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Spotlight:Vectorman (Sega)
Vectorman is a series of run and gun platform games developed by BlueSky Software and published by Sega for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It was released on October 24, 1995 in North America and on November 30, 1995 in Europe. The game is also a part of the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and is part of the Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console on February 27, 2007 in Japan and April 5, 2007 in Europe, and in North America on September 22, 2008. The game also appears in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
In 2049, the human population of Earth embarks on a migratory voyage to try to colonize other planets. They leave mechanical “orbots” to clean up the mess they made on Earth through littering and pollution. Raster, a high-level orbot who watches Earth through a planetwide computer network, is accidentally attached to a working nuclear missile by a lesser orbot and goes insane, becoming an evil dictator named Warhead. He declares himself ruler of Earth, and begins preparing to execute any humans who dare return to their planet.
Enter Vectorman, a humble orbot in charge of cleaning up toxic sludge by simply discharging it into the sun. As he lands on Earth after his last trip, he finds chaos and confusion. Because all the other Orbots are controlled by Warhead (Vectorman having not been affected because he was away), Vectorman takes it upon himself to destroy the errant orbot and restore peace to Earth.
Spotlight:Shining Force 2 (Sega)
Shining Force II, also known as Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal (シャイニング・フォースII 古えの封印, Shainingu Fōsu Tsū: Inishie no Fūin?), is a tactical role-playing game for the Mega Drive/Genesis console developed by Sonic! Software Planning in 1994. The storyline is not directly connected to the original Shining Force, although a Game Gear title Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict does draw the two games together.
The game is much longer than the first, and more free-roaming. There is no chapter system, so the player can return to most parts of the world that he/she had been to before. There are also two different ways of promoting many characters, giving the option of multiple ways to build the Force.
This game was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Europe on October 3, 2008 and in North America on October 6, 2008. The game also appears in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Shining Force II is a tactical role-playing game. There are two forms of gameplay: exploration and battles. When exploring, the player assumes the role of the Shining Force leader. The player can walk around, interact with people, and set the members and equipment of the army. It is also possible to find a headquarters in some towns where the player can inspect and talk with allies. While roaming through town or moving throughout the world, one can find both visible and hidden treasures and interact with certain objects.
Each ally unit is represented by a character with a background and personality. Some of these characters are also hidden, requiring specific events to occur before they will join the allies. Not all the characters can be used during a single battle so the player must mix and match their forward team. The main character, Bowie, must be in every battle.
Each ally unit also has a class, which defines the abilities for that unit. These abilities range from what type of weapons they can use to what kind of spells they can learn. Units can become stronger by fighting enemies and performing various actions which gives them experience points (EXP), which allow them to gain levels. Once a unit reaches level 20, that character has the ability to advance to more powerful class through promotion. A unit can be promoted at any level between 20 or 40; the longer the player waits to promote a unit, the stronger it will be after promotion. Some characters join already promoted. These units tend to be significantly weaker than those promoted at level 40. Some characters have two different classes they may be promoted to, one of which is only accessible using a special hidden item.
