Designed and programmed by John Ferrari, with music by Barry Leitch, Super Dragon Slayer is a platform shooter first published for the Commodore 64 by Codemasters in 1988. In many ways this game reminds me of the early days of C64 software, with unforgiving gameplay and instant death if you put a foot wrong. That said, this is still a pretty good game. Just a very difficult one.
Tag Archives: 1988
Marble Madness, Apple IIgs
The Apple IIgs port of Marble Madness was coded by Will Harvey of Sandcastle for Electronic Arts and was first published in 1988.
Syvalion, Arcade
Released into arcades by Taito in 1988, Syvalion is a strange-but-interesting scrolling shooter in which you control a golden metal dragon (called “Mechadragon“) that must fight its way to the end of a series of mazes within a time limit. The dragon can breathe fire to destroy enemies and must pick up power-ups, or move quickly without firing, to keep its flame breath bar filled. At the end of each stage is a boss battle which you need to win to progress.
Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, NES/Famicom
The second game in the Castlevania series, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, was originally released in Japan (as “Dracula II – Noroi no Fuuin“) for the Famicom Disk System in 1987, and in North America for the NES in 1988. Europe had to wait until 1990 for a release of the game.
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.
Paperboy, NES/Famicom
The Nintendo Entertainment System port of Paperboy was developed by Tengen and published by Mindscape in 1988. And it is not a bad conversion, all told. That said: it’s nothing special either. It’s certainly not as good as the excellent Master System version, which was its main competitor in its generation.
Paperboy, Apple II
The Apple II version of Paperboy was published by Mindscape in 1988 and unfortunately it is a slow, garish mess that is barely playable, although it’s not a complete disaster…
Paperboy, PC
The MS-DOS version of Paperboy is surprisingly almost identical to the Amstrad CPC version, even down to the dodgy font used on the information panel at the bottom of the screen.
Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax, Commodore 64
The sequel to 1987’s cult hit Barbarian, Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax is a similar fighting game, but with more variety than the first game, and the possibility of exploring the actual world by moving from screen to screen (“wow! What a technological advancement!“). Barbarian II was first released in 1988 by Palace Software. The game was later licensed by Epyx for distribution in North America under the title of “Axe of Rage“.
Continue reading Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax, Commodore 64
Forgotten Worlds, Arcade
Forgotten Worlds is a classic Capcom arcade shooter from 1988, with simultaneous two-player coop, a rotational aiming system, and intense bullet hell action set across a landscape of the desolate Earth in the 29th Century.
The King of Grabs 