I don’t really know if Taito‘s 1991 arcade game, Pu-Li-Ru-La, is obscure, or if it’s a ‘cult game’, or if it’s based on an existing anime or not, because I’d never even heard of it until recently. It’s a cartoony, one or simultaneous two-player beat ’em up featuring a boy and a girl who are given magical sticks to fight enemies in order to restore the flow of time in a place called “Radishland“…
Tag Archives: cartoon
Marble Madness II, Arcade
***CANNED GAME***
Marble Madness II is the unreleased sequel to the classic Marble Madness. It was developed in 1991 by Atari Games and underwent market testing in a variety of locations, but these were deemed a failure so the game was cancelled and never released.
The Simpsons, Arcade
Developed by Konami and first distributed into arcades in 1991, The Simpsons is a scrolling multiplayer beat ’em up based on the award-winning animated series of the same name. You can play as either Marge, Homer, Bart or Lisa and must rescue Maggie, who’s been kidnapped by Mr. Burns and Smithers after a diamond heist gone wrong. The game features the show’s original voice actors: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith, reprising their roles as the Simpsons family.
Out of Gas, Game Boy
Out of Gas is a top-down action/puzzle game developed by Realtime Associates and published exclusively for the Game Boy, in North America only, by FCI (Fujisankei Communications International) in 1992. And it is generally derided by those who’ve played it.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Arcade
Alongside Karate Champ, Konami‘s Yie Ar Kung-Fu had a profound effect on the beat ’em up genre and could be said to have contributed greatly to the establishment of modern fighting games. It was given a limited release in Japanese arcades in 1984 and was later rolled-out more widely – and internationally – in 1985.
Avenging Spirit, Arcade
Avenging Spirit was developed by C.P. Brain and distributed into arcades by Jaleco in 1991. It is an obscure platform/action game about the ghost of a dead man avenging the abduction of his girlfriend.
Paperboy, Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 version of Paperboy is one of the few full-3D remakes of the game. Everything in it has been changed and turned into 3D – the streets, the characters, and the gameplay. The game was developed by High Voltage Software and first published by Midway in 1999.
Tapper, ColecoVision
The 1984 ColecoVision version of Bally Midway‘s famous Tapper is a pretty good replica of the original bar-tending game. It’s light years ahead of the Atari 2600 version and also better than most of its other peers.
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle, ColecoVision
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle is a simple platform-based cartoon adventure for kids that is based on the TV series, The Smurfs, and was developed and published by Coleco and released for the ColecoVision and Atari 2600 in 1982.
Continue reading Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle, ColecoVision
Adventure Island IV, NES/Famicom
The fourth and final Adventure Island game for the NES/Famicom was only ever released in Japan, in 1994. Now – thanks to the magic of fan translation patching – the game can be played by people who don’t read Japanese. In fact: Adventure Island IV has been translated into more than just English. It’s also patchable into Spanish, Polish and Arabic, thanks to the efforts of various fan translation groups.