The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun is based on the Belgian comic book of the same name. The basic plotline is the same: Professor Cuthbert Calculus gets kidnapped and the player, in the role of Tintin, needs to rescue him. The rest is more loosely adapted: in contrast to the comic, which is mostly based in Peru, this game offers many different locations all over the world.
The gameplay itself is a typical platforming action: Tintin walks through the levels while avoiding the enemies. Pretty much everyone, e.g. little girls and security guards, is out to hurt Tintin who has no means of defending himself. This means the most important aspect is learning enemy placements, their patterns and how to avoid them. But he has to hurry because of the time limit. Required for success is the usage of the two playing plains: from the player's perspective in the foreground and further towards the background. Tintin can switch between the two at any time.
BS F-Zero Grand Prix is a remixed version of the original F-Zero released only in Japan for the Satellaview attachment of the Super Famicom. It was released in four parts from late-1996 to early-1997, and was a SoundLink title where an announcer provided commentary during gameplay. As the original game was only three cups, a fourth cup called Ace League was added. Each cup had the courses in a slightly different order, and a new course not found in the original game served as the fifth track (with Mute City I being reused once at the beginning of the final week).
You take the role of an EWOK in this thrilling game based on scenes from RETURN OF THE JEDI. Now a member of the Rebel cause, you must hang glide over dangerous territory in order to reach the Imperial shield generator. Your mission: to blow it
apart! But as you swoop through the forest, IMPERIAL STORMTROOPERS, AT-ST's and BIKER SCOUTS will try to shoot you down. Hurl rocks at the enemy as you avoid their fire and close in on the shield generator.
Stagger 1 / Red Hawk is a 1997 vertical scrolling shooter arcade game created by Afega.
Stagger 1 / Red Hawk was Afega's big breakthrough. Even though its success was mostly expressed in the spreading of bootlegs in China, Afega still claimed to have exported more than 10,000 machines. In Korea, the game was originally published before the summer vacation of 1997, but called back for some reason, and not sold again until November the same year. At first sales were slow because of the low machine price of 250,000 Won (which lead arcade owners assume low quality), but after word-of-mouth had spread, the game became a hit in its home country, too6.
While it didn't bring anything new on the shmup table, Red Hawk's biggest strength was its bombastic arsenal, throwing together all kinds of weapon systems that are seen in the genre. Besides the highly upgradeable standard weapon, planes can charge for a devastating, screen filling special attack. Those don't replace smart bombs, though, as those are available, too.
Cookie and Bibi 3 is a clone of the Puzzle Bobble series developed by Semicom in 1997. In this game, the player controls a cannon which shoots different sorts of bricks, each one representing some sort of food. If at least 3 bricks of the same kind are put in contact with one another, they explode and the player gains points. To clear a stage and go to the next one, the player has to destroy every brick present at the beginning before they accumulate to a certain state. The game has several game modes : The main game is playable with one or two players helping each other ; a versus game mode is also available. This game has two prequels: Cookie and Bibi and Cookie and Bibi 2.
Released first as an arcade game on Sega's ST-V hardware in 1997. Only months later, it received a virtually arcade-perfect console port on the Sega Saturn. Considered the true sequel to the first game in the series, Cotton 2 also marks the introduction of two new primary characters: Appli, a young princess, and her anthropomorphic hat, Needle. Cotton 2 sees a return to traditional horizontal scrolling in the series, but it also stands out among shoot 'em ups in general for its unique gameplay system. With a heavy incorporation of Newtonian physics, Cotton 2 ultimately mixes elements of 2D platformers with traditional shoot 'em up gameplay. The first release of Cotton 2 on the Sega Saturn also included a mini-calendar for 1998.
In Virtua Striker 2, you can choose from international teams with players based loosely on real-life counterparts. Play in Arcade, Tournament, or Challenge modes as you compete in Single- or Two-player head-to-head "footy" matches.
Over REV is a 1997 racing game developed by Jaleco for Sega's Model 2 arcade board. It features four nicely rendered tracks across the Greater Tokyo Area. Although it has some serious issues with driving and collision physics, if you stick with the game long enough to overcome its intricacies, it can be pretty rewarding. Like Jaleco's other Model 2 racer, Super GT 24h, you'll want to use an automatic transmission.
Arkanoid Returns is an arcade game released by Taito in 1997 as part of the Arkanoid series. It was the fourth overall, and third to be released in arcades. The game was since ported to the PlayStation, with an updated home release being released afterwards titled Arkanoid R 2000. All versions were released exclusively in Japan, currently making it the only game in the series to never receive an international release. The enemy known as 'DOH' still did not get the message and after many years of silence decides to attack once again.
The 'Vaus' space vessel better be ready to face new, yet familiar challenges, in order to stop 'DOH' once again. The gameplay remains similar to Arkanoid: Doh it Again, the previous game in the series released for the Super Nintendo, in that it features the same powerups , some re-used level designs, and the same board size. The initial arcade game contains only 50 levels, the environment changing every 9 levels.
The Crow: City of Angels is a 3D fighting game in which the player wanders from screen to screen, fighting everybody they come across with a wide variety of kicks and punches that vary based on your proximity to your foe. There is also a large range of weapons including pistols, shotguns, knives, pool cues, pipes and steel drums.
Described by the creators as "Bomberman meets Doom", Boom vigorously thrusts 80 levels directly into your cranium. You and a friend/relative/hostage can traverse 8 different areas populated with creatively devious enemies to highly memorable backing music in this classic arcade thriller.
Racermate Challenge II is not a game that was readily available to the public. As a specially-ordered game from Computrainer, it was used to help increase bikers' performance for marathons and races. It came in an oversized Computrainer shipping box and typically included a top loader NES, multiple manuals (all different), Racermate Challenge II cart, and several accessories in which you used to hook your bike up to the NES. The game would keep track of your speed and endurance and let you know how well you were doing. A rather odd game and extremely tough to find anywhere especially complete since many would have thrown the box and manuals away.
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 is a collection of Atari arcade games for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Action-adventure with slight RPG elements (buying and upgrading weapons, etc.) set in Wild West. While featuring traditional dungeon-crawling and many enemies to dispose of in real time combat, the game doesn't equip you with standard medieval swords, but with pistols, shotgun, machine gun, and even a flamethrower. Your weapons have infinite ammo. You can duck to avoid the alien monsters' fire, and perform special attacks with various types of weapons.
Final Fantasy VII is a role-playing game set in a post-modern, steampunk world where technology and fantasy elements coexist. Players control Cloud Strife, an ex-soldier who joins the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to oppose Shinra Inc., a corporation draining the planet's life energy. The game features turn-based combat with an active time element, a customizable Materia system for abilities, and unique Limit Break attacks for each character. Players explore 3D environments, engage in various mini-games, and uncover a complex plot involving Cloud's mysterious past and a powerful threat to the world. As the story progresses, players gain access to different vehicles, allowing them to explore new areas and uncover additional content.