Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Full run through of the NES "classic" MagMax (マグマックス) by Nihon Bussan! I cleared 3 loops without dying, and then quit the game after getting to loop 4 with a score of 381,200. This was played on a real NES with real cart.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Start
00:20 - Stage 1
02:12 - Stage 2
04:27 - Stage 3
06:31 - Stage 4
08:17 - Loop 2, Stage 1
08:50 - Going Underground
11:41 - Stage 2
15:49 - Stage 3
19:57 - Stage 4
23:25 - Loop 3, Stage 1
25:19 - Going Above Ground
26:16 - Stage 2
28:43 - Stage 3
30:47 - Stage 4
32:46 - Loop 4, Special Message "MEIGETSU"
So I must admit up front that MagMax holds a special place to me, it's one of the few shmups I owned back in the day, and it's also likely my first 1CC (it was either this or Life Force, I'm not 100% sure).
MagMax is a conversion of an 80's arcade game, and it has all of the hallmarks of an ancient shmup: massive hitbox, slow moving ship, and short loops. So what is special about MagMax? It is one of the first shmups I can recall that has "branching paths", and in this case you can choose to play either above or below ground. I played the first loop above ground, second below ground, and third above ground again.
The game actually plays sightly differently depending on the path you are on, and you can change paths as often as you want provided you find one of the many grey portals to go above or below ground. The above ground section has kind of an isometric view, and your ship has a much smaller hitbox (the shadow below your ship is what you want to use as a guide), shorter loops and is also significantly easier than below ground.
When you play below ground, you are a much larger target, there are more enemies that are also more aggressive, and there are also stage hazards like the water areas that freeze your ship and leave you helpless. I like to think of the below ground route as a sort of hard mode.
As for powerups, you basically add pieces to your ship, which make you easier to hit (Since you are larger, especially below ground), but also let you take more hits before you die. They also give increased firepower and a "sword" when you are above ground. Below ground, the sword is replaced with a fire shot, which useful for killing certain enemies in the fortress section which are otherwise invincible.
When you clear 3 loops you get a special message over your score, where it says MEIGETSU. I take this as a sign that this is basically the end of the game, as the message doesn't change even on subsequent loops (and I've looped the game in the past like 7-8 times).
Anyway, despite the chunkiness of the game, I still find it somewhat enjoyable, and it's also surprisingly hard if you play below ground on later loops and aim for no deaths.
Full run through of the NES "classic" MagMax (マグマックス) by Nihon Bussan! I cleared 3 loops without dying, and then quit the game after getting to loop 4 with a score of 381,200. This was played on a real NES with real cart.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Start
00:20 - Stage 1
02:12 - Stage 2
04:27 - Stage 3
06:31 - Stage 4
08:17 - Loop 2, Stage 1
08:50 - Going Underground
11:41 - Stage 2
15:49 - Stage 3
19:57 - Stage 4
23:25 - Loop 3, Stage 1
25:19 - Going Above Ground
26:16 - Stage 2
28:43 - Stage 3
30:47 - Stage 4
32:46 - Loop 4, Special Message "MEIGETSU"
So I must admit up front that MagMax holds a special place to me, it's one of the few shmups I owned back in the day, and it's also likely my first 1CC (it was either this or Life Force, I'm not 100% sure).
MagMax is a conversion of an 80's arcade game, and it has all of the hallmarks of an ancient shmup: massive hitbox, slow moving ship, and short loops. So what is special about MagMax? It is one of the first shmups I can recall that has "branching paths", and in this case you can choose to play either above or below ground. I played the first loop above ground, second below ground, and third above ground again.
The game actually plays sightly differently depending on the path you are on, and you can change paths as often as you want provided you find one of the many grey portals to go above or below ground. The above ground section has kind of an isometric view, and your ship has a much smaller hitbox (the shadow below your ship is what you want to use as a guide), shorter loops and is also significantly easier than below ground.
When you play below ground, you are a much larger target, there are more enemies that are also more aggressive, and there are also stage hazards like the water areas that freeze your ship and leave you helpless. I like to think of the below ground route as a sort of hard mode.
As for powerups, you basically add pieces to your ship, which make you easier to hit (Since you are larger, especially below ground), but also let you take more hits before you die. They also give increased firepower and a "sword" when you are above ground. Below ground, the sword is replaced with a fire shot, which useful for killing certain enemies in the fortress section which are otherwise invincible.
When you clear 3 loops you get a special message over your score, where it says MEIGETSU. I take this as a sign that this is basically the end of the game, as the message doesn't change even on subsequent loops (and I've looped the game in the past like 7-8 times).
Anyway, despite the chunkiness of the game, I still find it somewhat enjoyable, and it's also surprisingly hard if you play below ground on later loops and aim for no deaths.
![Raiden (TG-16) - Full Run ALL Clear [to 2-7]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6FEnAcwCF1I/mqdefault.jpg "Raiden (TG-16) - Full Run ALL Clear [to 2-7]
Full Run of Raiden (雷電) for the Turbografx-16/PC Engine. I made it to stage 7 of loop 2 before getting the game over, with a score of around 3.5 Million. This was played on a real TG-16 with the real HuCard.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Intro
00:22 - Stage 1
02:58 - Stage 2
06:27 - Stage 3
09:43 - Stage 4
14:07 - Stage 5
17:55 - Stage 6
22:09 - Stage 7
25:10 - Stage 8
28:14 - Final Boss + Ending
29:16 - Loop 2 Stage 1
31:55 - Loop 2 Stage 2
36:15 - Loop 2 Stage 3
39:39 - Loop 2 Stage 4
45:07 - Loop 2 Stage 5
48:56 - Loop 2 Stage 6
54:39 - Loop 2 Stage 7
Raiden for the Turbografx/PC Engine is a port of the classic arcade game that was a massive hit back in the 90s, and it was virtually ubiquitous in arcades at the time. So how does this port stack up to the arcade version? Well its pretty good, but there are definitely some differences, some of which are only obvious if youve put time into both versions.
First off, the graphics are quite good in this port, everything looks pretty close to the arcade version unlike the Genesis port (which looked much more drab) or the horrendous SNES port (which is just terrible in general). The stages do seem a bit shorter than I remember though, so Im sure cuts were made to the length of the game. While the graphics looks nice there is still plenty of flicker when the screen gets filled up and things start to get hectic.
Unfortunately the music doesnt hold up as well, a lot of the tunes are muffled and just dont have the vigor that they did in the arcade version. Id actually rank this port near the bottom in that department, as even the SNES version had better music.
As for the mechanics of the game, the scoring is basically the same, you pick up medals throughout the stages which add to your end of stage bonus assuming you didnt die (medals x bombs x 1000 = end of stage bonus). That is the bulk of your score, the remainder comes from picking up excess powerups once you are fully powered, and you also get a massive 1 Million point bonus for clearing the game.
Unlike the arcade version, you can carry more bombs (9 vs 7) in this one, and you also continue to get extends based on score, whereas the arcade version capped you to only 2 of them. So this game throws a lot more extra lives your way, especially if you are scoring well.
Unfortunately (I guess depending on how you view it) this version does carry over the checkpoints on deaths that made the original Japanese arcade version so ridiculous. However, unlike that version where a single death was basically the end of your run, you can actually recover quite well in most of the checkpoints, especially if you got the fairy earlier.
When all that said I would probably still rank the TG version a tad behind the Genesis port, mainly because the Genesis version has fewer cuts to the stages, better music, and no flickering. Either way, this is a very solid and competent port, and it gets my recommendation.")
