Turbo Racing (Data East)

Perhaps the biggest change to Zelda 2 was the inclusion of an EXP system, similar to other Japanese RPG’s of the time. I think any kind of stats appearing in a Zelda game immediately got lot of fans backs up, though its hardly the most tactical system ever used, simply Life, Magic and Sword. The key to the game is the SKIP function, allowing to skip an upgrade in favour of storing the EXP for more expensive upgrades. This allows you to upgrade the sword earlier which is essential. As a kid I literally had no idea what these stats meant. No wonder I never managed to complete this!

Acclaims name is on the boxset, but Rare of all people programmed WWF Wrestlemania, Thank goodness, I guess we can expect another Rare Triumph then right?
Wrong! WWF Wrestlemania for the NES is broken! A rush job, produced by the WWF purely as a cash cow to milk something more from their audience. What can you expect from a company that tries to sue a wildlife charity?

CRT televisions have many advantage over modern displays when it comes to retro gaming, but the ability to play light-gun based games is perhaps the most obvious. Light guns work by manipulating the scan-rate of a CRT tele. Wild Gunman has a target on screen. When you press the trigger, you cause the screen to flash briefly. If your aim is true you’ll hit the marker. There is no scan-rate for a flat-screen tv, so the game is unable to know where you’ve aimed at the screen, ergo you’ll always miss.

Your mission is to put an end to the usual tyrannical dictator. Each level is broken into two sections. First you’ll have to survive a ‘dog-fight’, ie air combat against enemy fighter jets (I assume MiGs). As levels progress, the number of bogeys increases. By the final stages you’ll have to take down 9 jets before you can move on. These fights are initially where you’ll struggle most. You have a cockpit perspective.

You’d have been forgiven for thinking that having programmed one terrible game you wouldn’t be let back for another go? Well not Acclaim, they got the green light to not 2 but 3 swings at The Simpsons, each game basically as bad as the last. The middle seems as good a place as any to start this terrible trilogy, so here goes!

Mowgli must recover a set number of gems hidden in each level before being carried off to by a giant bird, you remember the giant bird from the story right? Gems are scattered across the furthest corners of the stages. Most stages work on multiple levels, getting to the tree tops can be challenging, mistakes are costly! Its frustrating to reach the end level only realise you’ve missed a gem at the beginning. However the constant backtracking adds another layer of gameplay and means you’ll get to really appreciate(or dread) every part of the level.