1995

Welcome back to another year full of games from my extensive library. Playing all these games again gives me a much clearer picture of which ones left a bigger impression on me than the rest. With 1995 being the year where we see sprite based games take a backseat to 3D model I was really impressed with the PS1. I know early 3D doesn’t hold up very well but I still think some of these games still look great. Especially over time the blockly looking textures will be replaced with nice flat looking ones later on in the PS1 lifespan. But this was on the release year and my main console was still the SNES.

Even a year before the successor to the SNES was going to come out it still had a healthy library of video games. Meanwhile the Genesis started to fade away with my interest starting to go towards the next generation of consoles. I haven’t brought it up much but the Game Boy continues to putter along with no real standout games. It wasn’t till the Game Boy Color did I start to care more about playing a game on the go.

Playstation One

Sony decides to enter the console market which was a surprise at the time. After all who would be crazy enough to think that another company could make it in the very competitive market between Sega and Nintendo. Turns out Sony had the best trump card between CD technology and polygonal models. Of course this new tech has one big flaw and that is load times. At least early on that wasn’t much of a problem thanks to how blown away I was with the graphics. They may not impress me anymore but the crisp quality of the models make them still easy to look at in most games.

Out of the games based on the animated series I think I lucked out and got the best one. 4 villains have broken out of Arkham Asylum and it is up to Batman & Robin to bring them back in. To do this they will need to throw a absurd amount of batarangs at a bunch of thugs. This is a Contra style shooter with a life bar. That doesn’t make it any easier than any other games like this though. If I wasn’t ready for them I could get creamed within a few attacks. The amount of power ups seems a little small with only 3 in total. Plus it has a obvious superior power up thanks to the attack power with the bolos.Yet it is still enjoyable to blast through a level and then take on a big boss at the end.

I’ve seen a assortment of aircraft games at this point but nothing like this one. Being able to fly around a area and dogfight with other craft is pretty awesome. The game is set up in a way that the player could tackle one mission at a time. With each one having new targets to destroy. The deeper I got into it gave me access to more money to buy new planes. This was also the first game I played with a reasonable amount of VO from the CO before each mission. But they might have overused the power of adding in voice over in gameplay though. Having someone yell a warning at me or tell me someone is on my tail every 5 seconds is quite annoying.

Having a 4 in the title of this game is a little bit misleading. What that suppose to mean is that this is the fourth arcade classic release. Even at this point I liked to play older games that I never got to play. Especially Joust even if I never got good at taking down the pterodactyl once it becomes an issue around wave 10. Being a knight on a ostrich was amusing and stomping on enemies was simple but fun. Defender is also worthy of the title of being a arcade classic. It is just so hard that I found it tough to enjoy in the arcades or on my game boy.

On paper using Mortal Kombat like digitized sprites and the move set to create a beat em up sounds great. Till you start to see it in motion and the fact it isn’t built for fighting more than one opponent. Attacking enemies looks bad and the few frames of animation during battle make it hard to discern what is going on. Without an instruction booklet I doubt it is possible to even play through the first level. This is one of those games I wish I didn’t even have in my library.

Comix Zone has a great premise of a comic writer getting thrown into his own comic. The music tracks to go along with the action are good. The artistic style of making every level look like a page out of a comic book is a nice touch as well. If only it didn’t require knowing how to deal with every enemy without getting hit very often it could have been a better game. Even just making it past episode one requires knowing when to use items to lessen damage. The one thing I don’t understand is damaging the player when they attack non hostile objects like a fan or a barrel. This is required to continue through the pages of the comic book so I do not know why they included it. At least what I’ve seen is neat and it even has alternate endings if you lose.

Once again a cool game to play in arcades but without the dual joystick format it loses a bit of its allure. This is the launch of the PS1 so the dualshock isn’t even around yet. The game itself is about arena based future tank battles. One on one combat to see who is better at launching missiles at each other. Every tank comes equipped with a machine gun but it will never do that much damage. Each of the selectable characters have different attributes like being faster or more weapon ammo. Apparently they also expected the player to beat it in one shot since any loss equals a game over. Which makes sense when you realize that it is possible to beat this within 1 hour.

The name of this game is exactly the reason you should play it. Standard racing is fine but who doesn’t like wreaking a bunch of cars into a arena? The damage on cars is rather rudimentary but all of the pixels falling off the car looks kinda cool. Really the fact that every car can take damage during races just makes it a real bummer if you ever get damaged to much. At least that isn’t an issue when you're just focusing on ramming into every car possible.

This has a lot of the gadgets from the Loony Toon cartoons that this was based on. Between ye old cannon and a assortment of flying/spring tools he has just about everything he needs to catch the Roadrunner. Yet he never does and the game continues that even if you manage to “catch” him he just poofs and all you get for your efforts is a few more stamps. Sometimes I love how videogamey games can be. For example the final level is a battle against the Roadrunner who is driving a acme bulldozer. As for the gameplay it is fine although thanks to it being so easy it was easy to notice that this game is really short.

The most impressive thing about DKL is that it recreates the artstyle from the SNES games on the game boy. Nintendo really liked to use the world land in all of their portable games from this era huh. Although it may use a lot of enemies from Donkey Kong Country it appears to be a different game entirely. Not sure how wise it was to start off with a few ice levels in the first world. Acquiring all the Kong letters to save is another odd choice. But as a platformer it perfectly emulates the style of the DKC series.

Oh yes Earthbound, I’m so glad that I was able to experience this game back when it first came out. Sure it still an enjoyable game today but seeing it back then most likely had more of an impact on me. Earthbound follows the adventure of Ness and his pals as he travels the world to defeat the foreboding evil Giygas. Even to this day the fact that this is set in modern times is rare for a RPG. After all it isn’t often you see a game where you swing a bat at the boss of a local gang or launch a bottle rocket at a giant evil circus tent.

The weird brand of humor this game has is evident throughout the entire experience. Battles may just be fairly standard turn based RPG but the wide variety of enemies will make you wonder what you’ll have to deal with next. The rolling number life bar can actually allow you to save the fated to die member of your party if you're quick at healing them. In the end the Earthbound series is just a very unique set of video games that ended up endearing it to a lot of fans.

The biggest misstep with Earthworm Jim 2 is adding in a even more annoying mini game. Bouncing a bunch of puppies around just isn’t that fun mostly thanks to it going on for far too long. The standard gameplay of Jim blasting a bunch of weird enemies is still worthwhile. It just seems like they want to get away from that a lot. Like during the Villie People stage he turns into a floaty salamander who must make his way through a pinball table. Variety is awesome but only if I can enjoy the other gametypes as much as the rest.

Alright I kinda understand why I liked these games. Although I never played Road Rash this is a similar game but on normal roller skates/bikes etc. Punching or kicking your opponent out of the way to obtain victory feels good even if that wouldn’t be something they would do in real life. Yet the biggest reason I don’t understand why I bought this entire series is that I’ve never been able to get first place. Unless you make it through the entire course without getting knocked down once getting first place seems impossible.

Comparing this to the arcade release is a fool’s errand. Highly detailed models have been replaced by with low poly stand ins. Still it wasn’t like I had them side by side for comparison so it still does its job of emulating the arcade release. As a fighting game it has the full set of moves and crazy combos. Yet one of the best things about this release wasn’t even the game itself. The Killer Cuts cd that came with it was a awesome soundtrack. Just to mention it the cartridge is the only black cart on the SNES that I know of and I guess it was made that way to show how edgy the game was.

What if Kirby starred in a golf game? Well wonder no more for that is exactly what this game is. But a regular old golf game won’t do. Instead Kirby is the ball and his abilities are the players ace in the hole. As an example his parasol skill will allow Kirby to slowly fall into the hole if he happens to be above it. Par is not the biggest issue you will have to deal with and instead you’ll have to worry about running out of maximum tomatoes. Without them Kirby doesn’t have the will to continue but luckily you can get more by running over an enemy. Running over every enemy in the level is also the goal of each course.

Welcome back to dreamland now including animal buddies. Unlike his first foray on the Game Boy Kirby now has his trademark ability. This game also has a full set of 7 worlds to play through too. The animal buddies like Rick the hamster allow Kirby to access different variations on the powers he steals. His fireball attack will turn into a flamethrower in Rick’s hands. This is the first time collectibles can change the ending. They aren’t as much of a chore to collect compared to later examples with only 1 hidden item in each world. Otherwise this is a similar game to the rest of the series.

These next two games are more alike than I expected. Garfield has a really bad day and after trying to fix his TV he gets sucked into it. Now he must channel surf through different environments to escape. The best way to explain the game is that it is set up similar to Ghost N Goblins. Garfield must beat up enemies to reach the goal with minimal platforming along the way. The range and unreliable nature of his melee attack make boss encounters a test of patience. He does have a ranged attack as well but it is limited.Overall this appears to be a bad game that I could never get into especially thanks to the fact I’ve never seen more than the first level.

I can’t believe I’m writing this down but Gex might actually be a ok game. The story strangely similar to the last with our hero getting sucked into a tv. Even the first level set is the same with them both starting with horror themed levels. But the main difference is that Gex has a much better tail whip attack that can hit enemies without having to worry about getting hit at the same time. This game is also more of a platformer and it does that better too. If only Gex didn’t have a attitude fit for the 90’s he might have been a mascot worth caring about today. Instead he slowly fades into history to be quickly forgotten.

I own so many movie based video games. They were certainly prolific during this period. Judge Dread follows the plot of the movie loosely. After a few intromissions Dread gets framed and must prove his innocence by shooting a bunch of people. I hate to keep comparing one game to another but it is the best way to quickly let you know how it plays. So this is pretty much Contra. Blowing up crates will be required in the first mission without completing it you can’t leave the area. The gameplay seems unbalanced since it tough to get through every encounter without getting hit at least once. Even with a life bar succeeding in your mission shall be tough.

The first ever 3D platformer game was Jumping Flash. It even took the most hated type of 3D platforming and made it work. As the intergalactic space police Robbit it is up to him to take down baron Aloha’s evil plan. Since he is a robot rabbit he can double jump around each area. His dual laser cannons will crush any enemy that stands in front of him collecting his robo carrots that allow him to blast off to the next area. All of the gameplay in this game is from first person. Which normally would be a bad thing but since Robbit can jump so high in the air and the fact he looks down when falling it is more than enough time to line up any platform below him. Jumping Flash was a early game on the PS1 that I really enjoyed.

The Power Rangers doesn’t fit well as a beat em up. They pretty much fight the same throwaway enemies in the show. Which doesn’t give this game much variety in the types of enemies you’ll end up fighting. It only really has two types of basic enemies with the bosses being the only unique fight. A few of the stages don’t even relate to the movie which is odd. At least the music continues to be awesome on the Genesis. They even skip over parts of the movie that could have been a level. Makes me wonder if this was going to be a generic power rangers game before they augmented it into one about the movie.

It took me more time trying to get this game to work than actually playing the stupid thing. My first accidental M rating game that doesn’t seem to deserve that rating. I didn’t start caring about playing M rated games till Grand Theft Auto III. The worst thing it does is that during the first Mystery Science Theater FMV scene they beep out the word ass. Unless it starts to get bloody later on I’m not seeing why the ESRB rated it M. The game is a racing game with guns. You need to get to the goal and blow up everything along the way. Every 4th area is just a boss and like the rest if you're not quick at blowing them up they can get away. The cheesy FMV cut scenes do have some charm but I am left wondering if this was always meant to be like MST 3000. Or if they did it afterwards after seeing how badly the scenes came out.

If it wasn’t evident by now I really liked Looney Tunes a lot growing up. Porky Pig’s Haunted Holiday is about as run of the mill platformer as you’ll ever see. What is up with platformers starting off with a horror themed level lately? You might think this entire game is horror themed but that isn’t true like every other game around this time it has a different theme per world. A small nice touch I wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t need to start the game a few times is that the first level has different seasonal states. So it could be dark with snow on the ground or bright colors everywhere with green on the trees. Dreams seem to come up a lot in these early games too. With the plot of this one being that Porky Pig is stuck in a nightmare.

Unlike the last Power Rangers fighting game this one feels more fleshed out. I’m sure compared side by side this is still less complicated than SFII but that isn’t a bad thing. Being able to link a few simple combos with any character in this game right after starting to play it is a plus in my book. I don’t know why they called one mode story since it really is just arcade mode in disguise. Kinda wish more of the fighting games I own were on SNES since the layout of the controller is better built for this type of game.

Wow Rayman’s intro makes him out to be pretty weak without the help of fairy magic. He can’t even hang off ledges without a little fairy power to juice him up. As a platformer it seems to be built well and jumping around feels like you’ll land where you are aiming. The fact that the game requires any player to 100% it to see the ending is a bit absurd. Also the reason why I never managed to beat it thanks to some of the cages being rather tough to find without a guide.

Even for the time Ridge Racer felt like it lacked content even when I first played it. With only 4 tracks that are really just small variations on a large interconnected one it just didn’t keep my interest for long. I never got good at drifting either which seems key to beating any track other than the beginner course. Running into walls was most of my experience with this game back then and now. At least the few upbeat songs are nice and being able to play Galaga while waiting on the game to load is awesome.

Huh the Genesis version looks more like a traditional adventure game. I wonder why they changed that for the SNES version. Yet this one is more like the rest of the Scooby-Doo games that came afterwards. Unsurprisingly the goal in each act is to solve the mystery. Which is solved by random items found in the environment that must then be shown to Velma who figures out what they mean. Along the way enemies will slowly fill up Shaggy & Scooby fear meter and if it gets full they lose a life. The rate at which it goes up is rather crazy. The mystery part is rather lacking since it never feels like the player figured out anything.

One of the few SNES beat em ups that gives players infinite lives. Mostly because I don’t think it would be beatable without learning how to damage each boss without losing. Spawn’s ability to block may appear to be useful at first but it becomes apparent that it is impossible to get through a stage without continuing once without a refill. This is mostly thanks to how far a block sends him flying backwards. Making my way most of the way through the game it became apparent how useful the spiral kick was to take down normal enemies. I eventually got to the point in the game that had way too many enemies that could tank a bunch of hits.

We finally made it to Yoshi’s Island. Around here it is a highly debated game that is either loved or hated. As for me I still enjoy it but I can see why people might hate the egg throwing mechanic. A rotating ridicule can be bad if accuracy is something you need to worry about when playing this game. Luckily most of the time aiming the egg well isn’t required for victory. Nintendo gives enough margin for error that it matters more about how good you can control Yoshi’s flutter jump instead of his egg throwing. With each of the 6 worlds including 2 bosses it gives the player new ways to deal with each unique boss fight. After all hitting the boss a bunch isn’t always the way to obtain victory. I will at least concede that Mario’s whining is really annoying whenever Yoshi gets hit.

Another one of my recent retro purchases. As you can tell by the title of the game it is based on the Discworld books. I haven’t read any of the books but I thought checking this game out might make me interested in them. It is a classic adventure game with point and click controls even on the PS1. I never realized the PS1 had a mouse but going by the back of this game it did. Picking up items to use on other items to eventually to progress the story is the main gameplay loop. Talking to all the silly inhabitants of Discworld is the main reason to check this game out. It’s own unique brand of humor might be right up your alley.

Here is where the car combat craze starts. The controls for Twisted Metal feel really odd today since they are pretty much tank controls. That makes sense for the vehicles that are pretty much tanks but the cars don’t feel like they can be maneuvered very well. At least blowing up opponents is still satisfying. Doing that without getting hit by the unlimited ammo that the AI apparently has is the tough part. The endings being only text has always bugged me. The overly campy FMV scenes they cut fit this universe well. Overall this first game doesn’t hold up that well today.

Hitting notable story beats from the movie Toy Story uses the Donkey Kong Country graphical treatment to emulate how the movie looked. It does a fairly good job doing that. To bad the gameplay doesn’t appear to be very good. Woody’s main attack is him using a Yo Yo to capture enemies. Yet for airborne enemies it doesn’t show you how long the stun will last unlike enemies on the ground which get wrapped in rope. So most of my time was spent accidentally getting hit by enemies.

Urban Strike is the first time this series felt like it had a reasonable difficulty level. Up to this point every other Strike game almost requires you to get blown up at least twice before completing a mission. Now with this one you can actually beat the first level without having to worry about getting blown up. Thanks to the fact they added in armor pick ups. Everything else is exactly the same as every other strike game. Basically blow up a bunch of stuff and rescue people. They also added in some on foot missions which are a pain to play through.

Humanity said screw earth and left a bunch of robots to clean up their mess. To bad someone decided to wield a nuke to the main AI turning him insane. So Vectorman who is pretty much a janitor must blast his way through a bunch of enemies to stop Warhead. Once I got into the game it does an okay job of creating a Contrai action game. Doesn’t seem like it has much weapon variety thanks to the fact I only found one other weapon which ended up being a plasma shotgun. Vectorman other ability other than shooting is turning into random tools like a jackhammer. This lets him get into areas he wouldn’t have been able to get into otherwise.

Warhawk continues my love of flying a smaller ship into a larger one. If only they let me blow it up from the inside it would have been perfect. Rather than just going down the route of adding in objectives this game keeps the soul of a SNES game. Most levels end in a big boss battle powered by red mercury which is the macguffin that keeps this story going. Another notable point is the “great” FMV between missions. They tried so hard which makes it better than it should be. HA I just died on the final mission and I still technically won going by the bad end text crawl. I accidently killed the big bad guy by dying woo!

If Psygnosis wasn’t around Sony wouldn’t have had this many games out for the PS1 during the first year it was released. Every other game I end up playing was made by them. Wipeout is a futuristic racing game. Following in the shadow of Mario Kart it also has power ups to deal with enemy racers. From the two races I attempted to win the collectible power ups like missiles didn’t seem very useful at dealing with the other racers. The race was entirely up to my poor skills to win the day. Leading to me getting 3rd in both attempts. Anything better than last is a win in my book.

Someone decided to create a wrestling game using Mortal Kombat tech. Without this game I doubt I would have ever knew that Doink the clown was a actual wrestler in the WWF. As a fighting game it is serviceable. It isn’t a very balanced game especially when playing through the tournament. A 2 versus 1 scenario in what appears to be a 1v1 game seems like a horrible idea. But without that I expect they wouldn’t have sucked as many quarters out of anyone that decided to play it. Too bad my actual favorite wrestling themed arcade game never got a home release. WWF Wrestlefest.

This is the first game I’ve played with a cold opening. You don’t even see a title screen before the game puts you in control of Cyclops as he blasts his way through a bunch of ninjas. Once you beat the level it then displays a late title card as well. At first it seems like most of the characters would be fairly useless since ranged attacks seemed to be much more useful against early enemies. But they do give you a reason to use melee characters a few levels in thanks to the fact they are much faster than the ones with ranged moves. Overall this is a much improved game compared to the mess of the first one on Genesis.

Seeing the PS1 intro theme play everytime a game boots up is delightful. Zero Divide has a lot of similarities to Virtua Fighter. They both have a similar setup of having a punch/kick and block buttons. The obvious difference is that this has a cast of robots instead of people. They did a good job creating a set of unique robots that all have different move sets. I still think it looks quite nice for a polygonal game made in 1995. Worth checking it out if you've never heard of it before till now.

Conclusion

I hate to keep harping on the introduction of 3D models but that once again is linked to a type of game that I didn’t start spending too much time on till now. Racing games didn’t really click for me till this year. Between the PS1/N64 you’ll end up seeing a lot of different types of car related games. I really liked seeing a car getting blown up or just used in a new way that I didn’t see before that release. Arcade based racers have always been my favorite so expect to see them a lot. Another notable fact was that Jumping Flash introduced the world to what a 3D platformer could be. But if you want to see what could be considered one of the best 3D platformers and one of the worst ones ever tune back in next week.