Steel Talons is a helicopter action game that uses 3D, polygonal graphics to represent the playing area. It was developed and manufactured by Atari Games in 1991.
This being from the early 1990s: the 3D graphics are quite simple, and Steel Talons does look complicated to play on first inspection, but the gameplay is actually fairly simple.
Developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions for Sega and published on the Megadrive in 1991, Toejam & Earl is a cult collect ’em up starring two alien rappers who have crash-landed on Earth.
The Immortal is a legendary RPG from Electronic Arts that was originally released for the Apple IIGS, then later ported to other systems, including this 1991 Megadrive conversion which is arguably the best version of The Immortal out there.
The Sharp X68000 version of Atari‘s classic Marble Madness is pretty much arcade perfect – barring, of course, the trackball controls of the original arcade game.
Bullfrog Productions‘ 1991 sequel to Populous, Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods is a beautifully-crafted follow-up, retaining – and even improving on – the genius of the original.
I always rated Populous very highly, and Populous II is even better.
Continue reading Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods, Amiga
Published by Image Works in 1991, First Samurai is a decent side-scrolling platform/action game that first came out on the Amiga and Atari ST, before being converted to others systems later.
Programmed by Raffaele Cecco, co-designed by Vivid Image and Mr. Cecco, with graphics by Teoman Irmak and sound by Nick Jones, it is a sterling effort.
Out Run Europa is an interesting game in that it was designed and written by British developer Probe Software in 1991. Sega simply provided a license and Probe made the game. And: this wasn’t a conversion of an arcade game – it was a spin-off from Out Run, produced only for home computers at the time.
This 1991 arcade classic from Konami is a simultaneous four-player, horizontally-scrolling run-and-gun game with a colourful, cartoony, wild western theme.
Programmed and designed by Archer MacLean and published by Virgin Games in 1991, Jimmy White’s Whirlwind Snooker was one of the first ever billiards simulations to use 3D graphics to represent the table, and it worked very well.
The Last Ninja 3 was released by System 3 in 1991 and it follows the same isometric/action template as the previous two games.
Again: there are refinements and differences that make The Last Ninja 3 a worthwhile game in its own right – in particular: the graphics, which are more detailed and colourful than seen previously.
