Turbografx-16, TurboDuo, and PC-Engine News and Reviews

From: din@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Clarence Din)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: TG-16 REVIEWS LIST
Message-ID: <105030@netnews.upenn.edu>
Date: 15 Jan 93 16:42:02 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania
Lines: 1423

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**     Introducing:                THE LIST!                              **
**                                                                        **
**         Turbografx-16, TurboDuo, and PC-Engine News and Reviews        **
**                                 90 *BIG* Reviews!!!                    **
**                                     by                                 **
**                    Clarence K. Din, aka The TurboKid                   **
****************************************************************************
                                Edition 01.11.93

NOTE: All reviews written by TurboKid unless otherwise noted.
      In some reviews, "Ed." stands for "Editor."  That's me again!

New Games Reviewed in Recent Editions of the Review List:
--------------------------------------------------------
Air Zonk - need I say more?
Browning - excellent graphics, but horrible gameplay... see review!
New Adventure Island - save your family from an evil being!
Soldier Blade - fast and furious vertical shooter
SportsTalk Hockey - great fun for one to five people!
Time Cruise - fast and furious video pinball action

The TurboKid Rating System:
--------------------------
I use a rather unconventional grading system for rating games: A++ to F
(4.6 to 0.0).  Basically, a game will earn a C if it conforms to the
minimal standards as to what a game should look, sound, and play like on
a particular system.  A game like Super Mario Bros. on a Nintendo and
Sonic the Hedgehog on a Genesis would both receive A's, even though there
are striking differences in graphics, sound, and playability between the two.
Likewise, a game which does not use the hardware to its present (known)
maximum potential will receive a mediocre grade.  Slowdown or flickering,
for example, would lower a game's graphics score considerably as well as
lower playability.

Basically, most games will get a B or B+.  You think this is high?  Well,
if I really didn't think much of my system, I would've traded it in or
sold it long ago.  In the same light, most Genesis and Nintendo owners
would probably give most of their games good reviews, too.  I base most of
my purchasing decisions by watching store demos of games or, as a last
resort, studying the graphics screens on the backs of boxes.  If I saw a
lemon, I wouldn't buy it!  That's why most of the games in this list can be
called "winners."  An occasional lemon may slip in, but that's usually
because of too much reliance on slick packaging.  Not everyone may share my
opinions or tastes in games.  I like shooters more than Mario-type games,
but if a certain Mario-type game has a twist in it, like Bonk with its spin
attack, I may find it interesting, play it, and give it a good review.
However, if you think that some of my reviews don't give certain games enough
credit, tell me.  I'll be happy to study the game in question more closely.
Some games have hidden surprises, secret levels, and the like, which increase
a game's value.  I may have missed some of these surprises, so tell me if you
find any of them and I'll pass them along to other fellow gamers!

Anyway, my OVERALL scoring formula is simple: Add up all values, taking
LONGEVITY into account twice, and get an average.  An 'A' would be a 4.0,
an 'A-' a 3.7, a 'B+' a 3.3, etc.  LONGEVITY is how long the game will
maintain your interest (ie. will you want to play a game again and again or
will you play it once and be disgusted with it?).  For most gamers, LONGEVITY
is more important than graphics or sound effects.  Some of the best games
have really bad graphics (eg. Tetris).

If you would like to add to a review or possibly change a rating, please send
me mail (din@gradient.cis.upenn.edu) and I'll take your comments into account!
Thanks!

The Rank Order Scale
--------------------
Periodically, I will be posting a listing of all of the games reviewed in
my list in rank order, from highest overall rating to lowest.  This list may
be used as a basis for purchasing decisions.  The real value of it lies in
the fact that you can easily see if one game is exceptionally superior to
another.  Of course, different people have different opinions.  That's why
I have stated in the list that a difference of 0.1 between two games is
usually not significant, that is, game X with a 3.4 and game Y with a 3.5
are about the same overall (if comparing shooters to shooters; you shouldn't
compare a 3.5 RPG with a 3.5 shooter!).

Do You Have Reviews?
-------------------
Certainly, one man's opinion is not enough to base your decision to rent or
purchase a game.  If you have had any experience with a certain game and
would like to share your experiences with other fellow Turbografx-16 owners,
please send your reviews my way.  I will take all of your comments into
account and adjust my grades accordingly based on their soundness and wisdom.
Credit will be given to the original reviewer.  Please use the review format
presented below and send them to din@gradient.cis.upenn.edu.  Thanks!

Please, please, PLEASE follow the format of the reviews for everyone's sake!
The idea is to give other gamers the most clear and concise information
possible!

TurboKid's Board of Reviewers
-----------------------------
The following people were integral or most helpful in my assembling these
reviews for all you TurboDuo, Turbografx-16, and PC-Engine gamers.
Thank you all!

Bryan Duvan, Chris Fleming, Tin Yau Fung, Jeff Graham, Brad Hamlett,
Pete Ikusz, Kevin Kramer, Jeffrey Naiman, Sergey Shimkevich, James Stepanek,
Laly Thao

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Format of Reviews
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(game title)  (format: CD-ROM, SCD-ROM, Hu-Card)  Review by (your name).
------------
short, concise, encapsulated review or preview

(Please make sure the following are in upper-case in your reviews!!!)

GRAPHICS : (A++ to F rating with optional comments in parentheses)
SOUND    : 
MUSIC    : 
GAMEPLAY : 
LONGEVITY: 

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: (this is optional)

OVERALL : (convert your letter grades to a 4.6 to 0.0 scale (A++ to F)
           and add them all up counting the longevity score twice... divide
           the sum by 6 to get the overall score)

COMMENTS : (or end comments... this is optional)
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# The Addams' Family (CD-ROM)  Review by Bryan Duvan and TurboKid.
  ------------------
Wander around the Addams' family house searching for the Addams' money
vault all the while battling the Addams' family members.

GRAPHICS : A- (Game is cartoon-like.  Characters are a little too blocky and
               two-dimensional)
SOUND    : A  (Excellent... this game uses the CD technology wisely)
MUSIC    : A  (Addams' theme at the start of the game... nice!)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Even with a joystick, you'll need to get the hang of
               jumping over obstacles)
LONGEVITY: B- (Frustrating... no save feature!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: This game needs some serious fixes in gameplay mechanics.

OVERALL  : 3.34

COMMENTS : This game really needs a save feature because you die too 
           easily.  "Am I the only one who thinks this game is a
           waste?" - Ed.
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# Aeroblaster (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  -----------
Also known as Air Buster (Genesis).  This is a side-scrolling shooter
game which I truly like because of the simultaneously two player gameplay.

GRAPHICS : A  (Very nice... especially in the later stages)
SOUND    : B  (Could be better)
MUSIC    : B  (Very nice... above average)
GAMEPLAY : A  (Needs a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B  (Grade A if play with two players. Keeps you coming back for
               more)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: The smart bomb has to go... it takes too long to power-up!

OVERALL  : 3.40

COMMENTS : Grab your buddy and play this baby.  Guaranteed to make your 
           fingers go numb.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Aim For The Top! GunBuster, Volume 1  (SCD-ROM)  Review by Sergey Shimkevich.
  ------------------------------------
Top o Nerae! GunBuster is a game that is very similar in concept to Sherlock
Holmes and Murder Club - it is basically a board game where you are presented
with a situation and have to pick out a correct action to progress further.
It is based on a very popular 6-part OVA (Original Video Animation) of the
same title (recently released in the US with subtitles).  The game is based on
the first two parts of the series.

The storyline in the game is the same as in the video.  Noriko Takaya is a
student at Okinawa Space High School for girls where combat pilots are being
trained.  Rather unsure of herself, she also has to carry on the legacy of her
late father, Admiral Takaya who was killed in a space battle with the aliens.
In the first part of the game, the goal is to survive the tribulations of high
school (self-doubt, sibling rivalry) and to get assigned to the new
battleship, Exelion.  In the second part there are more obstacles to overcome,
including a terrifying ghost from the past.

The gameplay is very simple.  After the opening intro (accompanied by a short
version of "Fly High"), you see the options screen (looks exactly like the
screen in Science Lessons) where the super-deformed Noriko and Kazumi tell you
about the options.  You can then start a new game, continue a saved one, go to
a sound test mode or hear the background info on the three main characters.
If you choose to do so, a super-deformed Coach Ohta will tell you about this
option and then proceed to introduce the character that you've selected.  After
that, the character will introduce herself.  You'll also see such vital
statistics as birthdate, height and blood type displayed (turns out that
Noriko is 0, Jung-Freud is AB and I forgot about Kazumi).

When you select a new game or continue, you then get to a main screen where
all action takes place.  There is a display, about 1/4 of the screen where the
action takes place, two windows where the commands are displaced and a Stress
Meter.  When you make the wrong decision, the Stress Meter goes up.  When it is
full, the game is OVER!!!

You see a short animated sequence (the closest to full-motion animation that
I've seen on the Turbo/PC Engine) and then you have to make a choice.  If you
make the wrong choice, you see the often hilarious results (for example when
Jung-Freud is introduced to Noriko and Kazumi, one of the wrong responses is
to "take a look at Jung's, er, bosom", also some wrong responses can get you
slapped by Kazumi - OUCH!), your Stress Meter goes up and you have to make
another choice.  When you make the right choice, the story continues.

At some point you'll be allowed to save your game and continue.  You can also
save the game at the end to have access to endgame options that include a
command that replays the game automatically from the beginning to the end and
a short comedy routine by Noriko, Kazumi and Jung-Freud.

Also, when you put a regular system card instead of a Super System card, the
results are absolutely hilarious.  You see a parody of a Science Lesson where
Kazumi asks Noriko questions about the PC Engine (no, the Coach doesn't show
up at the end, too bad). 

GRAPHICS : A- (Unfortunately PC Engine/Turbo shows its limitations)
SOUND    : A+ (It's all speech)
MUSIC    : A+ (Two songs from the OVA!!!)
GAMEPLAY : A+ (Lots of fun - if you like the show)
LONGEVITY: A+ (You'll want to play it again, just to see the often hilarious
               results of incorrect responses)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 4.20

COMMENTS : If you liked GunBuster and have a Turbo/PC Engine, you'll most
probably love this game.  On the other hand, if you do not know the story
beforehand and/or do not speak/read Japanese, this game will not be much fun.
Even though it is fairly easy to get through by the trial and error method,
the story wouldn't make much sense. 

A bit on the negative side: unfortunately the PC Engine/Turbo hardware shows
its limitations.  The animation is still jerky and it is only in 1/4 of the
screen (just like in Sherlock Holmes).  Still, it is a very nice game and I
enjoyed it a lot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Air Zonk  (Hu-Card)
  --------
Zonk gives new meaning to the term "Cyberpunk" as he flies through 5
stages of super-fast horizontally scrolling shooting action.  The
parallax scrolling is fantastic and there is enough variety in the
powerups to keep your interest.  One unique feature about this game is
your ability to pick up a "satellite" shooter and merge with it.

GRAPHICS : A+ (much improved over the original Bonk series and with
               more detailed graphics and use of colors... you will
               recognize many of the same characters here as in the
               original Bonk adventures and the way the game designers
               updated them to a more futuristic level is awesome)
SOUND    : A  (nice explosions and shooting sounds)
MUSIC    : A- (cool music... not annoying)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (as with all shooters, this game would be much better
               with a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B+ (there are 3 modes of play with 1, 3, or 5 lives... level 4
               is an interesting horizontal, then vertical scrolling stage...
               you'll want to play again to find out what some of the
               other powerups do or try to beat the game with 1 life!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: There are only 5 levels in this game.  They're all challenging,
              but the game is a bit too short!

OVERALL  : 3.65

COMMENTS : The scrolling is fast, flicker-free, and even Sega shooter fans
           who have "seen it all" will be impressed by the graphics in this
           cart.  There was a lot of advance notice (hype) surrounding this
           game.  It was well worth the wait.  While it is no Gates of Thunder,
           Air Zonk is a cool shooter in its own right and is now the
           "official" mascot of Turbo Technologies.  Move over, Sonic!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Andre Panza Kick Boxing (Hu-Card)
  -----------------------
Almost all the sights, sounds, and realism of professional kickboxing.

GRAPHICS : A+ (The boxers are surprisingly detailed and realistic, but
               the characters are two-dimensional, reminiscent of earlier
               sports games for other systems)
SOUND    : A  (Realistic hits, grunts, and digitized referee voice)
MUSIC    : B  (Only a title screen tune)
GAMEPLAY : A  (This game plays better with a Turbopad than a joystick,
               especially when you have to make a diagonal move.  The feel
               is still a little sticky in the beginning, though,
               especially since your boxer is pretty cruddy at first)
LONGEVITY: B+ (If your reflexes are pretty good, you can probably beat
               Andre Panza, the top guy, in one long night of playing.
               All you have to do is stay in the gym and build up your
               abilities.  The game is good for relieving frustrations)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: Make the referee say more than just "1, 2, Go!"  Make the
              game three-dimensional!

OVERALL  : 3.48
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Ballistix (Hu-Card)  Review by Jeff Graham.
  ---------
For those of you who haven't played the game, a little background info is
needed.  You play a gunner firing little balls at a target ball trying to get
the ball to the goal on the other side of the field.  Sounds easy, right?
Wrong!!  It's not that easy to direct the ball once it starts moving, and it
does move fast at times (I've not been able to follow it at times).  Also,
various power-ups and obstacles are on the playfield causing havoc: all
firing balls to player one, all to player two, opponent can't fire, gate
(blocks your goal so your opponent can't score) 4-, 8-, and 16-way split of
the firing ball, etc.  Obstacles including bumpers, warp gates (moves ball
"underground" to the other gate, arrows that redirect the balls (target and
firing).

Players start with 15 firing balls.  When those are gone you have to wait for
them to slowly regenerate.  To make things worse, about every 5 seconds, the
firing balls for both players are swapped (ex: you have 8 opponent has 0, balls
swap, now you have 0 and opponent has 8; annoying and frustrating if your about
to score).

There are 100 levels in the game; when you play level 100 it starts back at
level 1.  You can set various options such as ball speed, CPU difficulty,
length of match, number of goals to win a game, starting level (2-player only),
and gravity (primarily used on the 1-player solo game).

GRAPHICS : A  (Very smooth and VERY fast)
SOUND    : B- (Decent sound of your shots and ball bouncing)
MUSIC    : B  (Not a bad tune, not a great tune; mildly annoyting after a while)
GAMEPLAY : A  (Solo game very addictive; see comments for 2-player game)
LONGEVITY: B+ (You'll want to play again, but extended playing will make you
               very frustrated;  I have a hole in the wall and a busted
               controller as proof)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: Improve the graphics on the power-ups: several of the symbols
              look very similar, and I'm sure you can't tell the difference
              in symbols on the Turbo-Express; change that tune; give wider
              range for difficulty levels (there are only four; the computer
              moves like a spaz on all four levels; the only difference in
              difficulty I could see was the rate at which the computer
              regenerated balls to fire at the target ball); allow the
              players to turn off the ball switching option; add a level
              designer ("That's a LOT of add-ons!" - Ed.)

OVERALL  : 3.38

COMMENTS : This is a great game for one player, but when you play two player
           the game is terribly unbalanced.  I played a 10 match game against
           a friend, with me as player 2.  He beat me nearly every match
           because he regenerated firing balls faster than I could.  This was
           the case for nearly every stage we started on.  A call to the
           hotline was answered by a moron saying "It's supposed to play that
           way.  Try it with the turbo switches in the lowest position."  (Why
           allow different firing rates if they want you to play with the
           slowest firing rate).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Battle Royale (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  -------------
Wrestling game in which you and couple of your buddies can unleash angers
and frustrations by kicking and punching each other.  You have to throw
them outside of the ring in order to be the champ.

GRAPHICS : C+ (So-so graphics, but nothing ground-breaking)
SOUNDS   : C  (Too many pings and pangs)
MUSIC    : C  (Could be better)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Needs a joystick!)
LONGEVITY: C  (Very repetitive)

PLAYERS  : 1 to 5
IMPROVEMENTS: Should add more moves (ie. body slam, suplex, throw others 
              to the ropes, etc) instead of just punches and kickes.

OVERALL  : 2.22

COMMENTS : Hopefully, Turbo Technologies will bring out another wrestling
           game because this game * SUCKS * IMHO.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Blazing Lazers (Hu-Card)
  --------------
Once in a long time a game emerges which takes the basic shoot-everything-
or-die scenario and spices it up to make for a truly worthwhile contest.
That game is Blazing Lazers.  You begin the game with a ship with limited
firing power and defense mechanisms.  By capturing power pills, you can
arm your ship with one of four different missile types and one of three
different defense aids.  You must shoot your way through nine levels of
scrolling landscapes and background scenery.  Your enemies are many and
varied.  Each has a certain "best" way of killing it.  Others are more
easily avoided.  A big "boss" midway and at the end of every level taunts
the player and hinders further progress.  The graphics and sound in this
game are fantastic.  Backgrounds are very detailed.  A computer voice
announces the type of weapon or defense aid you received when picking up
a power pill.  There is very little flicker in this game (unlike R-Type).
The standard Turbopad is adequate for gameplay although a joystick is
recommended.  Easily equals the best Genesis shooters available.

GRAPHICS : A  (Very detailed backgrounds)
SOUND    : A  (Nice explosions and computer voice)
MUSIC    : B+ (Catchy theme tunes)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Use a joystick!)
LONGEVITY: A- (You will want to play again and again!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Improve the stereo image.  Make some of the bosses harder
              to destroy.  Have a 2-player mode!

OVERALL  : 3.67
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Bloody Wolf (Hu-Card)
  -----------
You are a Rambo-like character out on a mission to save your people and
destroy all enemies.  Lots of weapons to choose from.

GRAPHICS : C- (Looks like a Nintendo game... spotty graphics)
SOUND    : B  (Nice intro theme, but nothing spectacular throughout)
MUSIC    : B- (Music is annoying)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Better with a joystick... especially when fighting the bosses)
LONGEVITY: B- (A challenging game marred by bad programming)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Redo the graphics!

OVERALL  : 2.63
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# Bomberman (Hu-Card or secret pack-in on TurboDuo SCD)
  ---------
Move around in a maze setting up bombs and praying that the enemy will
get close enough to them when they eventually set off.

GRAPHICS : A- (Nice cartoon-like graphics)
SOUND    : B  (Nothing more than nice explosions and bleep sounds)
MUSIC    : B+ (Catchy tune, but annoying after extended play)
GAMEPLAY : B- (Controls are a little too sensitive and the character has a
               tendency to move more than expected)
LONGEVITY: A  (This game is Fun with a capital "F"... a winner!)

PLAYERS  : up to 5
IMPROVEMENTS: Better sound effects.

OVERALL  : 3.50

COMMENTS : This surprise game comes on the 3-in-1 SCD disc that comes
           with the Duo.  At the title screen, press up, right, down, left,
           and II to get a chime.  Press RUN for the game.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Bonk's Adventure (Hu-Card or SCD-ROM)
  ----------------
You are Bonk and you're off on an adventure to save Princess Za.  Like
Sonic and Mario, Bonk is TG-16's color mascot (I say "color" because
HudsonSoft released Bonk for the Gameboy)!

GRAPHICS : B+ (The cartoon-like graphics could be improved)
SOUND    : B+ (Lots of bleeps and bloops in the right places)
MUSIC    : A- (Catchy tune which is sparse and unannoying)
GAMEPLAY : A- (The Turbopad is adequate here, but a joystick would be better)
LONGEVITY: A  (You will want to play again and again)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: The graphics have been improved in Bonk's Revenge.

OVERALL  : 3.67
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Bonk's Revenge (Hu-Card and SCD-ROM)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  --------------
Sequel to Bonk's Adventure.  You're Bonk trying to save Princess Za's 
planet once again.

GRAPHICS : A  (Much better and faster than its predecessor... Bonk's Adventure
               was basically a linear game... Bonk's Revenge has you climbing
               vertically as well as horizontally... check out how Bonk climbs
               vines!)
SOUNDS   : A  (A bit more complex than the simplistic sounds of Bonk's
               Adventure)
MUSIC    : A  (Very nice music)
GAMEPLAY : B  (I like the multiple spins in Bonk's Adventure than the single
               spin here)
LONGEVITY: A  (Extremely long game to master... lots of tricks you need to
               learn... two practice modes get you in gear for the challenge!)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.83

COMMENTS : Very nice game... Hopefully, Bonk 3 will be better than the first
           two.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Boxyboy (Hu-Card)
  -------
This is a puzzle game which involves pushing blocks into bins.  Not as easy
as it sounds!

GRAPHICS : A- (Spitting image of Bomberman in terms of graphics)
SOUND    : C  (Nothing spectacular here)
MUSIC    : B  (Good tune, but gets annoying after awhile)
GAMEPLAY : A  (This game is so simple to play that a Turbopad is perfect)
LONGEVITY: A  (A first-rate puzzle)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Improve the music.

OVERALL  : 3.45
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Bravoman (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  --------
Same old punching and kicking game with the only exception that your
arms and legs extend.

GRAPHICS : A  (Nicely done in the underwater scene)
SOUNDS   : C+ (Pings and pangs)
MUSIC    : C  (Repeats itself every stage)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Pad is sufficient for this game)
LONGEVITY: C  (Same old things except different stages... punch... kick...
               punch)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Include weapons to fight enemies.

OVERALL  : 2.55
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# BROWNING (PC-SCD)  Review by Sergey Shimkevich.

Company: Riot (Telenet), TJCD1020

Best described by the text on the box...

>"SEA SQUARE", a gigantic man-made island on the Atlantic Ocean, an
>armed fortress controlled by a mysterious army.  It is evident that
>they are developing the most evil weapon for slaughter to maintain
>and grasp its superiority of military power in the world.

>Joint forces have taken the motion for a special action (irregular
>combat) and have prepared a mobile weapon "BROWNING" to destroy
>the ultimate weapon.

In short, a very disappointing side-scroller.  The game graphics are
very impressive with several layers of parallax scrolling.  Your
mecha (robotic weapon) is large and very well animated (when you
turn it actually turns, also its left and right sides are
different).  The music is good, the intro is impressive (in English,
too, in fact, the whole game plays in English), too bad there
aren't any real intermissions, just shorts between the rounds.  The
sound effects are one of the best I've heard on any system - the
booming steps of your robot are especially impressive...All of this
is laid to waste by the very bad gameplay.

For starters, the game is too short - only five levels, the last
two being simply fights with one boss after another.  To compensate
for that, it is made to be difficult and it is, to the point of
being frustrating.  The gameplay is extremely linear - just walk,
run or hover (interesting but practically wasted options) to the
right until you meet the boss which you have to take out with your
pea-shooter before the timer runs out.  Continues are unlimited and
you'll most definitely need them.

GRAPHICS : A
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A
GAMEPLAY : C 
LONGEVITY: C

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Let's hope that they do a sequel and do it right.

OVERALL  : 3.00

COMMENTS : If you are a mecha fanatic and can get it cheap, go for it.
Otherwise, save your money and get something else.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Bubble Gum Crash! (Hu-Card)  Review by Teh Kao Yang.
  -----------------
Menu driven adventure game with some arcade sequences mixed in.  Based on the
popular Anime series of the same name.

GRAPHICS : B (Has nice pictures of the Knight Sabers)
SOUND    : C
MUSIC    : C
GAMEPLAY : C (Boring and repetitive)
LONGEVITY: C+   (Pretty long and difficult, but not worth playing over)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: This game should have been done on CD.  More freedom to explore
              and harder puzzles would be nice.

OVERALL  : 2.27

COMMENTS : This is the only video game I know of that features the popular
Knight Sabers.  However aside from some nice graphics the game isn't that
interesting.  Playing isn't much more than reading a lot of boring Japanese 
text, but some arcade sequences spice it up a bit.  It's worth checking out 
for the Bubble Gum Crisis fans.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Cadash (Hu-Card)  Reviewed by Pete Ikusz
  ------
Cadash is a 1 or 2 player side-scroller a la Legendary Axe, with more of a
storyline and D&D feel. You initially get to select to play 1 of 4 characters.
The story begins in a king's castle and you quickly move to the underground
caverns.  Between levels, there are cities where you can purchase armor, get
rest, etc.

GRAPHICS : B+ (Some pretty nice screens and characters.)
SOUND    : A- 
MUSIC    : B- (Could have been better.)
GAMEPLAY : A- (Plays as expected.)
LONGEVITY: B+ (Lots of stuff to do, as with Axe, it's a pain having
       to continue from the start everytime though.)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: Better music. Not bad overall for a Hu-Card game though.

OVERALL  : 3.33

COMMENTS : Great for 2 player action. Compares favorably to the
           Legendary Axe series.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# China Warrior (Hu-Card)
  -------------
Side-scrolling punch and kick game with little variation.

GRAPHICS : A- (Absolutely HUGE graphic characters with no flicker)
SOUND    : B- (Adequate punching and kicking sounds)
MUSIC    : B  (Music is annoying after awhile)
GAMEPLAY : B- (A little awkward with the Turbopad)
LONGEVITY: D  (Despite its awesome visual and good audio effects, the game is
               weak in its ability to capture the interest of the player)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS : Add more moves to the game.

OVERALL  : 2.35
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Cosmic Fantasy 2 (CD-ROM)  Reviewed by Pete Ikusz
  ----------------
If you are a  Ys 1&2 fan (or addict), CF2 is a must for your TG CD library.

After a small introduction screen, you begin your adventure in the Ys 1&2
style. (3-d type of movement rather than side scrolling.) Fighting scenes are
quite different from Ys though, you are able to select from a variety of options
ranging from using weapons or magic to fleeing the encounter. When an encounter occurs
the monsters are displayed on the screen, and the players in your group are listed.
You are given the option of which player to control, and/or which monster to attack.

I will not bother going over the story line. It is very well done, the actors
voices are done superbly, and there are some excellent graphic intermissions.

GRAPHICS : A+ (Wow!)
SOUND    : A  (A few more weapons sounds would have been neat, but not important.)
MUSIC    : A+ (Great musical scores.)
GAMEPLAY : A+ (Easy to understand and get used to.)
LONGEVITY: A+ (It makes you want to play more and more.)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: You are only allowed 2 saved games. A few more would have been
              nice.  There is a slight load/track switch delay when going
              into combat.  This is quite often, and becomes a slight pain.

OVERALL  : 4.25

COMMENTS : It really doesn't get any better than this. Now there is another
           reason to buy a TG-CD!  (Other than Ys I & II)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Davis Cup (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.  Additional notes by TurboKid.
  ---------
This tennis game lets you and four of your friends compete to see which
team can win the prestigous Davis Cup.

GRAPHICS : B  (Nicely done on the animation)
SOUNDS   : A  (The sounds are great!)
MUSIC    : C  (Could be better)
GAMEPLAY : B  (The split screen is hard when I first played, but after
               a while, I got used to it)
LONGEVITY: B  (Really fun when all four players play at the same time)

PLAYERS  : 1 to 4
IMPROVEMENTS: Graphics could be improved a little.

OVERALL  : 3.00

COMMENTS : Love the game... especially in practice mode.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Deep Blue (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  ---------
Side-scrolling shooter underwater style.

GRAPHICS : B  (I like the background of this game)
SOUNDS   : C  (So-so sounds... pings and pangs)
MUSIC    : C+ (Decent)
GAMEPLAY : D  (Horrible... would have been a B if the gameplay improved)
LONGEVITY: D  (You die too easily in this game, so I hardly play it)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Need to improve on the control.  Your movements are too slow to
              react against the faster enemies.

OVERALL  : 1.72
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Devil's Crush (Hu-Card)
  -------------
This is pinball with several twists.

GRAPHICS : A  (Excellent detail... one of the best in this area)
SOUND    : A  (Good sound made great via Turbobooster)
MUSIC    : A- (See previous line)
GAMEPLAY : A  (The Turbopad is more than adequate for this game)
LONGEVITY: B+ (The game is fun for short durations)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: None.

OVERALL  : 3.72
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Download 2 (CD-ROM)  Review by Jeffrey Naiman.
  ----------
GRAPHICS : A-
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A
GAMEPLAY : B+
LONGEVITY: A-

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.56
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Dragon Spirit (Hu-Card)
  -------------
Vertical-scrolling shooter where you take on the role of a dragon with
enormous firepower.  Beautiful backgrounds will delight your eyes.

GRAPHICS : A- (Nice scrolling backgrounds... nice detail in dragon)
SOUND    : A- (Nice explosions and bleeps reminiscent of Bomberman)
MUSIC    : A  (Cool soundtrack)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Use a joystick!)
LONGEVITY: A- (A fun shooter!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Improve the stereo.  Add more detail to flying enemies.
              Add a continue feature.  This game should definitely
              have a 2-player option like the Atari arcade version, but
              that will be left for Dragon Saber, due out soon.

OVERALL  : 3.68
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Dragon's Curse (Hu-Card)  Review by Teh Kao Yang.
  --------------
A conversion of Wonderboy 3 on the Sega Master System for the Turbografx.
A side-scrolling action-RPG game. 

GRAPHICS : B  (Bright, cartoony graphics)
SOUND    : B
MUSIC    : A- (Some really good catchy tunes)
GAMEPLAY : A- (Simple but addicting)
LONGEVITY: A-

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.47

COMMENTS : This game is extremely good considering it's only 2 megs. It's got
cute graphics, very nice music, and addicting gameplay. Your character changes
form several times during the game and you have to learn different techniques
for each character. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Dragonslayer : The Legend of Heroes (SCD-ROM)
  -----------------------------------
Review by Tin Yau Fung.  Additional notes by TurboKid.

A young prince by the name of Serios, age 16, was to inherit the throne in
two months.  When he was 6, his father and his kingdom were invaded by
monsters.  For 10 yrs, Serios was in the custody of one of the King's
courtmen.  One night, herds of monsters attack and destroy Serios' castle.
Later, Serios finds out that his guardian, who is taking the power until
his inheritance, is rebelling.  Thus, left alone, Serios sets on a new
adventure to reclaim the throne and defeat Akubamu.

GRAPHICS : B  (Although the graphics are much better than the PC version,
               the graphics still look very fuzzy.  It was especially
               annoying that the screen was very small and difficult to
               look at)
SOUND    : A- (The game gives the option of choosing between PGM and CD.
               While the CD sound is apparently more pleasing, PGM is not
               really bad and it lessens the tremendous reading the CD-ROM
               has to do.  "This is a NEAT concept and should be
               incorporated into all future CD games!" - Ed.)
MUSIC    : A-
GAMEPLAY : B  (Actually, it is okay.  There is even an option in which the
               computer do the fighting for you.  All I have to do is
               walk around and bump into enemies.  But, even so, the
               gameplay is somewhat boring)
LONGEVITY: C  (I don't think I will want to play it again)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.90

COMMENTS : This game is made by the same company (Falcom) that created the
Ys series.  This is one reason I choose to play it.  However, I find the
game does not live up to my expectations.  I would not recommend this game.
Too much is lost when they ported this to the CD-ROM.  This game is just as
bad as Ys III on the CD.  But I would definitely would wait for Ys IV.
"I LIKE Y's III, but that is MY opinion!" - Ed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Drop Off (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  --------
Similar to Arkanoid genre.

GRAPHICS : C  (Decent)
SOUND    : C- (All you hear is the ball bounces... ping... ping)
MUSIC    : C  (Needs a better tune)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Turbopad is sufficient... very easy to use)
LONGEVITY: B  (Very addictive if you're in Arkanoid freak) 

PLAYERS  : 1 

IMPROVEMENTS: Better tune and should have more diverse power-ups.

OVERALL  : 2.45

COMMENTS : This game lacks in graphics and sounds, but makes up for
           it in gameplay and fun factor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Dungeon Explorer (Hu-Card)
  ----------------
Explore dungeons and castle layouts, fight horrible monsters, find valuable
loot.  This arcade RPG has it all!

GRAPHICS : A- (Makes excellent use of available colors)
SOUND    : B+ (Appropriate sound effects)
MUSIC    : A- (Nice theme song)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Needs a joystick to move diagonally)
LONGEVITY: B  (A little too frustrating in one-player mode)

PLAYERS  : up to 5
IMPROVEMENTS: Add skill levels.  Playing one-player is too difficult!
              Having the 5-player capability is a nice touch.

OVERALL  : 3.28
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Efera and Jiliora - The Emblem From Darkness (CD-ROM)
  --------------------------------------------  Review by Sergey Shimkevich.
Efera and Jiliora is a role-playing fantasy game based on a Japanese animated
movie "Gu-De-Crest: Women Warriors Efera and Jiliora". 

This game is very similar to Y's Book 1&2. The only differences are better
graphics and that your character can move diagonally, plus a slightly
different method of attack.

When you start the game, you can pick either Efera or Jiliora. There is a
two-player mode which allows two people to play at the same time, something
that is unusual in RPG's. Jiliora is a strong fighter, but she cannot use
magic. She obtains magic rings as her level goes up which enable her to
power-up her sword for a short time, recover lost HP and to become invincible
for a short time. Efera is a weaker fighter, but she can use magic spells
which are very effective against boss enemies. She does not possess a healing
ring and depends on medicine and healing magic which uses a lot of MP. MP can
be restored only by magic herbs that she has to carry with her and there is a
limit to how many items your character can carry. Thus, it is easier to
explore with Jiliora since she can restore her HP anywhere, but fighting the
bosses is much easier with Efera. For example, it takes a lot of time and
effort to kill the final enemy with Jiliora, but it is extremely easy with
Efera, granted that you use the right spell. (Also, Efera is cuter, IMHO).

An interesting detail is that, unlike other RPG's, you can swing your sword
in the towns as well. However, if you kill one of the townspeople by
accident, the others will come and strike you down in a moment - game over.
Since you use the same button for closing the conversation window and for
striking with your sword, make sure your turbo-fire switches are off when
you enter the towns, or else you might kill the person you've been talking
to with dire consequences. 

GRAPHICS : A  (Even though this is an RPG, some of the levels are very
               graphically impressive)
SOUND    : B  (What sound?)
MUSIC    : A+ (Exceptional high-quality soundtrack)
GAMEPLAY : A  (Better than Y's!)
LONGEVITY: A- (This is an RPG, so once you finish it, it is over.  The quest
               is fairly long, though)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2

OVERALL  : 3.78

COMMENTS: If you liked Y's I&II, you'll enjoy this game. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Exile (CD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett,  Comments by TurboKid.
  -----
Exile is an action/RPG very similiar in gameplay to Ys III.  While in a town,
the perspective is from a 3/4ths top-down view.  Playing the alter ego of
Sadler, you walk around gathering clues and buying weapons/armor/etc.  In the
'wilderness' perspective shifts to a multi-scrolling side view.  All combat
takes place on the side view screens.  Like in most RPGs, in Exile, you gain
experience which nets you more hit points/magic points and combat power.  The
magic system in Exile is very limited.  There are only three types of magic --
a fire-slash, ice-bomb, and restoration.  The first two are simply a way to
fire ranged attacks at oppenents instead of hitting them with your weapon.
Both fire-slash and ice-bomb have three power levels.  Restoration simply
drains your magic points to restore your hit points.

You will gather NPCs along the way.  They simply offer advice or important
items, but do not participate in fights.  The storyline seems to be based on
the Crusades of Medieval Europe...in fact, most of the story is based in the
Middle East.

The intermissions are interesting and the voice acting is decent, about as
good as that in Cosmic Fantasy 2.  The music is excellent and sets the mood
perfectly.  The biggest flaw with the game is that it is far too easy.  It
took me all of two nights to complete.  There are no really difficult puzzles
and only the last fight is truly challenging.  Besides being easy, the game
is just way too short, shorter than Ys III by half.

One last side note.  You may have seen the ads for Exile advertising the
'uncut' version.  This probably amounts to the pool of blood seen when you
die and the Festival of Bakus (their spelling, not mine) in one of the
cities.  Save your money, rent this one over a weekend.

GRAPHICS : A-
SOUND    : A+
MUSIC    : A+
GAMEPLAY : B+
LONGEVITY: D  (it's too easy)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.93

COMMENTS : This game lost lots of points in the longevity section.
           I, myself, had the Genesis version of Exile for 2 days, got bored
           with it, and traded it for Alisia Dragoon! - Ed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Fantasy Zone (Hu-Card)
  ------------
Side-scrolling shooter with very cute graphics.

GRAPHICS : B+ (Very colorful cartoon-like graphics)
SOUND    : B  (Sounds only come from missiles and picking up coins)
MUSIC    : B- (Annoying theme song)
GAMEPLAY : B- (Awkward without a joystick.  Movement of your ship and enemy
               characters are too slow)
LONGEVITY: C+ (An average shooter with nice touches)

PLAYERS  : 1

IMPROVEMENTS: Add more sound effects.

OVERALL  : 2.72
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Far East of Eden II, Manji Maru (CD-ROM)  Review by Tin Yau Fung.
  -------------------------------
This is a sequel to Far East of Eden, Ziria.  The player assumes the role
of Manji Maru.  The game stands apart from other ordinary RPGs in that it
has the most animation and voice-acting among all RG games.  Playing the
game is like watching a drama.

GRAPHICS : A  (The overworld map and the dungeon parts were superb.
               However, when characters enter places like villages, they
               suddenly look very blocky)
SOUND    : A++ (Excellent!  There is a section in the instruction manul
               which explains how tough it is to make good traditional
               Japanese music.  Ed. note: "Since this game has sound and
               music that's probably a cut up above the rest of the A or
               A+ games, I'm going to use a numerical rating of 4.6 for
               an A++")
MUSIC    : A++
GAMEPLAY : B  (The game is not action-oriented.  Characters fight by
               choosing commands from a list of options)
LONGEVITY: A  (Just the animation will blow you away.  You definitely want
               to see it again)
PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: The game is far too easy.  I think it would be great if they
              could do a decent translation in the US version.

OVERALL  : 4.03

COMMENTS : This is *THE* RPG game to play if you just got a Super System
           Card 3.0 upgrade.  Actually, this game is what NEC Japan
           uses in their ads for their promotions of the new PC Engine Duo.
           Let me quote the ad info here...

                    Total Characters : 3000
                    Enemy Characters : 400
                                 Map : approx 20000 screens
                   Villages/Dungeons : about 250
                               Magic : about 100 different types
                               Items : approx 500
                           Narration : about 3 hours, 10000 messages
                           Animation : about 30 minutes
                                 BGM : 80 entries
    Expected time to finish the game : 70 to 80 hours
                               Staff : 150 people
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Fighting Street (CD-ROM)  Review by Laly Thao.
  ---------------           Additional notes by TurboKid.

Someone should have reviewed this a while ago, but since no one has, here
is my opinion/observation.  This is Street Fighter I for those who haven't
already realized it.  You are Ken (Ken and Ryu in two player) and you go
to five countries to test your skills.  You can choose to start in Japan,
England, USA, or China.  After selecting a starting country, the remaining
countries are randomly selected.  After defeating the two fighters from 
each country, you head to Thailand to fight two Thai kickboxers.

If you don't have a joystick, you will develop a cyst-infested thumb trying
to do the special moves (fireball, thunder (?) kick, and dragon punch).  After
a couple of minutes, you won't even notice your thumb.

The intensity of the moves (kick/punch) are controlled by how long you hold
the kick/punch buttons.

GRAPHICS : B  (Not too great but you get used to it after a while.)
SOUND    : C+ (The voices associated with the fireball, thunder kick and
               dragon punch are all there.  The groans when getting hit are
               also present.  Biggest gripe here are the voices of the 
               opponents.  The voices were written into the program rather
               than recorded on the CD.  The dialog spoken by the opponents
               is unintelligible.  Good thing they printed the dialog, too.)
MUSIC    : A  (The only thing making this a CD game is the CD quality music.)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Better played with a joystick.  The only move I did consis-
               tently was the thunder kick (and that was with the kick button
               set to mid-turbo).  I was successful 80% of the time I tried
               it.  I accidentally did a dragon punch but that never happened
               again.  I threw a couple of fireballs in the midst of getting
               clobbered.  Without the special moves mastered, once I got to
               Thailand, the kickboxer promptly splattered me over the ruins.
               Response to moves was also very slow.  It is supposed to be a
               fast paced game but it leaves a lot to be desired.)
LONGEVITY: B  (Good for times when you want to beat up people :-)  Also good
               for two player action to find out who's going to pay for the
               pizza.)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: A very poorly designed game.  The voices should have been 
              digitized onto the CD, rather than stuffed in the program
              itself.  Very poor voice quality.  Additionally, the CD was
              accessed every time a match was to be fought.  It would have
              been better if the CD were accessed only if something 
              different were needed, so if you died in that level, you don't
              need to access anything new, hence the CD would not be accessed
              except for music.

              Especially frustrating if you were beaten up by a character
              and wanted immediate revenge.  You'd have to wait for the 
              program to load again... *SIGH*.

OVERALL  : 3.05

COMMENTS : This game could've been placed on a Hu-Card!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Final Lap Twin (Hu-Card)
  --------------
Racing game with three options: 
1. Race by yourself against computer.
2. Race against your friend and computer.
3. Race as far as you can on a "quest."

GRAPHICS : B  (Very nice... pretty details in the artwork)
SOUND    : B  (Average to good)
MUSIC    : B  (Nicely done)
GAMEPLAY : C  (After racing for awhile, fingers and hand start to hurt)
LONGEVITY: B  (In "quest mode," the game lasts awhile) 

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: Improve on the gameplay.

OVERALL  : 2.83

COMMENTS : Not a bad game when you're competing against a friend.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Final Zone II (CD-ROM)  Review by Pete Ikusz.  Additional notes by TurboKid.
  -------------
The look and feel of this game is quite similar to that of the arcade
game, Commando.  It is a vertical scroller where you play one of 5
characters, each different at different levels, each having different
weapons.  In levels 4-7 you are allowed to choose which you would like
to play.  There are only 4 different power ups, one to restore partial
strength, one to increase ammo, one to increase strength meter, and one
to restore all of your strength.  This game is very straightforward, but
definitely not easy.

The introductory story line was okay at best, along with the graphics.
Nothing special.  There are a few intermediate screenplays, but they are
of the intro quality.

GRAPHICS : B+ (A little better than Bloody Wolf, but not as good as Last
               Alert)
SOUND    : B+ (Your standard sound effects for a game of this type... voice
               makes it a bit better than Bloody Wolf)
MUSIC    : A- (Decent CD music)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (You need a joystick for this game)
LONGEVITY: A- (It gets you aggravated enough to MAKE you play again!)

PLAYERS  : 1

IMPROVEMENTS: When your character is killed (if you continue), you begin
      at the beginning of that level.  (Arghh!!! to say the least)

OVERALL  : 3.50

COMMENTS : There is no save game feature.  "Very disappointing to say the
           least.  What the hell did I buy my CD unit with !@#$% memory
           backup for?" - Ed.  Now this would be a great 2 player game...

EDITOR'S COMMENTS : I found this game to be very similar to Last Alert,
           except for small play mechanics and graphics.  I found the
           graphics to be only a little better than Bloody Wolf's.  Also,
           Last Alert has your character confined to a smaller moveable
           area, whereas the other two games allow you to move around the
           immediate vicinity better.  I prefer the maneuverability (or
           lack of maneuverability?) of Last Alert over this game, though,
           and your tastes may be very different from mine when comparing
           games of this sort.  The lower price tag of Last Alert definitely
           helps sway my decision to go with Last Alert over Final Zone II.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Galaga '90 (Hu-Card)
  ----------
The classic shooter based on Galaga '88 and the best Galaga translation on
any home system.  A definite must-have for your "classics" collection.

GRAPHICS : B+ (As good as Galaga can get on a home system!)
SOUND    : A- (an almost exact duplication of the arcade game)
MUSIC    : A- (See previous line)
GAMEPLAY : A  (The Turbopad is more than adequate for this game... simple
               left/right movement with fire)
LONGEVITY: A- (A top-notch shooter that will keep you coming back for more)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.68
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Gate of Thunder (SCD-ROM)
  ---------------
You control an awesome spacejet flying over beautiful terrain and meticulously
detailed enemy strongholds.  Three shooting weapons and homing missiles add to
the fun.  Better than Gradius, Darius, R-Type, and all shooters before it!

GRAPHICS : A++ (some of the fastest, flicker-free images on ANY game
                system... animation sequences and parallax will thrill you...
                check out levels 4 and 5... damn good graphics!)
SOUND    : A+  (killer explosions and shooting sounds)
MUSIC    : A++ (in a word, pulse-pounding... the music fits perfectly in with
                the graphics)
GAMEPLAY : B+  (one of those games which would benefit greatly with a joystick)
LONGEVITY: A++ (for shooters, there is no substitute!  Packaged with every
                TurboDuo.  Will definitely win a place in the Turbo Hall of
                Fame)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 4.33

COMMENTS : This game comes on a 3-game CD including Bonk's Adventure and
           Bonk's Revenge.  Before the title screen, Bonk does a little
           narration.  The viewer is thrilled with a 3D rotation and
           scaling demo (and Sega people said it *couldn't* be done!).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Golden Axe (CD-ROM)  Review by Jeffrey Naiman.
  ----------
GRAPHICS : B-
SOUND    : B+
MUSIC    : B+
GAMEPLAY : C
LONGEVITY: B-

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.78
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Hellfire (CD-ROM)
  --------
Side-scrolling shooter with plenty of power-ups, big bosses, and enemies to
fight!  Anime sequences are a feast to watch.

GRAPHICS : A++ (Large animated enemies and bosses.  Excellent detail in
                anime sequences)
SOUND    : A+  (Lots of voice-acting and sound effects)
MUSIC    : A+
GAMEPLAY : B+  (You'll need a joystick to get in between tight places, like
                the moving walls in level 2)
LONGEVITY: A-  (Fun to play again and again)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.98
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# It Came From the Desert  (CD-ROM)
  -----------------------
Weird story background with a '50's B-movie feel to it.

GRAPHICS : A  (digitized moving actors move in perfect sync with their
               voices... while many of the scenes are more or less full-
               screen, the actors only move in a small area of the screen)
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A
GAMEPLAY : A  (good use of the TurboPad)
LONGEVITY: B  (while there is enough stuff on this CD to keep you occupied,
               I'm not sure it will hold your attention after you solve the
               game)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Maybe a few more colors in the digitized images?  Ack!  The
              CD load times are S-L-O-W even on my Duo!

OVERALL  : 3.67

COMMENTS : The high score that this game gets is a little misleading.
           While the game exhibits excellence in each individual category,
           the overall game is not excellent.  Don't get me wrong.  It's
           very good for an interactive video.  The story is good and the
           acting is very good.  I'm just not the type to sit and watch a
           lot of video without participating in it.  However, I feel it
           is an excellent way to show off the capabilities of your CD-ROM
           drive or Duo.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Klax (Hu-Card)  Review by Chris Fleming.
  ----
Klax is a strategy game where you attempt to catch colored tiles as they
come down a conveyor belt, and place them into patterns of rows, columns or
diagonals.   Each wave (ie. level) has a different objective, such as
forming a given number of diagonals, or getting a certain number of points.
If this sounds easy or boring, you're in for a shock when you play it.  Klax
is one of the most impossible games to master, and as addictive as Tetris.

While Klax can be found on most game systems, not to mention your local
arcade, the TG-16 version of Klax has several outstanding features.  First
and foremost is the price.  At $15.00, this game's a steal.  Another very
good feature is the extent to which you can customize the game.  You can
change everything from the difficulty level to the background brightness,
but my personal favorite option is widening the playfield size: perfect for
less eyestrain on your TurboExpress!

Klax's graphics look sharp, although some of the tile colors tend to look
the same when things start moving fast.  The sound is quite amusing, with
applause when you finish a wave, and musical serenades when you make an
especially good move, among others.  All of the sounds and voices are
digitized, and add to the game, rather than detract from it.  Unfortunately,
all of the sounds and voices were digitized at too low a sample rate, as
they are fuzzy-sounding (a minor point, I know!).

GRAPHICS : B
SOUND    : B
MUSIC    : B
GAMEPLAY : A
LONGEVITY: A

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.50

COMMENTS : Overall, I would highly recommend Klax.  The gameplay is easy,
the longevity is high, the difficulty is high, the game is addictive, and
the price is low.  What more could you want?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Lady Phantom (SCD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett.
  ------------
Lady Phantom is a strategy game whose theme is borrowed heavily from Japanese
animation (such as GunBuster or Bubble Gum Crisis).  You control a team of 5
women in battlesuits.  Each battlesuit is unique in its own set of weapons
and armor characteristcs.  There are 25-30 different weapons in the game,
each rated for range, damage, rate of fire, and hit probability.  Your team
of five will fight other enemy battlesuits, gun emplacements, and various
spacecraft.  As your team completes a mission, they will recieve experience
based on how many kills were scored and on how well the mission was completed.
Gain enough experience and team members will improve piloting and gunnery
skills and gain rank.

Gameplay is a turn-based strategy type game... no reflexes needed here.  Every
unit (friend and foe) executes their action before the next unit. (i.e. one of
your team will get to move and fire and then another unit... not necessarily
one of your own... will move).  The 'board' is hex-based and the facing of
your people matter, as the game takes into account front/side/rear armor and
evasion.  If one of your battlesuits is destroyed in the battle, the pilot
will not receive any experience for the mission, but will be available for the
next one.  There are 10 missions, ranging from straight-out fights to escort
missions to sabotage.  A number of options allow you turn animations on/off,
set movement options, turn the hex-grid on/off, etc.

Lady Phantom has to be one of my favorite PCE games because of the complexity
of the units involved.  Each of the women in your team has a speciality.
Jennifer likes up-close combat, whereas Cindy prefers long range missle fire.
The animation and sound effects for battles are top-notch and simply add to
the effect.  In between missions, animated intermissions tell the story.

The only downside to the game is that it is one player.  Once you have played
through the 10 missions, the game is done.  The missions kept me busy for
awhile, though, and the various objectives are fun to achieve.  A top-notch
game.

GRAPHICS : B+
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A
GAMEPLAY : A
LONGEVITY: B-

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Decrease CD lag time when loading scenes.

OVERALL  : 3.45

COMMENTS : A very good game overall.  The amount of Japanese text in the game
           could be a stumbling block... it took me awhile to figure out what
           everything was, but it's definitely worthwhile if you like strategy
           games.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Last Alert (CD-ROM)
  ----------
This is how Bloody Wolf was supposed to look, sound, and play.

GRAPHICS : A  (Fast, flicker-free animation... nice, full screen "still"
               screens)
SOUND    : A  (Voices and cinematic effects are crisp)
MUSIC    : A  (Very, very good soundtrack)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (This one definitely requires a joystick)
LONGEVITY: A- (Frustrating, but fun... easy when you know what weapon to
               use against which bosses)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Decrease CD lag time when loading scenes.

OVERALL  : 3.78
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Legendary Axe (Hu-Card)
  -------------
You are a Barbarian on a quest ala Castlevania-style.

GRAPHICS : B+ (Good use of the available colors)
SOUND    : A  (Cool sound effects)
MUSIC    : A  (Catchy them tune)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Turbopad adequate, but a joystick would help)
LONGEVITY: B  (There's enough to do in this game to keep you coming
               back for more... but starting back at the beginning of
               the game can be a drag!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Add a continue feature.  There is a secret continue feature,
              however.

OVERALL  : 3.43
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Legendary Axe II (Hu-Card)
  ----------------
Again, you are a Barbarian on a quest ala Castlevania-style.

GRAPHICS : A  (Much improved graphics over its predecessor!)
SOUND    : A  (Cool sound effects)
MUSIC    : A  (Cool music)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Like its predecessor, this game would be more playable with
               a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B+ (Because the game is more visually appealing, I would play
               it over its predecessor)
PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.65
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Loom (SCD-ROM)
  ----
As one of the magical "weavers" (akin to a musical magician), you embark
on a quest to rescue the other weavers.  There are no hack and slash
elements in this game.  Most of it is explore and cast magic.  It's a
complete story on a disc and very close to the 256-color CD version of
the IBM game of the same name.

GRAPHICS : A  (everything is very cinematic in nature and you get to skip
               some of the more annoying animations if you wish)
SOUND    : A  (many of the sounds are played off the CD)
MUSIC    : A+ (top notch)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (moving the cursor takes a little getting used to... you
               must aim the cursor at a location and press a button to
               allow your weaver to move toward it)
LONGEVITY: A  (guaranteed to last a long time... it's a long adventure
               and you could play it again and again to learn different
               spells)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.93

COMMENTS : I felt some of the scenes were too limited in color.  I counted
           no more than 8 colors in those scenes and felt the technology
           could handle much more.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Lords of the Rising Sun (CD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett.
  -----------------------
Lords of the Rising Sun is the long awaited strategy game based in feudal
Japan.  This title appeared on both the Amiga and the IBM.  Little has
changed.  You assume the role of one of three Japanese warlords.  Your
objective is to secure and consolidate your power as a Samurai.  The game
difficulty and objectives vary depending on which of the warlords you choose
to play.

You and each warlord you command is rated on archery, siege, and swordsmanship.
Archery determines how well you can protect a fortification.  Siege is how
well you can attack a fortification.  Swordsmanship is how well you command an
army in the field.

Each warlord commands a number of troops from 0-100.  The longer a warlord
remains in a city, the more troops will join.  In cities, warlords replenish
men and rest.  In villages, warlords can only rest.  Marching drains stamina
from your troops and affects their combat abilities.

Each type of combat is represented by a action or strategy sequence.  When
defending a fort, you must shoot enemy soldiers that are scaling the walls.
In a siege, you must kill enemy soldiers standing in your way while navigating
a maze of buildings trying to find the main temple.  Only the field battles
require no arcade skills.  You set troop orders and then watch them fight it
out.  You can sound retreat or change orders during the fight.  If you are
victorious, the scene changes and you try to chase down the enemy warlord on
horseback.  If you fail, the leader gets away.  Succeed and there's one less
enemy commander to deal with.

Other options include sending ninja assassins to kill enemy warlords and
bribing other leaders to join your cause.  The game ends when you meet your
victory conditions.

I'm not going to lie to you... this game sucks.  The action sequences are out
of place and the "chase down the enemy warlord on horseback" sequence is just
too damn hard.  The actions sequences are fun a time or two, but the 100th
time you siege a city, you don't want to have to run around finding the main
temple again.  The voice actors make me cringe... no emotion and some
blatantly fake Japanese accents (makes me cringe about as much as when
Hollywood portrays Southerners).

The music and background effects are nicely done, but don't make up for a truly
bad game.  Avoid this one... MAYBE rent it.

GRAPHICS : C+
SOUND    : A-
MUSIC    : A-
GAMEPLAY : F
LONGEVITY: C+

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.38
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Macross 2036 (CD-ROM or SCD-ROM)
  ------------
High-speed, side-scrolling shooter based on the popular Japanese Macross
(Robotech) series.  Unique method of fighting against bosses.  Lots of hidden
surprises.  When playing on a standard CD, CD access time is more frequent.

GRAPHICS : A+  (You won't believe your eyes!  The animation is so smooth and
                fast and some enemies and bosses are HUGE.  The opening anime
                scenes are INCREDIBLE.  When fighting bosses, you aim your
                robot by ROTATING it!  WOW!!!)
SOUND    : A++ (Even though the speech is in Japanese, I still got into
                it.  Superb voice-acting)
MUSIC    : A+  (These designers did an excellent job on music.  I'm sure
                if I were a fan of the TV series, I would probably give
                the music more praise.  It's very catchy)
GAMEPLAY : A   (This is one of those games where the actual side-scrolling
                sequences would fair better with a joystick, but the
                Turbopad would be better during the boss-fight)
LONGEVITY: B   (There are a large number of power-up items to use.  I
                finished the game the night I got it, but I'm still very
                curious to discover the effectiveness of other power-up
                items.  You would probably want to play it again just for
                that.  The continue feature really helped me get through
                all the levels.  Otherwise, it's just too easy!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: More power-up items?  There's already about 16 of them in
              the power-up items shop and many hidden power-ups during
              the game.  Add more levels!!!

OVERALL  : 3.87

COMMENTS : My only gripe is that it was too easy.  I'm not THAT good at
           videogames and I beat it in one night!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Military Madness (Hu-Card)
  ----------------
Maneuver your forces over land and sea in this hex-grid strategy game which
has been consistently voted one of the best games on the TG-16 and on ANY
home system!

GRAPHICS : A  (Finely-detailed graphic pieces and gameboard)
SOUND    : B+ (Only cheap booms and bleeps)
MUSIC    : A- (Theme tune gets annoying after awhile!)
GAMEPLAY : A  (Turbopad is more than adequate)
LONGEVITY: A

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: More realistic sound effects (explosions).

OVERALL  : 3.83

COMMENTS : I must admit, I was no fan of hex-grid games until I played this
           game!  There are enough arcade-like elements to keep fast action
           gamers happy and enough strategy elements to keep the rest of you
           happy.  This is a top-notch TG-16 title!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# New Adventure Island  (Hu-Card)
  --------------------
You are on a remote island and an evil being has kidnapped your loved ones.
You must rescue each of them.

GRAPHICS : A+ (very colorful and detailed graphics... just take a look at
               the many expressions on your character's face!)
SOUND    : B+ (the sound and music are a little tinny... there is an annoying
               ringing sound through several parts of the music, although the
               panning effect in the beginning is pretty cool)
MUSIC    : B+
GAMEPLAY : A- (good control with or without a joystick)
LONGEVITY: A- (a lot of challenge here... the seven levels will take quite a
               while to master)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.67

COMMENTS : While I was playing this game, I came to the realization of
           how much better the graphics in this game are versus Super
           Adventure Island and Super Mario World on the SNES.  The colors
           are brighter.  The play is a little more peppy.  I actually
           liked using the TurboPad with this game.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Ninja Spirit (Hu-Card)
  ------------
Side-scrolling slash/chop/hack game in the spirit of Shinobi.

GRAPHICS : A  (One of the best in this area)
SOUND    : A  (Everything is RIGHT here, too)
MUSIC    : A  (A funky Japanese tune is carried out in each level)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (A joystick would improve gameplay considerably)
LONGEVITY: A- (You will want to play again and again)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: The wolf howling sound in the intro was not too realistic.
              2-player option would be nice.

OVERALL  : 3.78

COMMENTS : One of the best 4-MEG Hu-Cards!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# The Ninja Warriors (Hu-Card)  Review by Laly Thao.
  ------------------
This is a port of the arcade game with the same name.  Personally, one of my
favorite arcade games, so I was google eyes over it, but very disappointed.
The graphics and sound are not up to par with the Hu-Cards nowadays, but I
attribute that to the lack of knowledge then.  I think this card was released
in either '88 or '89.

As far as the story is concerned, you are a robotic ninja sent on a mission
to regain the government from a dictator.  Walk and jump while slashing
away at soldiers, dogs, cyborgs and other robotic ninjas.

GRAPHICS : B- (The streaks of blood are there :-))       
SOUND    : B- (The "swish" that occurs when you press the button to slash
               with your knife is present.  There are a lot of other nifty
               sounds missing though.)
MUSIC    : B- (Not as great as the arcade.  I think it's only two or 
               three voices which is constantly interrupted by the 
               sound effects...or what little sound there is.)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Joystick would prevent thumb sore after prolonged playing.)
LONGEVITY: B  (It's nice to turn it on and rampage for a couple of minutes.
               There are limited continues, so it gets frustrating if you 
               get far and then lose all of your continues...ack.

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: This game could use some sound as well as hyped up graphics.

OVERALL  : 2.85

COMMENTS : I wouldn't buy this game new, but probably would pick it up used
           if the price was right simply because it's the next best thing to
           the arcade.  This would be a good CD game because the original
           arcade music could be used, and as I stated, if the graphics were
           improved a bit more, this would be a great port of the arcade.

           And, speaking of CD games, I think I saw this title as a CD 
           release for the Mega Drive CD system.  It's worth checking
           out when it's released (if you liked the arcade game as much
           as I did).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Order of the Griffon (Hu-Card)
  --------------------
A full-length feature-packed "official" D&D adventure on a Hu-Card!
Order of the Griffon places your party of 4 (out of a possible 21 characters)
in a land-roving, dungeon/cave-spelunking setting.  The graphics are
exceptional.  The land is strewn with detail and the little characters have
easily distinguishable features, a little more comical than the popular
Dungeon Explorer.  The background music is bar none.  My only gripe here is
that the music gets annoying after awhile, especially during battle sequences.

Griffon is less action-packed than Dungeon Explorer, but there are definitely
a greater variety of objects to use and player statistics play a large role
in party development.  There is a save game/password feature (your choice) to
keep you continuing your adventure for days.  The game is fairly difficult at
first mainly because you have to get over the controls, but once you know them
well, gameplay is rather intuitive (watch out for hitting the RUN key too many
times!).  Be sure you choose a well-rounded party before you begin the game!

GRAPHICS : A- (very nice detail here and there... some full-screen displays
               would've done the trick... this game should've been a CD-ROM
               title!)
SOUND    : B+ (sound effects aren't very complex, but do the job when used)
MUSIC    : A- (a little annoying after awhile, but very high quality)
GAMEPLAY : A- (takes a little getting used to at first, but works out quite
               nicely afterwards... since there aren't any fast action arcade-
               like sequences, the Turbopad works just fine)
LONGEVITY: A  (you're gonna' like this one!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Speed up the game a bit.  See comment below.

OVERALL  : 3.73

COMMENTS : In the battle sequences, you must first "search" for the
           enemy before setting up your characters for battle sequence.
           Since the battlefield can be fairly large, moving the slow
           cursor around can be awkward and annoying.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Ordyne (Hu-Card)
  ------
Side-scrolling shooter with cute graphics.  Not as cute as Fantasy Zone,
but has faster and better gameplay.

GRAPHICS : B+ (cute graphics... very, very little flicker)
SOUND    : B+ (better sounds than Fantasy Zone, not as good as R-Type)
MUSIC    : B  (opening credit screen is silent)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (definitely needs a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B+ (a fun side-scrolling game... but lacks a certain something...
               allows for two-player play, which is definitely a plus)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2

OVERALL  : 3.25
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Parodius (Hu-Card)  Review by Teh Kao Yang.
  --------
8-meg Hu-Card of the very original and funny shooter from Konami.

GRAPHICS : A (Graphics almost rival that of the SNES version)
SOUND    : A-
MUSIC    : A- 
GAMEPLAY : A- (Missing 2 levels from the SNES version)
LONGEVITY: A-

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Why are the two levels missing?

OVERALL  : 3.75

COMMENTS : SNES fans should be familiar with this wacky shooter from Konami.
It plays similar to the Gradius series but that's where all similarity ends.
It is identical to the SNES version in almost all respects except for the
sound and two missing levels. The intro is better and longer than that in
the SNES version.  Some stages actually look better IMHO than the SNES.
For example, in one of my favorite stages, the attack of the 500-foot dancing
girl, the girl shakes her hips while in the SNES version she doesn't.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Pomping World (CD-ROM)
  -------------
Pomping World is Buster Bros for the TG-16!!!  The background graphics and
music are sensational.  The programmers did one excellent job in the
translation process.  But enough of the superlatives, the game's about this
little guy on a mission to pop these large alien bubbles which bounce
all over the place.  His main weapon is a gun which shoots out a strange
sort of ray which splits the bubbles into halves.  The larger bubbles must
be split a few times to get smaller bubbles.  Only the smallest bubbles
can actually be destroyed.  If it sounds like a stupid concept, it is, but
wait until you play it.  You'll be hooked!!!  Other useful weapons are a
rapid-fire gun (you gotta love Turbofire), a gun which leaves a solid thin
"wall," a time stop, and an invincibility shield.  There are also birds
and other nasties to do you in.  On higher levels, you get to climb
ladders and use the terrain (solid and vaporizable blocks) to your
advantage (or disadvantage).  With two players, the fun is doubled!!!

GRAPHICS : A+ (Cute and very much like the arcade game... you will not
               believe the detail here... Genesis owners won't believe
               the detail here!)
SOUND    : A  (Same here)
MUSIC    : A+ (This CD technology is great!)
GAMEPLAY : A- (Turbostick helpful but not necessary)
LONGEVITY: A  (You will be hooked... believe me!)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2 (Yes, folks... TWO people can play at once!!!)
IMPROVEMENTS: The shooting sound your initial weapon makes sounds a
              little different from the arcade, but I'm being VERY
              nitpicky here.

OVERALL  : 4.05

COMMENTS : Definitely a must-have.  This, my friends, is a much better
           translation of Buster Bros than Super Buster Bros on the
           SNES (which is only a one-player game!).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Ranma 1/2: Defeat of the Undiscriminate Fighting Style (SCD-ROM)
  ------------------------------------------------------
  Review by Sergey Shimkevich.
One-on-one fighting game based on the popular manga/anime title.  You are cast
in the role of Ranma, a boy who is cursed and, as a result, changes into a
girl when splashed with cold water.  All of the major characters appear in the
game, either in the fighting mode or during the intermissions.

The game starts with Ranma and Happosai in a public bath.  Happosai hears the
girls' voices and starts climbing the wall.  Enraged Ranma throws a barrel at
Happosai and knocks him down.  Happosai splashes Ranma with cold water and the
first round begins!

You can play in the story or the nettoh mode.  In the second mode, two players
can fight it out, Street Fighter-style.  There are eight characters to choose
from - two Ranmas, Ukyou, Moose, Konchoh, Kunou, Ryouga and Kodachi.  There
also is a special game where you play a game of cards with the Gambling King.

The actual game graphics are unremarkable at best - some of the characters
look bad and animate choppily and there is a lot of flicker.  The
intermissions, especially the "eyecatch" segments, sounds, and music are great.

The gameplay is quite good, even with the average-looking graphics.  Overall,
the game is a lot of fun and offers many surprises.  Recommended.

GRAPHICS : B
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A
GAMEPLAY : B+
LONGEVITY: B

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2

OVERALL  : 3.38

COMMENTS : If you are a fan of the series, you'll enjoy this game.  If,
however, you are looking for something with Street Fighter 2 playability
and graphics, I suggest that you proceed with caution.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# RayXamber II (CD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett.
  ------------
RayXamber II is another side-scrolling shooter.  I haven't played this one
much yet, so I haven't gotten very far.  This is one tough mother of a
game... you thought AeroBlasters was hard! 

RayXamber lacks all of the fancy voices and intermissions of Spriggan, but
it's still a good shooter.  Weapon choices are fewer, but "customizable."
When you pick up a weapon, you can choose whether it shoots to the front,
rear, top, or bottom.  In addition to your regular firepower, you can hold
the fire button down (ala R-Type) to power up your weapon type.  If you
release the fire button, a burst-effect like weapon is released.  If you
press the other button, however, your ship gains a significant burst of
speed (useful in getting out of situations that you can't fight your way
out of).

The graphics and music are nice.  The weapons don't really offer too much
firepower, so you are forced to rely on a little strategy (not necessarily
a bad thing).  A good shooter, but not great.  Six-stages long, but hard.

GRAPHICS : B+
SOUND    : B
MUSIC    : B
GAMEPLAY : C
LONGEVITY: A++

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Road Spirits (CD-ROM)
  ------------
TG-16 gamers, this is NOT Outrun!!!  I don't know why some past reviewers
thought so, but this game is actually based on an arcade game made by the
same company that brought you Chase HQ; I don't quite remember the name,
but I do remember the steering wheel being of the "looser" variety.
Anyone recognizing the speedometer graph in the upper right-hand corner of
the screen will understand what I'm blabbing about.  The graphics are not
great and I wasn't even sure it was worth my $40 used price (it's an
import game), but playing it more and more and getting into it, I found
it was quite entertaining (and relatively easy, which I like).  The roads
don't quite turn in a hairpin manner as in most racing games, so there is
no absolute need to use a Turbostick for quick moves.  Anyway, the
instructions were in Japanese, so, naturally, I said "Huh?" when I tried
reading them.  It was all pretty easy to figure out, though.  When I got
bored after the fifth or sixth race, I reset the game and started over
with "Continue."  I was then allowed to change cars and steering. Instead
of driving a Ferrari as I did in the initial games, I was allowed to drive
an automatic-transmission Lamborghini (I think that's what it was).  I'm
still looking forward to driving the Porsche, though.  Anyway again,
there's lots of skidding in the game, maybe too much for it to be realistic.

GRAPHICS : B  (Not great at first, but it gets better in later stages,
               specifically backgrounds)
SOUND    : A  (It's CD sound... what do you expect?)
MUSIC    : A  (Lots of variety here... you can change the soundtrack before
               you begin a stage)
GAMEPLAY : A- (Simple, easy to learn controls... no Japanese required!)
LONGEVITY: B- (It's monotonous... one of those games you'll play for a
               while... put away for a few weeks... play again...)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Enemy car graphics are not as good as they could be.  If the
              movements of these cars can be improved, the game would look
              great!

OVERALL  : 3.35
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Rom Rom Stadium (CD-ROM)  Review by Jeffrey Naiman.
  ---------------
GRAPHICS : B-
SOUND    : B-
MUSIC    : B-
GAMEPLAY : B-
LONGEVITY: B-

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.70
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# R-Type (Hu-Card)
  ------
The classic side-scrolling shooter that is all the rage.

GRAPHICS : B+ (Take away the flicker and slowdown and this would be a clear A)
SOUND    : A  (Some of the best sound effects on the TG-16... the sound
               effects were duplicated EXACTLY)
MUSIC    : A  (Same for music)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Definitely needs a joystick)
LONGEVITY: A- (The TG-16 is THE machine to play this game, folks!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Improve the stereo.  Get rid of the graphics problems.
              Have a 2-player option.

OVERALL  : 3.67
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Saint Dragon (Hu-Card)  Review by Teh Kao Yang.
  ------------
Side-scrolling shooter.  Conversion of an old Jaleco arcade shooter.

GRAPHICS : C+ (A lot of flicker)
SOUND    : D+
MUSIC    : D  (Horrible annoying music)
GAMEPLAY : D-
LONGEVITY: F  (I didn't even bother trying to finish it)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Too many to mention

OVERALL  : 0.88

COMMENTS : This is by far the worst TG-16 game I have ever seen.  Everything
about this game sucks.  Too bad since the arcade game was a real classic and
this is the only known port of it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Shadow of the Beast (SCD-ROM)
  -------------------
You are one of the Devil's minions and your goal is to restore yourself
to human form again.  This is the SCD version of the Amiga and Genesis
hit!

GRAPHICS : A++ (Very, very nice parallax scrolling... tons of colors...
                the animation sequences have a digitized feel to them)
SOUND    : A++ (most pulled off of the CD... breathing sounds are incredible)
MUSIC    : A++ (excellent background music)
GAMEPLAY : B+  (a game which would play better with a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B+  (it's a tough quest and VERY frustrating at times... you'll
                have fun, I promise!)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.95

COMMENTS : Many Amiga and Genesis gamers dislike this game because it's
           too difficult!  I think they toned down the game a bit for
           the SCD, so it's now a bit more playable.  Also, the intermission
           animation sequences are expertly done!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Shapeshifter (SCD-ROM)
  ------------
You are a barbarian-like figure who has the ability to metamorph into a
variety of creatures with different abilities.  One of the best CD titles
I have seen yet!

GRAPHICS : A++ (some of the pictures have a pastel-like quality about them...
                the bosses are huge... and the animation is fast and
                flicker-free)
SOUND    : A++ (character dialogs are loaded off the CD and very well-done!)
MUSIC    : A+  (cool background music)
GAMEPLAY : B+  (one of those games which would benefit greatly with a joystick)
LONGEVITY: A+  (you will hack and slash, talk to people, and just be simply
                amazed by what can be done with CD technology... a thumbs up!)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 4.23
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Sherlock Holmes (CD-ROM)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  ---------------
You're Sherlock Holmes with your trusted pal Watson trying to solve
three separate cases.

GRAPHICS : A+ (Excellent... great digitized pics) 
SOUND    : A  (All the sounds are here) 
MUSIC    : A+ (Nicely composed...) 
GAMEPLAY : A  (Very simple to use... Turbopad is sufficient) 
LONGEVITY: A  (It will take you a while to solve all three cases, but once
               they are solved, you're done with the game) 
PLAYERS  : 1 
IMPROVEMENTS: Too much lag time due to CD access.

OVERALL  : 4.10

COMMENTS : I truly like this game and highly recommend it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Shubibinman 2 (Hu-Card)  Review by Laly Thao.
  -------------
Not sure exactly what the storyline is, but this game offers variety which
is a plus for me (i.e. In stage one, you play the character and run, jump,
and shoot while.  In stage two, you're piloting a submarine, and in stage
three, you're piloting a plane.  In each stage, the visual gameplay changes).
Additionally, there is an intermission in between stages.  I can't read
Japanese, so I couldn't tell what was going on, but the action is hot and
heavy.

GRAPHICS : A  (Impressive for a card.  Explosions in the latter stage when
               piloting the plane are very good.)
SOUND    : A- (It really uses the sound chip well.)
MUSIC    : A  (Again good use of the sound chip.)
GAMEPLAY : A 
LONGEVITY: B+ (Good for a few romps, but once you're done, it's basically
               over unless you like the game enough to play it again.)

PLAYERS  : 1 or 2
IMPROVEMENTS: A password save or some sort of stage select would be nice.
              After slaving for hours to get to a stage then turning it
              off because you have to do something gets nervy after a while.

OVERALL  : 3.72

COMMENTS : I purchased a TurboTap and another controller in anticipation
           of buying this game later on.  One player was fun.  Can't wait
           to have two of us blowing away the hovering mechs and sewer
           monsters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Sidearms (Hu-Card)
  --------
Side-scrolling shooter with nice graphics and lots of power-ups.

GRAPHICS : A- (Nice visuals)
SOUND    : A  (R-Type-quality sound effects)
MUSIC    : A  (Catchy theme song)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Turbopad play suffers; a joystick is needed)
LONGEVITY: B  (With a joystick, this game would be an A- here)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: I'm ready for Sidearms Special!

OVERALL  : 3.45
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Sidearms Special (CD-ROM)  Review by Jeffrey Naiman.
  ----------------
GRAPHICS : A
SOUND    : A++
MUSIC    : A++
GAMEPLAY : B-
LONGEVITY: B+

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.58
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Silent Debuggers (Hu-Card)  Review by Jeffrey Naiman and TurboKid.
  ----------------
Chase and destroy monsters in a 3-D maze.

GRAPHICS : B  (Blocky motion, aliens don't look good)
SOUND    : B+ (The game's proximity sensor gets faster and louder when
               aliens approach, and the effect is really good)
GAMEPLAY : A- (You really get into this!  It's like Aliens!)
MUSIC    : B- (There is only music during the intermissions, a decision I
               think works well, but you can't skip the intermissions.
               Annoying!)
LONGEVITY: B- (The first few games are fun, but it loses its novelty)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.01

COMMENTS : The game is very different from most videogames because of the
pseudo-3D effect. Chasing monsters through the maze and having monsters
stalk you really makes your heart pound, but it wears off. This is a good
game to get used or on sale.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Sinistron (Hu-Card)
  ---------
Side-scrolling shooter with nice graphics.

GRAPHICS : A- (Folks, this game has parallax scrolling, which Genesis
               owners have been bragging about for the longest time...
               check out the scenes which look like clones of T-Force III
               for the Genesis!)
SOUND    : A- (Nice explosions, missile firing)
MUSIC    : B+ (Music starts annoying you after awhile)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (This game needs a joystick for top scores)
LONGEVITY: B+ (It's addicting, but also frustrating... luckily, the game
               allows you to continue at either the beginning of a stage
               or a special checkpoint... if you've reached it)
PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Some of the backgrounds (especially in the first stage)
              are a little simplistic.  Improving these backgrounds
              would improve the overall "look" of the game tremendously.

OVERALL  : 3.43
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Soldier Blade (Hu-Card)  Review by Teh Kao Yang.
  -------------
Latest entry in the Star Soldier series.  Vertical scrolling shooter with 7
levels.

GRAPHICS : A (Great backgrounds, has a special graphics mode)
SOUND    : A (Has some digitized voices, great sounding explosions)
MUSIC    : A    (Great adrenalin-pumping tunes)
GAMEPLAY : A (Very intense and interesting levels)
LONGEVITY: A- (Hard to finish on normal setting; impossible(?) on hard)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Add more different weapons, improve the colors.

OVERALL  : 3.90

COMMENTS : Soldier Blade is a vertical shooter, similar to Super Star Soldier.
It's just as intense and fun as Super Star Soldier, with a few improvements. 
There are a lot of special background effects in this game that I thought 
couldn't be done on the TG-16.  A lot of parallax scrolling and line scrolling
(probably simulated though) are used in the backgrounds.  But the most awesome
thing is that you can play the game in a different graphics mode! If you pick
the "arcade" mode the screen is converted to a narrower size similar to those
used by vertical shooters in the arcades.  The resolution is increased and the
colors and graphic details stay the same.  It looks really fantastic.  This is
the first TG-16 game I've seen that uses this higher resolution in the actual
gameplay.

The bosses and enemies are some of the most spectacular ever seen in a shooter.
A lot of the bosses have very original weapons and nasty surprises in store. 
The bosses are very hard to kill, since they keep changing forms and attack 
patterns as you damage them.  Most of the enemies are also HUGE compared to
those found in other TG-16 shooters.  The overall impression you get when you
play this game is that you feel like you are playing a real arcade shooter, not
a TG-16 game.

My complaints are that you only have 3 different weapons to choose from, and
the weapons don't look as good as they did in Super Star Soldier.  Also the
game doesn't seem to use that many colors, thus it doesn't look as bright
or colorful as some other games.  You also only have 2 different speed
settings, fast and slow.  I wish there was a medium setting for easier control.

It would be hard for me to compare Soldier Blade to Super Star Soldier, one 
of my favorite TG-16 shooters.  They're both great games in their own respects.
Super Star Soldier has brighter colors and more interesting weapons, but
Soldier Blade is more graphically impressive. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Space Harrier (Hu-Card)  Review by Chris Fleming.
  -------------
Space Harrier is, well, uh, Space Harrier from the arcades, of course.  You
are a hero type person with a jet pack and a laser blasting anything that
moves (or doesn't move) in various 3D landscapes, with a behind-the-first-
person view.  There are 16 levels, plus 2 bonus rounds to gain mucho extra 
points.  As far as I can tell, the levels are identical to the arcade
version.  Each level features a variety of nasties and plant life to blow
apart, and on most levels, there are obstacles which cannot be destroyed.
There is a boss to destroy at the end of each level.  There isn't much else
to the gameplay - no powerups or special weapons - just keep that thumb on
the fire button and blast away.

Space Harrier is one of my all-time favorite arcade games next to OutRun,
so this part of the review is probably rather biased (apologies).  The
fascination I've always found with Space Harrier in the arcades, was not
with the gameplay, but the move and shoot aspect.  The true joy of this game
is in the 3D graphics.  The feeling of real motion over and through the land
features adds a huge amount to its excitement.  The TG-16 game is very true
to the original arcade game, and none of this excitement is lost.  The
graphics are quite well done.  The land rolls by very quickly and the 3D
effect with bitmap scaling is extremely convincing.  This is a far better
game than the so-called Space Harrier II for the Genesis (which seems rather
strange to me since both games were created by Sega!).  There is some minor
flickering with some of the larger boss critters, but in no way does it
interfere with the game.  Each level is relatively short, which makes
repeated play not as tedious as other shooters I've played.  Some nice
features are, (very) rapid fire (saves wear and tear on the thumb), a
continue mode, and the ability to change the effect of the up and down
directions on the Turbopad.  The sound, however, is marginal.  The music and
voices ("Get ready!", "You're doing great!") are very fuzzy, and the voices,
in particular, are hard to make out.  The game is pretty damn difficult
(although the boss critters are pretty easy if you can get to them), and I've
yet to pass level 11.  All in all, this was worth every penny of the $20 I
spent on it.

GRAPHICS : B
SOUND    : B
MUSIC    : B
GAMEPLAY : A
LONGEVITY: A

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.50
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Splatterhouse (Hu-Card)
  -------------
You are a man inflicted with an evil curse which has left you with a
hockey mask stuck on your face.  Your only hope is to find your girlfriend
who can remove the mask from your face.  If this description sounds stupid,
it is!  The game is great, though.

GRAPHICS : A  (Nice cartoon-like graphics... some gross things included)
SOUND    : A  (Nice job on sound effects and monster wails)
MUSIC    : A  (Nice theme tunes)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Needs a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B+ (I find myself playing for short spurts at a time)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.65
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# SportsTalk Hockey (Hu-Card)  Review by James Stepanek.
  -----------------
One of the original games out for the TG-16, this is still quite a
reasonable fascimilie of hockey for the machine.  It has a good sense of
humor, relatively simple controlls and reasonable graphics.  It has a
pretty good amount of options in the way of team variety, and different
lines.  The writers did not go to the trouble of buying proffessional
rights or anything, so they just banked on good old nationalism to stir
up rivalries.  There are about ten teams each with three lines which you
can switch between during a game.  The lines are composed of homogeneous
players with identical stats in a line.  Granted, this shows something of
a lack of sophistication, but when you switch between controll of
different players in a line it is comforting.  The game allows options of
a tournament or individual games, given that the games last as long as a
real hockey game (three 20 minute periods) I doubt anyone will play many
tournaments.  Up to 5 players can play, on separate sides or on the same
side.  This is one feature that I have found to be quite entertaining,
since it can be more fun (and less aggravating) to cooperate with a
friend than compete.  This also allows a group of friends to staff a full
line, which I have yet to try due to a lack of controllers.  The other
big plus to the game is the way in which it simulates fighting and
penalties.  If you check someone real hard, you go to a fight screen in
which the two players slug it out, and whoever gets decked gets the
penalty.  Also the probability of fights breaking out is determined by
which set of rules is chosen.  All in all it is a pretty good hockey
game, not stellar, but a worthwhile purchase for $25 or under.

GRAPHICS : B+ (smooth animation, decent color, but nothing really exciting)
SOUND    : B  (pretty good... grunts when you check people, noise from
               skates, etc)
MUSIC    : C+ (occasional bursts of charge music, but no national
               anthems or such)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (controlls are good enough, except for the problem of 
               controlling the goalie at the wrong time by accident)
LONGEVITY: A- (this is an arbitrary ruling because if you play it by
               yourself it is B or B-, but with the variety of
               multi-player options it is an A.  Also, I really don't play
               sports games by myself much so this is subjective)

PLAYERS  : 1 to 5
IMPROVEMENTS: The game could probably use better sound.  The graphics are
adequate.  Add an option so that when you change control from one player
to another on defense, you don't have the option of becomming the goalie
(I've lost many games that way). 

OVERALL  : 3.22

COMMENTS : A good hockey game to have if you just like the game and
don't need to go ga ga over NHL stats.  Especially good if you have
buddies to play it with.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Spriggan (CD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett.
  --------
Spriggan (aka Magic Soldier) is a shooter, much like Super Star Soldier or
MUSHA.  In fact, I think it's a sequel to MUSHA.  There are plenty of
different weapon types in Spriggan.  As you destroy certain objects,
various colored capsules are released.  You may carry up to three of these
capsules.  Your weapon type depends on the number and color combination of
the capsules.  There are four different colors yielding 13 different weapons.

In addition to you main guns, you may also drop bombs that will clear the
screen of lesser enemies and do significant damage to larger ones.  The only
drawback to the bombs is that each time you drop a bomb, the leftmost capsule
is removed from your supply, effectively reducing your weapon strength.

The sound effects are some of the best I've ever heard coming from a shooter
and the background music is stuff you can wake the neighbors with :).
Definitely CD quality.  The game has long intermissions with plenty of nice
pictures.  The voices are in Japanese of course.  If you let the game sit
in "Demo mode" long enough, the game will demo itself, run through the
storyline and then display each of the weapon combination.

The only drawback to the game was that I found it to be too short (only 6-1/2
stages).  The game is moderately difficult on "normal," but the options
screen lets you set the difficulty level higher.

Spriggan also has the same features of Super Star Soldier... it allows you
to play "beat the clock" and "beat the score" versions of the game which are
very fun (especially after you've won the regular game).  A very fun game
overall.

GRAPHICS : A+
SOUND    : A++
MUSIC    : A++
GAMEPLAY : A
LONGEVITY: B

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.91
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Spriggan Mark 2: Re-Terraform Project (SCD-ROM)  Review by Sergey Shimkevich.
  -------------------------------------
Side-scrolling shooter, somewhat similar to the Genesis title, Target Earth,
but much better.  The storyline is straight out of the Gundam series.  After
establishing colonies in outer space and on the Moon, mankind has turned to
its preferred pasttime (war, that is).  You are Greg, a young "Mobile Suit"
pilot.  On your first sortie, three of your teammates defect to the enemy,
nearly bumping you off in the process!  Very long and well-drawn
intermissions, lots of voice/dialogue during the action scenes. There is
an option that allows you to set the dialogue during the action scenes to
voice and text, text only, or nothing (this last option turns off the
intermissions as well).

GRAPHICS : A++ (many, many layers of parrallax scrolling)
SOUND    : A- (nothing too exceptional here)
MUSIC    : A+ (nice names for themes played throughout the game, like
               "Battleholic") 
GAMEPLAY : A- (quite a large number of weapons to choose from)
LONGEVITY: A  (well, it's not that hard on "normal," but there are always
               "hard" and "super hard" settings)

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 4.05

COMMENTS : One of the best shooters to come around in a long time. In
addition to exceptional graphics, music and gameplay, it also has a
storyline of epic proportions (although defininely influenced by the Mobile
Suit Gundam series).  Some parts of the game are truly incredible, both
story and graphics-wise. For example, in Level 3, Greg's mobile suit gets
hit and he has to change suits in flight.  In Level 5, the battle is in the
skies above a city on Earth which is being hit by immense laser blasts from
space that are eliminating your allies and enemies alike.  In other levels,
there are giant rocket engines installed in the Moon by the bad guys (can
you say Char's Counterattack?).  If you have a Super System Card, this is a
definite must-have.  Much better than Macross 2036, IMHO.

To set one thing straight: this is NOT a sequel to Spirit Fighter Spriggan.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Super Darius (CD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett and TurboKid.
  ------------
Super Darius is based on (and is almost an exact copy of) the arcade game,
Darius, by Taito.  In fact, the only difference in the PC-Engine version is
the different end bosses for each zone.

For those who've never seen the arcade game, Super Darius is a side-scrolling
shooter in the same vein as R-type.  The Silver Hawk fighter is armed with
a forward-firing weapon, bombs, and shields.  There are six colored gels
that power up the ship.  Red = guns, Green = bombs, blue = shields, grey =
points, yellow = destroys all enemies on screen, and clear = extra ship.  As
you gather weapon and shield gels, the strength of the weapon or shield
increases slightly.  When you gather the 8th gel of a particular color, the
weapon or shield-type changes... bullets become lasers, bombs drop up as well
as down, etc.  When you grab the 16th gel of a particular color, the weapon
changes again... lasers become waves, etc.

At the end of each stage, you have the option of choosing one of two paths.
There are 28 different stages or zones to the game, but you will only fly 
through 7 in any given game.  Each zone has different enemies and a different
number of each power gels.  This gives the game a high replayability factor.
Also, there are five different ending sequences.

The graphics in this game are impressive.  The programmers did a wonderful
job of porting this game from the arcade version (and considering the
original game was a three-monitor game, this is all the more impressive).
Also, the sound is top-notch.  The BGM for the game is some of the best that
I've ever heard and it's even encoded in Dolby Surround Sound.  In short,
this is my favorite PC Engine game to date.  No Japanese is required to play
the game, unless you HAVE to read the manual.  If anyone from Turbo
Technologies is listening, take heed... bring this game out in the US!  The
only downside to the game is that there is no two player version.  I can
only wait to get my hands on the SCD version Super Darius 2!

GRAPHICS : A+  (This is an example of a coin-op conversion done right...
                the bosses are SO HUGE and the animation is SO SMOOTH, you'll
                be wondering if you're playing the original arcade coin-op)
SOUND    : A++ (Sound is phenomenal!  The sound cracks a bit after destroying
                a boss, but that's forgivable)
MUSIC    : A++ (Ditto to the music)
GAMEPLAY : B+  (You definitely need a joystick to get out of tight areas)
LONGEVITY: A+  (Fun!  Fun!!  Fun!!!  Don't leave home without it.  After
                playing this a few times, you won't want to leave home!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Make it a two-player game.  Add a continue feature.

OVERALL  : 4.23

COMMENTS : "The Surround Sound is a very welcome touch to gaming.  This game
            is a winner in every respect.  End bosses are MUCH larger than
            Genesis Sagaia.  The music is quite close to the arcade.  The
            sound effects are a little spotty, but I'm getting picky again.
            Nice job!" - Ed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Super Star Soldier (Hu-Card)
  ------------------
Vertical shooter that is a sequel to Blazing Lazers.

GRAPHICS : A  (A little less detailed than Blazing Lazers in some areas,
               for example, the ring weapon... a little more detailed in
               other areas, such as enemy motherships)
SOUND    : B+ (The sound effects are of similar quality to Blazing Lazers,
               except there's no voice!)
MUSIC    : B+ (A good effort here)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (As in most TG-16 games, a joystick would definitely help)
LONGEVITY: A- (A very fun game... much more intense than Blazing Lazers...
               frustrating at times, esp when you're near the end of a
               stage and you must start over again when you die)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Hello, Computer Voice... Where are you?  You were in
              Blazing Lazers, but now you're gone...

OVERALL  : 3.55

COMMENTS : Not as good as Blazing Lazers, but definitely more intense.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Talespin (Hu-Card)  Review by Bryan Duvan.
  --------
Same as the television show, Talespin.

GRAPHICS : A  (I love the artwork on the plane scene)
SOUND    : B  (Could be better)
MUSIC    : A- (Theme tune included)
GAMEPLAY : B  (Joystick is recommend)
LONGEVITY: B  (Keeps you busy on a rainy day)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Could make the game a little harder.

OVERALL  : 3.28

COMMENTS : Recommended for kids, but not for adults.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Time Cruise (Hu-Card)  Review by Kevin Kramer.
  ------------
Video Pinball just keeps getting better!  Time Cruise is the latest (and I
think greatest) video pinball game for the TG-16.  It is very reminiscent of
Devil's Crush, but it is definitely not a sequel to it.  Time Cruise has
expanded the main playing field to seven screens.  Scrolling both vertically
and horizontally.  There are also six bonus stages that are reached by
entering time warps (hence the games name).  The bonus stages consist of 
both pinball action and puzzle action.  For instance, you can warp back
millions of years and try to kill amoeba-like creatures in standard pinball
fashion, or you can be warped to the future and try to manipulate the ball
through a puzzle by tilting the board (like the ball in the maze game that
has the knobs on the sides that tilt the playing field).  All in all, a very
fine game.


GRAPHICS : B  (Adequate, but nothing spectacular)
SOUND    : C+ (Nice and subdued; nothing overwhelming)
MUSIC    : C+ (Good music but, as always, gets repetitious)
GAMEPLAY : A  (FUN!!)
LONGEVITY: A  (I can see playing this off and on for years)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: The pinball physics are a little "funny" sometimes.
              Maybe some sort of two-player cooperative game, one person
              ends up sitting and watching for quite a while (just like
              in Devil's Crush)

OVERALL  : 3.27

COMMENTS : It is nice that TTI is putting out some different games for
           the system.  Time Cruise is a great change of pace from the
           kill-or-be-killed games.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Turrican (Hu-Card)
  --------
You are the Turrican cyborg on a mission to destroy all bad guys!

GRAPHICS : A- (Nice job on graphics... excellent opening screen)
SOUND    : A- (Very good sound)
MUSIC    : A  (Nice theme tunes)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Needs a joystick)
LONGEVITY: B+ (Frustrating at times... need long rest periods between games)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Get rid of color interleaving.  It's not necessary!

OVERALL  : 3.55
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Wonder Momo (Hu-Card)  Review by Teh Kao Yang.
  -----------
Cute Anime girl beats up bad guys game. 

GRAPHICS : B- (Some nice Anime-style cinema displays)
SOUND    : B-
MUSIC    : B-
GAMEPLAY : C
LONGEVITY: B-

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.58

COMMENTS : This old and rather obscure 2-meg Hu-Card by Namco features Momo,
a girl who can transform into a superhero.  She beats up assorted bad
guys in an unknown number of progressively difficult stages.  The game has 
lame graphics and awful gameplay.  You have very few moves and very little 
space to move around.  However, I decided to check out this game because of 
seeing the cute Anime girl on the cover art.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Valis: The Legend of a Fantasm Soldier (SCD-ROM)  Review by Brad Hamlett.
  --------------------------------------
I assume most people know the story behind the Valis series, but, just in
case, I'll go over it once again, since this particular Valis game is
worthless without the accompanying storyline.  Yuko Ahso is a Japanese high
school student who also happens to be the owner of a legendary sword called
Valis (Varis).  As such, she often has to battle evil forces in alternate
dimensions.  This game is the story of her first adventure.  Basically, one
of her classmates, Reiko, gets bored with the everyday high school life and
runs away to the alternate dimension.  After she disappears, the high school
and the immediate neighborhood are invaded by monsters.  Just as Yuko is
about to be eaten, a voice calls her name and a shining sword appears in her
hand.

The game itself is of a standard side-scrolling run, jump, slash, and shoot
type with animated intermissions (the only nice part about this particular
game, BTW).  Unfortunately, this is definitely not one of the better ones.
For one thing, the game is too short.  There are only seven levels and they
are really short (even shorter than in the Genesis version!).  No save
feature as well, which is surprising in a CD game, but since this is a very
short game, it is not much of a problem.

The graphics are colorful, but there is no parallax scrolling whatsoever.
We've seen multi-layered backgrounds in Valis 4, and that was a regular CD
game. What did they waste the 2 megabits of the Super System card on?  The
background graphics aren't any better than the ones in Valis 3 (a 1990 game),
in fact some of the backgrounds are even worse.  True, there are some
nice-looking backgrounds; one segment in level 6 looks EXACTLY like the
background in the Shadow of the Beast, but they don't break any new ground
for the TG-16.  The only indication that this game is a Super CD is the
absence of interruptions during the intermissions.  That's nice, but how
about improving the gameplay?  The main character is sluggish and takes
quite some time to get used to.  It takes about two seconds to recover from
a jump or a slide.  It is especially hard to turn around after landing or
when crouching.  On top of that, Yuko looks like a severe case of anorexia
(peer pressure in high school?).  The music is nice, but nothing special.
I liked the voice actors, though.

The game is somewhat harder than the Genesis version, but gets very easy
after you learn the patterns.  The last boss (Rogles/Rogres) is very hard,
though.  To defeat him, your timing has to be perfect (somewhat difficult
with the sloppy controls), plus you have to pound him for a very long time.
The lifebar is much shorter than in the Genesis version, plus the hearts that
partially restore your strength are few and far between.  The same can be
said about the stars that replenish your MP - you cannot afford to miss a
single one.  The whole business of trying to get enough MP and HP for the
battle with the boss makes the gameplay extremely rigid.

Character moves: 

Attack: Button 2
Jump  : Button 1
Magic : Up   + 2
Slide : Down + 1

The sliding is somewhat tricky. You can destroy some enemies while sliding
into them, but you'll get hit when trying to slide into others.  Also, you
are still vulnerable to enemy attacks when beginning the slide. 

There are different kinds of magic (you get a new magic after defeating a
boss character); you can choose the type of magic you want to use with the
Select button.  So far the only magic that I found useful is a force field,
which protects you against several enemy hits (no time limit, though).
Your basic attack is a sword slash (like Strider).  You can pick up different
weapons along the way - the usual assortment with an energy wave, homing
fireballs, etc.

There are several nice things about this game.  The magic spells and weapons
look good, the enemy characters are large and well-animated, especially the
boss enemies (the two-headed dragon in level 5 looks great).  The
intermissions are well-drawn and there are plenty of them (I loved the intro
with Yuko rushing off to school.  I was also surprised as to how graphic the
death of Izar was, with blood gushing out of his mouth).  But no matter how
I like anime intermissions, they do not make the game.  If I wanted to watch
anime, I would have called AnimEigo and ordered a tape of BubbleGum Crisis
or Vampire Princess Miyi (would have been cheaper, too).  As it stands now,
Valis is a very average game which does not even compare to the previous
entry in the Valis series (Valis 4).

Now my theory.  I might be wrong, but I got the distinct impression that this
game was programmed by different people, since the the first screen to come
up says "Riot" instead of the usual "CD Laser Soft."  That would explain the
differences in control and character appearance.  Also, this game is very
different from the Genesis version ("nothing in common" would be a better
description).  My guess is that the Genesis version was programmed by Telenet
and the PC Engine version by somebody else. 

P.S. A nice touch: if you try playing the game with a standard system card,
you get a picture of Yuko holding a Super System Card saying something like:
"You need 2 megs of RAM to play this game!".  Kind of cute.

GRAPHICS : B
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A
GAMEPLAY : C
LONGEVITY: B

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 3.17
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Valis II (CD-ROM)
  --------
You are Yuko and you must fight your way through many levels to defend
your honor.

GRAPHICS : A- (On upper levels, some of the backgrounds look a little
               cheesy... the sunset in Act 4, for example)
SOUND    : A  (Nice sound effects)
MUSIC    : A  (Nice soundtrack)
GAMEPLAY : B+ (Yuko just doesn't have as much mobility as in Valis III)
LONGEVITY: A  (A fun game!  A little frustrating on the torchmen and
               green jelly stage (Act 4), though)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: What can I say.  I'm a fan of the slide technique in Valis
              III.  If it were included here, it would make the game a
              bit better.

OVERALL  : 3.83

COMMENTS : A great game, but not as great as Valis III.  The voice actress
for Yuko happens to be Shimazu Saeko (Yuri from Dirty Pair anime).  This
tidbit was brought to you from Sergey Shimkevich!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Valis III (CD-ROM)
  ---------
You are Yuko again and you are on another quest.

GRAPHICS : A  (This is top-notch stuff, flicker-free, and detailed...
               I hate color interleaving and they've pretty much
               avoided it here)
SOUND    : A+ (This is CD audio and, as is expected, first-rate)
MUSIC    : A  (Theme song is cool... slightly annoying after awhile)
GAMEPLAY : A- (Normally, I'd recommend a joystick for action games,
               but this game plays almost as well without one)
LONGEVITY: A  (This game will make you want to play it again and again...
               if you have a CD ROM, you OWE it to yourself to get this
               game)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: The CD-ROM is slow in loading scenes.  Maybe the new
              Super System Card 3.0 will improve the performance, but I
              doubt it.

OVERALL  : 4.00

COMMENTS : A solid top-grade for a top-notch game.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Valis IV (CD-ROM)  Review by Sergey Shimkevich.
  --------
The last time we've left the Valis series, Ramses (or Glames) has been
defeated and Yuko was carried to Heaven with a mysterious tractor beam
together with the Valis sword.  Those whose "great" idea it was clearly
exhibited the failure to plain ahead, since villains abound in the videogame
dimension. 

It turns out that a long time ago a king named Asfal gave his son, Garugia,
a "beast ring" which gave the wearer extraordinary powers.  Garigua, being an
irresponsible kind of person was quickly corrupted by the ring and set out to
achieve absolute power.  The gods decided that it would be best to lock
Garugia and his followers in a crystal and place the crystal on the bottom of
the ocean.  So far, so good.

Ten or fifteen years after the events of Valis 3 (and several thousand years
from the day Garugia was overpowered by the gods), the crystal rises from the
bottom of the ocean, swallowing a ship in the process (nice intro!).  Garugia
and his followers escape and proceed to conquer the Human World and the Dream
World.  Queen Valna is captured.

A small band of warriors led by Cham escape from the Magenshu (Garugia's
troops) and take shelter in an abandoned house for the night.  One of the
members of the group, a young girl named Rena (Lena) decides to go back and
rescue Valna on her own, but Cham notices her and is about to deliver a stern
lecture when a strangely familliar voice calls on Cham to let Rena follow her
destiny.  Rena and her twin sister Amu set out on their long quest.

After completing the first level, they arrive at the palace where Garugia has
tied Valna to a cross and is about to kill her.  Rena and Amu attack Garugia,
but he easily overpowers them.  Just as he is raising his axe to deliver a
killing blow to both Rena and Amu, a strange light envelops their bodies and
they disappear before Garugia's eyes.

Rena and Amu find themselves in an unfamiliar place and facing a strange
person not unlike Garugia in appearance.  He introduces himself as Asfal,
Garugua's father.  It was he, who has teleported them away.  He says that
only the sword of Valis can overcome the power of Garugia's "beast ring".
The three start their journey to Heaven to get the sword of Valis.

Like the other Valis games, part four is a side-scrolling action title with
animated intermissions.  There are nine levels in the game with a boss
character at the end of each level.

You get three characters to use in this game (Rena, Amu and Asfal), although
in some places you will only be able to use one or two characters.  Each has
its own strengths and weaknesses.

Rena is equipped with a sword that shoots out a power wave.  She can fire it
rapidly, but it has a limited range.  When powered up, the range and width of
the wave increases.  She is also able to slide past obstacles
(like all characters in Valis 3).  She is invincible when sliding, but,
unlike Valis 3, she cannot attack enemies by sliding.

Amu's weapon is a boomerang (of a kind).  It has good range, but you cannot
fire it rapidly.  When powered up, the range of the weapon increases.  Her
special ablility is a double flip jump (as in Revenge of Shinobi or Super
Ghouls and Ghosts).  Thus, her jumps are longer and higher than Rena's or
Asfal's. 

Asfal's weapon is a staff that shoots out energy balls (in the form of wolf
heads) that skim the ground.  When powered up, the range increases.  His
armor allows him to walk on spikes and through energy barriers.  He also does
not slide on slippery surfaces.  His large size, however, makes it difficult
to duck under the enemy shots.

Each character possesses her/his own magic.  You start with level 1 magic and
increase the magic gauge by picking up blue spheres on the way.  After you
use the magic, the gauge will slowly recharge by itself, although when you
use a level 3 magic, the gauge will go down to level 2 and will be recharged
only back to level 2, thus you'll have to pick up another blue sphere to
bring it back to level 3.  Also, if you are hit by an enemy or change your
character, the MP gauge will also go back to zero and you'll have to recharge
it all over again.

Characters' magic:

Rena:
Level 1 - A ball of lightning flies in a stright line
Level 2 - A ball of lightning circles overhead.  Very useful for defending
          from attacks from above
Level 3 - Lightning rains from the sky and destroys all enemies on the screen

Amu:
Level 1 - Two fireballs fly across the screen
Level 2 - Three fireballs bounce across the screen for some time, damaging
          the enemy
Level 3 - Four fireballs circle the screen, destroying all enemies

Asfal:
Level 1 - Fires a spread of three "wolf heads" forward
Level 2 - Fires a spinning "wolf head" forward
Level 3 - Two flame walls go across the screen, destroying all enemies

The life bar is much shorter than in the previous Valis games.  You start
with meager six HP (believe me, it is so easy to use them all up in no time).
When you pick up brown spheres, your weapon powers up and your life bar
increases.  You can fill it in by picking up small and large herbs.  The life
and magic bars are the same for all three characters.  If you die, the life
bar goes back to level 1 (the magic bar stays the same).

GRAPHICS : A  (Parallax scrolling in the first 4 levels)
               Lena in the cinema displays looks hot)
SOUND    : A
MUSIC    : A- (No Grammys, but some tunes are really nice)
GAMEPLAY : A  (One of the best run/jump/slash games I've played)
LONGEVITY: A- (Nine very long levels)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: Definitely the best Valis game there is.  More well-rounded
              than part 3 and much better than parts 2 and 1. 

OVERALL  : 3.85

COMMENTS : All in all, if you have a TG-16 CD-ROM and haven't got this game
yet, I strongly recommend it.  One of the few games that I haven't regretted
spending my money on and one of the even fewer that I actully kept.
Personally, I would rate the Valis games in the following order:
4 -> 3 -> 1 -> 2 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Victory Run (Hu-Card)  Review by Chris Fleming.
  -----------
In Victory Run, you are the driver of a rally car, trying to complete the
Paris to Dakar road rally.  There are eight stages each of which you must
complete within the allotted time, or you're out of the race.  In addition,
you must dodge the traffic, avoid slick road patches, and handle various
road conditions.  A 4-gear manual shift transmission is your only choice,
but that little roadster can really haul (230 km/h-140 mi/h).  And if this
weren't enough, you also have to deal with failing car parts; after all,
8000 miles on crummy roads is a long ways.

While I normally love driving games, this one left me a bit dissappointed.
First, the good things.  The controls in the game work well, with button I
as the accelerator, button II the brake, up and down operate the gear shift,
and left and right move the car left and right.  I was a little worried that
with the gear shift on the thumb pad, I might accidentally shift when I
didn't want to, but this doesn't seem to be the case, and works quite well
(unlike the default control setting in Sega's Monaco GP!).

The music is pleasant and sounds like good driving music.  That is, it
won't put you to sleep, nor does it detract from the task at hand.  Each
level has a different soundtrack (actually, I think there are only 4 BGMs in
the 8 stages), but the music sounds very similar for each stage, so that you
know it's different, but it's hard to tell what is different about it.
That's a nice design effort, I think!  The sound effects are ordinary car
sounds, with tires skidding, and engine noise, but really track well with
engine RPM and road conditions.  Another good thing is the level variation
in the road.  Bumps are really bumps, and can send you airborne.

Now for some of the more unfortunate game features.  While the game controls
work well, the car you're driving steers like a tank.  Going around sharper
corners is tough, and the graphics make it look like you're always facing
forwards.  Weird sensation.  And speaking of graphics, they are not that
well done.  The scaling of on-comming objects is very jerky, and the road
direction signs are so small as to be unnoticeable.  There isn't really
anything above average in the backgrounds or landscape.  I think what I find
most attractive about driving games (and driving in real life) is the
sensation you feel for going very fast over land on windy roads in a low to
the ground, sports car (although racing around traffic is attractive in games,
it's not what I do in real life!).  Because of this, I think that driving
games really require good graphics to be successful games.  And in this
case, Victory Run's average graphics don't excite me enough to come back
for more.

GRAPHICS : C
SOUND    : B
MUSIC    : B+
GAMEPLAY : B
LONGEVITY: C

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 2.55
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Y's Book I & II (CD-ROM)  Review by Bryan Duvan and TurboKid.
  ---------------
You are Adol going on a dangerous quest.  This is a serious RPG game!

GRAPHICS : A+ (Love the beginning sequence) 
SOUND    : A+ (Great thunder and lightning sounds... eerie) 
MUSIC    : A+ (AWESOME!!!  "Many !'s had to be deleted for reasons of
               space" - your friendly-neighborhood editor) 
GAMEPLAY : A  (A little difficult when fighting bosses) 
LONGEVITY: A+ (This is not one game, but two games on one disk... WOW!!!
               The save feature really helps in this game) 

PLAYERS  : 1

OVERALL  : 4.25

COMMENTS : This is one intense game and the reason why I bought the CD-ROM
           player. Get this game if you can!  "Definitely better than its
           successor, Y's III, and one of the best games for the TG-16" - Ed.
           Be sure to check out the ending game screens when you win.  They
           are extremely well done!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Y's III: Wanderers From Y's (CD-ROM)
  ---------------------------
You are Adol on a quest to fight and kill the evil Demanicus.  Much more
arcade-like than its predecessor, which suits my tastes better.

GRAPHICS : A  (Wow Wow Wow!!!  This RPG's got it all... multiplane
               scrolling, detailed characters and monsters, complexity,
               etc.  Fans of anime should check out the scenes upon
               beating the game.  Wow Wow Wow!!!)
SOUND    : A+ (Excellent sound effects and cute story)
MUSIC    : A+ (This is another top-notch effort in videogame music)
GAMEPLAY : A- (You could boost your score significantly with a joystick,
               but the Turbopad is adequate)
LONGEVITY: A  (This one grew on me after awhile... I'm usually not into
               RPG's, but there are many, many action elements in this
               game... there are ways to cheat and build up your
               character as well... I'm all for that!  The save feature
               is an excellent idea!)

PLAYERS  : 1
IMPROVEMENTS: My only gripe is how jerky the scrolling is... sometimes.

OVERALL  : 4.05

COMMENTS : It doesn't get much better than this, folks... this is
           top-quality gaming... at $40 at Babbages, it's a steal!

-END-