While this week’s Lost Classic may not be as quirky or unique as this week’s $20GOTW (or should that be FGOTW), it’s still worth its place among the shooter genre’s classics, even if there are a couple of huge flaws. Besides, R-Type is part of the holy trinity of horizontal side-scrolling shooters (its other two members include Konami’s Gradius and Taito’s Darius), so this game deserves a mention.
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Before Unreal, Gears of War, and Bulletsotrm (and after Jazz Jackrabbit, ZZT, and Jill of the Jungle) Epic Megagames released this vertical scrolling shooter. While it contains classic shooter action in the vein of Raiden and Xevious, it contains a few tricks of its own that make it unique. The game was originally conceived as a tech demo by two friends Alexander Brandon and Jason Emery. It didn’t even have sound, although it was shopped out to both Epic and Apogee Software. Epic eventually considered the game a perfect fit for thier company, and hooked the team up with sound composers and graphic designers, and thus Tyrian was born. You play as Trent, a terraformation expert. After being sent to the planet Tyrian to do some terraforming work, your friend is assassinated by Microsol (not Microsoft), the corporation controlling the terraforming effort due to his knowledge of a rare mineral being mined on the planet. Realizing that you’re next on Microsol’s hit-list, you set out to make your escape.
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First of all, I want to apologize, as I know I promised this last weekend, but I was too busy. Besides, Christmas isn’t the only holiday for beat downs you know. Get together with the guys on New Years Eve, and next thing you know, someone hits the eggnog a little too hard, and then next thing you know, this happens:

But why waste time and energy (and risk going to jail) by getting into a real fight when you can enjoy some not-so-classic video game beatdowns? Click after the jump to see some of the worst of the 90s fighting scene.
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Tonight, Saint Nick will go about his rounds and deliver presents to all the good boys and girls. Tomorrow however, you’ll most likely be getting together with family. And we all know how much families hate each other, to the point where they want to beat the ever living shit out of one another. So instead of beating down your loved ones in real life, why not check out these games that let you do it in the video game world?
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A week from tonight, Santa makes his rounds to all the little boys and girls of the world. To that end, I got a triple shot of cheap gaming goodness for those of you struggling with last minute shopping ideas, so click ahead for some great stocking stuffers!
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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

In 1994, Marvel did nothing short of the unthinkable. They killed Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-men. They didn’t stop there. They destroyed the X-men as we knew them, throwing the Marvel Universe head first into a universe where one of the X-men’s greatest adversaries was in control. Everything that we thought we had known was wrong, and now, over 15 years later, the effects are still being felt throughout the Marvel Universe. Welcome poweteers, to the Age of Apocalypse.
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Based on the popular British platformer series of the same name, The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy is one of those games where it’s difficult to place in one genre. Playing as the title character, a walking, talking egg who is a member of the Yolkfolk, you set out to stop the evil wizard Zaks, who has kidnapped your girlfriend Daisy and cast spells upon your fellow Yolkfolk. At first glance, it appears to be yet another me-too platforming collect-a-thon. However, the game instantly becomes much more, as you seek out items to progress and help the various NPCs., not unlike an adventure game You’ll even come across a few minigames on your quest. There were a few issues with the game, not the least of which is the the lack of a save system (on the NES at least), and game-killing bugs that get players stuck in a place and have to reset the game. Even so, Dizzy was a fun mashup of platforming, puzzle, and adventure gaming. Maybe one day, we can see a current-gen console update. Until then, this cartridge is a rare find,

Tropico 3 takes things back to the theme of the original game, which had you running a Banana Republic (rather than the second game which had you running a base of operations for pirates). Of course this time, everything takes place on a 3D map complete with a customizable avatar of the President. As the newly elected/appointed/installed ruler of a small Caribbean island, it falls on you to shape the island’s destiny while remaining in power for as long as possible. There are several factions you’ll have to satisfy, each having thier own needs. The capitalists want to see the island making good profits and having top notch entertainment, the communists want to see that everyone has decent housing and a good job, the religious want to make sure the island has high moral standards, while the intellectuals want to insure Tropico has unbiased media, good schools, and honest elections. In addition to the factions, you will also have to juggle your relationship with the US and Russia (this takes place during the cold war you know), so they won’t decide to invade your shores.
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