Funky Jet

When you boil it down, I suppose Funky Jet isn’t much more than a fun 30 minute jaunt with some lively visuals, but it achieves that humble goal with such aplomb that I can’t help but think it deserves much more credit than it gets. The formula it strives to improve upon is a tricky one to touch since it’s the kind of thing that was practically perfected from the jump, but Mitchel Corporation really found a way to make it their own. It’s kind of genius how they took two genres with such straightforward fundamentals and figured out that they’d work together so well.

Unbound Saga

I like how this game takes what Comix Zone put down and tries to grow it in ways that make sense for the era of gaming it came out in while making it more mechanically approachable, but at the same time, it feels like a showcase of many of the things wrong with that particular point in the medium's relative infancy. Unbound Saga feels like it so badly wanted to be "hip" and "cool" by seeming aloof and contradictory about its themes, but I think it would have been better served by just being sincere with its players and having faith in what it started as.

Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this game at all, seeing as how I don’t particularly care for the original, but I gotta say, I came away from this one more positive than I expected! Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a recommendation without caveats, certainly not, but it could have easily been a disaster, so I’m happy to say that it’s at least worth a shot if you like that original game in any way. Whether you legitimately enjoyed its gameplay or loved the concept only to be betrayed by the execution in one way or another, Guardian of the Realms is at the very least a slight improvement upon what its predecessor established. It’s a simple game that shows the depth of its mechanics to you just as quickly as its forebear did, but its aesthetics and surprises do a lot to give it that extra bump to put it just above harsh labels like “mediocrity” or “a pointless sequel”.

Gate of Doom

I know I’m playing armchair game designer here, but I really feel like Gate of Doom would become something great with just a handful of changes. Increase the default movement speed, rebalance some enemy damage output (or just give players full health when respawning), make magic usable in boss fights, and make the power-up items permanent and you’d have a much more reasonable game that actually feels like a proper blend of action and RPG elements. As it is now, Gate of Doom wears the skin of a D&D campaign and does so very well, but when you actually get your hands on it, it just feels like a less polished and poorly balanced take on contemporaries like Gauntlet, Cadash, and The King of Dragons that were all doing the same thing more effectively, to say nothing of the excellence that the Capcom D&D games would achieve just a few years later.

Kung Food

If I had to sum up Kung Food in one sentence, I'd say it's "the Atari Lynx's Altered Beast if Altered Beast came out four years into the Mega Drive's lifespan". As you might be able to glean from that statement, Kung Food is a beat 'em up that focuses first and foremost on impressive visuals and large sprites. If you like large, chunky sprites, this game really delivers in that regard. Playing through Kung Food, on the other hand, can be quite the ordeal for a variety of reasons!

Mighty Guy

Mighty Guy is enjoyable enough to get into the zone with, focusing purely on survival as you charge upward and wipe out anything in your path, but there isn't much to it and it's all over too quickly even for arcade standards, with a single loop taking about 10-15 minutes. It's surprisingly reasonable to make it to the end with just a bit of effort and see everything it has to offer too, which I imagine made it not so lucrative in the arcades that actually had it set up. It's the kind of game that begs for a sequel or an updated version for "super players" that would really put your skills to the test, but with how obscure it is today, it's safe to say that isn't happening. Your mind won't be blown playing this one, but it's a quick and fun romp that offers some interesting ideas. In a way, thinking about the ideas it has on offer and how newer games have adapted them is more exciting than the game itself!