Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine review)

Developer: Advance Communication Company
Publisher: Hudson Soft, NEC
Released: 1989

Keith Courage in Alpha Zones is an action-platformer that was packed-in with the console in North America.

+ Has similarities to Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1988, Sega Master System) in terms of gameplay and upgrade options.

+ Being able to upgrade weapons is a great incentive to keep playing, and the game even affords you unlimited continues.

- Level design leaves a lot to be desired, as there's copy/pasted layouts and little difference between each area.

- Overworld areas only feature rudimentary platforming, while underworld sections include far too many leaps of faith.

- Relentless enemy respawning, as they attack incessantly from all angles and often knock you back into instant death pits.

- Grinding to pay for more powerful weapons can be excessive, especially as your coins halve with each continue used.

- Controls never feel tight enough, as they're too stiff in the overworld and too slippery when adopting the Nova Suit.

The Legendary Axe (TurboGrafx 16 / PC Engine review)

Developer: Victor Interactive Software
Publisher: NEC
Released: 1989

The Legendary Axe is a side-scrolling action-platformer and one of the launch games for the TurboGrafx 16 console.

As mighty warrior Gogan, your mission is to rescue your childhood friend Flare who has been kidnapped by an evil cult named the Jagu. There's five zones (with multiple acts each) and your only method of attack is a short-range axe; however, your strength can be boosted by collecting Power Supply icons, and attack speed is increased by obtaining Wing items. The action resembles Castlevania (1986, NES) down to its medieval setting and obligatory knock-backs when you take damage. However, it does have a number of unique features. Firstly, rather than attacking at will, you need to time your attacks and wait until your power gauge metre is full in order to do the most damage; it's a clever mechanic that forces you to occasionally retreat while recharging, and this cat-and-mouse game is an effective strategy that keeps the combat engaging. Managing to power-up to full strength is thrilling, as one swing kills most enemies instantly while the screen flashes white to signify the massive damage being done! The game also does a terrific job of adding new enemy types into the mix that all look and fight differently, and some of the bosses become regular foes in subsequent zones which is an interesting idea. This does make the game incredibly hard at times though and it's certainly not for the faint of heart. The platforming doesn't help matters, as your jump is floaty and mid-air adjustments are overly sensitive. While the level design is strong, zone 5 is a huge misstep as it suddenly tasks you with navigating endless, boring corridors filled with enemies and a maze-like layout in order to reach the boss.

The Legendary Axe is more of a thinking man's action game and for the most part it succeeds in being an entertaining hack-and-slash adventure. Its brutal difficulty will test your patience at times, but the sleek level design, cool attack mechanics and enemy variety will likely have you coming back for more.

Random trivia: A sequel called The Legendary Axe II was released on the TurboGrafx 16 in 1990.

Vigilante (Turbografx-16 review)

Developer: Irem Corp.
Publisher: NEC
Released: 1989

Vigilante is a side scrolling beat-em-up game that has many similarities to Irem's 1984 Arcade title Kung-Fu Master.

You play a martial artist who must travel through five levels to defeat The Skinheads and rescue your girlfriend Madonna. Your journey will take you through New York City Streets, The Junkyard, a Bridge, a Back Street and a Construction Yard. Working your way from left to right you have to take out the constant stream of enemies attacking you from both sides using punches, kicks and flying kicks. You'll also want to look out for the special nunchucks that appear as they allow you to dish out punishment at a faster rate. There aren't many different enemies but some require strategy rather than straight-up brawling. For example, the ones in yellow tops have batons and they'll quickly kill you unless you duck and use your low kick. Learning these patterns is key to being successful in most parts of the game. The levels are short and when you get to the end you'll face a boss. These are devoid of imagination and each one is generic and boring to fight. The gameplay as a whole is unremarkable - not to mention repetitive - and once you're familiar with the enemy types you can breeze through all the levels in 15 minutes. The action only takes place across one plane; this means can't move towards the foreground or background and it seems almost archaic by 1989 standards as this was the same year that Final Fight and Golden Axe were released in the Arcades. The background graphics are excellent though and perfectly convey the level settings with some nice parallax scrolling. The music is distorted and the voice samples are scratchy and difficult to decipher.

Vigilante isn't necessarily a bad game but it's just very limited and outdated given its release schedule. If it would have had more variety it could have been semi-decent but in reality it arrived 3-4 years too late to be considered an acceptable gameplay experience.

Random trivia: This version of Vigilante was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, as well as on the Wii U Virtual Console as a Japan-only exclusive in 2015.

Takin' it to the Hoop (Turbografx-16 review)

Developer: Aicom
Publisher: NEC
Released: 1989

Takin' it to the Hoop is a sports game that was also released in Japan as USA Pro Basketball.

It supports 1-2 players and you can choose either Tournament, League or Exhibition modes. There's some nice options available as you can swap out players based on their individual characteristics and even select the type of defense you want to play. The game clearly takes inspiration from Double Dribble (1987, NES) and features some awesome court-level angles when you take a free throw or attempt a slam dunk and they're fairly well animated. The dunk sequences are fully interactive as you need to release the button once the meter reaches the red zone to pull off the slam. The best part is that you can play defense when your opponent goes for a dunk and it's exhilarating when the action zooms in and you manage to swat the ball away with a correctly timed button press! That's where the positives end though as the rest of the game is boring and a chore to play. Firstly, the controls are unresponsive and it's tricky to select a player; most of the time the game ignored my commands and I had to let go of the d-pad for it to register anything. Your teammates are absolutely useless and prefer to stand around and wait for you to take control of them rather than trying to defend. Each quarter lasts a lifetime and there's no way to change the time period length. The music is atrocious and starts skipping at times (as if the SFX interrupt the individual sound channels of the track) and there's no way to turn it off in the menus. To top things off there's even some humorous typos that flash up during a match including the phrase 'Back Cort'.

Takin' it to the Hoop has lots of nice features but they're redundant due to the dull gameplay and awful controls. It's just unfortunate that it's one of the only basketball games on the Turbografx-16 and probably the best!

Random trivia: This North American version of the game is much easier than its Japanese counterpart called USA Pro Basketball as the computer A.I. was dramatically dumbed down.