Originally released in 1982 for the PC-8801, Sokoban is an ingenious overhead puzzle game about a guy pushing boxes around a warehouse.
That might sound as dull as dishwater to some people, but the fact is: Sokoban is extremely clever and very challenging, and is one of those games that really gets the brain muscles flexing in order to beat it.
Amiga Chuckie Egg is a bit hit and miss. Actually, it’s more ‘miss’ than ‘hit’ in my opinion.
Stadium Mud Buggies is a fun isometric racing game for one or two players. It was released on Intellivision cartridge by INTV Corporation in 1988.
In many way Stadium Mud Buggies reminds me of the classic Racing Destruction Set, or Rare‘s R.C. Pro Am, but it stands on its own two wheels as arguably the best racing game on the Intellivision.
Vindicators is a one or two-player futuristic tank combat game released into arcades by Atari Games in 1988.
The simultaneous two-player co-op mode is arguably the most fun you can have with Vindicators, although the single-player game is also challenging.
Sidewinder – by Arcadia – is a well-respected, and quite exciting, vertically-scrolling shooter on the Amiga, first released in 1988 by Mastertronic.
What makes it exciting are the excellent graphics – in particular the explosions, which are beautifully animated – and the rapid fire Bullet Hell action, which is extremely challenging.
Taito‘s 1988 arcade release, The NewZealand Story, is a super-cute platform game featuring a kiwi called Tiki, who is on a rescue mission to save his friends who have been kidnapped by a Leopard Seal. Tiki can jump and shoot arrows from his bow (as kiwis do), as well as commandeer various different floating or flying vehicles to get around in.
The NewZealand Story was an instant hit with gamers and is still much loved today.
Another weird one: a conversion of a British game to the Japan-only Famicom Disk System…
Druid was originally created by Electralyte Software for Firebird Software on the Commodore 64, and was later converted to the FDS by Jaleco in 1988.
Fire Rock is an obscure-but-interesting platform game that was released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan in 1988.
The game features a jittery main character who jumps and climbs around a cave-like environment.
Developed by Hidden Treasures and published by Logotron in 1988, StarRay is a decent 16-bit side-scrolling shooter for the Amiga.
I’m not a hundred percent sure if the MSX2 version of Aleste was released before the Sega Master System version or not. There are conflicting reports.
What is almost certainly true, though, is that they were both developed side-by-side in 1987 and released in Japan in 1988.
The King of Grabs 