Fast forward a couple of days and there is was, beneath a TV that was blurry for the first half an hour after you turned it on. It came with Megagames 3, I think it was. Columns, Super Hang-On and Something Else. Something footballish, if I'm not wrong. World Cup Italia 90, infact (and I don't even like football games!). What a console.

High point: My gran buying me Sonic & Knuckles on a whim. That would be my first foray into 'special editions' I guess, as the box was cardboardy. And the cartridge lip flipped open. Playground banter a-plenty about what the hell that extra port did. Everyone was a gamer back then, throwing carts around the classroom like weed (that's what kids are into these days, right?).

But then, like the Betamax or religion, something 'better' came along. I can't attest to which console came first, Sega's or Nintendo's, but for my vote the SNES was the step up. It was bigger, for a start. Bigger was better back then.

I  can look back on both favorably and without bias, but there's something to be said for the fact that I can't remember my first encounter with the SNES. It did have Mario All-Stars though.

The only reason I haven't been spending my time playing Tyrian instead of constantly refreshing my own blog, is because the original game doesn't run in XP. Don't even ask about Vista, 'cause that jazz ain't for humans. Fortunately for all of us who don't still have a real MS-DOS emulator, there are now Tyrian remakes that allow it to run on XP with all the original game facets still intact. I guess I can say good-bye to the old days of blog refreshment. That's up to you guys now. Punish that F5 key for me, will ya?

The music in Tyrian was done by Alexander Brandon, who is well-known for his work on Epic/Megagames' products. You've heard his jams if you've played any Unreal Tournament. Tyrian's music hit me right from the first time I fired up the demo. In fact, the music stood out more than the gameplay. It has that awesome early-mid '90s Sound Blaster 16 sound. The sounds used here are, to me, an epitomy of chiptunes. It's like a more mature Genesis sound board. It takes a pretty talented composer to stick songs in your memory after hearing them only once.

Alexander Brandon - Asteroid Dance Part 1 - Tyrian OST
Alexander Brandon - Buy & Sell Music - Tyrian OST
Alexander Brandon - The Final Edge - Tyrian OST
Alexander Brandon - Tunneling Trolls - Tyrian OST
Alexander Brandon - Tyrian (the level) - Tyrian OST

This game has so many hot jams I wish I could post them all. This soundtrack was ripped by Rimo but I don't see any downloads on his site, which looks like a geocities mirror or something.