Virtua Racing and Virtua Racing Deluxe: evolution of the Mega Drive

Virtua Racing in the arcade was a revelation. Until this point driving games were generally represented by a curving path drawn on a 2D plane, with you having to react left and right to keep in the middle of the road (the game was moving your sprite automatically in the opposite direction). As amazing a game Chase HQ on the CPC was, the driving model was basic at best. Even Road Rash had only a semblance of steering. There were some exceptions – Hard Drivin’, Stunt Car Racer, all the Mode 7 flat racers on the SNES – but it wasn’t until Virtua Racing appeared that you could really feel like you were driving a racing car.

It came with a price tag. While most games in the arcades were 50p a go (or even 10p for the older cabinets), the big noticeable Virtua Racing cabinet was £1. I hadn’t paid £1 for a go of an arcade game since the Virtuality cabinet on which I played VTOL. At least Virtua Racing didn’t make me feel ill, with a headset that didn’t fit properly and a framerate that was probably measured in seconds per frame, although going back to the arcade game now the refresh rate isn’t anything to write home about either.

Micro Machines: a lack of momentum

I have played a lot of Micro Machines in the past, mainly on the Mega Drive, and mainly with friends. I did complete the single-player games in both MM and MM2, but they weren’t too tricky when compared to trying to keep ahead of Kieron and John. Revisiting them on emulators reveals them to still be tightly controlled, fun games.

This isn’t a blog post about them.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: completed!

Unlike the first game, I have previously completed the 8-bit Sonic 2, although on the Game Gear which made it rather more tricky.  The first boss, for example, rolls balls down a slope in an effort to hit Sonic, and on the Master System you have plenty of time to react, whereas the Game Gear’s limited window means balls appear all too suddenly.

Sonic the Hedgehog: completed!

Do you know what? I’d never actually completed the first Sonic game on the Master System, before now.  I could have sworn I had, but beyond the first few zones I realised that it was uncharted territory; I’m not sure I’ve ever even beaten the Jungle Zone boss.

Sonic on the Master System is a great game.  It’s not as good as the first Mega Drive game, and Sonic’s movement is a little floaty and imprecise, but the levels are designed well around the character and movement.  There are some big changes to gameplay, such as the ability to collect rings after you’ve been hit, and the collision detection seems a little off as well.

The levels are similar, but not identical to the Mega Drive game.  The fist two levels – Green Hill and Bridge – are a bit too samey, but after that the scenery changes, sometimes aping the Mega Drive’s levels (with very close similarity to the Labyrinth Zone and the Scrap Brain Zone), and sometimes with a completely separate feel (the Jungle Zone has never been revisited, as far as I’m aware).

Gaming moments: D

Dear Esther (Mac) 
The end sequence will probably stay with me for a long time – but only
when combined with the crash scene and hospital bed at the bottom of the
cave.

Dancing Stage (arcade)
I only played this a couple of times, at the Trocadero.  The machine
felt huge, and even before getting on the platform you felt energised by
the lights and colours.  I had seen someone playing already, so knew
what to expect, but the first time that two arrows came up the screen at
the same time still threw me off guard.  Unfortunately none of the home
versions quite hit the same spot, partially because of crappy dance mats.

Daytona USA (arcade)
A four-player cabinet at the bowling alley in Bexleyheath.  I had just
learnt to let the back drift out and powerslide around the corners, and
overtook my friend John doing so.  He shouted at me that it wasn’t a
powerslide, just a lucky skid.  So I did it again the next race.

Desert Strike (Mega Drive)
I actually remember this more from my playthrough on the PSP, given the
use of save states which allowed me to actually complete the game.
There were a number of memorable points, but the best was chasing the
madman across the map in his speedboat at the end of the penultimate
level.  I was raining missiles on the speedboat the whole time and it
didn’t explode.  Of course not; where would the last level come in if
that happened?

Donkey Konga (GameCube)
The instructions speeding up a few bars into Don’t Stop Me Now.  We
played this again recently, and it’s still great.

Doshin the Giant (GameCube)
I played this when it was first released, back in 2002, to completion.
I can remember very little of it now, other than the moment when I first
realised you could pick up and throw villagers.  I did it many times and
they all hated me, so I had to restart the day.

DLC Quest (PC)
Three points:

1. Being unable to move left at the start of the game, and audio cutting
   out.  I thought the game was broken; evidently not. 
2. Meeting an NPC called Phil at the end of a long cave, who informed me
   that he was just there to fill space. 
3. The ending of the game not actually being the ending of the game
   unless you buy some DLC and finish it. 

Driver (PS)
I have never completed the last level because it was just too hard.