Wednesday 22 April 2015

Did You Know...that Sega made consoles?

Did you know that the Master System delivers the realistic sound and vision that gamers crave?

Did you know you can rent Master Systems, along with a range of games, from your local video store? 

Did you know what video stores were? They were great places where all the movies lived, and you could borrow them, and – well, there were games, and – anyway, you may be too young to remember them. I do, they were awesome, and...well, actually I'm kind of getting off track here.

Did you know that I'm mocking a semi-famous Australian ad from 1990 that you often found on the start of rented videos?
 
When I was a kid, we had a PC, and I was able to enjoy the pleasures of Commander Keen, Jill of the Jungle, Secret Agent and Wolfenstein 3d. As years went on I discovered games like Wacky Wheels, Doom, Descent and countless others.

But, nevertheless, there was a certain envy that I had for my friends, because they had the magic black box that plugged into the television and used game pads and had Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in. Yes, my friends all seemed to own Sega Master Systems.

In the USA, the NES was king, but here in Australia and in Europe, the Sega Master System hit the ground running and never looked back. This was not helped by an indifferent Nintendo (who only really got their acts into gear in Australia around the early-mid SNES period), and as a result the Master System became an iconic part of Australian gaming. 

As a kid, I desperately wanted a Master System, and whenever I went around to a friend's house that was what we always ended up playing. As impressed as many of my friends seemed to be with games like Raptor: Call of the Shadows and Monster Bash (if you're noticing a theme, yes, I did own a lot of Apogee games, and I imagine there'll be a post about that in the future) all I really wanted to play was Wonder Boy III. 

So, this is a quick look at some classic Master System games, ones that I remember envying in childhood and ones that I have since discovered as an adult.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World
I'm willing to bet that a legion of gamers of the right age in Australia and Europe could still hum this game's title theme on command. This was the magic game that lived in the Master System II – no cartridge, no nothing, just plug the thing in and away you go. With systems nowadays coming with whacking great hard drives you would expect more of this sort of treatment, but apparently it's only occurred to Nintendo (who have started pre-loading games onto 3DS and 2DS for special promos). 

One of the best known elements of this game are the boss battles, which are “Janken” matches – paper-scissors-rock for those of us in the west. Sure, they seem random (though between the first two you should have found an item that lets you see what the opponent is going to play, turning them more into reflex tests than random games), but what's particularly great about them is that they turn a game you play in the schoolyard into a matter of LIFE AND DEATH! Yes, they take little lunch seriously in Radaxian. Wait until you see their version of a thumb war.

The game itself is an all time classic. Released less than a year after Super Mario Bros., it shows how fast games were developing back in those days. This is a fantastic evolution of the side-scrolling platformer – for a start, it doesn't just scroll to the side, but its very first level actually scrolls top-to-bottom. The game is far from being a Mario clone, employing its own mechanics – Alex does not jump on his enemies, he punches them – and offering players an array of items from a power bracelet that offers up projectiles through to various vehicles, capsules and special tools. 

Not simply a pack-in but one of the system's definitive platformers, Miracle World is an essential purchase.

R-Type 

R-Type is a game I always really want to love, but that I simply suck at. Actually, it's a complaint that I have common to the whole horizontal shooter genre (I seem to get along a lot better with vertical ones as a rule). R-Type is one of Irem's greatest achievements in the arcades, certainly the game that they will probably be longest remembered for, and the Master System conversion remains one of the moments in which the console best trumps the NES (though certainly not the only one). Bettered only amongst its contemporaries by the comparatively over-powered PC-Engine conversion, R-Type is the best of its kind on the system. 

And let's relish the days in which a game in which you flew a space ship and were implored to “use The Force” passed without lawsuit. Seriously, try that these days and Disney will have you in court before you can blink.

Fantasy Zone/Fantasy Zone 2

Possibly the original 'cute 'em up' (ugh, I hate that phrase), Fantasy Zone is so bright and colourful that sunglasses come as an optional extra. The Master System conversion is excellent – somewhat limited but more than competent for the system. For those unfamiliar, you take control of Opa-Opa, a...thing, with wings, but who also uses engines, and you fly around shooting down...other things. These things vary wildly and...well, you know, it doesn't pay to think too deeply about this. There's stuff, and you shoot the stuff, and the stuff disappears. You pick up money (because what's the point of shooting down random creatures if you don't rob the corpses?) and buy upgrades (bigger wings, big engines, lasers, bombs – Opa-Opa really is a creature, okay? I know he sounds like a spaceship, but...well...) and shoot down bosses. Like...trees? And...

Okay, this game is balls-to-the-wall nuts and there is definitely nothing else quite like it (though we may look at Parodius in a later issue to really blow your minds) except perhaps its sequel, which appears to have you battling lasagnes or bread or something in the first stage. Seriously, they're clearly in baking trays. You can't make this shit up. 

Both games are excellent shooters and come warmly recommended. Wear shades and don't take hallucinogens: you really won't need them.

Ghouls 'n' Ghosts


I can't remember which one of my friends owned this game – maybe we rented it one weekend? - but I don't think we ever made it past the first level. I played it a little to try and get screens for this retrospective and sadly my skills have not improved. 

Ghouls 'n' Ghosts is the sequel to Ghosts 'n' Goblins, one of the most hair-tearingly frustrating games ever devised. This series of games is evil in ways you've simply never imagined. Arthur jumps like he's got arthritis, enemies spawn in the most ridiculously unfair patterns and the worst weapons are always put in spots where you'll accidentally pick them up. Because the game is evil. And you only have two hit points – hit once, you lose your armour and run around in your heart-print undies. Get hit again and it's back to the beginning of the level with you. 

The Master System version is extra-difficult due to a stunningly low-quality port. This wouldn't be so glaring if not for the graphically-compromised but excellently-playing conversion of its prequel to the NES, and a practically arcade-perfect version of this game being available on the Sega Mega Drive. The Master System version is quite unresponsive (not helped by the Master System's notoriously mushy d-pad) and shooting up and down (the game's innovation over its prequel) is a whole new level of hell.

In my brief time with this game, Arthur spent a lot more time in his boxers than in his armour, and I really didn't feel the urge to play it any further. There are the bones of a great game here, but this is not the format to play it on.

Gauntlet

Dandy begat Gauntlet, and Gauntlet begat Zombies, and he saw that it was good.

On your own, Gauntlet is one of the most simplistic games ever invented. You control one of four little warriors – a Valkyrie, Elf, Wizard or Warrior – running around a maze and shooting at an endless horde of monsters, and the machines that are making the monsters, trying to amass the most treasure. It's brainless but kind of diverting.

Add a second (or, if the version in question allows, a third and fourth) player, and then suddenly it's a whole barrel of fun. 

Gauntlet with multiple players is an absolute hoot, most as it inevitably descends into a screaming mess as you all try to co-ordinate yourselves, but it just makes it all the sweeter when you reach the next level or defeat a particularly aggressive bunch of monsters. The Master System version is excellent and home to a batch of particularly good memories for me. (I will be less kind about the Master System version of the kind of similar Smash TV, which is appalling).

Micro Machines
When you're done working together, there are few multiplayer games where victory is sweeter than Micro Machines. For such a simple concept – race little cars/boats/whatever around equivalent scale tracks in bathtubs/on kitchen tables/in a garden – Micro Machines is brilliantly presented and massive fun. Play in single player and try to unlock all the tracks and goodies, or play in multiplayer and try to leave your opponent eating your dust. It is insanely simple, even for a racing game (it's worth noting that there's a Game Boy version where two people can play on a single Game Boy because all you actually have to do is steer), but it's fast, crazy and funny, especially with the environments always reminding you that you're playing with toys. A hoot and a half in either single or multiplayer, Micro Machines is an all-time classic, no matter what format you play it on.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap


I fully intend to look at Wonder Boy/Adventure Island and the assorted mess that is that series in a future post. For now, though, I want to say that there is no game on my list of played-but-never-finished that I want to complete more than Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. Starting off with a simplified reconstruction of the last level of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Dragon's Trap sees the titular dragon turn you into a sort of dragon-thing yourself with his dying breath (the game calls you Lizard-man) and it's a massive quest from there to return to your human state. 

When we were kids, I remember us very much not having the patience to get through this game (it apparently not occurring to us to write down the stupid passwords) but definitely remember seeing at least two transformations. The game is way ahead of its time, playing like a much more open-world Metroid, opening up new areas as you acquire new transformations and abilities. Mouse-man can run up certain walls and upside down on ceilings (and let's just all give thanks that mice can't actually do this), Lion-man has a big sword and can break blocks (because...lions have big swords? I dunno), and Hawk-man flies (I'll give them that one).

As the castle collapses around you, you are forced to run past a locked door, with the game kind of implying that eventually you'll be back with a key, and something will be behind that door. That door has haunted me since childhood, and I will see what's behind it. Eventually. Really. I swear it.

Despite its dismal failure in the USA and Japan, the Master System is well worth remembering. If anyone out there does remember it, be sure to leave a comment. I'd love to hear what games were your favourites. I imagine I'll be back to look at some more in the future – both good and bad. Until then, play it loud.

Monday 20 April 2015

We play it loud here...

Welcome to Play it Loud, a blog about games and gaming.

Why Play it Loud?

Those of you old enough to remember the 1990s may recall a Nintendo ad campaign centered around the phrase "play it loud". It was a classic of print and television advertising, covering a massive range of Game Boy and Super NES games at the time. But it was more than just promotion for the Nintendo games of the day: it was a mission statement for gamers.

Unlike their competitors, they were not promoting a new console with hot new technology or the latest arcade hits. No, they were reminding everyone of why they were playing games. Because they were fun.

Let's compare.

This is a promo spot released for Gears of War 3 a few years ago. Now, it's a nice piece of advertising in its own way, but it's a much better commercial for the song or for a film than it is for a game. I look at this ad and I want to put on The Red Paintings. It's arty, and it's pretentious - and while I'll beat the "Games Are Art" drum all day long if you ask me, Gears of War is not art. Psychonauts is art. The Path is art. Heavy Rain is...well, it's arty. But the Gears of War series is not art. It is the Rambo to Spec Ops: The Line's Full Metal Jacket. It is a generic, cookie-cutter FPS - and that's not a bad thing. Let it embrace that, let it advertise itself as such.

This is more like it.

 
Nintendo's flagship Play It Loud Commercial from 1995 is what gaming, to me, will always be about. Not giving the world a wedgie, as such, but it's about fun. We are gamers because it is fun. We are playing because it is something that is part of us, like music. We are playing it loud.

This blog will largely concern itself with older games, from the 1980s to 2000s, on consoles ranging from the Atari 2600 and the Master System all the way up to the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Now, while these consoles are of course very old, I didn't own them at the time, so I hope to bring a perspective not laced with nostalgia but a genuinely new look at some classic titles. All this and more in coming weeks.

Until then, I guess, play it loud.