Tag Archives: bats

Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, ZX Spectrum

The seventh Dizzy adventure, Crystal Kingdom Dizzy was the final release in the core series – until Wonderful Dizzy in 2020. This one was developed by Visual Impact, with some input from Philip Oliver, and was published by Codemasters in 1992.

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Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk, ZX Spectrum

Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk is the sixth Dizzy platform adventure game. It was designed and coded by Big Red Software and published by Codemasters in December 1991.

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Magicland Dizzy, ZX Spectrum

Magicland Dizzy is the fourth Dizzy adventure game and the first game in the series not designed and coded by The Oliver Twins. Instead it was designed by Neal Vincent and coded by Big Red Software, with The Oliver Twins retaining creative oversight.

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Dizzy: The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure, ZX Spectrum

The first Dizzy game, and featuring a walking, talking egg that would become synonymous with “cartoon adventures” on the ZX Spectrum, and also budget releases from British software house Codemasters.

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Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, PlayStation

The PlayStation version of the classic Blue Sky Productions (later Looking Glass Studios) first-person RPG is unfortunately only available in Japanese, so is not easy to play for English-speaking gamers. No one has yet translated the game into English even though fans have been crossing their fingers since the game was first released way back in 1997 (24 years ago).

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Hunchback: The Adventure, ZX Spectrum

Rather than produce another platform game, Ocean Software chose to make a graphical adventure for their third Hunchback game. Which was an unusual choice.

Hunchback: The Adventure again features Quasimodo trying to rescue Esmeralda, this time from the evil Cardinal of Notre Dame. It’s a three-part game, requiring the same number of loads. In part one Quasimodo must escape from Notre Dame itself, and from the Cardinal’s many guards who are trying to stop him. In part two he must make his way under the city of Paris until he reaches the Cardinal’s mansion. And finally, in part three, he must challenge the Cardinal and escape with Esmeralda in tow.

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Hunchback II: Quasimodo’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum

The sequel to the hit game Hunchback was released in 1985 by Ocean Software. Hunchback II is another platform game where you control Quasimodo on a mission to collect bells and survive through seven screens of conveyors and climbing ropes. Make it to the end and again rescue Esmeralda as she waits patiently for her green-coloured hero.

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Nosferatu the Vampyre, Amstrad CPC

This Amstrad CPC conversion of the classic ZX Spectrum game definitely benefits from having better use of colour than the original. It also runs a little faster than the Speccy version, which makes it slightly more playable.

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Hammerwatch, PC

Hammerwatch is a brilliant single or multi-player fantasy action game with tiny characters fighting off hoards of killer monsters. It features beautiful pixel graphics, atmospheric lighting effects, RPG elements, and seriously challenging gameplay. It was created by Swedish developer Crackshell and first published in 2013. Hammerwatch is available for Windows, Linux, OS X, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and XBox One.

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Toki, NES

Toki is a conversion of the 1989 arcade game by Tad Corporation and it features a jumping ape who can spit bullets at his enemies. It’s a platform game with relatively short levels and occasional boss fights, and it is known for its rock-hard difficulty.

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