Super Turrican

The game of the month for April 2014 is Super Turrican for the SNES! So it seems like we'll all be playing a classic run-and-gun platformer this month. I can't wait :-)

The Turrican game series started in 1989 when german developer Manfred Trenz created the first demo level on his Commodore 64 - the full game was released on the C64 later on in 1990. Turrican was a very popular game series on the C64 and Amiga back in the early nineties, known for both its high graphical standard and its excellent soundtracks. Super Turrican was developed for the SNES by Factor 5, who also did the Amiga version of the original Turrican in 1990.

To whet you appetites for this excellent game, take a look at the following YouTube video:

This popular title is quite expensive it seems, but fortunately it is available on the Wii Virtual Console for 800 Wii Points, so if you don't want to shell out the money for a real copy of the cartridge, you can still join in on the fun.

If you are considering playing along with us, please visit the forums at http://retrogamesquad.com/community/ and join in on the discussion.

Vote for game of the month, April 2012

The vote is up for the game of April 2014! The topic of this month is "runners-up" - we have been running this gaming club for some time now, and every month one game gets picked and four others are just left behind never to be played again :) That seems like a waste of good games, and Trantor therefore suggested that we held a vote between the runners-up of the last couple of months. What these games have in common is that they all ended on a 2nd place in an earlier month's vote.

The games are
1) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis). Released in 1991 this is the first installment in the Sonic series where we meet the edgy hedgehog for the very first time. This game is a favourite of many Mega Drive owners. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_%281991_video_game%29

2) Marble Madness (NES). Created for the arcade in 1984 and released in a NES version in 1989, this game is the oldest one we are looking at this time. It remains a favourite among many of us "older" gamers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Madness

3) Gunstar Heroes (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis). Released in 1993 this run and gun platformer looks like an excellent choice in this months vote. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunstar_Heroes

4) Super Turrican (SNES). Turrican is probably best known on the C64 and Amiga platforms, but Turrican games have been released on a plethora of platforms. The SNES version called Super Turrican was released in 1993. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turrican#Super_Turrican_and_Super_Turrican_2_.28Super_NES.29

5) The Adventures of Batman & Robin (Sega CD). In this 1994 Sega CD release, you get to drive the Batmobile and pilot the Batplane while hunting down the well known villains. This version contains many animated scenes that were created specifically for the game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Batman_%26_Robin_%28video_game%29

If you want to vote on which game we should play - or even better, if you want to play along with us - go to http://www.retrogamesquad.com/community/, create an account, and cast your vote in the "RGS: Retro Gaming Club"-forum. You can also vote by leaving a comment to this post. 

Game of March 2014: Dune on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis

The votes have been counted and it ended up being a tie between Dune II: Battle for Arrakis (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis) and The Adventures of Batman & Robin (Sega CD). In such cases the one who is championing the RGC for the month gets to decide, and Trantor selected Dune. 

I'll will be excited to see how an RTS game fares on a console, as I have only ever played such games on a computer with a mouse. If you are interested in joining in, please head over to the forums and join the conversation. We are a very welcoming bunch of people, so don't be shy ;-)

To whet you appetites, I have recorded a small video of the intro and the first Atreides mission on the DOS version (I don't own the Mega Drive version yet, but it is in the mail!).