Namco‘s Galaga – the sequel to Galaxian – came out in 1981 and was an immediate hit with gamers.
Gone were the days of Space Invaders and rigid attack patterns – the baddies in Galaga danced around the screen; made circles, and flew around in distinct and fluid attack patterns. It was new and it was revolutionary!
Taito‘s Bubble Bobble first came out in arcades in 1986. Its colourful, jolly, platform action proved a sensation among gamers, and it has since gone on to earn “legendary” status in the retro gaming community.
Known as “Be Ball” in its native Japan, Chew Man Fu is an excellent arcade-style puzzle game where the gameplay involves pushing and pulling coloured balls around a maze.
Namco‘s Mr. Driller first appeared in arcades in 1999, and this PlayStation version (pretty much the arcade version, plus a bunch of extras) came out in 2000.
Another classic ZX Spectrum game from Beam Software, Bedlam is a straightforward vertical-scroller, but done in an incredibly finessed manner.
Lode Runner on the 16-bit Atari ST is an interesting European take on this classic American platform game. It was developed by French company Loriciel in 1989 and may only have been released in France. Well, the only version I could find was in French.
The sequel to the hit platform game Dynamite Dan, Dynamite Dan II: Dr. Blitzen and the Island of Arcanum is more than just a cheeky update of the first game – it is much bigger, much more involving, and much, much more varied.
Rob Bowkett‘s 8-bit platform game became an instant hit on the ZX Spectrum when it first came out in 1985.
Dynamite Dan had groundbreaking graphics (for the time) and was seen as a “Jet Set Willy-beater” by some. One thing is for sure: it had (still has) a lot of character. Especially in the main sprite of Dan.
Mappy-Land is a console-only sequel to Namco/Midway‘s 1983 arcade classic, Mappy. It was first released on the NES in Japan in 1986, then much later in North America in 1989.
Bust-A-Move 2 is the console name for the famous arcade game Puzzle Bobble 2. Thus: the “Arcade Edition” subtitle. I’ve no idea why they changed it – it just makes things confusing.
Puzzle Bobble 2 is a brilliant game though. It was initially released into arcades by Taito in 1995 and this arcade conversion came a year later via Acclaim in 1996.
The King of Grabs 