Captain Commando (Arcade, 1991)

 

It's Capcom's team captain from MVC1. Who? Yeah I'm wondering that too.

Try saying this 3 times really fast.

"CAPTAIN COMMANDO.

CAPTAIN COMMANDO.

CAPTAIN COMMANDO."

S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (NES, 1991)

     

A jetpack-based shoot 'em up with an absolutely terrible name, this one has been on my radar for about 30 years. Seriously though, this has to be the worst-named game in the entire NES library. It's a pretty solid Natsume game, though, and deserves a bit of recognition.

Vice: Project Doom (NES, 1991)

An NES game that a lot of people have sung the praises of over the years, most notably James "AVGN" Rolfe. It's a cinematic action game that is 80's as F, despite dropping in 1991. It's been on my list for a while, and I was way overdue to hit up something on the NES, so it's time. I'm just trying to figure out if that guy on the cover is based on Reb Brown or a younger version of John Kreese.

Final Fantasy Legend 2 (Game Boy, 1991)

 

SaGa 2 as it is known in Japan is probably my favorite Game Boy RPG overall. This gorgeous box cover is essentially a color reverse of Final Fantasy IV's SNES box. It's simple, effective, and leaps off the shelf. I don't think I ever saw this in stores as a kid, and eventually had to emulate it circa 2000. Mostly during a move where I was staying in a motel for a week and played this alongside finishing Lufia.

I don't know if it's actually the best RPG on the Game Boy or if I've been overrating it all this time, but it's definitely one of the best SaGa games. It takes everything that made the previous game good and improves on it. Let's see if I like it less after playing it again... hopefully it doesn't show its age as much as the first one did. This is a prime candidate for "leaving the memories alone" but here we go, my second playthrough ever.

Joe & Mac (Super NES, 1991)

 

"Joe and Mac"? Is this a Highlander game? ....no, but Highlander is returning next week. Meanwhile, this terrible box art hides one of the more classic SNES action games. It's a bit of a knockoff of the Adventure Island series, with the difficulty turned way way way down, and it's a lot of fun to play. As a kid, this was one of those "Nintendo Power games" that I was intriged by thanks to that magazine and wanted to check out on a rental or something. Never got around to it because there were just too many other things to try; our cup really did runneth over in the 90's.

In any case, this is actually my first time playing this series (for more than a 5 minute tryout). This game had an NES predecessor that was basically the same game but half as long, and it had an arcade version, Genesis version, spinoffs, etc. However, the games everyone knows and remembers from this series are the two* SNES ones.

The Little Mermaid (NES, 1991)

 

Here's a game that isn't in the Disney Afternoon Collection and probably should have been. I never played it before this, but I heard only good things about it over the years. It's just a pleasant little game, starring a cute redhead. Not sure why a drunken fish is sidling up next to Ariel though.

Today is a dark day for wrestling fans, but I'll do my best with this.

Super Earth Defense Force (Super NES, 1991)

 

1991 gave us two massive cultural touchstones that completely shook the world: Highlander II, and this space shooter from Jaleco that I never heard about until recently. Thought it was related to the Earth Defense Force series from 2005+, but nope, totally unrelated it seems. Trying it out anyway, as Jaleco usually makes good games. Also, "Jaleco" is like the most rad-to-the-max 80's/90's video game company title.

This is without a doubt the most attention this game has gotten in a long, long time.

Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)

 

Hands-down one of the worst sequels of all time. And with such an incredible poster / cover art, too. This is going to be a large post, because I'm looking at both the theatrical version and the Renegade version that attempted to fix the movie. Did it succeed? Ehhhhh.

Super R-Type (Super NES, 1991)

Time for one of my favorite SNES shooters. This is basically R-Type II remixed for the new SNES, with some R-Type content thrown in, and a couple entirely new levels. I got this game as a kid, one of the 10-15 games I got in the 1990's, and really liked it because I kinda had to. It was all I had to play for a few weeks there! It's a good game regardless, and certainly easier on the eyes than the Game Boy ones (which admittedly punch above their weight). Since we hadn't gotten R-Type II in the states at the time, this game seemed almost entirely new. Still no build variety though.

(Originally posted in 2014, rewriting some of it now to go with the others)

R-Type (Game Boy, 1991)

 

Another Game Boy Player's Guide game, and one I'm surprised I never posted about already. I actually got this game as a kid, one of the ten or so Game Boy games I ever owned. Unfortunately, out of those ten-ish, this was probably the one I got the least out of. I think I played it a grand total of maybe 2-3 hours at the most, and was pretty much done with it in one day. It's a very short game and doesn't pose any particular challenge, especially compared to other games in this series. Still, it's worth a look.

The R-Type series, from Irem, was sorta the Ross Perot of the shooter universe circa the 1990s. Not as popular or well-known as Gradius and not as beloved by the hardcore as the vertical Compile games. It has a number of innovations that set it apart from (and even surpass at times) the Gradius games.

Battle Unit Zeoth (Game Boy, 1991)

 

One of the many games I wanted as a kid and didn't get. And also one of the many games that I'm kinda lucky I didn't get because it isn't anywhere near as good as I thought it was. It's a fairly basic action game, nothing great, nothing bad either, but it can be finished fairly easily in about 30 minutes at the most. The same could be said for Kirby's Dream Land, but as a first game launching pad it does what it does very well. After that I wanted things that had a bit more longevity, given that I'd only get a game every couple months. This one wouldn't have fit the bill at all, and it has the illusion of complexity that isn't there. At least it has a mech in it, that's pretty cool.

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy, 1991)

 

This game is so much better than the previous one that it's mind-boggling. If I'd gotten this as a kid, I'd have had a total ball with it and would probably have it up there with stuff like Metroid II now. I know we were all hoping for Belmont Pachinko for the next game, but this'll have to do.

Ninja Gaiden Shadow (Game Boy, 1991)

 

Never covered a Ninja Gaiden game before. The NES trilogy is known for having these interesting, complex plots and cutting-edge cutscenes between levels. Well, don't expect that here. This was made by an entirely different design team and doesn't have much of anything for cutscenes or story. If you're lucky you might get a "Ryu's dad was researching spiders in the amazon right before he died".

The Hunt for Red October (Game Boy, 1991)

 

Another game from the Game Boy Player's Guide. This one has Sean Connery! ...on the box!

Shatterhand (NES, 1991)

 

It's time for the baddest game on the NES: Mutha-fuckin' Shatterhand! This is one of the most underrated games on the system. In it, you play as a Not-Terminator and punch your way through a bunch of platforming levels. Why is it called that? Apparently the guy's name is Shatterhand, which is a crazy coincidence considering he grew up to have a metal hand. I hope that's his last name at least. First name is probably something like Dave. This guy is so metal, he punches out his own God Damn logo! Brought to you by Jaleco!

Fortified Zone (Game Boy, 1991)

 

Another of the Game Boy Player's Guide games that I wanted to check out for a long time. Man, that Game Boy guide sold me on games so well that I'm still checking out stuff from it 30 years later.

This is a decent, if very short, game from Jaleco. Looked cool in the guide but wasn't expecting much, got a pleasant surprise.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Game Boy, 1991)

This is a particularly special game for me, as it was very nearly the first video game I ever bought. Unfortunately (yet very fortunately) the store didn't have it, so I had to "settle" for Kirby's Dream Land instead. Thank goodness. With the new movie out, it was time for me to finally play this game. Let's find out how history might have been different if this game had reached me before Kirby's Dream Land had a chance to intervene. Would it have stopped me from ever getting into video games with its sheer badness? Would Corona Jumper cease to exist? Let's find out.

(Originally posted November 2019. Now with more shots (mainly of the late-game) added. Also added some thoughts at the end on how to fix the game and make it good, which wouldn't actually take much)

T2: The Arcade Game (Arcade/Genesis/SNES, 1991-1994)

 

 Here's a game that a lot of us spent waaaay too many quarters on back in the day, because it was approximately the coolest arcade game on the planet for a while. One or two players can wield light guns and battle the forces of Skynet in a first-person rail shooter.

Wait a minute...where are the PURPLE LASERS?

(Originally posted: November 2016. I've decided to give the Game Boy version its own post, for...reasons)

Batman: Return of the Joker (NES, 1991)

Let's see if this is as ridiculously hard as the similarly-named Game Boy game. It's a similar-controlling game, but very different in terms of level layout, bosses, weapons, etc. So far, it seems like both of them are insanely hard and I don't know why I'm doing this.

I should just quit this site and become a Hot Tub Girl Streamer.

Super Mario World (Super NES, 1991)

Closing out the year with wholesome Super Mario World posts. Hard to believe I've never covered this. I haven't covered Super Mario Bros 3 either, but we'll get to that eventually. It's been hotly debated which of the two games is the better one, and that isn't a debate I'm ready to wade into. Instead I'll be getting into various memories of the game and my experiences with both playing it and reading about it.