Bionic Ninja on the ZX Spectrum 48K - Hmmmm....

Bionic Ninja was published on the ZX Spectrum by Zeppelin games in 1989.

It's a good name. What's not to like about being a ninja? And a bionic one at that! Kids would have loved that name. Is it a good game though? That's infinitely more important. Names can often be deceiving. Below is my video game play review. Have a watch!

There is a back story to the game here, but it falls into the normal of back stories so I'll summarise it.

"Aliens have attacked and taken over one of our human bases. Earth's solution to the problem is to send in a single robot ninja (that's you) to kick butt over multiple stages, be all round wonderful and generally save the day".

Sounds good.

You have three weapons which are selectable right from the start. There are no upgrades or powerups to be earned here. Weapons are, your fists, a ninja throwing star and a sword. The Ninja throwing stars are unlimited so you can throw them to your hearts content. Not sure why then you'd opt for the other weapons. Ninja Stars have the longest range. It's a no brainier. You're left thinking that maybe later the other weapons are more useful. They're not. Very weird.

The backgrounds, although detailed, are in black and white monochrome. Presumably this was to avoid colour clash problems. However, it also moves quite slowly making Bionic Ninja quite a bland experience.

There is no intro music and in-game sounds are very limited.

Enemies are fairly easy to defeat. The time given to complete the stage is very generous and there are no end-of-level bosses. The stage just ends. It's very underwhelming. No real hook to make you want to play on.

Bionic Ninja is one of those games where the coders had maybe originally planned too much for the 48K memory to handle and had to make a number of compromises. Unfortunately these compromises have ruined any chance of any addictive game play.

I would steer clear of this one.

Nick :o)

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Championship Sprint on the Commodore 64 from 1988

It's time to go eight bit racing! Top down eight bit racing. Some games of course age a bit better than others.

Championship Sprint was released on the Commodore 64 and published by Electric Dreams in 1988. It's the sequel to Super Sprint and ported from the highly popular arcade game from 1986. The full video game play review is below. Hosted on Youtube... although you can watch it directly in this page.

The aim of the game is pretty simple, which is always a good start for the people allergic to reading detailed instructions. You must race a blue car over several laps and finish in the top three of the four cars to progress to the next track.

Fire button accelerates you forward. You do have to ease off on some of the bends so some skill is involved. You can pass through your opponents like they were ghosts, but any collision with the scenery will cost you valuable time. A couple of collisions on the default settings and it's very unlikely you'll be able to catch up with the pack.

A random tornado will appear every so often. Drive into that and you car is sent hurtling in a random direction. Any damage to your car with collisions into the side can be repaired by driving over the yellow spanners which randomly appear on track.

After three races are complete, you have the option to upgrade your car.

The game comes with a track editor and the ability to change the speed of your opponents to match your personal skill level. The editor is easy to use and a kid back in the day may have got some creative enjoyment from it.

Based on that, the game should be fun right?

The experience I got from it was quite underwhelming. It doesn't quite deliver the wow factor. The allure that would have wanted me to play it again is sadly absent. A game from 1988 I would have expected a little more and for me, it will go down as a bog-standard racer.

I suspect you may have had to grow up with this game to feel much attachment to it. This game needs nostalgia power. Good to see for historical purposes. Check out the video review above!

Nick :o)

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Super Street Fighter II on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive - FIGHT !!!

Prior to this game play review, I'd only ever experienced Street Fighter on the Commodore Amiga. This system was the one I grew up with after owning the ZX Spectrum.

The Amiga version came on four disks which you had to swap quite regularly and of course, you only had one fire button so a lot of the character special moves were very tricky. To get the best out of this, you really need multiple buttons.

Anyway... over 25 years later, I got to enjoy it on another platform, the Sega Mega Drive. Hooray!

Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers was published on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive by Capcom in 1994. Below is my game play review type thing. I'll always be a bit of a noob with these! It seems to be the long established style we're going with. :P

Street Fighter II first appeared in the Arcades in 1991, was a huge success, then quickly ported to many home computer and console systems.

Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers is an evolution of this game.

All twelve varied characters are carried over from the previous game plus four additional new characters for you to get to grips with. These are T-Hawk, Cammy, Dee Jay and Fei Long. Fei Long is the obligatory Bruce Lee type character that these games suddenly liked to include.

The number of matches in single player mode are the same to complete the game. You will face eight random opponents and then have to defeat the adept Grand Masters. The Masters are Vega, Segat, M Bison and Balrog. Along the way are the usual expected Bonus stages involving smashing up some poor person's car.... we never find out who it belongs to. They won't be pleased.

The sound has been re-scored since the previous incarnation. Each character has their own unique location which is represented in the background design. Also some of the characters Special Moves have been either added to or refined.

Admittedly I was a bit of an amateur button-masher with this game, but if you put in the practice Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers is an addictive and rewarding game which you will just have to complete using every character available.

I much preferred it to the Commodore Amiga version I owned back in the day even taking nostalgia into account. Using three controller buttons was an improvement over just one, but to get the full experience, I think you'd ideally need an eight button controller.

Check out my video review above hosted on Youtube. Good game!

Nick :o)

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Trivia Game Show - Commodore Amiga - Test your knowledge!

We review quite a lot of games on the channel. Very often running into some oddballs. The channel has now reviewed over 300 Commodore Amiga games, so it was perhaps inevitable they one day, I would bump into Trivia Game Show. Have a watch of the video review hosted on YouTube. Oh dear,,,

Trivia Game Show is a rather unusual looking game published by Impressions in 1991.

Other Amiga quiz games covered in the past include, Mike Read's Computer Pop Quiz, Emlyn Hughes Arcade Quiz, A Question of Sport and Red Dwarf Trivia Quiz Championship Edition.

Red Dwarf Trivia Quiz was a bit of a disappointment as I'm a huge Red Dwarf fan, but I don't think this was commercially released or even a licensed game, so we can perhaps let that one off.

Trivia Game Show is designed for one to six human players. Although admittedly, there's nothing to stop you being more than one quiz show contestant. I certainly did in the review. Go for it!

The aim is to correctly answer an increasing number of subject questions within a minute. Not sure who is working the clock on this though. Think it could well be broken. This does often lead to a bit of panic in the last few moments.

A Johnathan Ross lookalike presents the show. He looks like he has spent some time in a lunatic asylum and is just one step away from turning into the joker from Batman. Hooray!

The most fun is at the beginning selecting a contestant and entering their name and occupation. This part is totally irrelevant to the quiz however. Awesome!

It's multiple choice. You need to get speed reading and speed clicking here. Round 1, you have to answer 2 questions correctly within the minute period. If successful you then pick a different subject and need to answer 3 questions correctly. The challenge increases by 1 extra correct answer per round to qualify.

There are some top prizes on offer too! Well... that's a lie. I come away with two packs of playing cards and a garden gnome. Don't think I can retire on this.

Trivia Game Show is ok for one or two plays for novelty value, then it's very unlikely you'll play it ever again.

Nick :o)

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Wriggler on the ZX Spectrum 48K

When it comes to weird and wonderful games, the ZX Spectrum has everything else beat. At time of typing, I've now reviewed 450 Speccy games and it is always a delight when I stumble upon some weirdness I never before knew existed.

And so we find Wriggler. A game published by Romantic Robot in 1985, a company better known for their hardware than software accomplishments. Have a watch of the full game play review below. It is watchable either through this blog screen or clicking through to YouTube.

The character you control is a worm... or is it snake?  Or a maggot?  I'm happier thinking it's a worm. A worm is a lot more wholesome.

Wriggler is a unique maze game. The idea is simple. You must wriggle your way from the Garden, through to the Scrub land, through to the Underground and then to the Mansion. Sounds simple eh? Well... it's a substantially large maze consisting of 250 locations. The maze is also full of energy sapping nasties. One of these nasties is a rather large spooky looking spider which is the stuff of nightmares. Ok then... this makes it trickier.

Wriggler is a really well designed game with charming graphics and beautiful animations of the main character and varied enemies. I particularly like the underground fly. A Map here would be really beneficial. Any contact with enemy insect life depletes your energy, but this can be replenished by picking up a number of items including Iced Buns and Cups of Tea. Worms love tea right?

You start the game alongside three other fellow worms who seem to have the same objective as you to get to the Mansion. This gives you hope then. Without a Map, you can opt to follow one of them. They may not all take the same route. There are several ways through the maze. If you fall too far behind, those sneaky fellows may well give you the slip.

Playing Wriggler is a very pleasurable experience. The action moves at a leisurely pace and I found it to be very relaxing... apart from when that spider showed up!

Nick :o)

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Master Blaster - ZX Spectrum 48K - A Cover Tape

Back in the day, when a ZX Spectrum magazine come with a Cover Tape sellotaped to the front, I always got a bit excited. Staring at it as a kid in the newsagent, the mag was just screaming out, Buy Me! My mind just raced. What greatness was inside? How good was the free game on it?

Well... more often than not, it was a bit rubbish. There was a lot of disappointment back then. That's why the game was often on a Cover Tape in the first place and not a commercial release. There were exceptions though. Thankfully this can be said for Master Blaster given away with Crash Magazine in 1990. Click on my video review below hosted on YouTube.

Master Blaster is a cracking little vertical shooter. Very hard at first, but practice is rewarded as you slowly learn the enemies wave patterns. Those aliens do tend to come at you kamikaze very fast. It's just a question of being in the right place at the tight time. Once you've learnt that, you could probably make you way without having to shoot hardly any of them.

Many Shoot 'um ups on the speccy of this era and before had very monochrome graphics, but not so with Master Blaster. The game is awash with colour and some of the background is even animated giving the game so amazing style. The attention to detail in all the graphics is outstanding.

You control a ship that looks very much like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek and you can tell that movie franchise has had a healthy influence over the games creation. The first end of level boss you come to will look very much a Klingon Warbird. Bosses after this tend to go their own way and all are impressively animated.

If it is so good, why was this not released as a commercial game then?

I'm not sure of the answer to that one. Maybe by 1990, the author Cybadyne, thought the game would do better through a popular magazine than sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting for people to buy. 1990 was quite late in the Spectrum's run.

As far as cover tape games go, this is one of the best ones I've come across and well worth tracking down. An awesome shooter !!!

Nick :o)

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GTA V - Actually doing Missions... oh dear

GTA V by Rockstar games. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's one crazy place.

In the game you eventually can control any one of three main characters in this sprawling open-world. They are Michael, Franklin and Trevor. At the start, Michael is the only playable one. The others need to be unlocked.

Admittedly, up until now, I haven't really got the best out of this masterpiece. Never perfected my skills or the controls, never experienced the true Los Santos and all it has to offer. Which is a shame. Most the time I have just run around the map as Michael (the start character) in the same clothes he starts with, just generally causing mayhem.

Missions are where the real action is at. Missions are where the character stories slowly introduce you to the finities of the game. Teaches you new skills. Makes the World become more alive. Thought it was high-time I started doing them then! Check out the video below.  Noob alert !!!!!!!

Father / Son : If you complete this mission, you unlock Franklin as a playable character. I think there are other missions also which would achieve the same thing.

Basically, your stupid lazy Son, Jimmy, has attempted to sell your boat to get some much needed cash. The deal has gone bad, and the Boat has instead been stolen and driven off on a big truck. Great. Jimmy phones Micheal (that's you) and lets him know. So... now a big chase ensues and this is where you jump into the action... or try to in my case!

Taking your wife Amanda's sports car, which I hope is heavily insured for damage, you drive to the seafront with Franklin and make chase along the road. You must get the car close enough for Franklin to climb out of your car and onto the boat being pulled along. There is traffic getting in the way everywhere making it particularly treacherous for someone with super noobie skills.

Once Frankin is aboard, you then have a shoot a thug off him from your moving car. Yes... I did say moving. Is super tricky. The Boat boom suddenly swings out with you son Jimmy holding onto it! You must drive underneath and catch the fool.

It's not over yet.

Once you've caught Jimmy, you then need to drive to the rear of the boat again so Franklin can jump back aboard.It's a complicated business and this is one of the early missions! Think I could be in a bit of trouble here. :P

What happens next? Am I succesful. Well... I'll let you watch the vid. Los Santos is a dangerous place... but of course, that's why we love it.

Nick :o)  

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Super Off Road on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive

Super Off Road was one of my favourite racers from back in the day. Used to play the game a lot on the Commodore Amiga. That version had a license on it for Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart'. Was very interested to see how the game played on the Sega Mega Drive in comparison.

Super Off Road is a racing game published by Virgin in 1992 and based on the arcade coin-op from Leland Corporation in 1989.

How does this one play then?

Well, I'm pleased to say it plays wonderfully. This version is a bit different from the Amiga version I was previously used to and you can sort of look at this as an enhanced arcade version. Very pleasing indeed!

You control a small red car in this oblique top down racing game. It's kind of like a dirt-version of Super Sprint. You race three other opponents and the aim is to progress to as many different courses as possible without getting knocked out.

Prize money is awarded depending on your finishing position which you can use to upgrade your car. Upgrades available are Nitros, Acceleration, Tyres, Speed and Shocks. All are vital to ensure your successful progress. Finishing fourth means no prize money at all meaning you can't upgrade your car for the next race... when this happens a few times in a row you know GAME OVER is imminent.

It seems there are a lot more courses available here than on the Arcade and Amiga versions which is fantastic. The game play is very welcoming for the beginner new to the game, but can rank up quite quickly due to a kind of in-built rubber-banding system.

After each race, you hopefully see yourself on the podium with scantily clad bikini girls. Erm yes... this was probably okay for 1992, but nowadays the Political Correctness police would be heavily on your case. Grid Girls being no longer used in Formula One of course. Changing times. When looking at Retro Games, you have to take yourself back to the era they were originally produced.

Super Off Road is a magnificently fun game. Would highly recommend this version for people both new to the game and those who only had other versions such as myself. It's like a Super Off Road Enhanced Edition!

Check out the Youtube video review above!!

Nick :o)

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Continental Circus - Commodore 64 - F1 Racing !!!

This ported F1 racing game should have been called Continental Circuit... but it wasn't... due to a typo. I know... amazing!

It was an error which was to earn the game the esteemed accolade of 'Cock up of the Year' from magazine Spectrum User in 1989. This unfortunate typo was carried to the Spectrum version also you see. As Darth Vader would probably have said if one of his Officers had gifted it to him on his birthday, "Your failure is complete". Oops!

So here we have it then. Continental Circus on the Commodore 64 published by Virgin in 1989 and based on the Arcade coin-op from Taito in 1987. A Formula 1 game of sorts. Below is the Channel's Youtube review.

Beyond the naming boo boo, what we have here though is a fairly decent racer. Much better than Wec Le Mans which we reviewed a little earlier and was attempting a similar thing.

Set over 8 different tracks, the objective of the game is to qualify your car up the ranks within a single lap to progress to the next circuit. It's not direct racing, but more of a trial. There are no points awarded or World Championship to win against named F1 drivers.

You start with a ranking of 100 and this decreases by 1 each time you overtake one of the drone cars on track. Get to the required rank within the lap and hooray, you've qualified. If you fail, it's not all doom and gloom as there are a few continues available to you and the good news is, you keep your rank from the previous attempt. This is most welcome and adds to the playability greatly.

Any collision with another car or the scenery results in the car smoking and then eventually catching fire, then game over. The car can be repaired by pulling into the pits, but this of course will cost you time and valuable qualifying positions. You are up against the clock as well so Continental Circus does present somewhat of a challenge which will take quite a few goes to master.

The sound is good, but he main sprite of the car could perhaps have been a bit better. The changing weather conditions are a very nice thing to see on an 8 Bit system which adds to the fun. This feature was also present on the ZX Spectrum version previously reviewed.

Overall Continental Circus is a solid game I would have enjoyed back in the day. There are better racers out there, but this is well worth a play.

Nick :o)

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The Channel has now reviewed over 50 Commodore 64 Games !! Hooray !!!

It doesn't seem that long ago that the channel started reviewing Commodore 64 games, but already we have completed 50 of them. Amazing!

The experience has been both enjoyable and educational comparing the system with the ZX Spectrum I owned growing up which I am ultimately more familiar with. Every time fifty game reviews are completed, we have a fun recap with a special video! Here it is !!!!

Lots of fun seeing them all in a row like this!

I have to say, I am very impressed so far. Had very little knowledge of the C64 before this point and I certainly missed out back in the day. Wouldn't swap this for my childhood memories with the ZX Spectrum of course. Nostalgia is a very strong thing.

What's impressed me most is the sound this 8 bit machine is capable of. It has a designated SID chip where in comparison, the Spectrum just had a basic beeper. It can really kick out some impressive tunes. I later owned a Commodore Amiga so have been finding it very interesting comparing the same games to it's immediate predecessor.

One of the first games I reviewed was The Great Giana Sisters and I was absolutely gobsmacked at how close they got it to look, sound and play like the Commodore Amiga version. Coders back then were capable of some truly wonderful things.

There's been a couple of stinkers along the way too of course. Being new to the system, I've been able to pick the cream of the crop so undoubtedly the quality of the games will drop ever so slightly. Still a vast treasure trove of games to look at though with people recommending new ones in the comments section on a regular basis. When this happens, I certainly add them to the list to cover. Will get to them eventually !!!

Hope you liked the recap video and this trip down memory lane. Here's to the next 50 !!!

Nick :o)

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Road Rash 3 on the Sega Genesis / Megadrive

Road Rash 3, you won't be surprised to hear, was the third instalment of the Road Rash Series which began on the system in 1991. Road Rash II arrived in 1993, then this third game in 1995. All were published by Electronic Arts.

The first game was outstanding, the second built off the same gaming engine and gave us tougher opponents and more bikes, so what does the third give us? Is it any better? Below is the Youtube video review.

Road Rash games consist of racing with a difference. That difference being comical violence. It's all clean fun. No pixels get injured... I think.

Simply, you start on a Skill Level of 1, must finish in the top 3 on each of the tracks to increasingly level up and face better and stronger AI opponents. It's racing meets fighting. Ace! You have the ability to punch fellow riders off their bikes, club them, hit them with chains, anything to hinder them finishing in front of you. Seems fair.

Road Rash 3 again builds on the greatness of the previous games to offer us slightly more.

You start off with quite a weedy bike, a leaf blower, but by completing races and earning money, you can eventually upgrade. So a bit of grinding. Continuous play will be rewarded. There are three Bike Classes with the highest one being Super Bikes which we must all aspire to. This is where the addictiveness builds. The game is already heaps of fun, but you just want to get enough money for the next bike upgrade. Just one more race...

This time you are racing through 5 different countries. Oncoming traffic in each is not always on the same side of the road which means you have to adjust your tactics a bit depending on where you are. Those evil crossroads are still in place.

The sprites of the rider have been updated from the first two games which isn't a bad thing. The playability is still there. It's still Road Rash. It's manic racing fighting action all the way !!

Overall, I'd rate in on Parr with Road Rash II. It offers a bit more, but not a massive amount. If you enjoyed the first two games, you will absolutely love this one. I sure did!

Nick :o)

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Death Mask on the Commodore Amiga - First Person Shooter

Amiga First Person Shooters already reviewed on the Channel are Gloom and Alien Breed 3D. They were released at a time where these style of games were becoming extremely popular on PCs and the Commodore Amiga was reaching the end of it's commercial run. While these games were okay, you could tell the Commodore Amiga wasn't originally designed with these type of games in mind. Seems like it was just trying to keep up with the competition.

And so, we come to Death Mask. Again in the style of the super successful PC Doom games, it was published by Alternative Software in 1994. You can see the systems limitations, but it does pull off a fairly decent job. The video review hosted on Youtube reveals all.

The are 34 levels to explore which gives you plenty to do. These missions can involve simply finding an exit to more advanced ones such as destroying a number of generators or chambered alien embryos. You can bring up a map at any time to get your bearings, see the position of your enemy who patrol the area and your important mission targets.

What about those limitations then?

Oddly, you can't move diagonally. You can only move in four directions which quite often causes some navigation problems. Although you never see them, the person you're controlling seems very short indeed. Your view-point is so low, it looks like you might be controlling a little pixie or Mini-Me! The enemy soldiers will turn up and tower above you.

One-on-one combat is not very tactical. It appears to boil down to who can shoot the quickest and keep shooting to victory.

The game play area is only half of the screen... even in single player mode which is a real pain. They could have so easily have used the other half for the map if they had wanted to. I'm told that if you put the game into 2 Player mode, you can use Players 2's side of the screen to permanently have the map in place. That would be a big help and well worth exploring. Would save a lot of time too because when you bring up the map, the game does not pause. So easy to get shot to death while you're still looking at the map! In the real world, you'd probably notice someone shooting you in the rear end. I know I would.

In summary, Death Mask is a competent game, with lots of objectives to complete and well worth the odd play. Is comparable to Gloom and Alien Breed 3D mentioned earlier.  Would have offered value if you'd bought it back in the day, but definitely wouldn't make my Top 10. 

Nick  :o)

Need For Speed Rivals - PS4 - Just Getting Started

Youtube channel njenkin is mostly a Retro Gaming channel as you may know. It regularly covers the systems, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Commodore Amiga and the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, In the past we've also covered some Game Boy Advance, PC and PS1 games too. May jump into some PS1 games again soon with the recent announcement of the Playstation Classic due for release in December 2018.

I feel it's good to touch base with the more modern games occasionally like the PS3 and PS4. It gives us an overall sense of how gaming has developed since those very early years. Good or bad, gaming advances at an incredible pace and it's jaw-dropping to see the graphical and sound advancements in just a few decades. Still prefer retro though... no updates to download !!!  Much simpler times.

Sunday we took a look at Need For Speed Rivals on the PS4. Nothing serious. Just a Fun play. Haven't got too far into the game... yet. We're right at the beginning.

Click on the video and see how I got on! You can have some crazy fun with this title. The Police are everywhere!

Need For Speed Rivals was published by Electronic Arts in 2013 and uses the Frosbite gaming engine.

There is plenty to do in this free-roam open-ended racer. You can play as a Cop or a Racer. In this video, I played as a rather inept racer, but I'm sure I'll get better each week... maybe. :P

You drive round the fictional Red View County and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Don't be distracted by it too long though or you'll most likely end up in an elaborate accident! This Fun Play, I took out a 2015 Ford Mustang GT, a Porsche Caymen S and a Dodge Challenger SRT8. I seriously damaged all of them I think. It was raining though... I'll blame that.

There are lots and lots of further cars to unlock, random cops on the map who will make chase when you're trying to accomplish missions and other rival racers for you to take on that just happen to be driving on the same piece of the map as you. It's all about levelling up really and completing various objectives.

This will keep the average racer going for quite some time... or for me, a bit longer. Will look forward to coming back to this and hopefully getting a bit better. Look out for future vids !!!  YEAH !!!!!

Nick :o)   #njenkin

Sai Combat on the ZX Spectrum 48K !!

We've covered a few 8 bit fighting games on the ZX Spectrum recently. The Way of the Tiger, Fighting Warrior and Kung Fu Master.

This time I looked at a karate game called Sai Combat. This game was published by Mirrosoft in 1986 and then later re-released by Silverbird Software. I'm pleased to say that out of the other fighters already mentioned, in my opinion, Sai Combat is the best.

You play the role of a novice karate fellow (I'm sure this is the right terminology) and must progress up the belts by displaying your skills against increasingly difficult opponents. You begin as a humble white belt, then must advance all the way through eight ranks to black belt. Once black is achieved, you then have to progress through the eight DAN levels.

Sixteen opponents then !!

Each stage, you're fighting using a weapon... or as I like to call it, a pointy stick. Apologies to karate experts out there. The animation is good and there are a lot of different martial arts moves to master. Taking the time to learn the various moves both defencive and offencive will bring you the most reward. Button-mashing will only take you so far as I sort of proved!

The background changes after each fight which is a nice touch and gives you a sense you are getting somewhere when you pull off a succession of wins. Really incentivising you to see what the next screen will look like and builds the longevity which is mightily important.

Two dragons either side represent how much punishment you and your opponent have taken during the fight. If your dragon goes green, you're down. If the opponents dragon goes red then he hits the floor. Typically it takes three falls to progress to the next belt.

Sai Combat is one of the better speccy fighting games out there in retro land and as such, is well worth tracking down. Good attention to detail and addictive gameplay if you're into this particular genre of gaming.

Have a click on the video review above. See how I got on !!!

Nick :o)

Road Rash II on the Sega Genesis / Megadrive - a great sequel ?

A short while ago we looked at Road Rash on the Sega Mega Drive and the verdict was, it was pretty awesome. I enjoyed playing it so much. This ground-breaking racing/fighting game was released by EA in 1991. Knowing there was also two sequels, it seemed only right, I'd get to those also. Sensed there was lot more fun yet to be had with this adventure.

This time it was the turn of Road Rash II published two years after the original game, hitting the shelves in 1993. The game was also published by EA.
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Hopes were high after the success of the first one. I was hyped to maximum which isn't always a good thing. Sets you up for disappointment. Remember the Star Wars Phantom Menace movie? Ok, sorry if you'd blocked that film out your memory. Bits of it are okay right? The Podrace... the Darth Maul fight scenes. Think I'm going off on a tangent...

Erm anyway, is the second Road Rash game as good as the first, better or worse?

The sequel is instantly recognisable as Road Rash. They don't drift a huge distance from the winning formula. The game admittedly uses a lot of the original sprites and is clearly based off the same gaming engine. Thankfully it does build from the impressive first outing and offers more.

There are a numerous bikes to save up for by earning cash from races. These gradually increase in horsepower through Classes ranging from Light to Super bikes. You just know as a kid you would have played and played to get the money for the fastest bike in town.

There's a new set of tracks, more aggressive opponents and a variety of weapons to upset your fellow competitors with. Nothing can beat the fun of leaping fifty feet into the air, landing on the road and hitting another rider over the head perfectly with a big chain. The chain is my personal favourite.

It's all clean fun. Kind of. The occasional police officer on the road won't find it very amusing and try to bust you. The aim is to finish in the top through on every track to progress to the next difficulty level. Your bike can get wrecked along the way or you can end up in the hospital if you're not too careful. These are mean streets. Funny though!

This worthy sequel maintains the enjoyment and addictiveness of the first game and adds yet another superb layer. A really really enjoyable game. Shear brilliance !!!

Have a watch of the video review hosted on the channel via Youtube.

Will have to look at Road Rash 3 very soon. What a series so far !!

Nick :o)

Tennis on the Atari 2600 !!

Anyone for Tennis? Have recently reviewed it on the Atari 2600. Hooray!

What can we say about this one then? Well it's as retro as they come. Published by Activision back in 1981.

Before this, all that was really available in terms of computer Tennis was the classic Pong. Tennis on the Atari 2600 is light years ahead. Well a few years anyway. Technology was moving quickly and still is really.

You take charge of a pink stick man. I can assure you he is not naked as the colour suggests. They wouldn't allow that at Wimbledon. You must beat the blue computer stick man at the opposite end of the grass court.

It's impossible to knock the ball out of bounds or into the net, but somehow this doesn't really matter. There are no serving or court lines either so it is just about hitting the ball back each time. Anywhere will do. The net appears as a solid white line. Come on, this is 1981 folks.

Takes a while to get used to, but all and all this game is a fun affair. There are two difficulty levels of play. You can pull off backhands, forehands and rush to the net when you feel it appropriate. But be mindful though, rushing in may leave you prone to a devilish passing shot from the computer.

Although there are no court markings, the game does stick to the rules and point scoring system of Tennis. First to 6 games wins. You can have some great rallies with this. Although archaic by today standards, those into retro gaming and the history of it will love this as I did.

Tennis with stick men form 1981? You cannot be serious. Well yes... we can... kind of.

Check out the review to see if I managed to win a single game. It was my mission! 

Nick :o) -  (From Youtube Channel njenkin)

The Channel has now covered over 450 ZX Spectrum Games !!!

It seems a ridiculous figure, but we are there. The Channel has now covered over 450 ZX Spectrum games!

The ZX Spectrum was the first computer I owned as a child. It's always great fun looking back at these games and also coming across ones I never knew existed. The good and the bad. The ZX Spectrum back catalogue is an 8 Bit historic treasure trove with new games still being written for it over 30 years later. The popularity of the machine never seems to diminish.

Below is a recap vid of the last 50 games covered. You can access all the others on all systems covered via the Reviewed Games Playlist.

The next stop will be 500 and we're already well on the way. If you haven't already seen the Channel, then drop by and say hello. It's all about having fun, de-stressing and sharing gaming memories.

Maybe the ZX Spectrum live on forever !!!

Nick  :o)

ROAD RASH on the Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive

Recently reviewed this wonderful motorcycle racer on the Channel.  I found it to be awfully good fun indeed. Road Rash was published on the Sega Mega Drive by EA in 1991 and was an instant winner. It was to spawn further games in the series. Check out the Youtube review on below.

What separates Road Rash from other cycle racers?

Well, you can brutally punch opponents from their bike whilst overtaking and this ramps the fun up to ridiculous levels. It's not strictly gentlemanly behaviour, but this is all-out arcade action. Take no prisoners !!!

Oncoming traffic, crossroads and some ludicrous jumps add to the excitement.

Frame rate could be slightly better, but the playability is there. Like all good games, the difficulty learning curve is perfect. Your first time round the various circuits your opponents won't attack, allowing you to get used to racing.

Later however, they're  a lot more aggressive, but you'll be more than ready for them by this point.
An excellent game all round. I look forward to reviewing future games in the series. Highly Recommended!

Nick  :o)

Lamborghini Time in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit.

Hello!

This main blog has now moved to the Patreon site at PATREON.

Will still post the odd game link here too though. Potentially have been looking to do a bit of live streaming. Below is a kind of test vid which was not posted live.

Is Need For Speed Hot Pursuit on the PS3. The game was published by Criterion in 2010. Took out the Lamborghini Countach, the Diablo and the Elemento. Plenty of carnage took place!!

Love this game so much. Is heaps of fun.

Check out the Youtube channel and Patreon sites. It's all about easing every day stresses. Let the good times roll !!

Nick  :o)

Hello !!! Has been a year since the last Blog update.

Wowsers!

Is one year since this blog was updated !!!

Although the Blog has been very quiet the last 12 months, the Youtube Channel has been extremely active !!!!

Unbelievably njenkin is now nearing 2000 videos. Since the last blog update, due to multiple requests, it has also started to cover additional retro systems.

Before it covered games for the ZX Spectrum,  Commodore Amiga, GBA and the occasional PlayStation game.

Additional systems covered now include, the Commodore 64, Atari 2600 and the Sega Genesis / Mega drive.

If you haven't visited for a while, I'm glad to say things are still alive. The Channel is now partly supported by Patreon. 

It has made sense to continue Blog updates on the main Patreon site. Gaming updates will be posted here too, but supporting Patrons will have access to additional hidden posts on the main Patreon site.

Hope to see you over on Youtube to join the conversation and share good memories. One of the latest vids uploaded was Chuckie Egg on the Commodore 64. Enjoy !!

Hen House Harry needs to go on a diet I think. 😜

Nick