The Atari 2600 version of Commando was programmed by Mike Reidel and first published by Activision in 1985. Considering the console’s limitations this is a surprisingly good conversion of the vertically-scrolling shooter.
Last Resort, Neo Geo
Last Resort is a scrolling ‘bullet hell‘ shooter developed by SNK and first released as an arcade game, on Neo Geo MVS hardware, in 1992. From what I can ascertain it doesn’t seem to have been released on cartridge for Neo Geo AES home systems, but it was later released on the Neo Geo CD.
Marble Madness, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System version of Atari‘s Marble Madness was programmed by Steve Lamb and published by Tengen in 1992 and it is a relatively decent port overall.
Cabal, Arcade
Cabal is a third-person, war-based shooter developed by TAD Corporation and distributed into arcades by Taito in Japan, by Fabtek in North America and by Capcom in Europe, in 1988.
Radar Lock, Atari 2600
Radar Lock is an air combat shoot ’em up written by Doug Neubauer and published by Atari Corporation in 1989. The game is basically an After Burner derivative that uses a modified version of the engine used in Neubauer‘s previous Atari 2600 game, Solaris.
Shatterhand, NES/Famicom
Shatterhand is a scrolling action game in which you play a young police officer – called Steve Hermann – who has lost his arms and has had them replaced with enhanced, cybernetic limbs, and is in pursuit of a group of military renegades called “Metal Command“.
Shatterhand was developed by Natsume and originally published for the Nintendo Famicom by Angel under the title of “Tokkyū Shirei Soruburein” in 1991. That version of the game is based on the Japanese TV series “Super Rescue Solbrain“. The US and European versions, published by Jaleco, removed the licensed elements, changed the backstory, and re-titled the game as “Shatterhand” for Western audiences. One level was also completely changed – from a carnival level in the Japanese version, to a submarine level in the American version. The gameplay in both versions is identical, though.
Cameltry, Super Nintendo
Cameltry is a simple-but-absorbing gravity game where you rotate the landscape around in order to make a ball fall through a maze – eventually reaching the goal. The quicker you complete a level the more chance you have of extra time being added to your next round.
Commando, Atari ST
The Atari ST and Amiga conversions of Commando are more or less identical and play pretty much the same, because they were both developed by the same group of people, for publisher Elite Systems, and released in 1989.
Commando, Amiga
The 1989 Amiga version of Capcom‘s classic Commando was ported and published by Elite Systems, and it’s not too bad, although it’s definitely not perfect.
The Sentinel, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum version of Geoff Crammond‘s classic puzzle game, The Sentinel, was ported by Software Creations (with assistance from Mr. Crammond himself) and published by Firebird Software in 1987.