Activision/Pack-In

September 1990

Shooter

1 Player

The attack of the culturally irrelevant licenses continues in Thunderbirds, an adequate overhead view shooter based on the puppet-filled action series of the 1960's.  In addition to competant but uninspired gameplay, Thunderbirds features characters and dialogue taken straight from the show, something that its few remaining fans are sure to appreciate.

Sammy/Micronics

July 1989

Shooter

1-2 Players

Thunder... thunder... Thundercade, nooooo!  Despite bringing a few new ideas to the military shooter genre (you're on a motorcycle that can be powered up with sidecar cannons), Thundercade is a sputtering wreck of a game.  Thundercade's primitive, bewilderingly upbeat music and laughably colored enemies (pink tanks!?) suck the impact right out of its war-torn setting.

Acclaim/Pony Canyon

September 1987

Shooter

1-2 Players (alt)

Based on a Taito arcade release, Tiger Heli offers faster gameplay and an improved soundtrack as compensation for its less detailed graphics.  However, the core of the game remains the same... you still blast your way through armies of enemy tanks, pick up tiny escorts, and launch bombs as a last resort.  It's a solid shooter hurt by its age and lack of depth.

Milton Bradley/Rare

September 1990

Action

1 Player

Perhaps "Time Bored" would have been a better name for this one.  In this side-scrolling action game apparently inspired by the Dr. Who television series, you send a dashing red-haired hero back to different periods in time, punching out the people who live there while hunting down a series of orbs.  Finding these orbs is a time-consuming and mindnumbingly dull process.

Toho

May 1991

Role-Playing

1 Player

Times of Lore doesn't live up to the legacy of Origin's more popular Ultima series.  It tries to liven up its gameplay with real-time battles, but these fights are dull, lacking both the spontaneity of a good action/adventure title and the variety of a traditional role-playing game.  A clumsy interface and hideous, choppy backgrounds make the experience that much worse.

Konami

December 1991

Action

1 Player

They're tiny, they're toony... they're in a darned good game by Konami!  Wait, that doesn't rhyme, does it?  Anyway, Tiny Toon Adventures is a lighthearted and colorful platformer in the tradition of Super Mario Bros.  The game doesn't offer much in the way of depth, with only a few power-ups and hidden areas, but it's fun to play and very professionally designed.

Konami

April 1993

Action

1 Player

The second Tiny Toon Adventures takes place at a theme park.  Each character from the series tries to finish a ride, and when they're all completed, team leader Buster Bunny takes a crack at the final stage, a mysterious fun house.  The game is as vivid and polished as the first one, but the rides are very linear and don't afford the player much freedom of movement.

Konami/Novotrade

December 1992

Creativity

1 Player

If you ever dreamed of making your own Tiny Toon Adventures episode, this cartridge will give you that opportunity... if you don't mind putting up with its limitations.  Tiny Toon Adventures Cartoon Workshop lets you set up your own short cartoon using characters from the show, but the interface is tricky and dialogue is limited to a dozen pre-selected phrases.  Guess the designers didn't want kids to make their shows too colorful!