Developed and published by Atari, Inc. in 1983, the Atari 5200 conversion of Moon Patrol is an adequate, but hardly ‘dazzling’, port of the classic Irem arcade game.
Tag Archives: cartridge
Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II, MSX
Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (aka just “Xanadu“) is the 1987 sequel to 1984’s Dragon Slayer. It was developed and published by Falcom in Japan only, but the game is entirely in English so is playable by non-Japanese speakers/readers.
Xanadu is an action RPG that looks and plays similarly to Falcom‘s own Ys series, with side-scrolling town and dungeon sections and overhead, real-time combat taking place on a separate screen. Xanadu was a much bigger hit than its predecessor and was released in MSX and MSX2 versions.
Dragon Slayer, MSX
Although it may look extremely basic, Dragon Slayer is an important game in the development of Japanese Role-Playing Games. It is a real-time action/exploration game where you control a fighter who must collect gold, orbs, potions, and various other useful items, inside a scrolling maze that is crawling with deadly monsters.
Dragon Slayer was initially released in 1984 for the PC-8801, PC-9801, X1 and FM-7, and the MSX version followed in 1985, being ported and published by Square. It was, in fact, one of the earliest releases from Square.
The Eidolon, MSX
The MSX version of Lucasfilm Games‘ The Eidolon was published in Japan only – on cartridge – by Pony Canyon in 1986, and it is on-par with the original Atari 8-bit and Commodore C64 originals of this classic cave exploration game.
H.E.R.O., MSX
The MSX version of John Van Ryzin‘s H.E.R.O. was ported by The Softworks and published by Activision in 1984.
Yellow Submarine, MSX
It’s not often you get a game that’s based on a Beatles song, and Yellow Submarine for the MSX is one such rare example. Published by Takeru in 1987 Yellow Submarine is of course not an official license and was slipped out to the Japanese MSX market – on cartridge – in the hope that no one at Apple Records would notice. If they did, it appears that nothing was done about it.
Cannon Fodder, Megadrive/Genesis
The Megadrive/Genesis version of Sensible Software‘s classic Cannon Fodder is not the one I think of when I think “Cannon Fodder“, but it’s actually a really good port. The game was converted by PanelComp, who also made the excellent SNES version, and it too supports mouse play. Which is important, because without using a mouse it’s impossible to attain the right kind of intensity needed to play Cannon Fodder properly. IMHO.
Cannon Fodder, Super Nintendo
The Super Nintendo version of Cannon Fodder was coded by Andy Onions, John Rocke and Steve Caslin, with graphics conversion by Doug Townsley and sound and music adaptation by Allister Brimble. The SNES port was published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1994 and you’ll be pleased to know that it does indeed support the use of the SNES mouse, which makes all the difference.
Key Quest, VIC-20
Key Quest is considered to be one of the best games ever made for the Commodore VIC-20. It was programmed by Randy Ubillos and David Dixon of Computer Applications, Inc. and released on cartridge in limited numbers* by Micro-Ware in 1983.
Castlevania, NES/Famicom
The first Castlevania game was initially released in Japan, by Konami, under the title of “Akumajō Dracula” in 1986. Versions for the MSX2 and Famicom Disk System were developed simultaneously, with the Famicom version coming out on 26th September, and the MSX version a month later, on 30th October. That same game was later released in Europe on 30th October 1987 – translated into English – under the title of “Vampire Killer“.
When it came time to convert the game to the Nintendo Entertainment System for a North American release it was decided to re-title the game as “Castlevania“*. This turned out to be a significant decision as it became a big hit and grew to become a popular and well-known series of video games. The name “Castlevania” entered into the lexicon of classic, instantly-recognisable game titles, later becoming a portmanteau of “Metroid” and “Castlevania” (“Metroidvania“) to describe an entire sub-genre of action/platform games that all share similar gameplay features.
*= Although it’s not clear who actually came up with the name “Castlevania” it has been reported that the change was due to Konami of America senior vice president Emil Heidkamp‘s discomfort with the religious connotations of the title “Akumajō Dracula“, which he believed translated as “Dracula Satanic Castle” (although some argue that it translates as “Demon Castle Dracula“).
The King of Grabs 