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Sometimes, a company gets too complacent with its properties, and decides to farm them out. Big mistake. The result is almost never good, as demonstrated by U.S. Gold’s horrible Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns. It took everything the original game did well and buried it up deep, deep in the Earth, and what was released was decidedly un-Strider-like.
As popular as they were in the mid ’90s, it was only a matter of time before Beavis & Butthead made their way to consoles. Their Genesis adventure wasn’t half bad, if you were a fan of the show. Filled with inside jokes and toilet humor, the game had little appeal to those who didn’t appreciate the duo’s brand of humor. Fans, however, loved it.
Despite two other releases, Genesis owners were lucky enough to get a great port of Valis III. Sure, it’s missing some levels and a few cut scenes, but this is essentially the same game, and it was one of the big draws from Renovation upon its debut. Moreover, it has perhaps one of the best endings of the pre-CD era, a perfect cap to the awesome storyline that unfolds between stages (complete with Engrish and everything!).
It’s been ported to just about every platform on Earth, but it’s always just as grand. Delphine Software’s Flashback: The Quest for Identity set a new standard in just how much could fit into a cartridge, and it showed us that a great story, wrapped around excellent gameplay, was the true way to create a classic.
Remember when the Genesis launched and there were so many cool games to play? Yes, that September and the following months were chock full of great releases, and among them was Mystic Defender, a spiritual sequel, of sorts, to the Master System’s SpellCaster. It had great graphics and gameplay, and plenty of weird enemies to dispatch.