Mr Driller (Game Boy Colour)

 In 1999 Arcade legends Namco brought out Mr Driller for the arcade and it was soon ported to a number of home systems (including the Playstation, Wonderswan Colour, PC, Dreamcast and Game Boy Colour). Sadly however it seems the Game Boy Colour, due to it's limitations got a very limited game compared to it's brothers and sisters.

The game (in all it's forms) is simple, you need to dig a hole though a bunch of coloured blocks to try either try to get to a set depth (25,000 ft or 50,000 ft) or get as deep as you can (Survival mode). All three game methods play identically though as the player digs through the blocks and collects are capsules. The player needs to avoid running out of air and prevent themselves from being

 squished beneath falling blocks whilst digging to the target. The blocks can be stuck together (if you connect 3 of the same colour) or can be made to disappear if the player connects 4 or more (giving the game some technique).

Whilst the game is simple and rather limited in all honesty it does have some odd addictive quality to it that it probably shouldn't actually have. The game has nothing that blows you away, it has nothing that makes you think wow, yet you find yourself coming back just for a quick game that then becomes 3 or 4 games. Maybe that's the games secret, be simply but addictive, it'd explain the arcade success I guess.

Despite being a game that can you hook you for a good half hour you do finally ask yourself what you're doing playing it so much and you can't actually explain it. It's not something that really stands out just relatively addictive. It's a bit of a weird one that made the most of the Game Boy Colour's colour but didn't really do anything outstanding. Probably worth a purchase if you can find it cheaply but don't make a conscious effort to hunt it down.

73%

Console-Game Boy Colour (version reviewed), PC, Arcade, Dreamcast, Playstation, Mobile Phone, Wonderswan
Release-1999
Developer-Namco
Genre-Puzzle
Players-1

Trivia:
The game has had a number of sequels which have added to the original game and helped develop a fuller game from the same basic idea
The game was originally going to be part of the Dig Dug series until re-inventing it's self as Mr Driller.

Pit Fighter

"The Hall Of Shame" was never meant to be a huge part of this website though with gaming abominations like Pit Fighter it's hard not see it growing rather quickly.

"Pit Fighter" was originally released in 1990 on Arcade machines though would later be ported to a wide number of home consoles including the Sega Mega Drive and the SNES (it's the SNES version we're reviewing here) and really stink up the living room.

The game, in all it's versions is a fighting game that seems to have taken ideas from "Fight Club" and thrown it in to a grinder with Mortal Kombat and then added a control method that seems to have been sent straight from hell.

 The player controls one of 3 characters (Buzz or Ty on the home console versions, whilst "Kato" was also playable in the arcade original). Despite the images and stuff looking "OK" on the character select screen, this is about the only time the game does anything other than stink out the joint.

Firstly the controls, or rather the attempt at controls. The problem is that the controls seem to have been set up by someone who has never played a video game and has decided not to try them for the game. They are dodgy, harsh and seem to respond randomly. This is added to the computer generated characters that never seem to miss and seem to be able to deck you swiftly and really hurt you. This combines to make the game as difficult to play as trying to cut your finger nails with a bread knife and almost as enjoyable.

Added to the extreme difficulty  and poor controls are turgid graphics that feel like they are trying to rape your eyes. It appears as if you are fighting in a Dojo though even that is hard to be sure of as it really just looks like a generic and dire design. Whilst the level design is poor the character models are wooden and horrific which makes you wonder just who thought any of it looked good.
Whilst you may wish to say "Oh but it is 20 years old" that's not really an excuse, I've seen older games that look better, play better and are over all a much more enjoyable experience than this half arsed attempt at a fighting game.

What Pit Fighter does do well however is make it completely obvious when you need to stop playing. After you get beaten you see a very clear image of "GAME OVER", thankfully after seeing this screen once or twice you'll agree and never play this wretched abortion ever again.

With fighting games like Street Fight II and Mortal Kombat II you have NO REASON to every subject yourself to this dreadful excuse for a game. If you collect dreadful games whack this on your list, if you play games for fun however stay away from this.

12%

Details:
Console-Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, SNES and a host of others
Release-1990 (Arcade)
Developer-Atari Games
Genre-Fighting
Players-1 or 2 on home consoles, 1-3 on the arcade

Trivia:
This is often referred to as the worst SNES game ever, and I happen to agree
The games animations were originally done on bluescreen, this was one of the first games to do things that way.