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Back to run and gun games, we have:
Mystic Formula (PCE SCD) -
An average game. The graphics are okay, but you've seen better on the same system. The story is basic, with decent cinematics. You get to choose between four characters, each with different weaponry that can be powered up. Similar to The Legendary Axe, you can wait for your shots to charge up, or go in blazing with constant but weaker ones. Scrolling is a bit off, but you get used to it. At least on easy difficulty, you can bum rush your way through most stages, but one hit deaths and start-of-stage continues keep the game from being a complete cake walk. The graphics for the final boss do stand out.
Worth a shot! Get it?
If you are a viewer of 80's and 90's anime, the more you play these CD games, the more voices you will recognize. Raiden, the main male character, definitely has a voice I've heard before. I'm not good with voice actor's names, though.
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!!! NEO NECTARIS !!!
This game is responsible for me losing two consecutive nights of sleep. Not from playing it, but waiting for it to come in the mail! It did NOT disappoint! If you liked Military Madness, then this one is required playing. A true sequel that outperforms the original. And it includes the original game! Of course, the CPU is still a cheating bastard! Almost every time you desperately need a particular attack to work, AND your stats and position are favorable, you'll STILL miss!
WARNING! You can only save after completing a mission, so be sure you can devote the time it takes to beat later stages.
From my blackout/brownout topic:
"I was playing Neo Nectaris, getting things handed to me the way that game does, when after three long hours of edge of your seat play, the tide had miraculously turned! BUT, as I was finally close to winning, I had a feeling that the power would go out. Yup."
NOTES:
There is a PC DOS Military Madness game with additional maps and even new units! I've never finished it, though. I probably should do that . . .
With better 3D graphics nowadays, the PSX version doesn't look as good anymore. Perfect example of older, less technologically advanced 2D graphics (Turbo) looking better in some ways, especially color, than 3D ones.
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Peripherals, etc. I (used to) own:
Alas, I sold a couple things when I needed money, or gave stuff away.
For example, I still have the manual for Bomberman '93, but the game is long gone. I gave it to a friend a quarter century ago!
My multiplayer tap is gone.
My 128k memory base is gone! But that thing ate through batteries, anyway! I didn't have an adapter for import hucards, as I was focused on CD games, so the ten no koe bank was impossible for me to use at the time.
I DO still have two 6 button Avenue Pads!! They save you a couple button presses when playing Emerald Dragon.
At a bookstore, I bought a color illustrated guidebook for the first Record of Lodoss War game that came with the game! It was a neat little package that only cost me about 1,000 Yen, or about $10! After beating the game, I gave it to the same person that has Bomberman '93.
I still have one mailer from Turbozone Direct! At one time, they had sent me a free copy of that Hudson 1993 music CD, but I have no idea where that went!
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!!!!! TURBO TRIVIA CONTEST !!!!! Over the course of this thread, I will ask ten questions about the Turbografx/PC Engine. The first, second, and third people to PM me all ten correct answers will receive a prize! These are TBD, but will all be Turbo related! Contest good only in the contiguous 48 states, as I will pay the shipping charges.
Question one:
In Ys I, which track number on the CD is the music for the abandoned mines?
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More Neo Nectaris!
I was originally going to leave things as they were, but I've decided to play through the whole thing again, and tell you how it goes.
First things first, I had forgotten how good the graphics are! They really went the extra mile, or is that kilometer, since it's made in Japan. The music is a big upgrade, very military like and appropriate. That opening title sequence with the moon is still awesome and effective!
(This clip cuts off the first and last couple seconds of the title for some reason.)
今, 命運 は あなた の 手 に!
Ima, meiun wa anata no te ni!
Now, our fate is in your hands!
My hands? We are soooo SCREWED!
UPDATE:
It took me three tries to beat stage three. I never said I was good at the game! Already had one of those BS moments when I should have annihilated the target. Eventually, I was needlessly attacking a surrounded unit, when I saw the way clear to take the enemy base. Tsk tsk. Armchair general my behind! More like below even private!
Stage 4: I am already getting better at predicting the outcome of battle. Now, to predict everything else, so I can actually beat the stage!
I like the factory capture sequence of the original better. The graphic in Neo has a nice anime look, but it's stationary with no special music.
The real skill comes in getting it right the first time! I'll never be THAT good a player, at least not consistently, but it's still fun!
Got it on the second try.
The map graphic for the Grizzly tank looks to me like there's a large guy's upper torso and arms sticking out of it.
Beat map 5 on the first try! Yay! Don't expect THAT to happen often!
And map 6! BED. NOW!!!!
Okay, no more stage by stage! Just highlights.
First, I had forgotten how many new units there are!
Compared to games of today, there are so few animation frames! I think that's one of the reasons Prince of Persia stood out in its time.
It's also interesting how much data such a, nowadays, low spec machine as the turbo can handle. We're looking at multiple units at various coordinates with many different abilities and states of activity and well-being, plus the graphics and sound effects, plus the math played out in an attack, etc. etc. There's a lot of stuff going on!
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