Five Retro Games That Must Be Re-released
One of the best things about this generation of consoles is the rise of the downloadable game. As well as offering great little original games like Shadow Complex, it also means we can enjoy games from previous generations without having to dust off our ancient consoles.
Thanks to the Wii Virtual Console, the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade we can now access these old gems without paying a small fortune for a second hand copy on ebay, or waste hours searching through the bins behind your local game store.
However, as wonderful as the service is, there are still some games that, criminally, have yet to be re-released. Today, in the second edition of Everybody Loves Lists we bring you a small sample of games that we here at The Newb Review desperately want to be re-released.
X-Men The Arcade Game
My own experience of the X-Men arcade game came during a family trip to Florida in the early 1990s. It was one of three arcade machines that were in the lobby of our hotel and the moment I saw it, I was hooked. The game features Six Player co-op, with players choosing from Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Dazzler.
Rather than being based on the, then running, X-Men Animated Series, the game was based on a one off pilot from a few years prior that was never picked up – a pilot that stuck closely to the comics of the time; apart from the mishap of casting Wolverine as an Australian.
The premise of the game was simple; Professor X and Kitty Pryde have been kidnapped by Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. As the X-Men you would walk right (and sometimes down and to the right) and hammer away at the legions of Magneto’s forces, before facing off against an end of level boss, such as The Juggernaut or The Blob.
A lot of fights broke out over who would get to be Wolverine at the arcades.
With gigantic brightly coloured graphics, and wonderful character designs, X-Men the Arcade Game was all about teamwork. Each character had their own special mutant abilities that could only be used a limited number of times; and were best saved for the boss battles. Having six players on the screen at the same time made for some very frantic and crowded battles. Made by Konami, the game features some amusingly bad Japanese to English translations, including the infamous “Welcome to Die!”.
Mutant powers can only be used once, but are really devastating
Currently Activision owns the Marvel license, which may hold up a re-release of this game. Having said that, Konami have successfully managed to broker a deal with Ubisoft, current owners of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, to release their Turtles Arcade games on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. So there is some hope that we may eventually see this game released online.
Power Stone 2
Capcom’s Dreamcast brain blisteringly mental arena combat game Power Stone 2 would make a fantastic addition to the any console’s game library. Supporting up to 4 players, the main objective of the game is to beat your opponents senseless in order to progress through a tournament and earn your freedom from a spooky castle.
Power Stone’s main gimmick, aside from the large open multileveled arenas and hundreds of weird and wonderful weapons, is the titular Power Stones. Collecting three Power Stones will temporarily grant your character super powers, including near invulnerability and the ability to perform devastating super moves.
Dashing for the Power Stones can be quite a gamble!
Each character has two unique super moves, although performing one of these moves dramatically reduces the amount of time in which you can stay in your super form. Of course if you are unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a super powered player that does not mean that you are entirely defenceless. Power Stone 2 features some of the most imaginative weapons in the history of gaming, including a black hole and a pornographic magazine.
Frantic. Bonkers. Chaotic. These words describe Power Stone 2 pretty well.
The environments themselves would change the longer you lasted, and in some cases actually turn against you. Take for instance the Aztec tomb level that features a collapsing floor, complete with Indiana Jones style boulder that chases you down a tight path littered with holes and death traps. Chuck in a statue of a cat with a roulette wheel that will either dish out a great reward or shoot you in the face with lasers, and you have one of the most bizarre, frantic, and brilliant games currently unavailable on this generation of home consoles.
Cool Spot
Back in the hey day of the 1990s, Business Entrepeneur Richard Branson’s Virgin was a games company. As well as publishing some Capcom games in the UK (including the Resident Evil series) Virgin made a number of classic titles, including the brilliant platformer Cool Spot.
Cool Spot, as you may already know, is the Red Spot on the bottles of 7 Up. Cool Spot clearly went to the Sonic the Hedgehog School of Cool, and graduated in the early 90s. Armed with his sun glasses and white sneakers, Cool Spot is the very epitome of the 1990s ‘cool’. But don’t hold that against him.
That there is some subtle advertising
As this living spot, your objective was to traverse dangerous environment after dangerous environment collecting other Spots. Cool Spot was able to fire off bubbles in any direction to scare off potentially dangerous foes, such as Crabs and Wasps. This made perfect sense; after all, how many times have you spent a warm summer’s day at the beach, sipping a cool can of 7 Up, only to discover some pesky wasp or crab was trying to get in your drink?
At the time these graphics were really spectacular
All joking aside, Cool Spot was a fantastic platforming game that rivalled Sonic the Hedgehog, and arguably Mario. With bright, expressive and incredibly clear graphics and just the right amount of challenge, Cool Spot is a great classic title that really could do with a re-release. With the recent news that Virgin is getting back into gaming, is it too much to hope that maybe, just maybe, Cool Spot will see the light of day once more?
The Adventures of Batman and Robin
Released in the mid 1990s on the Super Nintendo, The Adventures of Batman and Robin is perhaps one of the best Super Hero Games ever made. There, I said it. A side scrolling platformer with fist fights and Batman’s trademark gadgets thrown in, The Adventures of Batman and Robin has some of the best graphics of any Snes game, complimented with a strong visual style ripped straight from the cartoon.
As a self confessed fan of the cartoon, perhaps I am biased simply because so many of the levels in the game take inspiration from early episodes of the series. Particular mention must be made of the boss fights against big villains (such as The Joker, The Penguin, and The Riddler) which clearly take influence from specific episodes.
The graphical style is ripped straight from the cartoon
One of the best things about this game comes in the form of the final level, entitled the Gauntlet, in which you must face off against every boss you have defeated in a row, as well as adding two new boss characters to the mix, Clayface and Manbat. As well as offering simple puzzles and combat, the game is more of a test of your ability to spot patterns and determine the best time to act.
Boss fights mostly consist of observing patterns and choosing the right time to attack
It wasn’t a very long game, but offered a satisfying challenge to those who were willing to put the effort in. Again, Konami no longer have the Batman licence, so it is doubtful that this game will ever get re-released. However, judging from the success of Batman Arkham Asylum, which took a huge amount of influence from the Animated Series as well, perhaps if we are lucky this gem may pop up once again.
The Simpsons Arcade Game
Much like the aforementioned X-Men arcade game, this game was made by Konami, and basically plays exactly the same way. Rather than having six players, the four main Simpson Family characters are playable.
After stealing a giant diamond, Mr Burns and Smithers accidentally bump into the Simpsons, which leads to baby Maggie picking up the diamond and using it as a dummy. In an effort to retrieve the diamond, Smithers and Burns snatch Maggie, setting the Simpsons out on their raison d’etre.
Players could perform tag team moves to inflict extra damage
Much like Konami’s other big side scrolling beat ‘em up arcade games, the game play revolves around walking to the right, and punching every enemy you come across. Each level is set in recognisable Springfield locations, such as Moe’s Tavern and the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
As great as the game was, it was a game best played in co-op
Recently EA, current owner of the Simpsons licence, released a new Simpsons Arcade game (that borrows heavily from this game) on the iPod. However, the iPod version is a fairly tedious affair, with Homer Simpson as the only playable character and only one attack button. This serves only to remind us how much we need EA and Konami to broker a deal to release this classic Arcade game.
So, that’s our pick for 5 classic games that really need to be re-released. Of course, this is just a tiny selection of a hundreds of games that deserve to be re-released. Do you think we’ve missed out on something totally obvious? Leave us a comment at the bottom of the article or head on over to the forum… you never know who might be reading…
–Luke Mears–
If Cool Spot got remade..I would literally blow my wod. Loved that game back in the days….
Oh btw Luke..you missed out Zool!
I cannot think of a single game on this list that could be replaced by Zool!
Course there us…Zool is way better than the sodding adventures of Batman and Robin!
Lies! Unadulterated Lies!