Time Cruise II (PC Engine)

Time Cruise II

Face

HuCard, 1991

When many people think of pinball games on the PC Engine (or TurboGrafx-16), games like Devil's Crush or Alien Crush come to mind...however Time Cruise is a great game in it's own right and one of my first exposures to video pinball.

In the US the game was just called Time Cruise, however in Japan the Roman numeral II was added. When you boot up the game, you get the title screen on the left. Doors open up, revealing different areas. Oddly enough this is the US title screen. Once the screen goes black, the large "II" appears and then the game title.

On this screen you have 3 options. Play, Practice and Option. The option screen basically lets you choose a different controller layout, but unfortunately it's not choosing different buttons. Nope, it lets you choose an option to use multiple controllers. It's a very odd set up and I should have taken a picture of this option so you could better understand what I'm trying to describe. The default controls: left on the D pad and the II button control the left and right flippers. Pressing the I button will shake the table. Over pressing this button could cause a Tilt and forfeiting your ball.

What helps make this game stand out from some of it's pinball competitors on the PC Engine/TG-16 is the sheer size of the table. The table is basically comprised of 7 screens. The middle section is three screens tall, while the side tables are made of two screens.

This large layout gives you plenty of things for the ball to hit and ricochet off of to net you some big points. The game changes screens quickly as the ball moves around and its usually pretty easy to follow the ball. If you're wondering why the game is called Time Cruise, at the top of each section are these silver warp gates. You first have to activate them by hitting the trigger about 5 or 6 times with the ball. A path will then illuminate to the gate letting you know it's ready. If you can work the ball over to the now active gate, you'll be transported either into the future or into the past.

One of the areas in the future is this table that you have to move to roll your ball to the hole in the green area. Obviously is game was released far before there was motion controls, so to move the board you manipulate the X and Y axis. Do it before the time runs out and you'll earn an extra ball and add some serious points to your score. I used to be able to work this table pretty easy, but I've become rusty.

One of my favorite warp tables is this caveman golf area. You are a small caveman and you have to golf the ball over water hazards and keep the ball from going into the bushes, labeled OB (for Out of Bounds I assume). You have a gauge at the top of the screen that measures how hard you hit the ball. If the ball falls into the water, you start over where you are. However if you hit it out of bounds, it takes you up one level. Make your way to the bottom and successfully hit it into the hole and you'll earn an extra ball and a lot of points. With practice, this isn't very hard, but it's a lot of fun.

Another warp area set in the past is this medival themed table. As the ball ricochets off the treasure chests at the top, they open to reveal gold inside. If you hit all 6, they close and you get a new point tier (represented by the roman numerals in the background). The chest in the middle is actually a little monster that moves around the screen.

The bottom portion of the table has 6 swords. The color on the handle changes as the ball hits them. Hit them all and you'll illuminate another roman numeral in the background. The sides of the top and bottom tables are lined with pink jelly creatures and white masks that act as bumpers.

my high scores from my recent play (CJH)

Overall this game is a lot of fun and it's still one of my favorite pinball games on all retro platforms. The music on the main table is very forgetful unfortunately, but better in the warp areas. With the large size of the table, there are several open areas that are kind of bland. What I mean is there isn't much going on in the background. No moving pieces to look at in the background as Alien Crush or Devil's Crush has for example. Those tables seem more organic where as Time Cruise is more inorganic (if that makes sense).

Both the US and Japanese versions of Time Cruise will run you at least $50.00 on the secondary market for a complete copy of the game. That price is a little steep if you ask me, but if you like video pinball and you've never played this game then you need to pick up a copy in some way shape or form.

Retro Store Visit: Joe's Classic Video Games - Rock Hill, SC

One of the things I like to do most when I travel is to search out and visit local video game stores. I'm surprised at how many I've been able to find (and visit) all over North and South Carolina where I work and live. While some of my visits have been better than others, it's still fun to always come back to the blog and share my thoughts and opinions of said stores.

Right in my backyard of Rock Hill, SC is a really cool store located in historic downtown, Joe's Classic Video Games. What sets this store apart from the others I've visited is the fact that they also refurbish and sell arcade machines. It's always fun visiting their store because you'll never know what cabinets you'll run across. On my latest visit they had a very nice Neo Geo cab that had the 1 in 161 MVS cart installed for $899. I also spied a very nice Dynamite Cop and original Rolling Thunder cabinets.

While their presence on the web may not be as slick as other sites operated by retro game stores, you can easily check on what arcade machines they currently have available for sale as well as machines they are currently working on.

In addition to arcade games, they of course have a wide selection of games for systems ranging from the Atari 2600 and Sears Intellivision to more modern systems like PS3 (and everything in between!). They also carry consoles, including clone consoles like the Retro Duo as well as supplies. I had my girls with me on my recent trip so I wasn't able to take photos of the store, but I'll make sure to do that the next time I pay them a visit. Look for a future post.

On this visit I walked out of the store with several baseball games. If you read my previous post on the Famicom Baseball game, then you'll know I've been in a baseball kick so the games that I usually don't notice were the games I was looking for on this particular visit.

It's nice to be able to walk into a local store and have so many choices. This haul is a pretty good representation of the different platforms that Joe's has to choose from. Also a nice thing about the shop are the prices. Most of the prices are very reasonable, though there have been times where I've found copies of the same game that are price differently. Sometimes I can't tell why when other times I think they are priced different due to the overall condition of the cart, sticker, booklet, etc. I personally like this touch as there are times I'm willing to pay a few dollars more if the game is in better condition.

All but two games in my haul were baseball games, so if you don't care for baseball then check out Super Puyo Puyo for the Super Famicom. My oldest daughter was helping me go through their surprisingly large selection of SFC games and Super Puyo Puyo caught her eye. I told her it was a color matching puzzle game and she asked me if it was anything like some of the games she plays on her tablet. I told her "yes" and she asked if we could get it. Priced at a reasonable $6 I let her add it to the stack. Another genre that I really enjoy and often look for is pinball. I don't often look through Playstation 1 games, but my girls were flipping through them and I saw KISS Pinball. I've actually been looking for this game since I learned of it's existence so I was very happy to find this. 

On the baseball front, Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball for the Sega Saturn was stuck away at the bottom of a small stack of Saturn games in their display case. It was only $5 and it was complete (with the foam block!). The jewel case was beat up, but aren't most Saturn cases when you find them in the wild? For the Sega Genesis I found two games, Cal Ripken, Jr. Baseball and R.B.I. Baseball '94. The first was missing it's instruction bootlet, but the latter came complete. Both were cheap. I also grabbed a loose copy of Cal Ripken, Jr. Baseball for the Super Nintendo since it was like $2. It'll be fun comparing these two games to see if one is better than the other. The lone NES game is Major League Baseball and the loose Genesis cart is World Series Baseball. I don't normally buy loose Genesis carts, but it was a only $1 and I figured I may be able to make my own case using The Cover Project.

All-in-all this is a great shop and has a feel that other shops I've visited just don't have. Great selection of games (and more) and even if you aren't in the market to buy yourself a full size arcade machine, it's still cool to check out their selection in person. If you ever find yourself in the area I urge you to stop by downtown Rock Hill, SC and pay Joe's Classic Video Games a visit.

Baseball (Nintendo Famicom)

I'm not a huge fan of sports video games, in fact until recently I only owned a few select sports games. Over the past few weeks however I've started picking up various baseball games, both domestic and import games. Perhaps it's my love for watching baseball or my baseball card blog that has sparked the interest, but I figured why not share a few of these games.

I thought about doing a top 10 list, but it's so hard for me to rank games like that so I'll just stick to a single post for each game. I wasn't sure where to start either, so why not head to the 3rd generation and start with Baseball?

This is the Famicom version of the game obviously. The game was originally released in Japan in 1983 as part of the "pulse" set. This picture label of the game was released in 1985. Developed and published by Nintendo themselves, I thought this would be a pretty decent 8-bit game. Afterall, the game that shares the same name on the Game Boy was pretty good. Sadly I was wrong.

The game does support two player, head to head action...which I guess is a good thing. This game did not have any licensing from Major League Baseball or the Players Association, so all you get to chose from are a few generic teams represented by different letters of the alphabet.

There is only one game to play and that is your traditional 9 innings. No options to spice up the gameplay or to even shorten the length of the game.

This the main screen you'll see whether you're batting or pitching. It's pretty basic with your in field diamond and your infielders. Notice there is only one umpire and he's behind the plate. He'll magically appear in the field where there is a play at one of the bases. Your score and ball/strike count legends appear in the lower left corner of the screen.

Controls are pretty basic when it comes to pitching and fielding. The players will run to the ball when it's hit. If it's a pop fly, you can basically just let the computer guide your player underneath the ball for the out. However when it's a line drive to the outfield, you will have to direct you player to the ball. Then you'll have to wait and wait some more for the sluggish outfielder to pick up the ball. Right on the D-pad is 1st base, up is 2nd base and left is 3rd base. Pitching isn't complicated either. Press a direction on the D-pad and press B to throw the ball. Don't worry about walking too many batters or striking them out as the computer will most likely nail every pitch you make.

Get used to seeing this Home Run screen. Not because you are the one hitting all the HRs, but because the computer will probably bury you. My game started off pretty good, then in the 3rd inning I gave up a solo HR and then a 3 run HR. I eventually hit a HR of my own to come within 3 runs...then the massacre began. It was so depressing I turned the game off in the 7th inning because there was no way in hades I was going to win.

Yes, you read the score correctly. I was getting beat 26 to 1 in the top of the 7th inning. Maybe this is why I really don't like sports games...because I suck! Yeah, it was a pretty bad outing by me and my team...but I at least was able to enjoy the game. I can't say I'll be re-visiting this game much in the near future, it's still a fun reminder of how far baseball video games have come in the last 20 or so years.

Pocket Zaurus: Juu Ouken no Nazo (Nintendo Famicom)

Pocket Zaurus: Juu Ouken no Nazo

Bandai

Bandai, 1987

One of the things that I enjoy about the Famicom is the sheer amount of games that are available for the console. Many of these games can be purchased for just a few dollars and even if you're buying them from an overseas seller the shipping usually isn't too bad since the carts are small and light.

From time to time I'll take a chance on a game, especially if I'm already buying something else as another game doesn't usally effect shipping too much. Enter Bandai's Pocket Zaurus: Juu Ouken no Nazo.

Going into this game I knew nothing about it, only that it was a side scrolling action game. I grabbed this quite awhile ago and it was shelved immediately, only to recently be played for the first time. Judging from the art on the cart's front label I was looking forward to playing the game. Seeing the little dude holding a large boomerang I thought may this could be Power Blade-esque? 

Nope. The game plays nothing like Power Blade, one of my favs on the NES. You control what appears to be some type of green dinosaur boy. You walk left to right and can attack with a short range projectile attack. You'll notice at the bottom of the screen is a large black area that lists your lives, health and score. Throughout the game other words will appear here, but since I can't read Japanese I have no idea what it half the text is saying. 

After doing a little research it appears that the words that pop up are a type of quiz. I think it may effect the story (which I still can't figure out) and you can earn power up items with correct answers.

I played for about a half hour and while it wasn't boring, I couldn't quite get in a groove. It just seemed like your mediocre NES era action game. Nothing special to stand out in a crowed library for the system.

The 2nd level started off as a side scrolling shmup and instantly I thought maybe the game had potential. This part of the game felt a little like Fantasy Zone, however the shooting part was short lived as it wasn't long before I was flying over the ground and my character jumped out of his round little ship. I tried to keep playing the game and figure it out, but after continuing a few times I just lost interest. I'll revisit the game again at a later date to see if I can get any further, but for my first playthrough let's just say the grade I give the game is "I" for Incomplete.

8 Bit Art - Yea or Nay?

Many Target stores have started carrying video game related items in the electronics department such as retro clone consoles, wallets, keychains and sticky note art. You may have seen these packs of 8 Bit Art at your local store.

Several weeks ago I found these packs of "art" had been moved to the toy aisle. I was hoping they had been clearanced from their original $4.99 price point, but they hadn't. I was with my wife and she thought it was pretty cool, so I grabbed the different packs they had available to determine which one to get. All three available were from the original Super Mario Bros. series. There was a larger Fire Mario, a small jumping Mario and the one I purchased.

This product is just what it says it is...sticky note art. However the sticky notes aren't very sticky and just like a Post-It note, the adhesive is only on the top part of the paper. So you guessed it, they don't adhere to the wall at that well. While putting them up on the wall, I was constantly fighting pieces falling off and I become quite annoyed. The package comes with 3 stacks of sticky notes, red, brown and peach. There is also a paper measuring strip that helps you line up the art on your wall. The process of putting the image together wasn't that bad, but make sure you have a level handy so you make sure you get everything straight from the beginning.

Once I was able to get the image complete and I stepped back, it didn't look that bad. I didn't get some of the squares perfectly straight so my OCD started to kick in and annoy me. I thought the finished product looked good, but how long would it last on the wall? I'm sure you are wondering the same.

Other than a few pieces falling off, the image stayed up on the wall for several weeks, I recently decided to remove it as I wanted to get some customer framed canvas squares with game logos hung on the wall where Mario was. By the time I removed the small sticky notes, many of them were curling up. I don't think Mario could have lasted much longer. 

Overall I believe Mario stayed on the wall for about a month. Honestly this is longer than I thought. It's a great idea, but the execution just seemed to fall a little short. Now had each sticky note square had better or more adhesive, then perhaps I'd have a different final opinion. Have you worked with one of these kits? What was your experience with it? 

Reproduction Spotlight: Mega Box Reproductions - NEC PC Engine & PC-FX

Reproduction video games seems to have become a topic that is widely debated. For the gamer who just wants to play a game on original hardware, it's a blessing. For the collector who has the original (rare) game, reproductions can hurt the value if their...dare I say investment? 

For me this is nothing new. When Takara, the original manufacturer of Transformers toys started re-releasing many of their original toys, the "value" of the original toys on the secondary market took a nose dive. While this was temporary with toys, it seems to be temporary with video games too. There will always be those who want the real, authentic product.

The thing about that is there are many video games these days that are just stupid expensive. One of these games is Zenki for the NEC PC-FX. This is one of the few games that an English speaker like myself can play on a system that is widely full of dating sims, strategy games and visual comics...all heavy in the Japanese language. Zenki can fetch well over $500 USD on the secondary market...if you can find it.

Several months back I ran across Jon Stover, owner of Mega Box Reproductions in a Facebook group. I sent him a direct message asking if he was able to make reproduction games for the NEC PC-FX. He said he had never done so before, but thought it was a possibility. I first had asked him if was possible to make a custom case for a disc only game I had purchased on eBay, PC Engine Fan Super CD-Rom Vol. 3. You see, this "game", or sampler disc contained a playable demo of Tyoushin Heiki Zeroigar...or better known as Super God Trooper Zeroigar. 

(click on the images for a larger view)

 

This game is (sadly) the only shmup released on the PC-FX. I've been dying to play it ever since I learned of it's existence. One day my eBay search for the sampler finally yielded a result so I pulled the trigger on this disc only release. Jon said he thought he could help me out, but I needed to supply him with the cover and back. I did several Google image searches and finally found what I needed. The cover/booklet had a vertical orientation, which was different, but ultimately proved no problem for Jon to print up. He did a great job creating this jewel case for me, including the spine. I know some people don't care how a game looks on the shelf, but I could stand just having a naked case for this disc.

After I had got the ball rolling on this one, I started to wonder if Jon could make a reproduction of the actual Zeroigar game. After several DMs on Facebook and sending him a few more images, he was able to create a reproduction for me. The first one used an English patch of the game and unfortunately it was a little glitchy, so he quickly offered to send me another disc. This one played perfectly. Check out the great job he did with both the case and the disc art.

I had no idea that Jon was going to also make the spine sleeve for the game. This was a very nice treat to receive! If you've never played the game, there are a lot of anime style cut scenes that advance the story of the game. The first time I played I watched most of the scenes as it's interesting, but since I ended up w/ the original version w/ Japanese dialog I couldn't really figure out what was going on. The gameplay itself is above average. It isn't nearly as good as some vertical scrolling shmups I play on the system's predecessor, but it isn't bad. I'm so glad to own this because I just didn't see myself dropping $200 USD on this game.

While Jon and I exchanged messages via Facebook regarding these two projects, I also asked him about one other...Zenki. Yes, the fabled, super expensive side scrolling beat 'em up. Now that I had given Jon some practice w/ PC-FX games he thought he could tackle this project as well. Unlike Zeroigar that came packaged in a standard jewel case, Zenki was released in one of Hudson's larger overized clamshell type cases. I just happened to have a donor game (Angelique Special) so I gutted the case and put the game, manual and insert aside and awaited for my package to come. Jon did a great job making sure the insert he printed up wouldn't be damaged in transit. Once I assembled the packaging, I was amazed. Jon did a great job recreating the insert...of course with a few small changes here and there to denote it was a reproduction.

I'm not sure why Hudson used these larger cases for some of the PC-FX library of games, but I personally love them. It gives you that Neo Geo like feel and they look beautiful on your gaming shelf. The game is really fun to play and I do plan on doing my own review for the blog at some point. I highly recommend you head over to Jon's Etsy store, Mega Box Reproductions and order your own copies of these two highly sought out, English friendly, expensive games. Yeah it would be cool to brag that I owned the originals, but at the end of the day I do like to play games and this is a great way to do that.

Mega Box Reproductions also offers more than just what I have shown. Since he made these for me he as also branched out in to Sega Saturn games. There are several expensive shumps I'd like to try eventually. I have purchased a few PC Engine reproductions he's made and just like the work he did on these PC-FX games, the PCE games are just as beautiful and play perfectly.

(click on the images for a larger view)

I haven't spent as much time w/ Fray CD as I would like, but so far it's a fun game and I've enjoyed what I've played. Beautiful packaging. I particular love how be makes the spines blend in with other Super CD-Rom 2 games.

I love this Macross game. A side scrolling shmup, this one I sat and played for about an hour the day it arrived in the mail. Colorful images, beautiful packaging, including the disc art. 

As you can see Jon Stover does some BEAUTIFUL work with his NEC reproductions. While Fray CD or Macross aren't that difficult to find and the prices of the originals aren't out of reach for some, I can't recommend him enough for the PC-FX reproductions be made. If you have the console and you can't speak/read Japanese then surely you are like me and limited with the games you can actually play and enjoy. Zeroigar and Zenki are both great games that unless you have a lot of expendable income, won't be playing anytime soon...unless you head over to his shop and place your order today.

Transformers: The Headmasters (Nintendo Famicom Disk System)

Transformers: The Headmasters
Takara
Takara, 1987

If you follow my toy blog then you'll know I'm a pretty big fan and collector of Transformers. When I first learned that there was a Transformers game released for the Nintendo Famicom I was beside myself. Then I played the game. Let's just say it's easily one of the worse video games I've ever played. Even this Transformers fan can't make excuses to enjoy the game...even though I wanted to like it.

If Takara didn't learn their lesson with their first Transformers Famicom effort, The Mystery of Comvoy, they tried again. This time however they released a game on Nintendo's Famicom Disk System and went with the Headmasters theme.

The game looks and plays a lot like the original, but this time you control Rodimus Prime instead of Ultra Magnus. The game does let you choose which planet (level) you'd like to play. I remember you had Cybertron, Earth and a few other planets to choose from, but if I'm being honest the game is so bad it doesn't matter which planet you go to as they all leave a lot to be desired.

If there are any redeeming qualities for this game over The Mystery on Comvoy, it's that you have a health meter. No more one hit kills. You also get to play as the other Autobots that you rescue and being that it's a Disk game you can save at certain points in the game. Of course these redeeming qualities only come into play if you can make it anywhere in the actual game! Just like it's predecessor, this game is tough as nails and pretty unforgiving. This is one of those games that'll make you want to hurl your controller across the room in frustration.

After about 10 minutes I had to call it quits. When a game is so difficult that you can't make any progress it just sucks out all the fun. I tried and tried and tried. I really wanted to like this game, but I just can't recommend it at all. Maybe as a display piece if you're a Transformers fan (it isn't the easiest game to come across), but if you are just a fan of video games all I can say is stay away, very far away! If you want to play a good Transformers video game, my recommendation is the Playstation 2 "Armada" game or the War for Cybertron games on the PS3/Xbox 360.