Retro Live 2017 - issue 2

interests change, and communications
and networking were
looking like better options for me.
I also enjoyed the arcade machines
at TAFE. Street Fighter Alpha
2 was in the student lounge,
and as a result so was I during my
breaks. This latest addition to the
Street Fighter Alpha series had
me hooked, and I pumped many
coins into it. I still enjoyed playing
Street Fighter 2 on my SNES at
home, but this just blew it out of
the water.
Set as a prequel to Street Fighter
2, the Alpha series takes place
between the first and second
games in the series. Returning
warriors from Street Fighter are
present, as are some future SF2
alum. The controls feel very fluid,
which is a stark contrast to the
Mortal Kombat series. I am still
convinced that without the blood
and gore there never would have
been an MK2. Those games feel
so rigid, while the animated goofiness
and smooth controls of the
Capcom’s fighting series just
appealed to me so much more.
The graphics were a step up
from Street Fighter 2, while the
Q-Sound music blared out of the
speakers. The game is full of battle
tracks that set the tone, and
the sound effects are crisp and
clear.
Bering that Amy was my first
girlfriend, I found being dumped
quite hard to take. I wasn’t to remain
single for too long, but that
will be covered in the next episode
of The Gamer Diaries. In the
meantime a couple of the guys in
my TAFE class had CD burners,
something that was still a bit of a
luxury in the mid to late 90s. I can
remember one of my buddies, Ar-
thur, coming to my front door with
a pile of about 10 CDs full of pirated
games. A few games stood out
of the pack, and the first one that
grabbed my attention was Fantastic
Dizzy. Having missed out
on playing the Dizzy adventures
on the Amstrad CPC, I wanted to
give this one a go and see what
the fuss was about.
Released a number of years earlier,
Fantastic Dizzy features the
adventuring member of the Yolkfolk
out to rescue his girlfriend
Daisy from the evil sorcerer Zax,
the villain from the first game. The
Dizzy games are arcade adventures
that require you to collect
items and use them in key locations,
which will unlock newer
parts of the game for you to explore.
As with all of the other Dizzy
games, once you’ve made your
jump you have no further control
over Dizzy until he lands. To the
casual Mario and Sonic fan, this
gameplay element can be a little
frustrating, but accurate jumping
is a skill that you will need to
master. Fantastic Dizzy also featured
stars that the player needed
to collect. I’ve read that different
versions of the game had a different
number of stars to collect,
either 100 or 250.
Another game featured on this
CD collection was Crusader No
Remorse. Having enjoyed 3D isometric
games from my Amstrad
days, I really got into the game.
The controls weren’t confusing,
something that isometric games
can suffer from, the graphics were
nice and sharp, though the sound
effects were pretty standard fare.
I can remember thinking about
how far we had come since Gunfright,
another isometric shoot em
up I used to enjoy. One big problem
with Crusader No Remorse
was a bug that prevents you from
getting any further. I did find a
patch, but it wouldn’t work on my
copied version of the game. That
was pretty much the end of that...
Another standout title was Gobliiins.
A point and click puzzler,
Gobliiins had you controlling 3
goblins, hence the triple i in the
title. Each goblin had their own
abilities, and you would use them
to punch or use magic on items.
These could then be picked up
and used to solve puzzles, all in
an attempt to save the king. Oh,
don’t worry, he hasn’t been kidnapped.
This king has gone stark
raving mad, and the goblins need
to find a way to get him back to
normal. The bright, colourful
graphics were a delight to behold,
and the animations were quite
humorous. The only complaint I
had with the game was that a majority
of the puzzles were a little
too easy.
Without James around, my Super
Nintendo was starting to become
neglected, as much of my gaming
was now done on the PC. I
had played my SNES cartridges
to death, and I could download
ROMs for free on my PC. Emulators
were getting better with each
“I HAD PLAYED MY
SNES CARTRIDGES
TO DEATH, AND I
COULD DOWNLOAD
ROMS FOR FREE ON
MY PC.”