Blaze On is a deservedly obscure horizontal shooter which immediately feels like an inferior R-Type clone. The attract mode features a breathtaking (for 1992) anime sequence which heightens your expectations to the point where you believe the game you're about to play is... well, more than an inferior R-Type clone.

1996 Banpresto

Oh, this needs a remake.

Bang Bang Ball is a physics-based puzzler that puts you in the middle of the action as a vulnerable bob (player-controlled sprite, the avatar that represents your actions in the game world – why doesn't anyone use this term anymore? I kinda feel like a dusty old academic). As in most puzzle games, a chain of several like-coloured balls must be connected in order to eliminate them from play. These balls are constantly drifting around, so you can move your bob (in this case, a skateboarding mouse) around freely inside the play area in order to attack from various angles by shooting balls at the cluster.

Sounds interesting enough already, but herein lies the rub – if a ball hits your mouse from any angle other than head-on, your mouse will take damage. If it hits the ball that your mouse is carrying, it'll bounce off. It's kinda like playing a cross between Asteroids and Puzzle Bobble, as hard as that might be to imagine.

Magical Drop III is a fast-paced puzzle game that will hurt your wrists unless you're using European-style joysticks with a nice short throw. That reminds me – perhaps I should do a MAME controller roundup sometime soon. Anyway, on to the review.

Well, “Neratte” means “Aim,” and “Chu” means, from what I can tell, either a kissing sound, insect, mouse, loyalty, middle, or corporal/capital punishment. I'm guessing in this context, it means “Mouse.” I thought “Neratte Chu” meant “Rat Kiss.”

This is kind of like Snake, mixed with any generic puzzle game. It's as interesting as it sounds, but not quite as fun – the learning curve is very steep, making this better for two-player games.