Summer Camp is an old school platform game that came out towards the end of the C64‘s life – 1990 to be precise.
It’s a cartoony collect ’em up in the style of Manic Miner, although in this you play Maximus Mouse trying to collect pieces of a blueprint.
Masterblazer is a 1990 conversion of the classic LucasFilm Games game, Ballblazer, but with faster, smoother graphics than the 8-bit versions, and a couple of extra play modes.
That said: the 8-bit versions were all pretty much fast and smooth enough, so is this Amiga update good enough?
Also known as “Clive Radcliffe Exterminates All The Unfriendly Repulsive Earth-ridden Slime“, Creatures is a beautifully-realised platform/puzzle game with colourful graphics and challenging gameplay.
The game was programmed by John Rowlands, with graphics by Steve Rowlands, and was published by Thalamus in 1990.
Special Criminal Investigation is quite a ‘special’ game. It is part of the Chase HQ series and was released on cartridge only, for the Commodore 64 at least, by Ocean Software in the UK.
SCI was also released late in the Commodore 64‘s lifetime (in 1990 to be precise), so benefited from coders knowing advanced programming techniques that could push the beige bread bin further than it had ever been pushed before.
And the result is a fast-paced, visually-impressive, and highly playable racing game. Sorry, chasing game… A conversion of the Taito arcade game, sometimes known as simply S.C.I. or Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation.
Continue reading Special Criminal Investigation, Commodore 64
Battle Command is a classic Amiga tank game, developed by Realtime Games Software and published by Ocean Software in 1990.
The Neo Geo is a high-end Japanese video games system, designed for use in both arcades, and at home. It was developed by SNK and first launched in 1990.
The MVS (Multi Video System) was for arcade cabinets. Arcade operators could buy a single cabinet and easily switch out the MVS cartridge inside for another game. Making them very versatile machines on the circuit. And very rentable.
A home console version of the Neo Geo, called the AES (Advanced Entertainment System), was first released in 1990 too (as a rental – 1991 for the actual home version) and it really blew people away. The capabilities of the AES blew other home consoles out of the water for the best part of a decade too. As did its price, which was eye-watering… The Neo Geo AES is and always was considered a “luxury” console, from the moment it was launched. It’s an arcade machine in your own home, and it’s not a cheap system to buy into.
Various multi-button joysticks and controllers were made available for the Neo Geo, but the standard AES four-button controller shown below is most common.
Neo Neo game cartridges still fetch high prices today, such are their collectability, although thankfully most have been dumped and preserved, or are still being officially re-released, so aren’t too difficult to find and enjoy.
Neo Geo cartridges are large too – much bigger than carts for other systems. They are packing a lot of extra information inside, it seems.
The Neo Geo is particularly well-known for its beat ’em ups, although – as you’ll see this week – there were games made across a lot of different genres. It’s not the kind of console you would play an RPG on, though. It’s was more geared towards fast action games. Although the Neo Geo was one of the first consoles to use ‘Memory Cards’, it wasn’t a system you could save your games on. I mean: in terms of saving and coming back later to reload and carry on… There’s none of that. Other than saving high scores: it’s pretty limited.
Anyway, this week I’m going to be proclaiming a burst of exclusive Neo Geo love, with screenshots of some of the best games I’ve found for the system.
Here’s a list of what was published:
Waku Waku 7
Shock Troopers
Neo Bomberman
Windjammers
Stakes Winner
Pulstar
Samurai Shodown II
Aero Fighters 2
Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
Enjoy!
The King of Grabs
See Categories for all Neo Geo games on this website.
More: Neo Geo on Wikipedia
The PC DOS version of Castle Master was released in 1990. And, while the EGA 16-colour graphics are not quite a nice as those seen in the Amiga version, they are colourful enough, and move at a fast pace.
Released only in North America on the Atari 7800 in 1990, Midnight Mutants is a free-roaming, scrolling action adventure with isometric graphics. It was developed by Radioactive Software and the box art features a likeness of Al Lewis, dressed as Grandpa Munster, who plays the role of “Grampa” in this game.
Irem themselves developed and published this 1990 handheld, monochrome remake of the classic Kung-Fu Master, and it is not too bad, all things considered.
StarTropics is an action adventure game released by Nintendo in 1990. It was developed in Japan, but was only ever intended for released in North America and Europe, which is kinda weird, but that was the plan all along apparently…
