Operation Thunderbolt is the sequel to the classic 1987 arcade game Operation Wolf. It was developed by Taito and first released in 1988, and is a first-person, simultaneous two-player shoot ’em up that uses cabinet-mounted positional gun controllers to shoot at the screen.
Category Archives: Taito
Monkey Puncher, Game Boy Color
Monkey Puncher is a bizarre animal-based strategy game developed by Atelier Double/Taito and published by Event Horizon Software in the year 2000. In it you must train a monkey to become a successful boxer by showing him how to train, by feeding him food, and by praising him when he does good. You don’t actually control the monkey itself, but instead you devise a plan to increase its statistics in the hope that it’ll win matches.
Renegade, Arcade
Renegade is an arcade beat ’em up that was developed by Technos Japan and distributed into arcades by Taito in 1986. Although Renegade might appear basic by today’s standards it was in fact an important game in the fighting genre and one that defined many of the gameplay standards we still see today.
Parasol Stars, Game Boy
Taito‘s brilliant Parasol Stars (aka The Story of Bubble Bobble III) made an appearance on the original black and white Game Boy in 1992, courtesy of Ocean Software. In spite of the lack of colour the game is a faithful conversion of the original game (which first came out on the PC Engine), with cute graphics and wonderful, jolly tunes, and it is sure to bring joy to the heart of anyone who plays it.
RayForce, Arcade
Also known as Gunlock and Galactic Attack in some territories, and Layer Section in Japan, RayForce is a vertical screen bullet hell shooter released into arcades by Taito in 1994. And it is quite impressive, as arcade shooters go.
Rainbow Islands, Amstrad CPC
Graftgold‘s conversion of Rainbow Islands on the Amstrad is a decent port of the brilliant Taito arcade game. It was published by Ocean Software in 1990.
Chase HQ, Amstrad CPC
Ocean Software‘s 1989 conversion of Taito‘s classic arcade race game, Chase HQ, is a bit of a doozy on the Amstrad. While it doesn’t have quite the impact that its amazing arcade parent does, it does do a very good job of trying to recreate its high-octane, criminal-chasing thrills.
Slap Fight, Arcade
Slap Fight is a vertically-scrolling, progressive weapons shoot ’em up developed by Toaplan and manufactured by Taito 1986. It’s also known as “Alcon” in the US.
10 Best Bubble Bobble Conversions
LISTS: as decided by The King of Grabs, in order of greatness:
Taito‘s classic 1986 arcade hit, Bubble Bobble, has been converted to pretty much every format on the planet. We played through them all recently and have compiled a list of the best. Click a link to view each conversion individually. Do you agree with our choices? Let us know in the comments.
1. Sega Saturn (1996)
2. Nintendo DS (2005)
3. Game Boy Advance (2003)
4. X68000 (1990)
5. FM Towns (1990)
6. Sega Master System (1988)
7. NES/Famicom Disk System (1987)
8. PC MS-DOS (1989)
9. Atari ST (1989)
10. Amiga (1989)
See also:
MSX (1987)
Commodore 64 (1988)
ZX Spectrum (1987)
Amstrad CPC (1987)
Game Gear (1994)
Game Boy Color (1999)
Game Boy (1991)
BBC Micro (1989)
Apple II (1988)
See also: BB4CPC (2014) on the Amstrad CPC and Super Bubble Bobble MD (1995) on the Megadrive/Genesis.
Did we miss any official conversions of Bubble Bobble? Please let us know in the comments.
In memory of Fukio Mitsuji (1960-2008), the designer of the great Bubble Bobble.
More: Bubble Bobble on Wikipedia
Bubble Bobble also featuring Rainbow Islands, Sega Saturn
Bubble Bobble also featuring Rainbow Islands was coded by British developer Probe Entertainment and published by Acclaim in 1996. It was also released for the PlayStation, PC MS-DOS and Windows, but I’m just covering the Sega Saturn version here because they’re mostly identical.
Continue reading Bubble Bobble also featuring Rainbow Islands, Sega Saturn
The King of Grabs 