Tag Archives: Boss Battles

Grandia II, Dreamcast

Grandia II was released in August 2000 in Japan for the Sega Dreamcast. It follows the same template as the first Grandia game, except this time with full 3D graphics (the first Grandia mixed 2D and 3D). And – as Grandia II was made by many of the same people who made the first game – it’s not surprising that it’s similar.

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Shining the Holy Ark, Sega Saturn

A direct follow-up to the classic Megadrive game, Shining in the Darkness, and arguably the best level-grinder on the Sega Saturn, the awkwardly-titled Shining the Holy Ark is a superb first-person, party-based RPG with turn-based combat.

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Dragon Quest VIII, PlayStation 2 [Part 2]

Okay, so I couldn’t just leave it at that with regard to Dragon Quest VIII, so here’s another set of screenshots showing later in the game. In particular: the Dragovian Trials – an unlockable quest in which you take on a series of ever more powerful dragons, for unique rewards at the end of the game.

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Dragon Quest VIII, PlayStation 2

There is no doubting that this 2004 release from Square Enix is the best JRPG on the PlayStation 2. At least, in my mind.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a colourful and detailed re-imagining of the Dragon Quest franchise, with Cel-Shaded graphics and tons of monsters – many of them familiar – to fight it out with in turn-based combat.

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Wario Blast, Game Boy

What do you get when you cross Hudson Soft‘s classic Bomberman with Nintendo‘s cheeky Wario? Answer: you get Wario Blast on the Game Boy. A super fun handheld action game with puzzle overtones that was first released in 1994.

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Beyond Oasis, Megadrive/Genesis

Also known in some territories as The Story of Thor: A Successor of The Light, Beyond Oasis is an action adventure game that was developed by Ancient and published by Sega in 1994.

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Terra Cresta, ZX Spectrum

A conversion of the superb Nichibutsu arcade game, programmed by the late Jonathan Smith and published by Imagine Software in 1986.

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Smash TV, Atari ST

On the face of it the Atari ST conversion of Williams Electronics‘ classic Smash TV looks pretty good, but scratch below the surface and you might realise that it has one or two major deficiencies.

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Streets of Rage 3, Megadrive/Genesis

Ask anyone what their favourite beat ’em up is on the Megadrive/Genesis and they will probably reply: Streets of Rage 3.

Released by Sega in 1994, Streets of Rage 3 is the jewel in the crown of a brilliant trilogy of scrolling fighting games.

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Final Fantasy VII, PlayStation

Final Fantasy VII is a legendary level-grinding Role-Playing Game, developed by Square and released for the Sony PlayStation in 1997.

While the Final Fantasy series had grown in stature throughout the 1990s, it was this seventh instalment that broke Japanese CRPGs into the mainstream, with its outstanding mix of 3D, polygonal graphics, Full Motion Video, and pre-rendered backgrounds.

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