Retro Review: Devilish

Developer: Starfish	Year: 2005	Played on: Nintendo DS
Players: 1	Also available for: /	Genre: Bat ‘n’ Ball

When classic titles are announced on a modern handheld, you’d think shady developers working in dark and dirty backrooms are trying to make some easy money by making a port of the original game. Well, regrettably, those things happen pretty regularly. It’s a bit of another story With Devilish on the DS though.

Some of you might remember Devilish on the Sega Genesis (aka Bad Omen in Japan) or maybe the Sega Game Gear version. Both date from the 1991-1992 period and are classic Bat ’n’ ball games. Well maybe classic isn’t such a good call after all, because the gameplay is far off from the ever epic Arkanoid games who’ve set the mark in this category, but we’ll dive into that matter later on. The point I was trying to make is that Devilish on the DS is clearly based on the gameplay of the Genesis and Game Gear releases, but is actually a completely new game with a new storyline.

Lost in Japan: The Sega Teradrive

Developer: Sega & IBM

Year: 1991

In my collection: No

Life lesson number one: There are no certainties in life! Except death that is… and movie licenses turning into crappy games. Or was it the other way around? We sure do live in confusing times. But let me try to rephrase that! When two successful companies put their resources together and make a new product, also known as Co-branding these days, there’s just no chance that their joint effort will produce an awesome new product, right?

Wrong! Chances are slim but possible. Chances even are you are using one of those products every day (or you’ve bought it as a present for Mother’s Day at least). I’m talking about you, shiny red Senseo coffeemaker. But I guess I’ll leave the juicy details of the passionate relation between Philips and Douwe Egberts untouched for now.

Retro Review: Super Cars II

Developer: Magnetic Fields	Year: 1991	Played on: Amiga 500
Players: 1/2	Also available for: Atari ST	Genre: Racing > overhead

Ain’t got no rocket in my pocket

What do you get when you throw two arcade classics like Super Sprint and Badlands together and put it in the hands of Developer Magnetic Fields (which had already built up a strong reputation with Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge at that time)? Right, an awesome overhead racing game titled Super Cars II, packed with scrolling tracks and weapons to blast the competition to the moon and back.

Super Cars II is the logic sequel to the very first Super Cars, released only a year earlier. Things have improved much since that first installment. The sequel didn’t only get new tracks and polished graphics, but also a very enjoyable and much needed two player head to head split-screen mode. Fire those rockets and burn some rubber!