Delta Hero (Supervision review)

Developer: Bon Treasure
Publisher: Watara
Released: 1992

Delta Hero is a maze game that sees you playing the role of an adventurer named Wei-Wei.

Your mission is to reclaim a country's money that's been stolen by a poisonous spider. There's five stages and each tasks you with scouring the environment to find 9-12 bags of money and then locating the exit. Your constantly depleting life metre can be topped up by obtaining food, and hidden treasures can be found by locating glasses. The controls immediately disappoint, as they're unresponsive and make your character's movements feel heavy. Often the game refuses to recognise your inputs which is infuriating when an enemy is attacking you and you can't quickly turn around to face them; even the collision detection is shoddy and bullets will usually pierce opponents with seemingly no effect. Also, attempting to press the Start button to see how many money bags you've collected is an exercise in frustration, as it only works intermittently. The control issues don't end there, as you don't automatically pick up items when walking over them; instead, you need to press the B button when you're directly standing over them, but the game doesn't always comply with your request... not great when you're against the clock! To top it off, there's a ton of ghosting when you try to move which strains your eyes after a while. At least the level design is solid though, with intricate maze-like layouts (which aren't too overwhelming) and lots of hidden areas / items to find. I also like how Stage 2 introduces the ability to shoot parts of the environment to locate money bags; these are subtlety and cleverly marked to stop you from firing blindly. There's a decent range of enemy types too to somewhat keep your interest throughout all five stages. The music is utterly atrocious though, with a high-pitched 14-second loop that plays ad nauseum.

Delta Hero is an interesting and welcome concept with above-average level design, but it leaves a lot to be desired in the control department. You'll be battling with the game's inputs the entire time you play, and after repeated cheap hits its potential soon turns to inescapable problems that will have you reaching for the power switch.

Random trivia: Bon Treasure published a whopping 22 games on the Supervision in 1992, including Grand Prix and Police Bust.

Galactic Crusader (Supervision review)

Developer: Sachen
Publisher: Watara
Released: 1992

Galactic Crusader is a shoot-em-up that was originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990.

It's 2082 A.D. and piloting a B-9 Fighter your mission across five stages is to stop Dehamum Villains of the Biochemical Empire from taking control of the galaxy. Two weapons (a Pea Shooter and a Laser) are available and each can be powered up to provide a wider spread of attack; side wings can also be obtained for extended fire power and your limited supply of bombs are launched by pressing the A button. The power-up mechanic is great and the ability to choose your preferred weapon and then upgrade it to deadly proportions is enjoyable... for a short while! Unfortunately, you can become so overpowered that your B-9 Fighter can literally sit in the middle of the playfield while your extensive spray of bullets destroy everything in sight. At times, you'll barely have to move for upwards of a minute, with only minor adjustments on the horizontal axis to avoid singular bullets. There's also an absurd amount of slowdown when too many sprites are on screen; while this might seem like an advantage in terms of dodging enemies / bullets, the game speed fluctuates which can suddenly result in a projectile firing your way quicker than you anticipated. Even with all of the above problems, the stages simply outstay their welcome as each is roughly 10-15 minutes long with no variety or visual stimulation. When you do finally reach a boss, repeatedly spamming the bomb attack is the order of the day given they refill each time you lose a life while the boss' health metre remains depleted. The game also doesn't shine in the graphical department (and the frequent shooting stars to convey movement is a bad idea due to their resemblance to projectiles), but at least the SFX are good with some satisfying explosion sounds.

Galactic Crusader has a praiseworthy weapon system that's likely inspired by Gun Nac (1991, NES), but it fails to impress in all other areas due to its technical deficiencies and uninspired gameplay. Its level design could have used some streamlining too, as the elongated stages quickly grow tiresome.

Random trivia: The NES version forms part of the unlicensed set of games.

Climber (Supervision review)

Developer: Bon Treasure
Publisher: Watara
Released: 1992

Climber is an action game programmed by Yin Yong Qiang, who also coded Delta Hero (1992, Supervision).

You play as a climber and the objective in each of the game's 15 stages is to reach the flag within three minutes. Enemies can be destroyed with your projectile (although fire and water pools must be avoided), and your character can scale walls by shooting anchor climbing tools into them. The level design is above-average and part of its allure is the fact that there's usually multiple routes to beating the stage; this gives the action a neat puzzle element which is great for players that like to beat their best times and rack up points. The gameplay initially shows promise too and for the first few levels the simple premise has an addictive 1980's Arcade-like quality that's aided by unlimited continues. By Stage 5 though, it adds in new mechanics that are required to succeed and unfortunately these aren't explained to the player in-game or in the manual (e.g. learning that you can purposely fall off a ledge and then use your jump mechanic at any time in the air). It's also never clear which blocks you can break with your tools to form a new path, leading to lots of wasted time. Furthermore, the game is let-down by sub-standard coding and the technical deficiencies on display here are really unforgivable. For starters, the controls are often unresponsive and your character usually needs some serious persuasion to turn on a dime; this is confounded further when too many sprites are on-screen, and to top it off there's frequently a mixture of slowdown and sprite flickering. The collision detection is also shoddy and you'll sometimes find yourself losing a life despite clear distance between yourself and an incoming enemy; on other occasions, your sprite will clip straight through an opponent while you safely walk away unharmed!

Climber is a solid concept with intriguing level design, but the dodgy coding really puts a dampener on the whole experience. Its appealing premise is majorly let-down by unintuitive gameplay and dreadful controls, and most times you lose a life will be the result of technical shortcomings rather than poor skill on behalf of the player.

Random trivia: The ending features an unintentionally hilarious screen that states: 'Man participated in this game'!

Dream World (Supervision review)

Developer: Bon Treasure
Publisher: Watara
Released: 1992

Dream World is an action-platformer that takes narrative inspiration from Super Mario Bros. (1985, NES).

The Princess of Dreams has been kidnapped and it's your job to rescue her by completing all four stages. The hero can shoot a light projectile that kills most enemies, but bosses require you to switch to the heavy weapon that has limited ammo. Gameplay wise, it commits the cardinal sin of level design 101 in that it switches up the rules of what should be a harmful hazard for your character; this occurs in Round 3 where the only progression route is to fall into a particular pool of water that otherwise kills you throughout the rest of the area. It's ambiguous and unless you know to do this you'll eventually get stuck at a dead end with no way to escape except to drown in the next water pool! There's also no continuity to the level design, as sometimes you'll exit to the left, only to be facing a blocked route in front of you on the subsequent screen with no option but to begin scrolling to the right! It does force you to move right-to-left at points (unusual in most platformers), but the caveat is that no enemies appear when scrolling in this direction. Other technical shortcomings are the inconsistent collision detection (bullets often strike enemies with no effect), choppy scrolling (the action freezes each time you shoot) and the fact that the game temporarily pulls you backwards when you descend stairs! The worst offender is Round 3's boss which can only be defeated using the heavy weapon; however, you must select it before you enter battle, as it's impossible to do so during it! The bosses feature large sprites, but the developers didn't think to include 'safe zones' or areas you can manoeuvre to avoid damage; as a result, your HP bar will be depleted and the game doesn't even have the courtesy to refill it after each round!

Dream World is certainly an interesting premise, but it's also very unpolished and rough around the edges. To somewhat enjoy the action you really need to play repeatedly to learn its technical / level design quirks and how to exploit them, but it's doubtful that many people will want to endure the drudgery that necessitates this.

Random trivia: The game doesn't feature an ending, and instead your character falls off the screen and dies!

Balloon Fight (Supervision review)

Developer: Thin Chen Enterprise (Sachen)

Publisher: Watara

Released: 1992

 

Balloon Fight is an action game and a clone of Nintendo's 1984 Arcade title of the same name.

 

Playing as the Oldie Camel, you must solve the traffic jams by clearing the sky of birds! Attached to a pair of balloons, your only method of attack is to pop opponent's balloons by hitting them from above; however, these birds have the same abilities and being hit twice results in you losing one of your four lives. A or B allows you to ascend, but unlike the Arcade original the button can just be held; this is a great idea that stops fatigue in longer play sessions! While the controls aren't terrible they're not great either; on many occasions I found myself slowly manoeuvring, yet my character would keep floating in the opposite direction to my inputs. The game does rely on momentum (so this is partially expected) but it even happens when you're basically at a standstill. Sometimes the controls feel too heavy forcing you to overcompensate; at other points they're too floaty, meaning you'll suddenly launch into the air as if you've come into contact with an air pocket. Birds are also affected by this, as you can be perfectly lined up only to see them zap around the screen in an instant. At the heart of this are the slightly wonky physics that see you careening off at extremely odd, and somewhat harsh angles, despite nothing even contacting you. The game is still playable and fair though, and it eases you into the action for the first few levels. While the level design is basic, I do like how each one has its own unique layout and obstacles, forcing you to strategise your attacks. There's also some nice music and jingles that perfectly compliment the gameplay. However, unlike the NES port (1986), there's no bonus stages or additional modes like Balloon Trip to increase playtime; therefore, the action get can repetitive quite quickly.

 

Balloon Fight is a mediocre clone, yet it's frustratingly close to being highly playable. It's main issue is its inconsistent physics, and although you can still progress due to the game's low difficulty it's impossible not to feel cheated that it didn't have a bit more polish prior to release.

 

 

 

Random trivia: Thin Chen Enterprise / Sachen developed a whopping 19 games for the Supervision in 1992.

Sssnake (Supervision review)

Developer: B.I.T.S.

Publisher: Watara

Released: 1992

 

Sssnake is an action game that originally began as an Arcade title called Blockade (1976).

 

Playing as a snake, your objective is to eat all the apples and apple cores on the playfield to complete the level. You automatically move in the direction you're facing and being successful means avoiding the walls, plus the skull and crossbone icons. You must also dodge your own tail, which grows longer as you gorge on apples. Holding down the A button allows you to increase your snake's speed, which is helpful as a bonus score is awarded for any time remaining on the clock once you've cleared the level. In principle, the game is simple, yet addictive, with an Arcade style quality that favours high score chasers. However, the controls are simply atrocious and very close to being broken due to their unresponsive nature. Most of the time it feels like the game is ignoring your commands which usually sees you helplessly crashing into a wall. As a result, precise movements are futile, and instead of having fun you'll spend most of your time fighting the wonky controls. The game only affords you three lives (with no continues or passwords) so experiencing later levels is an exercise in pure frustration, as you'll continually replay the opening levels while hoping that the controls don't let you down. It's all very disappointing as there's actually some good ideas here that could have worked well; for example, the level design constantly changes to keep things fresh and if you strategise correctly and eat all the apples before the cores you'll earn Secret Bonus points. Musically, there's only one hideously joyful track during gameplay that offends more than it should due to the shoddy inputs! It's also heavily distorted and makes it sound like the console's speakers are about to explode! The intro voice sample is cool though.

 

Sssnake is a game concept that's seemingly impossible to botch, yet B.I.T.S. managed it with spectacular incompetence. It beggars belief how more care wasn't put into the controls (considering they're crucial to the entire gameplay experience) and what's left basically resembles an early beta release.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The only other Supervision games developed by B.I.T.S. were Matta Blatta (1992), Olympic Trials (1992, with Divide By Zero) and Tennis Pro '92 (1992).

Tennis Pro '92 (Supervision review)

Developer: B.I.T.S.

Publisher: Watara

Released: 1992

 

Tennis Pro '92 is a sports game that has a few similarities with the Nintendo Game Boy title Tennis (1989).

 

Only singles matches are available, with each game consisting of a best of three sets. The difficulty settings are Beginner, Intermediate and Expert which affect the speed of the ball and your opponent. Despite the lack of buttons on the Supervision, the shot selection is actually quite deep; using a combination of the d-pad and face buttons you can pull off Hard Shots, Soft Shots, Top Spin Lobs or Drop Shots. Bizarrely, your opponent is only partially visible before serving; this causes issues when it's their turn to serve as you can't see the ball at its highest point, leaving you less chance to react. When the ball is heading your way the ghosting on the LCD screen is pretty bad which can strain your eyes. Returning a shot is also an adventure as unlike most other tennis games your players' sprite must be in a central position to the ball, otherwise you'll swing and miss. While it does work fine, it takes a few minutes to adjust to where you'd normally position yourself for a backhand / forehand shot. Long rallies are where the game really falters, as only pressing left or right while swinging will usually result in the ball hitting the net. Instead, you usually have to hold diagonally-up to get enough height which is awkward after repeated use. The easiest method to overcome this is to constantly charge the net for an easy volley but the CPU gets wise to this from Intermediate difficulty onwards! With only one mode on offer (no tournaments) and a lack of gameplay options (e.g. set length) the game has limited replayability and doesn't encourage you to stick around. The crowd noise is good but it's played so often, at the same exact velocity, that it quickly starts to get on your nerves; the intro screen has some excellent music though.

 

Tennis Pro '92 is a barebones sports title with limited options, flawed gameplay and a lack of any real excitement. The shot selection is fairly deep for a handheld game but overall the action is nowhere near as polished as Tennis on the Nintendo Game Boy.

 

 

 

Random trivia: There are very few sports games on the Supervision, but others include Olympic Trials (1992) and Soccer Champion (1992).