Steve Crow‘s classic Spectrum game, Starquake, was converted to the BBC Micro by Kenton Price and published by Bubble Bus in 1987.
Graphically, the game is rather chunky because it uses a low-resolution screen mode (presumably so that more colours can be used on-screen at the same time), but the gameplay is mostly the same as the original.
Developed by Compile and originally released for the MSX in 1987 Golvellius was converted to the Master System by Sega in 1988. It is an action RPG with overhead, flick-screen exploration, Zelda-like sword-based combat and scrolling sections through caves.
Continue reading Golvellius: Valley of Doom, Sega Master System
This 1985 release from Hewson Consultants is basically a futuristic variation of the classic Avalon/Dragontorc games by Steve Turner. It uses similar presentation and game mechanics to those games, with a central character moving around pseudo 3D rooms, exploring and solving puzzles.
Infiltrator is a classic helicopter action game designed and programmed by Chris Gray and published in 1986 by US Gold (in Europe) and Mindscape (everywhere else).
The aim is to fly a chopper (called the Gizmo DHX-3) to an enemy compound, then infiltrate the base on one of three separate missions. Each mission is split into two halves: a first-person flying game, then an isometric stealth/exploration game.
The sequel to Zeppelin Games‘ 1992 budget hit, Arnie, Arnie 2 is more of the same isometric scrolling shoot ’em up action – starring everyone’s not-so-favourite, non-licensed Arnold Schwarzenegger parody.
Written by Chris Butler and published by Zeppelin Games in 1992, Arnie is an isometric scrolling shoot ’em up featuring a one-man army (unsurprisingly called Arnie), on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base and assassinate a General.
Castle Blackheart is an interesting maze action game where you play a knight fighting his way through a maze of monsters, trying to find pieces of a scroll and also keys to open doors that’ll allow him to escape to the next level.
Splatterhouse 3 takes place five years after the events of Splatterhouse 2 and is another horror-themed beat ’em up with gruesome enemies and bosses, except this time with slightly different gameplay.
The official sequel to Namco‘s classic Splatterhouse was released exclusively for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis in 1992; it did not appear in arcades, like the original.
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti is a spin-off from the infamous Splatterhouse series and was a Japan only release, published by Namco for the Nintendo Famicom in 1989.
Rather than take the gruesome approach of the original game, in Wanpaku Graffiti the characters are “super deformed” (and made cute) and the game takes a comical approach to the presentation and gameplay, which was obviously deemed to be more fitting to a Famicom audience.
The King of Grabs 