Tag Archives: 1988

Celebration, Megadrive/Genesis, Sega

Sega Megadrive/Genesis Special

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Known as the Megadrive in Japan and Europe, and the Genesis in North America, this was Sega‘s fourth generation home video games console and it was launched in 1988 in Japan (1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe).

The Megadrive/Genesis is a 16-bit console with a built-in slot for cartridges, which is how most games were played on it. It had backwards compatibility with its predecessor, the Sega Master System, and it also had a variety of important add-ons released for it, including the Sega CD and the 32X.

The unit came with two standard, three-button pads, then later (after Street Fighter II came out on the Megadrive) six button pads (like the one picture below) became more widespread.

The Megadrive sold more than 30 millions units worldwide, until it was discontinued by Sega in 1997 (although it was still being sold and supported by Majesco Entertainment until 1999).

Sega‘s console has a huge library of superb games and many are still being re-released to this day. So here’s our tribute to Sega‘s classic machine with a week of nothing but Megadrive games.

I’ll post a full list of what was published here, once it’s over.

Enjoy,
The King of Grabs

More: Megadrive/Genesis on Wikipedia

Megadrive Pad 2

Mega Drive Wide

Sega Genesis Wide

Activision, Bits Laboratory, NES

Ghostbusters, NES

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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…

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MSX, Techno Soft

Herzog, MSX

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This obscure Japanese action game is a prototype of one of the first ever real-time strategy games – Herzog Zwei on the Sega Megadrive – and it is also one of the best games you can play on an MSX.

Herzog was developed and published on disk for the MSX2 by Techno Soft (nee, Tecno Soft) in 1988.

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Arcade, Nichibutsu, Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd.

Crazy Climber 2, Arcade

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The 1988 sequel to Crazy Climber, Crazy Climber 2 is much the same as before. That is: scaling up the side of large buildings; avoiding hazards as you do so.

And, like the first game, it was developed by Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd. and manufactured by Nichibutsu.

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Arcade, Sega

Altered Beast, Arcade

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Altered Beast is an influential Sega beat ’em up first released into arcades in 1988. In some respects it was the predecessor to Golden Axe and Alien Storm; both similar games, and both to come later from Sega.

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Arcade, Williams Electronics

Narc, Arcade

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Created by Williams Electronics in 1988, Narc is a side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter that attracted a lot of controversy when it first came out.

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Arcade, UPL

Atomic Robo-Kid, Arcade

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Atomic Robo-Kid is a horizontally-scrolling, progressive weapons shooter, designed by Tsutomu Fujisawa and manufactured by UPL in 1988.

It’s not a very well-known arcade game, but does have its fans. It also managed to get converted to a number of home systems too (including for the Sega Megadrive, but it never appeared on the SNES).

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Martech, The Light, ZX Spectrum

Rex, ZX Spectrum

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Rex is a very enjoyable platform shooter, created by Neil Harris, John Anderson, and Richard Allen and published by Martech in 1988. Some describe it as a ‘Metroidvania‘ type game, although it reminds me more of another Spectrum classic – Starquake. Or maybe a Monty Mole game, crossed with Cybernoid.

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Commodore 64, System 3

The Last Ninja 2, Commodore 64

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The sequel to the classic The Last Ninja was first released by System 3 in 1988 – one year after the original game.

It was designed by the same team as made the first game, except this time they had on board the highly-respected John Twiddy as writer/coder, and Matt Gray doing music.

Graphically, The Last Ninja 2 is arguably better than its predecessor, with more colour and variety in the environments, and some of the gameplay niggles from the first game have thankfully been addressed too. In particular: it is now easier to pick things up!

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Incentive, Major Developments, ZX Spectrum

Total Eclipse, ZX Spectrum

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The ZX Spectrum version of Total Eclipse was the first version of the game released.

Using the legendary Freescape Engine, Total Eclipse is an Egyptian-themed exploration/puzzle game set in a primitive 3D world. Primitive because it was one of the first ever games to allow games-players to explore a 3D world in this way, and it worked quite well, in spite of the low frame rate and slowdown.

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