Nightmare Circus

Afar cry from Sonic the Hedgehog, Nightmare Circus is Sega's most recent and perhaps most intense 16-bit endeavor, featuring the inclusion of a debug menu, or "tweaker", that allows you to modify most of the variables found in the game.You can access the "tweaker" at any point in the game to adjust almost all of the physical attributes in that level: gravity, air acceleration, air friction, number of enemies, damage and impact powers, fallback speeds, ambush radii, jump heights, projectile speeds, and hundreds of others.The player can customize the game in this way by means of a battery back-up RAM.This is the stuff that's usually only accessible to programmers.

You play Raven, a young Indian Shaman Warrior, who's looking to smite The Jester with some vengeance. A paranormal circus in the middle of the desert provides the backdrop for Nightmare Circus.The original circus burned down at the hands of the evil Leto Diablo, or the Jester. Diablo owned and operated the circus.When it no longer generated profits and in fact, became a financial burden, he decided to go with insurance fraud--take out policies on all of the performers, then kill them "by accident." But the entire circus burned down, roasting hundreds of townspeople, including members of your tribe. You're mad, plus you've got over a 100 moves, including special abilities, and more than 150 animation sequences. Raven can jump, walk, run, crawl, lie on the floor, swing from lamp posts, and do it all backwards, too. Crawling backwards is more fun than it sounds.

The game is comprised of four areas, any of which can be accessed at the opening scene, but once you've chosen an area, you must complete its sub-levels and defeat its boss in order to proceed.The Ticket Office area functions differently; you can clear this one piece by piece. Collectively, there are 13 levels and over 1,000 paths through the game. You'll encounter the likes of ravenous maggot-men and sinister puppets.The gameplay varies from strategy to puzzle and from action to fighting.There's plenty of stuff to keep you busy.The game also includes one- or two-player options. You'll be fascinated by the complexities which this dark, intriguing game has to offer.