Tag Archives: Big Hit

Elevator Action, Arcade

Elevator Action is a classic platform/action game, first released into arcades in 1983 by Taito. The game was a critical and commercial success and has been converted to a wide range of home systems.

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Ridge Racer, Arcade

Ridge Racer is a classic arcade racing game, developed and distributed by Namco in 1993. It uses the Namco System 22 arcade board and is notable for being the first arcade videogame to use texture-mapped 3D graphics.

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Vectorman 2, Megadrive/Genesis

The sequel to the smash-hit Vectorman was once again developed by the talented team at BlueSky Software, and again published by Sega – this time in 1996.

Vectorman 2 expands upon the first game with more levels and more features. Graphically, it’s moodier too, with bold and very subtle use of light and dark at certain times, and even more impressive lighting effects on Vectorman himself.

Together, Vectorman 1 and 2 make a great duo. A smash hit, followed by a hit sequel. Both are still well worth playing today.

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Vectorman, Megadrive/Genesis

Developed by BlueSky Software of California and published exclusively for the Megadrive/Genesis by Sega in 1995, Vectorman is an extremely well-regarded platform/action game with outstanding presentation and a humorous backstory.

The year is 2049 and the Earth has been overwhelmed with pollution. It’s so bad that humans have left, to live in space, sending automated robots down to Earth to try to reverse the out-of-control climate change. After interfacing with a nuclear warhead one of the robots becomes self-aware and declares itself to be “WarHead – The Destroyer of Humanity“. WarHead reprograms all the other robots and turns them against the humans, taking over Earth. You, as Vectorman, are a weird-looking robot that is returning from a dumping mission to the sun, and has inadvertently stumbled upon this bad situation. Since Vectorman is immune to WarHead‘s mind control, he sets out to save the Earth by destroying him.

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Virtua Fighter, Arcade

Sega‘s Virtua Fighter was the first arcade fighting game to feature full 3D graphics, and was initially released in October 1993. It was a product of Sega‘s AM2 R&D team, a development group within Sega headed by Yu Suzuki, using the Sega Model 1 arcade board.

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Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, PlayStation 2

Developed by Polyphony Digital and first published by Sony in 2001, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is the third in the famous series of driving games on the PlayStation. This time, on the PlayStation 2. And it is just as good as you might imagine…

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Gran Turismo 2, PlayStation

The sequel to the hit 1997 racing game, Gran Turismo, Gran Turismo 2 carries on where its predecessor left off, only this time the experience is spread over two separate discs (in this case, CD-ROMs – not DVDs), one containing the “Arcade Mode“, and the other offering the “Gran Turismo Mode“, which is basically “Simulation Mode” from the previous game.

Gran Turismo 2 was again developed by Polyphony Digital, and was first published by Sony in 1999.

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Batty, ZX Spectrum

Written by Mark Crane and first published by Hit-Pak (the budget label of Elite Systems) in 1987, Batty is a clone of the games Breakout, and Arkanoid, but with a few of its own unique features.

The game was a minor hit on the ZX Spectrum and was also released for the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.

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Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered, PC

Remastered by Nightdive Studios and published by Atari in 2015, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered is a good example of nostalgia versus reality.

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