Tag Archives: chainsaws

Splatterhouse, FM Towns

The FM Towns version of the controversial Namco arcade game, Splatterhouse, was developed and published by Ving – in Japan only – in 1992. It doesn’t suffer from any of the censorship, that some versions of the game do, and is a completely uncut and almost perfect port of the arcade original.

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Atari 2600

Developed by VSS, Inc. (of Texas), and published by Wizard Video Games in 1983, the Atari 2600 version of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* is a travesty of a video game, and a perfect example of the kind of careless rubbish being released to market that triggered the North American video game market crash of the mid-Eighties.

*= The correct title of Tobe Hooper‘s classic 1973 film is “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (note the words “Chain” and “Saw” are separate), and NOT “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre“. Wizard Video Games got the title wrong, so I’m sticking with the correct title for the film, rather than bastardising it incorrectly, like they did.

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Doom, 3DO

The beleaguered 3DO port of id Software‘s classic Doom is often referred to as “the worst port of Doom” by fans of the game, but it’s actually not a bad conversion at all. Yes: it is relatively slow, compared to other Doom ports, and yes: the game runs in a reduced-size window, but it still plays pretty well and does have its plus points.

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Doom, Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn port of Doom was developed by Rage Software and distributed by GT Interactive in 1997. Like the PlayStation version (on which this port is based) it contains both Ultimate Doom and Doom II, but is a little disappointing in terms of performance and presentation.

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Doom, Sega 32X

The Sega 32X port of id Software‘s Doom was developed and published by Sega of America in 1994. While the game doesn’t run in a full window (there’s a permanent border around the screen, probably to keep the frame rate up, which is unfortunate), it is an otherwise very good conversion, with smooth movement and decent controls.

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Doom II, Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance port of id Software‘s classic first-person shooter sequel, Doom II, was developed by Torus Games and first published by Activision in 2002. Unlike the first Doom on the GBA this port doesn’t use the original Doom engine, but instead uses the Southpaw Engine, that was designed for native use on the GBA and has been used in a number of other games. Torus Games had to therefore recreate all the levels from scratch for this port, and I have to say that they did a great job.

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Doom, Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance version of Doom was developed by David A. Palmer Productions and published by Activision in 2001. It is a playable and enjoyable version of id Software‘s shooter classic on Nintendo‘s capable handheld.

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Doom, Atari Jaguar

The Atari Jaguar conversion of id Software‘s classic Doom is actually pretty good. It’s a lot better than the Super Nintendo port, which should be expected. It was first released in November 1994 by Atari Corporation. id‘s John Carmack programmed the bulk of the engine, with Dave Taylor handling multiplayer code, and with Atari‘s help on the production and testing side of things.

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Doom, PlayStation

The PlayStation version of Doom was was coded by Aaron Seeler for Williams Electronics and first published in 1995. The game runs on a modified version of the Atari Jaguar Doom engine and was the first time Ultimate Doom and Doom II were packaged together in one release.

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Doom 64, Nintendo 64

Developed by Midway Studios San Diego and published by Midway Games in 1997, Doom 64 is a sequel to Doom II that contains a single-player campaign, but no multiplayer.

In total there are 28 campaign levels and four secret levels. Monster and weapon graphics have been redesigned and are unique to Doom 64.

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