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PLAYSTATION
Toshinden 2
Playmates   Tamsoft
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Fighter   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Easy

Battle Arena Toshinden 2 has officially landed on the PlayStation. How does it compare to its predecessor - the premier 3-D fighter for the Sony system? To start, the visuals are magnifique. Its Tamsoft developers took a great deal of time mastering lighting effects, making for varying, multi-source disco lights as well as plenty of other stage-based graphical touches like a shimmering river and whirling mist. The fifteen fighters have each been modeled with detailed textures and lifelike body proportions and facial expressions. And yet, it utterly fails to meet the 32-Bit fighting game standard set by contemporaries VF 2 and Tekken. Simple, ground-based brawls are all you can do with Toshinden 2. Basic 3-move combos can eliminate over half of an opponent's health bar, proving a stark lack of balance present in other arcade-style one-vs.ones.

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PLAYSTATION
PO'ed
Accolade   Any Channel
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3-D Shooter    Release: May 1996
Age Rating: Mature   Challenge: Hard

Play PO'ed how it was always meant to be played with a rejuvenated edition of the 3DO original. By far the most unique Doom-like shooter to hit the scene, this quirky hit from Any Channel will have you move and fly in all directions to hunt down the craziest hordes of creatures. Start from a meager frying pan and work your way up to massive firepower as you uncover power-ups and secrets in the 25 wholly diverse stages. The key is to find the marvelous jetpack that allows for quick ascension up and down the vertically oriented levels. The processing power of the PS-X eliminated all of the frame-rate spasms and jittering that were present on 3DO and overall, vastly improving the playability. Anticipate a mighty challenge, too. Even on the easiest difficulty setting prepare to be on constant lookout for health boosts to keep you afloat.

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PLAYSTATION
Silverload
Vic Tokai   Millennium Int
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Adventure   Release: April 1996
Age Rating: Mature   Challenge: Hard

A dark and murderous evil is ravaging the Western frontier. Delve into the frightful ghost town of Silverload and see if you can piece-together a horrific mystery. From the opening sequence in this point-and-click adventure game, players will meet a trio of traumatized refugees and have the opportunity to learn a bit about their destination. Explore your dank surroundings and interact with a collection of digitized denizens containing an array of voiced dialogue. Gathering information and solving puzzles can be tricky for those unfamiliar with the genre but keep at it! The moody atmosphere and engaging storyline are high points with Silverload. The control interface is admittedly a tad clumsy with the gamepad as opposed to a PC mouse. If you fell for Konami's Snatcher, rent this Vic Tokai title and try it out.

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SATURN
Skeleton Warriors
Playmates   Neversoft
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Act-Platformer   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Bring down the sinister Baron Dark and regain control of a sacred crystal as the righteous Prince Lightstar in Playmates' Skeleton Warriors. Think Rastan for the next generation. Roam across a slew of gloomy stages in this sword-slashing platformer, strolling atop sloping landscapes while fending off scores of undead creatures. Neversoft programmed stunning graphics with scaling sprites and eye-boggling, faux 3-D backgrounds reminiscent of Rare Ltd's finest work. On the play mechanics side, Lightstar wields a mighty blade with forward slashes, downward strikes, and crystal projectiles all at your beckon call. Occasional polygon-littered sledding segments do help break up the side-scrolling segments. Above all else is the spectacular soundtrack straight out of Conan! A great mood setter but prepare to enjoy it solo. Sadly, no 2-player mode is present.

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SATURN
Iron Storm
Working Designs   Sega CS2
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Strategy   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Hard

The world is at war. Your wisdom as a military strategist is all that stands between victory and total devastation. Brought to our shores by Working Designs, Iron Storm is a WWII simulation that seeks to broaden the appeal of realistic strategy by taking full advantage of the Sega Saturn's capabilities. Enjoy superb, rendered animations that accompany combat, complete with texture-mapped environments and detailed polygonal graphics. Move your units along a flat hexagonal grid, gain experience, and challenge the hardcore computer AI in a hefty and diverse set of campaigns. The visual payoff to your decision making is rewarding, especially in a genre that oftentimes lacks such player engagement. Having the option to control any major power in over fifty strenuous battles means endless replayability. If any wartime sim hooks you in, it's undoubtedly Iron Storm.

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SATURN
Earthworm Jim 2
Playmates   Shiny/SP
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Act-Platformer   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Earthworm Jim 2 lands on the Saturn with a fresh coat of paint thanks to the handiwork of the devs at Screaming Pink. Whether it be your first romp with the superpowered invertebrate or your hundredth trip around the wacky stars, this version of EJ2 is superior enough to warrant the purchase. Its boost in the graphical department is significant - Richer colors, more animations, compounded layers of background parallax, and stellar lighting effects. An arranged soundtrack and top-shelf sound fx, including more hilarious one-liners from Jim, are exclusive to this disc iteration, too. The core gameplay of the original remains 99% intact with a minor uptick in difficulty. One huge detriment here is the finnicky control on the Puppy Love stage that makes completing it a chore. Otherwise, your standard play mechanics and abilities are solid as ever.

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SNES
Nosferatu
SETA Corportation
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Act-Platformer   Release: October 1995
Age Rating: All     Challenge: Intermediate

A vampiric adventure stalks forth with Nosteratu on SNES. This horror-themed platformer based on the legendary silent film conveys a chilling atmosphere with twisted castle interiors and inventive, uber spooky tunes. Take a cinematic journey through Transylvania on a quest to recover your lost lover from the clutches of the eponymous monster. Its gameplay stems from the same mold as Prince of Persia in that all movement is slow and deliberate (Albeit accompanied by fluid animations -Jet), and rooms typically involve meticulous jumping, ledge-clinging, and timed-based puzzles. Warding off enemies is no issue as your character wields fists of fury. Alas, no weaponry to be found. Nosferatu's well-constructed levels, splendid spritework, and gradual difficulty increase spark us impressed, but drab backdrops and an absence of blood keep us from bearing fangs.

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SNES
Lufia 2
Natsume   Neverland
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Role-Playing   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: All     Challenge: Easy

Our earth faces the unholy wrath of an evil cohort called the Sinistrals. Only one hero, a fearless monster hunter named Maxim, and his ragtag party of fighters and sorcerers can stop the world's downfall. Indeed, Lufia 2 is a prequel to the Taito-published original from 1993! In this outing, courtesy of Natsume, you can play as the legendary warriors from the prologue chapter of the first game. This sprawling role-player presents a plethora of improvements, such as a lovely Zelda-inspired choice to interact more with the overworld, from pushing heavy objects to cutting through foliage with your sword. Random battles within dungeons are gone, too! Monsters will roam around the map, and it is up to you to either engage or avoid them. A refreshed magic system, easier menu navigation, four save slots, and tremendous graphics place this cart high on our list.

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SNES
Power Piggs
Titus Soft   Radical Ent
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Brawler   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

Power Piggs of the Dark Age sounds and looks like a miserable rip-off of Ninja Turtles or Street Sharks. And, frankly, it is. Known for some of the laziest, rushed entries on the SNES, Radical Entertainment returns to grace us with the game-ified version of a bizarre French cartoon about donut-loving pigs. This cart stars a swine named Bruno tasked with rescuing his two friends from the evil Wizard of Wolff (Har har -Jet). Like any other 16-Bit side-scroller, you already know the gist. Run and jump from one lackluster stage to the next to go from Point A to Point B without getting hit by the bad guys. Now, it's not all bad. Bruno himself is expressive enough with detailed sprites, the maps have several hidden zones, and, to our shock, the play control is above average. Awful hit detection, though. Nothing new here that is worth more than a weekend rental, at best.

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GENESIS
Marsupilami
Sega   Apache Soft
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Puzzle-Platformer   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Intermediate

An eccentric, bobcat-like critter and his elephant ally found themselves sold to a loony circus, and you must help them escape back to your peaceful, jungle habitat. Play as Marsu and seek to guide the incompetent pachyderm through dangerous obstacles and scenarios of all kinds. Under the boot of an irksome time limit, quickly scout ahead and solve a variety of puzzles using all tools at your disposal. Collect power-ups to transform Marsu's tail into tools like a hammer, parachute or staircase to assist with moving along. This puzzler formula kept our team occupied for an afternoon, which is about as long as any veteran games player will care to try Marsupilami. Its gameplay is fair, though hindered by exceptionally plain visuals, iffy control, and tiresome sound effects. Nicely arranged music, however. A decent rental for a younger Sega owner.

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3DO
Cyberdillo
Panasonic   Pixel Tech
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3-D Shooter   Release: May 1996
Age Rating: Teen   Challenge: Intermediate

Amid this dramatic uptick in the number of first-person, 3-D shooters on the market, Pixel Technologies is injecting a heaping of humor into a genre often plagued by too much seriousness. Cyberdillo leans hard into the silliness factor in all departments from weaponry to enemy design. As a cybernetic armadillo, fend off nasty baddies like hairspray cans, horse butts, and lava lamps using plunger projectile, and eventually stronger tools, to do so. The eye-straining psychedelic visuals are hideous as is the herky-jerky play control, although the disco tunes are decent. Trample through 40 maze-like stages with varied terrain, finding items and eliminating the goofy enemies and odd bosses. Those of you searching for the next hardcore 32-Bit entry should hold off, but anyone with a childlike sense of humor will get a kick out of Cyberdillo on 3DO.

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GAME BOY
Tetris Blast
Nintendo   Bullet-Proof
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Puzzle   Release: January 1996
Age Rating: All   Challenge: Easy

Back to reclaim its stature as king of the Game Boy, a variation of an old classic ignites in Tetris Blast. The blocks continue to fall from the sky as we're all accustomed, but now a new twist is added to the mix. Positioning these blocks is made tougher now that they have learned to change their angles automatically! Making those horizontal rows is not so easy as it once was. New modes like Contest and Fight introduce intriguing features like tiny enemies that travel around the playing field to sabotage your efforts. Place bombs strategically and detonate them at the right time to wipe the slate clean. As a portable title, Blast does well as a fair substitute for the traditional formula, emitting decent sounds and standard graphics for the GB - far better on Super Game Boy. It may not have revolutionized puzzlers, but it makes for a nice time waster on a long ride.

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About Snapshots:
PPM Snapshots is the hub for short-form evaluations of the latest console games. All Snapshots published in PyroPlayers Magazine are created after the game is played through thoroughly. The PPM Crew writes their quick-views based on the title's quality in relation to other games available for the same system. Snapshot reviews include a final numerical score based on four criteria: Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, and Overall (Incl. Presentation, Innovation, Replay Value). Snapshot scores may be calculated into a percentage-based grade out of 100% by multiplying the number of points, or "ships", by five. For example, Sparkster earned a total of 17 ships out of 20. 17 x 5 = 85. Therefore, it earned a score of 85%.



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