Released on 26th September 1986 in Japan, Akumajō Dracula (translating as: “Demon Castle Dracula“) was the very first release in the Castlevania series, predating the MSX version of the game by about a month. Konami released it on the Famicom Disk System where it quickly became a hit with Japanese gamers.
It began a long-running series of platform/horror-themed video games and set the template for the Castlevania series as a whole.
The Famicom Disk System (FDS) was a peripheral for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that allowed games to be loaded from disk rather than cartridge. Not only that but it also had extra RAM on board and an extra sound chip.
The original ZX Spectrum version of Monty On The Run is a real improvement over its predecessor, Wanted: Monty Mole.
Wanted: Monty Mole on the Commodore 64 is somewhat different to the ZX Spectrum version, although it does try to follow the spirit of the original.
You play as Monty, a mole who must explore a huge mine in search of, well, coal.
Based on the Richard O’Brien stage musical of the same name, CRL‘s 1985 cult hit The Rocky Horror Show is a simple action adventure in which you can play as either Brad or Janet and must rescue your opposite number from the clutches of the evil Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Roland in the Caves is the Amstrad CPC conversion of the classic Bugaboo (The Flea).
Rather than it be a simple ‘rip-off’, Roland in the Caves was actually developed by Indescomp, the original developers of Bugaboo. So it is an ‘official’ conversion and plays pretty much the same as the original.
Quicksilva again allowed their programmers to mess up the name of this great game, originally titled Bugaboo (The Flea), but for some reason called Booga-Boo in this C64 conversion (same in the MSX version too).
Doomsday Castle is the 1983 sequel to The Pyramid.
It again features ‘Ziggy’ – the guy in the floating gun turret – and again features simple, single-screen shooting action.
Fantasy Software released two games in 1983 featuring a character called ‘Ziggy’, and this game – The Pyramid – was the first of them.
The Pyramid is a simple, single-screen shooter, with you playing as Ziggy – inside a floating gun pod – who must escape from a gigantic pyramid.
Knight Lore for the Famicom Disk System was developed by Tose Co. Ltd. for Jaleco with the blessing of its original creators, Rare. It was published only in Japan in 1986.
