SPINMASTER

Review Introduction:

Ever had the feeling of deja vu before? If you have, then welcome to the world of Spin Masters, a platform game that will make you get used to that sensation quite quickly and where everything looks and feels like another game that you've played somewhere else! Seriously, all the time that I was playing Spin Master I kept seeing things that looked like they were taken from somewhere else.

Gameplay: 🕹️

The plot of Spin Masters revolves around the two main characters search for pieces of a map that will lead them to some kind of hidden treasure. At the same time, an evil scientist (or something like that, this game isn't too heavy on plot! :) has kidnapped their girlfriend as he wants the map for himself. So in other words, it is time for you (and a friend if you want) to beat up a load of bad guys, rescue the girl, and get the treasure! Sound generic? Well, that is because it is! Although that might make it sound like I hated this game, I did still manage to have some fun while playing it.

While SNK might have pioneered a lot of things which Capcom copied later on, it is certainly true that their machine does have a lot of games which are a lot like certain Capcom titles. Spin Masters at first looked to me to have a similar style of gameplay as Chiki Chiki boys, which is and old Capcom CPS1 game which was later converted to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. That was a game I used to play quite regularly back in the 16-bit days, so I felt quite at home here. After I had been playing for half an hour or so though, I came across a lot of other characters and stages that look like they didn't quite make the casting call from other 8/16-bit games. First off, there are turtles (or should I say Koopa Troopers? ;) on some levels that get into their shell and spin at you; it's not hard to guess where the idea for those came from (for those that lived under a rock for the past 15 or so years, Mario). There are lots of others that I spotted too, although there was one that suprised me: One stage takes place in an Egyptian tomb complete with mummies that attack you... and looks extremely similar to Metal Slug 2's 2nd stage. But then I realised, this game pre-dates MS2 by 6 years, so maybe the makers of MS2 copied this game? :)

After getting over the similarity thing, I started to examine what really matters: the gameplay. Overall I would have to say that it is quite average in every way. If you have played the aforementioned Capcom game, then you will know what to expect. On most stages you just travel left to right and bash enemies with your Yo-Yo or by jumping on their heads. Depsite the games name being Spin Masters, you don't use the Yo-Yo all that much and can pick up many other weapons which include bombs and icicles. Luckily, you can fire diagonally upwards (and downwards when you jump), which is a shortcoming of some other games. Although it may have a lot in common with Chiki Chiki Boys, it doesn't seem to control as fluidly as that game, even though that was made a good three years before Spin Masters. Apart from a few brief flashes of imagination, CCB also seemed a lot more imaginative too, with much more variety and better end of level bosses.

Another bad point is that the game is quite short with only five levels each made of 3 areas. Added to that, most of them are quite short and can be completed very easily. I wish they had put a bit more time into some of the stages as well, because some of them had some quite good ideas. For instance, one stage has water at the bottom, which is constantly going up and down. This means that you have to quickly jump between different platforms to stay above the water level, otherwise you will lose a life. This was quite a good idea, it's just a shame that it only lasts for a couple of minutes, like most of the other decent ideas in the game. A plus point though is that when you complete the game and complete the treasure map, there are 3 locations on it. You get a choice of which location to go to, and the ending of the game is different depending on the one you pick. Unfortunately when I finished the game the first time, the one I picked didn't end with very good consequences... I won't spoil things for you though by telling you which one to pick, as playing through for the different endings adds a tiny bit to the replay value.

Graphics: 👾🔊

Graphically SM is quite good for a 1993 game. It looks like a cartoon and for a change has very little slowdown (in fact I only noticed slowdown in one stage the first time I played through it). The generic character design does let the side down though, and the lead characters look very goofy in my opinion. The animation is adequate though, and some of the bosses are quite cool. I especially liked the Dragon boss, which was probably my favorite. There's a few other cool things too, like the big craft that swoops past at the beginning of the first stage.

The sound is equal to the graphics really. It's like most of the early Neo Geo games, ie quite average and forgettable. Nothing really stood out apart from a few pieces of speech that you get on completion of a stage, although I still can't quite understand what the heck is actually said (sounds like "Yippie Kay Ai" and "Now you are finished mate!" to me!), unless it isn't English. The music isn't amazing either and is your usual platform fare, but at least it isn't annoying or cutesy enough to make you want to turn the sound off. The constant "ow" sound effect from the bad guys might annoy you a bit.

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Overall: 📊

I may have slated this game a little bit, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it at all. Despite all of Spin Masters shortcomings, there is still some enjoyment to be had in playing through the game, but only if you are into this sort of game. Added to that, there isn't really a lot of competition on the Neo Geo in the platform genre, apart from Blues Journey/Raguy and a few others. Oh yeah, lets not forget Metal Slug... which is a game that kind of makes most other games redundant if you know what I mean ;) Still, if you own a Neo Geo and could get hold of this game for cheap, it might still be worth it (no way I could recommend spending a lot of money on it), although it is easy to see that it was really designed with one thing in mind: to lighten your pockets a bit by making you put lots of credits into the machine so you can finish it. Once you've seen all there is to see, you most likely won't go back to it.