Released on 26th September 1986 in Japan, Akumajō Dracula (translating as: “Demon Castle Dracula“) was the very first release in the Castlevania series, predating the MSX version of the game by about a month. Konami released it on the Famicom Disk System where it quickly became a hit with Japanese gamers.
It began a long-running series of platform/horror-themed video games and set the template for the Castlevania series as a whole.
Another timeless classic video game that originated on the BBC Micro in 1986.
Geoff Crammond‘s The Sentinel is a strategic game of ‘hide and seek’ – played-out on a chequerboard-like surface over which a being called The Sentinel watches.
When film-maker Steven Spielberg wanted to make a video game he went to George Lucas and his company LucasArts for help making it, and the end result was The Dig.
The King of Chicago is a strategic gangster simulator, released by Cinemaware in 1987. And – while “gangster simulator” might sound bad – the game is full of dark humour and is something of a satire, so is not to be taken too seriously on that front.
Mysteries of the Sith is the 1998 sequel to Dark Forces II. It uses the same 3D engine (with some enhancements) and follows the same style of gameplay as its predecessor, but contains considerably more features and detail.
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II – as the title says – is a direct sequel to the Star Wars-based shooter, Dark Forces. It was published by LucasArts in 1997.
Dark Forces is LucasArts‘ attempt at Doom, with a Star Wars make-over. It was first released in 1995 for MS-DOS PCs.
Looking at it now: it hasn’t aged too well, although it’s still fun to play if you get the controls set up correctly.
A controversial release from Gametek in 1996, this complex space sim is notorious for having a long and troubled development history.
Monolith‘s 1997 shooter – Blood – is a first-person satire of every horror movie you ever saw, and also a few that you probably didn’t.
Part 2 of our Anachronox special. A selection of grabs from later in the game. Showing just a fraction of the wide variety in this groundbreaking American Role-Playing Game.
The King of Grabs 