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90 |
Ryukuyu |  |
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| Interesting puzzle game from Japanese company "Face". Here the aim is to place cards on a grid to make poker hands horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, each type of hand gives you a certain amount of points, and each stage has a points requirement which must be reached to proceed. Before delving into the library of the PC-Engine I'd never actually heard of Face, they seem to be a 3rd party company who never strayed from the PC-Engine, and whom didn't seem to last very long. Face's games, whilst sometimes flawed, are always worth checking out, and usually have some nice ideas and concepts in them. Ryukuyu is no different, having an odd concept which actually works much better than you would think, it can become quite compulsive after a few plays. | |||||
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89 |
World Court Tennis |  |
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| This is a sports/RPG amalgamation from Namco where you can either choose to play a straight game of Tennis, or play a quest mode which has you traveling from village to village buying upgrades and earning money from winning random encounters, all striving to defeat the "Evil Tennis King" who's been plaguing the land. The Tennis gameplay here is cutesy, pick up and play stuff, and is decent fun on its own, the RPG mode is simplistic but helps to add some extra longevity. | |||||
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88 |
Puzznic |  |
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| Puzzle game from Taito where you have to shuffle blocks around so that they are next to other blocks of the same type. This is a good version of the popular puzzle game, and even includes some of its own additional modes not found in other versions, such as a frenetic mode where the blocks fall from the top of the screen, needing to be gotten rid of before they quickly pile up and fill the screen. | |||||
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87 |
Alice in Wonderdream |  |
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| Another game from Face, this platformer is like a cross between NES Mega Man and the original Super Mario Bros. You get to fire projectiles and do a charge shot (a la Mega Man), but can also jump on the heads of enemies, and have to deal with a lot of momentum (a la SMB). The levels are a little more Mega Man in their nature, with lots of tough platform jumping, ladders, and the odd vertical sections here and there, but you really need to utilise the head stomp move properly to get anywhere. The gameplay also has a few of its own tricks, such as abilities (chosen by pressing start) which allow you to search for hidden items, or jump higher, these are indispensable for stocking up on health, or making difficult sections easier, and believe me you want to use everything you can as the game can be a little brutal at times. Definitely a game for those wanting some proper challenge! | |||||
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86 |
Klax |  |
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| A very popular puzzle game in its time, Klax has you stacking tiles in groups of three of a kind. In the game you need to catch each tile before it drops, and then flip it onto one of the stacks, you can also hold back some tiles to drop later (which adds some tricky maneuvering). The game is one of the most ported titles out there, but the PC-Engine version is one of the best of the original versions, retaining the arcade's voice clips, and some very precise control. | |||||
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85 |
Alien Crush |  |
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| The first of Naxat's genre re-defining pinball games on the Engine. Alien Crush gives you a memorable alien-themed table, and the new gameplay mechanic of teleporters which send you to other mini-tables each with their own objectives. The game is great, but honestly its sequel pretty much does everything better. Still its nice to have another great option when you feel like you need a break from Devil's Crush. | |||||
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84 |
Makai Prince Dorabochan |  |
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| Here's a platformer starring a character people may know from the SNES game Spike McFang. The game gives you a wand to hit enemies with, as well as an unlimited supply of tomatoes to lob, and power-ups which provide you with additional abilities such as projectiles and a double jump, You can also duck at the last minute here to make yourself invincible (this is what the collected tomatoes are for). Overall its a flawed game, with sometimes makeshift graphics but its fun, has some original ideas, and isn't short of charm. | |||||
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83 |
Cyber Core |  |
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| This is a very nice vertical scrolling shooter that's reminiscent of games like Xevious, and Dragon Spirit. Like the two aforementioned games this utilises two plain shooting, you can always either fire forwards to shoot enemies in the air, or bomb ground targets with your secondary weapon. The game has a pretty cool bug theme, with your spaceship taking many elaborate insect-like forms, and the gameplay is fast, smooth, and responsive. | |||||
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82 |
Power Drift |  |
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| Here's a pretty decent port of a great Sega arcade racing game. Power Drift has you racing your big buggy down twisty, turny roads and huge roller coaster-style ramps and dips. The port is far from perfect but it still manages to retain much of the original fun. | |||||
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81 |
Atomic Robokid |  |
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| This is a kind of platform and shooter hybrid where you fly a little robot around a variety of different stages, some linear, others maze-like, whilst dispatching the enemies with a number of different weapons. The game plays well and pits you up against some impressively sized bosses, this version has also been tweaked a little (there's now a health bar instead of 1-hit kills) to make it easier and more accessible than the original arcade game was. | |||||
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