This Week in Defunct Games - March 16, 2012

What Is It? Let's face it; Samurai Shodown III was a disaster. While SNK might not admit it, you'll be hard pressed to find somebody who actually defends the third chapter. Thankfully the developers of Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa's Revenge listened to the people and made a much better game. This installment takes us back to the roots, both in gameplay and by bringing back a bunch of missing characters. Unfortunately, elements from Samurai Shodown III creep in from time to time, but not enough to ruin an otherwise solid fighting game.

Does It Still Hold Up? This is easily the prettiest Samurai Shodown game, which makes this a real treat for retro game starved Wii owners. As I took in every inch of the game's beauty, it made me yearn for a modern day, high-definition Samurai Shodown game. Forget about The King of Fighters XIV, bring on a new Samurai Shodown. Outside of presentation, the game handles wonderfully and is a lot of fun with a second player. Too bad there's no online play.

Is It Worth The Money? Over the years I have come to appreciate Samurai Shodown IV. While I will never love it in the same way as the first two installments, I see where the developers were coming from and like a lot of the changes made. The good news is that this is a major improvement over the third chapter, a fighting game I will likely never learn to appreciate. My personal biases aside, Samurai Shodown IV is a welcome addition to the Virtual Console. It fits in perfectly next to last week's King of Fighters '97 release. SNK is on a roll in 2012, let's hope it continues.

What Is It? Originally released on the Sega Master System, this Dragon Crystal port was one of the Game Gear's earliest role-playing games. You play a young adventurer who is being followed by a giant egg. You wander around a maze in the forest battling all kinds of creepy crawly bad guys. Along the way you pick up better equipment and gain experience points, eventually turning you into the ultimate fighting machine. Unfortunately, the game's steep difficulty will keep many gamers from playing more than a few minutes of an otherwise solid effort.

The gameplay resembles another questionable Sega role-player, Fatal Labyrinth. The labyrinthine levels are masked by a fog of war, forcing players to explore every inch of the world. As the story progresses the egg hatches and you'll have a valuable dragon by your side. Despite some clumsy execution, Dragon Crystal has a lot of good ideas for a portable Game Gear game.

Does It Still Hold Up? This early Game Gear game looks okay, but the limited combat control will be jarring to many gamers. It's also not always clear where you're supposed to go, which is only made more difficult by the completely unnecessary fog of war. I like some of the story beats and sound isn't terrible, but this RPG hasn't held up as well as efforts by Nintendo and Square.

Is It Worth The Money? Dragon Crystal has a lot going for it. There are so many minor elements in the game that make this a memorable experience. The problem is that it's surrounded by a steep difficulty and a world full of tiring mazes. Ultimately I liked this more than Fatal Labyrinth and feel it does make for a solid portable game. You're better off playing one of the half dozen Zelda games on the Nintendo 3DS.

What Is It? Contrary to the name, Shinobi (often referred to as GG Shinobi) is not a simple arcade port. This is a brand new Game Gear game with a surprising amount of fresh ideas. This time around you play as five different Shinobis, each with their own unique weapons and skills. The levels take full advantage of this gameplay tweak, allowing for some truly spectacular 2D locales. The trade-off is that this doesn't feel like the Shinobi games of old. This is a straight-up action experience, resembling the 8-bit versions of Strider. Still, ninja fun is guaranteed when you download this Game Gear version of Shinobi!

Does It Still Hold Up? It's hard to be blown away by 8-bit graphics on twenty year old handheld, but Shinobi comes pretty darn close. The backgrounds feature parallax scrolling, the characters are detailed and everything is bright and colorful. Even more astonishing is the music, which remixes familiar tracks from Revenge of Shinobi. The gameplay is solid and the pacing is quick, which works perfectly in Shinboi's first portable adventure.

Is It Worth The Money? Shinobi is far from perfect, but that shouldn't stop you from checking out this inventive action game. This is Sega's way of pointing out that the Game Gear was a powerful system that easily outclassed Nintendo's black and white Game Boy. The graphics are sharp, the gameplay is quick and there are enough creative ideas to make this a must-own game. It's good to see Sega coming out swinging.

What Is It? Instead of boring gamers with their 1991 and 1992 installments, Sega jumped right to Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble as their first 3DS Virtual Console title. Wise choice, as this is the strongest of Sonic's 8-bit outings. You play either Sonic or Tails as they do battle once again with Dr. Robotnik. This time around the speedy duo are forced to contend with Knuckles the Echidna, who has been duped into believing Sonic and Tails are up to no good.

This third Game Gear installment brings back a lot of the items introduced in past 8-bit adventures. Sonic can use the Pogo Spring and Rocket Shoes from Sonic Chaos, something that gives this handheld edition a unique feel. The game's visuals are also remarkable, showing just what Sega can do once they've learned the hardware.

Does It Still Hold Up? Yes, the graphics are amazing. But the flashy graphics only reinforce the real problem with Triple Trouble. You can tell that Sega wanted to be even more ambitious with this sequel, yet they were thwarted by the system's limited hardware. There are some spectacular moments, but they are plagued by a number of technical problems. On the other hand, this is the first handheld Sonic game that feels like a classic 16-bit Genesis game. It's not without some problems, but Triple Trouble holds up just fine.

Is It Worth The Money? After spending months wondering where the Game Gear games were, it feels good to finally have some Sega games to talk about. Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is a solid action game that will no doubt draw a lot of attention on the Virtual Console. The gameplay is sharp and the graphics will impress anybody who has been fed a steady diet of Game Boy games. On the other hand, this Sonic game is just a little too ambitious for its own good. Still, the game's problems shouldn't prevent you from adding this classic platformer to your SD card.