Boogie Wings

Data East was a small company who made strange but interesting games, one of the many companies that floundered and died like many other lesser publishers during the awkward and violent transition to 3d gaming in the 90s. Boogie Wings is one of their lesser-known games, ranking below such other odd titles like Karnov and Chelnov:atomic runner. However, Boogie Wings is probably Data East's best game, one that did things with freeform gameplay and physics not seen in 3d games until the advent of Grand Theft Auto 3 and the Source Engine.

While Boogie Wings is a linear, sidescrolling shooter, the hook on the bottom of your plane provides the first clue that this isn't any ordinary shmup. With it, you can pick up virtually anything in the debris-cluttered environments, from amusement park rides to dino skeletons and much more. Also, when the plane gets shot down, you see the other innovative part of the game, as you can jack into a large variety of vehicles. Boogie Wings is full of crazy setpieces too, like a out of control Ferris Wheel and my favorite level, an airship with a cargo hold that quicky degenerates into chaos once the gravity starts to vanish and the boxes break open. Boogie Wings is not a horribly long or difficult game, but it still has tons of replay value, as each game is likely to unfold in a different way. Sadly, it doesn't look to be in the upcoming Data East collection for the Wii, but hopefully there will be another volume including it and other neglected games.

Gun Master

Gun Master is a game so obscure it's not even listed on KLOV, which is a shame as it's a fun and unique mashup of Gunstar Heroes and the Mega Man arcade games. Playing as either a male or female gunslinger, you must defeat a whole host of weird bosses in order to defeat the fascist empire which has burned your hometown to the ground. Or, uh, something like that. The bosses all live in small, enclosed stages, and not only have a host of special moves, but also whole armies of henchmen. The controls only use two action buttons, but allow you to guard, punch, throw, shoot, and do all sorts of special moves. It's a bit tricky and awkward at time, but not overly unfair. The graphics are charmingly Treasure-esque, especially considering they come from such a small developer. Nothing to push the technical envelope, but they do the job. Overall, Gunmaster is a shamefully overlooked gem, and makes me curious to expore developer Metro's output in future updates.