Formation Z attract mode

The Simpsons (1991) Attract Mode

Spider-Man: The Videogame attract mode

Practically every other Spider-Man games is called Spider-Man: the Videogame/The Game. Of course this is pretty common in licensed video games. Since I'm not a legal expert (because then I'd be working in law) I'm willing to concede that there's probably a legality involved in this naming. Never the less, this particular Spider-Man: The Videogame just might be the very best. It's a SEGA arcade game from the early 90's, even if it was bad, it'd still be really good.

Despite the obvious nature of Spider-Man on an adventure fed by quarters, the game is a great 4-player beat 'em up with amazing graphics. That's actually an understatement. The game switches between beat 'em up and action platformer between stages. You'll be playing to a point and the 'camera' either zooms in or out. Zoomed in with large characters, beat 'em up level. Zoomed out with smaller characters, action platform time.

You can play as either Spider-Man (duh), Black Cat, Sub-Mariner, or Hawkeye. I usually went with Spider-Man or Hawkeye, though no matter whom you played, you could hold your own. For whatever reason the game never made it to home consoles. There was a slew of good Spider-Man games by SEGA on their consoles, but man it would have been great to play this at home (yeah, yeah Raspberry Pi). I wonder if this was based on hardware capability and by the time the Saturn or even 32X was out if the license had expired. Which is likely the case.

Captain America and the Avengers attract mode

Like many of you I'm excited for Avengers Endgame this weekend (tickets for Sunday morning woo!), which has me thinking back to the old Data East Captain America and the Avengers arcade game. I still remember the first time I played it. It was Halloween night in 1991. I was in the eight grade (same day as the Terminator 2 make up kit with horror robe *sigh*) and that night Mom took my brother and I to Pizza Hut and Fun Putt.

Fun Putt was a local amusement type place (the fun) with mini golf (that would be the putt), go-carts, batting cages, and an excellent arcade. It was there that I discovered the game and sunk a ton of quarters into it. Later the arcade at my local mall (my beloved Gold Mine Arcade... I'll morn ya till I jorn ya) got a machine which I put many quarters into as well. Later the home version came out and the local Blockbuster was all too happy to provide a copy for one great weekend. I hope it's on one of the upcoming Marvel Blast consoles from At Games, that'd be freaking amazing.

Alien Storm attract mode

I'm far more familiar with the Genesis/Master System version of Alien Storm than the arcade (or Master System). I play it regularly on the portable SEGA Genesis player that I keep on my nightstand. Such a great game. I love side scrolling beat 'em ups and SEGA made some of the best during their glory days. Alien Storm is a little different in this genre as the fighting is done mainly with shooting weapons. There's a variety of game play as well, shooting areas like in Shinobi or even a few running while shooting spots give the game breaks in action to keep you on your toes. Saturday night, after my wife had fell asleep, I played good old Alien Storm until I ran out of credits. Got pretty far too. It's a shame the game never got any sequels or has a better legacy. Though it's regularly available on various compilations or on e-shops, so at least the option to play it is still present.

TransBot/Astro Flash attract mode... Is that Omega Supreme?

And that sure is an At-ST Omega Supreme is fighting.

edit: Shawn pointed out it's pretty close to Rodimus Prime and, he's right. I was noticing it looks like Optimal Optimus, which the game came out 10 years before, so that's just a coincidence. Unless a Beast Wars designer was a SEGA kid...

Golden Axe attract mode

I spent many hours and quarters with Golden Axe at the Circle K and Gold Mine. I never get tired of a good beat 'em up and this is one of the best. Swords and sorcery with that classic SEGA flair, Golden Axe is an all time classic. It's readily available on any SEGA compilation and always worth the time and money to keep a version handy. Seriously love this game. 

Chiisana Kyojin Microman PSX

Sometimes it seems unfair when you see something you'd really would like but not available for your country (Oh sure, import the game, mod the Playstation, run an emulator, Raspberry Pi, yada yada I'm not doing any of that). I'd love to swing by a Walmart or Gamestop, or even some systems e-shop for this game. Kind of surprised it didn't get some weird release here under some strange name like "Galactic Fighter" in a budget release, but whatever. It looks great. Classic Microman in a shooty man type game, I'm in. Heck yeah gangsta.

It would be neat if Microchange bots would appear (and maybe they do and I don't know), but like post TF Diaclone, Takara isn't too keen on putting Transformers used bots in non Transformers stuff. Can't blame them, they're out to make money. MC-04 Car is a footnote in one toy line, while Bumblebee is currently starring in a popular movie (currently 413 million box office with a budget of 135 million... booyah). Obviously they don't want to dilute the product.

Still, man this just looks great. That old school sci fi of Microman is just charming as crap and dude is just something I could play all day.

The Real Ghostbusters attract mode

I was very happy to learn of the new Ghostbusters film planned to be released in 2020. Sure, the 2016 Ghostbusters movie didn't set the world on fire, but I was having such a good time with all the cool Ghostbusters stuff out that I didn't mind. That's what I hope happens again, though if the movie is a giant hit I wouldn't complain. I think what I want most is a repeat of those great blind bagged mini figures. It was a lot of fun collecting those. I talked last week about Meikyuu Hunter G, so in response to the great news, here's the attract mode for the Ghostbuster game made from Meikyuu Hunter G! Think I'm going to put some time in this weekend with it and some homemade Ecto Cooler out of happiness!

Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja attract mode

Internet meme all you want about Bad Dudes, but it's still a great game. There's an onslaught of ninjas as you punch and kick your way through for your reward of getting a burger with President Ronnie (or George depending on which version you're playing). I don't know why Karnov is a boss in the game, but I do appreciate his return later in the game as a green skinned zombie. Not to mention, the truck that makes up level two's battlefield is a Diaclone Optimus Prime trailer with Diaclone Ultra Magnus as the cab. That's likely a coincidence, but it's a cool one regardless.

Meikyuu Hunter G attract mode

I talked about this great crazy game on this months Transform Squadron. Like I said, it was converted into The Real Ghostbusters in the US, which watching the game play here you can probably see why. In the game you play a guy with a gun fighting ghosts, monsters, demons, and all sorts of crazy evil spirits. It's super fun, and a little bizarre. I totally love it.