Forgotten Worlds is a classic Capcom arcade shooter from 1988, with simultaneous two-player coop, a rotational aiming system, and intense bullet hell action set across a landscape of the desolate Earth in the 29th Century.
Forgotten Worlds, Arcade
Maniac Mansion, NES/Famicom
The NES/Famicom version of Maniac Mansion was developed and published by Jaleco in 1990 and is still worth playing today. It’s a fine port of a great game and translates well enough to Nintendo‘s machine that it arguably plays even better than the C64 original (although many will cry “Sacrilege!” to that).
The Oregon Trail, Apple II
The Oregon Trail is a classic Apple II strategy/adventure game where you play as settlers travelling in a covered wagon on The Oregon Trail in 1848. As you might imagine, the trail is hostile and survival on it is brutal, so you have to prepare for your trip in advance by buying food, clothes, ammunition, spare parts, and oxen to pull your wagon.
Repton 3, Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes version of Repton 3 is an excellent port of the 8-bit BBC Micro original, with enhanced graphics, responsive controls and a raft of extra levels not seen in the original. From what I can tell it was the only part of the Repton series that was ported to the Archimedes, which is fine because it’s probably the best game in the series.
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, NES/Famicom
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! was developed by Nintendo R&D3 and was first published by Nintendo in 1987. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest boxing video games ever made, with well-animated cartoon-style characters and an intuitive and responsive control system.
Thunderhawk, Sega CD
Thunderhawk is an action-based helicopter combat game developed and published by Core Design in 1993. It first came out for the Amiga and PC in 1992, although the Sega CD version is probably the most memorable.
The Violinist of Hameln, Super Nintendo
The Violinist of Hameln is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Daft and published in 1995 by Enix and is based on the Japanese manga series of the same name. The game was a Japan-only release, but a fan-made translation patch is available to play the game in English.
Arcadia, ZX Spectrum
Written by David H. Lawson and published by Imagine Software in 1982, Arcadia is another early Spectrum game that sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but has not weathered the sands of time well at all…
Ah Diddums, ZX Spectrum
Written by David H. Lawson (co-founder of Imagine Software), Ah Diddums is a 1983 action game in which you play as a teddy bear trying to escape from inside a toy box (to comfort his crying baby owner) by arranging coloured blocks into a staircase the top of the screen. This allows him to climb up to the next level. And there are 99 levels in this particular toy box, so his journey is going to be a long one…
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Super Nintendo
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a Role-Playing Game aimed at beginners and was the first Final Fantasy game released in English-speaking territories, coming out on the Super Nintendo through Square in 1992. It was actually released in North America first, then in Japan and Europe the following year. The game was released in Europe as “Mystic Quest Legend” which hints at its similarity to the classic Final Fantasy Legend series on the Game Boy.
The King of Grabs 