Unfortunately after a lot of promise the PC-Engine port of Strider ended up being a bit of a disappointment (especially when taking into account that it requires the Arcade Card memory expansion), and I'd have to say that the famous Mega Drive version trumps it. With the negative out of the way though, thankfully the gameplay of Capcom's brilliant arcade game is still here, the CD renditions of the original music are very well done, and there's a selection of extras not seen anywhere else that help to make this version stand out amongst the many ports, such as new cut scenes, voice dialogue, and even a respectable exclusive level.

Cute shooter which has you flying through the weird and wonderful stages dispatching some wacky enemies and bosses. The power-up system has you simply picking up pieces of equipment as you want, with the items cycling through a selection of choices until grabbed. There's a little bit of a language barrier at first, as the items actually have Japanese writing on them telling you what they are, but you begin to recognise the symbols pretty quickly.

Adventure game where you explore a large world gaining the ability to turn into different animal forms and open up new areas. I was actually pleasantly surprised with this one, its rough around the edges sure (one particularly nasty jumping section with the Panther immediately springs to mind), but the world is interesting to explore, there's a good plot and nice voice acting, the animal forms are fun to use, and the platforming is mostly well done. Some finicky controls probably make this a game that is not for those with little patience.

Vertically scrolling cute-em-up which is a Parody of the Star Soldier series in the same way that Parodius is supposed to be a parody of Gradius. The game looks great, has fantastic presentation, and imaginative backgrounds. Its a very easy game though, so its more for beginners, as experienced players will probably coast through the levels with minimal difficulty.

Block falling puzzle game similar to Puyo Puyo that's based on the Bomberman brand. Panic Bomber has you matching colours three in a row attempting to set off chain reactions to dump garbage on your opponent. The game also throws bombs at you. The Black bombs pile up, but the red bomb's detonate them and set-off a chain reaction that can clear away all the bombs on the screen. A fun block falling variant that has its own interesting nuances.

Polished fantasy-themed vertically scrolling shmup that is mildly reminiscent of shooters like Phelios and Legendary Wings. The game has good power-ups, a lot of action, and some nice boss designs. Its just a fun and playable no-nonsense shmup really, and the fantasy theme makes a nice change from all the spaceship shoot-em-ups out there.

Clever horizontally scrolling shmup where you can cycle between a selection of different firing directions as required. The game is tricky at first, but is rewarding to learn. This version of the game is lacking the powered blast shot, but unlike the Mega Drive port retains the 2-player co-op mode. The game defaults to Easy mode, and gives you on the spot repawns, making it a little less challenging than other versions.

Probably the best home port of the game available. Rainbow Islands is a unique and original release from Taito that has you climbing up the tall stages creating rainbows to use as either stairs or a weapon against the myriad of monsters populating the levels. Coloured gems, are hidden in the stages and are revealed by hitting them, all gems are required to properly complete the game. The PC-Engine version of the game actually allows you to save and replay the levels in order to get hold of the required gems, which is a very nice addition.

SNK's fighting games were well represented on the PC-Engine CD, with all of them ported admirably to the machine by the brilliant Hudsonsoft. World Heroes II is no different, coming away from the porting process looking very impressive. On the outside this looks like just another Street Fighter clone, but it actually has a bunch of gameplay differences which help to differentiate it. The main difference here is that the normal attacks use only two buttons but the buttons are sensitive to how long they are pressed, with a short press giving weak attacks and longer presses giving strong attacks. This is trickier to get a handle on than usual, but adds another layer of skill to the game and is well suited to the PC-Engine's default 2-button pad. Other than that though you can also reflect projectile attacks by blocking at the last second, and there's an interesting additional mode that is a lot of fun in two player which works like a tug of war between players, made more chaotic by environmental hazards littering the floor. Overall its a cool, forgotten fighter with great presentation and character designs. Much better than the SNES port.

To my mind this has to be the best traditional JRPG in English on the system. Cosmic Fantasy 2 has all the usual RPG tropes, you go on an epic quest exploring a big world, buy equipment in towns, meet new people, and attack dungeons. Whilst doing nothing particularly standout, its a good example of its genre as the game is pacey, with little grinding, has a good plot that contains a lot of twists and turns and likeable characters. Translators Working Designs produce some funny dialogue. The CD format also lends some additional pro's not common to RPGs on other systems of the time, such as animated cut-scenes and high quality music. Some of the sequels were also worth checking out (such as CF 4 ch2) but did not get Western releases.