ActRaiser

Are you awake?

Something feels different when you start playing ActRaiser. There doesn't need to be an overworld for a side scroller, surely. What do I need assistance with? Just give me a sword and point me towards the enemy.

There's a reason for all this and I suspect it will be both interesting and irksome.

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Ice cream!

A long time ago - I don't know when - I saw the original Rollerball on TV, the brutal future sport involving motorbikes, rollerskaters, studded leather gloves and heavy metal balls. It was entertaining, if not for the plot then for the idea of the sport ever taking off and becoming a thing in the first place.

Surely there had to have been a game or two that did a similar thing to that, and sure enough, there is. A few of them in fact, with Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe taking the crown - with force.

You manage a team in a 9 v 9 game of football meets handball meets pinball meets ice hockey. It's as hectic as it sounds and as much as the sport has supposedly been reformed into a non-violent game, it is a hard-hitting pastime.

But it sounds fun, right?

The Secret of Monkey Island

"So you want to be a pirate, eh? You look more like a flooring inspector."

When it comes to point and click adventure games, you can find yourself playing all manner of genres and levels of sensibility and seriousness. When it comes to Lucasfilm point and click adventure games, you tend to know what you're going to get: humour, and lots of it, with The Secret of Monkey Island standing tall above the rest as the go-to funny game, certainly for this period in time.

Despite sequels and remakes, it was only recently when I finally saw first hand what this game presented to players, in the form of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, which overhauled the graphics entirely and yet allowed you to play with more of an old school look if you wanted that bit of authenticity. It also added sound effects, voice acting and music to the mix, as well as the greatest tool in a point and click game - hints.

How many hints am I going to need in this adventure?

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

The long battle-filled journey has finally ended.

I'll be honest here - I continually mistake the Wonder Boy titles for Alex Kidd titles. It's probably because I grew up with the likes of Mario and these other games simply never got a look in, or, of course, it could be ignorance. I'm not going to say that's impossible.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap isn't an Alex Kidd game, but a Wonder Boy game, which means we're playing as Tom-Tom out on his merry adventures to... cure himself of a curse (given to him by dragons) that turns him into different creatures. That's a video game plot if ever I've heard one.

But how does it play?

Stunt Car Racer

Drop Start.

Source // Lemon Amiga

I simply could not picture Stunt Car Racer until I saw a screenshot of it and said "ah, yes, that one, the early 3D one or something. Wasn't it awfully slow?"

I don't know the answer to that question because I've not seen much of the game, I certainly haven't played it, and don't have any hope at all of correctly telling you which port of the game I saw. Maybe I've seen a few, I just don't know.

Stunt Car Racer, to me, is that almost throw away game in documentaries about modern racing video games, but if it's on the 1001 list then it must be there for a reason, so it's about time I found out why.

Strider

He will never leave Eurasia alive.

Source // Wikipedia

I own but have never played the 2014 remake of Strider. I've seen it, as well as the 1989 arcade original, but haven't played either. I haven't schwinged Strider Hiryu's sword like a maniac, I haven't scaled the walls and flipped over platforms, I haven't slid under stage hazards.

What am I missing out on, I wonder? Perhaps a strange choice of words, considering I've seen them both in action, but I've forgotten much of what I've seen.

If Strider is good enough for a remake, then I better play Strider.

Prince of Persia

Or is that the Prince of Pressure?

Source // Wikipedia

When it comes to trial and error, I find myself having to be really invested in something in order to persist through all of those trials and every single error. If I'm not, frustration is generally not too far away. Prince of Persia is going to test me a fair bit...

Perhaps the king, rather than the prince, of trial and error gaming, Prince of Persia is unmistakably iconic to look at and play. I've seen it before, many a time, but playing it hasn't yet happened, probably because I think it'll be a nightmare - therefore why bother?

Well, we bother so that we can confirm or contradict our preconceptions, so it's about time I found out first hand whether Prince of Persia will keep me hooked or not.

Will we save the Sultan's daughter from the evil Jaffar, or will we fall face first into any and all spike pits we find?

Populous

For the Lord will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many.

I remember that when I first got this PC for the purpose of going through the 1001 list, one of the first titles I tested out was Populous and that was the first time I had ever played it. It may even have been the first time I'd seen it, though I've definitely seen some type of game that looks like this. Set in Rome, I think. The name escapes me. So does the reason I bring it up. Where the hell was I talk-

Populous is about playing God, and that's the kind of power a great many of us would want to wield, only to inevitably see it be our downfall, which is exactly what can happen in this game. It's you against a CPU God (though multiplayer was available), each hoping that your followers will build their numbers and their strength and drive out their foes one way or another.

Sounds promising.

Pang

You've got a long way to go. Take it easy.

Disappointingly, Pang isn't a clone of Pong, but when it comes to simple little games that drain your pockets of spare change, they both have to be up there on the list.

Balloons are attacking landmarks and locations across the world, from Mount Fuji to the Taj Mahal, from Ayers Rock to Athens and beyond. It is up to the Buster brothers to mount a harpoon-based assault on this deadly threat, and the faster they do it, the more points they get - and recognition for saving the world, of course.

Will we pop along to all 17 landmarks, or will we simply just pop?

Herzog Zwei

Duke Two, Me Nil.

Source // Oldies Rising

It is safe to say that Herzog Zwei had never even blipped up on my radar before seeing it on the 1001 list, and beyond knowing that 'zwei' is german for 'two', I was completely stumped as to what this Sega Mega Drive title could be about.

Reading up about Herzog Zwei gives you the sense that it is a kind of Command & Conquer before Command & Conquer - a real-time strategy that doesn't have base building per se, but does have unit and resource management, but not in the same sense as any RTS with which you may be familiar.

It's alright seeing that on paper, but what about with a controller in my hands?