Developed by Junkyard and published for MS-DOS by Merit Studios in 1994, this adaptation of Mary Shelley‘s infamous horror story is a cartoon platform game where you have to collect pieces of The Monster’s body and put them back together again (ie. the same as in most video game adaptations of Frankenstein).
Tag Archives: Colourful
The Adventures of Dr. Franken, Super Nintendo
The Adventures of Dr. Franken is an “enhanced” conversion of the Game Boy game, Dr. Franken. It was developed by Motivetime and published by Elite Systems in Europe and DTMC, Inc. in North America in 1993.
Continue reading The Adventures of Dr. Franken, Super Nintendo
Frankenstein 2000, ZX Spectrum
Icon Software‘s 1985 release – Frankenstein 2000 – has the barest of premises when it comes to links to the Mary Shelley novel, but it does count as a ‘Frankenstein‘ game in my opinion. And it’s actually not a bad game either, which might come as a shock to some people.
Maniac Mansion, NES/Famicom
The NES/Famicom version of Maniac Mansion was developed and published by Jaleco in 1990 and is still worth playing today. It’s a fine port of a great game and translates well enough to Nintendo‘s machine that it arguably plays even better than the C64 original (although many will cry “Sacrilege!” to that).
The Violinist of Hameln, Super Nintendo
The Violinist of Hameln is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Daft and published in 1995 by Enix and is based on the Japanese manga series of the same name. The game was a Japan-only release, but a fan-made translation patch is available to play the game in English.
Worms, Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar version of Team 17‘s Worms was developed by Ocean Software and first published by Telegames in 1998. It was the final Atari-licensed title to be released for the Jaguar. This port is based on the PlayStation version of Worms, which is a good thing because the PS1 version is arguably the best version of the game ever made.
Wolfenstein 3D, Atari Jaguar
id Software‘s classic first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, was ported to the Atari Jaguar by John Carmack and his by-then-famous band of merry programmers and artists, and – unsurprisingly – it’s an excellent conversion. The game was published by Atari Corporation in 1994.
Bear Bovver, ZX Spectrum
Bear Bovver was created by well-known coder Jon Ritman, with music by Guy Stevens, and was published for the ZX Spectrum by Artic Computing in 1983. It’s basically a BurgerTime clone, except you’re dropping batteries down a series of platforms, onto a car at the bottom of the screen, instead of burger buns and patties onto plates.
Mr. Wimpy, Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 version of Ocean Software‘s Mr. Wimpy was programmed by David Selwood and was first published in 1984. And unfortunately this simple BurgerTime rip-off has a similar problem to the terrible BBC Micro version, although this time it’s an issue getting on to ladders – not off of them (which is a big problem in the BBC version). In the C64 version you’ll lose lives unnecessarily, because the fast-moving enemies will often get you while you’re struggling to line yourself up to climb a ladder. Which can be hugely frustrating. It’s not quite as bad as the BBC version, but it’s still a tangible problem with the controls.
Mr. Wimpy, BBC Micro
The BBC Micro conversion of Ocean Software‘s infamous BurgerTime rip-off, Mr. Wimpy, was coded by Richard Kay and first released in 1984. And – without any hesitation – I can say that it is absolutely terrible.