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If you’re a fan of Street Fighter II, this game is for you. Hazuki Project is a demo of a fight engine written by Allen Ussher in 2004. The goal of the game is to mimic the animation state machine seen in games like Street Fighter II. What does that mean? It means that the different fighting combinations can be executed by interrupting any animation mid-flight with the caveat that the hit must have landed on the opponent. And how does all this translate into the game? Pretty well, actually. As you’d expect, there are two fighters facing each other. An energy bar at the top of the screen indicates the “health” left for each player as they take hits from their opponent. Once that bar runs out for one of the players, that round is over and a winner is declared. Fighting involves your standard punches (A or B buttons) and (L or R buttons) kicks but through different buttons presses and controller combinations the player can also execute a fireball (down, down-forward, forward + punch), a hurricane kick (down, down-back, back + kick), and a dragon punch (forward, down, down-forward + punch). Game graphics are a bit simple. The background appears to be some sort of industrial area and the main characters are drawn all white with the exception of their bandanas and gloves which are orange or purple. Where the game excels is in the sound department, though. There’s nice speech synthesis introducing each round and there are, of course, all the screams from the fighters as they punch, kick, and jump. Just don’t ask me what they are saying! An overall good homebrew title.

You now all those Egyptian hieroglyphs that have human stick figures? Ever wanted to be one of them? Well, this is your chance. Hieroglyphic man is a puzzle game where you must cross multiple platforms to collect coins before making it to the final prize. Once you collect the final prize in that particular maze, you move on to the next. The game takes elements from games like Hunchy II (Atari 2600), Lode Runner, and other games of this type. Of course, it is not just as simple as just collecting coins (is it ever?). As you advance through the different mazes you will have to avoid fires, guns, and other obstacles that block your path or attack you. Any contact with any of these obstacles will result in an immediate death. Hieroglyphic Man has the potential to be a fun game but it does have some problems. The graphics are simple, which is fine as they serve their purpose, but the main character has no motion whatsoever. Essentially he is a frozen hieroglyph that you can move around the maze to collect the coins. Animating the character would have been a nice touch for the game. Collision detection is also not the best and I don’t know how much this has to do with the character’s fixed shape. You seem to hit the fire even though you can’t really see hieroglyphic man touching the fire. So, jumping to avoid obstacles can get tricky as you have to figure out this “expanded personal space” the character has. Sound is also minimal.

In this homebrew title you play the role of Barnabe. Barnabe’s mission is to retrieve his family’s great poem, The Ballad of Jumping Barnabe.” The Ballad has been lost through many different locations and Barnabe must jump through barriers in order to reach the top and find each line of the missing poem. Jumping Barnabe has 20 levels and five different worlds through which the player must manoeuver in order to complete the poem. Each screen consists of eight horizontally moving floors with gaps through which Barnabe must jump in order to reach the top of the screen. If Barnabe jumps too soon, he hits his head with the floor above and becomes stunned for a few seconds. He’ll also be stunned if he’s not careful and lets himself fall through any of the gaps on the level he is standing on. Should Barnabe keep falling until he reaches the bottom of the screen, his life is lost. As the game advances, additional obstacles appear on the floors. Obstacles that are appropriate for the world Barnabe is crossing at the time. So, in the Aqua World, he’ll be facing fish and other marine life, etc. The higher the level, the greater the number of enemies that appear on the floors making things tricker for Barnabe. Jumping Barnabe is a fun and challenging game. You must learn how to properly control your jumping to avoid hitting the floor above and otherwise risk losing a life. The graphics are colorful, though simple, and sound is pretty good. There’s in-game music and there’s even more music as each level is completed and the line of the Ballad is shown on screen. A good game overall and well worth playing.