• Finished 10th April 2022
  3/10

Pretty naff game. Port of an older arcade game and feels like it. It's only entertaining to me because it has very suggestive homoerotic sprite work.

• Finished 18th April 2022
  8/10

Stockholm Syndrome? Or just an actually pretty decent baseball game. This game will forever be significant through my playthroughs of streaming the Mega Drive library for making me realise you can't truly appreciate a sports game from a short burst playthrough. It took me a while to get good at this game and appreciate it's pretty intuitive controls. All is not perfect however, the AI is incredibly brutal and it's very hard to hit the balls even after hours of practice. The AI rarely misses so you really need to get you're field game up. I would genuinely want to play this on 2 player with friends. Amazing music. One of my favourite Mega Drive tracks is in this. It really is a very polished package, save for the cruel difficulty. To think this game out in 1989 is utterly mind blowing.

• Finished 22nd April 2022
  7/10

Pretty decent game and a nice little find. One of the better NA exclusive games the rest of the world missed out. Really nice style and graphics and alot of creativity in boss design and level structure. A game with ups and downs but one I would replay. Mostly just spoilt by a janky silly finally boss.

• Finished 23rd April 2022
  3/10

Horrifying this was considered acceptable to be put onto a cartridge and charge money for. Almost no content or fun to be had, just 2 minutes of possible initial entertainment in how bad it is. A scam.

• Finished 23rd April 2022
  9/10

Brilliant game with tons of personality. Stands apart from other shmups of the era with its comical story and fun twist at the end. Memorable, marvelous, must play.

• Finished 24th April 2022
  7/10

Really fun co-op beat 'em up. Great music. Far superior to the SNES version which lacks many of the voice sounds. The game gains so much by having fun voice clips which just adds to the camp silly fun. Not the most sophisticated game but a good time.

• Finished 3rd May 2022
  4/10

Probably going to upset some people but I thought this was a dreadful game. Felt like the very bad Beta of what would later become a much better improved Cool Spot. Horrible movement that relies on a few seconds moment buildup to run. A camera that will give you whiplash every time you turn. Horrible enemy placement that shoots you from off screen and a horrible requirement to find enough power ups to end the level. Gets progressively worse and worse as it goes on and wasn't that much fun in the first place. Just play Cool Spot, or better still just play something else entirely.

• Finished 6th May 2022
  6/10

Aged pretty poorly but still pretty fun for a night in if you have the nostalgia for it. Probably not very interesting to anyone else though. I grew up playing this so I have a soft spot for it.

• Finished 9th May 2022
  10/10

The best beat em up on the console? I think so. Gorgeous big graphics and a killer soundtrack. A staple 2 player coop game many grew up playing. I still prefer the first game though and alot if just comes down to atmosphere and style. There is something very coherent and gritty about the first game, whereas the 2nd has alot of rather strange and silly levels. Baseball stadiums with secret elevators, amusement parks with alien monsters inside? It's a bit daft, but its good fun.

• Finished 10th May 2022
  6/10

Reasonable presentation and easy interface. No music at all in game though which is really disappointing. The only music in game is the theme at the start and the end. Fun if your stuck in 1993 and like quizzes, or like retro silliness and funny pixel art of 90s fashion in 2022 and also like quizzes. Which are you?

• Finished 13th May 2022
  5/10

A very early football game I played at 50hz because my nostalgia is for the PAL version with slower music. Not a great game really and very frustrating to actually beat. I'm sure many have played this though and have memories both bad and good. Grrroooooooal!

• Finished 13th May 2022
  6/10

Forgotten sequel to the cursed 1989 game everyone owned. Not sure I see much relation really. It's certainly an improvement and has some very fancy camera work and smooth gameplay, but it's not a very entertaining on the whole.

• Finished 19th May 2022
  3/10

Horrible game that should have ended with only one installment. Diabolical that this got any sequels. Horrible physics that make no sense. Horrible level design that gets worse and worse as it goes on. I wanted to like it and even had a bit of nostalgia from playing it at a friends as a child. I had never got past the first few levels though which are arguably the only ones that are any fun. Soon descends into madness, and the bosses are top tier jank. I don't really get how any can say this is a good game and the sequel is bad. Makes me severely dread the sequel, but whatever blows your hair back i suppose.

• Finished 20th May 2022
  8/10

Fun little arcade game. Decent fun for 1990 with nice graphics and some good music. Fun bosses you can figure out the patterns for. Overall a very nice port.

• Finished 21st May 2022
  9/10

Gorgeous graphics, some of the most colourful on the system. Amazing tunes that have you humming for days. Very cruel difficulty mostly because dying on certain bosses makes you so slow and weak it's hard to recover. If you can get good at this game though it's a delight to playthrough. Play it for the music alone tbh.

• Finished 27th May 2022
  7/10

A surprisingly decent movie license game. Feels like a realised game that was already created concept first then decided to tie into a movie. Not the total hidden gem people make it out to be but it's still rather good, i think people are just suprised given it's a movie license. Get's a bit spicy towards the end but overall pretty good fun.

• Finished 17th June 2022
  8/10

Very cute platformer with some really interesting enemy designs that have alot of personality and variety. Lovely levels when it's set outside, less interesting indoors. The biggest let down are the terrible boss minigames. Great music though especially World 2. I have a huge soft spot for this game. It oozes charm and does some really wild visuals on the hardware, but then the final levels of each zone come and they are a bit drab. I usually just remember the highs upon reflection.

• Finished 26th June 2022
  9/10

Absolutely outstanding shooter. One I never truly appreciated until this challenge. The Japanese version has the perfect difficult. It was very satisfying and addictive to figure out how to clear each part at minimum power and the kind of shooter you can repeat with good memorization and pull of some fancy movements consistently when you know how. The level design feels so carefully planned and usually has a specific shot that you have to find to clear with ease. 10/10 right up until the final stage which is total trash and uninspiring.

• Finished 1st July 2022
  8/10

I actually rather enjoyed this in the end but I can appreciate that the short gameplay and lack of replay value would have made it disappointing back in the day at full RRP. Fun to figure out but the finale is very tedious.

• Finished 12th July 2022
  7/10

Insane graphics but at the compromise of some of the fantastic level design of the 3rd game. I personally think the first half of this game is rather weak and improves in the latter half when the levels change from generally open spaces to more interesting layouts. I can see why so many love this game but I personally think there are shmups with better gameplay overall on the system. Also not a fan of a lot of the cheap deaths of enemies just spawning and blasting into you all too often. Still an iconic peace of Mega Drive history and a fantastic sound track but a bit style over substance for me overall.

• Finished 15th 2022
  9/10

Much better than I remembered. Actually holds up incredibly well. Like so many EA published games though, I do wish they had some music. Great addictive gameplay albeit a little short campaign and would be even shorter after you're first playthrough.

• Finished 8th August 2022
  4/10

Much much worse than my memory of it. I got this for Christmas one year and thought it was very disappointing versus the previous batman movie's game. This game is so hard but alot of it is bad controls, wonky hitboxes and horrible level design. Not a good time.

• Finished 9th September 2022
  10/10

Stunning action RPG that holds up very well. Some of the best graphics on the machine. Brilliant sense of exploration and adventure moving from location to location. More a beat em up rpg really. Sort of wish they had done more with the puzzles later though. Classic Mega Drive title. Give it a try. My only problem is it's so very short. I swear each time I play through it feels even shorter than the last.

• Finished 11th December 2022
  6/10

*Somewhere in my memories I played this game many times with my friend. I think it has a reputation for being jank like the other video game entries. I personally think its quite good fun. Nothing amazing but playable. I wish the game had more traps though because you really only have enough to set up one or two houses and little time to do so. They also do very little damage. Most the game is won by making the best guns and having ammo. It has a great concept but just doesn't realise it fully.

• Finished 11th December 2022
  6/10

It's more Jeopardy, basically the same as the last one with nothing especially deluxe. Still no music, same graphics...fun if your stuck in 1994 and like quizzes and played the original already, or like retro silliness and funny pixel art of 90s fashion in 2022 and also like quizzes. Which are you?

• Finished 5th April 2023
  9/10

Really great game that has aged gracefully. Not an easy game but generally a fair game. The final boss is quite a leap from the rest of the game though. You had better have got the sword combat down by then. Fantastic soundtrack.

• Finished 7th April 2023
  5/10

I'm sure I enjoyed this as a child but now I'm not convinced it was ever actually good. Very floaty controls and horrible momentum--think Bubsy but less extreme. Bosses decided by RNG should be a criminal offense. Even the item that lets you read their minds isn't very useful on the final boss. Some horrible gotcha death level design towards the end make for an overall miserable gaming experience. I guess the graphics are colourful and nice for such an early game, but I now have come to understand why Alex never got a 2nd Mega Drive outing.

• Finished 8th April 2023
  6/10

Actually quite good fun and alot of potential to have been something better. Feels a very barebones game without a very clear goal or point to it. I'm sure it was much more fun on 2player mode. I wonder if other ports were stronger and this was an after thought perhaps. Shame because it could have rivaled games like Micro Machines.

• Finished 8th April 2023
  8/10

Actually a very competent football game. Good music and great controls. Generally a lot of fun, although given the late release date of 1993 it can't be excused that it is a very ugly looking game. The comedy team names were also far more entertaining than they should be.

• Finished 8th April 2023
  7/10

Basically the same as 1993's sensible soccer. Some updates but still the same dated graphics that look even worse in 1994. Re the previous game - "Actually a very competent football game. Good music and great controls. Generally a lot of fun, although given the late release date of 1993 (now 94) it can't be excused that it is a very ugly looking game. The comedy team names were also far more entertaining than they should be.

• Finished 10th April 2023
  10/10

Brilliant game. I always overlooked it because it was never the sort of genre I liked growing up. Has a deceptive difficulty that is actually quite manageable with a little practice. I can see why it spoken about so much as a beloved classic.

• Finished 22nd April 2023
  9/10

Initially quite tricky but manageable with practice and lowering your expectations to place first every round. Great music, outstanding graphics that are lightyears of it's time. My main critique is the putting is awful. Overly sensitive and specific. You need to set up a good put to stand a good chance.

• Finished 2nd July 2023
  8/10

One of the best RPGs on Mega Drive (though there aren't many). Lovely story that slowly unfolds with great writing and a large cast of memorable characters. Easy to see how this birthed a series famous for its writing and world building. May feel somewhat tropey now but by 1989 standards its rather ahead of the curve. However combat is a drag and mobs are rather frustrating. Boss fights were great with fun gimmicks. Outstanding soundtrack. A worthy version even if its more known as a PC Engine.

• Finished 9th September 2023
  6/10

Nice port of an arcade game. Decent music, simple gameplay but the final level is awful and some bad hitboxes and bosses that seem to be impossible without one specific weapon makes the game feel unfair and janky. A shame because until then it was very fun.

• Finished 12th September 2023
  9/10

Very cute graphics and lovely music. Overall cute game with a nice presentation and fun puzzles. I think it could have got a bit more challenging and done more variation on puzzle solutions but there's not too much to dislike about this game. You like the genre or you don't. If you do, it's a very well presented one.

• Finished 14th September 2023
  1/10

Utter shite. It gets one start for being actually playable and beatable but it's only merit is that it somewhat functional. Terrible game. Avoid.

• Finished 7th October 2023
  8/10

A classic but not without flaws. Some very vicious difficulty towards the end in Arcade mode. Can't imagine playing without the super bike and the frame/muffler in Original mode is a little too flimsy for the amount of troll bikers they throw at you at times. On the whole though a very well made game with great music and graphics. Another good Arcade conversion

• Finished 9th October 2023
  7/10

Very competent and fun platformer. Probably one of the better movie licensed games of the era. The slidy walk is not very fun but the game is generous enough with lives and health if you find the secrets that it doesn't matter too much. Would play again and likely will. I would have enjoyed this alot as a child.

• Finished 19th October 2023
  8/10

Very simple but very addictive game with pretty much nothing wrong with it. It's an arcade classic and is no pushover. Great port too.

• Finished 20th October 2023
  7/10

Great graphics. Really fun over the top gore. Feels like am improvement on the first game in many ways but still suffers from moments of cheap janky feeling level design. The bosses are much better this time around and some great music.

• Finished 22nd October 2023
  3/10

Unfortunately I really wasn't a fan of this one. Enemies with too much health and very unbalanced damage rates to the player too. The game starts off well but descends into maddening tedium and obnoxious encounters and bosses in stage 4 and 5. Stage 6 redeems itself but its too late for me by then. Huge shame because it has great art design and story and atmosphere. I wanted to like it but it's far too frustrating to probably bother with again.

• Finished 23rd October 2023
  4/10

With Traveller's Tales behind the scenes in this one in some capacity I had hoped for something at least above average. Feel like this game was rushed and could have been something better. The music was often pretty good though but the hitboxes and gameplay were very sloppy. Boring level design too. I did enjoy a few boss fights however. Not the worst thing I've played but will ultimately end up forgettable and not in that bad zone of 4-5 out of 10 area.

• Finished 24th October 2023
  4/10

Messy level design with enemies that mostly just fly into you. Very poor structure. Not fun to learn and very difficult post level 3. Music is ok but sounds like it’s struggling to keep tempo and sometimes had me laughing at how bad it sounded. Not the worst game ever on the platform, but due other games in the genre generally being high quality this may be possibly one of the worst shooters of a very large bunch. Think Curse but dull level design and music. So basically think Curse stage 4.

• Finished 28th October 2023
  7/10

Pretty fun game albeit with somewhat dated graphics. Some good music some mixed music. Overall has quite a lot of depth and I could see it would really shine in 2 player. Lots of replay value with different scenarios and challenges. Could see myself replaying someday.

• Finished 29th October 2023
  4/10

Great music, nice graphics, terrible port. Awful performance, sluggish controls and a frame rate that is all over the place at best and frustrating at worst. Very difficult to recommend this one. Listen to the soundtrack though.

• Finished 9th November 2023
  8/10

Played on Normal (Arcade difficulty) Utterly brutal but also addictive shooter. Very unforgiving checkpoints with a fair few Gradius syndrome choke points. Remedied somewhat on console default easy mode as bosses have much less health. Would be mostly tolerable but the final boss is needlessly cruel. Far from the bad port people seem to say. Don't let the name Micronet put you off either, it’s is a very competent and fairly arcade accurate port. Utterly outstanding music.

• Finished 13th November 2023
  2/10

Terrible. I give it props for inventive gameplay idea and the mega drive version have pleasant visuals (especially the backgrounds that really capture the look of the Simpsons. However the gameplay is terrible. Horrible controls, horrible jumping. Criminal platforming that results in many unfair deaths. Avoid

• Finished 14th November 2023
  2/10

Don’t understand the appeal here at all. Very boring, shallow repetitive gameplay. Graphics are ok with cute but choppy animated sprites. No music is a big pet peeve of mine and inexcusable in a non-simulation type game. The game just has a big vibe of being a very stripped-down lazy port of a superior arcade game. Even the snes version seems better and has more features mentioned in the manual than can be found here. Possibly better on 2player. Played it finished it already forgotten it.

• Finished 20th November 2023
  4/10

Technically impressive game. Still blows my mind how many voice samples they squeezed into the little cart. Fairly visually attractive and well-presented game. However it is incredibly short and I would imagine any child would grow bored of it fairly quickly as there is very little to do in its short repetitive minigames. For the probably hefty price tag this is a let down due to lack of content.

• Finished 1st December 2023
  3/10

A stark reminder of why all baseball games chose isometric of top down perspectives for fieldling. This multiangle mess has a steep learning curve and I still have no idea how batting works. The computer fields like a god with boring perfect execution. Only certain hits that are uncatchable will ever work. One track for the entire game which will drive you insane. I could see the game improving on 2 player but as a solo game? Avoid!

• Finished 2nd December 2023
  10/10

Totally polished, masterpiece platformer on the console. Not my personal favourite of the trilogy (that’s 3) but it has aged incredibly well. The difficulty leans into being ever so slightly too much in the final levels and as a kid I could never actually finish this. Amazing music, huge variety in locations. There is so much to like and it’s all been said before. A classic but you already knew that really. Even 2 player is good content.

• Finished 3rd December 2023
  9/10

Beautifully presented polished reskin of Puyo Puyo with an arguably mostly improved soundtrack thanks to the cube driver. Exercise mode (sticker of puyo puyo) is possibly my favourite video track of all time and this version goes hard. Brutal late game difficulty but thanks to unlimited continues this balances out well. Very fun game but music in the later stages is pretty dire. Exercise mode is probably my favourite rather than the single player campaign.

• Finished 3rd December 2023
  6/10

Add on more points for an exclusively 2 player experience. However as a 1 player experience this game is pretty miserable on the difficult expected to see any endings. The AI is ridiculously cruel, from special move spams to input reading. The AI can and will counter most attacks especially anti-air. It’s more about trying to break the Ai than actually play well. Not fun other games disguise their nasty AI better. Great visuals and roster for 2 player though.

• Finished 7th December 2023
  6/10

Inoffensive, ultimately probably forgettable. Simple gameplay loop and nice presentation, good graphics, suitable music but just not really much going on under the hood. Running out of things to say....like slightly warm toast when you're kinda full already?

• Finished 10th December 2023
  3/10

At first, I thought this was another bandwagon “bad” game and in its defence, it starts out ok. Alright visuals, check. Typical ok forgettable GEMS sounding music, check. It was all set up to be an average affair. I could even get past the horrific platforming on the Toy Store Level. Cut to the 2nd half of the game and it took a nose dive straight into jank garbage. The final game is so bad I want compensation.

• Finished 16th April 2023
  5/10

Disgracefully difficult and seldom in a fun way. Cheap deaths, with dollops of jank to make it even more frustrating. Not the prettiest game either for the time. Did enjoy the music alot though. When it works its actually quite fun but the majority of the game is too frustrating to enjoy. The double tap to dash has no business in a platformer and will cause many many many deaths.

• Finished 20th April 2023
  2/10

Starts off as a mediocre game that you think will soon be a distant forgotten memorable and somewhere around the halfway mark spirals into possibly the worst game I've played on the system. Appalling music, horrible sound design that will just bombard you with noise and bad sound effects. Ugly graphics, confusing maze like design later on and the final level is room after room of hunt the invisible wall/door while infinitely spawning enemies just attack you and make horrible noises as you flustered about trying to heal and make you're way through the horrible maze like design. Can't even explain how awful it is. Trust me and just avoid.

• Finished 27th April 2023
  4/10

Interesting gameplay ideas that are not executed very well. The game starts off ok but the final 1/3 of the game is far too clumsy and spikes hard in difficulty. It's a shame really, Would bump it up 2 stars but the last 5 levels were just so terrible it really soured me on the game on the whole. Marko is very slow and hard to maneuver and enemies have too much health and are often too difficult to stop running into your when they suddenly appear. Frustrating game.

• Finished 4th May 2023
  3/10

One of the worst Disney licensed game on the system. No surprise given the developer. Drab, ugly, repetative, but also difficult levels that feel like the worst levels in other platformers made into one long game. Those levels you say "oh god I hate this level" except its every level. If you enjoy suspended floating platforms, tiny boxes to jump on, the same floating moving platforms reskinned in each world and swinging mechanics where any misstep often is just a death pit? Then this is the game for you.

• Finished 8th May 2023
  1/10

Horrible graphics, horrible shallow gameplay. I realize this was a port of an arcade game but it looks hideous for 1992. Low on features low on any depth, no rules just mayhem. Really nasty ai difficulty curve that goes form push over to hardcore. Your goalkeeper is also useless but the computers is godlike. No passwords or saving between matches meaning you have to redo the playoffs and entire cup if you lose in the final (and you will) which takes a miserable 1 hour 15 mins or so to get back to. The only thing this game has going for it is a complete banger of a final match music and some other good beats. Avoid and just listen to the soundtrack.

• Finished 15th May 2023
  5/10

3 modes on offer here. The Arcade first mode is incredibly brutal. It has the better rule set but the enemies are just so fast and every tiny movement feels like a gamble with death on later levels. The RNG items will also often screw you over. The Q Mode is pretty throwaway really. Feels like a lite mode. Doesn't hurt to be there but wasn't very fun. Good for speed running maybe. P mode was the most balanced with permanent item placement and lives which balance the difficulty more, however I preferred arcade modes timer system and movement rules. I would have liked an inbetween. And now to talk about the audio. Wooowooowooowooowooowooowoo....it's awful! Wtf were they thinking. Loses points for that alone. Wooowooowooowooo

• Finished 18th May 2023
  3/1

Some really nice details on the characters faces and I loved how they showed damage later and their sprite would change. Nice voice samples too. Tbh that's about all I have to praise this game. It's very mediocre, ok gameplay that gets boring really fast and doesn't have much depth. The way the sprites redraw when you turn corners and it makes the game stutter is also awful. It's a cool premise and has a fun setup in the manual but the game is ultimate a bit drab. It's also incredible short and I have very little desire to replay. I would have been very sad to have paid RRP for this 45 minute game. Fun for a grab bag in a short burst once. But there are just so many better games out there.

• Finished 19th May 2023
  7/10

Surprisingly well ported adaptation of this arcade classic. Although it's perhaps too faithful to its own detriment. It is really just the game with no bells or whistles. If you want a console way to play the arcade game this is probably the best one. But would I have spent money on this in 1998? No. Really should have had more modes IMO like a remake mode or variations on the formula too.

• Finished 25th May 2023
  6/10

Competent basketball game. I just really am not down for EA sports game decision to ditch music, especially when the previous game had good tunes. This one in particular is very quiet except for the sounds of the basketball. Doesn't immerse me and is kinda depressing. The gameplay is good enough and once you start to figure out how to get around the defense it is quite good fun. They also improved on the last game by allowing you to play shorter games. I just wish next tournaments would be less rounds. Maybe it's realism but best of 7 drags on for me.

• Finished 26th May 2023
  7/10

Unfairly criticized IMO. While I'm sure it doesn't hold up in a serious competitive nature, for a casual gamer picking up a fighter this is alot of quick and easy fun. Fun special movies and interesting finishers, it sort of reminds me of a average inbetween of eternal champions and mortal kombat. The special moves are a bit clunky and don't input very well in a rush against the AI. Most of the ai can be broken with jumps and follow up grabs anyway. However, I would have loved this on weekends in my childhood. As a licensed IP based on a kids tv show? It's very off brand and full of cleavage, gratuitous sex appeal (a dominatrix is the 2nd to last boss? and questionable violence in the finishers. Seems a worlds away from the wholesome tv show with high morals "don't do drugs, guns are bad" counterpart. Confusing. Still I had fun.

• Finished 27th May 2023
  7/10

Despite being pretty much the same game as Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA Playoffs, the presentation outside of the matches was much better. Lovely pixel art and introduction profiles for each country with their national anthems plays. Lovely music between matches by the wonderful Rob Hubbard, just a shame like Bulls vs Lakers, it lacks any music in game. The defense also felt a bit trickier to get by this time around. Sort of need to rely on your fast guys to run around them. Shorter tournament was much more to my attention span for sports games.

• Finished 28th May 2023
  2/10

Light on content, and the content itself is also rather light. 4 games, (two of which are the same thing, just timed versus points one on one shots). Then there is a 3 throw mini game and a slam dunk mini game. That's it. I played it for an hour and was over it by then. This isn't a game, it's a mini game and should have been a feature mode on one of the other full basketball games not it's own cart.

• Finished 1st June 2023
  3/10

Too fast for its own good and with very twitch sensitive controls. For some reason the diagonals count as inputs and any slight tilt on the dpad cardinal will make her move. This makes the top speeds very very frantic and twitch and causes alot of frustrating deaths. I'm sure there are those who enjoy this game but I found it hair pulling. Too difficult and not precise enough to justify it. No thank you.

• Finished 2nd June 2023
  6/10

Gorgeous graphics, great music and fun art design. The crowds are so dynamic and animated and the wrestlers are so expressive. Honestly it all seems great on paper and then as usual it suffers from frustratingly miserable AI opponents that just kick you ass relentless and suck all the fun out the game. Think Street Fighter 2. I'm sure its wonderful on 2 player but its a miserable 1 player game. Such a shame. The game has a grab system but I could seldom ever get a single grab on the opponent as they just counter or override your input. By the end of the game I was resorting to kiting the AI and spamming cheap hits. Do yourself a favour and turn the difficult down from default. You will enjoy it more.

• Finished 14th June 2023
  8/10

Nice graphics, nice music. Really fun side scrolling action game with RPG elements. Reminded me of a simpler Ys 3 mixed with Blades of Vengeance (and i enjoyed both of them). I liked the episodic levels and the quick stories. Pretty impressive for what was originally an arcade game. There are a few occasions on certain bosses or respawning enemies where damage feels almost entirely unavoidable which I'm not a huge fan off but overall the difficulty is fair enough you can survive. I wish you could choose when to consume items and now have to wait until death. Nice ending too that felt very earned. I bet this was really good fun on 2 player. Recommend

• Finished 15tht June 2023
  4/10

Very ugly game for 1992. Terrible collision detection or visual communication to the player for kicks and punches, many times you just kick through the opponent and then they grab you or hit you back. The grapple timing system is the meat of the game and yet barely mentioned in the manual. How it prioritizes who had the timing best versus the computer is beyond me. Too much happening under the hood in this game that is not communicated to the player.

The gauge at the bottom of the screen (apparently used for a unique special move for each character) is barely mentioned in a corner on the moves list in the manual. No real clue how much health or weakened your opponent is or if you are winning. Also if you take too much damage at the start it becomes very hard to win any grapples, kinda a snowball of just you losing. Frustrating. Great ides but not good game. A few good tunes that's about it. Next!

• Finished 16th June 2023
  6/10

A fun way to teach kids geography and about the world. The gameplay loop and ideas are all fine. However as usual EA is allergic to having any music which really drags the game down. Very boring sounds and black screens are also a bit drab. The clues start to repeat a little too often and not being able to choose to get a hint about the criminal is also a bit exhausting, especially when for the 7th time you get told they have a tattoo.

The ending was also non existent which was a huge disappointment. Lazy. All that aside the way the game utilizes the companion almanac book would really work. As an adult I learned things too. Could have been 10 cases shorter though or had more variety in suspects and locations, by hour 4 I was over it.

• Finished 18th June 2023
  1/10

Believe the hype. It IS that bad. An absolute abomination of a game. The worst I've ever played. The only think i think is not true is that I personally didn't find his talking voice samples irritating. The very least of this games issues. Hideous (and I mean hideous) momentum and control. Imagine bubsy except wearing cement shoes. Enemies also send you ricocheting off them in janky momentum too.

Landing on a platform or a moving target is miserable. Hit boxes are awful, even the boundaries on environmental platforms don't function, be ready to jump and get hit by the enemy on the floor above you or even partly go through the floor. The quizzes are the best part of this horrible mess. This is a terrible game and not even fun terrible. Ironically in promoting a game to raise environmental awareness about recycling and reducing waste they instead did the opposite and just produced more trash. Meta-garbage?

• Finished 24th June 2023
  4/10

Very ambitious and gets a huge props for innovation and creativity. Unfortunately alot of it just doesn't work. The carry weight limitations are cumbersome (hohum), and create a ridiculous amount of busy work and admin. Kill enemies > get money (that has weight)/heavy item drop you never need> sort out inventory. Repeat. It kills the pacing, is utterly obnoxious and continues throughout the game as you try to keep your equipment upgraded. The day cycle requires you to eat adding to this busy work. Carry two meals a day (more would be heavy).

I actually gave this a much higher score at first however the final boss is utterly despicably garbage and left me extremely sour. Spoilers - Very close to softlocking as only projectile weapons work. I'd discarded the best ones as I was using a sword and the weight limit was hounding me. The shops items were too weak and they are fixed damage so don't scale off stats. After phase 1 you have to go inside the boss and kill it (without being able to change weapon) before it kills you as your health ticks down. The most ridiculous design I've ever seen. After dying many times unsure how much health it even has left, I levelled up a few getting low returns at this point of 1-4hp a level and getting a resurrection item for an extra slither of health and by having full health for phase 2 managed to beat it only surviving with just a slither left. (Can't use items/healing or change equipment mid fight either).

Forced damage is never good design. Besides all this, how you would even know any of this is beyond me. There's no indication you're doing damage. Just your health ticking away. In fact unless you do phase 1 correctly, you're not doing damage anyway but visually it looks the same. Unforgivable. If you must play, you had better make sure you do not discard the flame sword / great bow.

• Finished 24th June 2023
  9/10

The best wrestling game on the Mega Drive I've played to date. Builds off the failings of the previous game and improves and polishes the game in everyway. Controls are now responsive, finishing moves are easier to execute and more fun, the AI is much less frustrating. Stepping out the ring and doing illegal moves and using a chair is really fun and the gameplay has never felt better. Jumping off the ropes, using your finisher, it all flows and works how you want it to and rarely frustrating. My only criticism is the grapple system doesn't feel very fun and button mashing against an ai isn't a good time. The Royal Rumble mode is incredibly impressive, 6 wrestlers on screen and no slow down. This does create some issues with targeting but it's still good fun. Easy recommend.

• Finished 26th June 2023
  2/10

A hideous game that gets a extra star for some interesting ideas and goofy fun. The frame rate is terrible, the hit collision and blocking is garbage. Priority of hurt boxes feels messy and you receive alot of damage if you're hit while attackig (which happens often). The control laytous and moves are painful on the hands and have clearly not been thought out, arcade port or not. Most moves require two button presses together or even 3 and horrible D-pad inputs. Be prepared to use a claw hand. Some moves are also just so convoluted they arn't worth bothering with. Find a short quick attack and a power attack spam to stun the enemy then just use a finisher. The finishers are a cool idea and the idea of using different limbs or severing them off is creative, but none of it really comes together. The ai ranges from incredibly stupid to relentless. Sound and audio is also pretty bad. This is just not a good game. Avoid.

• Finished 29th June 2023
  6/10

It's basically the same game as the previous one so here is my review for that. Add new teams and some new features to customise defense (that i didn't use) and the ability to make you're own dream team now. "Competent basketball game. I just really am not down for EA sports game decision to ditch music, especially when the previous game had good tunes. This one in particular is very quiet except for the sounds of the basketball. Doesn't immerse me and is kinda depressing. The gameplay is good enough and once you start to figure out how to get around the defense it is quite good fun. They also improved on the last game by allowing you to play shorter games. I just wish next tournaments would be less rounds. Maybe it's realism but best of 7 drags on for me."

• Finished 6th July 2023
  5/10

Nice graphics and music. Overall the presentation is much more my taste than the EA offerings. However the gameplay pales in comparison. Whoever decided to have the court flip viewpoints each time you cross the centre line really didn't play many games. Needlessly disorientating and really doesn't add anything positive to it. Pressing C to change control of the character also is based on proximity so when you're trying to defend you can't change from the guy whos behind him to anyone better as they are too far away. Just silly.

It seemed to pay off more to attempt 3 point shots than get in the paint here as the defense was quite hard. The computer also made some pretty unfair 3 point shots from far away. Defense in general felt too difficult and most the time you just accidentally steal or the AI does for you, usually just as your pressing a button which means you then accidentally shoot (as this is the steal button). Also reversing controls so B is shoot and A is pass goes against most established sports games logic and no options to change. Huge shame as with tighter gameplay this could have been something special. At least it was short. Mixed feelings

• Finished 27th September 2023
  6/10

Much better than the previous game. Better graphics, and some rather good music actually. But the game just gradually falls apart into frustrating platforming with poor controls. The dive bomb is very finicky and aero also moves forward far to much with a tiny tap of the dpad. He also steps forward often accidentally while trying to land on platforms. Bosses are very bizarre as you can only hit them when they are attacking you rather than standing still which looks like it should be their weak phase. I appreciated there being a story but it was utter nonsense. The first half of the game was a solid 7/10 for me if not a bit boring. But the 2nd half was dull and frustrating.

• Finished 29th September 2023
  6/10

Gorgeous graphics, fantastic music I’ll remember forever, but an ultimately unbalanced game with a half-baked idea. The grapple beam is gimmicky and save for 1 boss, could be removed entirely and play the same. I wish throwing enemies at things actually did any real damage. The damage values and way hp scales off powers up also makes only one weapon viable. Checkpoints are some of the most sadistic relentless bottlenecks I've played. Learning to survive 5 seconds in stage 7 and 8 after a checkpoint is an entire game it itself. As options in this game are mandatory to deflect bullets most checkpoints require you to immediately hold right to fly forward as enemies are already filling the screen to hit the power up ship that’s always too far away, to even stand a fighting chance. The latter half feels poorly balanced around the default speed and the missile attack later enemies do is soul destroying.

Final boss is too clutch to do enough damage to destroy its final attack before it flies into you. Blue lasers seem impossible here. It's a shame because there were so many highs in earlier levels. No death zero wing is a 7/10 game, Death recovery zero wing is 5/10 bad, unfair design. Unfortunately, repeatedly replaying the game the earlier stages start to feel weak and boring with few moments of exhilaration. I actually think Bellon is both the best and the worst stage in the game. At reasonable power it’s a fantastic exhilarating challenge of dodging and weaving. Upon death it becomes a nasty cheap frustrating nightmare of clawing your way back to any footing to get some tools back to even hope to deal with it. The opening of stage 8 sans power is utterly diabolical. Stage 6 is peak balance for zero wing for me although the boss is far too easy.

• Finished 3rd October 2023
  7/10

Great music that has different arrangements and instruments depending on where you are on the screen in the level. Really impressive and clever effect that really builds up great atmosphere. Functional graphics and sounds with some nice voice samples. The gameplay loop is a fun one but the difficulty on default (hard) leans heavily into cheap frustration that is manageable but not always fun. Enemies are fixed and some spawn points are very obnoxious places in your path upon walking back through an area you have already done. This just feels intentionally cruel. The AI partner also loves to set off enemies which can make it rather chaotic. All of this would be ok if colliding with an enemy didn't do such large amounts of hp. A few cheap deaths to an enemy spawning underneath your play or right next to them is enough to cause justifiable frustration rather than "challenge".

Often the game requires memorization and most of the challenge comes from ambushes. The HP gauge is ridiculously difficult to read and the levelling up system is needlessly convoluted. Having to pay to heal first really makes the game a reload and do better run game, where often the optimal strat is to heal in game prior to ending the level or die on purpose to get full health back as buying a new life is cheaper than healing. This is not thoughtful game design. There is a lot to love though, the finale is really cool and although the final boss is pretty crazy without certain set ups it just has this cool level design that works well. Memorable game and will definitely replay someday but would probably lower the difficultly to the newer "Normal" or "Easy" modes included on this port.

• Finished 4th October 2023
  3/10

The western ported lack of Japan and PAL release was a big red flag. Lovely pixel art when the game isn't moving. Choppy when in motion. Shallow gameplay with only the most limited movesets with very clumsy input registers. Not sure combos are really a thing here. Most of the game can be beaten with just using the same high punch attack as the ai is very easy. Horrible sounds, very unbalanced audio where the music is often drowned out (didn't sound that great anyway) and very little to do otherwise.

Seems like all characters have the same ending are the same on normal. Didn't bother to try to find if there was more. It functions...just but its forgettable, shallow and there will always be a better option (and probably port). It shines only by being better than Time Killers. Ignore this game. Initial arcade playthrough was actually just 26 minutes (subtract time for me talking while streaming) and I tried the deathmatch mode too which is basically the same thing. I suppose most fighters can be like this but there was very little resistance here.

• Finished 6th October 2023
  6/10

Terrible audio mixing and quite ugly visuals. That said, its a really cool concept and the sort of style and vibes are great. Fun gameplay but it's really really short. Not sure it has the same sort of replayability a game like outrun has and also nowhere near the depth either. Can recommend once but there isn't really much to go back for. I'll probably replay from time to time.

• Finished 8th October 2023
  2/10

Positives out the way first. Passable music with memorable voice clips. Respectable graphics for being late gen. Now to the gameplay. It's awful. What on earth were they thinking with this one. The AI is insane. It took me several hours to be able to beat the first round of the tournament (of 8). Lose twice, it's game over. Later rounds you get 3 chances but must replay the previous round. Each round is really tough and I’m not ashamed to say I used the in-game battery save system and just quit game to just have another attempt instead.

There are so many problems to list. The game cheats, AI tackles you far too easily simply walking past you rips the ball out your hands. They rarely miss. The camera is always on the play with the ball so its impossible for you to defend your side of the court when you can't see it as you try to blindly make your character run back before the CPU throws it to the other partner to immediately shoot. (they do this all the time). Many plays start with you throwing in the ball to have the CPU tackle your AI partner immediately and rip it off them.

The game is just hateful and merciless. The ball can get dropped and land in the corner next to your AI partner and he will actually just run off and leave it and let the CPU get it. It just feels like the odds are stacked against you constantly. It's so bizarre because I could boot up the previous game and beat the first round first attempt. It's a big shame too because the vibes are fun and the super dunks are exciting. On 2 player maybe it’s more enjoyable albeit shallow. On 1p though it's without a doubt the hardest most broken basketball game I've played on the Mega Drive. Avoid!

• Finished 15th October 2023
  7/10

I had heard this was a stripped down inferior version of John Madden, and while it's partially true, I can't say it felt that hugely different to me. I preferred the graphics and presentation and the little voice clips and faster framerate that make the action feel a lot more exciting. However the depth of the plays and lack of audibles are a loss and no password in the playoffs mode makes the game agonizing to finish. 4 rounds and round 1-3 are mostly a cakewalk where you can get away with alot of nonsense. The final round though is utterly evil and you will struggle to run even 5 yards on a run and lots of passes get blocked. It's very demoralizing to go from winning 40-7 to getting utterly owned by the ai. All of this would be remedied on single games and against a human but it did leave me sour on the game as it took far longer than I would like and replaying rounds 1-2 was incredibly boring. That said it's a solid early entry in the Sega line up of licensed sports game.

• Finished 16th October 2023
  6/10

Something about this one felt a bit off for me but in all intents and purposes it's an improved game. It just doesn't have that absolute banger of a theme song. The graphics are better, the menus and presentation are much much much better. The game just somehow manages to feel harder. Runs are tougher and throws just didn't seem to go always where you thought they would and my team seemed really bad at catching. It's probably more balanced than the first one which I breezed through hard to tell but I had less fun. I think it's just less innovative this time around as its just a polished up continuation. The instant replay is a welcome feature and the madden talks are a nice touch but really could have been much more. As always this game would really come alive on couch 2player.

• Finished 18th October 2023
  4/10

Rather decent graphics that capture the show pretty well. However the audio is really naff. Bad tuneless music and horrible SFX that sound like the games breaking. The gameplay has good ideas but none of it works. You can use team skills to climb higher platforms or clear large gaps. They all require space to perform that is difficult to use which will often cause you to walk off the ledge as its automated. Sometimes it doesn't work at all because of positioning. It just feels forced and unintuitive and slows the game down. Just having different jumps would be fine.

The attack is appalling. The horrible western trope of throwing a projectile in an inconsistent arch that often misses the target or flies over it or hits the scenery. Tiny rats are excruciating to hit so why include them? The bosses range from cheap and broken to repetitive and boring. The levels in themselves aren't too bad but there too many of them and repeated. There is no need so many sewer levels between each segment. The game is bad. Bloated, bad and forgettable. One of the worst kind of bad games where it's just not even entertaining in it's badness. Sure, I've played worse but this is just lukewarm, tepid, room temperature pedestrian jank. Pass.

• Finished 20th October 2023
  4/10

Great music, gorgeous background graphics. The characters could use more animation frames and everything just feels very clunky, stiff and slow. The ai is pretty rubbish with clear input reading. If you hold down and attack upon starting you can't bet your sweet Dural that the AI will begin with a crouch block (how mysterious...). There seems to be things you can do to create combos but the inputs are a bit tricky and unforgiving I found it very hard to pull off moves consistently. I have a hard time judging these fighters as they either shine or don't on 2 player. But i don't think I would have been particular excited about this one as a kid with my friend and would have gone back to Mortal Kombat or Eternal Champions instead. Mediocre.

• Finished 21st October 2023
  6/10

Sort of misses and removes everything that made Outrun fun. The iconic atmospheric music, the different courses, the sense of the wind in your hair on a cross country drive. Instead we get badly arranged but functional music, a fixed course and the tedious realism of obnoxious police cars trying to spoil the fun.

The difficulty is incredibly unbalanced. Most the game is fairly easy except for stage 8 and stage 12 which are horrible bottle necks that needed a few more 5 more seconds leeway to be any fun. Getting through stage 12 on time is brutal (both I and a friend both finished with 0 seconds on the clock on our completion runs), then stage 13-16 are a total breeze.

All that said, I still enjoy it, the controls are tight, the environments are really cool albeit more choppy and a few have some really awful road perspectives. If you just binned stage 11 (worst road bends visually) and 8 the game would be miles better. Worth a play but suggest lowering the difficulty to easy where it becomes more fun.

• Finished 23rd October 2023
  2/10

Unnecessarily complicated controls of which you only 25% of to actually beat the game. Repetitive monotonous gameplay, dull backgrounds. The most efficient attack is punch punch punch and rip torso to instant kill and gain health No incentive to play any other way, especially with the garbage ai that pursues endlessly. The gimmick of customizing your robot is pointless as using the special arm is nigh impossible and has little payoff when a torso rip will do. 5 stages with 3 acts and each act just palette swaps the same flat backgrounds that just scrolls left to right. The same enemies comprised of diff body parts occupying every stage and the first 4 stages end on the same exact boss as the ai increases each stage along with their health, becoming tankier and tankier.. Cheap one-shot kills (equating to a gameover and continue spent) from the boss also are maddening.

At a hypothetical best, even when the game functions it is boring and when it doesn't, its insufferable. Get used to your attacks missing and doing the opposite of what you wanted to as many moves share the same input and are context sensitive. The perfect example of great ideas and abysmal execution. The final boss is also totally ridiculous for this control scheme. All that said the music was mostly decent and the sprite animations were really impressive actually but there is so little variety you have seen the game in 5 mins and it’s not a good game. I had a miserable time. Avoid.

• Finished 25th October 2023
  8/10

Introduces the coin toss, more voice clips, a new game mode and battery backup saving. That said, I don't feel like this one added significant upgrades from the previous entry, however I did enjoy this one more. I think the ai was alot better even playing on the probably harder new All-Time Playoffs mode that pits favorite teams from the past together. If you like Madden and want more refined Madden then go right ahead. Nothing wrong here but hoping for a bigger leap next game.

• Finished 25th October 2023
  7/10

For what it is and taking a lot of context behind the developer and being pretty much a game coming out of nowhere and being released in 1991 (but the copyright says 1990 so maybe delayed)...this honestly surprised me. This shouldn't play as well and be as fun as it is and yet somehow it works. Yes the Title screen and character art is hideous, yes the sound effects are pretty naff but the in game graphics are honestly very impressive. It really captures the feel of being in a speedboat at sea really well. There is also so much on screen constantly and the game barely even blips. How it runs this well is beyond me. That said, the controls can be a bit awkard when trying to dodge and enemy fire at times feels unfair. Stage 3 was particularly awful with cheap difficulty where the enemy gets away causing a gameover if you aren't on hot on his trail in the final moments (which happens easily if you die around that point).

It's hard to dislike the game when it's just so utterly, deliciously cursed and weird. I loved the concept of going into the Bermuda Triangle and the stage set at night was really visually impressive even with the tiny details of flashes of lightning illuminating the HUD and game screen. Overall a very fun, but inconsistent and very bumpy rough game. A cautious recommend for those who want to step out the Mega Drive box.

• Finished 27th October 2023
  5/10

Great graphics, atmosphere, character designs and lore. The Mortal Kombat universe is a really fun one for fighters. The attacks are ridiculous and fun and the fatalities are even more thrilling this time around. That said, there are really two versions of this game. The great 2 player experience you remember with your friend that gets a 8-9/10. Then there is the 1 player mode I had to play which is 2/10. The ai is some of the worst I've seen from cheap moves to relentless input reading. This isn’t playing a game. It’s just finding loopholes and spamming through. You need to be clouded by nostalgia to excuse this mess. 1 player is a scam. MK2 feels like fighting to your own inputs.

The AI flip flops randomly from doable to blocking most your attacks. You can't use half your fighters moves because the ai will dodge them and counter. You have to learn don’t do that move ever. Don't jump on this fight ever. There’s no real “git good” it’s just “learn the cheese.” There's no thrill and the victories feel empty and boring. Huge shame and I feel like other entries in the series do better. This game doesn't even let you have Round 1. Stick to 2 player.

• Finished 27th October 2023
  2/10

The idea of this is great but the execution and performance is terrible. On slower speeds its actually quite fun but there are just to many glaring issues. The game just doesn't work well with 3 buttons or needs a big rethink. The way the blocks spin doesn't feel like it makes any sense with the sense of space on the controller and unlike other puzzle games there is no button to turn it back one step when you mis-press.

This game might have worked better had the 6-button been out. The controls also feel laggy and flick sometimes between either registering too movements on the dpad or none which causes immense frustration at higher speeds. AT the highest speed the dpad inputs don't even seem to work. Holding up and right and the block will judder along and stop halfway. Only way I seemed to be able to reach the other corner was by mashing the dpad again and again but that's not feasible while trying to move and twist pieces too at high speeds. The 3D while the main feature of the game also brings problems Tetris-likes don't have. When you cover up a gap by mistake at higher levels it becomes very hard to determine where the gaps below you are to try to get the current level down effectively. Also, no music in a puzzle game from the 90s? Lazy. This game just isn't for me, at last in this incarnation. There's a good game of this somewhere but maybe another port.

• Finished 28th October 2023
  8/10

A pretty competent outrun game. The multiple paths are back but this time with different roads to take within them. Alot more replay value here. The music is also back to a good standard and while it's not as good as the OG, it's definitely going in my playlists. That said, I didn't enjoy the new booster mechanic where you only activate by achieving high speed. I wanted more manual control and dropping speed intentionally to avoid it going off. The controls also felt looser on corners and I found it very hard to drift successfully without hitting the breaks. Fortunately the game is very forgiving that this isn't an issue. I sort of wish there was a game that looked and sounded like this but handled like Turbo Outrun. The graphics are really good and being able to see other roads running parallel is a really cool effect. The game just has good vibes. Worth a play but will go back to OG more than this.

• Finished 29th October 2023
  7/10

All the fun, gore, ridiculous sound clips and graphics I remember as a kid. The new combos are a welcome addition and more special moves. However, I'm realizing fast that my memories were mostly of multiplayer. Much like MK2, the single player experience is ruined by horrible ai and unfair boss encounters. This time around it felt a bit let input ready but the final encounters vs Motaro and Shao Kahn are ridiculous and beg cheese strats. I beat Motaro by just spamming light punch as he walked into my fists--laughable. And Shao Kahn gets the freeze uppercut treatment. Yes this makes the game bearable and works, but is it fun? No. Its really boring. Single player mk3 is a 3/10 affair and 2 player would be an 8. The single player modes have aged poorly and I doubt I will ever return to this series as a result. That said, I still remember the wonderful mystery surrounding these games, the hidden characters, the elusive fatalities you didn't know how to do but the computer would occasionally perform on you. It's cultural significance cannot be reduced but it has become a bit of a relic rather than a treasure.

• Finished 29th October 2023
  6/10

Same as Mk3 but with new characters but less sound effects and style. This time around however the solo player mode is made even more ridiculous by having a tag team match vs two ai opponents at very high difficulty as the penultimate fight before the final bosses. This fight is miserable and I have to resort to cheap stun and combo strats to get by. I actually think MK3 is slightly better on 1 player and just like MK3, all the fun, gore, ridiculous sound clips and graphics are back. The new combos are a welcome addition and more special moves. However, I'm realizing fast that my memories were mostly of multiplayer.

Much like MK2, the single player experience is ruined by horrible ai and unfair boss encounters. The input reading felt less but the final encounters vs Motaro and Shao Kahn are ridiculous and beg cheese strats. I beat Motaro by just spamming light punch as he walked into my fists--laughable. And Shao Kahn gets the freeze uppercut treatment. Yes this makes the game bearable and works, but is it fun? No. Its really boring. Single player mk3 is a 3/10 affair and 2 player would be an 8. The single player modes have aged poorly and I doubt I will ever return to this series as a result. That said, I still remember the wonderful mystery surrounding these games, the hidden characters, the elusive fatalities you didn't know how to do but the computer would occasionally perform on you. It's cultural significance cannot be reduced but it has become a bit of a relic rather than a treasure.

• Finished 6th November 2023
  4/10

*I really wanted to like this game but it has too many huge issues that prevent it from being fun. It starts off well and feels likesome odd mix of Zelda and Addams Family universe. The graphics are nice, the writing is funny and the adventure feels focused. Inhales deeply After the 2nd dungeon area the game opens up and totally falls apart. Little guidance where to go next and seldom logical sense. Characters reappear elsewhere at random and are important to progression. The overworld is full of changing screens and going up and down stairs and reappearing in another part of a connecting zone.*

Fighting enemies is a chore, Fester is huge but his attack only covers half his width in front of him and locks him in place when you fire the beam. The game is full of small enemies that will exploit this and run past and hit you. Sometimes the corridor is thin and you literally cannot hit the small enemy that’s on the wrong half of your attack range and so you must go back. The attack also depletes in damage and range as you lose health from 100% to 50-99% to 1%-49% so the more you struggle the harder the game gets as everything takes way more hits. Why?

The game is one bad design choice after another. Saving can only be done in one location that's not even convenient to get to. Why? Some switches in puzzles that require you press them 2 or 3 times? Why? Grandma only replenishes your health cookies at some undetermined trigger. Why? I can't begin to describe how utterly tedious and disorientating navigating any of this game is. Think Phantasy Star 2 horrible dungeons but really bland and boring. The game also insists you keep doing so as it frequently makes you back track. It actually made me angry how shamlessly it pads itself. Need a key item from grandma to solve this puzzle in the western swamp? Here’s grandma in the middle area. "I'll make that potion for you. Come meet me in the Eastern swamp on the other side of the game world." Why Grandma? Why? Why can't you give it me now or meet me in the West Swamp where the puzzle is. And really that's most of the game. Why? Why did you decide that? Where am I? Why am I playing this?

• Finished 8th November 2023
  6/10

Really really impressive use of voice samples at the start of the game, providing a fully voiced convincing opening. The graphics are reasonable and the music and audio is surprisingly good for the genre. The gameplay is quite innovative and had 3 very different mini games that test various math that can have the difficulties adjusted. That said I do think it needed an extra game or two as it feels a little light on content. It's hard to complain here really. It does what it means to do and rather well.

• Finished 9th November 2023
  8/10

Probably a 7/10 but a healthy dose of nostalgia bias here. Big colourful, graphics that really capture the show and with great use of voice clips and music that feels very faithful to the source material. The locations are all vibrant and lots of detail and humour to be found everywhere. The puzzles are goofy but also for the large part reasonable. The high school area can go in the bin though. The hospital chase is also another terrible segment.

Other than that though the game really isn't that bad. It's a bit jank but mostly playable and the only real gripe is that the enemies and combat is really trashy and honestly could have been removed entirely and the game would be no worse off for it. Less hits would have been better. Where the game shines in in the two player coop with friends. I had lots of fun as a kid figuring this game out with my friend. That said, as an adult there really is little reason to replay this one for a while. Once you have solved it all it's not really a very good game outside of the puzzles. The password system is also confusing and unintuitive to when it does and doesn't store it in the ram and reentering it each time to replay some of the more difficult segments is not fun. A cautionary recommend to those who can tolerate its jankier moments. Big points for being interesting unlike its SNES counterpart.