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  • Arcus Odyssey (Sega Genesis)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/719984398578122752/vgjunk-arcus-odyssey-megadrive-genesis

    Arcus Odyssey was released in 1991 by Taito for the Sega Genesis. This is a fantasy role-playing game played from a top down perspective. It features a blend of exploration, combat, and character progression that makes this a stand-out game on the Genesis, at least if you like RPGs.

    In Arcus Odyssey, you can choose from four distinct characters, each with unique abilities and weapon. These include the warrior, the thief, the mage, and the cleric. This selection offers a layer of strategy, as players can tailor their experience based on their preferred style of play. The warrior is the most balanced, the thief is the most agile, the mage is the most powerful and the cleric is the most versatile.

    As with any good RPG, this game’s structure is nonlinear, allowing players to explore various interconnected levels and complete quests at their own pace. Combat is fairly straightforward and features real-time battles against a variety of enemies, including goblins, skeletons, and bosses (though I prefer turn-based combat myself). Players can attack, dodge, and use magic, with each character having their own unique combat styles.

    One of the key mechanics of the game is the way magical items and power-ups are scattered throughout the levels. Players can collect various spells and equipment which enhance their character’s capabilities. Managing inventory is crucial since you can’t carry unlimited items and you must decide which items to carry into battles and how best to use them.

    The graphics in “Arcus Odyssey” are pretty solid and do a good job of representing the 16-bit capabilities of the Sega Genesis. Sprites and other graphics are well defined and well animated. The character designs are distinctive and do a good job capturing the essence of their particular class. The environments are detailed and varied, ranging from enchanted forests to dungeons and everything in between.

    Both the music and sound effects are also well done. Arcus Odyssey features a varied soundtrack that shouldn’t bore you and helps you to get into the game. Sound effects for attacks, spells, various other things are all well done. Good music and sound effects help build tension when needed and this game does a good job of that too.

    The game is divided into multiple levels. Each level is filled with its own secrets, traps, and mix of enemies that increase in difficulty as you progress. The level design encourages exploration, with many paths leading to hidden items and power-ups. Enemies and bosses get harder to defeat as you go and require having the right strategy (and items) to beat them, especially in later stages.

    While overall, Arcus Odyssey is an excellent RPG, especially on the Genesis, it has it’s flaws as well. For instance, sometimes to complete a quest you have to backtrack through areas of the game you have already been to. This isn’t all bad but it can feel repetitive at times. Still, if you are a console RPG fan then you should pick this one up and give it a try. I’m sure you can also play it via emulations if that is your preference.


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  • Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars (Sega Genesis)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars is a multi-sport title released on the Sega Genesis that featured characters from the Tiny Toon Adventures animated series. This game was released by Konami in late 1994. The sports featured include basketball, soccer, bowling, baseball, and an obstacle course race as well as a whack-a-mole style game called “Montana Hitting”. While there was a similar game for the Super NES, it featured a different set of sports.

    As you can probably imagine, these sports were more like mini-games, not full sports simulations. For instance, the basketball game was a two-on-two match-up. Soccer features a five-vs-five match-up. Each sport features both the basic moves you would expect along with special moves. Whichever sports you choose, you get to select the players from a roster of characters from the show including the likes of Buster Bunny, Babs Bunny, Plucky Duck, etc. There were a dozen characters to select from. Each character had different characteristics making them better for some sports than for others.

    As far as difficulty level, it really depends on the sport. Some are pretty simple (like bowling) while others require more precise control to be able to do well (like baseball). Your computer component gives uneven performances, sometimes being too hard and sometimes not hard enough. However, most are fairly fun as long as you aren’t expecting a realistic sports simulation experience. There is also a nice multiplayer feature. Not only can you play against another player but you can also play co-op against the computer. This feature more than anything else gives it some serious replayability.

    ACME All-Stars also makes great use of the 16-bit graphics of the Genesis. It really looks like you are playing the cartoon. There is tons of detail and lots of references and gags that are throwbacks to the show. There is also plenty of humor injected with interactions between the characters. The sound and music, while perhaps doesn’t stand out as much as the graphics, fits right in with the cartoony nature of the game.


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  • The Lion King (Sega Genesis)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/721373588036435968/segacity-elephant-graveyard-the-lion-king

    The Lion King is a 2D side-scrolling platform game based on the Disney movie of the same name that was released for various systems starting in 1994. The Super NES and Sega Genesis versions were the first versions released and are probably the best. This game was also ported to the Game Gear, NES, Sega Master System, Amiga, DOS and the Game Boy. I’m focusing on the Genesis version here but at least this version and the Super NES version were very similar.

    The game features ten levels that loosely follows the plot of the movie. Each level generally represents some key point in the movie. Players start off playing as young Simba who gets older throughout the game. Simba journeys through various stages such as the Pride Lands, Elephant Graveyard, Hakuna Matata, and others. The gameplay involves what you would generally expect in this type of game including puzzle-solving, combat with enemies (including hyenas), etc.

    Graphics and sound were excellent in this game. By this point, they had basically perfected 16-bit graphics and sound. Disney animators drawing the sprites and backgrounds probably helped. They do an excellent job of capturing the atmosphere of the movie with both the graphics and the sound. The animation is fluid, graphics colorful and the soundtrack is basically an adaptation of the soundtrack from the movie and is very well done.

    Controls feature running and jumping of course and Simba’s main “weapon” is a roar that stuns enemies. Throughout the game, as Simba gets older, he acquires new and more powerful abilities such as a stronger roar and the ability to pounce. As with many platform games of this era, each level ends with a boss battle. The final boss battle features Scar.

    Gameplay is fairly balanced. It’s challenging enough to keep your interest but no so hard as to be frustrating (at least not too often anyway). It does get significantly harder as you progress through the game though so it isn’t necessarily for novice players. Younger kids could get frustrated with this game after a few levels and you would think that would be the target market here. On the other hand, they aren’t going to beat it in a day and there is a fair amount of replay value as there are plenty of secrets to uncover.

    In general, if you like Disney and or/platform games, then this is definitely one to have on your list. While licensed games are often terrible, Disney managed to do an excellent job in this era getting high quality games made. Of course, they were putting out some pretty good animated movies then as well. As to whether you play the Super NES version or The Genesis version probably comes down to personal system preference. You can find the original games on eBay of course or choose to emulate if you want. I don’t think this game has ever had a re-release and I doubt that it will. The other versions listed above are interesting to try as well but if you want to play the best version of the game, stick with one of these two 16-bit consoles.


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