Known in Japan as Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, this intriguing monochrome adventure game was developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and released on the original Game Boy in 1992.
While it never got a release outside of Japan, a fan translation into English was released in 2011, finally making the game playable for non-Japanese-speaking gamers.
Gauntlet II is the 1986 sequel to the classic four-player arcade game, Gauntlet. It was made by pretty much the same Atari Games team that made the first game, so retains a lot of its qualities. Which is great, because the first Gauntlet was brilliant and fans wanted more of the same – only with enhancements. Which is exactly what they got.
Based on the Paul Hardcastle pop hit of 1985, 19 (“nnnnn-Nineteen“), 19 Part One: Boot Camp is a multi-event action game that is supposed to portray the training phase of a Vietnam solder’s experiences.
This 2008 Nintendo DS release from Atlus is up there with the best in terms of top quality level-grinders – it really is superb.
The Etrian Odyssey series is all about mapping and exploration, item drops, boss battles, levelling, and lots of excellent turn-based combat, and this second instalment is a clear evolution of the first game, although arguably not quite as expansive and refined as its remarkable sequel.
Continue reading Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard, Nintendo DS
Known as Inside Outing on 8-bit home computers, and Raffles on 16-bit computers, this excellent isometric platform game translates very well to the Atari ST.
Wizardry 8 is a level-grinding RPG with turn-based combat, developed by Sir-Tech Canada and first released in 2001.
One of Dave Perry‘s early commercial games, the third Dan Dan Spectrum game was developed by Probe Software, instead of Gang of Five (who did the first two Dan Dare games), and published by Virgin Games in 1990.
This 1988 sequel to Dan Dan: Pilot of the Future was again developed by Gang of Five and published by Virgin Games.
Developed by Gang of Five in 1986, Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future is a simple run-and-gun platform shooter based on the famous character from Britain’s famous science fiction comic, Eagle.
The BBC Micro conversion of Ultimate‘s classic Lunar Jetman is a very good one, using a high res display mode for the graphics, which are mostly monochrome (just like the Spectrum original).
The King of Grabs 