Tag Archives: American

Frenzy, ColecoVision

Frenzy is a 1984 conversion of the 1982 arcade game of the same name, which in turn is a sequel to the maze shooter, Berzerk. The ColecoVision port was developed by Stern Electronics, who made the original arcade game, and is therefore very authentic to that game. In fact: it’s even better than the arcade game, because it’s less archaic, more playable, and is more varied.

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Kaboom!, Atari 2600

Another simple Atari 2600 game with compelling gameplay: Kaboom! is a 1981 Activision game where you must catch falling bombs (dropped by what looks like a burglar, but we’ll call him The Mad Bomber) onto a set of bats, without allowing any bombs to hit the ground below you.

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Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of The Monster, Sega Saturn

Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of The Monster is a Myst-style point-and-click adventure game starring Tim Curry as Dr. Frankenstein. It was developed by Amazing Media and was first published for the PC by Interplay in 1995, and the Sega Saturn version – shown here – came out later, in 1997.

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Frankenstein: The Monster Returns, NES/Famicom

Frankenstein: The Monster Returns was developed by TOSE Co. Ltd. and published for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Bandai, in North America only, in 1991. It is a side-scrolling platform game with beat ’em up elements, in much the same style as the early Castlevania games.

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Frankenstein’s Monster, Atari 2600

Frankenstein’s Monster is a relatively obscure game for the Atari 2600 and was developed and published by Data Age, Inc. in 1983. It is one of the earliest video games to use the famous Mary Shelley novel as the basis for its story and gameplay.

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Maniac Mansion, NES/Famicom

The NES/Famicom version of Maniac Mansion was developed and published by Jaleco in 1990 and is still worth playing today. It’s a fine port of a great game and translates well enough to Nintendo‘s machine that it arguably plays even better than the C64 original (although many will cry “Sacrilege!” to that).

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The Oregon Trail, Apple II

The Oregon Trail is a classic Apple II strategy/adventure game where you play as settlers travelling in a covered wagon on The Oregon Trail in 1848. As you might imagine, the trail is hostile and survival on it is brutal, so you have to prepare for your trip in advance by buying food, clothes, ammunition, spare parts, and oxen to pull your wagon.

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Wolfenstein 3D, Atari Jaguar

id Software‘s classic first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, was ported to the Atari Jaguar by John Carmack and his by-then-famous band of merry programmers and artists, and – unsurprisingly – it’s an excellent conversion. The game was published by Atari Corporation in 1994.

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Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer, Atari Jaguar

Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer is a rarity on the Atari Jaguar – it’s a first-person 3D Role-Playing Game, in the style of Ultima Underworld, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, or the early King’s Field games, and it’s probably the only RPG that was ever officially released for the console. The game does look pretty grim, but thankfully plays better than it looks.

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