Category Archives: Celebration

Celebration, PSP, Sony

Sony PSP Special

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This week I’ve decided to focus on games for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) – the handheld video game console from Sony that really pushed the envelope in terms of graphical capabilities. It first came out in 2004 in Japan and 2005 everywhere else.

The PSP played host to a number of amazing games over its lifetime and it still has many fans to this day. The games are still readily available, even if they’re not really being made commercially any more, and better emulators are becoming more prevalent so the PSP is being rediscovered by a whole new generation of gamers.

So here’s our tribute to the PlayStation Portable and the games that can be played on it. Long may they be appreciated!

Here are links to what was published:

Ultimate Ghosts ‘N Goblins
Wipeout Pure
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Tekken: Dark Resurrection
Mega Man Powered Up
Jeanne d’Arc
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
Ape Escape: On The Loose
Gran Turismo
Little Big Planet
Patapon 3
Everybody’s Golf Portable 2

Enjoy!
The King of Grabs

More: Sony PSP on Wikipedia

Celebration, Sega

Sonic the Hedgehog Special

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This week I’m going to be featuring all the early Sonic the Hedgehog games on the blog.

They’re all Megadrive/Genesis games, except for one on the Sega CD. And they’re all classics, and deserve a set of grabs, showing just show beautiful and colourful they are. And, of course, a few words about what makes them good.

Oh, and these are not the only Sonic games – there are many more, and I’ll be featuring more of them over the coming weeks. Sonic fans be like: “at long last!” 🙂

Here are links to what was published:

Sonic the Hedgehog, 1991
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, 1992
Sonic Spinball, 1992
Sonic CD, 1993
Sonic the Hedgehog 3, 1993
Sonic & Knuckles, 1994
Sonic 3D Blast, 1996

Enjoy,
The King of Grabs

More: Sonic franchise on Wikipedia
Steam: Sonic franchise on Steam

Sonic-and-Tails

Amiga CD32, Celebration, Commodore

Amiga CD32 Special

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The CD32 is a CD-ROM-based console that is basically a high-end Amiga contained within a small, grey box. It can do pretty much everything an Amiga can do, but with a few built-in extras, such as Red Book Audio (CD quality sound, streamed from the disc), CDTV compatibility, and backwards compatibility with older, 9-pin D-Sub (Atari-style) controllers of the ’80s and ’90s (including Sega Megadrive pads and existing Amiga mice and paddles).

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Celebration, Designers, Lists, Programmers

Tony Crowther Week

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Born in Sheffield in 1965, Antony Crowther is a prolific and highly-regarded British video games designer/programmer who has had success across a number of different platforms.

Crowther is particularly well known for his Commodore 64 games, although he has worked on pretty much every gaming system known to man. He still designs and programs games to this day.

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Celebration, Commodore, Commodore 16/Plus4

Commodore 16/Plus4 Special

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The Commodore 16 is a somewhat underrated home computer that had a relatively short lifespan and was intended as a low-cost replacement for the Commodore VIC-20.

It had 16K of RAM (thus the name) and a 6502 compatible CPU that ran twice as fast as the CPU in its older and more expensive cousin, the Commodore 64. It had a video and sound chipset called “TED” that offered a colour palette of 121 colours, and more efficient use of video memory than the C64, but it had no hardware sprites (it did however have a built-in software sprite routine with fewer restrictions than on hardware sprites).

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Bad Video Games, Celebration

Bad Games Week #2 Ends

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Bad Games Week #2 has now ended.

[“Phew!” you’re probably thinking.]

Here’s a summary of links to what was published:

Chuck Norris Superkicks, ColecoVision,
Cap’n’ Carnage, Atari ST,
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Atari 2600,
The Evil Dead, Commodore 64,
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Atari Jaguar,
Kung-Fu Master, ZX Spectrum,
Jail Break, Commodore 64.

Back to *GOOD GAMES* from this point onward! 🙂

Thank you!
The King of Grabs

Bad Video Games, Celebration

Bad Games Week #2

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It’s time for another celebration of bad video games on The King of Grabs!

Every game featured on the blog this week is guaranteed NOT to be in your top ten. These are some of the worst video games ever made…

From today onward there will be one sh*te game per day, and we will be returning back to normal in seven days from now. When it’s all over I’ll post a full list of what was published here.

Here’s a summary of links to what was published:

Chuck Norris Superkicks, ColecoVision,
Cap’n’ Carnage, Atari ST,
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Atari 2600,
The Evil Dead, Commodore 64,
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Atari Jaguar,
Kung-Fu Master, ZX Spectrum,
Jail Break, Commodore 64.

Oh, and here’s a link to the last Bad Games Week, in case you’re a connoisseur of terrible video games and want more.

Enjoy!
The King of Grabs

Artwork, Celebration, LucasArts

Sam & Max Comics

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A little bonus, on the back of our Sam & Max Hit the Road feature published today: not grabs, but a small selection of high quality Sam & Max comics, as written and drawn by LucasArts veteran and all-round master of the paintbrush, Steve Purcell.

I love Purcell‘s artwork so much – not to mention Hit the Road itself – that I had to share these with you.

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