Dark Sceptre is a single-player fantasy strategy game designed by the late Mike Singleton (of Lords of Midnight and Doomdark’s Revenge fame), and Maelstrom Games, and it was published by Firebird Software for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in 1987.
Monthly Archives: October 2022
Cylon Attack, BBC Micro
Programmed by Doug Anderson and published by A&F Software in 1983, Cylon Attack is an early cockpit-based space shooter for the BBC Micro that still plays quite well today.
Mappy, Arcade
Mappy is a cute-but-challenging vertical screen platform puzzle game, developed and manufactured by Namco in 1983, in which you play as a police mouse retrieving stolen goods from a mansion full of criminal cats.
Alternative World Games, Commodore 64
Alternative World Games is a parody of the famous Commodore 64 Epyx ‘Games‘ series, developed by Hungarian company Novotrade and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1987. It is apparently known as “Sports-A-Roni” in North America, although I’ve no effing idea what that’s supposed to mean…
World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Megadrive/Genesis
World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck was developed and published by Sega, exclusively for the Megadrive/Genesis in 1992. It’s a platform game where players can play single-player as either Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, or can play cooperatively together while sharing a set pool of lives. Other Disney characters, such as Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Goofy, and Huey, Dewey and Louie also make appearances.
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Blue Lightning, Atari Lynx
This arcade-style, third-person combat flight game was developed by Epyx and released exclusively for the Atari Lynx in 1989. Blue Lightning was actually a launch title for the North American release of the Lynx.
Flight Simulator II, Atari ST
Flight Simulator II, by Sublogic, is an early, pioneering flight simulation game designed and written by Bruce Artwick and first released for the Apple II in 1983. This enhanced Atari ST conversion was first released in 1986.
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, GameCube
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a turn-based level-grinder, developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts in 2004, loosely-based on the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy of films. It is NOT based on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s famous novel, because the rights for the book were held by Vivendi Universal Games at the time, although Electronic Arts did hold the rights to make video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema films. Which is a little confusing, but the plot in this game is a non-canonical story that runs parallel to the narrative of the films. Anything from the novels not specifically mentioned or depicted in the films could not be represented in this game.
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Pilotwings 64, Nintendo 64
Pilotwings 64 is an arcade-style flight simulator released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996. It is the sequel to the classic SNES game, Pilotwings. The game was designed by Nintendo and developed by Texas-based Paradigm Simulation (later to become Paradigm Entertainment).
Repton 3, BBC Micro
Repton 3 – first released by Superior Software in 1986 – was designed and written by Matthew Atkinson; not Repton‘s original designer, Tim Tyler. Thankfully Repton 3 reverts back to the formula that made the first Repton game so successful, with a series of password-accessible, time-limited levels, split into three data files (prelude, toccata, and finale).
The King of Grabs 