A few good additions this month, also it was my 38th birthday so I got a few gaming related presents which is always nice.
Streets Of Rage – Sega Mega Drive
Streets of Rage, Sega’s answer to Final Fight, follows the story of three young police officers (Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding) in a city controlled by a criminal syndicate led by a “Mr. X” where crime is rampant, which leads the three heroes to make a pact to leave the force and topple the syndicate by themselves.
Gameplay is straightforward and simple. Three buttons are used, one to jump, other to attack and another to perform a range attack from a support police car. Each character has a limited set of moves that include punching and kicking or performing a back attack (if in the open), two grapple moves (depending if holding the opponent in front or by the back), a flying attack, and if playing with another player two additional tag attacks, and different abilities: Adam is slow, but a good jumper and a hard hitter, Axel fast and also a hard hitter, but a lousy jumper and Blaze fast and a good jumper, but weak hitter. Levels are in typical arcade side-scroller fashion: move from left to right (with two exceptions), clearing screens from enemies one after another as fast as possible while avoid taking damage with a boss in the end. Some levels feature “death drops” where the player must avoid falling, while throwing enemies there at the same time, including a typical elevator level. Several items are scattered on the ground, from melee weapons and bonus points (and lives or additional police cars) to apples and turkeys (to restore health).
I’m really surprised that I didn’t already own this, so when I noticed it come up online for a good price, I just had to get it.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £11.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Nintendo Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros
The classic system that changed gaming history is back!
Get into spirit for the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. with Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros., out November 13th! This special system includes:
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Ball (Mario version)
A digital clock
A blast from the past
The original Game & Watch system was released in Japan in 1980 and was the very first handheld gaming console created by Nintendo. Now you can get your hands on a piece of history with a brand new entry in the series – a special golden Game & Watch that includes the original Super Mario Bros., a digital clock and more!
Play Super Mario Bros. – Game & Watch style!
Jump over bottomless pits, stomp Goombas and enter Warp Pipes just as you remember – but with even tighter controls thanks to the system’s +Control Pad. Go it alone or pass to a friend for some two-player competition!
Even more Mario!
Looking for more of a challenge? Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels comes packed in, but if you’re wanting a more casual experience, then Ball (with extra Super Mario flair!) should tickle that fancy.
Time for fun
As time passes, the included digital clock may play 35 different animations – including some guest appearances from Mario’s friends and foes! Keep your eyes on the clock when saving Princess Peach isn’t on the current agenda.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £29.99 (Cash Converters Redcar)
Casio Vintage x PAC-MAN Limited Edition Watch
Casio watches and PAC-MAN have both been with us for over forty years. Introducing a collaboration between these two legends, each with its timeless image and gadget-y vibe. The watch’s playful design evokes an arcade-game worldview.
Be on trend with the new A100WE collection- a revival of the iconic F100 CASIO classic. Featuring front buttons, an alarm, stopwatch and LED light, this timepiece proves some things never need to change. The A1000WEPC is in collaboration with PAC MAN, and comes in special packaging with the Pac-Man logo and icon engraved on the back cover.
I already have a special edition Pac-Man watch made by Timex, and I much prefer that one. I think the face design fits a lot better than it does on the Casio. The split maze design just doesn’t work. The strap design on the Casio however, is fantastic, it’s just a shame I can’t get away with wearing metal straps.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £95.00 (Casio Website)
Gran Turismo 4 – Sony Playstation 2
Gran Turismo is back and there is a huge variety of cars, including the Model T Ford, Jay Leno’s Tank Car, and some of the famous Le Mans cars from down the years. GT4 has brand new tracks, including the famous Nürburgring, and tracks set in famous locations such as Paris, the Grand Canyon, and many more. There is a new Photo mode in GT4 where you can take photographs of a saved replays or in photo mode, and save them to your memory card, or a USB storage device. There is also a new B-Spec mode where become race manager, in other words you let the computer do the work, so it’s useful if your doing a endurance race.
This game forms part of my top 10 quest.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £2.80 (Cash Converters Darlington)
Space Invaders Forever – Nintendo Switch
This Space Invaders compilation is a cut-down version of the larger Space Invaders: Invincible Collection, released earlier in the same year.
This version contains three of the more modern games from the larger collection:
- Spac3 Invaders Extr3me
- Space Invaders Gigamax 4 SE (a special home variation of Space Invaders Gigamax for four players)
- Arkanoid vs Space Invaders
Rating – Sealed
Price Paid – £12 (Cash Converters Darlington)
Theme Park World – Windows
Theme Park World is the sequel to Theme Park and the second game in the series. It is a theme park management game where players build their own theme park with roller coasters, rides and food stalls. Each building can be customized for its appearance, prices and also the length of the ride. Roller coasters play an important role as the main attraction for visitors. Players can design a custom ride and then test it from a first-person view.
In this version the park can be built in four different worlds: Lost Kingdom (prehistoric theme), Halloween World (spooky theme), Wonderland (fantasy theme) and Space Zone (futuristic theme). The game boasts 3D graphics and players can walk around in their park as if they were one of the guests, and go on the rides. Golden Tickets can be won by doing great things to the park and these can be used to buy new rides and parks.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £3 (Cash Converters Darlington)
SNES Haul
So an ad came up in one of the Facebook groups I am a member of, offering up a SNES console along with 3 controllers and 18 games. The guy selling asked for offers for what he had, now that annoys me, it’s your item YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU WANT so just tell us and stop wasting everyone’s time. But I digress.
I put an offer of £110 and to my surprise it was accepted. Now I didn’t need another SNES console, I already have a nice boxed one, but I planned to sell the console and the games I didn’t need from the bundle and whatever money I made would be taken from the price I paid. So that is exactly what I did. I sold the console, 1 controller and 4 games, I was able to get £76 for them, which means that split between what I kept from this bundle, each item cost me £2.26. Even for the few football games, it was still a great deal and I’m very happy.
Syndicate – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Taking the role of an executive of a criminal syndicate in a dark cyberpunk future, the player controls teams of cyborg agents on missions: assassinating politicians, opinion leaders or executives from rival syndicates, retrieving important objects, kidnapping scientists or taking out enemy agents. The world map consists of 50 regions, each containing one level (two training levels are also available). The stages are presented in isometric view, and one to four agents are controlled. Unlike the indirect cursor control in the computer versions, on the consoles the agents are controlled directly, with potential targets being selected automatically. Unlike the multi-layered versions of the computer game, all levels consist of one layer only.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Striker – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Striker is a football (soccer) game with a forced-perspective 3D view. The players are drawn large and there is a large scanner to assist with long passing. The standard mode has the ball sticking closely to the feet, which makes mazy runs upfield a common strategy. There are 64 international teams on offer, with a European-style knock-out cup competition included. Many different formations and strategies are offered.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
International Superstar Soccer: Deluxe – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
This is the sequel to International Superstar Soccer, Konami’s saga of soccer games. This Deluxe version was published first to the SNES, then the Mega Drive and Playstation.
ISS Deluxe has realistic animations and player sprites. You can compete with 36 national teams with recognizable celebrity players (like Valderrama, Baggio, Ravanelli, Petkov…), but their names are fictitious. You can choose too from 16 formations and 8 strategies to win.
The competitions available are: International Cup, World Series (League), Scenario Mode and customizable mini-cups/leagues.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
NBA Jam – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
NBA Jam is a two-on-two basketball game You can play any NBA team, and you can play as players like Barkley, Starks, Pippen, and Grant. Each human player controls a single player, so choose your squad wisely to take team-mate skill into account. The game is action-oriented, and players can perform unrealistic slam-dunks. Full performance statistics are automatically recorded. The play clock and 3-point line apply, but other rules are largely overlooked.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
International Superstar Soccer – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
International Superstar Soccer is a soccer game for the SNES and the first in the ISS series. The game features a number of game modes: Open Game (with 0, 1, or 2 players), International Cup, World Series, Training, Scenario, and Penalty Kick.
The Game features 26 national teams from all over the world which include line-ups as seen in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The Scenario mode lets you play the second half of a match with specific goals, usually winning the game. Some of the scenarios are based on real matches played in the 1994 World Cup.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Street Fighter 2 – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Street Fighter II is a fighting game. Players select from one of eight characters: Ryu, Ken, Blanka, E. Honda, Zangief, Chun Li, Guile and Dhalsim to do battle with. They must then use their combat strengths to defeat the other seven fighters followed by four boss characters: M. Bison, Vega, Sagat and Balrog. Each character represents a certain country and has his or her own reasons for wanting to win against the others.
Each character has his or her own selection of basic fighting techniques based on three styles of punches and three styles of kicks. The effect of each of these changes depends on the characters orientation (ducking, airborne or standing still). Street Fighter II has a “button combination” style of gameplay used to unleash powerful moves specific to each character. These include the ability to project fireballs, channel electricity or capture the opponent in a tight suplex.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Pilotwings – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Fly a selection of aircraft (including training vehicles, fighter planes and helicopters) through a range of training programs and missions. The more training you complete, the better the chance that you will complete the even bigger missions. Try your hand at landing, taking off, party tricks, fly through bad weather and shoot down targets.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
F-Zero – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
F-Zero is a futuristic racing game, set in the year 2560. The player chooses one of the four available hovercars and then can race with other hovercars in one of the gameplay modes – “Practice” or “Grand Prix”.
In “Practice” mode, the player chooses one track where he competes with one other hovercar to win the race (or there can be no rival at all, if you so wish). In “Grand Prix”, the player must complete a series of races with several competitors. Each race consists of five laps.
The hovercar has a limited Power meter, which represents the machine’s health and decreases when the hovercar collides with the track boundaries and other players. If power runs out, the hovercar explodes and the player loses the race. There are repair areas near the start line, which restore power to the player’s hovercar if he drives into them. The tracks contain many more or less dangerous traps, such as icefields or landmines.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Sensible Soccer: European Champions – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Sensible Soccer: European Champions. The gameplay is a fast-paced, top-down soccer game with emphasis on fast passes and simple control system.
Players can choose between 40 national, 64 club or 64 custom (fantasy) teams and can assemble their own tournaments (cup or league) with them. The number of participating teams and some of the rules can be customized. The main difference to the original is the reduced number of pre-set tournaments: for national teams World cup qualifiers and the new Maastricht Cup (a knockout tournament) and for club teams the European Superleague and EUFA Cup. Custom teams only have the Booby League and Turkey Tournament available anymore. Another important difference is that the athletes and tournaments no longer use original names, e.g. EUFA instead of UEFA.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Super Star Wars – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The story of this game is based on Episode IV: A New Hope, the first of the original Star Wars movie trilogy. The player initially controls the movie’s main hero, Luke Skywalker, but two more controllable characters join later: the careless captain Han Solo and his Wookie side-kick, Chewbacca. The game generally follows the movie plot, allowing the player to experience some of the most important sequences, such as the search for Obi-Wan Kenobi, rescuing princess Leia, and the final confrontation against Death Star and its TIE Fighters, led by the mysterious Darth Vader.
Most of the game levels follow traditional platform gameplay style. As Luke, Han, or Chewbacca, the player makes his way through the linear levels, fighting enemies, jumping over obstacles, and collecting power-ups. The power-ups include standard health-restoring items, upgrades for the blaster gun (up to five different upgrade levels), as well as special items that can be used for massive destruction of the enemies. Luke uses a weak blaster gun, but later gains access to a lightsaber, being able to fight enemies melee-style. Han and Chewbacca use stronger flame guns, but cannot upgrade to better weapons.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The sequel to Super Star Wars is, as the name implies, based on Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the second of the original Star Wars movie trilogy. The game features familiar locations and events from the film, such as the ice planet Hoth, the search for Yoda on the jungle planet Dagobah, and the fight against Darth Vader. Several locations are expanded, adding places and boss enemies that did not exist in the movie, and certain key events in the story are omitted or changed.
As in the previous game, the player is able to control three characters: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. Unlike the first, each character has been given a distinct special move. Chewie spins a path of destruction through enemies, Han has grenades and a powerful slide, and Luke can switch to his lightsaber and block oncoming fire. Gameplay is very similar to the first game, mostly focusing on platforming elements. As before, there are Mode-7 vehicle levels, during which the player is able to pilot a snowspeeder against encroaching Imperial walkers, pilot the Millennium Falcon through the asteroid field, and break through Cloud City’s defences in Luke’s X-Wing fighter.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Super Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
You select your character from the movie (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, or Chewbacca) before each level, as each one has different abilities, and go try to beat levels based on the movie’s scenes brandishing lightsabers, blasters or crossbows, etc. depending on your choice of character.
Gameplay consists of standard platform action spiced up with some slightly different (gameplay-wise) sequences. Race to Jabba the Hutt’s palace in a speeder, fight your way through Jabba the Hutt’s minions before killing Jabba himself, control speeder bikes and the Millennium Falcon, and much more.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Flashback – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The year is 2142. The player takes control of Conrad B. Hart, a man who has lost his memory. After barely escaping from hostile aliens, Conrad’s bike crashes on an unknown planet. Conrad finds himself in the jungle, and from that moment on his quest for survival and his lost identity begins.
Flashback: The Quest for Identity incorporates elements of platforming, shooting, and problem-solving. The game can be described as a “cinematic platformer” (commonly referred to as Prince of Persia-style), following a design philosophy that was also manifested in Delphine Software’s previous work, Another World. Compared to that game, Flashback focuses more on platforming and exploration of large levels.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Star Trek Starfleet Academy: Starship Bridge Simulator – Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Two years before the better-known computer game came this title, in which the aim is to successfully complete the space combat element of Starfleet training. You will fight Klingons, deal with repairs, and find yourself in all manner of dangerous situations, but try to stay within Starfleet directives.
The game is viewed from the bridge of your vessel (there are 5 different ones in total), with polygons used to display the action. Information on the world situation at the time of the game is supplied within the game. There are quick missions bringing scenes from Star Trek movies to life.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £2.26 (Facebook Group)
Birthday Gifts
Sonic the Hedgehog: Bad Guys Comic
Sonic the Hedgehog: Bad Guys is a comic miniseries and a spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by IDW Publishing. This four-issue miniseries focuses on the former assistant and devotee of Dr. Eggman, Dr. Starline, in the aftermath of the Metal Virus Saga, as he assembles a team consisting of Rough, Tumble, Mimic, and Zavok to take over one of the Eggman Empire’s abandoned bases so that he can continue his plans from there.
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Heat Changing Arcade Mug
It’s an arcade themed heat-change mug!
When it gets hot, the alien invaders appear
Features a super-cool joystick handle
Made of sturdy ceramic
Holds approx. 300 ml
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Paladone Playstation Playing Cards and Console Tin
This set features a standard deck of cards with each suit represented by the iconic PlayStation controller button symbols. Cards fit inside included PlayStation storage box.
Whether you like go fish, gin rummy, blackjack, poker, old maid, or solitaire, this deck is perfect to bring along in the car or your purse so you are always ready to play.
Bring this set to any family reunion, game night, or party for a fun time. It’s convenient to take on the go wherever you’re travelling & will be instantly recognizable among gamers.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
SPACE INVADERS Wall Plaque Tin Sign
A small metal wall plaque
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Birthday Gift Bundle 2
Nights Into Dreams – Sega Saturn
It all started about two young kids. First there is this boy named Elliot Edwards who loves to play basketball, but then he was humiliated in front of his friends by a group of older kids who wants to play in a “friendly” game. Then there is Claris Sinclair, she loves to sing, but when she step on the stage, she felt so nervous that she ran out to the exit like a coward.
NiGHTS was a first class Maren together with Reala. They were both created by Wizeman. As day pass by, NiGHTS notice how his master becoming so evil. So when he started to refuse on obeying his master’s evil deeds, Wizeman punished him by locking him up into an Ideya Palaces.
But NiGHTS found out that he has a chance to escape his prison by combining his body to a human dreamer. Those dreamers were Elliot and Claris. He also found out that those two have a Red Ideya within them. As he finally free himself out of the Ideya Palace, he will find Wizeman and destory him with the help of Elliot and Claris.
Here you basically control Elliot, Claris and Nights. You start a level by choosing Elliot and Claris. Gameplay is similar to Sonic but unique in a way that it is best to use the special D-pad. As you fly through the levels you should pass through a certain number of loop rings to finish each level. You gain bonuses by dancing which can be easily achieved by using a D-pad.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition – Sega Mega Drive
This version of Street Fighter II is similar in most aspects to the original, save that all 12 characters are selectable from the get-go (the boss characters were originally locked), and the game engine has been revamped.
Rating – Boxed No Manual
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
PAC-MAN Tamagotchi
You can now raise and nurture your Tamagotchi character with the help of PAC-MAN! PAC-MAN will save the Tamagotchi character from the Ghosts and bugs, and for more PAC-MAN fun, play the Pac Game and Catch Game! Choose from 2 different PAC-MAN Tamagotchi device shells. With this deluxe PAC-MAN Tamagotchi, you get the black PAC-MAN maze shell with a PAC-MAN case to protect your PAC-MAN Tamagotchi
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Street Fighter, Atari Logo And Super Mario T-Shirts
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Worlds Greatest Dad Mug
Well all you dads out there can stop trying now, as you can see I am the worlds greatest dad
Rating – Loose
Price Paid – £0 (Birthday Gift)
Hand-Made Birthday Box
This is by far my favourite thing I got this month. It was created by my 5 year old daughter. she painted Pac-Man along with Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde. She spent so much time on this and I’m so thankful for it. I love that kid.