More Saturn games 2-player. Such as Marvel Super Heroes.

I had a friend to visit yesterday and I decided we'd play some Saturn games.


First we played Twinbee Deluxe Pack. I seem to play it with all my friends. It was fun. I have already written about that game in an earlier post ("did we play co-op"). I have this game for 150 SEK, which is 23$.


Then we played Marvel Super Heroes. With my experience from Street Fighter II, I have to say I was superior. Fun game, at least for me.

I went back today and played it 1-player mode. The game has support for a 1 MB RAM cart. Some say it won't work well with a 4MB RAM Card. If that is true, then it probably won't work with the Action Replay 4M because I experienced that the action replay sets itself to 4M mode. But with a 1MB Ram Card, such as the HSS-0150 that is included in several other games, you will get an option in the option menu called "3M Mode" (whatever that means), it indicates that something happens. In my opinion, the game runs smoother in this 3M Mode and there is never any slowdowns. 

What I liked about this game
First of all, it has all the Street Fighter II (SF2) move scheme. Block the opponent, use a few special moves, hit opponents on their way down, throw the opponent when close, and all that stuff that a SF2 player would take for granted. (It isn't something that was taken for granted before SF2, as I mentioned in a review of early fighting games (http://japanspel.blogspot.se/2013/02/kieta-princess-and-fuuun-shourinken-for.html)).

Some stuff that isn't in SF2 is that you can jump real high with the R button. With R button I mean the Right shoulder button, that is called R on the SNES/SFC. While high in the air you can punch several times, and you can also throw the other guy in the air if you catch him. I think it works well.

You can press Forward-Forward quickly to run forward, and Back-Back to jump back. This will often surprise the opponent. As with the Jump thing I found it to feel like a natural move that you will soon use all the time.

The cartoon like animation is nice and colorful. The sound and music is as good as you can wish for. Here is a little clip.
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In 1 player mode, there are only 8 fighters to beat. I like this, because it goes much faster to beat the game. I was able to beat the second highest level today without too much difficulty, I think I died a total of 5 times. 3 on the last boss. So it isn't too hard for someone who knows how to play these games. Your computer opponents aren't too smart. Even on the second highest difficulty level you can often use the same moves over and over, and they often come running right at you so you can attack them.

In the game you can collect gems. This, however, isn't that useful. The gems are like powerups. I think you activate them by pressing a half-round on the D-pad and then the L button, after your Power meter has become full enough. I don't care about this idea, it seems unnecessary.

In the end I'd say this is like a more playful and colorful version of SF2. I have this game for sale at 95 SEK which is around 15$, so it isn't too expensive.


After that, Striker 1945 II, a shootem up game I received recently. I think we played it on Easy mode because we had unlimited continues. We did finish it rather quickly. A nice arcade shootem up with classical airplanes. No complaints there. My price for this one is 275 SEK,  43$. Here is a clip (not of us).
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After that, a 3D fighter. I thought we would be more even here, and we were quite even. Dead or Alive. I mentioned this game in a recent post. It is a tricky game because you can have different strategies. You have a grab move that lets you grab your opponent if he is too aggressive. And there are a lot of special moves ou can use. The manual lists around 25 for each character, although most are simple. I think it is a good combination of strategy and action, but I think I've only scratched the surface of how to play. This one is 75-95  SEK.


Necronomicon Pinball has a 2-player mode, as it says on its back, so I thought it would be interesting to try it out. Pinball was never my type of game but I have recently learnt that the Saturn has a couple of cool pinball games.

I think I'm starting to understand what pinball is about in general. You select a Mission, then you accept it. Then you try to hit the ball where the board indicates in some way. At this stage, Necronomicon would often throw out lots of extra balls that will give you many extra points.
I suppose that as long as a pinball game has cool music and flashing graphics, and the gameplay is fine, the game is pretty enjoyable. In 2 player mode, you play one player at the time while the other one watches (as you would in Super Mario Bros.), so it isn't that much 2-player mode. But I thought it was fun to watch the show when he played. Here is someone else's clip.
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I think the story behind the original Necronomicon is interesting. According to Wikipedia, a story of a Necronomicon, a book of the occult, was invented by someone around 100 years ago in a horror story. The book was then believed by others to actually exist. Believing in the occult is silly and only makes for good horror stories.  The Japanese people know this, but anything related to "the occult" can be a sensitive subject in the West. But it's just a pinball game, and a good one.

Comparing with the graphics of playing a real pinball game, I can't see how Necronomicon on the Saturn could have been improved really.  It's a blast. This one is 125 SEK.



We also played a little Sega Rally in a 2-player competing mode. It's a fun and easy game to pick up and play. But I have to say that the graphics is dated, and when you hit a wall because the road and wall are a mess of pixels from a distance, it is annoying. Other than that, the game is perfect at what it sets out to do. And at 30 SEK, it is cheap. Maybe I'll hook up the graphically improved Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast some day, after I feel finished with Saturn games.