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Hot on the slimy trail left by Xenon II's tendrils and antennae comes Gemini Wing, the heroic tale of a lone fighter who simply loathes mutant bugs, bulbous alien growths and rogue fish. And who can blame him?

Not you, since you're in charge of his craft. This is a nifty little number that can carry extra weapons pods as a kind of tial - simply collect the orbs left behind by your enemies and they're welded to your rear. Some of these are very handy, including three-way missiles, speed-ups, rota-bombs, homing missiles and (this is tops) a weapon that wipes the screen with a solid line of death. Simply holding down the fire button activates the first icon in line.

Every level is packed with the kind of creepy crawlies you wouldn't want to find in your soup, and every one is rounded off with a smarter-than-average alien that takes lots of hits to wipe out. For example, at the end of the first level you're faced by a walrus-like fish thing which can only be described as a walrus-like fish thing. It spews out bit lumps of caviar but nothing much else, and is a little too easy to get rid of.

If all this sounds familiar, it is. Tecmo's coin-op was neither original nor stunning, and these versions do nothing to enhance its reputation. Worse still, both games do little justice to the capabilities of their respective machines.

Even fans of the original coin-op might be disappointed by these conversions.

There's a multi-load between the title screen and the first level every time you play, so getting started isn't much fun. The graphics are indistinct and bland and, as a result, the action is very frustrating.

There are many better vertical scrollers on the C64.

Some attractive background graphics, sprites and end-of-level aliens don't compensate much for slow and simple gameplay. Just not in the same class as Xenon II.