Riot Zone (TurboGrafx-CD)

Developer:

Westone

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Release Date:

1993 (1992 in Japan)

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Systems:

TurboGrafx-CD, Arcade (kind of)

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This week on Super Adventures we're going to the Riot Zone, on the TurboGrafx-CD / PC Engine CD-ROM².

Though it's also known by another name, as it started life as an coin-op called Riot City. The licensing agreement that developer Westone had with original publisher Sega said they owned the rights to the game, but not the characters, bosses or names, so when they ported it to Hudson Soft's console they had to give it a makeover and a new title. It's a bit weird they didn't just port it to Sega's Mega Drive / Genesis instead and save themselves the work, but I suppose they must have had their reasons.

The game never got a European release in either form, but the console version did reach America, so there'll be nice English cutscenes for me to completely understand. Well I'll be able to read the text at least.

Kaze Kiri: Ninja Action (TurboGrafx-CD)

Developer:

Naxat Soft

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Release Date:

1994

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Systems:

PC Engine Super CD-ROM²

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This week on Super Adventures, a game called Kaze Kiri: Ninja Action that came out in Japan and nowhere else.

I'm not sure I've played a Naxat Soft game before so I've no idea what to expect. Maybe it'll be an incredibly slick showcase for what the humble PC Engine can do in the hands of experts, maybe it'll be an unplayable piece of crap, I can't even guess. It's a Super CD-ROM² game so it has the potential to be at least as good as Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, but I won't be getting my hopes up.

One thing I know for sure is that I hate how long it takes to get to the title screen. First you have to wait through a flickering five second movie countdown and then another ten for the title to form. C'mon game, I've got ninjas to kill or maybe play as!

Fausseté Amour (TurboGrafx-CD)

Developer:

AIM

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Release Date:

1993

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Systems:

PC Engine CD

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Today on Super Adventures I'm taking a quick look at Fausseté Amour, which is almost certainly some kind of platformer. Probably.

One of the special talents I possess that sets me apart from the average game writer is my ability to consistently spell 'TurboGrafx' right without looking it up, but it's turning out to be a pretty useless skill seeing as everything I play for the system lately turns out to be exclusive to the Japanese PC Engine version of the machine. Like this for instance.

The title 'Fausseté Amour' on the other hand, I've been having to double check every time. I keep putting in too many 't's or not enough 's's or throwing in an 'r' and changing it to 'armour'. Google Translate tells me that it's French and is pretty close to meaning 'false love'. Which is a bit of a warning sign perhaps, but it's a console game so I'm sure it'll be perfectly wholesome and safe for the whole family to enjoy! Probably.

Renny Blaster (TurboGrafx-CD)

Developer:

J-Force

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Release Date:

1995

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Systems:

PC Engine CD

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Today on Super Adventures I'm ticking another title off my inexhaustible request list. It claims to be called Renny Blaster and I don't see any reason to doubt it. Maybe Lenny Blaster would've been a better way of reading the katakana on the box, but the title screen is pretty adamant it starts with an R.

It says 'TurboGrafx-CD' in my post title and labels for the sake of consistency (I strive for the highest standards of presentation for my jokey video game blog), but it'd make more sense to call this one a PC Engine game, as it never made it out of Japan. Just out of curiosity I did a quick calculation with the limited info I could find online in 3 minutes of half-assed searching, and it seems that less than a third of the console's library got a release on its American cousin. European fans of the console got it even worse, or to be more precise they got absolutely nothing. We may never solve the mystery of how the SNES and Mega Drive managed to outsell it four or five times over worldwide.

Oh right, I'm supposed to be writing about Renny Blaster. Uh...  it came out in 1995, so that's pretty late for a PC Engine game, even a CD one. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood pre-dates this by a whole two years, and I always assumed that was one of the last of them. The game's also likely to be entirely in Japanese, being a Japanese game and all, but I'm hoping there won't be much text to wade through this time.

Beyond Shadowgate (TurboGrafx-CD)

Whoa, right away I know I'm onto a winner with this one. The title screen shows a guy standing on a ring of skulls, pissing all over a dragon and cheering.

Today on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at Beyond Shadowgate, on the TurboGrafx. This one was a request, and is apparently the sequel to famously cruel 1987 adventure game Shadowgate, which I haven't played and know next to nothing about.

Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo / Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (TurboGrafx-CD)

Also known as... Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.