I can tell you folks about title after title, three times a month, or I can try to entertain you and shake it up a bit. This will be the first of an “Editor’s Choice” series of articles, where I focus on a category or aspect of classic gaming and give it the spotlight. I often use social media to discuss the subjects with others before sitting down to write; if you want to throw me suggestions,, look for me on the retro gaming related pages on Facebook. I’d like especially to give a shout out to Hidden Sound Test, for giving me so much feedback the other day.  I got a lot of good suggestions, but I plan to do more than one article on Genesis music, so don’t worry!

Sleek 90s styling. The console of the future is (was) now.

The Sega Genesis. Outside of North America, it was known as the Mega Drive. Released in 1988 in Japan, the system didn’t make it here to the West until a year or two later (depending where you lived).  It overlapped and competed heavily with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and there are still devoted partisans for each system who maintain their console is the superior.

One thing the Genesis had the SNES beat on, hands down, was music. The Sega  Genesis had not one but two chips devoted to music and sound; the Yamaha YM2612 FM Synthesizer did most of the heavy lifting, while the Texas Instruments SN76489 Programmable Sound chip rounded out instrument and sound effect selection. The result was a rich, sophisticated sound system that was still undeniably FM synthesis – crunchy and groovy.

I have chosen, in no particular order or rank, five tracks that I consider to be examples of the versatility of the Genesis sound suite.

#1: Gaiares Stage 1 Music

I have always loved spaceship shooters, and Gaiares is a solid one. Challenging and fast, it keeps you glued to the action. This theme is a great way to start the game, with a daring and upbeat feel to it. You fly into the void knowing you have what it takes to win the day. The entire game is full of vibrant tunes, but this one has always stood out for me. It’s intrepid, and even a little hopeful. I especially like the marimba-type instrument on the breakdowns.

#2: Warsong Title Screen/Player Phase 4 Music

Warsong (also known as Langrisser) is a strategy based game that I’ll admit to knowing only a bit about; I’ve only seen gameplay, and my local rental place never had it when I was growing up. However, a collector friend fired it up while we were hanging out one afternoon and I was enchanted by this track. It’s suitably mighty and medieval, but the crying horn synths and big drum arrangement lend it an aura of emotional turmoil. This is a very charged piece of music, which is fitting for a dramatic wargame like this.

#3: Sonic 2: Chemical Plant Zone Music

I’ve got a lot of love for the first 3 Sonic games. I’m not terribly good at them, but my good buddy Dan is. You can sit Dan down in front of a Sonic game and he’ll put it in its place. Dan loves this track, and so do I. It’s electric. It’s got that growling, dirty FM crunch with a laser-like high end and a stainless steel beat. It’s so 90s it can’t even contain itself.  I have supplied the extended version because you’ll want to listen to it for a while.

Castlevania: Bloodlines: Sinking Old Sanctuary (Stage 2) Music

Any fool knows that the Castlevania series has some of the most divine music of any video game franchise in history. When coupled with the depth of the Genesis’s instrumentation, this resulted in a set of masterwork tracks by composer Michiru Yamane (who would go on to write more fantastic music for Symphony of the Night). This track is somber but dynamic, well-suited to the ponderous yet lethal aquatic theme of the level. There is a soft beauty to the melody line, and there is a mellow ghostliness on the lead synths while they keep  pace with warm low-end arpeggios.

Toe Jam & Earl: The Big Earl Bump

Except for Sonic, no one was as cool on the Genesis as Toe Jam & Earl. The lost alien rappers also had great taste in tunes… and my favorite from the game is this twangy bop-fest. It’s really groovy, but it’s undeniably cartoonish. This is song for walking , which Toe Jam & Earl do a lot of. When I learned to play bass guitar, the first style I learned was jazz. I love the plucked sound and the snappy lines. The bass really shines through on this one.

In the near future, I will revisit the glorious music of the Sega Genesis with five more picks. Stay tuned, and thanks for all the feedback! 

See you in a few days for another game review, Retro Gamers! 

World War II. Europe is in turmoil. Germany is on the rampage, fueled by the poison doctrines of Nazism and the fire of hatred. The world stands in the shadow of one man… one despicable tyrant… Adolf Hitler.

I’ve met the man who took him out.

His name was B.J. Blazkowicz.

Portrait of an American hero. Bloodied but unbowed. And packing one hell of a shooting iron.

Wolfenstein 3D is the game that changed everything. It is the ancestor of the modern, true first-person shooter. Developed by id Software and released in May 1992, this groundbreaking MS-DOS adventure set a precedent for years to come. One of many games distributed using the shareware method, Wolfenstein 3D was distributed in truncated form (in this case, the first “episode” of six total). Interested parties could obtain it very cheaply on floppy disk, or they could download it using a BBS service (the Internet’s older, more conservative cousin). The shareware model was repeated with later games, notably id’s legendary follow-up, Doom.

Easily one of the baddest-ass pieces of cover art from the shareware era. Ripped and howling, B.J. exults in the bloody demise of yet another Gestapo goon. He fires his unthinkably massive chaingun in a physics-defying display of all-American fury. 

In 1991, John Carmack and id Software (yes, the “id” is all lowercase) had developed Catacomb 3-D, a well-received and innovative attempt at 3D gaming. While it wasn’t a true first person shooter, it achieved something that game developers had been stabbing at for years: a decent representation of 3D space. The engine used a rendering technique called ray casting to create a “pseudo-3D” point of view. To avoid giving you a colorless technical essay, what the engine does is translate a 2 dimensional (think “top-down” view) map into what looks like 3D. The engine had limitations, namely that the entire map had to be the same elevation (no stairs, platforms, etc), so it wasn’t really “true” 3D… id would get closer in 1993 with Doom. Nonetheless, it was still an incredible representation of 3D graphics, and the team decided to reuse the engine to make a more action-oriented title. Castle Wolfenstein, a 1981 software title by Muse Software, had let its trademark lapse, and id decided to rework it using Carmack’s engine. The engine rendered quickly and ran well on machines with average processing power, which freed up resources for other aspects of the game to shine. The sprite-based graphics weren’t revolutionary in themselves, but the way they were used certainly was; while static objects had only one sprite, the enemies had multiple angles from which you could see them, and had well-animated attacks and movement. The overall visual theme is purposefully lighthearted and cartoonish, to offset the serious tone of the story. The game’s audio made good use of the sound cards of the day (namely the Sound Blaster series), and you could enable sound effects through the PC speaker as well. The music is written by Robert Prince, who is mostly known for his work on the original Doom and Commander Keen games. While it isn’t quite as iconic as his scores for those games, Wolfenstein’s music is pulse-pounding and ominous.

an animation illustrating how raycasting translates 2 dimensions into 3. Public domain image, but credit and thanks to Wikipedia user “LucasVB.”

I was nine when this game fell into my lap. My father’s job for the airline involved a lot of computer work; for lack of a kinder way to say it, he worked with some straight-up nerds. We’re talking the good old fashioned kind of tech-geeks. Good people! One of his co-workers sent him home one day with a set of blue 3.5 inch floppy disks. They bore the cryptic, vague label “WOLF3D.” My first thought as a nine-year-old boy was, “oh wow, a werewolf game. And in 3D!” I enthusiastically thanked my dad and ran to our IBM 386 to install the mystery game. Needless to say, there were no werewolves, but I still wasn’t disappointed in the least. I played the entire first episode through in one day.

MS-DOS: the operating system you had to ask nicely before it would do anything for you.

In Wolfenstein, you play as B.J. Blazkowicz, a US Army Ranger sergeant captured by the Nazis while investigating something called “Operation Eisenfaust.” At the start of the first episode, you’ve disarmed a guard and set yourself free from your prison cell in Castle Wolfenstein. The first episode chronicles your escape from the castle. This effort culminates in a showdown with the massive Hans Grosse. In the second, you discover that Eisenfaust is real and set out to stop it. You fight your way through hordes of undead “mutant” soldiers to face down Dr. Schabbs, the crazed, syringe-wielding doctor behind the project. In the third episode, “Die, Fuhrer, Die!” your mission is nothing less than to kill Hitler. This not only involves making your way through his private stronghold, but also defeating his many floating clones and destroying his battle-mech armor.

Yes. Battle-mech armor.

The final three episodes form a series of prequels to the first three, revolving around the Giftkrieg, or “Poison War.” Your first target is another mad scientist, one who dresses a bit more like a military man: Otto Giftmacher. In the fifth episode, “Trail of the Madman,” you’re after secret plans that just happen to be safeguarded by Hans’ sister, Gretel Grosse. Finally, B.J. confronts General Fettgesicht, the man behind the entire poison plot.

The game is playable using the keyboard and the mouse, though the mouse’s functionality is crude compared to later FPS games. You move through a complex set of dungeons and other complexes, collecting plundered treasure and capturing weapons to use against your vile Nazi foes. Brown-shirted soldiers, beefy Schutzstaffel officers, and even zombies with torso-mounted rifles are scattered throughout the game waiting to finish you off for the glory of the Reich. You start with a simple pistol, 8 bullets, and a knife. Not to worry; dead Nazi scum are very generous with their kit. The SS guy drops a submachine gun, and if you’re thorough, you can find a massive machine gun that tears through enemy soldiers (and ammunition as well). With a max capacity of 99 bullets, resource management plays a significant role in both surviving and winning. Many of the levels feature puzzle elements, as well as secrets that only a canny and attentive player will find (including a secret level in each episode, one of which is full of Pac-Man ghosts). Both your health percentage and B.J.’s animated mug shot on the status bar show you your current condition; to regain health, you can use anything from med kits to dog food. The bosses present a significant threat, and Hitler himself is particularly daunting. However, if you’re quick and patient, you can bring even the Fuhrer down once you’ve figured out his behavior.

Wolfenstein’s Nazi imagery caused notable disquiet in Germany, where the game was initially banned due to laws prohibiting such symbols in media. When ported to the SNES, the game had the Nazi imagery (but not the Nazis themselves) removed. Elsewhere in the world, Wolfenstein received lukewarm criticism for its modest (by modern standards) levels of violence, but no controversy adversely affected its sales or popularity. It’s hard to keep down an innovative, revolutionary 3D game… especially when it’s a game that involves killing Hitler and ending the Reich.

In the direct sequel, Spear of Destiny, B.J. returns to reclaim a powerful relic from the Nazis: the spear that pierced the side of Christ on the cross. Few if any changes were made to the game engine itself; a handful of new sprites were added, and Spear of Destiny plays as one long episode instead of six smaller ones. It is considered slightly more difficult than its predecessor, and builds on the Nazi/occult theme established therein.

As I mentioned earlier in the article, Wolfenstein 3D is often hailed as the first big step toward the now-familiar first person shooter format. It established a standard in both form and quality; id Software and other companies would compete afterwards, releasing a slew of titles that gradually added improvement after improvement to the original concept. Notably, id’s Doom broke even further ground for FPS games in 1993, and their dominance of the genre continued with 1996’s Quake. The Wolfenstein franchise itself saw new life in 2001, when Grey Matter Interactive released a technologically updated reboot that launched a new series of titles.

No matter who (or what) you are, it’s important to remember your roots… your origins. Games like Call of Duty and Borderlands, while certainly works of wonder in their own right, can’t help but look up at granddaddy Wolfenstein, smile, and nod respectfully.

FUN STUFF/TRIVIA:

• To honor its 20th anniversary in 2012, Bethesda released a browser-based version, playable for free. There is also this weird “demake” of the game.
• General Fettgesicht’s last name means “fat-face” in German. 
• The starting pistol is supposed to be a Luger P08, a German pistol that saw extensive use in both World Wars. The submachine gun is loosely based on the WWII-era German MP-40.
• One of the secret levels is a sliding-panel maze; enterprising players can find not only goodies, but a sign that says, “Call Apogee, say Aardwolf.” This was for a contest that never fully came to fruition; user-developed hacks and editors made it impossible to verify whether a caller had legitimately reached the sign without cheating. This quick dismantling of the game’s source code led id to make Doom easily user-editable in response.
• The title theme music is an actual, honest-to-God Nazi anthem, “Horst-Wessel-Lied.” It is also removed from the German SNES version. 
• The German SNES release also featured mutant rats instead of dogs, green blood, and an altered Hitler boss called “Staatmeister.”
• The 1994 SNES game Super 3D Noah’s Ark is essentially Wolfenstein 3D with a total sprite-swap.
• The theme of the Nazis pursuing occult means of power isn’t endemic to Wolfenstein 3D; it not only shows up in the Indiana Jones movies, but actually sort of happened in real life.
• B.J.’s birthday is given in source material as August 15th, 1911. I would hazard a guess that this is in reference to the famous M1911 pistol, the standard US military sidearm during WWII and beyond. It is also stated that he is of Polish-Jewish ancestry.
• This is hardly trivia, but the blue-suited SS men show up again in the secret levels of Doom 2, both of which are homages to Wolfenstein.
• In 1994, a Sega MegaDrive/Genesis verion was announced, but never released. The game was, however, ported to the Jaguar, 3DO, SNES, PC-98, Macintosh, Acorn Archimedes, and Game Boy Advance. Many unlicensed ports exist as well.

Until next time, RetroManiacs! I had a blast writing this one up, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I have.

The classic story recurs throughout mythology, folklore, legends, and even more modern tales: the brave champion defeats the evil wizard and rescues the princess. Hell, even Super Mario Brothers follows the theme loosely! Along the way, the hero battles baddies, finds goodies, and maybe even learns some kind of moral lesson. Or not.

Released in 1987 by the British software firm Rare, Ltd., Wizards & Warriors fits into that mould neatly. It was another of my formative experiences with console games; it and its sequel, IronSword, were among the first cluster of NES titles I acquired. The original, however, is the one I’ll be focusing on today. The follow-up to Rare’s first NES title, Slalom, Wizards & Warriors chronicles the struggle of the brave knight Kuros against the wizard Malkil. You see, Malkil has pulled a typical “evil wizard” move: he’s kidnapped the poor princess. He’s absconded to his tower deep in the forest with her, and Kuros has to go the long way round to reach them.

Kuros eschews his armor and dresses a bit more casually for the box art.

Wizards & Warriors got stellar reviews when it was released, but I’ll be up front with you: this game can be hard to love. Kuros has all the agility and poise of a wet gym sock, and his feet/head are more effective at dispatching enemies than his sword is sometimes. Thankfully, if you poke around a bit, you can find things like wands and daggers that increase your lethality in combat. The dagger is indispensable, as it behaves like a boomerang and obviates your need to get super close to anything. Later, you can swap this out for a more damaging axe. You can also find other magical items, like a feather that makes you fall more slowly, a shield that helps reduce the damage you take, and specific items you’ll need to more easily handle the bosses. If you get hurt (which you definitely will), there’s food lying around like in so many of these games.

I’m not even going to attempt to quantify or classify the enemies in this game. The variety is staggering. While some of them may look stupid, all of the monsters can hurt you pretty badly if you’re not careful. The first level is particularly insulting, as bird after bird assaults you simply for being there. As you progress, things get more appropriate, featuring the typical fantasy goblins, gargoyles and spooks. The difficulty curve is insane, but once you get the hang of how you’re supposed to play, the challenge scales well. As you progress underground and then up to the tower, both the terrain and the horde of baddies get gradually harder to cope with.  The tower gets especially hectic, with a bunch of things that are halfway between monster and trap barring your way.  A lot of the bosses behave in a similar fashion to one another, with a few differences or improvements in strategy. Basically, if you can “follow the bouncing ball” during a sing-along, you can defeat the bosses in this game. After each boss, Kuros finds a maiden bound to the ceiling and cuts her down. He then just sort of walks off, something I’ve always found kind of funny.

Stone cold.

“Listen, lady, I got no time for this.”

None of the graphics are terribly complicated, but you can’t count that against Wizards & Warriors too badly; no NES graphics were too spectacular just yet. I mentioned some of the enemies looking goofy as hell, and they certainly do, but you can at least tell what they’re supposed to be. Where the visuals slack off, the sound picks up; the music is minimalist at times, but will stick in your head. The sound effects are standard for an NES game in 1987, but they’re bright and purposeful without being annoying.

The game spawned two sequels for the NES. The first one, IronSword, is absolutely amazing, at least when compared to its predecessor. Gameplay is the same at its core, but the music, sound, and graphics are much improved.  The third game, Kuros: Visions of Power, seems like it was rushed and slapped together. There was also an entry into the series for the Game Boy, Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear. (I’m not sure how we skipped right to “X,” because there aren’t any I’m missing. If I’m wrong about that, you readers are welcome to email me and I’ll gladly stand corrected.)

As much as I’ve talked this game down, it’s a pretty significant title in terms of historical value. The gaming publications of the time gave it favorable reviews, and I won’t pretend there’s nothing good about it; Wizards & Warriors can seem at first like an overly-saturated crapfest, but hiding in there is a solid, challenging game that requires a little problem-solving on top of a good virtual sword-arm.

Tune in next time, RetroManiacs!

Part of why so many of us love video games is that they’re a release. They release tension. They give us an outlet. Have you ever just wanted to, like, throw a trash can at a guy, or kick and punch him until he passes out? You might not have been there, but I doubt that. If you denied it, I wouldn’t believe you.

River City Ransom was one of those releases for a lot of gamers in 1989. Made by Technos, the same company that developed Double Dragon, RCR plays similarly to that game, although several elements have been added. The best way to describe River City Ransom is that it is a scrolling beat-em-up, but with faint hints of RPG inserted throughout. For instance, the gameplay is non-linear, meaning you can wander about, even backtracking. You don’t “level-up,” at least not by the strict definition of that term. Instead, when you beat the crap out of hooligans, they drop money, and you use that money to buy both temporary and permanent powerups.

In Japan, River City Ransom is called Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, or “Downtown Hot-Blooded Story,” and is part of the Kunio-kun series. Several of these games, when localized for the American market, were renamed and retooled to stand alone. Examples are Renegade, Nintendo World Cup, and Super Dodge Ball. Astute observation reveals similarities in graphics, of course. River City Ransom revolves around rescuing your character’s girlfriend from Slick, the main villain. To do this, you must battle your way through River City, slamming the members of various gangs and learning new techniques to toughen yourself up for the final ascent into River City High School. You need not do this alone, as a second player is able to play as the friend of the main protagonist (who is basically identical for gameplay purposes).  As mentioned above, your character has a set of stats, such as Stamina (which acts as a life bar), strength (which governs how much your attacks hurt people), and proficiency levels with various attacks and weapons. Like many other beat-em-up games, enemies will drop weapons they’re using when you defeat them, and you can wield them afterwards, even throwing them at range. The thugs also drop money, varying in value depending on how tough they are. At intervals throughout the town, you are able to spend this cash in strip malls. There are both take-out and dine-in restaurants, where you can buy powerups in the form of food. Most food simply refills lost Stamina, but some of it also increases stats slightly. Of paramount importance are books, which are expensive but allow you to learn special techniques or improve your basic attacks. The need for these items leads to a form of “grinding,” not unlike certain RPGs, where you are wandering about, getting in fights for the money you’ll find.

Here is a short video of gameplay.

River City Ransom is well-known to gamers for its colorful and humorous nature. As you fight, messages appear across the bottom of the screen. When you enter an area, you’re told which gang controls it. When you KO an adversary, he usually has something to say about it.  Occasionally there is a cutscene, where dialog will be displayed across this area as well. The game’s graphics are standard for a late NES-era game, but what really shines visually is the animation and art style of the game. The violence is portrayed in a delightfully cartoonish fashion, all bugged-out eyes and motion lines. The sound effects aren’t anything to write home about, but the music is quite good; there aren’t many separate tracks, but what you hear is arranged with skill and dramatically appropriate. Have a listen below!

River City Ransom has been remade and ported a few times; notable among these is the remake for the Game Boy Advance, River City Ransom EX. This expansion upon the original game adds a great deal of configurable options and extra perks, as well as improved graphics and smoother controls. The general idea, however, is much the same. The original has also been released for download on the 3DS and the Wii, so a whole new generation of gamers can get in on the brutal action.

Perhaps not as widely known as its cousin Double Dragon, River City Ransom is nonetheless a notable title for its bold crossover into RPG-style gameplay. Other franchises and genres would experiment with this idea later in the history of video gaming, and those titles owe a nod to River City Ransom.