Developed by Steven Chapman and published by The Edge in 1984. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Al82_Retro Add me on Google+: http://bit.ly/1tPwL1u Sceptre Location: 24:11 Now, here's a game that might send a shudder down the spines of veteran C64 owners! Released back in 1984, Quo Vadis is a scrolling platformer infamous for several reasons. Hidden deep within a subterranean labyrinth lies a jewelled sceptre, the objective of your quest. The labyrinth is a huge, meandering series of interconnected chambers, passages and corridors where it is all too easy to become lost in the endless depths. Finding the sceptre may seem like an already-impossible task, actually finding your way back to the entrance is made all the more challenging as you won't be able to simply retrace your steps and follow the same route that you used to find the sceptre, so you'll need to map every possible chamber to find the correct way out. Guarding the labyrinth are hordes of demons, serpents and other evil creatures that do not plan to let you reach the sceptre, let alone escape with it. Your knight can fight back the demons with a ranged attack that hurls a diamond-shaped projectile in the direction that he is currently facing. Moving the joystick moves the knight in the corresponding direction and launches attacks simultaneously, whilst holding down the fire button will anchor the knight in place, allowing you to fire in a specific direction without moving, even when jumping; mastering the ability to jump in one direction whilst firing in another is something that you must learn quickly if you are to survive. Coming into contact with an enemy (or the fireballs that they cast) will drain the knight's health. There's no visible health bar, although the knight will change colour to indicate things are getting serious. Purple means that health is running low, whilst green means that you are now at a critical state and further hits will result in death. Unfortunately, the knight's weapon can only have a single projectile on-screen at a time, so killing the monsters always proves difficult and you'll find your knight ends on critical health very quickly. It's possible to restore lost health by collecting treasure chests hidden within the labyrinth, but these are few and far between and finding them when you need them is next to impossible. Floating platforms and ropes allow your knight to cross the caverns and to reach chambers above or below his current position. You will spend a large part of the game navigating your way between platforms and, since the knight jumps a fixed distance, it's vital to time the jumps correctly. It's all to easy to mis-time a jump and to lose considerable time by being forced to climb the tower of platforms yet again. Worse still, the ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXV8w0hTPC8

Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: Jaleco Publisher: Jaleco Year of Release: 1993 Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- Given the success of Street Fighter II, a slew of copycat titles would follow, all looking to cash in on the one-on-one fighting phenomenon that Capcom's seminal title would instigate. The likes of Mortal Kombat and Fatal Fury proved to be highly successful, building out their respective franchises with iconic features and mechanics, whilst Rise of the Robots would become famous for all the wrong reasons. Somewhere in the middle reside a slew of forgettable also-rans, of which Jaleco's Tuff E Nuff is surely a prime example. This is a game cut from the same cloth as Street Fighter, but one which really does the bare minimum and little else besides. As with other games of this sort, you have a roster of characters to choose from, each of whom have their own set of special moves, which then participate in best-of-three bout fights, before moving on to the next. You have your typical selection of karatekas, wrestlers, odd-ball individuals with knives for hands, and so on. From a gameplay perspective, Tuff E Nuff functions exactly like Street Fighter II. Punches and kicks of varying power can be executed, plus special moves can be performed through a combination of D-pad and button presses. Unfortunately, the latter can be quite tricky to pull off, owing to the fact the designers opted for some really awkward motions to input; not exactly great. In terms of presentation, graphics are OK, but nothing to write home about. The background artwork is almost universally drab, lacking any kind of detail, and the character designs are also forgettable. Sound is equally uninspiring, with stage tunes that do little to improve the overall experience. Tuff E Nuff should really be renamed Barely Enuff, because that's exactly what it is. It's by no means the worst beat 'em up I've played, but it's so bland as to be forgettable. Street Fighter II upped the ante in terms of what gamers expected from these games, and this barely scrapes through with a pass. Chapters --------------------------------------------------- TBC ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYfSTKCd3Co