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  • Sega Visions (Winter 1991/1992)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Originally a quarterly released and later bi-monthly, Sega Visions was Nintendo’s answer to Nintendo Power though I don’t think it ever reached monthly status. The Winter 1991/1992 issue covers the Sega Master System, Genesis and Game gear and includes:

    • Game Doctor – Questions answered about a potential history of Sega article, 32-bit arcade hardware, and the graphics hardware capabilities of the Genesis.
    • Party Line – Previews of upcoming games for Sega systems including Chuck Rock, Speedball 2, Back to the Future Part III, Heavy Nova, Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday, Starflight, John Madden Football ’92, Fatal Rewind, Shadow of the Beast, Caliber .50, Vapor Trail, Arcus Odyssey, Master of Monsters, Beast Warriors, Ys 3, ThunderFox, Growl, Saint Sword, Pit Fighter, Rolling Thunder 2, F-22 Interceptor, Rampart, Warsong, Breach II, Corporation, The Terminator, and Chuck Rock all for the Genesis. Plus Pac-Man, Batter Up, Junction, Berlin Wall, Devilish, and Rastan Saga II for the Game Gear.
    • Game Reviews: Sega Genesis
      • Art Alive – Digital art software for the Genesis featuring tons of graphics including various video game characters.
      • Galaxy Force II – Conversion of the arcade 3D shooter.
      • Golden Axe II – The classic fantasy themed beat-em-up.
      • Dave Robinson’s Supreme Court – An early basketball game for the Genesis.
      • Streets of Rage – Strategies for this beat-em-up.
      • Quackshot – Strategies for this action game featuring Donald Duck.
      • Shining in the Darkness – Strategies for this RPG.
      • Mario Lemiux Hockey – An early hockey game for the Genesis.
      • Pit Fighter – A fighting game but not one of the best.

    • Game Reviews: Game Gear
      • Sonic The Hedgehog – The classic platform game for Sega’s portable.
      • Clutch Hitter – An ok baseball game.
      • The Lucky Dime Caper – An action game featuring Donald Duck.
      • Halley Wars – A sci-fi themed vertical shooter.
      • Chessmaster – Chess on the go.
      • Putt & Putter – Miniature golf is the best kind of golf.
      • Space Harrier – Classic Sega 3D shooter.
      • Ninja Gaiden – Conversion of this arcade classic for the Game Gear.
    • Game Reviews: Sega Master System
      • Sonic The Hedgehog – Probably the last major release for Sega’s 8-bit system. It was much like the Game Gear version as they were pretty much the same hardware.
    • Niles Nemo – A continuing video game themed comic.
    • Visions & Views in the News – Results of a reader art contest; results of Sega’s tour through malls in 25 cities; and info about a new book featuring interviews with famous teens who play video games.

    …and more!


    Retro Games Sega Genesis Sega Master System 📎and tagged

  • Gaiares

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Gaiares

    If you are a fan of horizontal shooters, then Gaiares is the game for you. It was released by Renovation for the Sega Genesis in 1990. It was one of the first 8Mb cartridges for the Genesis and was probably the best shooter for the Genesis at that time.

    The title Gaiares is a combination of “Gaia” meaning Earth and “res” which is short for rescue. The game is set in the year 3000 and most of Earth has become a toxic dump. Some bad guys are trying to harvest some of the toxic pollution to create WMDs. A third party warns Earth about these guys and tells them that if Earth can stop them then they will help clean the place up. If not, they’re just going to blow up the planet to stop the bad guys themselves.

    Gaiares has a few features that are quite unique. For instance, instead of collecting weapons as power ups, your ship learns the weapons of enemies it shoots. There are 18 different weapons in the game that can be captured and these each have various strengths. While many of the levels show obvious influences from other games like Gradius, there are unique visual elements as well, including many of the bosses. The bosses are huge and often take up nearly the whole sceen. There is also significant use of parallax scrolling. These features combine to make this a visually impressive game.

    If there is a downside to Gaiares, it is that it is a relatively difficult game. This is not for the neophyte shooter fan and you will have to spend some pretty long hours to beat it, some of them no doubt frustrating. Having said that, veteran shooter fans may look forward to the challenge.

    There have been no sequels or re-releases of this game that I am aware of. You will have to either hunt down an original cartridge which isn’t cheap (currently loose carts start at around $50) or play it on an emulator. For shooter fans, this game is well worth it though.


    Retro Games Sega Genesis 📎and tagged