Wallie has popped down to the supermarket to collect his groceries. There are forty items on the list, but he can only carry five at a time, and has to stop at the cash desk several times to pay for his items. The supermarket consists of platforms, ladders, escalators, and lots of nasty flying creatures - it's certainly not your average shop! Sadly, the graphics are horrible and clash with each other, and it's slow and difficult to play, and you'll lose your five lives quickly. The music is well worth listening to, though.

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The sultan's daughter is held captive somewhere in the Kashba. You play Yusuf, the captain of the sultan's personal guard. If you find her within three days, the reward is... the girl herself. In this complex adventure, your task begins gathering information, but this is only the beginning. You'll have to find where to sleep, eat, buy weapons and ammunition, cope with treacherous informers, make your way through hostile quarters (which means, among other things, becoming involved in shootings) and even steal money from peaceful people you come across. Sounds great, doesn't it? Personally, I find this game too difficult (the Kashba is huge indeed) and the gameplay a bit repetitive, but I also think it's worth giving it a try, so you can judge for yourself.

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Tubaruba
(Advance, 1986)

There are silly games, and then there are really silly games, of which this is one. From what I can make out, you walk and fly around a house, collecting as much money as you can. The monsters you come across are truly zany and some of them are extremely fast, too! It's a fast and furious game with absolutely no time to take a breather; you're constantly shooting monsters and trying to dodge the missiles they fire at you. Cute graphics and bouncy music add to this to make one of the most bizarre games I've ever played!

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9

It's not a Codemasters release, but the use of the word 'simulator' is definitely misleading. You control a speedboat which has strayed into hostile enemy territory. There are eight levels, and on each of them, you must collect parts of a map that are dropped by the aeroplanes that fly overhead. You've also got to shoot or avoid submarines, 'planes and helicopters - if you are hit ten times by them, you lose one of your three lives. Crashing into the shore is not a good idea, either! The graphics are adequate and the sound effects are all right, although the music on the menu is fairly good, but it's too difficult to avoid taking hits, and the waterways are quite narrow as well.

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4

This game isn't bad at all - in fact, it's really rather good. Fly your helicopter around 31 screens, destroying bricks, tanks, 'planes, guns and other things. There are two types of weapons you can use; there's the standard missiles, and bouncing bombs - just be careful with these, as they can easily bounce back at you! You've also got to squeeze your helicopter through some very narrow gaps and be very precise. It sounds like a difficult game, but a little practice will get you through the first few screens easily. The colourful graphics and good sound effects help to make this a simple but addictive game.

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8

Endorsed by French rally driver René Metge, this racing game lets you get behind the steering wheel of a Porsche 944 and drive around four French tracks - Magny-Cours, Dijon, Nogaro and Paul Ricard - as fast as you can, and try to beat twenty other drivers. Firstly, you must qualify, and then the race itself consists of just two laps. Driving the car is fairly simple, although if you approach any corners too fast, you will spin off. Unfortunately only automatic gears can be used, but if you hold down the fire button, you can maintain your speed through the corners. The graphics and animation are excellent, especially when you crash, and although the computer-controlled drivers are rather unfair at times, this is still a great racing game and well worth a try.

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8

Another average game with a sub-average plot. It's the usual futuristic shoot-'em-up, and the heroine who's out to save the day is some leather-clad biker chick - well, the loading screen certainly suggests that. Waves of spaceships and meteorites come at you, but you've also got to negotiate the network of platforms, pipes and walls. The breathtaking graphics and the nice music don't cover up the fact that it's ridiculously difficult, and getting off the first level seems to be almost impossible.

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4

I like go-kart racing, but I do not like this game at all! As you might have guessed, you have to race your kart around four tracks and complete a set number of laps before your time runs out. Along the way, there are nine types of collectable bonuses which you can collect and use on your next visit to the pits. You've also got a small amount of nitro to boost your speed on the straights or catch up on your opponents. Any sense of enjoyment quickly disappears as you wince at how slow the game is, and the sound effects are abominable. 'Turbo'? No way!

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4

Time for some more racing action across America in a Ferrari F-40. Like Out Run, the game is divided into stages, and you must reach the end of each stage before your time runs out. However, this time there are 16 stages, which are completed sequentially, and your car is now equipped with a turbo booster - but it overheats, so you can't use it often. You can upgrade your car after every four stages as well. If you fail to reach the checkpoint in time, you return to the start of the current stage and lose one of your five credits. This allows you to see quite a lot of the game even on your first go, although this doesn't mean that it's easy to complete. This game is a big improvement compared with the awful Out Run. The graphics are quite good and the scenery varies dramatically as you pass through each stage, and while the scrolling isn't all that fast, it's not sluggish either.

See also: Out Run, Out Run Europa.

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8

Turbo the Tortoise
(Hi-Tec/Codemasters, 1992)

The scientist Dr. Mulliner has sent Turbo the Tortoise on a mission through six time zones, to collect some ingredients for one of his latest experiments. This is a very good platform game, with all sorts of enemies, power-ups, chasms, and even hidden platforms which allow you to reach seemingly inaccessible locations. Most enemies can be killed by jumping on them once or twice, although if you find some missiles, you can shoot them instead. Hi-Tec originally released this game on the CPC, but they went bust shortly afterwards, and so Codemasters continued to sell it instead. Turbo is easy to control, and together with the colourful cartoon-style graphics and relatively easy gameplay, this is a thoroughly enjoyable game.

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