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February 1996


PLAYSTATION
Assault Rigs
Psygnosis
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3-D Shooter   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

In the distant future, the wide world of sports is whittled down to a single event: Assault Rigs. Mechanical, armored combat is the name of the game, all taking place inside of a Tron-like virtual space. In this arena-style title, you battle against opposing computer-controlled mechanized beings, delivering an assortment of deadly weapons in about 50 combat zones. Players can pick from three tank options with varying degrees of strength, defense, and speed to differentiate them. Gather up spheres and make a mad dash to the exit. A slow lead-in with early stages may tempt one to toss this aside, but unlike the more one-dimensional Cybers Sled, Assault Rigs speedily evolves to an entertaining romp thanks to mighty enemy AI and an absolute explosion of power-ups and traps strewn across the multi-tiered levels. Worth checking out on rental.

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PLAYSTATION
SF: Alpha
Capcom
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Fighter   Release: February 1996
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Intermediate

PlayStation receives another flawless arcade port with Street Fighter: Alpha, the latest entry in Capcom's 1 vs. 1 fighter phenomenon. Exhibiting graphics, gameplay, and play control exactly like the arcade, SFA easily exceeds expectations as a solid installment in the franchise. Regular moves and combo attacks are perfectly implemented - Even a novice can pull off every move as if they were in the arcade. A plethora of new options are here as well. This includes the ability to re-assign your button configurations on the fly, select numerous speed options all the way through Turbo 2, and choose from either arcade original or arranged soundtracks. All of the hidden characters like Buson and Akuma are present, too, to unlock as you play. The only real downside is the annoying load times, but elsewise a spectacular portover.

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PLAYSTATION
J Bazookatone
U.S. Gold   Arc Dev
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Act-Platformer   Release: February 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

This rock star is ready to put on the show of a lifetime! Johnny Bazookatone is a 32-Bit action-platformer with much to delight in. If you love this genre and gazed slack jawed at next-gen side-scrollers like Astal, this will be right up your alley. Johnny's mission is to prevent El Diablo from stealing our hero's mythical guitar: An essential item not only to this disc's plot, but it's core gameplay as well. Bazookatone's stringed instrument is his main method of attacking. He can strum once to bring on a powerful sound wall, or twice to unleash a sonic machine gun strike. The Blues-influenced soundtrack from Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora is fairly enjoyable, though neither it nor the somewhat dull sound effects add much to the experience. Visually, we were overjoyed by the well-rendered characters and environments.

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SATURN
Clockwork Knight 2
Sega   Team Aquila
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Act-Platformer   Release: February 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Easy

Following in the footsteps of the premier platforming adventure on Saturn, Clockwork Knight 2 looks to improve on the original's success whilst using much of the same formula as before. It invokes a feast for the eyes with an array of bright pastels and impressive special effects. Graphical design blends seamlessly with level design as one enjoys the most obvious upgrade to CK 2, that being Pepperouchau's splendid journey from foreground to background, and back again. Traversal by means of cannon unlocks this exciting feature, significantly enlarging the scope of each stage. Much of the criticism of the original targeted its short levels and simplistic gameplay. Thankfully, nearly all of these complaints were addressed by this far-better sequel. More stages would have been even better, though!

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SATURN
Virtua Cop
Sega   Sega AM2
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Shooter   Release: November 1995
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Intermediate

Sega AM2 brought to its home console yet another excellent port of a coin-op smash. Virtua Cop is now on Saturn! For those who have somehow not witnessed in the arcades, this title is a polygon-based light-gun shooter. Simply put, shoot the bad guys, avoid killing any hostages, and try not to take on any hits yourself. The 3-D graphics here are quite dazzling with lifelike animations and on-the-fly rendering techniques. Enemies will react to being struck down differently depending on where you've chosen to aim. Shoot 'em in the arm and they will realistically animate in response. Virtua Cop requires adrenaline and a keen eye to truly master. New baddies constantly pop-up and must be taken out fast. The admission price is rather high when purchasing the disc with the "Stunner" gun accessory, but gamepad control is just plain pathetic.

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SATURN
Gex
Crystal Dynamics
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Act-Platformer   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Everyone's favorite smooth-talking lizard returns to consoles with rekindled iterations on Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation. As in the 3DO original, Gex finds himself sucked into the Media Dimension, a scary world filled with awful 1970s-themed films. Guide our insect-munching hero across an assortment of stages, using unique abilities like tail whipping and gecko-climbing to outsmart and outmaneuver any opponents. Although some of us have heard the jokes before, the smart-alec protagonist is no less witty than before. With the advantage of superior hardware at its disposal (Sorry, Trip Hawkins), Gex on Saturn and PS-X encompasses the exact type of fixes we all hoped for. Its sound design is cleaned-up, the opening cinematic is less pixelated, and the gameplay is notably smoother as well. Still a worthwhile get.

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SNES
Ardy Lightfoot
Titus   ASCII
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Act-Platformer   Release: February 1996
Age Rating: All     Challenge: Easy

Set off on an adventure with Ardy Lightfoot, a fox questing to gather the seven lost pieces of the Mystic Rainbow and stop the forces of evil. This cart is a traditional action-platformer along the same lines as Super Mario. Explore a variety of colorful stages with lovely backgrounds, nooks and crannies to delve through, and above-average sprite animations. Your Kirby-esque helper, an odd blue creature called Pec, will accompany you throughout the journey and transform to help take down obstacles and enemies. For those who may see this and wonder why it appears like a years-old SNES game, you are absolutely correct! Ardy completed development and was published in Japan in late '93 with the U.S. release occurring this January. A bit stale nowadays, albeit with great play control and a solid formula.

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SNES
Toy Story
Nintendo   Disney Interactive
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Act-Platformer   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Easy

Last issue we dedicated a Snapshot quickview for Toy Story on Genesis. As we proclaimed then, Disney Interactive is on a hot streak. With this similarly styled and same-named title for Super NES, DI continues to deliver fine work. Toy Story is heavily inspired by the cinematic release, conscientiously mimicking the storyline and overall visual design. It presents a mix of side-scrolling stages as well as a handful of decent Doom-like 3-D sequences and Mario Kart-like driving segments. The translated music score and vocal clips from silver screen to, erm, living room screen is well-done, too. However, whereas the graphical fidelity of TS on Genesis brought on a sense of awe, that is totally absent here. SNES games like Killer Instinct and DKC stole that wonder. Not too bad overall, and a great choice for kids.

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SNES
Final Fight 3
Capcom
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Brawler   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Intermediate

The heroes of Metro City, Guy and Haggar, reunite to face down the Skull Cross Gang in Capcom's Final Fight 3. This third iteration in the commendable brawler series borrows many of the same elements from the previous games, including a diverse array of enemies to fight, access to pick-up weapons, and unique bosses in sore need of a whooping. On the plus side, Capcom did add several new bits like special techniques and a rechargeable Super Move, a la SF II: Turbo, in addition to a welcome option to play alongside a computer-controlled ally. However, our team found the controls rather imprecise with delayed action and sloppy maneuvering. Final Fight 3 is weighed down by repetitive street fighting with nothing added to spice up the routune, dulldrum flavor. The Super NES is showing its age, at last.

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GENESIS
Maui Mallard
Disney Interactive
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Act-Platformer   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Thus far limited to its exclusivity through Sega Channel, Maui Mallard is yet another excellent landmark for Disney Interactive on the Genesis. Maui, a detective character played not-so-subtly by Donald Duck, is undergoing a quest for the missing, evil-dispelling idol of Shabuhm Shabuhm. To track down this ancient artifact, you must leap through all corners of danger from surrealist locales to faux paradises. You begin with a mere bug-launching pistol at your side, but soon transform into Cold Shadow, Maui's ninja alter ego, who uses a staff as a hearty short-range weapon. Collect ninja tokens throughout each stage to improve Shadow's strength and combo chain ability. DI exhibits their creativity in this unique twist to the typical platformer, as well as with detailed, non-linear stage design and appreciated elements of humor.

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32X
Pitfall
Activision   Freestyle
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Act-Platformer   Release: October 1995
Age Rating: Teen     Challenge: Hard

Work to traverse hectic jungles and frightening ruins in Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure on 32X. This follow-up to the elder entry on Atari 2600 was also made available on the base Genesis and SNES, and, we hate to say, may indeed be superior on those consoles. A more vibrant color pallet is the only true improvement evident in this "32-Bit" upgrade. To its credit, this does allow for swell environmental effects like shimmering waterfall animations, but two factors make it a no-go. Pitfall suffers from a tremendous amount of screen stuttering and is awarded an additional demerit for sloppy as heck play control - both repugnant traits for any platformer. Even if this title is loaded with hidden treats to excavate, between Harry Jr. imprecise sliding and the jerkiness of the screen, it results in an unpleasant time. Try the SNES version, instead.

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JAGUAR
Defender 2000
Atari   Llamasoft
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Shooter   Release: December 1995
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Hard

As we saw with Jeff Minter's Tempest 2000, the Jag can run superb shooters with blazing fast speeds. The team's follow-up title, Defender 2000, showcases these same traits. This cart builds upon the 1981 arcade hit by adding two enhanced modes in addition to the classic coin-op in its full glory. Plus Mode allows for modernized, psychedelic graphics and power-up options like warp cubes and missile attacks. The third selection, 2000 Mode, rejuvenates the base design by adding crisp voice clips, more plentiful boosts, updated visuals, and 100 levels to conquer. Defender's core gameplay elements are identical in each of the three differing options: Side-scrolling flight to shoot down aliens to rescue the humans. Decent graphics in the new modes does indeed spark interest, but this entry does not do much to break from tradition as Jaguar requires.

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