Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)

Today I'm finally getting around to Metroid: Zero Mission, only a year or two after it was requested. This is the fifth 2D platformer in the series and despite the name it's actually about bounty hunter Samus Aran's first video game mission, as it's a remake of Metroid 1.

I have played this one before, though just enough time has passed now for me to have entirely forgotten everything about it. I actually managed to finish the game... on the easy difficulty. This time though I'll be playing it on normal mode, so I'm expecting it to be closer to the original's level of challenge and kick my ass from one side of Zebes to the other.

Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX)

Here's another obscure cult Japanese RPG I'm sure you've probably never heard of, released for a classic CD based Sony console called the 'PlayStation'.

Final Fantasy Tactics was released a mere six months after Final Fantasy VII in the US and Japan, but took a little longer to reach Europe. Like, a decade longer. A strange decision perhaps considering how much cash FFVII was raking in at the time, but I'm sure they had their reasons.

Little Inferno (PC)

Today I'm planning to find out exactly what this Little Inferno thing I've heard so much about is. All I know is that it was developed in part by 50% of the team that gave humanity World of Goo (artist/composer/designer etc. Kyle Gabler), and that it's meant to be a satire about dumb time-wasting unrewarding videogames. But I'm hardly the kind of person who constantly throws their time away on tedious pointless games, so it's possible that the entire message may go drifting past my head when it emerges.

(Click the pics to see them in relatively huge 1280x960-o-vision).

Sensible Train-Spotting (Amiga)

I knew I'd have to find something really special today to drag people's attention away from e3, and I think I may have found it. From the legendary Sensible Software, creators of Wizkid, Cannon Fodder, and Sensible Soccer, comes their ultimate Amiga game: Sensible Train-Spotting. I mean that literally, as it's the last game they ever made for the system, released on a magazine coverdisk (Amiga Power issue 53 to be precise) in 1995.

There's no catchy theme song like they usually have though. No music at all in fact.

Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (SNES)

Today I'm going to be investigating Lufia & The Fortress of Doom, not to be confused with Lufia, which is what the sequel's called in Europe. You see this never actually got a European release so they decided to pass its name along to the next game along, as seems to have been tradition with classic JRPGs released in the West.

I've had a few requests for this one. Actually most were for Lufia 2, but I figured it'd make more sense to play the games in order... even though the second game is actually a direct prequel, so it should technically come first, maybe. I dunno.

Uridium 2 (Amiga)

Could this have been the highest resolution title screen ever seen on a home gaming machine in 1993? I wouldn't have a clue, but it looks pretty damn huge.

Uridium 2 is an Amiga exclusive by Graftgold, the makers of... well, Uridium 1 I guess. It's a horizontally scrolling shooter I believe, and with a name like that what else could it be? A sci-fi sounding one-word title beginning with a letter from the far end of the alphabet, it's a dead giveaway.

Gunpoint (Demo) (PC)

Gunpoint is described as being a stealth puzzle game, which is a combination that personally makes me want to run screaming, but I'm also curious about it. It's been promised to have an innovative rewiring mechanic letting you make progress by tricking enemies, and hey I like innovative things! So I'll give it a chance to prove its greatness.

Anyway you should be aware that I only have the demo version of the game here, on account of it not being released until tomorrow, so if it ends up being reworked into a gritty first person shooter or something by the time you get your hands on the final product then I apologise for my misleading screenshots.