Tag Archives: action

Commodore 64, System 3

The Last Ninja 2, Commodore 64

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The sequel to the classic The Last Ninja was first released by System 3 in 1988 – one year after the original game.

It was designed by the same team as made the first game, except this time they had on board the highly-respected John Twiddy as writer/coder, and Matt Gray doing music.

Graphically, The Last Ninja 2 is arguably better than its predecessor, with more colour and variety in the environments, and some of the gameplay niggles from the first game have thankfully been addressed too. In particular: it is now easier to pick things up!

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Commodore 64, System 3

The Last Ninja, Commodore 64

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First released in 1987, The Last Ninja is a classic isometric action adventure game originating on the Commodore 64, and later being converted to other systems.

It has to be said, though: the control system used in this game does leave a lot to be desired when playing it nowadays. Getting your ninja guy to do what you want him to do is tricky – even when you know what you’re doing…

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Incentive, Major Developments, ZX Spectrum

Total Eclipse 2: The Sphinx Jinx, ZX Spectrum

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Published by Incentive Software in 1991, Total Eclipse 2: The Sphinx Jinx is a direct follow-up to the 1988 Freescape classic, Total Eclipse.

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Incentive, Major Developments, ZX Spectrum

Total Eclipse, ZX Spectrum

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The ZX Spectrum version of Total Eclipse was the first version of the game released.

Using the legendary Freescape Engine, Total Eclipse is an Egyptian-themed exploration/puzzle game set in a primitive 3D world. Primitive because it was one of the first ever games to allow games-players to explore a 3D world in this way, and it worked quite well, in spite of the low frame rate and slowdown.

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Game Boy Advance, Nintendo

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, Game Boy Advance

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This 2003 release from Nintendo is the first game in the WarioWare series. The WarioWare series is all about playing short minigames, that the player must complete in sequence, with the speed of the challenges increasing as the game progresses.

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! is known as “Minigame Mania” in PAL regions, but I’m sticking to the original title here.

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Game Boy Advance, Universal Interactive, Vicarious Visions

Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend, Game Boy Advance

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Created in 2003 by Vicarious Visions, Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend is an excellent side-scrolling beat ’em up that presents Bruce Lee in the role of a martial arts student fighting an evil crime syndicate in revenge for the murder of his master.

It’s an excellent game too – surprisingly so.

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Game Boy Advance, Realism, Sega

Super Monkey Ball Jr., Game Boy Advance

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Super Monkey Ball Jr. is a conversion of the classic GameCube game by Sega. It was first released in North America in 2002, and in 2003 in Europe.

From what I can tell, Super Monkey Ball Jr. was never released in Japan… That can’t be right… I thought the Japanese were (rightly) mad for Super Monkey Ball?!

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Game Boy Advance, Konami, Steam

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Game Boy Advance

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The third and final Castlevania game on the Game Boy Advance, Aria of Sorrow was first published by Konami in 2003.

Development was again led by Producer Koji Igarashi (who had previously worked on Symphony of the Night), and the end result is another brilliant and varied mix of platforming and RPG, with challenging enemies and boss battles.

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Game Boy Advance, Konami, Steam

Castlevania: Harmony Of Dissonance, Game Boy Advance

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The second Castlevania game released for the Game Boy Advance, Harmony of Dissonance was published by Konami in 2002.

In this game you play as Juste Belmont, a direct descendant of Simon Belmont – the protagonist from the first Castlevania. And – for some reason – he has a blue glow around him, and a blue trail, that he leaves in his wake as he moves…

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