tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73642240581710512122012-01-30T20:24:04.567ZThe Blog of Black SquirrelBlack Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.comBlogger3391100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-32639183268933860482012-01-14T19:49:00.000Z2012-01-14T19:49:53.007Z

Dated Xbox 360 first person shooters. It's what gets me through the day. Here's one for the two remaining Rare(ware) fans. Perfect Dark Zero, Xbox 360 launch title from late 2005. So classic, it would make the most classic car feel a little bit sad. And humanity as a whole. You have to admire an Xbox 360 game that doesn't run in HD. Granted, most titles don't run in what is considered "full HD

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-50323163718327017822012-01-08T16:00:00.001Z2012-01-08T16:00:05.330Z

Joy of joys, it's some words I can't pronounce. Blog Squirrel 2012 game of the year alert! It's Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen for the MSX2. I can feel the  excitement resonating through the telephone lines. But before you move on in your internet adventures, something must be pointed out - this game has former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, single handedly create a water network for people of

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-20525665861099290302012-01-06T19:40:00.002Z2012-01-06T21:59:37.627Z

Here's the situation. I killed The Obscure Research Project a few months ago. I regret nothing. But the problem is that as long as I choose not to maintain it, it will be sitting there, telling lies, and I don't like that. So I'm going to rectify this situation by covering not the one, not the two, but the three (and a half) Tetris games for the NES. And the 1988 Arcade version. And god knows

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-1160359884024738802012-01-01T17:51:00.001Z2012-01-01T17:52:05.283Z

It's a new year, and what better way to spend it then by looking at Commodore 64 tat from 1985. It's The A-Team, apparently. If you're a fan of hilariously dated games as I am, no doubt this one has passed you by before. But for those who haven't been blessed by its presence, here I am to enlighten you. The A-Team is, of course, a fantastic television action/comedy series from the 1980s, in

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-66993415194571360292011-12-27T20:29:00.000Z2011-12-27T20:29:43.456Z

Guess what I got for Christmas. 2011 is almost up, and provided the world doesn't end half way through it, 2012 will be the year of Squirrel's great video game catch-up, where I'll be sitting down to review the games I should have played half a decade ago. Because that's the sort of zany bloke I am. To start, Call of Duty 3. Nope, not modern warfare 3 - a long way to go before I get to that -

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-3089146528438919232011-12-17T21:47:00.000Z2011-12-17T21:47:56.434Z

Shoobedy boo bap. Another Sonic the Hedgehog game showing up on Blog Squirrel? It's as if I like the series or something. "So much for the obscure", you may say, but in its defence, Sonic CD lives further afield and so doesn't come to visit very often. More importantly it's been released recently for Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, Android and iOS stores, and unlike every other

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-24336734490835032052011-12-10T21:57:00.000Z2011-12-10T21:57:54.240Z

There's nothing I hate more than crazed trade unionists disrupting my Friday night TV viewing schedule. I spy an opportunity to return the favour. It's Oil's Well, a 1983 computer game by Sierra On-Line, demonstrating how complex machinery and robotics can replace the working man. Where's the GMB now?! Though... I guess you could be part of the team who builds the machines... and I guess you

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-61256165933018817372011-11-27T17:39:00.000Z2011-11-27T17:39:47.216Z

For the last couple of years, it's been my dream to bring political satire into video games. Regardless of your views on the state's role in society, I think UK citizens will come far and wide to watch a virtual Nick Clegg hurl Ford Escorts at giant mutant rabbits. It'll get the younger generation interested in the governance of this fine country, and more importantly, will train the populace for

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-36472620658858189322011-11-20T15:55:00.000Z2011-11-20T15:55:36.150Z

RareWare Central strikes again by releasing another unfinished Game Boy Advance game to the general public. It's Battletoads, once set to be a remake of the 1991 classic. It's an extremely early and almost unplayable prototype, with much of its content being inaccessible during normal play. The project was scrapped before the team had a concrete idea of what they were actually making so as

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-48104069992339760252011-11-15T19:00:00.000Z2011-11-15T19:00:05.513Z

I need to conserve brain cells, so time for a short break from the Game.com. For now, Dropzone, a 1984 Atari 800 game published by U.S. Gold. It's yet another thing that caught my eye during my rounds at Sega Retro, and another opportunity to commend the work of the British video game industry twenty-seven years too late. Woo. Dropzone was written by British programmer Archer MacLean, who would

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-23474699816298439512011-11-12T17:35:00.000Z2011-11-12T17:35:04.416Z

A film by George Lucas. With even more aliens and fridges. Or could it be something worse? Indeed it can - it's Indy 500 for the Game.com! If you feel the need for more abysmal racing experiences in your life, this is the one to turn to. Provided of course you're turning left. There will no doubt be many kids in the US who received a Game.com as a Christmas present back in 1997. Obviously, it

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-14423550527854668932011-11-05T15:06:00.002Z2011-11-08T15:00:26.001Z

RareWare Central have taken a break from whatever it is they do these days to bring us Diddy Kong Pilot, a cancelled Game Boy Advance game featuring primates in planes. It's what the world needs at this time of economic uncertainty. Diddy Kong Pilot comes to us from the distant past of 2001-ish, in the pre-Microsoft buyout days of Rare(ware). It was one of many games to be canceled after

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-89869917614777534572011-11-01T19:16:00.001Z2011-11-12T17:35:39.477Z

oh dear Yes it's Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the Game.com. Sound good? Mortal Kombat's handheld history has had its ups and downs. On the Game Gear and Game Boy, the series struggled - both handhelds weren't really equipped for fighting games, and the digitised human graphics the series is known for struggle to shine when you've only got a few colours. Things, of course, improved as time went on,

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-77152755471539749532011-10-29T18:00:00.000+01:002011-10-29T18:00:05.647+01:00

Hasbro Interactive are back to kick some bugs in Wild Canyon. Where would the Game.com be without an Atari license? Well... probably in the same place - a warehouse, not selling. This is Centipede, a 1981 arcade game Hasbro just happened to own the license for back in 1999. But the question is, will it match Frogger? Unlike most systems on the planet, mediocrity stands out on the Game.com. By

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-82460757242754515132011-10-24T21:20:00.002+01:002011-10-24T21:20:00.250+01:00

Okay, so, 1992/1993 Sonic the Hedgehog platformers don't translate well to the Game.com. Let's try something a bit older. Frogger. Questions have to be raised when you can buy a 1981 game conversion for the same price as a 1997 one. Surely the Game.com won't have troubles with this... right? In 1999, Frogger was given a new lease of life, possibly for the wrong reasons. Hasbro Interactive had

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-74128595531242217832011-10-23T11:09:00.000+01:002011-10-23T11:09:36.762+01:00

Surprise! My uncontrollable, rebellious urges have led me to release a scrapped game. The poorly titled SHPMDBGWL4 Sunshine. If you've been paying attention to my efforts in the last few years, you'll know why it's such a poor title. There's also an NCFC booth which I dug up. It's here. Because I favour the readers of Blog Squirrel over everyone else, you get an explanation of why I chose to

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-40254937558532428002011-10-22T14:00:00.001+01:002011-10-22T14:00:09.945+01:00

I haven't caused major harm to my brain in a while. Let's fix that. Why look, it's Sonic Jam... on the Game.com. Yes, internet legend drx got his hands on an official Game.com emulator and development environment, so now it's possible to play games for this horrible, horrible system without having to exchange funds. As a start in this Game.com marathon I have lined up, I'll be looking at perhaps

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-11791178785958931162011-10-21T17:53:00.001+01:002011-10-21T20:34:45.240+01:00

Hardware reviews? On Blog Squirrel? Gasp. With real life getting in the way at this time of year, it's the perfect time to try something a bit different. This, is a Caanoo. One of the latest entries in the line of open-source GP2X handhelds that nobody buys. I'm forced to use this as part of my course, but you likely won't buy one. Let me explain why that is. I don't find myself too thrilled

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-685730480208407982011-10-15T15:06:00.000+01:002011-10-15T15:06:01.675+01:00

An elusive unlicensed Super Nintendo game, supposedly titled "Pokemon Gold Silver" has been recently dumped. Joy of joys. I've subjected myself to more than enough unplayable crap over the years, but this one takes the cake. Unresponsive controls, jerky scrolling, sprite clipping issues and horrendous level design make this a candidate for the worst cartridge-based game to be conceived by man.

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-29087010334030754232011-10-09T16:50:00.000+01:002011-10-09T16:50:13.461+01:00

Because we needed this! The rest of the world may be interested in the "3"s, but here's a 2. Crackdown 2, complete with plenty of murky browns and dingy blues. A sequel just as pointless as some on offer this winter. Crackdown 2 is one of those games you love to hate... or at least, that's the impression you get from looking at the aggregate review scores. For some, Crackdown 2 represents a

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-85832715224092761222011-10-05T20:37:00.000+01:002011-10-05T20:37:05.699+01:00

Time to raid the... motor..? For those who dislike the Isle of Man comes Motor Raid, one of many Sega Model 2 arcade racers which nobody has played. Forgettable Japanese characters hitting each other with sticks while riding bikes. Just what what we need to quench the Eurozone debt crisis. When you think Sega motorbike racing games you immediately think of... well, perhaps nothing. If you're

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-15183526965434326212011-09-28T13:46:00.000+01:002011-09-28T13:46:36.097+01:00

Look kids, another game designed by marketing departments "Rap Jam: Volume 1" a household name no less for the Super Nintendo. Developed by our good friends at 64WD Corporation (..?) and published by Mandingo (...?!) exclusively in the US, it's a half-baked basketball game that nobody remembers. But wait, there's more - there's a selection of rappers and hip hop artists to play as. Yes, you

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-35458463685472898882011-09-22T20:00:00.002+01:002011-09-22T20:00:04.123+01:00

Because I'm sure you want to read another opinion on this one! I'm a long time fan of Duke Nukem, so even though this long awaited legend has been almost universally panned by critics for one reason or another, I figured at some point I'd be playing it. And that time is now. Before I blurt out my views on the subject of Duke Nukem Forever, it's worth analysing the current situation. Metacritic,

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-13381479012369410552011-09-21T15:34:00.140+01:002011-09-21T15:34:00.084+01:00

The smell of fear. A second batch of Sonic fangames, to enrich our lives no less. Cosmic Rush If you liked "Tails' Nightmare 2" at SAGE 2010, you'll probably like this one too. Cosmic Rush is slightly more generic than last year's attmept, which although is arguably better in terms of features, loses much of its originality by going down this route. Like Tails' Nightmare last year, I can

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-87974836669090731302011-09-20T15:00:00.001+01:002011-09-20T15:00:06.916+01:00

If the Conservatives had their way... Crackdown, the 2007 Xbox 360 exclusive from Realtime Worlds and Microsoft Game Studios. A game for those who like their Grand Theft Autos served with more guns. It's a game enjoyed by many, though clearly not enough to cause them to post decent screenshots on the internet for me to borrow. Crackdown is a Grand Theft Auto clone which, unless you move in

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-70822348785111508132011-09-18T15:28:00.002+01:002011-09-19T20:34:37.962+01:00

It's Sonic Amateur Games Expo time! This year it all seems to be about taking an open source engine and slapping levels onto it, though Sonic fangaming is always a nice topic to follow as often the results top the official works of Sega. And so, here's a first batch of mini-reviews in Blog Squirrel's limited coverage of the event. The SAGE website is lacking this year, meaning it's a bit

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-37788903884206376262011-09-15T12:30:00.000+01:002011-09-15T12:30:19.004+01:00

SpriteHoe has been upgraded. Now it does "intelligent de-resizing", a term I've invented for marketing reasons. There's also been a few minor fixes and... well, that's it really. You can now feed it a sprite sheet that's been poorly resized and it will attempt to reverse the stupidity. It loosely fits in with the grand scheme of fixing the world's sprite sheet problems. Note, of course, that

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-74118822069252576982011-09-09T21:05:00.000+01:002011-09-09T21:05:28.305+01:00

The Japanese are on top of world affairs. Cal.50. Or Caliber Fifty. Or Caliber.50. Or Cal. Fifty... a 1989 arcade release by Seta. Massacre the Vietnamese enemy soldiers for kicks. Who needs politics? Cal.50 stars a blond dude, captured by "the enemy" in 1972 after crashing his plane in the jungle. Twenty years later (1992) you break out and go on a rampage, blasting your way through various

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-8454452579710570292011-08-31T19:38:00.000+01:002011-08-31T19:38:56.963+01:00

Logger, a 1982 British arcade invention by Century Electronics. It's Donkey Kong, but worse in every conceivable way. Fantastic. Donkey Kong's epic story sees the underdog Mario Jumpman overcome the torment of a large ape who has stolen his girl. Here, a bird steals a pile of pixels before mutating and becoming a serious threat to man. STOP THE BIRD. Logger is a Donkey Kong clone, though if

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-73929281766585693772011-08-24T19:39:00.000+01:002011-08-24T19:39:46.520+01:00

Remember that totally radical time we had in the 90s?! Dude those times were gnarly, when we hung out and caught some waves or something. Wouldn't it be awesome if like, a video game could totally sum up the experience. Like 1994's Skitchin' for the Sega Mega Drive. It's like, "skating" and "hitching a ride", but too x-treme to deal with Gs. Yeah. Somebody in the marketing department of

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-44549082801352668482011-08-21T15:53:00.002+01:002011-08-23T21:33:39.004+01:00

Time for something new(er). Dead Rising 2: Case 0, a downloadable prequel to Dead Rising 2. Join Chuck Greene on his merry adventures through the land of murky reds and loading screens. My stalkers will know that my experience with Xbox 360 "must haves" hasn't really been that pleasant thus far. BioShock I've mentioned before, and the original Mass Effect I tried to write up in great detail but

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-60641166676644203212011-08-18T14:00:00.000+01:002011-08-18T14:00:09.175+01:00

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man conceived a child. Think about that. Or don't. "Jr. Pac-Man", here to make your day as one of the many Pac-Man arcade sequels. This one's from 1983, and thankfully, it's not at all similar to Pac & Pal. Jr. Pac-Man was another invention by Midway as opposed to Namco, and thus a sensible line was taken during its development. It can be seen as an "upgrade" to Ms. Pac-Man.

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-10134035915535439302011-08-17T19:49:00.000+01:002011-08-17T19:49:10.369+01:00

So I'm sure the fans were crying out for a NES port of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I mean who wouldn't be - clearly the superior graphical and sound capabilities of the Super Nintendo pale in comparison to those of the prior generation. Well check it out, your wish has been granted in the form of this unlicensed "port" from China. It's aLttP, but with 100% more screeching

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-36590541279922744942011-08-14T16:46:00.000+01:002011-08-14T16:46:17.536+01:00

Something to play after you find the computer room. Black Widow, an Atari invention from 1982. It has spiders in it. The dimly lit world of Black Widow puts you in control of a radioactive spider, shooting invaders who have crawled onto your web, because Ken Clarke says it's okay. It's a twin joystick game, in which one joystick moves your spider in one of eight possible directions, and the

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-31737411369932800232011-08-12T18:00:00.002+01:002011-08-12T18:01:18.143+01:00

The IBM PC is 30 today. Forget those riots, the troubles in the financial world or whether Bert and Ernie should be wed in holy matrimony, chicks dig the celebration of outdated computer hardware, and Blog Squirrel is built to please the ladies. And here's a pathetic attempt at marking the occasion, though marking the occasion at all could be considered pretty pathetic. DONKEY, one of the first

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-34228620564125924752011-08-05T19:00:00.005+01:002011-08-05T19:09:58.265+01:00

I'm two thirds into a computer games programming course. Perhaps it's time to release some of my work to the general public... Introducing "SpriteHoe", sprite sheet trimmer for the modern age. Built in Java to prove I can do something a bit more meaningful with my life, it takes a bad sprite sheet and guts out what it deems is wasted space. I'm sure it'll be useful for something. More details

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-50764129653103200842011-07-28T12:27:00.000+01:002011-07-28T12:27:13.632+01:00

Another soul saved. Look, it's Tiny Toon Adventures 3, an unlicensed Mega Drive platformer from the far east which has been recently dumped and tailored to the needs of emulators by the folks of Sonic/Sega Retro. It's mediocre! There's not much to say about this one so I'll keep this post short. Tiny Toon Adventures 3 is an extremely basic platformer, which although is playable, suffers from

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-81958212677316875492011-07-25T20:21:00.001+01:002011-07-25T21:14:23.126+01:00

You'd think, what with my stint as leader of a fangaming website, the topic of fangaming would pop up more often on this blog of mine. Well, your non-existent wishes have been granted. ...for this is Streets of Rage Remake, fangame extraordinaire. Born among us eight years ago, slaughtered at the hands of Sega's legal team, it stands as a figurehead of all things mighty in the world of fangaming

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-33142063467326420452011-07-20T18:03:00.003+01:002011-07-20T18:33:50.593+01:00

Hurray for more Sonic 2 screenshots! I re-wrote large parts of this guide I made a year or two ago, partly to reflect the new blog skin (other pages will get a similar treatment in the coming days), and partly because despite claiming to host things forever, Imageshack felt the need to drop some of the images. The guide is "better" now, and although it probably still won't satisfy the hardcore

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-53454036135459791662011-07-18T18:59:00.001+01:002011-07-18T19:01:28.956+01:00

I thought the MAME project was in a bit of a mess. But nope, they're still adding things. Like FZ 2006 II, something fairly important which slipped under my radar. It's a Korean bootleg, and I'll let you guess what it's a bootleg of. Answer after the jump. Once upon a time Sega of Japan thought it would be fun to deprive the west of thirty-three PlayStation 2 titles. Spread across the discs,

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-66344530361283284112011-07-12T19:48:00.001+01:002011-07-13T11:12:49.761+01:00

The best place to punch Liu Kang in the face. Or not. It's The (other) Pit, an unrelated 1982 arcade game released by Taito. Sporting a hideous title screen and a forgettable history, it's one of many early 1980s games that will never be unearthed if it weren't for blogs like these. And what better way to follow up two high definition Xbox 360 reviews? Fans of my quirky reviews might actually

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-6885381623985059622011-07-08T18:07:00.001+01:002011-07-08T18:28:14.091+01:00

There's nothing I like better than polluting search results. The more times you find Blog Squirrel through Google, the higher up the index it shall rise, to forever deter those who seek advice on bushy-tailed rodents. But now there's another method - the "+1" mechanism Google rolled out a couple of months ago. It's an opportunity to show the world that you think Blog Squirrel has gnarly

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-43469431969549021272011-07-05T13:00:00.036+01:002011-07-05T13:02:40.879+01:00

Demo reviews?! Witchcraft! Yes, it's Squirrel's bi-annual Sonic-rant-o-thon, where this time I dissect the latest blunder in the once great Sonic the Hedgehog series - Sonic Generations. Bet you're as ecstatic as I am. Last year you caught me expressing my dissatisfaction with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. A shortened version would read something like "don't buy this". Unfortunately people

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-59380649390522687452011-07-03T17:10:00.000+01:002011-07-03T17:10:59.857+01:00

Pinball! Another case of Blog Squirrel catering for the masses. It's a game so old that's it's out-grown the concept of pins, and, judging by the fact there's only one big pinball table manufacturer left, it's thoroughly disliked by the world's population. There was a time a pinball table was more valuable to a man than a newborn child... how times have changed. Yes, it's now the norm for

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-56463521883699243822011-06-27T19:02:00.000+01:002011-06-27T19:02:36.363+01:00

Hey look it's Aku-... erm.. "In the wake of Vampire"... supposedly not a Castlevania game at all. And I'm sure you'll believe that. This is Master of Darkness for the Master of Systems - the Sega Master System. Also available for the Sega Game Gear if you prefer cramped conditions and dead AA batteries. Dracula has plunged nineteenth century London into darkness and it's up to "Dr. Ferdinand

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-42366889756067038272011-06-23T21:20:00.002+01:002011-06-23T21:23:40.796+01:00

Dun dun duuun. Atari 2600 time! And what better way to go than to pick one of the supposedly worst Atari 2600 games out there - E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, released in 1982 by Atari. This one almost killed an industry, in the process making sure the likes of Quaker Oats never strayed from making breakfast cereal again. But is it really as mind-bogglingly terrible as they say? Avid gamers will

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-3151240448165848332011-06-18T20:51:00.002+01:002011-06-18T21:13:57.507+01:00

Hey look it's Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasōkyoku. Rolls right off your tongue. And hey, it's also the third Castlevania game I've reviewed this month... I guess I've become a fan of the series or something! Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The "big" one. The Castlevania game which despite its name, has nothing to do with music. Originally a 1997 PlayStation 1 game, before becoming a

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-67705313781097398612011-06-16T20:52:00.002+01:002011-06-16T20:56:39.469+01:00

This can do for a title screen. Kiloblaster for the IBM PC and its compatible buddies back in the days when SI prefixes were cool. It's a simple shooter published by Epic MegaGames and yet another Squirrel childhood classic. It's also one that appears to have something against Mega Man. What joy. Kiloblaster is a 1992 invention. Ponder that for a moment. Truxton II, also from 1992. Xexex, which

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-69397220926855631062011-06-10T21:52:00.000+01:002011-06-10T21:52:17.206+01:00

Hey look it's Akumajō Dracu- HAUNTED CASTLE. Following that last Castlevania review I felt the urge to go hunting for the other three games that share the same Japanese name. Bad idea. This is perhaps the worst Castlevania game in the history of the series, which probably explains why it doesn't use the Castlevania brand name. There may be 3D or Game Boy releases that beat it on the crap scale,

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-47511025659188946242011-06-08T17:40:00.002+01:002011-06-08T17:42:42.717+01:00

You know, if they'd equipped the Nintendo Revolution with specs which were fit for the time period, maybe we wouldn't be seeing "Wii U"s. Or maybe everyone would benefit if there was more SPACE MANBOWs on Nintendo systems. Originally released in 1989 for the MSX2, it's one of those Konami shoot-'em-ups nobody remembers, except those who do, and it's here once again to rock your world. Nintendo

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-58567254763860910252011-06-06T16:13:00.001+01:002011-06-06T16:43:58.498+01:00

Hey look it's Akumajō Dracula. Which Akumajō Dracula? Well, it's not the first game (a.k.a. "Castlevania"), it's not the arcade game (Haunted Castle) and it's not the MSX2 game (Vampire Killer), it's... ...Akumajō Dracula for the Sharp X68000, released in 1993. Yes, it's the fourth game in the series to share the same Japanese title, and it's entirely different to the other three. Confused? Join

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-17635246343929483872011-06-05T13:00:00.000+01:002011-06-05T13:00:06.900+01:00

Hey so you know what Pac-Man, that maze game with a yellow circle eating other yellow circles needs? A Tetris-esque spin-off of course! Oh look here's one, Pac-Attack from 1993. Also known as Pac-Panic, through fears Europeans would interpret this as gang violence or something. It's one of the few Pac-Man spin-offs that's amazing in its own right, though I say this having not played the majority

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-35812785957145810102011-06-03T15:34:00.000+01:002011-06-03T15:34:41.179+01:00

If B.A. Baracus broke out of the A-Team and formed his own country, completing the citizenship test could mean you'd be classed as a... And what greater privilege could you have than sharing a name with this 1981 arcade game by Namco? Bosconian is yet another great early arcade game that has evaded my attention for three decades. There's too many of these, and yes, it is another review inspired

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-6052330048820800732011-06-02T21:37:00.000+01:002011-06-02T21:37:41.217+01:00

If only the atagonist of Gex broke out of the TV realm and became the title of an unrelated game... Oh look, he did. It's Rez, or more specifically, Rez HD, the 2008 Xbox Live Arcade release. Ported to the system by HexaDrive... who haven't really done anything since, published by Q Entertainment who have done many things since, it's an on-the-rails shooter that has a nasty habit of not being

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-16917306119851365722011-06-01T19:00:00.011+01:002011-06-01T19:00:05.853+01:00

Fighting games generally aren't my style, but they soon become my style when one allows Muhammed Ali to punch Michael Jordan in the face. It's Top Fighter 2000 MK VIII, unlicensed tripe for the Sega Mega Drive. What happened to the seven earlier versions? Who knows, who cares. Apparently it's a pretty awful game but they said that about the other two as well. Will this one break the trend?

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-19358771080262654222011-06-01T17:50:00.001+01:002011-06-01T17:51:41.841+01:00

Slightly edited default templates are boring. Now Blog Squirrel has a heavily edited one. Generally I think it's an improvement but whether I'll keep those web 2.0 diagonal lines is a different story. Feel free to point out gaping flaws. Things might break in old browsers... but you shouldn't be using old browsers.

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-91447271309105457782011-05-30T20:41:00.000+01:002011-05-30T20:41:25.895+01:00

All good things come to an end. Except this was never a good thing, and it hasn't technically come to an end. Fan favourite The Obscure Research Project, founded in 2006-ish by myself... isn't going to get any bigger, though you might have guessed this already. It's reached the end of its natural life and I probably won't be updating it anymore. I don't know if it did its job but hey, rest in

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-1165062019138754702011-05-28T14:00:00.051+01:002011-05-28T14:00:05.254+01:00

Are you ready for the potentially fourth best religious-themed video game ever?! It's Bible Adventures for the Sega Mega Drive. Unlicensed 1995 tripe by Wisdom Tree, Bible Adventures was aimed at crazy people in American society and failed to take note of important industry standards. Sounds like a blast! The Bible is a book of stories. Pretty good stories, hence one of the reasons it's one of

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-59018183722073212642011-05-26T18:57:00.000+01:002011-05-26T18:57:12.501+01:00

Spare a thought for Scud Race. Or SPORTS CAR ULTIMATE DRIVE... race. Americans may know it as "Sega Super GT" because confusion is fun, but generally not many people know of this game at all because it was never ported to home platforms. It's a fate it didn't deserve, so time to do it some justice. In 1993/1994, Sega AM2, gods of the video game world, created Daytona USA. Daytona USA stands as

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-89528300131388050682011-05-23T19:52:00.000+01:002011-05-23T19:52:04.283+01:00

Hurray big images I saw Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing come and go and I didn't really pay all that much attention to it. Once upon a time I'd happily claim I was a big fan of both parties, but this release just struck me as some sort of uninspiring cash-in. The poor man's Mario Kart, which just happened to be priced higher. But opinions can change when you get 4.3GB worth of PC game for free..

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-88853265420404627932011-05-16T20:33:00.001+01:002011-05-16T20:33:57.194+01:00

Still not quite Cosmic Carnage. Here on my little blog, I like to review games I can't play, witter for a few paragraphs and give a meaningless final verdict which both fails to attract new players and fails to impress the veterans. But rather than break the trend here's TRUXTON II (a.k.a. Tatsujin Oh!), sequel to Truxton (Tatsujin). It's a vertical shoot-'em-up by Toaplan, first released into

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-60174127508078112662011-05-13T20:24:00.002+01:002011-05-13T20:28:05.892+01:00

And this time lets hope Blogger doesn't break down! Stupid ideas regarding the Sonic series is nothing new. Before the gun crime, bestiality and god-awful dialogue plagued Sega's top dog there was Sonic Labyrinth for the Sega Game Gear. Take Sonic's speed away from him and put him in a maze. Of course it will sell! The problem is Sonic the Hedgehog is that it's a franchise that sells. And so

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-24255596623612971342011-05-09T19:16:00.002+01:002011-05-09T19:23:10.449+01:00

In 1989 Nintendo released the Game Boy to explore new lands. And explore new lands it did. It found Mario Lands, Wario Lands, Kirby's Dream Lands, and a Game Boy continent was formed. Perhaps the most interesting of the lands on the Game Boy contintent are the Donkey Kong Lands. The world is divided on whether they're a top class representation of Game Boy brilliance or an insult to human

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-33933307297320748892011-04-24T19:32:00.003+01:002011-04-24T19:33:34.950+01:00

Say, do you value your eyes? According to 1992's Jim Power in Mutant Planet for the Commodore Amiga, it's a pair of organs you could do without. It's yet another game in the collection of early 90s titles which the world has tossed aside for the wrong reasons, so I think it's time to embrace it once again. Jim Power started its life off as an Amiga game, an original creation by French

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-83380545114934298802011-04-22T20:36:00.001+01:002011-04-22T21:34:44.745+01:00

In 1979 Nintendo released Space Launcher. Nobody cared. It's now 2011... and we still probably don't care, if we even have the knowledge of Space Launcher's existence. Luckily for you, if you don't have that knowledge, here it comes in the form of a blog post. Hurray. Space Launcher is an extremely simplistic game, and it's not its appeal has diminished greatly over its thirty-two years of

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-56403201418897615532011-04-15T20:10:00.002+01:002011-04-15T20:30:07.099+01:00

I don't know about you, but if I were on the way to destruction after war began in 2101, I think I'd prefer a spaceship with a wing. But who am I to dictate the engineering standards of ninety years in the future? I shall instead review the infamous Zero Wing, a 1991 Sega Mega Drive port of the 1989 arcade game. It's a horizontal shoot-'em-up whose fanbase mostly exists of people who get their

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-17475325988496168352011-04-10T21:17:00.000+01:002011-04-10T21:17:57.308+01:00

It's almost assessment period. For the thirty-or-so viewers I average a day, there might be an update drought for a bit. But for now, it's post-2000 time which means more stolen images from IGN. This is Peggle, had you failed to see that giant image. Not really all that obscure, but still classed as demon spawn by the select few who think they know what gaming is. I'm not a fan of the terms "

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-37568321858933235642011-04-03T20:44:00.000+01:002011-04-03T20:44:21.130+01:00

I'm not one to monkey around with Nintendo products (yes I did just post that sentence), but check it out, it's BIO FORCE APE for that entertaining Nintendo system, the Nintendo Entertainment System. Shown to the world in 1991, hidden from the world by 1992, it's come back to the world in 2011. And this time you can actually play it. But do we want to? Yes you do. But you don't just want to

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-13535836157718129312011-03-28T20:15:00.001+01:002011-03-28T20:18:12.852+01:00

Firefox 3.6 is more competent than 4.0 on this machine. That's progress! It's like Christmas came early, and it was a really terrible Christmas. It's just what you've always wanted - DOS-based shoot-'em-up Silpheed. It was a big-ish deal back in 1988, but is it still a big deal now? Silpheed originated on the NEC PC-8801 back in the glorious year of 1986. It boasts pseudo-3D graphics - firing

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-52465361826593911402011-03-19T16:21:00.000Z2011-03-19T16:21:25.727Z

If you too are feeling the need for a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 alternative, Sonic Classic might just float your boat. It's a glitchy, unpolished fangame with a questionable selection of music, but aside from that it does exactly what it says on the tin - it's a classic Sonic the Hedgehog game, free from poor voice acting, odd storylines and stupid ideas... well... aside from having two water levels.

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-760466628898765862011-03-18T12:00:00.002Z2011-03-18T12:00:05.702Z

That was one long radio show. "Unlicensed drivel!? I thought you'd grown out of that, Squirrel!". Not quite. Top time travelling duck fan BanjoSonic likes to feed me forgotten pirate games once in a while. This is one such game, Adventurous Boy for the Sega Mega Drive. It's a broken Fantasy Zone clone... how could I resist? Of course, there should be no Fantasy Zone heathens on my blog, but if

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-50096047198036055412011-03-07T21:06:00.000Z2011-03-07T21:06:00.985Z

Space Harrier Harder Space Harrier II is one of those games people love to hate. Released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1988 (as a launch title in Japan!), it's aged pretty poorly and is has always lived in the shadow of its older arcade brother. But that doesn't mean it's a bad game... does it? And it also doesn't mean it's a Mega Drive exclusive. Contrary to popular belief Space Harrier II made

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-67976813646193809602011-03-06T21:00:00.003Z2011-03-06T21:00:00.271Z

The Amiga's nice and all, but can it run Doom!? No. But it can run Gloom, a 1995 Amiga game desperate to prove its worth against DOS-based IBM PC compatibles. It fails, but it's still a remarkable piece of technology for a system not designed for the third dimension. Actually I tell a lie. Technically there are many 3D games for the Amiga (including a port of Doom II), it's just that most of

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-9269093863610670172011-03-04T20:21:00.001Z2011-03-04T20:22:46.117Z

1985 saw Sega make one of the most cutting edge and legendary pieces of software to date - Space Harrier. It's a game I've grown up with in one form or another, and though the modern gaming media have different views, I still believe this is one of the greatest arcade games of all time. And predictably it was ported to everything, including computers so bad that the fantasy zone was reduced to

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-69043351739566992542011-02-28T19:42:00.001Z2011-02-28T19:44:16.547Z

The trend of reviewing games for terrible old systems continues! We're beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel now. In fact, when dealing with the Mattel Intellivision, we're scraping the bottom of a big, brightly coloured square, squeaking and flickering as it hopes to one day be as famous as the Atari kegs. This is Night Stalker, circa 1982, and there's a reason that I picked it for review

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-4485065536016383632011-02-26T15:46:00.001Z2011-02-26T15:47:44.910Z

It's twenty-three times the fun today with this NEC PC-6001 Blog Squirrel special spectacular! Marvel at yet another computer which time has tossed aside (though in this case, there's probably a good reason for it). When Super Mario Bros. Special got into the mainstream press a couple of years ago, many websites started to acknowledge the NEC PC-8801's existence. But that's by no means the only

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-49836773432102299342011-02-22T16:00:00.009Z2011-02-22T16:00:00.661Z

Clones of Pac-Man are nothing new. But finding one that stands out is. Hyper Pacman, the 1995 arcade game by South Korean company SemiCom. It's all the rage!... and... I've... never really heard of it either. But the real question is, is it a step beyond super? Let's be honest, the western world doesn't know much about South Korea. The US has fear of North Korea, but though we're all allies of

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-63923265622675585522011-02-19T21:00:00.005Z2011-02-19T21:00:02.817Z

Dig Du-oh.. erm.. DIGGER from Windmill software, built for the IBM PC in the glorious year of 1983. A year later Thatcher took on the miner's strike, so digging was a big deal back in the day. It wasn't the fact mines were being closed and trade union laws were being altered like the media might claim - it was because the Conservative administration refused to tackle the threat of Nobbins and

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-71685099372751666632011-02-17T16:00:00.002Z2011-02-17T16:00:00.492Z

Because I can't resist a good Donkey Kong clone. This is Kangaroo for the Atari 800 computer, because it's fun to dip into semi-obscure systems once in a while. It stands as GCC's take on Donkey Kong, minus the apes and carpenters, plus some Kanagroos and fruit. But does this stunning depiction of real life top Nintendo's classic? Kangaroo was released in 1982, and like 90% of all console games

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-1201416501146201792011-02-15T19:00:00.001Z2011-02-15T19:00:08.921Z

I'm not making this up 1986 saw Sensible Software, usually a company known for making sensible... software (such as Sensible Soccer), release the not-so-sensible GALAXIBIRDS (or "Galax-i-birds") for the Commodore 64. Once more, man's most feared enemy, the birds, have got themselves into space, and its time to rid the galaxy of this evil once and for all. Galaxibirds is a wonderful joke of a

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-86785296358675326042011-02-12T16:00:00.001Z2011-02-12T16:00:06.151Z

Not quite Cosmic Carnage. It's TRUXTON, for the Sega Mega Drive, one of many shoot-'em-ups by Toaplan before the company were... "shot up" by bankruptcy... or something. It's a fairly forgettable shooter by today's standards but this blog is king when it comes to forgettable shoot-'em-ups. Or at least a member of the forgettable shoot-'em-up royal family. Truxton is a classic, allegedly. Sure

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-24995496668867252012011-02-10T14:04:00.000Z2011-02-10T14:04:54.282Z

Because who needs sense in video games? I often long for a simpler time where you could throw out any old garbage into a video game and still be able to entertain. 1991's Two Crude Dudes (or "Crude Buster", if you're Japanese) is a prime example of something so stupid it can't help but be good, yet it also stands as something the industry would refrain from releasing today. Can't risk scores

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-32835296883920600662011-02-07T19:17:00.001Z2011-02-07T19:17:33.834Z

I paid 800 points for this, mere hours before a 400 points deal showed up. Thanks for that, Microsoft! It's 2008's Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, sequel to... Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. This was pretty well received a couple of years go, though slightly less of a phenomina since it's been ported in some form to everything under the sun. But is it still good? Geometry Wars' roots date back

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-19724017411149638492011-02-06T14:14:00.000Z2011-02-06T14:14:35.363Z

People like to dismiss the Sega Mega Drive as being a console that can only cope with 2D graphics... and for the most part, there's a good reason for that. It's a lovely system but even with blast processors the world of three dimensions is a little out of its reach. That's not to say people didn't try to make 3D games for it though! One attempt is 1993's Race Drivin', originally an Atari arcade

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-84431139058436961392011-01-31T18:32:00.000Z2011-01-31T18:32:47.565Z

Word to the wise, steer clear of Minecraft if you plan on maintaining a gaming blog. Another short review to keep the content flowing. This is Cosmic Avenger, a 1981 arcade game from Universal. Why do you care? Because it's the first side-scrolling shoot-'em-up ever. Yeah... I didn't realise either. I should have known about this one a lot sooner, but because it's a game by Universal and not

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-39373984029824658392011-01-22T20:02:00.000Z2011-01-22T20:02:39.683Z

Classic Game Room is a bit hit-and-miss as far as i'm concerned. On one hand, it's nice to see obscure games and I do often enjoy their reviewing style. On the other, it's clearly aimed at a North American audience, doesn't often do its research and likes the Sega 32X. Nobody with sense likes the 32X. But kudos to them for pointing out SPACE DUNGEON's existence, a 1981 arcade game by Taito. Its

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-82921789338764151312011-01-15T19:04:00.000Z2011-01-15T19:04:49.194Z

Look, I've found some tat. It's CRAZY CARS for DOS, circa 1987. Published by Titus, it's the first game in a trilogy, and it's a completely unremarkable and pointless title. Perfect for this blog then. The pseudo-3D racing genre is a dying breed. Of course, there are many good reasons for this, notably processors that can handle three-dimensional graphics, but still, you're quite happy to save

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-79777412919121508972011-01-11T21:30:00.000Z2011-01-11T21:30:43.585Z

A Super Nintendo classic, I'm sure you'll agree. So here's the Mega Drive version. Released in 1994 by a pre-Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment, it's an... isometric racing game, and a good one too. Makes you wonder why the company only devote their time to RTSes and MMORPGs when they could be putting Monster Trucks on simple circuits to the plagiarized tones of Black Sabbath. What ever happened

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-85545239979772915052011-01-09T13:00:00.000Z2011-01-09T14:57:46.939Z

Zaxxon is a bad game. Sure it looks nice for a 1982, but to me the constant struggle to negotiate the scenery and adjust the height of your ship makes the game almost unplayable. Despite this, it was brought to almost every system imaginable in the 1980s (I've briefly mentioned the DOS version in the past). Of course the fun thing about that sentence is that some early 1980s consoles and

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-4995816703327489502011-01-07T18:08:00.001Z2011-01-15T19:05:11.006Z

I don't know if you remember, but when I was younger I had some strange fascination with Korea. I didn't really read up on much of the politics behind it at the time, just expecting a reunified state under Seoul's control. That's ignoring the "space" bit, though I suppose the concept of invading the universe is just as plausible as Homefront's invasion of the US to jeopardise FREEDOMS. Today,

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-88562597417134427082010-12-28T20:00:00.092Z2010-12-28T20:00:03.656Z

"How dare he have teeth" say the hardcore Donkey Kong squad. "DK should not have teeth - he should suck his way through life like in 1994. These new bones have ruined the franchise!" And the Squirrel says, heed not what these simpletons speak of. And that's not just because you can see Donkey Kong's toothy grin in his 1980 arcade debut, but because teethy Donkey Kong Country Returns,

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-70979335070009306212010-12-26T12:00:00.009Z2010-12-26T12:00:01.079Z

It's as if Newgrounds are making new grounds in the world of gaming. This is Super Meat Boy, released a few weeks ago on Xbox Live Arcade, PC, and Mac. A frighteningly difficult platformer that's seen nothing but critical acclaim from the press. And for good reason I suppose. Super Meat Boy is based off a flash game (this one, to be exact), much like 2004's Alien Hominid. Obviously though, by

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-6396297739502164252010-12-24T15:42:00.001Z2010-12-24T15:43:02.749Z

Because everyone's Christmas needs to be spoiled Look, it's another SHPMDBGWL4 Christmas special which you can download. It's an unfinished mess of a game built within about five days with very little gameplay value at all, but it's something.... I think. Anyway, Merry Christmas. Might not be wise to spend it reading this blog though.

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-4400358885613306782010-12-15T17:00:00.000Z2010-12-15T17:00:08.712Z

Sounds sexy Say, what's better than Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius? Lots of things, actually, but you can count on Sexy Parodius being one of them. The last in the series worth caring about, Sexy Parodius goes that extra mile to make sure it could never be sold in the west by cramming the game full of women in swimsuits to extract your revenge against feminism on. But don't be put off by its title -

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-52095313422056506862010-12-10T17:00:00.060Z2010-12-10T20:47:49.474Z

Sounds... chatting Say what's better than Gokujō Parodius?.. I'm not too sure. Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, or "Chatting Parodius Live" is the fourth game in the series and gives it a go. This one has a running commentary... in Japanese. Perhaps you can see why I'm not as thrilled with this one. Parodius Da! was intended for a worldwide audience. Gokujō Parodius was set to get a limited release in

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-16502172172916753742010-12-07T17:44:00.000Z2010-12-07T17:44:52.759Z

Sounds fantastic Say, what's better than Parodius Da!? The sequel, Gokujō Parodius of course. Those in the know know that its English title is "Fantastic Journey", but I'm not one for breaking naming conventions for the sake of one game. Gokujō Parodius comes from a time where new entries in the Gradius series were nonexistent, and so on a technical level, it stands out as being a hundred times

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-60473563046666313822010-12-03T21:10:00.000Z2010-12-03T21:10:13.646Z

My favourite advent calandar is back this year - Mission in Snowdriftland. It's wonderful. Developed by a group named Extra Toxic, this online flash platformer was originally attached to Nintendo as a way of plugging DS and Wii games for the Christmas season. That was a couple of years ago, and during that time fans (including myself) wanted to see this thing become a commercial product. That

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-28508319214938668542010-12-02T16:47:00.000Z2010-12-02T16:47:47.358Z

Konami are an interesting group of developers. They make an extremely popular horizontal shoot-'em-up (Gradius) and then seek to parody it with Parodius. Parodius Da! is the second in the series, following an MSX game that nobody has played and hasn't stood the test of time. It's brilliant, and you should play it. The only problem with the Parodius series is it's underlying Japanese references

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-28739934245740692722010-11-27T20:09:00.000Z2010-11-27T20:09:30.586Z

Tonight, I take this Mega Drive game round our track, and a violent goose is the star in our reasonably priced car. Look, it's the Clarkson-less Top Gear 2, the sequel to... well... guess. Among other systems it was brought to the Sega Mega Drive, and is a fine example of a pseudo 3D racing game from the early 1990s. I don't talk about these sorts of games much, so here's an opportunity for me

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7364224058171051212.post-70103095290343606532010-11-25T14:54:00.000Z2010-11-25T14:54:06.162Z

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Master System is a nice game in its own right, but having been built by an entirely different team for a completely different console, it doesn't look much like its more famous Mega Drive counterpart. But look, Doc Eggfan and co of Sonic Retro fame have changed all that. It's Sonic 2 as you remember it running on Master System hardware... sort of. Truth is it's

Black Squirrelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443181359588888412noreply@blogger.com0