Another Western RPG adapted by the Japanese, this time by the excellent Hudsonsoft based on the classic computer game by New World Computing. Might and Magic III is an ambitious 1st person view RPG that tries to create a completely seamless psuedo-3D world. Unlike many of the other RPGs from the era this keeps all its overworld's, villages, and dungeons in 1st-person perspective, you just walk around from place to place exploring the world and everything in it. Like most of the best Western RPGs this is quite non-linear, you're free to look around, gain experience, and search out for your own feats to accomplish. The game gives you an entire party of characters to control, and has a lot of depth, with character having a large number of different stats and talents (some characters are better at lockpicking for instance). On top of gaining experience and buying equipment you can also find and gain new abilities for your party. All in all the game is just filled with interesting features and nice touches.

This is a port of the Mega Drive's excellent Wonder Boy in Monster World game, a cute and colourful adventure title which had you traveling around gaining new abilities and opening up new areas of the map whilst fighting a plethora of monsters with spear and sword. This is a very close port of the game, outside of a change in some sprites (the game now stars a Beetle-styled protagonist) it looks and plays almost identically to the original, with only the new CD quality music as a big departure. The game is fun and accessible, and the unique music is still of a high overall quality. The developers Westone also released another adventure game on the PC-Engine named Blood Gear, which should be checked out by those who don't mind a language barrier.

This includes improved versions of the first two games in the Ys series with new FMVs and fantastic new CD audio (some of the best quality music of its era). The two games play like a mixture of Zelda and action RPGs, you get a lot of puzzle filled dungeons, and fights are kinda' active (it has an odd system where you run into enemies at an angle to damage them), but there's also a lot of focus on gaining experience and equipment. The first game is simplistic, but fairly short, and serves as a taster of its more complex sequel. You have to play both of them together, but they're actually quite seamlessly joined. One of the Turbografx CD's most important early releases.

This frenetic sequel to the PC-Engine's shmup classic Gate of Thunder is a huge departure for the series, but manages to be another exceptional release nonetheless. The gameplay here has you flying through fantasy worlds controlling a flying god wearing Knight's Armour. You get to choose from multiple different element-themed armour's when you start the game, each with different moves that can be powered-up, and the usual shot based weaponry is supplemented by a risky melee strike with your sword. The presentation and attention to detail here is up to the high quality of its predecessor, and the varied stages and set-pieces are as imaginative as always.

Compile, the most consistent 4th generation shmup company do it again with another excellent release. The game is reminiscent of many of the company's other games, like the classic Space Megaforce on the SNES, or the Mega Drive's MUSHA, with lots of action and screen filling weapons. Here the power-up system has you collecting coloured orbs, you can hold three at a time, and different combinations of colours have different effects, so its wise to experiment. Overall the game looks good, sounds great, and has some memorable set-pieces and level designs.

This has to be the second most famous and popular block-falling puzzle game after Tetris itself. After that quintessential puzzle classic became huge, other companies tried to come up with a winning formula, and out of those, Compile's Puyo Puyo was the one to really hit the mark and do something new with the idea. Puyo Puyo has you matching up four blobs of a colour to remove them from the playfield, but by setting them up in a certain way you can create a domino effect, combo-ing away multiple sets of blobs. Unlike many of its competition, the combo system in Puyo Puyo is very intuitive and easy to pick up, making for an excellent 2-player competitive experience.

Hyper impressive vertically scrolling shmup from Publisher Hudsonsoft. Sapphire has you blasting and weaving your way through well designed bullet patterns shooting at large numbers of enemies and avoiding memorable bosses with some of the most complex attack sequences of its generation. The game gives you the usual selection of smart bombs and weapons power-ups, but also allows you to send off your helpers to attack the larger enemies too (done by letting go of the fire button). The graphics and set-pieces here are phenomenal, with the game packed full of pseudo 3D and scaling effects, huge rotating bosses, and stacks of animation. Definitely one of the most impressive games of its generation.

Again Hudsonsoft manage to deliver a fantastic, and impressive SNK port that proves to be leagues better than the other 4th generation versions. After a good start, with some fun releases, Fatal Fury Special (itself essentially an improved special edition of Fatal Fury 2) is where the series became the real deal, and rose to be a true competitor to the Street Fighter crown. The game includes all of the usual fighting game tropes, such as quarter turn specials and combos, but here you also get two separate layers that you can jump back and forth between to avoid attacks, and the gameplay tends to have more focus on setting up and reacting to your opponents actions. Its a great port, it looks fantastic and plays well.

Games like this are the reason for the PC-Engine's fame as a shmup lover's dream console. For anyone who's played them, Gate of Thunder most resembles the Mega Drive's Thunder Force series of games, you get multiple types of weapons which are useful for different situations, and can swap them out on the fly depending on what's needed. Each weapon here can also be upgraded by collecting power-ups, and the direction of fire can be turned by pressing both buttons, which gives the action an extra level of complexity. Outside of the gameplay we have some very attractive graphics and audio, and what has to be one of the greatest intro's in gaming!

The best 4th generation Castlevania bar none! Rondo of Blood manages to incorporate all of the excellent platforming elements from the earlier games in the series, whilst adding the adventuring and freedom aspects of its more experimental, but flawed predecessor Castlevania II, So here we have the usual horror, and classic platforming and whip cracking gameplay the series is known for, but also with multiple paths and secret characters to discover along the way. Presentation is very good, especially where it comes to in-game animations (the bosses look fantastic) and music and cut scenes, with the capabilities of the emerging CD format put to good use. The game's added depth and overall polish really make it stand out as the superior experience over its SNES and Mega Drive siblings.