Tag Archives: action

Castlevania: Bloodlines, Megadrive/Genesis

Castlevania: Bloodlines was released for the Sega Megadrive by Konami in 1993. It was the only Castlevania game ever released for the Megadrive.

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Flashback, Megadrive/Genesis

Delphine Software‘s classic futuristic adventure game, Flashback, came out first on the Amiga in 1992 but was originally developed with the Sega Megadrive as its target platform.

Timing and cartridge production issues meant that it came out after a number of other ports had already been released, but that didn’t dent enthusiasm for the game on the Megadrive.

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Urban Strike, Megadrive/Genesis

Urban Strike is the second sequel to Desert Strike, and the follow-up to Jungle Strike, and it improves on both those games in a number of different ways.

For starters: there are now indoor shooting sections, where you have to search for MIAs and POWs and free them. Secondly: this time you get to fly different helicopters, and thirdly: you also get to drive ground assault vehicles! Yippee! 🙂

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Jungle Strike, Megadrive/Genesis

Jungle Strike is the 1993 sequel to the smash hit Desert Strike. It walks the same satirical/propaganda tightrope as the previous game, and is just as much fun to play.

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Desert Strike, Megadrive/Genesis

Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is a classic helicopter action game, developed and published by Electronic Arts for the Sega Megadrive in 1992.

It is known for its easy-to-play but hard-to-master gameplay, and for its controversial ‘Gulf War’ storyline.

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Skull & Crossbones, Arcade

I hadn’t seen this 1989 arcade game from Atari Games before, until I played it recently, and even then I found it on the Commodore 64 first, then realised that it was an arcade conversion.

Skull & Crossbones has all the ingredients of a classic arcade action game, but – having played it extensively now – I can see why it failed…

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Psycho-Nics Oscar, Arcade

This obscure 1987 arcade game from Data East was a big influence on many games that came after it, in particular Manfred Trenz‘s Turrican series. It is obviously itself influenced by Nintendo‘s 1986 game, Metroid.

It also displays some similarities to Karnov, another Data East arcade game released the same year.

And, while you may have never heard of this game, it’s safe to say that it’s a bit of a ‘hidden gem’ in terms of old arcade games still worth playing today.

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Golden Axe, Arcade

Sega‘s classic Golden Axe is a scrolling beat ’em up first released into arcades in 1989. It is fondly-remembered, often re-released, and has been converted to many other systems.

What’s so good about Golden Axe, then?

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Journey, Arcade

This infamous 1983 arcade game from Bally Midway is a bizarre multi-stage action game where you play members of the prog rock band, Journey, trying to retrieve their instruments “from the dangers of the five galaxies”.

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Altered Beast, Arcade

Altered Beast is an influential Sega beat ’em up first released into arcades in 1988. In some respects it was the predecessor to Golden Axe and Alien Storm; both similar games, and both to come later from Sega.

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