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The ’80s were all about ninjas, and the Master System did its pop culture duty in stellar fashion. The imaginatively-named “The Ninja” is a cool little run-‘n-gun that has all the shadow warriors, shurikens, and action you could ask for! Find a copy and get ready to save the Ohkami Province and its princess from the forces of evil!
Data East may no longer be around as an actual company (though you can still play some of their arcade classics on the Wii via the Data East Arcade Collection on the Wii this month), the games will live forever, especially its competent arcade ports on the Genesis. Atomic Runner was one coin-op favorite to make the jump, and it’s a fun little run-‘n-gun with some lush visuals and large bosses.
Accolade took the superb game that was Turrican II and dressed it up to tie in with the film release of the Van Damme vehicle Universal Soldier. The result was a hodgepodge of good and bad moments, but the game’s true heritage manages to shine through long enough to actually overcome the questionable licensing. If you’re a fan of the Turrican series (and you should be), you need to play this one, especially if you haven’t played Turrican II in its unaltered, awesome original form.
At one time it seemed like the only way to find a decent game with the Acclaim logo was to look for one that belonged to another company, and even then it was hit or miss. Under the Flying Edge banner, the company did manage to produce some decent software, and along with successful arcade ports like NBA Jam, Acclaim made some strides towards decency. Another port it tossed our way was that of Williams incredibly popular Smash T.V. Adding a “super” to the name, it wasn’t as pretty or customizable as its SNES sibling, but there was still much fun to be had.
Lots of bullets and lots of enemies to kill – those are the two defining elements of this classic genre that’s amply represented on the Genesis. We’ve put all the available games into one handy article, so read on and see what’s available!