• Tag Archives Acclaim

  • Rambo (NES)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Electronic Game Player – September 1988



    Rambo was released by Acclaim for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. It is a side-scrolling action-adventure game that is loosely based on the plot of the movie Rambo: First Blood Part 2. Like the vast majority of games based on movies, this one isn’t really all that great.

    I say that this game is “loosely” based on the movie in part because there are an awful lot of bugs involved. A large portion of the game involves fighting spiders, insects and other forest creatures (and even flamingos). Eventually, you find a cache of weapons and do reach the P.O.W. camp but this is relatively late in the game. Until then…lots of bugs.

    Rambo features a complex map and requires accurate navigation to get where you need to go. While this seems like a pretty good idea, in practice the game ends up being frustrating because figuring out who you need to talk to and where you need to go is difficult. Game play tends to become quite repetitive. While Rambo has a nice soundtrack and some good ideas, at the end of the day, it just isn’t executed very well.

    While there have been a variety of Rambo games for various systems over the years, this particular iteration is unique to the Nintendo. It has never been re-released and isn’t likely to be so you’ll have to track down an original or use emulation. I recommend the second option unless you are just a die-hard collector.

    The review above is from the September 1988 issue of Electronic Game Player.


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  • 3-D WorldRunner (NES)

    Posted on by Azrael 1 Comment


    The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner (NES)

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/184613775421/obscurevideogames-guardiademieux-the-3-d



    The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner or 3-D WorldRunner for short was a fairly early game for the NES. It was developed by Square and published in North America by Acclaim in 1987. It was pretty advanced for its time. 3-D WorldRunner was essentially an early 3D 3rd person platform shooter.

    While 3-D WorldRunner was a 3D platform game of sorts, it wasn’t in a completely open world. It was a shooter on rails and is somewhat similar to games like Space Harrier. As you would expect, there are items to collect and enemies to avoid or destroy. Jumping plays a large role in the game but you can only move in a forward direction. One other unique aspect of this game was that it really was in 3D. It came with a pair of Red/Blue (Cyan) glasses and had a 3D mode that you could switch to with the appropriate colors to make it work.

    3-D WorldRunner generally got positive reviews. The 3D mode is a novelty more than anything but it was pretty neat for the time. While it borrows heavily from Space Harrier, it’s still a pretty fun game. Finding a copy complete in the box is fairly difficult mainly because of the glasses. You don’t necessarily need the original glasses to use the 3D mode as these kind of glasses have been used for various 3D things for a long time. However, I don’t know how well the effect works on modern monitors or via emulation. At any rate, if you are an NES fan, this is one worth having though perhaps not at the complete in box cost.


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  • TrickStyle (Sega Dreamcast)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    TrickStyle (Sega Dreamcast, PC)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/166262375177/retrocgads-usa-1999-trick-style

    Not only was TrickStyle a sports game, it was an extreme sports game. And not only was it an extreme sports game, it was a futuristic extreme sports game. It’s 2017 an you’re wondering where your hoverboard is. It turns out it was in this 1999 game published by Acclaim for the Sega Dreamcast and PC.

    While this may technically be classified is a sports game of sorts, it plays more like a racer. In fact, it was probably compared more to games like Wipeout than anything else. The game is set in the future and the player can race their hoverboard or do stunts through the cities of London, Tokyo and New York (and there is also a practice area). In general, this game got pretty good reviews with the Dreamcast version being a little better than the PC version.

    TrickStyle was released on GOG.com in 2015 and on Steam in early 2017. I wouldn’t call it a must play game but if you have a Dreamcast you can probably track it down pretty cheap, or alternatively you can get it on GOG.com for only about $7. If you like this kind of game it’s well worth the cheap price.

    TrickStyle had no official sequel but there was a similar game created by the same development studio in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 called AirBlade that could have just as easily been called TrickStyle 2.





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