Tag Archives: Big Hit

Pokémon Red Version, Game Boy

Pokémon Red Version was the very first Pokémon game and it was released for the original black and white Game Boy in 1996.

Like all subsequent Pokémon games it came as a pair of releases, so that players could have Pokémon exclusive to their version of the game and so that trading was required between versions – if you wanted to catch every single available Pokémon. Some might view that as cynical, but it wasn’t really intended to make people buy both versions, just to encourage link-up play and trading between them. It does however mean that you can’t catch all the available Pokémon if you only have one version of the game, and have no way of trading with someone else who has the other version.

In Japan, Pokémon Red (originally titled Pocket Monsters: Red) was accompanied by Pokémon Green (Pocket Monsters: Green), but in North America and Europe Pokémon Red was accompanied by Pokémon Blue, which is basically a remake of Green.

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Wario World, GameCube

Wario World for the GameCube was developed by Treasure and published by Nintendo in 2003. It was the first 3D Wario game and, unusually, was released in Europe and North America before it eventually came out in Japan (almost a year after its initial release in the West).

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Wario Land 4, Game Boy Advance

The fourth game in the Wario Land series (after Wario Land, Wario Land II, and Wario Land 3) is arguably the best one at this point, having been released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2001.

All three of the previous games were fun, varied, and beautifully-designed, but the enhanced graphics and power of the Game Boy Advance definitely gives this the edge over its predecessors.

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Wario Land 3, Game Boy Color

Wario Land 3 is the sequel to Wario Land II and was developed and published for the Game Boy Color by Nintendo in 2000. It once again features Mario‘s rival, Wario, doing what he does best: shoulder-barging things and cheekily going about his destructive platform business.

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Wario Land II, Game Boy Color

The follow-up to Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on the Game Boy is this 1998 release for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color.

Wario Land II was initially released for the black and white Game Boy, but was re-released for the Game Boy Color six months after its initial release and it is the Game Boy Color version that I’m focusing on here (because it looks much better in colour than in monochrome).

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Colonization, Amiga

Also known as Sid Meier’s Colonization, this turn-based strategy game is based on the European colonisation of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until 1850. It’s essentially an updated and more-developed version of Sid Meier‘s previous game, Civilization. Which is no bad thing since Civilization is a superb, classic strategy game.

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Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, XBox

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is an expanded version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (which was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001). Substance was released for the XBox by Konami in 2002.

It’s the fourth Metal Gear game co-written and designed by Hideo Koijima and the seventh game in the series as a whole.

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Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, PlayStation

Developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive in 1997, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a colourful 3D platformer featuring a cute crocodile.

Croc actually started out as a prototype 3D platform game featuring Yoshi from Nintendo‘s Super Mario series, but when it was pitched to Nintendo they rejected the idea, so Argonaut re-worked it into an original property.

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Ridge Racer, PlayStation

A launch title on the PlayStation and the first game I ever played on the system, Ridge Racer is a conversion of the classic arcade racing game from Namco.

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