This arcade conversion of Data East‘s 1987 coin-op was highly controversial at the time of release, because it was viewed as a “lazy, direct port” of the ZX Spectrum version, which was not what Commodore 64 owners wanted to see.
Tag Archives: Activision
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Atari 8-bit
This Atari 8-bit conversion of David Crane‘s classic Atari 2600 platform game is subtitled the “Adventurer’s Edition” because it contains a whole new second level that becomes available after you complete the first.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Atari 2600
Activision‘s 1984 sequel to Pitfall! – Pitfall II: Lost Caverns – was again designed and programmed by David Crane. This time, though, the cartridge had a custom display processor chip inside, which allowed for improved visuals and continuous four channel music (the Atari 2600 is normally only capable of two channel sound).
Gameplay is similar to Pitfall!, although in this follow-up the world you can explore is much bigger than previously and is made up of eight screens in width, by 27 screens in height, making 216 screens in total. When you walk from one screen to another the new screen scrolls smoothly into view.
The Great American Cross Country Road Race, Atari 8-bit
This simple but playable road racing game was written by Alex DeMeo for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and was first published by Activision in 1985.
Continue reading The Great American Cross Country Road Race, Atari 8-bit
Heretic II, PC
Heretic II is the de-facto sequel to Heretic, developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998. It is a third-person fantasy action game that uses a modified version of the Quake II engine.
Heretic II sees the return of Corvus in a new adventure in the land of Parthoris. Upon arriving in Parthoris Corvus discovers that the town has been swept with a mysterious plague, so he sets out to investigate. He soon wishes he hadn’t as he discovers that he too is infected, so embarks on a quest to cure himself. This takes him through a variety of different environments, all filled with dangerous traps and monsters.
Hexen II, PC
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Game Boy Advance
Developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision in 2001, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on the Game Boy Advance is one of those games that you’d expect not to work that well – being a handheld conversion of a popular and successful 3D game – but it actually turns out to be a fantastic game in its own right.
River Raid II, Atari 2600
Based on Carol Shaw‘s classic vertically-scrolling shooter, but not created by her, River Raid II is a more challenging and slightly more complex take on the River Raid concept.
Quake 4, PC
For the fourth instalment in the Quake series id Software returned its emphasis back to the single-player story-driven mode of the first two Quake games. Actually, the majority of development on Quake 4 was actually done by Wisconsin-based Raven Software, with id Software supervising.
Quake III Arena, PC
Quake III took a different route to the previous Quakes – in this one it was all about deathmatching and player versus player arenas. Gone was the single-player, story-driven, puzzle/action side of the game, and in came finely-tuned deathmatch arenas. It’s not called Quake III Arena for nothing…
The King of Grabs 