Konami‘s “Akumajō Dracula” was first released in 1986 for the MSX2. It helped set the template for a series that is still going (relatively) strong to this day – the Castlevania series.
This MSX game was also the first game in the Castlevania series to be given an English language release, and it was released in 1987 in Europe under the title of “Vampire Killer“, which then changed to “Castlevania” when the North American NES version of this game was released on cartridge.
The 1986 ZX Spectrum version of Paperboy is both a nice self-contained attempt at Paperboy on a Spectrum, and also a bit of a joke when compared to other versions of this great game… Let me explain.
Joerg Dierks (of Kingsoft in Germany) wrote the C16/Plus4 version of Paperboy, which was published by Elite Systems, mostly on cassette throughout Europe in 1986.
The 1986 BBC Micro version of Paperboy was programmed by Andy Williams for Elite Systems, and it is a barely-playable monochrome experience at best. At worst: a forgettable waste of time.
The Commodore 64 version of Paperboy was written by Neil A. Bate and Chris Harvey and was first published by Elite Systems in 1986.
Chameleon is a side-scrolling action game by Martin Walker (of Hunter’s Moon and Citadel fame) and it was published in 1986 by Electric Dreams Software.
Hudson Soft‘s Adventure Island on the NES/Famicom is an adaptation of Sega‘s Wonder Boy arcade game, although subsequent Adventure Island games were original titles and the series went on to become a relatively popular ‘spin-off’ in its own right. Adventure Island was initially released in Japan in 1986, then in North America 1988, and finally in Europe in 1992.
The 1986 Commodore 64 version of Cobra – based on the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name – is infamous for its sheer awfulness. It is based on the more successful ZX Spectrum game, designed and programmed by the late Jonathan Smith, but has lost a great deal in translation to the C64.
The Amstrad CPC version of Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond‘s classic isometric platform game is arguably even better than the ZX Spectrum original it is based upon. Mainly because of the extra colours, which make a big difference.
Mac Attack is another malformed home computer clone of Data East‘s BurgerTime – this time for the MSX. It was written by Ronald van der Putten of Byte Busters and first came out in 1986. I’m not entirely sure who published it, but it could be Eaglesoft or Aackosoft International, or maybe both, but sources seem to vary on that detail. As well as infringing on Data East‘s intellectual property, Mac Attack also cheekily apes McDonald‘s Big Mac burgers with its title.
The King of Grabs 