Sengoku Blade video review

I first reviewed this game 10 years ago. You can still read that here:

http://www.thesaturnjunkyard.com/2008/04/sengoku-blade.html

and it's an interesting time capsule of the period.

I never addressed the gameplay mechanics that make this game unique, probably because I didn't even notice them. That's a testament to the game, that it can still be accessible and engaging even if you barely know how to play it, as I apparently did (familiars have a special attack? What???).

The Saturn Junkyard was a lot smaller and more intimate, as you can see from my last message to our old friend elend. Father K had a bad habit. Underground Gamer was still around (god, I miss that site).

I mentioned how "The web obviously can't make it justice, with small images and blurry videos", which might seem weird nowadays but that was the reality of the time. Youtube was only 2 years old, and only supported videos in 240p. Even images weren't usually up to the resolutions that we're accustomed to nowadays. Back then I still had a 4:3 monitor with a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. And depending on where you lived broadband speeds could be...lethargic...

You can see why we've since taken to video production so strongly. For 10 years I wanted to do that, but I had neither the equipment, the internet speed or even, in the early days, the adequate streaming platforms to do it. The result of all that pent up passion is the video at the start of this article. Compare that to my first written review and tell me what you think.

NiGHTS into Comics - Issue 2

Last issue, Roger was introduced to Reala and we knew nothing good could come of that. Now, in issue 2, we join a NiGHTS-infused Elliot being filled in by a Nightopian as to what the plan of action is. Isn't it convenient that like the reader, Elliot has also forgotten what happened last issue and thankfully is given a short summary? I've also noticed that the Nightopians speak all in lower case. Reminds me of e.e. cummings or the bully from Calvin & Hobbes.

In an odd twist, Elliot awakes to have NiGHTS in HIS body, with NiGHTS in complete control. Elliot (or is that ELLiOT?) is on a mission to protect Claire while the two are on a fieldtrip to the Twin Seeds Museum. NiGHTS, being the wacky jester that he is, assumes that he'll fly there with ease.

I'm usually not one to use the word "FAIL", but this is a FAIL.

Thankfully NiGHTS didn't fracture Elliot's collarbone via faceplant. Meanwhile, Claris arrives at the museum and chats with some friends about singing in the big Centennial Show. Elliot arrives, and in a very "Spidey-sense" fashion, detects the dream energy inside of Claris. Speaking of Spider-Man, this panel reminded me of that famous Spider-Man cover.


Elliot's stares are mistaken for infatuation and teenage awkwardness hilarity ensues. Then, the kids enter the museum and the tour begins. The history of the Twin Seeds spire is told, with the tour guide claiming that the architect (seen in issue 1) was such a visionary that he was designing in the Art Deco style before it was even invented! Now wait a second. If the architect was indeed designing in the art deco style "before that style was invented", then wouldn't the architect simply be the inventor of the Art Deco style? How can one create something before it is invented? That's like saying that Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam-powered vehicle around 1672... before the automobile was invented! No, Ferdinand created the first self-propelled vehicle, thus he (in a sense) invented the automobile.

Designer rant over. Anyway, Elliot, in his NiGHTS controlled state, grabs the microphone away from the misinformed tour guide and tells his classmates of Wizeman and his plans for dream domination. Meanwhile in another part of the museum, Elliot is in a Reala controlled state of mind and is spinning his version of Nightopea as a confused Claris watches. We then return to Nightopia to visit Wizeman in his castle, as he spends half a page telling a Roger controlled Reala what we already now. If that wasn't enough unnecessary exposition, Jackle enters to tell Wizeman about what happened to Gillwing in issue 1.

EXPOSiTION into Dreams...

After several pages of dialog and exposition, Jackle mixes it up... literally! Jackle reveals that he has kidnapped one of the two main Nightopians and intends to fuse the cute little guy with one of those chicken Nightmarens.

The result? CHAOS! Okay, not the same chaos as seen in Sonic Adventure, but it IS a funny coincidence that evil virtual pet breeding and the word "chaos" is used in an adaptation of a Sonic Team game a year and a half before Sonic Adventure hit stores. With the fusion acting as a truth serum, the evil Nightopian explains what NiGHTS and the kids are up to and how to stop them.

Returning to the waking world, Elliot and Claris are enjoying a museum lunch that is cut short by Shleep dispatched by Wizeman. Elliot attempts to stop the Shleep from putting CLaris to shleep, er... sleep, but is halted by Jackle. Jackle, ensuring my favoritism, utters my favorite line in the mini-series:


In his rush to confront Jackle, Elliot trips and passes out, allowing NiGHTS to come alive in the dream world. The Shleep reaches Claris and sends her to the dream world as well. This all leads to a NiGHTS-fused Claris facing off against Gulpo the giant fish. A major gripe I have with this issue is that full pages are given for exposition, and yet a complete boss battle begins and ends in the same panel.

One panel, uncolored AND off model. Worst. Battle. Ever.

NiGHTS returns to Elliot, leaving Claris alone in the fish bowl with a hint that if she can sing a high note, she'll shatter the bowl. Claris succeeds and escapes, only to encounter Wizeman. Meanwhile (I've been saying "meanwhile" a lot, haven't I), NiGHTS battles Jackle (off screen) and the good Nightopian encounters the evil Nightopean. With the good guys wrapped up in their own fights, Claris is tempted by Wizeman to receive the gift of fame in exchange for her dream energy. Claris foolishly accepts and loses her energy, in turn causing NiGHTS to lose his connection with her. Returning to the waking world, Roger presents Claris with her invite to sing. Little does she know that with good dreams come... nightmares!


Overall, issue 2 is the weakest of the series. Lots of chatter, little action. Despite being the weakest, there is a large display of villains, and the setup for part 3 is promising. Join us for part 3 AND the announced winner in NiGHTS into Dreams into Comics part 3!

NiGHTS into Dreams into Comics - Issue 1

While the Saturn hit the US in 1995, it wasn't until 1998 that I bought a system. A large part of why I held out was money, $399 is a fortune to an 11 year old. Also, I was having way too much fun with my Genesis at the time, a testament to the quality of the 16-bit system. The Genesis had everything I wanted: Sonic the Hedgehog and Disney Interactive games. The Saturn had a Sonic compilation of games I already owned and some goofy jester game. At the time I was oblivious to the fact that NiGHTS was a Sonic Team game (no Wikipedias or SegaNerds back in 1995, kids) and so I went on ignoring one of the greatest games and systems of the mid-90's.

During Christmas, 1996 I had my first chance to play NiGHTS on a Saturn store kiosk similar to the one Michael Jackson's estate had up for auction. Long story short, it blew me away and I had to have it. Fast forward to January 1998, I was still strapped for cash but could afford the occasional action figure and comic book. I was a hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics collector, with a subscription assuring every issue would come right to my door. Promos began to appear in the Sonic comics for a new SEGA mini-series titled NiGHTS into Dreams, and if that wasn't exciting enough I also learned it would be drawn by the greatest Sonic artist the US had to offer: SPAZ!

Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante was the longtime cover artist for the Sonic comics. SPAZ's cover work was an experience in itself, sometimes outshining the story contained within an issue. Hell, the man has his own gallery at Sonic HQ. Suffice to say, if you bought a Sonic comic just for SPAZ's art, then imagine an entire mini-series done by the man!

February 1998 came and the first issue arrived. In hindsight, the NiGHTS mini-series greatly expanded on the plot of the game. The comic began by introducing a blacksmith, driven by his dreams to create a gleaming golden spire (the same spire seen on the game cover and menu screen!). Little did the smith know that he was being controlled by Wizeman the Wicked to create a spire identical to one found in Nightopia, the land of dreams. NiGHTS and Reala are introduced as lackeys of Wizeman (!) who have just captured the two dreamers of the real world who only appear once every century, these being two kids of the 1800's.


NiGHTS is quickly swayed by the young girl to go turncoat on Wizeman, as he flies off with the red dream power spheres. While fleeing, he runs into some Chao- er, I mean Nightopians, who prompt him to cram the spheres into the dream hole to reality (sounds nasty, I know). A shard of dream sphere comes loose and embeds itself into NiGHTS chest, I'm sure that plot point won't come into play during the final issue *wink-wink*. Meanwhile, the two spheres fly out of the blacksmith's spire and embed themselves into the ground outside. In a moment of inspiration, the smith describes what he saw and gives a name to the town which will someday develop from that plot of land: Twin Seeds! Thank goodness he didn't name it Two Balls.


Fast forward 100 years, Two Balls has developed into a thriving metropolis. The pinnacle of the city is a large skyscraper topped off with the blacksmith's spire. Two Nightopians emerge from the spire in search of the two dreamers. In a "small world" moment, both dreamers are found within seconds of eatchother: Elliot and Claris. Elliot is late for basketball practice, and what's worse he is quickly schooled by a Draco Malfoy-like tit named Roger.

Draco, complete with Crabbe and Goyle

Elliot is quickly beaten down with laughter and insults, but is distracted by beautiful music. He finds the source of the music, a music school, and climbs up to get a view into the window. Why it's the other dreamer, Claris Sinclair! Elliot's voyerism doesn't last long, as he is scared shitless by a Nightopian. Claris is distraced by Elliot and is derided by her beachball-like music teacher for lacking focus. It would seem both dreamers are having trouble acheiving their... dreams?

Holy shit! They can't be the same species.

After surviving a three story fall, Elliot quickly accepts that magical fairies exist and is convinced to fall asleep to enter Nightopia. As Elliot isn't sleepy, they could wait until evening when Elliot is sleepy. I reccomend taking some Benedryl-


Or give Elliot a concussion, that works too. Entering the land of dreams, the Nightmaren introduces Elliot to the Ideya Palaces (those little four pillar checkpoints that hold NiGHTS in the games). It is revealed that NiGHTS exists as even less than a dream, as he was imprisoned by Wizeman for rebelling. The only way to awake NiGHTS is for a real world dreamer to enter the Ideya Palace. Elliot is quick to enter and becomes NiGHTS, triggering the alarms to Wizeman that NiGHTS has escaped. Wizeman dispatches Gillwing (the first NiGHTS boss) and in a very Wizard of Oz moment invades Claris's dreams, turning her music teacher into the evil Puffy. Sensing that Claris is in danger, NiGHTS leaves Elliot and fuses with Claris, defeating Puffy.


Meanwhile, Elliot uses the floating alarm clock (usually something you'd avoid in the games) to his advantage as he wakes himself up before Gillwing can lay a finishing blow. As the issue comes to a close, all is well... for now! While Claris and Elliot have sweet dreams, Draco Malfoy is introduced to the nightmaren known as Reala. DUN-DUN-DUNN!

To be continued...
Images courtesy of a MegaUpload file, I own the issues but am too lazy to scan them myself.

I Think This Might Have Been Here Before...

But here goes any way! Enjoy!

'Die Hard Arcade' Review!

Hello old friends! I’ve been away for a week at my Lighthouse off the coast of Birkenhead, where I go to fast, meditate and reflect on the meaning of life. Now replenished, I return to regale you with tales of my newest Saturn purchase.

The cheapest ever game I got for the Saturn was the excellent Sega World Wide Soccer ’97, which I picked up for the ludicrous price of 20p. The most expensive was the ultra rare House Of The Dead, for which I forked out £25! But since then, Saturn games on this side of the pond generally tend to average out at about £2-3 each.

Whilst on my way home from the Lighthouse, I stopped in at a favourite Gamestation in Bangor, North Wales. When you tend to populate one particular Gamestation (for me it’s Fallowfield, Manchester), you can find that it’s stock can become stagnant. You find yourself thumbing through the same tired old selection of games, vainly hoping that you missed something on your last ten visits.

Having checked out the Dreamcast titles on offer, I moved onto the Saturn section. There, lying amidst the dusty copies of Sega Rally and International Victory Goal, was a battered and neglected title. Not only did Sega shaft it’s UK customers with shit Dreamcast game boxes which shatter and break, it had previously shafted it’s Saturn owners by giving them shitty cardboard and plastic boxes which literally fall apart unless kept in a vacuum away from human contamination… (see here)

But I digress. What was the hallowed disc contained within this crumbling packaging? (See how I’m building this up?) Why it was none other than Die Hard Arcade!

I’d never heard of it! But from it’s £20 price tag I knew it had to be either very rare or brilliant (perhaps both!) I made sure I got the most expensive Dreamcast game I could get as part of the BOGOF offer (Crazy Taxi 2 -£9.99) that I could use as a trade in at a later date.

I played it tonight and its just fabulous. The ‘Die Hard’ element of the game is somewhat tenuous. Our hero is most definitely NOT Bruce Willis. He doesn’t even look a bit like him. However, he is incredulously hard and can kick terrorist ass! George W. take note...

Both the plot and gameplay were very familiar. If you’ve ever played Dynamite Cop for the Dreamcast, you’ve played Die Hard Arcade. Basically the President’s daughter has been kidnapped and its your job to get her back.

The graphics are reminiscent of the wonderful Virtua Cop, although you play from a third person perspective, not a first person. When playing or reviewing Retro titles, I feel there is no point stating that the graphics look a bit blocky or pixellated. Transport yourself to 1996 and gaze in awe at what they could do at the time!

As you work your way through the levels of this 3D beat ‘em up, you’ll encounter a variety of villains. Your job is to kick, punch and generally rough them up until their health bar is depleted and they disappear. Your own health bar can be replenished by various ‘life ups’ that your enemies give up on defeat.

But kicking and punching have their limitations. So you’ll be pleased to know that you can also pick up and utilise a variety of furniture, objects and weapons, with which to smite your foes! Chairs, fuel barrels and televisions can be hurled, guns, baseball bats, rocket launchers and flamethrowers can be fired at them. It’s all glorious, mindless arcade flavoured fun!

Between levels there is the opportunity to defeat an enemy with a QTE (quick time event) which flashes up the instruction to hit a particular button - jump, punch or kick - get it right and you'll be shown a cut scene where you kick ass. Get it wrong and your mistake will be re-shown to you time and time again (twice!)

The game does not have much longevity and can be completed in a single session. But that suits me just fine, as I have far too many games that need playing and completing on a variety of consoles.

A lovely feature of the package is the inclusion of a very Retro flavoured depth charge/U-Boat game called ‘Deep Scan’. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the main game, but when played, accrues credits for Die Hard Arcade! Sweet! Here's a nice video of the game in action!

My only gripe is, prior to writing this very article I was playing the game and enjoying it immensely, when for no reason at all it stopped playing and the Saturn reset itself… Time will tell whether this glitch reoccurs… until then I’m very happy with my purchase. And hey! Two reviews in the month of April! Things might be looking up at the Saturn Junkyard!!

Virtua Racing (Saturn) Review...

Well this has to be the shittiest time of the year for me. Being a big fan of Christmas and the sentimentality/excesses associated with the time, I find this period of returning to work (tomorrow), realising that I need to curb my drinking/smoking/over-eating, and try to get healthy - even taking down the decorations- all thoroughly fucking depressing.

So what better way to stave off those post Christmas blues, than a trip down to that hallowed retail outlet, Gamestation. and what treasures were there to be found! Number one, a Dreamcast title that I have been after for some time... Toy Commander!

Next, a Saturn title I'd perused and seen left sitting on the shelves over visits stretching back to November... Virtua Racing.

Anything with the prefix "Virtua" has usually floated this particular gamers boat. Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop and so on... Perfect!! So why should Virtua Racing be any less excellent?
I was about to find out...

Apart from anything else, it's weighty £7.99 price tag suggested it was either a classic or a rarity... and as a collector of games rather than just a player of games this had to be a good thing either way...

So as part of the 'Buy One Get One Free' deal (or Bogoff! as it's known to Gamestation's regular customers) I got my Toy Commander and VR for less tahn £8 for the pair... Not too shabby...

On getting the afforementioned bundle home it was Virtua Racer that I decided to explore first...


Produced by Yu Suzuki's AM2 team (responsible for arcade classics Out Run, Super Hang On, Space Harrier and the best game of all time... Shenmue) Surely we were on to a winner?

The graphics were utterly shite! Pixellated, blocky, overly simplistic - even for a fan of retro gaming this was hard to swallow. The tyres of the cars looked like octagonal lumps. The mechanics who attended to the car were faceless automatons. Scenery was awful... Pine trees represented by green triangles and so on...

Onto the gameplay... Thank God! Playing the arcade level you start last, in the familiar pole position. Having to beat sixteen cars to get to the front, the player has to surpass his oponents, whilst travelling through a series of time limited stages. Passing each stage within the allocated time provides a varying time bonus... Standard for most racing games. The car handles really nicely, with a nice low centre of gravity, reminiscent of go-karting with mates!!

The Grand Prix stages, whilst considerably longer (10 laps), also allow the novice to find his feet and get to know the wide variety of tracks. Three camera angles allow the driver to view the race from a tiny car, wide perspective, birds eye view, to a 'camera-on-the-back-spoiler-see- everything-right-before-you hit-it point of view'.




The obligatory speedo, lap counter and 'impossible to interpret' course map are all presented in your peripheral vision, and are not much use one and all...

Sound? Poor! The car sounds a little like my hoover, when you move up a gear it sounds like something has blocked in the hoover pipe! OOER!

Some good music, but it sounds like the guys who 'rock out' on Sega Rally, stopped by on the hoof... Rather than providing a soundtrack to the whole experience, they just do a little riff, when you pass a time stage, and then fuck off for a beer and a cig...

But if you look at this in it's proper revisionist history, this baby is a fore-runner to the mighty Sega Rally, something of an elderly, but influential uncle. It originally rocked 'em in the arcades...

A revolutionary gaming system including an extra processor made this a heavy weight back in the day. To buy it's original incarnation for the Megadrive/Genesis would have cost you a princely $100!



Perhap's the real villains of the piece are publishers Time Warner who commissioned a sloppy port of the original game for the Saturn, in the hope of making a fast buck off the back of an established favourite, on a 'new' console... Ho Hum!

All in all not a total loss overall. For more information look here. For a better review look here.
And for a piss poor video of some little French brats playing against each other on a Saturday morning TV show, look here...

Good night children, wherever you are...

Clockwork Knight Review

Ah! Clockwork Knight!

A great game I picked up at 'Toy's R Us' as the Saturn was on it's way out... I remember it was cheap, although I can't remember the price... Probably far more than most of the games I buy today... (I picked up Pen Pen Tricelon for Dreamcast for £4, at the wonderful "Chips" used game shop, coincidentally... today.

"Chips"... I'm going to take a break from the game review to do a quick "shop" review. The Three Gingers have told me about this place for years... It's situated in Chorlton, Manchester, about a mile or two from my house. Although I often visit this rather excellent Manchester suburb for a meal, a beer or a bit of shopping, I've never checked out "Chips". This is very strange behaviour for me, as I'm usually sticking around used games shops like a fly sticks around a freshly dropped turd. For some reason though I never checked out this particular venue.



However today with about 10 minutes to kill before picking up the Littlest Ginger from school, me and the Biggest Ginger decided to pop in and check it out. And what an excellent revelation it was! Instead of the dusty old shambolic second hand tat market I had imagined, this was a nice organised emporium, with the games categorised and presented by console. Not the cheapest of venues, but definite bargains for both the Saturn and the Dreamcast on show. My usual used games venue is the excellent Gamestation. However, as any regular customer will know, the selection of games seems to stagnate for a few weeks, then a gamer selling his beloved stash will replenish the stock, and a hidden gem might be up for grabs...

In "Chips" however there was a nice selection of less obvious titles at a variety of prices... In Gamestation the games I'm looking for rarely cost me more than a couple of quid... Here games ranged from £3 to about £20...

On paying for my Pen Pen Tricelon, I enquired about the rest of the Dreamcast games in the shop... (perhaps hidden gems were stashed behind the counter?) Unfortunately what you saw on the shelves represented stock of software for a particular console... Bah!

Imagine my surprise when the 'uber-geek' (who tend to staff video games shops) asked me if I was after a particular title... "Daytona USA 2001... for the Dreamcast" I spluttered...
"Not too uncommon..." he suggested.
A quick tap on the computer to check on availability of said game revealed that it was not very available after all... Bah!

"Hang on... they might have it in our Glasgow store..." Glasgow Store??? This place was a chain???

Within seconds the guy was phoning North of the Border... "Daytona USA 2001... You got it?
Yes? Send it to us... What? Twelve days... sweet."

He then asked me if I wanted to reserve it... Deposit price £1. He asked me for my phone number and then promised to phone me on it's arrival in the store...

Price? £12!!! Fucking result!! Awlright!!!

How's that for service? Now if you want a bit of "Chips" action, but don't have the fortune of living in Manchester or Glasgow, fortunately this esteemed retailer is enough of a going concern to have a website and you can go straight to it here...
Not sure about international sales but definite UK goldmine...

OK where was I? oh yeah... Clockwork Knight!

At this festive time "Toy" related games seem very appropriate... "Toy Story 2", "Toy Commander" or "Toy Racer" for DC, "Micro Machines" for Megadrive and indeed the veritable "Clockwork Knight" for Saturn...

Let's check out the blurb on the back of the box...




"Stunning cinema-quality SGI-rendered characters and graphics create this amazing 3D toy world. As the clock strikes midnight Pepperouchau springs to life armed only with a sword and split second timing. Tackle treacherous furniture, huge household items and wind up villains to save the kidnapped princess before dawn!"

Pepperouchau is a largely mustachioed Kaiser looking Clockwork Knight... Not the most familiar of toys I'll grant you... and not the most obvious name for a toy either... but we're splitting hairs.




Although this claims to be 3D that is largely confined to the rendered environments. essentially it's a side scrolling 2D platformer... Playing through the many rooms of a typical house our little toy Aryan has to battle a variety of foes. It's fucking great!! The worst thing about this particular game was always being unable to save... In fact I could never save on the Saturn cos I never had a memory card... I always thought the huge slot in the top of a Saturn was for Megadrive games... Go figure... I once left "Casper" (Yes I know...) on for days 'cos I was trying to complete it... Without a memory card... Now I've got one ... a super-duper one that is also a cheat facility and Japanese/import game "enabler". (Separate post altogether..)



I've not done this game justice... it's great. But I've been interrupted by life in my house, instant messages from my good friend across the 'pond Deitrix, showing me very funny video clips and
Peter Kay shouting very funny things from the TV in my peripheral vision...





You see? This is why I need my own blog... to post utter shite! I actually take posting on GGOTG and the DCJY very seriously... but here i can post sub-standard ramblings, read by no-one and not have to worry about it!


Great! 'Cos there has not been anything of worth imparted on this particular blog may I offer any random reader this lovely image as a consolation!










Goodnight children wherever you are!!