Konami‘s Cave Noire is a smart little handheld ‘Roguelike’ dungeon crawler for the Nintendo Game Boy that was first released in Japan in 1991. Cave Noire did not receive a release outside of its native country, which is a pity because it’s an excellent game.
Tag Archives: combat
Final Fantasy Legend II, Game Boy
This 1991 sequel to the classic Squaresoft RPG Final Fantasy Legend is considered by many to be even better than the first game. And I would have to concur with that view.
Final Fantasy Legend, Game Boy
Final Fantasy Legend on the Nintendo Game Boy is a game that particularly resonates with me because I remember buying it back in 1989 and playing it to death over the space of six months. Everywhere I went at the time I had my Game Boy, battery pack, and Final Fantasy Legend cartridge, and I would play it whenever I had the time. And when I hear the iconic music playing it takes me back like a time machine…
Lady Stalker: Challenge From The Past, Super Nintendo
This 1995 Japan-only Taito release is a follow-up (spin-off, rather than a sequel) to Landstalker on the Sega Megadrive.
Continue reading Lady Stalker: Challenge From The Past, Super Nintendo
Laser Squad, ZX Spectrum
Another Julian Gollop classic – Laser Squad was one of the earliest squad-based tactical combat video games, released in 1988, and was originally developed for the ZX Spectrum (and later converted to various other systems).
Civilization, PC
Sid Meier‘s Civilization is a classic turn-based strategy game first released by MicroProse in 1991.
Since then it has been re-made and re-released many times, such is the allure of its classic gameplay.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Game Boy Advance
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga on the Game Boy Advance is a brilliant mix of platforming and level-grinding.
The ‘twist’ in this game is that you control both Mario and Luigi simultaneously during the game, and can switch between each character – or use them in tandem – to solve certain puzzles.
Continue reading Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Game Boy Advance
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 5]
Seiken Densetsu 3 was released by Squaresoft in 1995 and an English fan translation came out in 2000. Only five years after the game’s original release there was a fan translation… That’s unheard of. And there are various translations available now, including German and French.
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 4]
I absolutely love the graphical style of Squaresoft‘s Seiken Densetsu 3. It’s a masterwork of pixel graphics artistry. Everything in it, from the characters, to the buildings, to the items, and to the magic spell effects are all incredibly well presented and thought-out. These are definitely among the most iconic 2D RPG graphics ever made. And the people who made them deserve a round of applause from the rest of the gaming world for creating them. 🙂
Seiken Densetsu 3, Super Nintendo [Part 3]
One mistake I made when I first played Seiken Densetsu 3 was: I didn’t know where the magic spells were. This is probably a common mistake among first time players.
You have to press ‘down’ from the item menu ring to find and use your magic spells, and I probably played the first twenty levels or so without using my character magic at all. If you’re going to give this great game a try for the first time, don’t make the same mistake that I did. Press down to use your magic (and spirits) when the item ring is visible. Pressing up and down cycles through them. The same system as is used in shops for buying and selling. It does take some getting used to although you can quickly switch characters using the L and R buttons, which is useful in shops and essential in combat.
