Fucking hell, I don't know how well Rampart holds up in the long-term, but it makes a wicked first impression. I could never quite piece together how this thing worked, from reviews/ads BITD... it's basically a two-phase arcade tower defense (I don't follow TDs either, but fuck me if this isn't a game about defending towers). Manic fortress assembly via Tetris-like interface, followed by even more manic defense via cannon-to-cannon warfare against a growing horde of hostile ships. Time's the enemy in the former, a relentless hail of cannonfire and landing siege troops in the latter.
The two halves seem to play off each other beautifully, in a classic feedback loop. Deft builder technique means more guns, for more wrecked ships and less damage to your forts, ideally until you've amassed a screen-spanning wall of death. There's an incredible sense of struggle, and far from holding back, the utilitarian graphics are entirely apropos; there's precious little time for anything but staying ahead of the build/kill/repair curve.
Tentatively joins Gain Ground and Crack Down on my MD arcade/strategy tiny army men list. Superb first impression. Sadly way too late here to roadtest the 2P mode, but it does sound scintillating if 1P is any indicator.
I can't believe how I underrated Tengen before getting into MD collecting. They're easily among the most consistent sources of no-nonsense arcade action on my shelf. Slap Fight MD, Snow Bros, Gauntlet, Marble Madness, Road Blasters, Paperboy and now this - all of 'em bring out the console's demi-arcade roots just as well as Sega's early CPS1 quartet.
And yeah Baton, I did see the Nintendo World Championships name-drop in the manual!

Also a minor but distinct treat I enjoy in my JP versions of Western properties, cute little manga dudes!
God speed little SD chaps, your world is a cruel one! See Paperboy's manual too, for another deceptively cute rendering of a character who knows nothing but danger and death!
I wonder if that's the same artist behind MD Gauntlet's rather more menacing yet still decidedly playful manual art:
Also a bit of LEGO (?) funnin' in Rampart's manual which may have been original or nicked from elsewhere. Hard to tell with Tengen's history of skirting usual publisher protocols.
