Tag Archives: 1988

Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge, ZX Spectrum

The third and final of the Ocean-released Daley Thompson sports games is Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge, which was first published in 1988.

This one again features ten Olympic decathlon events, split over two days, they being: 100 metre dash, long jump, shot putt, high jump, 400 metres, 110 metre hurdles, pole vault, discus, javelin, and 1500 metres.

This time Daley is trying to beat the world record, rather than win a gold medal.

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R-Type, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum conversion of Irem‘s classic arcade game R-Type is considered by many to be one of the best games ever made for Sir Clive‘s classic 8-bit home computer.

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California Games, Atari 2600

Epyx programmed this 1988 conversion of California Games themselves, and – to be honest – it’s actually not that bad, considering the Atari 2600‘s limitations.

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Draconus, Atari 8-bit

Draconus is a 1988 release on the Atari 800 by British developer Zeppelin Games. It is a platform game with more than a hint of Metroidvania about it.

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Sega Megadrive/Genesis Special

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).

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Ghostbusters, NES/Famicom

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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Herzog, MSX

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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Crazy Climber 2, Arcade

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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Altered Beast, Arcade

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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Narc, Arcade

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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