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The first stab at an RPG by the arcade legends at AM2, Sword of Vermilion got some things right and just a tab bit more wrong. The result was a mediocre effort that, while worth playing, isn’t what would be expected by such a talented team. Chalk it up to growing pains?
Everybody likes OutRun. The Ferrari, the music, the multiple paths; it’s all good. As one of the seminal racing games ever made, it has achieved almost legendary status. Originally released on the Sega Master System, it was brought to the Genesis in 1990 and was considered the best version until Sega brought it back on the Saturn for the Sega Ages Series.
Anyone who is familiar with the Fantasy Zone series will feel right at home with the Mega Drive sequel. Controls are essentially the same and the premise has not changed at all. After O-papa, (Opa-Opa’s dad) is killed by the returning Dark Menon (sounds like a perfume company), little Opa takes on the mantle of space savior and sets out to finish the job his father could not. Using all his skill and armament, he battles through ten stages of baddies in order to eliminate Menon once and for all.
If ever there was a reason to buy a Sega CD, Lunar: The Silver Star was it. Although remade masterfully for the Playstation, the Sega CD version was a stunning RPG for its time and something that owners of the system could smirk about when their friends came over. This was why they had spent all that money. This was the reward for their months of suffering at the hands of poor FMV games and lackluster ports. This was the über adventure they had waited so eagerly for and it was good, damn good.
I remember when the SNES version of Final Fight hit the streets. It sold like hot cakes and though it had been eagerly anticipated, many were returned the same day. No Guy? No two player mode? Levels missing and names changed? Flicker and slowdown all over the place? Many of my friends swore a Sicilian curse at Capcom that day and were bitter over it for a long time. Never having an arcade version near me for comparison, for a long time I couldn’t see what all the controversy was about, until I played the Sega CD version.