By Nicholas “SmugeeBear” McDonald

16-Bit Rhythm Land Review 

The Rhythm Land series of games is part of the 8-bit power series that was developed and published for retro hardware by Columbus Circle. The company has been responsible for peripherals and a series of releases and reprints recently, especially in Japan with examples such as Ultra-core, Mad Stalker, and Gleylancer. Rhythm Land has been released for the Mega Drive and Famicom, with the latter being called 8-Bit Rhythm Land. For the review I shall be reviewing the Mega Drive Release.

16-Bit Rhythm Land is a game with a total of 4 mini-games, with different themes based around rhythm and this music plays an integral part. But with the calibre of people who provided music for the game, there are a variety of heavy hitters including Yuzo Koshiro and Manabu Namiki. The 4 mini-games are Running Girl, Music Baseball, Melodian Shield and Earth Crisis. The game also has a music room if you want to listen to the different tracks. The design of the cover has a nice bright colour with the characters from the different mini-games. The colour work looks interesting and it makes the game look catchy.

Running Girl

Running Girl is set in some ruins where you control an explorer as she auto-scrolls. Whether pressing A to Jump or B to Kick, the hazards come flying at you in time to the music. The graphics are bold and the character design looks interesting as it seems to harken back to the games back on the fifth generation of consoles. The game has two difficulty modes to start off with and several tracks. The harder difficulty does seem to throw in more hazards that you have to kick and it does speed up pretty quickly.

Music Baseball

Music Baseball is set in a baseball stadium where you play as a batter against the pitcher throwing balls at you in time with the music. You use one button to swing and, depending on the music and the difficulty, the pitcher will throw some tricky balls you have to keep in time with. The characters have some decent animation but the background leaves a lot to be desired. However, it’s an interesting diversion and a good concept.

Melodian Shield

Melodian Shield is the third game on the cartridge and it’s one of the more interesting games. You control the shields of a ship or space station as the music times with enemy attacks. Pressing the A, B and C buttons controls different shields you have to press in time with the music to repel the attack. I do like the graphical style but also the music tracks were more interesting as well as the overall mechanics of the game.

Earth Crisis

Earth Crisis may look like a space invader clone but the rhythm mechanics add an interesting element. As you press the button to fire your weapon, you have to alternate with a different button that controls your ship’s shield. The sprite work is also interesting and it’s also another game I found myself coming back to.

With all the games there are unlockable tracks once you get a high score. If you play a perfect game you unlock the Hell difficulty. But as the game has no save function apparently a code has been left to unlock those features on your next play-through. The first prints of the game included a soundtrack CD of the music.

The game might not be for everyone but I find it a nice little diversion with the stars of the show being the soundtrack composers for the series. They sound catchy and interesting with varying styles that I find myself listening to without playing. The game was only released in Japan but I suggest if you have a way of playing it on a Mega Drive or Genesis, give it a try it’s something a bit different.