Latest Haul: Cheap Master System Fun
Well, it’s been a while since I did a Latest Haul post. Heck, it’s been a while since I posted, period! I figured I’d let everyone know I’m still alive and share my latest pickups. In fact, this is the first retro gaming purchase I’ve made since the Midwest Gaming Classic over six months ago! When you take a month off and travel Europe, gaming just takes a back seat for a while…
Anyhow, I’m back home and don’t start my new job until next week, so why not blog a bit? I dropped by my neighborhood used games/movies/music store and saw a few interesting items on the Sega rack:
Shinobi, Cloud Master, and Gangster Town
This shop occasionally gets a few Master System games, but almost always loose carts, and mostly sports games from the “Great” series (which, as any Master System fan knows is really not-so-Great). This time, though, they had boxed copies of Shinobi, Cloud Master, and Gangster Town! (But no, they’re not factory sealed — that’s just the store’s shrink-wrap.) None of them were on my immediate “to-buy” list, but at $1.99, who can resist? And pleasantly, I discovered that Cloud Master and Gangster Town are in complete, mint condition. Aside from a bit of dust, they look like they’ve never been played, the manuals have never been read, and the pack-in posters have never been unfolded. Nice!
Oh, and speaking of the Master System, I’ve been playing through Zillion. I’m about 80% of the way through, so I may actually have a review to post this week. Crazy, huh?
Alex Kidd: High Tech World (Sega Master System)
September 22, 2009 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Having been a Nintendo kid, I find the Alex Kidd series kind of strange. If I had to use one word to describe it, I think it would be “disjointed.” This probably stems from the fact that a couple of entires in the series are actually just rebranded versions of other games. (In fact, Sega’s other early franchise series, Wonder Boy, has a similar history.) The series kicked off in a not-so-disjointed fashion with a couple of standard platformers: Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars. But then it just turned kind of weird after that. There was an odd Japan-only BMX game, which I know almost nothing about, and then there were Alex Kidd: High Tech World and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World.
Alex Kidd: High Tech world is actually a rebranded version of a Japanese Master System game called “Anmitsu Hime: From Amakara Castle,” a game based off of some anime I’ve never heard of. Naturally, the US anime-audience being what it was in the 80s, that was not going to sell over here. So, Sega slapped their mascot onto the game and called it a day.
But, what is it, exactly? It’s actually a fairly interesting combination of adventure and platforming. But instead of being an adventure/platformer, it’s literally a set of alternating sections of gameplay. Sega also managed to throw a few tongue-in-cheek self-references into the mix, too. In fact, the basic premise is that you’ve just found out from your friend that there’s a new arcade in town and you really want to go play the new Sega arcade games. And you have to get there before 5:00, with the clock ticking the entire time.
Ninja Spirit (TurboGrafx-16)
July 25, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
As your footsteps fall silently upon the floorboards of the ruined temple at which you were born and raised, you barely have time to contemplate the untimely and unjust death of your father and the vengeance which you have sworn to obtain. With swiftness and deftness that can only come with a lifetime of training, you dispatch foe after foe with ease. But they are relentless. Bombs, knives, and swords fly at you as your enemies swarm about, seemingly appearing from thin air. Where are they coming from? Why do they want you dead? Why did they kill your father? There’s no time to ask questions. There’s no time to think, only to react.
Your sword slices through your attackers and shields you from their bombs and knives, but it is becoming more and more difficult to handle each wave of aggression on your own. You defeat an unusual ninja in bright orange, and as if on cue, an apparition appears. But this apparition does not attack. Instead, you discover that it mimics your every move. You gracefully jump hundreds of feet into the air and drift softly to the ground. It follows you every inch of the way, without a hint of effort. You look closer, and on the face of this apparition, you see yourself. You see your anger, your hatred, your determination. This apparition is your spirit. It is invulnerable and has every drop of strength and skill that you have. It will protect you.
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