EarthBound, Super Nintendo

This 1994 cult classic Super Nintendo level-grinder was originally titled “Mother 2” in its native Japan – later changed in English-speaking territories to EarthBound.

This was due to the fact that no one outside of Japan had seen the first Mother (released in 1989 on the NES) and the bigwigs at Nintendo of America worried that it might confuse people.

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EarthBound Zero, NES

This classic NES game was initially released in Japan in 1989 under the title of Mother.

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Ecco the Dolphin, Megadrive/Genesis

Sega‘s classic Ecco the Dolphin was first released in 1992 for the Megadrive/Genesis.

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Parallax, Commodore 64

First released by Ocean Software in 1986, Parallax is a wild overhead shooter from legendary UK gamedev company Sensible Software.

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Academy, ZX Spectrum

Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.

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Umihara Kawase, Super Nintendo

Umihara Kawase is a weird-but-great Japanese platform game first released for the Super Nintendo in 1994.

The game has an excellent rope-based mechanic that makes it different and interesting to play.

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Out Run, Arcade

Sega‘s single-player arcade classic race game – Out Run. Played and enjoyed by millions of people throughout the world.

Out Run was first released in 1986 and took video game arcades by storm with its superfast, colourful graphics, jaunty music, gripping gameplay, and cabinet steering wheel.

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Shining In The Darkness, Megadrive/Genesis

When I first played Shining In The Darkness – a 1991 party-based Role-Playing Game for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis, developed by Climax Entertainment and published by Sega – I was ready to dismiss it, because of the unattractive, ‘cartoony’ graphics, the clunky interface, and the generic script. But after some determined play – admittedly: in an emulator, and using quicksaves – it became apparent that this was no ‘throwaway’ level-grinder. It was in fact something quite special…

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