Jeremy Parish

Segaiden 82: Rastan & California Games

Added 2025-04-30 11:33:42 +0000 UTC

You know, I remembered Rastan being pretty good on Master System, but putting together brought the memories all rushing back. It is, in fact, not especially good. It feels like Sega's answer to the NES version of Strider. Yes, I know, Strider also showed up on Master System. But that was the cool arcade Strider, not the janky, ambitious, and (again) janky NES game. Rastan on Master System captures that cartridge's unique ability to make you hate the concept of jumping in a game about a burly guy slashing things to death. The anti-Mario. I mean, that's kind of appropriate for a Sega console, but... not like this. Not like this.

As for California Games, nothing will ever make me love Epyx's Games games, because it's not 1985 and I'm not playing on Commodore 64. But I respect this port. Sega did a bang-up job of converting it. Too bad they didn't also do the lifting on Rastan! Oh well!!

Sadly, things on Master System will get worse before they get better. That's not a promise, it's a threat. A threat from Sega.