Alpha Mission (NES review)

Developer: SNK
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1987

Alpha Mission is a vertically-scrolling shooter that was originally released in the Arcade in 1985.

+ Expands on the formula in Xevious (1983, Arcade) by having ground-based missiles that travel a wider vertical distance.

+ Being able to choose various weapons at any moment is inspired and gives you tons of ways to tackle the stages.

- Level design lacks any semblance of imagination, as there's no distinct locations, standout moments, or set-pieces.

- Icons that send you backwards or downgrade your weapon are littered everywhere, and they're hard to avoid while battling.

- Exiting the weapon select screen yields bizarre results, as the game moves you back slightly while slowly loading in assets.

- Selecting a weapon during an in-progress boss battle has the side-effect of restarting the entire fight from the beginning!

- Slowdown is rampant from the opening moments of Area 1, and the music is irritatingly repetitive.

Battletoads & Double Dragon – The Ultimate Team (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis review)

Developer: Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1993

Battletoads & Double Dragon – The Ultimate Team is a beat-em-up that was first released on the Nintendo NES in 1993.

+ Level design / gameplay feel cohesive despite tying in two franchises, and the five playable characters add replayability.

+ Reuses some ideas from Battletoads (1991, NES), but new mechanics (e.g. hanging off ledges) expand the formula.

+ Carrying weapons offers you new attacks and combos that are extremely satisfying (and hilarious!) to execute.

+ Well animated cut-scenes hold the story together and are more comprehensive here than the 1993 SNES port.

- Combat can often feel like pot-luck as to who makes contact when you're attempting to strike an opponent.

- Little grace period of invincibility once you've taken damage, which typically means having your health wiped out.

- 16-bit graphical upgrade is decent, but there's nothing here that pushes the console like the 8-bit NES version did.

Battletoads & Double Dragon – The Ultimate Team (NES review)

Developer: Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1993

Battletoads & Double Dragon – The Ultimate Team is a beat-em-up that was re-released by Retro-bit Publishing in 2022.

+ Level design / gameplay feel cohesive despite tying in two franchises, and the five playable characters add replayability.

+ Reuses some ideas from Battletoads (1991, NES), but new mechanics (e.g. hanging off ledges) expand the formula.

+ Carrying weapons offers you new attacks and combos that are extremely satisfying (and hilarious!) to execute.

+ Graphics push the NES with awesome faux-3D effects, and the beautifully animated cut-scenes link the story together.

- Combat can often feel like pot-luck as to who makes contact when you're attempting to strike an opponent.

- Little grace period of invincibility once you've taken damage, which typically means having your health wiped out.

- Bosses can be spammed with the dash attack, and the Asteroids (1979, Arcade) inspired stage relies on button mashing.

Battletoads (Sega Game Gear review)

Developer: Arc System Works, Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1993

Battletoads is an action game that was released on multiple platforms including the Nintendo NES (1991) and Sega Mega Drive (1993).

+ Packs in an enormous amount of gameplay variety, which acts as an incentive to keep grinding to the next stage.

+ Notoriously difficult Turbo Tunnel now affords you multiple hits, which takes away some of the frustration.

- However, this stage has a fluctuating frame-rate and the incoming barriers no longer flash before launching toward you.

- Relies too heavily on trial-and-error and mercilessly drops in new mechanics with no prior learning to guide players.

- Missing numerous stages, so it feels like an incomplete port when compared to the similar 8-bit NES version.

- Collision detection is inconsistent and the camera doesn't always scroll far enough to let you see what's ahead.

- Grace period of invincibility after taking damage is ridiculously brief, and the controls are often unresponsive.

Battletoads (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis review)

Developer: Arc System Works, Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1993

Battletoads is an action game that was first released on the Nintendo NES in 1991.

+ Packs in an enormous amount of gameplay variety, which acts as an incentive to keep grinding to the next stage.

+ Fans of Super Meat Boy (2010, Xbox 360) will find lots to love thanks to the pixel-perfect precision that's often required.

+ Gameplay is tough, but has been toned down from the NES version to give you a fighting chance to succeed.

- Still relies too heavily on trial-and-error and mercilessly drops in new mechanics with no prior learning.

- Enemies have an annoying tendency to throw projectiles from off-screen, leading to a multitude of cheap hits.

- Camera doesn't scroll far enough ahead, and despite being a two-year-old game there's no additional content.

- Collision detection is dodgy and the atrocious, shrill music makes terrible use of the SMPS Z80 sound driver.

Battletoads (NES review)

Developer: Rare
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1991

Battletoads is an action game that was later released on the Sega Game Gear and Sega Mega Drive in 1993.

+ Graphics are fantastic with some beautiful pixel art and cut-scenes that feature huge sprite work.

+ Packs in an enormous amount of gameplay variety, which acts as an incentive to keep grinding to the next stage.

+ Fans of Super Meat Boy (2010, Xbox 360) will find lots to love thanks to the brutal challenge that demands perfection.

- However, it relies too heavily on trial-and-error and mercilessly drops in new mechanics with no prior learning.

- Entire game basically revolves around having to react to hazards up ahead that you have no visibility of until the last second.

- Collision detection is suspect and the clunky controls don't offer the level of precision required to counteract the difficulty.

- Many levels outstay their welcome by dragging on for far too long, which negates any real fun they may hold.

Double Dragon (NES review)

Developer: Technōs Japan
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1988

Double Dragon is a side-scrolling beat-em-up that was first released in the Arcades in 1987.

It consists of four levels that take place in a City Slum, an Industrial Area, a Forest and a Hideout. To start with you only have punches, kicks and jumps at your disposal but as you beat up enemies your heart metre on the bottom-left increases. Once you reach certain amounts you'll gain access to additional moves such as jump kicks and throws that make the brawling action more interesting. To do the most damage you'll want to pick up one of the many weapons including baseball bats, knives, oil drums and dynamite. Each one is satisfying but unfortunately they disappear once you leave the current screen. Stages 1 and 2 are short but packed full of good beat-em-up action and it's even possible to interact with the environment and climb ladders to scale buildings. Stages 3 and 4 are longer and more of a grind as larger groups of enemies come your way. The combat suddenly becomes very clunky and it seems like complete luck whether you hit an enemy or take damage yourself when engaged in a scuffle. It's also annoyingly difficult to repeat successful attack patterns with any consistency unless you have a turbo controller. There's some minor platforming involved in these two stages and while it's not overly difficult it's possible to fall off before you've even reached the edge! The graphics are good but there's a fair bit of flicker and weird screen shifting. The music is some of the best the NES has to offer with many memorable tracks. There's also a one-on-one fighting mode with beefier sprites but each match takes forever and it's pretty boring.

Double Dragon is literally a game of two halves; the first two levels are fun with solid controls and a fair level of difficulty. The last two stages are extremely cheap though with frustrating gameplay and imprecise brawling that ends things on a sour note.

Random trivia: The second level boss has a rather amusing glitch whereby you can simply walk back down the ladders you've just climbed up until you hear a sound confirming that he's been defeated!