Developed by Vic Tokai, and based on the “Magical Hat” manga series by Yōji Katakura, Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken was first released, by Sega, for the Megadrive in Japan in 1990. It is a colourful platform game with smooth movement, easy-to-understand controls, and gameplay that is fairly forgiving overall.
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Decap Attack is a side-scrolling platform game, developed by Vic Tokai and published by Sega in 1991. This game was originally released in Japan, in 1990, as “Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken“, but developer Vic Tokai failed to secure the Magical Hat license for use outside of Japan, so decided to remove all traces of it, and completely re-skin the game. So Decap Attack is essentially a Westernised re-skinning of Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken.
Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is a 3D platform adventure, developed by Heavy Iron Studios (who, incidentally, made the Godawful Evil Dead: Hail to the King), and published by THQ for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC and Game Boy Advance in 2003.
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Co-developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo R&D1, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games!, is a collection of party-based minigames that are supposed to test your reactions and skill. And the games have “Wario-based japes” flavour to them.
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The Simpsons Wrestling is the crossover wrestling game you never wanted nor asked for, but were curious to see how it turned out. Developed by Big Ape Productions and published by Fox Interactive in 2001, it is a game that could’ve been really good fun, but instead turns out to somewhat average.
Known as “Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair” in North America, this fully-3D action adventure is a reimagining of Don Bluth‘s classic laserdisc arcade game, Dragon’s Lair. And it works brilliantly well. Dragon’s Lair 3D was published for the GameCube by THQ in Europe, and Encore, Inc. in North America, in 2002. It was also released for PlayStation 2, Windows and XBox.
Released by Visco Corporation as a Neo Geo-based arcade game in 1999, Captain Tomaday is a one or simultaneous two-player shoot ’em up, featuring a cartoon tomato with bionic fists.
Based on the animated show of the same name, Biker Mice From Mars is an isometric race game for one or two players. It was first published by Konami, exclusively for the Super Nintendo, in 1994.
Developed by Namco and published – in Japan only – by NEC Avenue in 1989, Wonder Momo is a conversion of a weird Japanese arcade game featuring a female lead character who must fight off attackers during a theatre stage play. And, if that sounds bizarre, then – well – that’s because it is! Unlike the arcade original, the PC Engine version of Wonder Momo has been fan-translated into English and Spanish, so is more accessible to Western audiences.
I first encountered Namco‘s Wonder Momo on the PC Engine, because it had received a fan translation, and I was curious to see what the game was about. I then discovered that it was a conversion of a 1987 arcade game, featuring a young girl called Momo, who can turn into a ‘superhero’ by building up her “Wonder Meter“.
This bizarre arcade game was only ever released in Japan, but has subsequently built up a cult following around the world, and has also inspired manga/anime, and resulted in a sequel that was released in 2014.
The King of Grabs 