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September 1994


Hudson - For SNES
Super Bomberman 2
Action-Puzzle | 8 MB
Release: September 1994
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When discussing multi-player video games, sooner or later discussion of Super Bomberman will arise. It was excellent fun on the Turbo, and four-man battling was better than ever on SNES. Now, the sequel has landed for Hudson fans. SB 2 contains all that we love about the first iterations, from a variety of maze-like screens to an awesome battle mode. There are plenty of new bomb types and traps to trip up your opponent and bring twice the fun to matches. Co-op mode is done rather well, although it and the single-player option hardly capture the manic mayhem of 4-player battles. In our view, not too many major gameplay improvements to be seen that truly merit a sequel.

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Enix - For SNES
Brain Lord
Action Role-Playing | 12 MB
Release: September 1994
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Brain Lord is an all-new action-RPG from the storytellers over at Enix. Sharing attributes and play mechanics with Zelda and Soul Blazer, this cart is sure to hook all SNES games players. Traverse lands, gather clues, and battle for your life within dangerous dungeons. Brain Lord hardly breaks new ground in the genre, and its plotline is no deed of Shakespeare, but we found this title struck an excellent balance between mind-numbing action and monotonous role-playing fare. Sporting huge levels and wonderfully atmospheric music, not to mention above-average graphics for 16-Bit, Enix's unique work deserves kudos and a certain recommendation.

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Interplay - For SNES
Blackthorne
Action-Adventure | 8 MB
Release: September 1994
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A mysterious hero named Kyle Blackthorne is armed and ready to tackle a brutally repressive world mired in revolt. Fans of Prince of Persia or Flashback will quickly fall in love with Blackthorne from Interplay. Jaunt through a side-view perspective adventure with smooth animation, numerous puzzles to solve, and plenty of fights to be had. This title presents a dark mood and an edgy sort of humor which may best appeal to a certain subsect of mature players. Blow away innocents and baddies all you like! The play control is a touch sluggish at times, but far exceeds similar games done in this style. For hours of gruesome entertainment, try it out!

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SEGA - For GENESIS
Dynamite Headdy
Action-Platformer | 16 MB
Release: September 1994
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The developers behind the wicked Gunstar Heroes are back with a zippy platformer on the Genesis. Dynamite Headdy features an alien-looking character rife with attitude and a desire to kick butt! This is an absolute top action-platform game, made so through buttery-smooth animation, a healthy dollop of humor, and a unique ability to change your head to gain new superpowers. Put on a hammer-head to smash blocks to smithereens, or a speedy-head for speed so fast it'll shock a hedgehog! Some of the special effects are impressive for the Genesis as well, including rotating platforms and obstacles. This cart is a colorful treat which is sure to entertain.

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PFM - For GENESIS
Ballz 3D
Fighter | 16 MB
Release: September 1994
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What rolls down the stairs alone or in pairs.. oh, never mind. It's Ballz 3D, the exceptionally bizarre fighting game brought to the Sega Genesis by PF Magic. These blokes put a whole new spin on the worn-out head-to-head fighter genre by crafting their creatures in a novel manner. The fighters are not humans, nor aliens, nor turtles. As the title implies, they are all made up of animated ballz! Each sphere-based fighter has their own personality despite lacking facial features, like a strong-man or a climbing monkey. Enjoy brawls in a giant arena, complete with a background screen to catalog the violence. Fighting fans should rent a copy and try this out.

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SEGA - For GENESIS
Taz: Escape
Action-Platformer | 16 MB
Release: September 1994
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These Loony Tunes seem to be all over the gaming landscape these days! Taz: Escape from Mars has arrived courtesy of HeadGames and is meant to act as a sequel for the extraordinarily dull Taz-Mania. The gameplay in Taz 2 is a step above the likes of its predecessor, but nowhere close to Buster Busts Loose or even Sylvester. Players will find sub-standard platforming, simplistic graphics, and immense frustration in this package. Why is that Stage 3 boss so impossibly difficult? On the upside, precision play control is done rather well, and the variety of cartoon music is decent enough. Overall, lackluster gameplay makes this one a certain pass in our book.

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Naughty Dog - For 3DO
Way of the Warrior
Fighter | CD
Release: August 1994
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Way of the Warrior truly had all the ingredients for a good fighting game. As we covered in last month's CES Preview article, we felt this premier title from Naughty Dog presented astoundingly lifelike digitized graphics and fluid animation. Add in a mix of fatalities and as pure spectacle this blows away MK. Plus, you have the killer White Zombie soundtrack! Yet, gameplay is what matters most in games, and it is on this front we were let down. Controls are awfully sluggish to the point that jumping forward is a chore. Special moves are way too tough to pull off due to the stiff 3DO joypad, and the fighter roster is woefully imbalanced. 3D gore cannot make up for that!

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Tetragon - For 3DO
Gridders
3-D Puzzle | CD
Release: August 1994
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Available now on the ultra-powerful 3DO is Tetragon's rather one-dimensional Gridders. This puzzler boils down to collecting special key items by outsmarting a horde of moving cubes. Block these boxes in just the right fashion without getting squashed, then quickly skip over to the level exit! Not unlike another grid-based puzzle game, Klax, the core gameplay of Gridders could run on the Game Boy, but it still manages to use 3-D space effectively. Swapping from a far-out view to a close-up perspective transition quite well. Those repetitive rhythms were a bit rough, however. Tetris nerds itching for a brain-busting experience will adore this addictive disc.

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Telegames- For JAGUAR
Brutal Football
Sports | 16 MB
Release: September 1994
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Imagine, if you will, a squad of Viking warriors dueling to the death in Giants Stadium. Yes, you heard that right. This ain't your grandpappy's football. Brutal Sports Football from Telegames is more akin to a mishmash of rugby, soccer, and gladiatorial combat than the title suggests. No downs or penalties. Flat-out decapitate your opponents to clear the way and build-up points! Battle teams like the Assassins and the Warlords in fields filled with grenades and axes to be the last ones standing. Controls are simple to pick-up, yet scrolling is choppy and these graphics are nowhere close to 64-Bit. Worth a weekend rental for fans of action-packed gameplay.

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Gametek - For Game Boy
Yogi Bear
Platformer | 1 MB
Release: September 1994
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Quick, hide your picnic baskets! Yogi has snuck his way onto Game Boy courtesy of GameTek, in Yogi Bear's Goldrush. To be frank, little separates this title from the tons of other platform games available on Nintendo's portable. Walk to the right, jump over pits, collect coin-like picnic baskets, and so on. While this cutesy adventure may be fun for children, others, like our own Review Crew, may fall asleep after a mere five minutes. GameTek did include a smattering of hidden areas and secret items, but it hardly made up for an overall underwhelming and lackluster run-and-jump. If you can handle the so-called challenges in Kirby, skip Yogi.

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SEGA - For Game Gear
Shining Force
Strategy RPG | 4 MB
Release: September 1994
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At long last an RPG has landed on the Game Gear! Our team celebrated Sonic Software Planning's original Shining Force for Genesis, and it's no small feat to see this tiny follow-up appear in the U.S. Sega's localization is named The Sword of Hajya in honor of a powerful blade owned by the Prince of Cypress. Along with the enticing storyline, Shining holds the same flavor of tactical gameplay elements seen in the console iteration without feeling too complex. This title features excellent visuals for the portable screen with a varied array of colors and sprites, rounding out a fine entry in the Shining saga. We dearly hope Shining Force CD is coming up next for this enjoyable saga!

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SEGA - For Game Gear
Dynamite Headdy
Action-Platformer | 4 MB
Release: September 1994
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The developers behind the wicked Gunstar Heroes are back with, oh - wait! Yes, Treasure has developed a Game Gear version of Dynamite Headdy to accompany the more detailed Genesis title. The portable iteration retains the attitude-heavy Headdy in a scaled-down adventure filled with super fun platforming and wacko enemies. The tinier sprite graphics are a bit rough compared to 16-Bit, making it a tad burdensome to get a read on things. For Game Gear standards, this cart contains an above-average color palette and level design, even if it suffers from blurriness from time to time. Practice on this smaller Headdy to prepare for the true challenge on Genesis!

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