A classic mid 80s arcade shooter and one of the most important games of its genre. Its a credit to Gradius' enduring gameplay that it still manages to hold its own quite well even going up against the far newer shooters of the 'Engine's library. Sadly there's quite a bit of noticeable slowdown here, but all in all this is a very good version of the game, it even has its own exclusive level specifically designed for PC Engine which really helps to make this version of the game well worth owning.

Don't let the makeshift graphics shown here dissuade you from what is a very smart and well set out puzzle game. Puzzle Boy (known as Kwirk for its western released Game Boy outing) has one simple objective; reach the exit, to do this you have to push blocks, make bridges, and twist rotating barriers in the right order. Its a nice premise and the game is just a very accessible and fun experience.

Here's a fast and exhilarating top down formula 1 racer that looks good, keeps you on your toes, and provides some respectable customisation options for the era. I spent some time with all the different iterations of the game and personally I felt that this, the first game in the series was actually by far the most playable on PC- Engine as later games seemed to get harder, and more unforgiving with each new release.

The only console conversion of the popular Capcom arcade game, PC-Engine Sidearms recreates the look and feel of the arcade game with consummate ease (shame about the missing 2-player though). The game is a shooter which allows you to fire both forwards and backwards (each has a dedicated button), as well as letting you switch on the fly between a bunch of different weapons by pressing the run button. Difficulty wise this is pure quarter-munching brutality though, you've been warned!

This is Face's attempt at creating a pinball rival for the Crush games, they make a good go of it, but just fall short of Devil's Crush in the polish and presentation stakes. Here the theme is time travel, we have multiple table sections joined together in all directions, and each part of the table includes a time machine which needs to be fixed, fix it and get the ball into the time machine and it teleports you to one of many mini-games where you can win an extra go. The mini games have a lot of variety, ranging from a golf style game, to games reminiscent of the old marble-in-a-labyrinth game. Overall this is a unique and original Pinball game that fans should totally lap up.

Download is an over-the-top scrolling shooter with a cool cyberpunk-esque style and excellent, small, detailed pixel artwork with a lot of pastel colours. The gameplay is fast and pacey, revolving around you constantly grabbing changing power-ups in order to top up your health and secondary weapons, its an exciting game, and there's some Engrish here which even gives the mighty Zero Wing a run for its money!

This is Hudson's answer to athletics games like Konami's Track and Field. The events here are done well, and are numerous, with all the classics you'd expect well represented as well as some new original ones. Outside of that the graphics are good, and the all important multiplayer options are there, making for a great party game.

Once you've gotten past the crushing disappointment that Sunsoft actually decided not to make a glorious, exclusive Batman-themed action game for the 'Engine like they did for every other system (and in fact if previews were anything to go by intended to do here too), you find that this is at least still an entertaining game in its own right. PC Engine Batman is essentially a maze game where you walk around the levels doing objectives such as picking up items, or cleaning graffiti, you can shoot at the enemies to stun them, and power-ups help you along the way, its a methodical, unassuming and sometimes compulsive game.

Here's a good 2-player motorbike racing game from Irem. The game has lots of courses, some pretty nice graphics with a lot of colour and some smooth movement, different weather conditions affecting your bike's control, and there's pit stops and parts management too. Gameplay wise the bikes handle well, you get a boost which adds some extra exhilaration to the proceedings, and the CPU riders offer good competition.

Tatsujin is a solid, tough vertical scrolling shmup from genre stalwarts Toaplan. Graphically it all looks very nice, gameplay wise it can be a little frustrating at times but it also manages to be quite compelling, and you'll always feel like having just one more go. As a port its very good (definitely a little better than the Mega Drive version I would say). Its usually very overpriced but if you find a good deal for it snap it up.