Silhouette Mirage

Reflector! Reflector! Hup! Hup! Hup! Reflector! Bambambambambambambam!

Some video game titles just scream 'Japanese release' to me, and Silhouette Mirage is one of them. You just don't get titles like that from western developers; titles that don't quite sound right and give few hints as to what's going on with the game itself, if any.

But a game is much much more than its title, and this one will have us platform run and gunning our way around the place, shooting things in particular ways. What on Earth do I mean by that?

Ape Escape

It works. It actually works!

I know these monkeys. Not personally - I know of them. I know they made their way into Metal Gear Solid 3 and Little Big Planet in one form or another, and I know they come from the Ape Escape series - but I've no idea what that series is actually about, other than capturing escaping primates.

The only title from the series to make the 1001 list is the first, and I suspect that the reason for its inclusion is not for the plot, which we'll get to soon enough, but for the fact that this is the first game to require players to own a controller capable of, and then use dual analogue controls on a home console (better slip that caveat in there to cover my arse in case an arcade title got their first...) - a controller configuration that I, for one, have been using for 20 years now, across multiple console generations.

I've certainly used the now-standard PlayStations' controller then, but have never played Ape Escape. I'm not expecting the greatest use of analogue controls in video game history, but I am expecting plenty of monkeys. Let's see what we end up with.

Bangai-O

The name means nothing.

I have only recently taken a look at the state of Sega Dreamcast emulation, knowing that I'm heading into that part of video gaming history. I didn't have a Dreamcast. I couldn't even tell you anyone who did have one - none of us needed one, the PlayStation 2 was just fine, thank you very much. But the PlayStation 2 didn't have Bangai-O, and that makes me... well, I don't know yet.

It looks like you're a little Mech shooting far too many rockets at something, and going by that alone, Bangai-O should be smashing. But I'm not going to go by that alone. It's time to fire it up and find out what's going on.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Wood: 100

It has not only been an age since I found myself playing Age of Empires for this 1001 blog but an age since I've been able to sit down and write this one after playing Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, the sequel to the Warcraft meets Civilization offering from Ensemble Studios.

The original game had kept my interest for a while until bone-headedness on my part scuppered my chances of a victory. I liked it and would be on the lookout for delayed but soon to be appearing Definitive Edition release.

To be honest with you, I very quickly forgot to keep an eye out for that, but not so for Age of Empires II, as it's the HD Edition that I'll be playing for this post.

How well will we develop our empire? Will I again run out of food and find myself with only a single villager on the map? Nothing can be answered into we dive in and find out.