Yu Suzuki‘s 1986 arcade game, Enduro Racer, is seen by many as the dirt bike equivalent of Hang-On, because it uses similar technology and graphical techniques.
The Enduro Racer arcade cabinet came in two variations. One was a stand-up cabinet , with motorbike handlebars, and the other was a full-size dirt bike that you could sit on.
The Nintendo Entertainment System version of David Crane‘s Ghostbusters is known for being a bit of a mess, compared to all the other versions.
It was initially released in Japan in 1986 and later in North America in 1988. Why the two year delay? Probably something to do with the fact that the game is terrible…
This 1986 PC Booter version of Ghostbusters won’t run in MS-DOS, but it is easy enough to get working in DOSBox, by simply adding a “BOOT” line to the config file.
To get the game running in colour (ie. not horrible CGA) I had to use the “pcjr” graphics option and set CPU cycles to 240. Otherwise the game would run too fast.
Fantasy Zone is a colourful scrolling shooter from 1986. It was created by Sega and it looks simple and cartoony, but is in fact very challenging.
The main character, Opa-Opa, is sometimes referred to as “Sega‘s first mascot” and is very similar to the one seen in the earlier TwinBee. Both TwinBee and this game have been credited with the creation of the “cute ’em up” genre, and that is probably not too far from the truth.
Programmed by K-Byte for Epyx and published in 1986, World Games is an eclectic mix of eight different sports events, inspired by various unusual sports from around the world.
Designed and programmed by Stavros Fasoulas in 1986, Sanxion is a classic side-scrolling C64 shoot ’em that is remembered for being challenging, and for also being a slick piece of coding.
It was also the very first game released by Thalamus, who went on to publish some of the best games in C64 history.
The MSX version of Ultimate‘s classic isometric action adventure, Alien 8, is almost identical to the ZX Spectrum original – including slowdown caused by sound effects playing and lots of on-screen movement.
Contact Sam Cruise is a highly-regarded and entertaining action adventure game designed by Dave Reidy, the guy who created the classic Skool Daze. It was published by Microsphere in 1986.
Written by Siegfried Kurtz and published exclusively for the ZX Spectrum in 1986 by Addictive Games, Kirel is a simple but playable isometric platform/puzzle game with attractive graphics and presentation.
The ZX Spectrum also had a version of Steve Bak‘s bonkers C64 platform game, Hercules. It was written by Quantum Productions and published by Alpha Omega Software in 1986.
