Westwood Studios‘ 1993 RPG Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos is a Dungeon Master-like first-person, real-time action game with spells and combat and plenty of monsters out to end your life.
Las Vegas-based Westwood, coincidentally, were developers of the first two Eye of the Beholder games, but dropped the franchise in favour of developing Lands of Lore, their own IP.
Originally released in 1982 for the PC-8801, Sokoban is an ingenious overhead puzzle game about a guy pushing boxes around a warehouse.
That might sound as dull as dishwater to some people, but the fact is: Sokoban is extremely clever and very challenging, and is one of those games that really gets the brain muscles flexing in order to beat it.
Ocean Software‘s 1984 release for the ZX Spectrum, Kong Strikes Back, is an unashamed clone of Universal‘s Mr. Do’s Wild Ride, but with elements of Donkey Kong also thrown into the mix.
Ask anyone what their favourite beat ’em up is on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis and they will probably reply: Streets of Rage 3.
Released by Sega in 1994, Streets of Rage 3 is the jewel in the crown of a brilliant trilogy of scrolling fighting games.
Final Fantasy VII is a legendary level-grinding Role-Playing Game, developed by Square and released for the Sony PlayStation in 1997.
While the Final Fantasy series had grown in stature throughout the 1990s, it was this seventh instalment that broke Japanese CRPGs into the mainstream, with its outstanding mix of 3D, polygonal graphics, Full Motion Video, and pre-rendered backgrounds.
Also known as Mr. Do! Run Run or Super Pierrot in Japan, Do! Run Run is the fourth and final game in the famous Mr. Do series. It was developed by Universal and published by Taito in 1984.
Mr. Do’s Wild Ride is the second sequel to the classic Mr. Do! and was released by Universal (not the film studio – the Japanese company) in 1984.
The 1983 sequel to the classic Mr. Do!, Mr. Do’s Castle, is a platform game this time, with pushable ladders and a hammer for bashing monsters.
Universal‘s 1982 arcade game Mr. Do! is an iconic, early digging game, with chasing monsters and falling apples, and plenty of cute, Japanese surrealism.
Another game I have fond memories of buying and enjoying back in 1984, Melbourne House‘s classic ZX Spectrum platform game: Sir Lancelot.
Considering that it was squeezed into only 16K of RAM (yes, it even ran on 16K Spectrums) it is a remarkable achievement.
The King of Grabs 