In an almost unheralded move recently, computer manufacturer Commodore stunned the gaming world with the announcement of an Amiga-based CD games console, the CD32. Based around an improved version of the company's high-specification 32-bit machine the Amiga 1200, the CD32 will sell for the same £299 price for the standalone machine, with keyboard and floppy disk drive add-ons for full Amiga compatability to follow shortly afterwards. The technical details of the new machine are a statistics fan's dream - the main processor runs at 14MHz (compared to the Mega CD's 12.5MHz), the CD read speed is 300K a second (against 150K a second for the Mega CD), and most impressively, the colour palette holds no less than 16.8 million colours (the Mega CD boasts just 512), with four times as many on screen at any one time as Sega's machine. Commodore are also promising full-hearted software support, with 77 titles due before Christmas. A revolution in home entertainment could be on the way - watch this space.

SILPHEED (Mega CD)

Namco's Starblade has been quite the most stunning thing to hit arcades for several years, but now it's got a rival on the comparatively humble Mega CD. Silpheed is a pretty (well, very) straightforward spacebound shoot-'em-up in essence, but the as-yet untapped graphical potential of the Mega CD hardware has been put to good use in the background, providing some utterly breathtaking scenery to perform your perfunctory alien-blasting duties against. As you swing your ship around the screen to take aim at the slimy green hordes, the Mega CD noisily surrounds you with what must surely be the finest moving 3D backdrops in video game history, while your unseen wingmen chatter incessantly in your ear with warnings of upcoming hazards and useful tips (like ÔGo left! Go left!' as a huge asteroid tumbles into view, obscuring the entire right-hand half of the screen). To concentrate entirely on the aesthetics of Silpheed, though, would be doing the gameplay a major disservice. While it IS very simple stuff, it's never less than fast-moving and exciting, and the difficulty level and number of continues is pitched just right to get you coming back for more, eager to see the next set of graphical gymnastics. It looks like it's going to bear a forbidding £60 ticket on official UK release, but even despite that, this is likely to sell more Mega CDs than anything else Sega could imagine in their wildest dreams. 92%

THUNDERHAWK (Mega CD)

With the exception of the forthcoming Silpheed, Mega CD owners could have been forgiven until now for thinking that the much-trumpeted graphics scaling and rotating chips inside their machine were nothing more than a marketing myth. That notion is well and truly laid to rest, though, with this astounding-looking all-action flight simulator. Simple, easy-to-grasp controls let even the most earthbound arcade freak pick up the rudiments of play within seconds, and it takes very little play for the stunning graphical rewards bestowed on the player for the most basic control mastery to become apparent. There isn't really very much to the game beyond high-speed adrenaline-pumping blasting, but when what's on offer is as exhilarating as this, who's counting option screens? 90%

AMAZING TENNIS (Absolute, Mega Drive, £40)

Wimbledon will probably be over by the time you read this, but if you feel like re-enacting the whole thing on your Mega Drive, there's a whole range of tennis sims hitting the streets right now for you to try your serving finger against. Amazing Tennis looks a bit different to all the rest, with a viewpoint that's right down on the ground behind the serving player's feet, and it's a bit difficult to get used to, but with some practice you'll soon have the hang of it. The thing is, it doesn't really add anything to the game Ð it seems to have been used more as an excuse to show off the fancy animation on the players rather than for any gameplay-enhancement reasons. Still, as tennis games go, this one's alright, with decent graphics and sound and some particularly nice speech synthesis on the umpire's voice. It's just that you could do a whole lot better.  71%

MICRO MACHINES (Amiga)

After huge success on the 8-bit NES and the Mega Drive, arguably the best overhead-view racing game ever is finally coming to the Amiga. You race tiny radio-controlled cars across all manner of previously-innocent household surfaces - school desks, workbenches, even the breakfast table all get covered in tiny tyre marks as you and a chum (the game features an especially impressive two-player mode) zoom around the smooth-scrolling courses at breakneck speeds, dicing with death as you fly through the air across back-of-a-textbook humpback bridges or whizz precariously across rulers suspended between desks. Even the one-player version is enthralling, though, with a whole host of computer opponents of varying talents and personalities to challenge, and the game as a whole is probably the most essential purchase for Amiga owners since Sensible Soccer. 92%

SUPER MARIO ALLSTARS (SNES)

The longest-awaited cart on the Super Nintendo since Starwing, Super Mario Allstars looks set to break box-office records all over the world. Comprising improved and enhanced versions of no less than FOUR Mario Brothers games from the old 8-bit NES, Mario Allstars boasts some of the most impressive gameplay ever committed to ROM chips, while the inclusion of the original Japanese Super Mario Brothers 2 (previously unavailable in the UK) is likely to ensure that even players who already own all three other games on the older machine fork out for this cart. It's almost impossible to argue that they're getting a bad deal even at that, but for anyone new to Mario's early adventures, Mario Allstars promises one of the biggest revelations of your gameplaying life. Almost any one of the four games here (with the possible exception of the relatively weak European Mario 2) could justify the cost of the cart on their own (certainly when compared to any of the dozens of inferior clones that regularly crop up on the machine), but all four (including Super Mario Brothers 3, commonly thought to be the best video game of all time on any system) for £50 is probably the best bargain any console owner is likely to get this, or any other, year. 96%

THE LOST VIKINGS (Interplay, SNES)

Although at first glance it looks like just another platform game, The Lost Vikings is actually the kind of thing you almost never see on the SNES - a thoughtful arcadey puzzler full of original ideas and testing gameplay. You control three Viking characters with varying powers, and you have to make careful co-operative use of all their abilities to get them out of lots of different scrapes on a planet they've been taken to by some time-travelling alien kidnappers. It takes a few minutes to get the hang of, but once you're into it it's a really engrossing affair, and it'll take you a lot longer to finish than most SNES games these days, which at £45 a time can't be a bad thing. 8/10

WORLD CLASS RUGBY (Imagineer, SNES)

Rugby isn't a sport which has seen a lot of exposure on console machines. In fact, despite the game's huge popularity in Britain, Europe and much of the Southern Hemisphere, this is one of only two console versions of it that I know of. (The other one being Domark's imminent International Rugby Challenge on the Mega Drive, which at the moment looks, er, not brilliant.) World Class Rugby isn't likely to change the situation, because it's such a good effort that nobody's likely to think they can improve on it for quite some time to come. Making full use of the SNES' Mode 7 to produce a smooth-scrolling 3D pitch (in the same style as John Madden Football), WCR manages a surprisingly good simulation of the mechanics of the oval-ball game, as well as being a great straightforward arcade sports sim. This is lots of fun to play, and there's practically no chance of getting your ear bitten off either. 81%

STRIKE COMMANDER (Origin, PC)