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The original Pitfall became an iconic game for the Atari 2600 VCS, the first ever mainstream console. It was the game that put Activision on the map and made programmer David Crane a household name, Pitfall Harry even starred in his own Saturday morning cartoon! Set many years after the first game you actually take the role of Harry Junior on a mission to save his father who has been captured and was last seen in deepest Mexico. More of a traditional platformer than the original game it still manages to retain all the elements that made the first game so good. Armed with a whip and limited bombs you must fight your way through the jungles and into the ancient pyramids collecting idols and defeating baddies as you go. The Mega CD version only has minor upgrades over the graphically gorgeous cartridge version. The first of these is the obligatory FMV clips, pointless and can be skipped. The second one, in case you didn’t already guess, is CD audio. Now this does make a big difference here, Mayan Adventure had a great soundtrack on the cartridge systems already and the new red book audio is stunning. This alone makes the CD version worth owning over the similar cartridge release. What makes this update even better is that it actually includes a perfect version of the original 2600 game as a bonus! If you like platformers or are a massive fan of the original games then The Mayan Adventure should be a game that you add to your collection sooner rather than later.

Powermonger was a pretty special game when it was first released. From the mind of Bullfrog founder Peter Molyneux it was an evolution on his previous god simulator Populous. Taking a similar theme, Powermonger brought in the additions of 3D graphics, warring tribes and most importantly of all an artificial life engine! This means that each person seems to have a mind of his or her own and will go about his or her job without any input from the player. Whether it be fishing, farming, shepherding, collecting wood or making items they will all just get on with it. The games three-dimensional game map means you can rotate the map by 90 degrees or small discrete intervals and also has eight pre-defined levels of zoom. This might sound a bit to intensive for the Mega Drive hardware but in actual fact only the map topography itself is 3D, the people, trees and other game objects are all just 2D sprites. This doesn’t make it any less impressive though. The main idea of game is to build up your army by recruiting soldiers then invade other towns to swell your troops. Eventually taking control of the whole landscape and wiping out the opposing generals. Powermonger is a game that really sucks you in and before you know it you have been playing it for hours! What is the difference between the cart and CD versions though I hear you ask! Well apart from the obvious FMV intro and new sound there are a couple of other differences, one good and one bad! The first of these is that the graphics have been slightly improved and some of the icons have been changed. The second thing is though that game now plays slower! This is mainly due to all the CD loading present during play. If you can put up with the speed difference then this Mega CD version is the one to own!

Programmed by the now legendary Jordan Mechner Prince Of Persia was a massive success on the home computers and took his patented animation techniques, first seen in Karateka, to a new level. The Grand Vizier Jaffar has thrown you into a dark dungeon and plans to marry the girl of your dreams in exactly 1 hour. You're not going to let that happen are you? You must try to escape from the dungeon, take out Jaffar's guards, find your way through the Sultan's palace and then defeat Jaffar himself. Now go, you've only got 60 minutes and the clock is counting! Prince of Persia is a 2D action-adventure / platformer with run & jump gameplay. Avoid deadly traps, solve some puzzles, jump across platforms and engage in sword fights. Although the player has an infinite amount of lives you have to restart at the beginning of a level each time you die. An especially noteworthy aspect of the game is the very fluent animation of your character that set new standards in the game world at the time. What is interesting about this Mega CD version of Prince Of Persia is that it is actually a different game to the cartridge version. While Domark did the cart version in the west, Victor did the CD version in Japan. There are quite a few differences too, most notably the CD version actually has LESS levels than the cart version! It does have the speedup option, redone graphics and some nice CD music though along with the obligatory FMV cartoon style intro. In this case I definitely have to say that the cartridge version is better than the CD one, especially due to the extra levels and superior controls, it even has better graphics!

Urgh, not another laser disc arcade game converted to the Mega CD – yet more “interactive movie” fun for us all. The original 1985 coin-op by Data East was actually called Road Blaster upon release, but this was later changed to avoid confusion with the classic Atari game Road Blasters. Funnily enough the game was also renamed as Road Prosecutor when it was released on the Pioneer LaserActive and the 3DO version was originally called Turbo Blaster, giving this game no less than 4 different names! The player assumes the role of a vigilante behind the wheel of a customised sports car. Your mission is to bring down the biker gang responsible for your wife’s death and finally bring justice to the roads. Like other games of it’s type the gameplay involves just pressing the right direction or button when prompted to continue the game and play the next scene. By moving an on screen crosshair you can influence where you drive, although this is all still pre-set sequences. This makes it slightly more interactive than some of the other games of its type, but its still not particularly exciting. The most interesting thing about this game is that the creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto later went on to help produce Double Dragon for Technos and the car from this game can be seen in the garage in the opening scene! Graphically the games video is pretty decent and doesn’t suffer too much from the grainy quality of the FMV. There is a smattering of very generic rock music to accompany the action as well as digitised sound effects. You know the drill, if you like laser disc games then you will probably like this, if not then I suggest you give it a miss because it’s not going to change your mind.

Robo Aleste, known as Dennin-Aleste in Japan, is the 12th and last game in the Aleste franchise. A popular series of vertically scrolling shoot ‘em ups that was developed by Compile. Aleste fans had previously enjoyed the now rare and sought after Musha Aleste on the Mega Drive (the 8th game in the series), which many consider to be the best shoot ‘em up of its type on the machine. The plot of the game is set in feudal Japan where the legendary Samurais have been replaced by giant mecha. And guess what? You just happen to have one of these! Called the Aleste, you use your flying robot to fight against the other feudal lords and bring Japan back to peace. There are five different types of power-ups in this game that range from throwing knives to lightening. Each of these can be powered up four times by collecting the same type of power-up. You have to be careful not to pick up the wrong one as you will then have to start from scratch. At the end of each level you face the obligatory boss, who represents one of your rival warlords. It has to be pointed out that other than the intro and CD soundtrack there is very little here that warrants this being a CD game. But at the same time it needs to be pointed out that I couldn’t give a toss as Robo Aleste is bloody superb. The fast-paced shoot action is non-stop and all gauged perfectly. The graphics are beautifully drawn and don’t suffer from any flicker or slowdown. The soundtrack is also quite nice but you will be too busy blasting to notice! Robo Aleste is without doubt the best shoot ‘em up to appear on the Mega CD and, while it’s now quite hard to get hold of, should be top of your Mega CD shopping list.