In Data East‘s 1986 Wild West-themed scrolling action game – Express Raider (aka “Western Express” in Japan) – you’re not trying to be the good guy; you’re actually the bad guy, trying to hold up a series of trains and steal as much gold and money as possible.
Tag Archives: Arcade
Hard Drivin’, Atari Lynx
Developed by NuFX and published by Atari Corporation in 1991, the Atari Lynx version of Hard Drivin’ was quite impressive for the time. It showed that the Lynx could handle rudimentary 3D polygonal games – and in colour. Something that its main rival (the Nintendo Game Boy), couldn’t do.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Arcade
Based on the 1983 film of the same name, Atari‘s Return of the Jedi was first released into arcades in 1984, and the game uses 2D, rasterized graphics, instead of vector-based graphics, like the Star Wars arcade game does.
Knights of the Round, Arcade
Knights of the Round is a three-player hack-and-slash arcade game, developed and distributed by Capcom in 1991. The fact that the developers – for whatever reason – neglected to include the word “Table” at the end of the title of their game hints at some hilariously bad translation, and plenty of terrible spelling mistakes, which is exactly what you get in this game…
Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Arcade
Gauntlet Dark Legacy is the sixth title in the Gauntlet series, and is an expansion of the previous game, Gauntlet Legends. It was developed by Midway Games West and was first released into arcades in 1999.
OutRunners, Arcade
OutRunners is the 1993 sequel to the classic driving game, Out Run. It is specifically designed for two player head-to-head gameplay, which is why the game renders two screens – side by side – by default. For the purposes of this article, though, I’m showing just a single screen, because it looks better.
With enough machines, OutRunners could accommodate up to eight players racing against each other at the same time. An online version of the game was also released, allowing players to race each other over the internet, which was revolutionary for the time.
Gauntlet Legends, Arcade
Gauntlet Legends is the fifth game in the Gauntlet series and the first to take Gauntlet the full 3D route. It was a joint venture between Atari Games and Midway Games and was initially released into arcades in 1998.
Choplifter, Arcade
Sega‘s 1985 arcade version of Choplifter is a rare beast indeed. It is a game that went from home computers, to the arcades, when usually the opposite is true. Dan Gorlin‘s helicopter shooter/rescue game was deemed good enough to be completely reprogrammed and put into an arcade cabinet.
Battletoads, Arcade
Battletoads is a humorous side-scrolling beat ’em up, developed by Rare Coin Games and distributed into arcades by Electronic Arts in 1994. It satirises the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters, turning them into muscular toads, called Zitz, Rash and Pimple.
Willow, Arcade
Based on the 1988 film of the same name, Willow is a platform action game developed by Capcom and distributed into arcades in 1989. The intro says: “A magnificent fantasy filled with love, friendship and adventure!“, but in reality the game is a violent hack-and-slash ’em up, and is some distance from “love, friendship and adventure”…
The King of Grabs 