Don Doko Don is an arcade game developed and distributed by Taito in 1989. It was only ever released in Japan – as were ports of the game that appeared on the Famicom and PC Engine – although the small amount of text in the game appears to be in English so is easy to understand.
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Marble Madness, NES
The NES conversion of Marble Madness was developed by Rare and published by Milton Bradley, in North America and Europe, in 1989. I don’t think the game was ever released in Japan, though. And it’s a very good port, with some small enhancements and decent controls and playability.
Marble Madness, Amiga
The Amiga version of Atari Games‘ classic arcade game, Marble Madness, was converted by Larry Reed and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. It is one of those relatively early 16-bit ports that is a little rough around the edges, presentation-wise, but plays perfectly well.
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“).
Turbo Sub, Atari Lynx
This 1991 release from Atari Corporation is a conversion of relatively obscure arcade game from 1985, and it is a decent game on the Atari Lynx, with excellent graphics and absorbing gameplay. It was developed for the Lynx by NuFX.
Turbo Sub is a fast-moving first person shooter in which you pilot a futuristic attack submarine and must fight off an alien force attacking the Earth.
Castlevania: Spectral Interlude, ZX Spectrum
Castlevania: Spectral Interlude is a free-to-download homebrew Castlevania game for the ZX Spectrum, developed and published by Rewind (a Russian indie team) in 2015. The game is playable on 128K Spectrums only and is available digitally for Spectrum +3s as a disk-based game, and also as a TAP file. A limited number of physical copies were also produced for sale.
Continue reading Castlevania: Spectral Interlude, ZX Spectrum
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, Arcade
The second game in the Alex Kidd series, and the only one released as an arcade game, Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars is a one or simultaneous two-player platform game, developed by Sega and first released in 1986. It of course features the cute boy wonder, Alex Kidd, although this time he’s accompanied by his female partner, Stella. Stella can be played alone or cooperatively with Alex.
Lunar Legend, Game Boy Advance
Developed by Japan Art Media and published internationally by Ubisoft in 2002, Lunar Legend is a handheld remake/re-telling of Game Arts‘ classic RPG, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, with new graphics, content and story changes.
Shadow of the Beast, Super Nintendo
***CANNED GAME***
The Super Nintendo version of Shadow of the Beast was prefixed with the word “Super” to differentiate it from other ports, and… it was cancelled before release and never officially made it out. It was developed by IGS (Information Global Service) and an unfinished prototype of the game was leaked in 1993.
Marble Madness, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System version of Atari‘s Marble Madness was programmed by Steve Lamb and published by Tengen in 1992 and it is a relatively decent port overall.
The King of Grabs 