Category Archives: Systems

Video gaming systems.

Sony PlayStation Special

The Sony PlayStation was the first machine in the PlayStation series of video game consoles and it came out in Japan first, in 1994, and in 1995 everywhere else. It is widely seen as being the console that changed gaming forever; the console that marked the transition from cartridge-based console gaming to CD-ROM based games, and also the console that ushered in a new era of 3D gaming. It was also the console that made Sony a major player in the video game business.

Over its eleven-year lifespan 7,918 individual games were released for the PlayStation, accumulating just under a billion sales overall. The console itself became the first to sell over 100 million units.

This week I’m going to be featuring screenshots from a number of my favourite PlayStation games. Some you might have heard of (or even played), others you might never have seen before. One thing is for sure, though: interest in the original PlayStation is still going strong, some 27 years after its initial release. And that’s because these great games endure, and because emulation has breathed new life into the format.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what the blue PlayStation is: that is a development PlayStation – used by developers to create and test the games themselves. The photos are of my very own console, taken by myself, specifically for this blog.

Here’s a full list of what was published:

Rapid Reload
Kula World
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!
Ganbare Goemon: Uchuu Kaizoku Akogingu
Devil Dice
Revelations: Persona
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
Pepsiman
Metal Gear Solid
Ridge Racer
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
Strider 2
Jumping Flash!
Vib-Ribbon

Enjoy,
The King of Grabs

More: Sony PlayStation on Wikipedia

Quarth, Arcade

Quarth is a brilliant mixture of Tetris and shoot ’em up and was first played in arcades in Japan in 1989. Outside of Japan it is known as “Block Hole“, which – let’s face it – is a stupid name, so I’m sticking with the original name, Quarth.

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The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Megadrive/Genesis

The Adventures of Batman & Robin is considered to be one of the most technically-impressive games on the Sega Megadrive. It was developed by Clockwork Tortoise, Inc. and published by Sega in 1995.

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Leaderboard, Amstrad CPC

The 1987 Amstrad CPC conversion of Leaderboard was developed by Canvas – the same team who made the ZX Spectrum version. And – in truth – it’s definitely the worst version of Leaderboard available, falling massively short of the Commodore 64 original.

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World Class Leaderboard, ZX Spectrum

The more fully-featured sequel to Leaderboard on the Spectrum is better than its predecessor, but not without its problems.

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Leaderboard, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum conversion of the classic Commodore 64 game, Leaderboard, was coded by Roy Gibson and Ian Weatherburn, with graphics by Simon Butler, and was published by US Gold in 1987.

While it is playable enough it’s fair to say that it is probably the most bare-bones and basic conversion of this great golf game out there.

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Leaderboard: Executive Edition, Commodore 64

The 1987 follow-up to the classic Leaderboard, the Executive Edition features four new golf courses with new features such as bunkers and trees. It’s essentially the same great game as Leaderboard, with the same simple control system and simulation of ball movement.

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Leaderboard, Commodore 64

The original Leaderboard was developed by Bruce and Roger Carver for the Commodore 64 and was published by Access Software in North America and US Gold in Europe. Leaderboard was the best-selling C64 game of 1986 in the UK.

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Ikari Warriors, ZX Spectrum

The 1987 conversion of Ikari Warriors is bit of an “auteur piece” on the ZX Spectrum. What I mean by that is: one guy made it on his own. He programmed the game; created the graphics, and did the sound. That man was David Shea, and the truth be told: he did an excellent job of it – managing to squeeze in most of the arcade game‘s features. Which is pretty impressive on a Spectrum.

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