Gunstar Heroes – This gamesinfoshop didn’t make too much of an impact upon release, and wasn’t every widely publicised or marketed. I only found the game by chance after buying it at a second-hand game shop. Despite these shortcomings, Gunstar Heroes has aged like a fine wine, and is appreciated now more than ever before, thanks to its release on Virtual Consoles (on the Nintendo Wii).
Vectorman – This game sees you taking control of ‘The Vectorman’ (who is basically a collection of green balls) as you fight to save your planet from environmental destruction (much like ‘Captain Planet’ did). Throughout the game you must battle increasingly difficult enemies and use power-ups that allowed you to change your shape into all kinds of objects (such as a pneumatic drill that allowed you to bore through rocks). When I first bought Vectorman I must’ve been around 11 or 12 years old, and it was the first time that a game’s really blown me away with its graphics. This game did 3-dimensional graphics before 3-dimensional graphics properly existed, and it did it with some style. I’ll never forget the first time I saw the sun’s rays (in the level’s background) glistening across the screen in the first level.
Comix Zone – For so many young Americans the idea behind this game is truly a dream come true. The game takes place inside a comic book, where you must battle from page to page (and jump from each of the boxes within each page) to find the evil writer who has trapped you in his evil story.
