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What could be worse than 100mph winds, hail and snow-spoiling spring? How about three hideously evil dragons, breathing fire and pestilence all over your previously peaceful province?

Well it's happened, and in the wake of all the destruction come a deluge of dastardly demons determined to destroy all. That's where you come in: the famous Black Tiger who - to judge from your sprite - are neither black nor feline. What is obvious is that you like fighting and cash, so clearing the land of evil is right up your street.

The game is divided into six levels, horizontally and vertically scrolling with plenty of treasure rooms to be found. In fact the cash, known as zenny (as in Forgotten Worlds) is carelessly left all over the place. You can also open treasure chests with keys, and free Old Men frozen into statues by touching them - a good deed whch has its own reward, i.e. extra time, money and vitality. More wily Old Men will try and sell you improved weapons, armour, keys and potions. You already come equipped with a mace to bounce of baddies' bonces and numerous knives to throw.

Stocking up on equipment is a good idea as each level has a particularly vicious baddies at its end: these include a Blue Samurai Dragon (!), a Block Head (but no Ian Dury), and Spear-Throwing Demons.

After US Gold's previous CP coin-op conversions, the excellent Strider and Ghouls 'N Ghosts, this is a disappointment. But I don't think it's wholly the fault of the programmers: technically this is an okay conversion. It's mainly because the Black Tiger coin-op wasn't all that special in the first place; just a repetitive kill 'n collect game.

Out of the two conversions the C64 game is marginally the better with some decent sprites and a nice tune playing throughout. The Amiga version is not at all impressive, featuring jerky sccrolling and unspectacular end-of-level baddies. And though Black Tiger does have some short-term playability it's certainly not one of the better Capcom coin-op conversions.

Black Tiger was the first Capcom coin-op to use their new CP graphics system, demonstrating great potential in shading, detail and movement. The Amiga game captures the approximate look of the machine, but it's an ST port-across and the tiny sprites and bland backgrounds never really surprised me. A pity since the game design is so unimaginative, with you simply hopping around platform-packed caverns. Buying armour and weapons adds a small tactical element to the game, but finding your way through the caverns within the time limit soon gets very repetitive and dull.

The C64 game plays slightly faster, though this plus is neutralised by the inevitable multi-load. Graphics are okay but not amazing. And though there's nothing wrong with Black Tiger; neither is there anything special enough for me to spend any of my "Zenny" on it.

Presentation 60% Unimpressive with inevitable multi-load.

Graphics 69% Okay sprites, dull backgrounds and unspectacular end-of-level baddies.

Sound 71% Quite nice coin-op soundtrack livens things up a bit.

Hookability 68% Slightly faster to play than the Amiga, although multi-load can be a pain.

Lastability 61% The minor tactical element adds some depth to the repetitive action.

Overall 64% An okay conversion of a mediocre coin-op.

Presentation 66% High score table and useful continue-plays.

Graphics 68% Some nice sprites, but backgrounds are dull and there's not much variety.

Sound 62% Very average coin-op tune.

Hookability 67% Very easy to get into, but never compelling...

Lastability 59% A fair challenge but, other than a minor tactical aspect, gameplay is repetitive.

Overall 63% A dull and uninspired coin-op gets a bland conversion.