Saturday, July 26, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Jurassic Park (SMS) - Part 2 of 5


It's time to play another stage, and what better stage than the one with the flying boss?

First | Next | End

Pteranodon


The pterodactyls will fly around in the background before eventually flying above your car. Be ready to shoot them down, especially if they're about to divebomb into your car.

When the Pteranodon shows up, keep shooting at it. This will cause it drop the rock that it is about to drop on your car early, then keep shooting it as it divebombs so it doesn't hit you.

In the action stage, you'll have to go through a series of doorways to get to the upper-left corner, take the zipline, and head to the next area. Thankfully, figuring out which doors take your where isn't particularly difficult. Just watch out if you approach the left side of the screen, as spitters will show up and try to hit you with their projectiles. If you see one show up, duck and shoot with the shotgun so the projectiles go right over your head.

The Jurassic Park icon is a commemorative coin that gives you a few thousand points, according to the manual.

While using the platforms that move back and forth, you may have to duck under ceilings as well as climb on ceilings in order to stay on the platform or keep up with it. Remember that you can press Down on the D-Pad to drop back down onto the platform from the ceiling.

When you reach the zipline, watch out for boulders. Hold Up while you jump to grab the zipline, and don't press Down until it comes to a complete stop. Once you take the zipline, you could go back to the exit, but you can also explore the area below where you land for an extra life and a first aid kit. Keep climbing across the ceiling to get the extra life, and use the rocks to make your way back.

In the second action area, equip the rocket launcher and fire at the pterodactyls when they dive at you. Eventually, the ground will start lowering, and you'll need to keep moving in order to get through this part without losing a life.

To beat the Pteranodon, equip the rocket launcher and be ready to fire at the Pteranodon when it is above you. The Pteranodon may dive at you; the rocket launcher is perfect for a counter-attack. Remember that you can grab onto the undersides of the tree branches and pull yourself up in order to keep up with the slowly scrolling screen.. If you have to duck and shoot when the Pteranodon gets too close, do it. It'll keep the Pteranodon away for a short while. Eventually, it will go down, and you'll have two stages left.

Friday, July 25, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Jurassic Park (SMS) - Part 1 of 5


Believe it or not, Jurassic Park got a Master System game...and it's quite good.

Next | End

Believe it or not, Jurassic Park got a game on the Sega Master System. This one ends up being a little more interesting than the NES version and also takes liberties with the movie script, apparently.

When you start the game, you'll see Dr. Alan Grant landing in Jurassic Park, where people are falling victim to dinosaur attacks after the security system started malfunctioning, leading to dinosaurs entering areas of the park that they're not supposed to go to. We then see Alan Grant drive into the park to secure these areas before the park can open.

When you reach the map screen, you'll be able to choose one of four areas: Velociraptor, Pteranodon, Triceratops, and Brachiosaur. The Visitor's Center will be the fifth and final area you can enter, but you'll need to beat all the levels without using a continue in order to enter it, or else the game will tell you to try again.

Velociraptor


All of the stages start with a driving section. The D-Pad allows you to move the target reticle, while Buttons 1 and 2 both shoot. I alternate between the two buttons to pump all the dinosaurs with more firepower with less effort.

The compies that run at you are pretty easy to shoot at, but they will jump at your vehicle and eat at your health, which is in the lower-left corner. Defeating enemies will allow you to pick up one of three pick-ups: a blue potion that refills one hit, a gas canister that increases your health by one point, and an Alan Grant doll that gives an extra life. You can have up to five hit points, and you're only going to get one shot at getting an extra life in the driving sections, so pay attention.

Rocks will cause you to lose control of your gun temporarily, but if you shoot at them, you'll always get a blue potion. This is useful, especially against the bosses.

The first boss is a pterodactyl. The game will tell you to shoot in the face, so do that as it dives at you so you can knock it back. If you get hit, shoot down a rock in the middle of the road for a blue potion. The boss' health will be in the upper-right hand corner, and when you beat the boss for the driving section, you'll go on to the next part of the stage. If you have maximum health at the end of a boss fight, you'll get a 1-Up for it, even if you got hit and healed up with the blue potions from the rocks, so keep your health high, because it's worth it.

Now it's time for the side-scrolling section. When you pause the game, you'll be able to see your current score, your current amount of lives, and your current amount of continues. You'll also be able to use a first-aid kit to completely heal yourself if necessary, and you can switch between one of three weapons: a shotgun that fires forward, a rocket launcher that shoot upwards at an angle and sends two fireballs to the side, and a firebomb that can be thrown at an arc. You can find first aid kits in a few spots throughout the game, but they are few and far between, so you'll want to save them for when you really need them.

As Dr. Alan Grant, Left and Right on the D-Pad let you move left and right. Down-Left and Down-Right on the D-Pad allow you to crawl. Button 1 lets you shoot your currently equipped weapon and Button 2 jumps. If you leap into the underside of a platform, you can hold Up on the D-Pad to grab onto that underside, then press Left and Right to shimmy your way across the underside of the platform. Pressing Up in this situation allows Alan Grant to pull himself to the top of the platform.

You'll need to do some shimmying to get across the bridge at the beginning of the stage, and you'll also need to time your movements so you don't fall into the lava as the bridges fall apart. You'll also want to avoid the electric spark that travels across the top of the bridge, as it will damage you.

The ground will start lowering Contra-style after you cross the first bridge. Use the rocket launcher to take out the pterodactyls and grab the coins and power-ups that they drop. If you collect ten white coins, you'll get a continue.

For the second bridge, you'll need to move forward at the right time to get past the lava plumes that rise and lower as you cross. For the last set of lava plumes, go to the right as soon as the one on the far left starts going down. There is a timing, and it can be a bit tough to gauge, but it can be done.

If you can enter a door, Dr. Grant will look at it, and you can go through the door with Up on the D-Pad. Be ready to use the rocket launcher to take out the pterodactyles and get their pick-ups. The yellow platforms are the ones you can stand on; the orange ones are the foreground.

The elevator to the right leads to a red potion (which heals two units of health instead of one) and a first-aid kit. The elevator to the left leads to the rest of the level. You'll want to time your movements correctly to avoid being hit by the sparks that are moving about.

There is a red potion in the upper-right corner of the entry room; you'll want to grab that. The door leading to it will open when you get close enough.

For the second room, you'll be dealing with Raptors. Use your shotgun and firebombs to take them out from a distance and from above, as they take off two units of health when they hit you and they can be relentless. There are a few red potions (the game's manual calls them "medicine," but I keep calling them potions) littered throughout this second room, so be ready to grab them.

You'll have to stay all the way to the sides to avoid the blasts of lightning coming out of the walls. After avoiding all that, you can climb across the ceiling to the left for an extra life. You'll have to backtrack, but at least the enemies don't re-spawn. After doing all that, the second elevator will go down. Stay to the sides to avoid getting zapped, then enter the door at the bottom to fight your first main boss.

To beat the Velociraptor, stay at the bottom center of the screen and watch which doors open. If the Velociraptor comes out from an upper door, equip the rocket launcher from the pause menu and hit him from below; if a lower door opens, use the shotgun. As long as you stay in that one spot, the Velociraptor will keep coming at you, but you'll always be ready to shoot it down. It won't be long until you complete this stage.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Air-Sea Battle - Anti-Aircraft Longplay


And now, to show off all the game times, minus commentary, between Let's Plays! Enjoy!

First | Previous | Next | End

Air-Sea Battle is a fixed shooter game for the Atari 2600 from 1977 and is one of the launch games for the system. It was one of the first games developed for Atari by Larry Kaplan, and in this game, you shoot down various targets with a gun to earn points. There are quite a few different ways on how to do this - anti-aircraft guns, submarines, a shooting gallery, naval ships, and bomber jets - and these ways encompass six different gameplay modes. 

There are twenty-seven (27) different types of game types encompassing these six different modes, and some of them allows for one player to compete against the computer. All game end after two minutes and sixteen minutes (2:16) of play, with the score at the top of the screen flashing during the last sixteen seconds to dictate that the game is about to end. Games also end when one player reaches ninety-nine (99) points.

Believe it or not, the difficulty switches change the sizes of your shot. A/Expert makes the shot a quarter of the size that it is in B/Novice, and since I do not touch on this in any of these videos, I will do so here.

Anti-Aircraft Games


In the anti-aircraft game modes, you'll be stuck in a fixed position, holding Up and Down on the joystick to aim at 30 degrees and 90 degrees (straight up), respectively. The fire button, of course, fires a shot, and you can only have one shot on the screen at any time.

Multiple targets will move from left to right, and you'll want to shoot them all down as quickly as possible to get new ones as well to achieve as high a score as possible. Timing is key to shoot down as many targets as you can in addition to your firing angle.

In the first three game modes (1-3), all objects award one point when shot down.

All game modes are two-player simultaneous unless otherwise indicated.

Game 1


This is the standard game. Shots are fixed, so the angle that your gun is at when you fire dictates where your shot will go, and that direction will not waver.

Game 2


In this game, you have guided missiles. After firing, you can control with Up and Down on the joystick to make it move at different angles in case you're going to miss, which can be fun.

Game 3


This is much like Game 1, except the left gun is controlled by the computer and the right gun is controlled by the player on Controller Port 2. The computer will keep firing at one angle, though, so it's pretty easy.

In the second three game modes (4-6), small jets are worth four (4) points, large jets are worth three (3) points, helicopters are worth two (2) points, 747 planes are worth one (1) point, and the observation blimps with the "A" on them give you nothing and are just there to be in the way.

Game 4


In this mode, you'll have fixed shots that go in one continuous direction, just like Game Mode 1. The only difference is that different things are worth different points. It's easy to hit 99 and end the game earlier in modes 4-6 if you know what you're doing.

Game 5


Here, you'll have guided missiles that you can move around with Up and Down on the joystick. Just like in Game Mode 2, you'll be having fun with trick shots while scoring higher than ever before.

Game 6


Much like Game Mode 3, this is one player vs. the computer. Score more than the computer that keeps firing at the same angle to win.

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Air-Sea Battle - Part 7 of 7


I did not know how to swap controller ports on Stella until later, so because of this, all of the one-player modes end up getting covered in this video. Enjoy!

First | Previous | Next | End

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Air-Sea Battle - Part 6 of 7


...and now, the final game type, which combines the previous two game for an all-out battle!

First | Previous | Next | End

Polaris vs. Bomber Games


In the Polaris vs. Bomber Games - game modes 22-27 - Controller 1 controls the bomber, while Controller 2 controls the ship. Both players fire at each other in the hopes of scoring a direct hit as well as one (1) point. 

Both players will be constantly travelling from one side of the screen to the other, and wrapping around to the other side of the screen when they do. Holding Up on the Joystick will allow you to speed up, while holding Down on the joystick will allow you to slow down. Keeping the joystick neutral lets you travel at normal speed. Pressing the fire button will fire a bomb or missile that travels at an angle, and both players will need to time their shots in order to effectively hit the target. Not only that, but the shot will travel at the same speed as their instrument of war was travelling when the fire button was pressed. While a bomb or missile is airborne, players will not be able to change speeds until their bomb or missile either hits a target or hits the ground/flies off, whichever happens first. Hint: if you can get directly lined up above or below a target and stay there, travel at the same speed as the target, then fire, you'll be able to hit that target.

Game Mode 22


This is the standard Polaris vs. Bomber game mode, as described above.

Game Mode 23


Both the ship and the plane can guide their missiles or bombs by changing their speed after firing. This allows missiles and bombs to be "guided."

Game Mode 24


The computer plays as the bomber and continuously fires while travelling across the screen at a constant speed while the player controls the Polaris ship with a controller plugged into Controller Port 2. 

In Game Modes 25-27, mines will fly around the playfield between the ship and the plane from one side of the screen to the other and wrap around as they do, acting as obstructions to both players' lines of fire. The mines award no points when hit and serve merely as obstacles.

Game Mode 25


Same as Game Mode 22, except with the mines.

Game Mode 26


Same as Game Mode 23, except with mines. Being able to guide one's ammunition around the mines may prove both interesting and entertaining.

Game Mode 27


Same as Game Mode 24, with the computer playing the plane and the human controlling the ship with a joystick in Controller Port 2, except you have the mines getting in the way.

Monday, July 21, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Air-Sea Battle - Part 5 of 7


The Bomber Games are 99% the same game as the Polaris Games; you're just controlling a plane instead of a ship.

First | Previous | Next | End

Bomber Games


In the Bomber Games - game modes 19-21 - you will be piloting a plane with the capability to bomb ground-based targets. Different targets will be worth different point values. The PT boat is worth four (4) points, the aircraft carrier is worth three (3) points, the pirate ship is worth two (2) points, and the freighter is worth one (1) point.

You will be constantly travelling from one side of the screen to the other, and wrapping around to the other side of the screen when you do. The same is true of the targets. Holding Up on the Joystick will allow you to speed up, while holding Down on the joystick will allow you to slow down. Keeping the joystick neutral lets you travel at normal speed. Pressing the fire button will fire a bomb that travels at an angle, and you'll need to time your shots in order to effectively hit ground-based targets. Not only that, but the bomb will travel at the same speed as your plane was travelling when you pressed the fire button. While a bomb is airborne, you will not be able to change speeds until the bomb hits either the water or a target, whichever happens first. Hint: if you can get directly above a target and stay above it, travel at the same speed as your target, then drop a bomb, you'll be able to hit that target.

Game Mode 19


This is the standard mode. Your bomb travels at the same speed as your plane was going when it was fired, and your plane speed cannot change until the missile hits either the water or a target, whichever happens first.

Game Mode 20


In this game, you can change your speed while your bomb is coming down, and when you change your plane's speed, you will also change your bomb's speed. This will allow you to "guide" your bomb so you can hit a target in a way you could not in Game Mode 19.

Game Mode 21


This is the standard human vs. computer mode. The bombs have the same behavior as they did in Game Mode 19. The computer will move at a steady speed and continuously fire, while the human player plays with a joystick connected to Controller Port 2 to compete against the computer-controlled plane for points.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

PrinceWatercress plays Air-Sea Battle - Part 4 of 7


The war games continue with ships that shoot down planes from the sea.

First | Previous | Next | End

Polaris Games


In the Polaris Games - game modes 16-18 - you will be controlling a ship with the capability to shoot down airborne targets. Different targets will be worth different point values. The small jet is worth four (4) points, the large jet is worth three (3) points, the helicopter is worth two (2) points, and the 747 plane is worth one (1) point.

You will be constantly travelling from one side of the screen to the other, and wrapping around to the other side of the screen when you do. The same is true of the targets. Holding Up on the Joystick will allow you to speed up, while holding Down on the joystick will allow you to slow down. Keeping the joystick neutral lets you travel at normal speed. Pressing the fire button will fire a missile that travels at an angle, and you'll need to time your shots in order to effectively hit airborne targets. Not only that, but the missile will travel at the same speed as your ship was travelling when you pressed the fire button. While a missile is airborne, you will not be able to change speeds until the missile flies off the screen or hits a target, whichever happens first. Hint: if you can get directly underneath a target and stay underneath it, travel at the same speed as your target, then fire a missile, you'll be able to hit that target.

Game Mode 16


This is the standard mode. Your missile travels at the same speed as your ship was going when it was fired, and your ship speed cannot change until the missile flies off-screen or hits a target, whichever happens first.

Game Mode 17


In this game, you can change your speed while your missile is in flight, and when you change your ship's speed, you will also change your missile's speed. This will allow you to "guide" your missile so you can hit a target in a way you could not in Game Mode 16.

Game Mode 18


This is the standard human vs. computer mode. The missiles have the same behavior as they did in Game Mode 16. The computer will move at a steady speed and continuously fire, while the human player plays with a joystick connected to Controller Port 2 to compete against the computer-controlled ship for points.