Back again for our regular Sunday roundup of quick-fire reviews and impressions of everything under the spotlight at Retro Arcadia this week, old and new and a bit of both…

Excluding Star Wars, which doesn’t count, I’ve never been much into any Disney stuff beyond the ancient cartoons we used to get on TV in the seventies, and that probably explains my otherwise surprising fondness for the Mickey Mouse games on the Sega Mega Drive or Genesis! This week I’ve been back to 1990’s Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, with no encouragement needed beyond spotting it again on the Mega Drive Mini’s games carousel, and like every other time that happens, it’s such a blast! You’re at the castle to rescue Minnie Mouse from an evil witch out to steal her youth and beauty. To defeat her, you need to find the Seven Gems of the Rainbow, scattered across five and a bit illusion-filled levels, accessed in turn through magical doors in the castle, and each guarded by the witch’s minions and a Master of Illusion boss, waiting at the other end of a load of very well put together platforms and other such obstacles to overcome. Each level has its own distinct theme and set of challenges, starting with The Enchanted Forest, then Toyland, The Storm, The Dessert Factory and The Library, which should then open up The Castle and a final fight with the witch herself. There is an easy mode for kids with no bosses and shortened levels but playing normal isn’t that outrageous either – just a really enjoyable time on all counts! Controls are so focussed and tight, and whether you’re surfing on leaves, battling baddies in jelly or trying to resist the urge to eat everything in that gorgeous dessert level, it’s all immediately intuitive. And it’s not just the food that looks good enough to eat! This game really is gorgeous throughout – even the stuffy old library – so richly decorated and filled with perfectly-set enemies and hazards, and Mickey’s animation is just spot-on. As is the happy-go-lucky music and slapstick sound design. Always worth a play-through however the opportunity presents itself! 

I love finding an old new favourite (or vice versa) but few are ever as new to me as Zap’t’balls by Elmsoft on the Amstrad CPC! While things get way more frantic than the screenshot here suggests, this was the moment I totally fell for its bonkers, Pang-like premise from very late in the underdog system’s life in 1992. There’s an enormous, very Germanic backstory and an extremely convoluted level-select password system you need to navigate around the game’s dozens of levels, all spread over four distinct worlds, not to mention its two-player mode (with some downright bizarre controls so you can still experience these levels if you don’t have a player two to hand!), as well as a further eighty levels of “Advanced Edition.” Once you’re in though, it’s very simple however and wherever you choose to play – fire your zapper at the balls, which might then split or shrink until they’re all gone, and you move to the next level. If any of them hit you, you lose a life, and to hit some of the balls you might have to overcome some obstacles first. Whatever, it’s Pang, and it’s loads of fun! The visuals throughout are everything I love about what the CPC could produce, with a mix of surprisingly lifelike and increasingly surreal (and occasionally dynamic) backgrounds contrasting with this detailed, cute character and the nicely lit simplicity of the balls and his zapper, and it works great! That said, some of the colour choices will soon be testing your sanity as well as your eyesight! Some of the best music on the CPC too, and I reckon one of its real hidden gems! 

I generally veer towards Neo Turf Masters when I fancy a game of golf, partly because it’s the best game of arcade golf ever, but also because I own it all over the place, from SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 on PlayStation Portable onwards! Their Top Player’s Golf arrived six years earlier, in 1990, although I’m really hazy on whether or not I ever played it back then, or if it’s inclusion on SNK’s 40th anniversary NEOGEO Mini console from 2018 was the first time, which probably reflects me not being such a big fan of this one but I’ve enjoyed messing around with it on there this week all the same. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it though, and actually, there’s loads going on, with four different golfers to choose from, two courses and three game modes, including stroke play for one player, match play for two, and Nassau Game for either way, which throws challenges like closest to the hole or longest shot on top of regular play. I just don’t find the understandably simple gameplay mechanics to be particularly remarkable or rewarding, and annoyingly, there’s no easy indication of how far is left to reach the hole, or how that relates to hitting your selected club. You get used to it though, and I guess you could say that adds a bit of realism, and everything else is great, with a good level of challenge in the course designs and really nice presentation, with tons of sampled speech and easy-going music to set a suitably jolly mood, while the visuals are very much golf game of the time but also very dynamic, with tons of pixelated detail in the carefully lit, animated scenery, where clouds float overhead and waves lap against rocks and bridges, alongside all kinds of trees and types of grass. This all sweeps in and out with some great camera motion, and then you’ve got some simple but stylish animations showing your shot, or your caddy giving you advice, and spectacular views of lakes and forests between holes. It’s a decent package but it’s just not Neo Turf Masters! 

I’m going to finish this week with the Nintendo Switch Arcade Archives release of Yie Ar Kung-Fu, the pioneering one-on-one fighter by Konami in 1984. While I had a lot of form with its very slightly earlier genre-creating predecessor Karate Champ, as well as many of the games it would then start to immediately inform and influence, such as Shao-Lin’s Road, this one passed me by in the arcades at the time, and was always more of a ZX Spectrum game to me. Excellent conversion that was too but this is where the big boys and girls play! The game built on Karate Champ’s genre-defining foundations with multiple characters, some with weapons, and swapped realism for a more dynamic move-set and a faster pace. Fighting styles also vary across the eleven opponents you fight in your bid to become grand-master, usually based on their size or the weapons they use, such as throwing stars, swords and nunchuks. Everything you’ve got is on the joystick directions, with or without fire pressed, offering sixteen different attacks, each scoring differently depending on their difficulty to land. It’s a game of cat and mouse, demanding patience as you hit and run and wait to do it again, as well as an increasing appreciation of both what context makes your own attacks successful and also the strengths and weaknesses of your current opponent. So much nuance for something so simple to modern Street Fighter eyes, with just enough animation frames in the almost cute little sprites to support it. The now-iconic couple of backgrounds swap every few levels, with great use of colour and lifelike cartoon detail, and there’s even the working waterfall – another fighting game first! Iconic piece of music too, with good swooshes and crunches on top, and it all adds up to as much fun today as it was back then! 

Right, that’s your lot for this week! In case you missed it last Wednesday though, we looked at the most and the best hidden depth in any game ever, and one of the catchiest tunes too, so be sure to check out My Life With Bubble Bobble on ZX Spectrum / Atari ST / Arcade / Everywhere! Then next Wednesday, we’ll be getting close to September, so it’s time for the Retro Arcadia Gaming Pickups Summer 2024 Recap, a seasonal feature covering all the retro games and related stuff I shouldn’t have been spending money on over the last three months! Hope to see you then!

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