Sidewinder, Amiga

Sidewinder – by Arcadia – is a well-respected, and quite exciting, vertically-scrolling shooter on the Amiga, first released in 1988 by Mastertronic.

What makes it exciting are the excellent graphics – in particular the explosions, which are beautifully animated – and the rapid fire Bullet Hell action, which is extremely challenging.

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Aliens versus Predator 2, PC

Not to be confused with Alien vs. Predator from British developer Rebellion, this gaming sequel was created by Monolith Productions and published by Sierra On-Line in 2001.

Whatever you think about the AvP series you can’t disagree that the concept does work extremely well as a video game, and this first-person shooter arguably proves that.

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The NewZealand Story, Arcade

Taito‘s 1988 arcade release, The NewZealand Story, is a super-cute platform game featuring a kiwi called Tiki, who is on a rescue mission to save his friends who have been kidnapped by a Leopard Seal. Tiki can jump and shoot arrows from his bow (as kiwis do), as well as commandeer various different floating or flying vehicles to get around in.

The NewZealand Story was an instant hit with gamers and is still much loved today.

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Stormbringer, ZX Spectrum

The fourth and final Magic Knight game by David Jones, released by Mastertronic Added Dimension at the budget price of £2.99 in 1987.

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Knight Tyme, ZX Spectrum

The third Magic Knight game by David Jones, released by Mastertronic Added Dimension at the budget price of £2.99 in 1986.

Knight Tyme was initially released as a 128K-only game (the screenshots here are from that version), and later a cut-down 48K version was released.

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Spellbound, ZX Spectrum

The second Magic Knight game by David Jones, released by Mastertronic Added Dimension at the budget price of £2.99 in 1985.

The screenshots shown here are from the enhanced 128K version, released in 1986.

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Finders Keepers, ZX Spectrum

The first Magic Knight game by David Jones, released by Mastertronic at the budget price of £1.99 in 1985.

Finders Keepers is much more of a platform/maze game than the other games in the Magic Knight series, which are all menu-driven graphical adventures. This one is much more straightforward.

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Q*bert, Game Boy

Coming some ten years after the release of the arcade original, Q*bert for the Game Boy was developed by Gottlieb and published by Jaleco in 1992.

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