Delphine Software‘s classic Flashback was ported to the Atari Jaguar and first released by US Gold in 1994. It is a close to perfect conversion of this superb platform adventure game.

You play as Conrad Hart, who has crash-landed on Titan in the year 2142 and has lost his memory. The aim of the game is to survive your way through a maze of screens, filled with deadly traps and hostile aliens, to eventually meet your friend, Ian, who will explain everything. Shades of Total Recall maybe? Possibly…

Controlling Conrad is fairly simple, and he can run, jump, climb, roll, shoot his pistol, and pick up and use items that he finds along the way. He can also do more subtle stuff, like: do a running jump and then grab and hang onto a platform above him, although that takes some practise (thankfully, though, the game’s manual explains how to do these advanced moves). Pressing the Option button brings up an inventory, allowing you to choose which item to use next. The currently selected item is shown in the top right of the screen.

Surviving the hostile environment is not easy, but at least Flashback allows you save the game at a save point every once in a while, as well as input passwords to continue from any one of the seven different available levels. The game can also be played at three difficulty levels (easy, normal and expert), and this affects the frequency of enemies and traps that you encounter.

Flashback on the Atari Jaguar plays very well – comparable even to the Sega Megadrive original – and is another must-own title for the console. It’s a difficult game to master, and may frustrate some, but experts who know all the different moves will make it look easy.

More: Flashback on Wikipedia
Steam: Flashback on Steam
GOG: Flashback on GOG.com