Developed by Escape (who would later become Westone), Wonder Boy is a straightforward run-and-jump-left-to-right-to-reach-the-goal platform game featuring a blonde-haired, semi-naked cave-boy who is trying to rescue his girlfriend, Tina, from the clutches of the “The Dark King”.
Tag Archives: Arcade
Slap Fight, Arcade
Slap Fight is a vertically-scrolling, progressive weapons shoot ’em up developed by Toaplan and manufactured by Taito 1986. It’s also known as “Alcon” in the US.
Splatterhouse, Arcade
Splatterhouse is an infamous side-scrolling horror-themed action game that was released into arcades by Namco in 1988. It is known for its grotesque opponents and for its satirisation of well-known horror films of the 1980s.
Green Beret, Arcade
Green Beret is a classic old school run-and-gun arcade game that was developed and manufactured by Konami in 1985. The game was called “Rush’n Attack” in some territories, which is a play on words of “Russian attack” due to its Cold War setting.
Quarth, Arcade
Quarth is a brilliant mixture of Tetris and shoot ’em up and was first played in arcades in Japan in 1989. Outside of Japan it is known as “Block Hole“, which – let’s face it – is a stupid name, so I’m sticking with the original name, Quarth.
Hunchback, Arcade
Century Electronics UK‘s Hunchback is apparently NOT loosely based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as many have speculated. But since it features Quasimodo running from left to right over a castle rampart, trying to rescue Esmeralda from a tower at the end, that is an easy assumption to make.
Ninja Baseball Bat Man, Arcade
This excellent arcade fighting game from Irem was originated in Irem‘s North American office but programmed by Irem Japan and first came out in 1993. It apparently sold well in Japan, but didn’t do so well in the United States, so is considered quite rare in the West.
Nibbler, Arcade
Nibbler is a 1982 arcade game featuring a snake inside a maze, with the aim being: to eat all the items before the clock runs down, and to avoid running into his own trailing tail, which grows in length as you eat more items.
Space Invaders, Atari 2600
This conversion of Taito‘s classic arcade game to the Atari VCS/2600 was first released in 1980, and – boy – did it shift some units…
Hydra, Arcade
Hydra is a relatively obscure arcade action game featuring an armed powerboat that is chasing wanted criminals along twisting waterways in order to intercept and recover various stolen artefacts from them.
The King of Grabs 