Hacky sack ’n hack ’n slash: Rastan & California Games | Segaiden 082
918The most ’80s of Master System games are here to remind you that 1989 was, in fact, the pinnacle of the ’80s. Now, that has nothing to do with the quality of these games. Rastan gives us a pretty unsatisfying port of an arcade hit, and California Games offers a strong rendition of a fundamentally flimsy game.
What I mean is that both of these games embody trends of the decades. California Games catches the tail end of "California Cool," the idea that America's far coast was a luxurious paradise of sun and sand (rather than the bastion of Evil Communist Murder that more poisonous elements of the media landscape have been pushing in recent years) pressed into service of a series of minigames that embody the supposed California lifestyle. As for Rastan, well, it was one of a legion of barbarian-based action games inspired by Conan as portrayed by the future governor who would preside over the California Games a decade and a half later.
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Master System footage captured from MiSTer (thanks to MiSTerAddOns) with a SNAC adapter for Paddle Controller material. Video upscaled to 4K with RetroTink 4K. RGB cables courtesy of StoneAgeGamer.com and Allie Bellrose.