a cracking purchase if you were a die-hard Sega fan The Sega Master System is something of an enigma. One of the most powerful home consoles of its time, the machine is barely worthy of a footnote when it comes to deconstructing the history of the American and Japanese gaming industries. It sank almost without trace in these two key territories, failing to make even a dent in the seemingly impregnable armour of Nintendo’s NES (or Famicom). However, in other…

PERFECT TEN GAMES

PSYCHO FOX » RELEASED: 1989 » PUBLISHED BY: SEGA » CREATED BY: VIC TOKAI » BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: BLOCK GAL 01 It’s not the greatest platformer ever made, but it was one of the few Master System titles that went on to become synonymous with the system. And any game about a fox battling a god has to make it on to some kind of list. Apparently the prequel to the awesomely entitled Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure (which would later become known as DecapAttack in the West), Psycho Fox is a wonderfully vivid platform adventure that’s quite a bugger to master if we’re being frank. Boasting Mario-style warping and the funniest attack in any videogame ever; a punch which looks a little like Psycho Fox is continually getting…

PERFECT TEN GAMES

MASTER SYSTEM and the rest...

01 LEMMINGS 02 SHINOBI 03 GALAXY FORCE 04 CLOUD MASTER 05 MORTAL KOMBAT 06 PAPERBOY 07 WONDER BOY 08 ALEX KIDD: THE LOST STARS 09 BLACK BELT 10 DESERT STRIKE 11 FANTASY ZONE 12 MICHAEL JACKSON’S MOONWALKER 13 DICK TRACY 14 POPULOUS 15 CHASE HQ 16 KLAX 17 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 18 PAC-MANIA 19 DOUBLE DRAGON 20 ALF 21 CHOPLIFTER! 22 CHUCK ROCK 23 MARBLE MADNESS 24 PSYCHO FOX 25 VIGILANTE 26 WONDER BOY IN MONSTER LAND 27 DEAD ANGLE 28 ARCADE SMASH HITS 29 THE CYBER SHINOBI 30 JURASSIC PARK 31 PENGUIN LAND 32 BUBBLE BOBBLE 33 ALEX KIDD IN MIRACLE WORLD 34 FIRE & FORGET II 35 STAR WARS 36 THE NEW ZEALAND STORY 37 RAMPAGE 38 BAKU BAKU ANIMAL 39 CAPTAIN SILVER 40 HEROES OF THE…

MASTER SYSTEM and the rest...

CLASSIC MOMENTS: KENSEIDEN

Thou must practice here,” says the old master. In a game like Kenseiden we’re fine with the prospect of a little practice – after the tough opening stages, some respite seems welcome. However, this is no simple workout. Kenseiden’s training stages demand incredible precision from players, as only a single hit will end your training session and cause a small loss of life. Considering the relentless barrage of arrows that appears from both sides of the screen and the tricky timing that is required to dodge spear traps, that’s a pretty harsh failure condition. Of course, you’re not taking this risk for no reward – successfully clearing one of these practice stages can bring some massive benefits. In a game where health refills are sparse and extra lives rarer still,…

CLASSIC MOMENTS: KENSEIDEN

THE HISTORY OF SONIC ON THE MASTER SYSTEM

“SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 101” ▪Sonic’s core offering is platform games, in which the goal is to clear stages en route to a showdown with the nefarious scientist Dr Robotnik, who enslaves animals in robotic shells. Collecting gold rings protects him from death, while grabbing Chaos Emeralds is required to see each game’s best ending. I f there was one thing that Sega craved at the beginning of the Nineties, it was star power. Despite boasting good conversions of some extremely popular arcade games, its Master System had struggled on the world stage for a variety of reasons, one of which was that it lacked a true competitor to Nintendo’s marketing juggernaut Mario. The plumber’s family-friendly appeal was backed with some classic videogames, whereas Sega’s mascot Alex Kidd had suffered from…

THE HISTORY OF SONIC ON THE MASTER SYSTEM

THE CLASSIC GAME: ZILLION

IN THE KNOW » PUBLISHER: SEGA » DEVELOPER: IN-HOUSE » RELEASED: 1987 » GENRE: ACTION/ADVENTURE ZILLION SITS IN THAT STRANGE REGION OF SOMETHING WHICH BROKE NEW GROUNDS, BUT DUE TO THE CURRENT CLIMATE WILL NEVER BE MADE IN QUITE THE SAME WAY AGAIN The Master System, much like the Game Boy, is not a machine from which it is easy to choose Classic Game coverage. There are countless titles, of course, but it’s always the same few which are mentioned again and again (Phantasy Star for example has already been covered as part of the series). Furthermore, considering the dominance of other companies’ hardware at the time, even if a third of all SMS owners hailed a single game as the greatest on their machine (a one-to-three attachment ratio being…

THE CLASSIC GAME: ZILLION

THE STORY OF ALEX KIDD

The Kameo Kidd Alex has popped up in plenty of different Sega games over the years… ALTERED BEAST ▪The names of Alex and girlfriend Stella are chiselled onto gravestones. Spooky prediction of Alex’s death as Sega mascot or a knowing Sega poking fun? KENSEIDEN ▪Another stone-based cameo – this one in the hack-and-slash SMS platformer Kenseiden. On the third stage Alex’s face can be seen hidden in the cave walls. SEGAGAGA ▪Alex’s most memorable cameo was in Segagaga, where he appeared as a videogame store clerk lamenting his treatment by Sega following the arrival of the blue spiky one. SHENMUE ▪Alex collectable capsule toys appear in both Shenmue instalments. Other Sega personalities given the Kinder Egg treatment include Opa-Opa, Ristar and Virtua Fighter cast members. SEGA SUPERSTARS SERIES ▪More recently,…

THE STORY OF ALEX KIDD

» PUBLISHER SEGA » YEAR: 1986 » GENRE: SHOOT-’EM-UP » FEATURED HARDWARE: MASTER SYSTEM HISTORY Sega’s Master System was a wonderful little console that always came second place to Nintendo’s NES. A shame really, as it had some truly cracking arcade conversions available for it that made up in heart and gameplay what their 8-bit visuals and sound often lacked. Every now and then though a title came along that did a remarkable job of capturing the spirit of the original arcade game. Fantasy Zone was one such game. One of the original cute-’em-ups, Sega’s loony shooter saw you taking control of a sweet little spaceship and blasting your way through some of the brightest, weirdest looking enemies ever seen. Many of the beasties you encountered were some of the…

MASTER OF DARKNESS

During the late stages of Queen Victoria’s reign, London was unrecognisable compared to the city it had been during her coronation. The Metropolitan Police had been formed to keep order, the Thames had been cleaned, and a massive population influx had transformed the city into the largest in the world. But all was not well, as the Whitechapel murders grabbed headlines and terrified the populace – and it’s here where Master Of Darkness starts off, as the psychologist and paranormal investigator Dr Ferdinand Social has been doing his own investigations with the help of an ominous Ouija board. Jack The Ripper is just the tip of the evil iceberg as there are supernatural forces at work here, so with dagger in hand he sets out to solve the grotesque murders.…

MASTER OF DARKNESS

THE CLASSIC GAME: PSYCHO FOX

Despite being part of the most derivative game genre in existence, Psycho Fox has become widely known as ‘that Master System game with similar gameplay to those other two games’. Those games are, of course, Kid Kool and Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure (rebranded Decap Attack in the West), and with all three titles connected by the same developer it’s little wonder they’re comparable. Still, possibly one of the only games in existence to have two spiritual predecessors which are themselves linked spiritually, and telling the story of a psychotic fox battling a mad one, Psycho Fox’s story is certainly bizarre and its lineage somewhat mystifying. Stuart Hunt attempts to make head and tail of this classic 8-bit platformer. MONKEY If you want to scale ledges and platforms, the monkey…

THE CLASSIC GAME: PSYCHO FOX

Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

Instant Expert While this classic platformer also appears on the Mega Drive, they are completely different. This is the first game in the Illusion series. Its success meant several sequels were made. Castle Of Illusion was actually remade in 2013 by Sega Studios Australia. It’s mainly based on the Mega Drive version, but we won’t hold that against it. If you’re hoping to play as Minnie Mouse prepare to be disappointed. She’s only available to rescue and isn’t an unlockable character. The developer, AM7 has created all sorts of games for Sega, including Skies Of Arcadia, Sega Marine Fishing and Sega GT 2002. If you want a challenge, make sure you play the Master System version of Castle Of Illusion, as the Mega Drive outing is far too easy. The…

Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

TOP 25 MASTER SYSTEM GAMES

Operation Wolf ▪DEVELOPER: TAITO ▪YEAR: 1990 ▪GENRE: LIGHTGUN SHOOTER 25The Master System’s Light Phaser peripheral got some excellent support over the years, and Operation Wolf is your favourite lightgun title on the system. The excellent conversion included all of the arcade game’s stages and even allowed players to throw grenades using the second controller. In fact, it was such a good game that it became part of the Master System II Plus bundle in Europe, replacing previous lightgun pack-in Safari Hunt. California Games ▪DEVELOPER: SEGA ▪YEAR: 1989 ▪GENRE: SPORTS 24Despite having a large catalogue of arcade hits to draw on, Sega was keen to bring other big names to the Master System and so became rather active in the licensing market. These efforts ensured that Epyx’s excellent multi-sports title found…

TOP 25 MASTER SYSTEM GAMES

CLASSIC MOMENTS: YS: THE VANISHED OMENS

Picking on someone your own size is overrated. Sure, picking on someone smaller is obviously detestable and fairness is lovely, but we’re not looking at smaller opposition – we’re looking to go big or go home. Luckily for us, after beating all manner of cannon fodder and some increasingly tough regular enemies, we reach the shrine and find Ankharat – a big, ugly boss character who is in need of a good smiting. If you’re unfamiliar with Ys, the method of beating him might seem flat-out suicidal, as you have to run right into him to deal any damage. Unfortunately for you, that task is complicated by the flame jets shooting from the walls of Ankharat’s lair – you’ll be toast before you can strike the fatal blow if you…

CLASSIC MOMENTS: YS: THE VANISHED OMENS

THE DEFINITIVE WONDERBOY

Batten down the hatches, viewers; this one’s going to be messy. When littleknown coin-op developer Westone created a simple cutesy run ‘n’ gun game called Wonder Boy in 1986, incredibly few videogaming academics predicted the screwed-up rats’ nest of licensing and sub-licensing and rebranding that would result over the following 20 years. This, of course, is largely due to the fact that there WERE no videogaming academics in 1986, but the point still holds. While Wonder Boy’s gameplay could hardly be any less complex (it is, perhaps, one of the least deep videogames ever made), the seemingly-undemanding act of knocking out a few sequels and giving them titles created a twisted trainwreck that makes the world of Contra (see The Definitive Contra in RG35) look like a simple, straightforward place…

THE DEFINITIVE WONDERBOY

» PUBLISHER SEGA » YEAR: 1986 » GENRE: SHOOT-’EM-UP » FEATURED HARDWARE: MASTER SYSTEM HISTORY Growing up with the Master System could be a strange experience at times. On one hand, the system’s sustained European success saw some decidedly Western games arrive on the system via third party publishers – the likes of Fantastic Dizzy, Robocop Versus The Terminator, and Sensible Soccer were typical examples of the console’s impressive Nineties line-up. On the other hand, the lack of thirdparty releases in the system’s early years meant that some very Japanese games were selected for international release. Games that would have most likely never have appeared if Sega’s fortunes had been a little different at the time. Sega’s low budget back then meant that a lot of them received very little…

SEGA MASTER SYSTEM

Why it’s collectable After a couple of false starts entering the console market, Sega’s third attempt – dubbed the Mark III – would eventually pave the way for things to come. Although the new console was pushed aside by the runaway success of the Nintendo Famicom in Japan, Sega had high hopes for it elsewhere. With revamped looks and rebranded as the ‘Master System’, it was unleashed on North American shores; however, Nintendo was showing no sign of slowing down there either. This left the Master System one relatively untouched territory in which to triumph: Europe. As the hefty price tag of the Nintendo NES – coupled with lacklustre marketing – left a huge gap in the British gaming market, Sega began preparing an unforgettable ambush. Its pre-Christmas ad campaign…

SEGA MASTER SYSTEM

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