Every week Cyril Lachel comes down from his giant castle in the hills to provide the final word on all of the classic downloadable games and retro compilations. This is the Retro Round-Up, your official guide to the best (and worst) in classic gaming for the Nintendo Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Join us as we shed some light on what games are worth your five or ten dollars, and what games you should avoid at all costs. For more information about these games (and retro gaming in general) we invite you to check out Defunct Games This is yet another disappointing week when it comes to retro releases. Unfortunately we only have two games to talk about this week, neither of which is worth your time or money. First up we have a rare 8-bit game from Square, King`s Knight. And if that`s not enough (and believe me, it`s not) we also have the Genesis version of Speedball. Yeah, it`s kind of a lame week.
King`s Knight
What Is It?
In case you haven`t noticed, Square doesn`t seem too keen on supporting Nintendo`s Virtual Console. Up until now they have only released one of their classic titles, the spectacular ActRaiser. In an attempt to prove that not every old school Square game is as good as Final Fantasy and Rad Racer, the company has decided to unload King`s Knight, a weird 2D shooter that takes its influence from the role-playing universe. On paper this pairing of RPG and shoot-em-up sounds promising, I`m certainly not one to say no to a weird crossing of genres. But King`s Knight takes the worst elements of both genres to make an action game that is not fun to play at all. The shooter elements are plagued by sluggish controls and a lack of depth. Oh sure, you can shoot through objects and make new paths, but that isn`t nearly as cool as it sounds. On the flipside, the role-playing stuff is boiled down to nothing more than familiar adventure-y locations (villages, caves, forests, etc.). With a great story and worthwhile controls I can see something like King`s Knight working, but this 19 year old action game just isn`t worth your five dollars.
Does It Still Hold Up?
While I would argue that both Final Fantasy and 2D shoot-em-ups have held up surprisingly well over the years, this mash-up doesn`t quite feel as fresh. The problem is that this game is taking some of the most outdated parts of these genres to create a game that feels instantly antiquated. Even if this wasn`t the case, I still wouldn`t be able to get past the sluggish control and boring gameplay.
Is It Worth the Money?
While the kneejerk reaction for some is to support Square when they release Virtual Console content, the truth is that this just isn`t a very good game. It`s interesting to look back at it (the Square touches are seen all over the game), but this is definitely not worth a full five dollars. It`s worth playing for a few minutes, but you`ll get bored long before you hit the five minute mark.
Speedball
What Is It?
Talk about hitting me out of nowhere, I definitely didn`t see the Virtual Console hosting Speedball any time soon. But here it is, only five months after the release of Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe on the Xbox Live Arcade (see <a href="" target="blank"><b>my full review here</b></a>. In case you missed that Xbox Live Arcade game or have never owned an Amiga, Speedball is a futuristic sport where players run the ball to a goal while beating each other up along the way. On top of the fast and brutal nature of the sport, Speedball also offers power-ups and a few special moves that can really change up the experience. This Genesis version does a solid...
