#arcade conversion

[mvfm-25]

" Game of the month? Game of the year? Maybe even... The greatest Saturn arcade conversion ever? " Official Sega Saturn Magazine n26 - December, 1997.

[nojetpac]

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Published 1985 by Imagine Software Ltd. | Authors: Brian Beuken, Martin Galway, F. David Thorpe | [WOS]

“Yieaaarrriiiieeeeumph!” - Your Sinclair

Konami’s arcade beat-em-up arrived on the scene in 1985 and set the template for the wave of massive fighting game franchises that would follow in the late 80s and 90s. 

You play as Oolong, a would-be wushu grandmaster who has to earn the recognition he craves by kickpunching his way through nine opponents. Each enemy has a signature move or weapon, with a couple capable of ranged attacks. The end of the sequence sees you face your doppelganger for the ultimate showdown… except not really ‘cos the game just cycles back to the first enemy.

This was the first fighting game to feature multiple opponents with distinctive styles and moves; it was also the first to use health bars that deplete with each successful blow (rather than a round being won or lost on a single contact), allowing for a bonus for a flawless round. These ideas became standard in the genre, with later franchises like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat having almost identical gameplay. This early swipe wasn’t without its limitations though: there’s no simultaneous two-player mode, only one character is playable and the poor sod can’t even block punches.

The Spectrum version is another top-notch conversion by Imagine. The graphics capture the original’s cartoonish character designs while the backgrounds (all two of ‘em) are drawn as vividly as the limited colour palette will allow. Control is slick and responsive, and your attacks connect with a satisfying thump of white noise. On the downside, it only takes a few goes before you’ve pummelled your way through every opponent and the only challenge left is to see how many times you can repeat your success.

Konami produced a sequel for the MSX home computer, and tried to vary the formula with multi-screen levels, power-ups and boss fights. The result was mediocre and an even more disastrous Spectrum conversion followed. Konami’s reign as champions in the fighting game arena was ultimately short-lived. Meanwhile, Capcom was on the sidelines, taking notes. 

[superchartisland]

#38: Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart’s Super Off-Road (Graftgold/Virgin Games, Amiga, 1990)

However far off the gameplay is, with Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart apparently comes some attempt to recreate the world of off-road truck racing. Not by using real tracks, or trying to create real handling, or a real range of vehicles rather than four brightly coloured ones. No, the apparent verisimilitude is provided by being able to upgrade various bits of your truck in between races, and by going to the trouble of creating art for podium ceremonies. Again, a sizeable part of its audience playing this didn’t know or care how those work, but here we are — three white guys in sunglasses wearing different coloured overalls, with one hand holding a trophy and the other frequently around a white woman in a bikini. The women appear, with trophies, on the extra player holding spots on menus, too. The subtext of women as trophies, their bodies as a man’s reward, couldn’t be clearer if it appeared on the screen in flashing red capitals. Maybe that’s how things were in reality in off-road racing — we’re still not far off it in some sporting events a quarter century later — and no slight meant to women doing their jobs. Still, someone had to make the choice for that to be how things were in Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart’s Super Off-Road too.

[superchartisland]

#27: The New Zealand Story (Taito/Choice, Amiga, 1989)

It’s 1989. You are apparently, despite appearances to the contrary, a kiwi. A seal has captured your kiwi companions including, with sad predictability, your bow-wearing kiwi girlfriend. You must trek across the country to rescue them, but there are things out to stop you: bear things, star things, penguin things riding flying ducks, axe-throwing cats, dank things in shells. Welcome to New Zealand. It’s been waiting for you.