 "Cannon Fodder had previously been a hit on the Amiga platform before being ported to Dos by Virgin Interactive, who licensed it from Sensible Software. This cute little real-time wargame involves the player trying to complete a series of missions using a squad of hapless recruits. In order to finish each mission, you have to complete several objectives, most often the destruction of key enemy objects. Rather than opt for a traditional wargaming approach, Cannon Fodder included action elements, as the player actually controls the firing of his/her troops. The general premise of the game involved you directly controlling a platoon of four soldiers, commanding them to walk around and blasting at any enemies that got in your way. In addition to standard gunfire, your troops can also make use of rockets, missiles, etc to clear out enemy forces. The game was released to the European public at full price, and finally made it to the USA a few years later as a budget title. Thus American gamers didn't pay the product much attention, which is a shame since it's one of the best action/strategy hybrids of the early 90s. |
 "Synopsis by Brett Alan Weiss While dancing in the meadow one clear spring day, Mickey and Minnie Mouse are startled by a sudden covering of gray clouds over the blue sky. As Mickey turns to tell Minnie not to worry, a sudden flash of lightning blinds them both. In the blink of an eye, a wicked witch named Mizrabel snatches Minnie and takes her back to the Castle of Illusion. She intends on exchanging her own evil visage for that of Minnie's beauty. As Mickey Mouse you must run, jump, and swim through the five levels of the castle, looking for the Gems of the Rainbow, the only power strong enough to defeat the evil witch. The five levels include: the Enchanted Forest, Toyland, the Storm, the Library, and the Castle. Throughout the game, you'll be mystified by enchantments, oddities, and illusions, each designed to foil your rescue. You'll swing from lamps, float on sugar cubes, dodge giant boulders, cross falling bridges, and perform many other unbelievable acts. Creatures such as clowns, toy soldiers, bonefish, armored knights, trees, and mushrooms are constantly on the attack. You can rid yourself of these creepy critters by bouncing on them or by pegging them with apples, marbles, or candles, each of which you will find scattered in abundance throughout the game. Many other mysteries await you in the Castle of Illusion. Would you dare enter this strange place? Screenshots Similar Games QuackShot Starring Donald Duck Sega of America, Inc. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Sega of America, Inc. Extra Creditsby Brett Alan Weiss Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the NES began the whole side-scrolling platform phenomena. The game made popular hopping on enemies to defeat them and other groundbreaking elements of gameplay. Swinging on vines in videogames was introduced in Pitfall! (1982) for the Atari 2600. Also Available On Platform Publisher Developer Year Sega Game Gear Sega of America, Inc. 1991 Sega Master System Sega of America, Inc. Sega of Japan 1990 Extra credits by Brett Alan Weiss Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the NES began the whole side-scrolling platform phenomena. The game made popular hopping on enemies to defeat them and other groundbreaking elements of gameplay. Swinging on vines in videogames was introduced in Pitfall! (1982) for the Atari 2600. Also Available On Platform Publisher Developer Year Sega Game Gear Sega of America, Inc. 1991 Sega Master System Sega of America, Inc. Sega of Japan 1990 |
 "Even after belly-bumping through his 1992 adventure for Genesis and SNES, life doesn't get any easier for Chuck Rock. It seems his archrival, Brick Jagger, has kidnapped him, and no one can save him except his own crazy, club-swinging, six-month old son, Chuck Junior. The Son of Chuck doesn't have the belly his dad does, so he has to rely on his club to bonk the baddies aside. The club can also be used to knock through piles of rocks, some of which may contain baby bottle power-ups that let Junior recover some lost health. The son makes friends at least as easily as the dad, and friendly animals sometimes appear to give Chuck Junior rides across tricky terrain.. |
 "That wacky madman from the Middle East is at it again in Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf. Backed by a strong and fiercely loyal military, General Kilbaba is threatening to reign Armageddon on all his enemies, including the good ol' U.S.A. The President of our fair land calls on you, fearless gamer, to fly a series of dangerous preemptive campaigns in the desert to eliminate the tyrannical despot from the face of the globe. After choosing a campaign (if you don't have a password, you must begin with campaign number one) and a copilot, you must decide whether to control your Apache) helicopter With Momentum, From the Cockpit, or From Above. With Momentum is similar to From the Cockpit, but the computer makes you compensate for the momentum of your helicopter. You view the game from a three-quarter overhead perspective. Once the action begins, you will find yourself frequently referring to the battle map as it enables you to locate yourself in relation to your targets and objectives. Many times throughout the game you will receive incoming intelligence reports. You'll be called on to perform numerous military exercises, such as demolishing enemy airfields, destroying radar and power stations, escorting a busload of innocents, blowing up command centers, killing guards, trashing jails in order to free prisoners, airlifting and dropping off commandos, taking out scud launchers, and protecting oil fields. Your helicopter is a powerful vehicle and is equipped with a chain gun and the ability to fire hydras and hellfire missiles. To stay fortified and ensure your survival, you must frequently pick up armor, fuel, and ammunition. Enemy weapons you'll face include a variety of tanks, gun turrets, choppers, speedboats and soldiers. Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is composed of 27 missions divided among four major campaigns. You begin the game with three lives and can find additional lives hidden throughout. If you lose all your lives prior to completing the final mission of a campaign, you must start over at the beginning of that campaign and finish it before you can advance to the next. |
 "Baloo and Kit are still employees working for Rebecca Cunningham at Higher for Hire. She looks in the newspaper and finds that the Mayor has announced a flying contest with a lifetime work contract to Cape Suzette as the prize. She shows it to the others who then decide to take part. However Shere Khan of Shere Khan industries has also taken an interest in the contest. The City Official announces that Higher for Hire and Shere Khan Industries have been selected for the contest with Shere Khan's company going first. They successfully complete their run, giving Higher for Hire only seven days to win. Baloo and Kit must now collect 10 boxes of Cargo from 8 countries around the world, whilst avoiding Shere Khan's henchmen and the air raid attacks of Don Karnage. |
 "Ecco the Dolphin puts players in control of the title character, a young dolphin who can swim and leap with all the acrobatic acumen for which his species is known. The game presents a playground of underwater levels that challenge Ecco to move about with power and precision. Most levels include small fish Ecco can eat to replenish health, as well as vicious squids or hungry sharks that would like to do the same to him. As a mammal, it is also important for Ecco to return to the surface regularly for a breath of air. The main challenges in Ecco the Dolphin are environmental puzzles. Each new area presents an increasingly sophisticated labyrinth of airless corridors, contrary currents, and hungry predators. The trick to enjoying the game is in mastering the controls that allow Ecco to squeeze through tight spaces, dart away from enemies, and perform high-flying leaps. As swimming and leaping become second-nature, possible puzzle-solving techniques become more apparent. Players have a side-on view of the dolphin and his undersea environments. The three primary actions that can be performed are a steady, speed-building tail pump, a quick dart, and a sonic blast, which can communicate with other friendly marine mammals, affect certain objects (such as brittle boulders), and also be used to bring up a radar-like map of the surrounding area. Some puzzles require Ecco to move special objects by pushing them with blasts of his sonar. The progression of the game follows a detailed and emotionally compelling plotline. Ecco has been separated from his pod by a strange and powerful storm. As he makes his way back to his family, he meets many other marine creatures and faces many challenges that teach him about the myths and history of his undersea world. |
 "In this sequel to Desert Strike, you must defend the United States against a desert madman and a South American drug lord. These two fiends have joined forces and planned a nuclear terrorist attack. Their target is Washington D.C. You must defend the various monuments and buildings while ensuring the safety of the president. After driving the terrorists from Washington, you will go to South America. There you must find the terrorists' hiding places and training grounds, destroy their nuclear weapons, raid their drug processing plants, locate their counterfeiting operations, and rescue American prisoners of war. Your first mode of transportation is a powerful Apache helicopter loaded with weaponry. You will also control an armored car, a hovercraft, a stealth fighter, and other vehicles of destruction. To keep afloat in this 3D shooter and have a chance at defending this great country, you must constantly keep on the lookout for additional ammo and fuel supplies. |
 "Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament 96 featured cars that require different handling techniques for each course and also hovercraft and helicopters. There are different playing modes including "head-to-head", in which each player earns points by driving a full screen ahead of the opponent. The PC version featured a track editor. A selling point for the Sega Mega Drive versions was the J-Cart, a cartridge including two control ports, thus eliminating the need for a 4-player adaptor. It also included a 'pad-sharing' feature which allowed 2 players to share a single joypad; thus it enabled 8 players to compete simultaneously, on certain tracks. The 93% review in Mega described the game as "multi-player fun at its best". TV presenter Violet Berlin features as a playable driver. |
 "This sequel to the popular NBA Jam doubles the number of NBA players and secret characters, so you can now make substitutions after every quarter. Nine new earth shattering dunks have been added to the lineup and a battery will save your records, ranking and winning percentage against the 27 featured NBA teams. Perhaps the biggest additions are the Hot Spots option, which places random circles on the court with different point values, and Power-Up Icons, which will temporarily affect a player's abilities. Otherwise, it's the same two-on-two dunk fest as the original. For those unfamiliar with NBA Jam, the action is played from a horizontal view of the court as you control one player on offense. The object is to score as many points as you can while trying to prevent the other team from doing the same. Controls on offense consist of a passing, shooting and turbo button, while defense replaces the shooting button with a jump. By pressing the turbo button, players can not only move faster, but perform special moves such as acrobatic dunks or gravity defying jumps. Grab up to three friends and everyone can play at the same time with an adapter! |
 "PGA Tour 96 represents a significant departure from previous games in Electronic Arts's popular Genesis golf series. The links are now modeled in 3D, allowing for visible slopes and varied terrain instead of the straight, flat courses in earlier titles. A new swing meter replaces the tried-and-true horizontal bar, appearing as a blue arc just behind your digitized golfer. Once you press the button to begin the shot, a line will move up along the arc simulating the natural motion of a backswing: hit the button again to determine power and once more for accuracy. If you don't time the swing correctly, you'll either hook or slice the ball depending on where the line falls on the arc. The three authentic courses include the TPC at River Highlands, TPC at Sawgrass and Spyglass Hill GC. Players can create their own golfers or elect to play as or against one of ten different PGA Tour pros (with statistics based on the 1994 season): Brad Faxon, Fuzzy Zoeller, Craig Stadler, Jeff Sluman, Mark O'Meara, Davis Love III, Bruce Lietzke, Tom Kite, Lee Janzen and Peter Jacobsen. The five play modes consist of Tournament (against 56 additional roster players), Match Play, Skins, EA Shoot-Out and Practice. Those who would rather get a feel for the swing meter can also "visit" a Driving Range or Putting Green to work out the kinks. Rounding out the package is battery backup to record statistics (both individual and course), tournament progress and created golfers. |
 "A blue hedgehog with red sneakers attempts to save his ensnared animal friends from the mechanistic mind of Dr. Robotnik in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic distinguishes himself from other mascots with his surge of speed, as the prickly protagonist races across loops, underground tunnels, and more by tucking into a ball and spinning swiftly into the next area. The object is to navigate the hazard-filled regions of six themed zones before time expires. Sonic will be able to release imprisoned animals along the way by jumping and spinning into their robotic captors. Golden rings scattered throughout each stage serve three functions: a means to earn extra lives, a gateway to rotating bonus stages containing coveted chaos emeralds, and a defense against enemies and dangers. As long as Sonic has at least one ring, he can safely absorb a hit. |
 "Sonic the Hedgehog 2 follows in the same speedy footsteps as its well-regarded predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog. Once again, players run, jump, and spin the blue hedgehog through a bizarre world of metal robots created by Dr. Robotnik, avoiding obstacles, trouncing enemies, and collecting rings and the elusive Chaos Emeralds (earning all seven emeralds turns Sonic into Super Sonic). While the basic action remains essentially the same, the levels are longer, the colors are brighter and more varied, all the zones are new, and the game introduces a new character: Tails the fox. In the standard game, Tails simply follows along, helping collect rings and defeating the occasional enemy, but he is a playable character in the special two-player split-screen race mode. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 also introduces a new move (the Spin Dash) and a new special stage: a challenging, pseudo-3D race through tubes to collect rings. |
 "Picking up where the second game in the series left off, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is indeed true to its forebears. Players guide the running, jumping, spinning, dashing, swimming, hedgehog through six huge zones of play (including Carnival Night and IceCap Zone), each with a different theme. The music matches the levels extremely well, and the graphics are the best yet, especially terms of the lushly detailed backgrounds. Split-screen two-player races have returned from Sonic 2, as has Tails the fox. This time, however, gamers playing the one-player mode can pick up controller two and have Tails airlift Sonic out of danger. Other fresh features include tons of new enemies (including Knuckles the echidna), a special Insta-Shield super move, new special stages (involving dodging red spheres while grabbing blue ones), and a save feature, which is very helpful since this is the biggest, toughest, least linear game in the trilogy. |
 "More than just a Super Mario Kart clone, Street Racer is a go-cart racer that lets players select from eight Street Fighter II-type characters, each with his or her own special attack weapons. Four-player split-screen capabilities supplement the raucous racing/combat action, and two unique bonus games give players even more bang for their buck. Soccer mode has gamers using their cars to bump the ball into a goal as many times as possible while Rumble mode is an arena game in which players try to knock each others' cars out of the ring. As if fast and fun gameplay weren't enough, Street Racer has realistic sound effects, a rocking soundtrack, and fantastic graphics. |
 "Super Skidmarks is a racing video game developed by Acid Software and released in 1995. The game is the sequel to Skidmarks and as such was also termed Skidmarks 2 and Super Skidmarks 2 by commentators. The game features �minimally realistic�[1] action viewed from an isometric perspective as well as novelty vehicles such as wheeled cows and caravans. Various methods such as joypad adapters and link systems are employed to allow multiple players to compete, up to a maximum of 8. The game was critically acclaimed and a best-seller in the UK. Several upgrades to the Amiga original were released as well as conversions for the Amiga CD32 and Sega Mega Drive, the latter published by Codemasters. |
 "Sporting beautiful cartoon-like graphics from the 1991 animated series and an offbeat jazz soundtrack, Taz-Mania is a platform game suffering from short, unimaginative levels and an incredible number of blind jumps. Players control the whirling dervish through six multi-staged areas of jumping and spinning action, from an abandoned mine to a mouse-infested jungle. In addition to his patented spin attack, Taz can throw items at enemies and belch fire after consuming red peppers. While enemies are few and far between, hazards such as quicksand, slippery icebergs, and bottomless pits make for a devilish mix of trial-and-error gameplay. |
 "The Circle of Life continues. High on an outcropping, the Lion King, Mufasa, holds his new-born son high in the air. Simba is born, and is destined to be the Lion King when Mufasa's time is up. Unfortunately, Mufasa's brother, Scar has other plans. Staging a wildebeest stampede, Mufasa is killed, and Simba blames himself and goes into self-imposed exile. Scar takes the mantle of the Lion King. Based on the populer Disney movie of the same name, you play Simba, the Prince of the Pridelands. You will face hyena's, an elephant graveyard, a stampede, and finally Scar as you grow from a cub, to a full-grown lion. Fight your way back to the Pridelands and reclaim what is yours, and save your family. |
 "Soldier Kyle Reese travels from the distant future to 1984 Los Angeles to protect a young woman named Sarah Connor in this console adaptation of James Cameron's cult film. Designed as a platform shooter, the Genesis version has you controlling Kyle on foot through a total of four levels. Climb ladders, leap across ledges, and do battle with a number of enemies, both man and machine, while being relentlessly pursued by a futuristic assassin known as the Terminator, portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie. Use a combination of shotgun blasts and grenades to defeat the opposition. Prevent the Terminator from fulfilling his objective to win the game. |
 "Urban Strike is the third game in Electronic Arts' Strike series for the Genesis platform, and this time the war will be fought on American soil! Evil media mogul H.R. Malone plans to overthrow the U.S. Government. The Strike C.O.R.E. has learned of the plot and needs you to disable all of his military operations. The game features over forty missions spanning ten levels in key U.S. cities, such as New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Three new vehicles are at your disposal, including the Mohican and Blackhawke assault choppers and Ground Assault Vehicle (GAV). For the first time in a Strike game, you can now journey on foot for certain missions (many of which are timed!) in your campaign to defeat H.R. Malone. As in previous games in the Strike series, the emphasis is on action as you fly into well-defended combat zones. Nearly everything can be destroyed, which is important since many buildings contain extra fuel, armor and ammo to help you reach your objectives. Cinematic cut-scenes will help explain the story after each level and a map screen will help you plan out your mission in detail. |
 "You are the only one brave enough to fly a lone Star Fighter into the heart of space. The Galactic Armed Services desperately needs your skills to protect its bases scattered across eight primary quadrants of the galaxy. They are the Earth's last line of defenses in a time of war. Aliens of multiple species have united to exploit this weakness, but they didn't count on their ships being spotted. Use the element of surprise to your advantage and take them out! WarpSpeed places you in the cockpit of one of four starfighters: the Stinger, Striker, Stalker and Slasher in your effort to wipe out four alien races. Seven battle scenarios will let you hone your skills and earn medals for your bravery, and a Campaign mode will randomly link four new scenarios from a pool of ten. Each quadrant has 64 sectors each, bringing the total number of locations to 512. Your ship's Warp Drive will let you travel between quadrants as you seek out and destroy all hostile invaders. If you're good enough, you might be eligible for promotion! |
 "In this sequel to Castle of Illusion, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have mysteriously teleported to an enchanted land filled with magic. Travel through five levels as either Mickey or Donald in your quest to find the individual responsible for your new surroundings: the Sorceror. Find him and you'll find your way home! Since this is a world of illusion, each character can use an enchanted cape to turn enemies into harmless objects. Expect to ride through the skies on a magic carpet, journey through abandoned mine shafts, run from dangerous floods, and even survive a gigantic forest--where butterflies are twice the size as your character! World of Illusion allows two players to team up for simultaneous action, and offers a password after each level so you can resume progress at a later time. Don't worry, you're not alone in this land: Disney characters Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Clarabelle Cow and Donald's three nephews all make cameos throughout the game. |
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