Tag Archives: climbing

Three Wonders, Arcade

Three Wonders is an unusual arcade game from Capcom that was first released in 1991. What’s unusual about it is that the game is based around three separate games – each of which you can choose to play in any order, cooperatively with a friend, and that are supposedly linked by the game’s storyline and characters.

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Switchblade, Atari ST

Created by Simon Phipps (co-founder of Core Design), and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1989, Switchblade is a platform action game that could be described as a ‘spiritual successor’ to the Rick Dangerous games (also created by Simon Phipps). Switchblade features similar gameplay and graphics to Rick Dangerous, although it is more refined, less cartoony, and is far less frustrating to play. Switchblade came out on the Atari ST first and ports for the Amiga, C64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum followed.

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Rick Dangerous, Amiga

Rick Dangerous is a cartoony Indiana Jones parody that was written by Simon Phipps, co-founder of Core Design, with graphics by Terry Lloyd. It was published on various 8-bit and 16-bit home computers by Firebird Software in 1989 and was generally well-received.

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Bill & Ted’s Excellent Game Boy Adventure, Game Boy

Developed by prolific Aussie studio Beam Software, and published by LJN/Acclaim Entertainment, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Game Boy Adventure is a simple-but-playable platform game based loosely on the 1989 film, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It was released in North America in 1991 and Europe in 1992.

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Shadow of the Beast, FM Towns

Shadow of the Beast on the FM Towns was first published in Japan only by Cross Media Soft – a brand of Victor Musical Industries (a subsidiary of JVC) – in 1991, and came on CD-ROM.

Tim Ansell, who programmed the FM Towns version of Shadow of the Beast (and Shadow of the Beast II), founded the famous British developer The Creative Assembly in 1987 and this was one of a number of contract ports that he did for Psygnosis in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

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SOS, Super Nintendo

SOS is an intriguing survival adventure game set on a sinking ship in The North Sea, in 1921. The game features four playable characters, each with a different story, although the ultimate aim is the same for all of them: to escape from the stricken Lady Crithania, which has been hit by a gigantic wave and has capsized off the coast of England. SOS was developed by Human Entertainment and published exclusively for the Super Famicom by Field Co. Ltd. in 1993 (1994 in North America; published by Vic Tokai). In Japan the game is known as “Septentrion“.

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Castlevania Legends, Game Boy

Castlevania Legends is the third Castlevania game for the original Game Boy, first released by Konami in 1997. The story follows Sonia Belmont, a vampire hunter battling the first incarnation of Count Dracula.

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Castlevania: The Adventure, Game Boy Color

This colour remake of Castlevania: The Adventure was released in European territories only in the year 2000, as part of the Konami GB Collection Volume 1.

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Castlevania: The Adventure, Game Boy

Castlevania: The Adventure was the first game in the Castlevania series to be released for the original Game Boy. It was published by Konami in 1989.

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Super Dragon Slayer, ZX Spectrum

Converted by John F. Cain, from an original Commodore 64 game by John Ferrari, Super Dragon Slayer is a platform shooter featuring an agile magician who must jump, climb and shoot his way – left to right – through four large, scrolling levels. It was first published for the ZX Spectrum by Codemasters in 1989.

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