3D Bomberman (aka 3-D Bomber Man aka Sanjigen Bomberman) is an early, first-person interpretation of the Hudson Soft Bomberman concept. It was released in – Japan only – for MSX, Sharp X1, FM-7, PC-6001 and PC-8000 home computers in 1984.
In spite of the game’s title, this is not a true 3D game as it doesn’t contain any polygonal graphics, it’s just an old school way of describing a game that takes place along the ‘Z’ axis of an X,Y,Z three-dimensional grid.
The Commodore 64 version of Konami‘s arcade hit, Salamander, was programmed by Peter Baron, with graphics by Bob Stevenson and music by Mark Cooksey. It was first published by Imagine Software in Europe in 1988, and Konami themselves in North America in 1989. It is considered by many to be the best 8-bit home computer version of Salamander, and it’s not difficult to see why…
The ZX Spectrum version of Poogaboo: La Pulga 2 – the sequel to the classic Bugaboo (The Flea) – was coded by the same guy who created the original (Paco Suárez), so plays similarly, and is also what I’d call an authentic sequel.
Poogaboo was only ever released in Spain – by Opera Soft, in 1991 – so is relatively obscure as Spectrum games go. I’m a big fan of the original Bugaboo, but hadn’t heard of this sequel until recently, so was pleasantly surprised by its existence.
The Commodore 64 version of Gauntlet II was developed by Gremlin Graphics and was published by US Gold in Europe, and Mindscape in North America, in 1987.
The Master System conversion of Sega‘s 1987 arcade game, Shinobi, is arguably the best of its type on the console. The developers have obviously taken care to make the game play well and look as good as possible on Sega‘s 8-bit system.
This is the US-developed port of Capcom‘s Bionic Commando. It was created by Pacific Dataworks International and published by Capcom in 1988. If you want to see the (IMHO vastly superior) British version of the game: click here.
There are two versions of Bionic Commando for the Commodore 64 – a British version, developed by Software Creations and published by GO!, and a US version, developed by Pacific Dataworks International and published by Capcom. Both were released in 1988.
The game shown here is the British version, which – in my humble opinion – is by far the better of the two releases.
Released by Indescomp in 1983, La Pulga is the ZX81 prototype of the classic ZX Spectrum game, Bugaboo (The Flea), aka Boogaboo, aka La Pulga in Spain.
Based loosely on the satirical (and frankly terrible) 1978 film of the same name, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is an isometric platform/action game – in the style of Knight Lore – that was first published by Global Software in 1986.
Published by Firebird in 1987, The Willow Pattern Adventure is an Asian-themed maze game that is actually an unashamed, almost carbon copy remake of the 1984 game, Treasure Island. Both games were created by Greg Duddle.
The King of Grabs 