Retro Live 2017 - issue 2

the middle of attacking an enemy,
when out of nowhere they would
be attacking you back with no
means of stopping it. Collision detection
was also a little questionable,
but we persevered. The sequel,
Brawl Brothers, was greatly
improved over the original.
It was James who informed me
that the Rival Turf went by the
name Rushing Beat in Japan,
and that Brawl Brothers was the
sequel, also known as Rushing
Beat Run. At the time James was
far more savvy on video game
trivia than I, as I was always more
interested in playing the games.
Brawl Brothers featured 5 characters,
and James favoured the
ninja, Kazan. I would alternate
between Hack, a character from
Rival Turf, and Wendy, who had
a speed advantage. The game
featured puzzle elements, though
these were a bit annoying at
times. The sewer stage is a maze,
and going through the wrong
door can take you right back to
the beginning of the level. While
we enjoyed this a lot more than
its predecessor, we never did end
up playing the final game in the
series, The Peace Keepers.
Having grown up with Double
Dragon 1 and 2 on the Amstrad
CPC, James and I were excited
to continue the story with Super
Double Dragon 4. I had previously
played the third game in the
series on the Amiga, and was far
from impressed. Double Dragon
3 felt like a cash in on the popular
franchise, and the media were
scathing of both the arcade and
home ports of the game. Redemption
was to be found in Super
Double Dragon 4. The graphics
were your average Super
Nintendo fare, though there were
nice visual affects used. The
soundtrack was a high point, with
remixes of the original Double
Dragon theme song being used.
”DOUBLE DRAGON 3 FELT LIKE A CASH IN
ON THE POPULAR FRANCHISE, AND THE
MEDIA WERE SCATHING OF BOTH THE
ARCADE AND HOME PORTS OF THE GAME.”
The controls were spot on, and
the only problem I could find with
the game was the slow down
when there were too many enemies
on the screen.
James had earlier purchased a
Nintendo Entertainment System
at a garage sale. It had come with
a variety of games, one of which
was called Ufouria. I was already
become a fan of Wonderboy 3:
The Dragon’s Trap a few years
earlier when Clinton had rented
a Sega Master System with the
game. Ufouria, like Wonderboy
3, is a restrictive platforming adventure
that opens up as you unlock
new characters. You begin
the game with a single character,
Bop Louie, who has to rescue his
brainwashed friends. You rescue
them by battling, which restores
their memories and they become
part of your team. While Bop
Louie can jump, he is restricted
by water and large jumps. This
is where your rescued friends
come in handy, as Freeon Leon
can swim on the water’s surface,
Gill can go under the water, and
Shades can float. James and
I would take it in turns playing
through the adventure, and Ufouria
quickly became one of my favourite
games of all time.
The Virtual Boy was a console
that James and I would read
about in Nintendo magazines,
and while we were curious about
the technology we were put off by
the lack of colours. By 1996 it was
clear that this console would never
make it to our shores, but the
Nintendo 64 was on the horizon.
The Playstation and Saturn didn’t
make much of an impact on me.
I’m not sure about James, but I
was fiercely loyal to the Big N. As
it was, the Nintendo 64 was still a
fair way off its Australian release,
and we had so many more Super
Nintendo games to get through.
I remember James not being too
fond of Run Saber, though he did
enjoy playing Strider on the Amstrad
CPC years earlier. I thought
that the game was an above average
Strider clone, with an option
for 2 players. The graphics were
nothing special, but the game
moved at a brisk pace, and the
controls were precise. The music
was appropriate, but hardly memorable.
We did end up playing this
one to the end, though we may