Developed by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation in 1995, Defender 2000 is a re-imagining of the classic Williams Electronics arcade game from 1981, but with more ‘realistic’ graphics. It was an Atari Jaguar exclusive and only appeared on Atari‘s ill-fated console, in cartridge form. It was released as a companion title to Tempest 2000 – also by Llamasoft – and which is arguably the better game of the two. Both are decent games, though.
Tag Archives: console
Planet of the Apes, PlayStation
The PlayStation version of Planet of the Apes was developed by French company Visiware and published by Ubisoft via Fox Interactive in 2002. The game was also released for Windows, and that version was released the previous year in 2001. It was actually the first video game ever to be based on the Planet of the Apes franchise. Although it is part of the same family of releases as the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color versions, it is a third-person 3D game and not a 2D platform game, like the handheld versions.
Ristar, Megadrive/Genesis
Ristar is a cute and colourful scrolling 2D platform game developed and published by Sega in 1995. It first came out for the Megadrive/Genesis and was later ported to the Game Gear, but it was only ever initially released on Sega console hardware.
Dropzone, NES/Famicom
Archer MacLean‘s classic side-scrolling shooter, Dropzone, was converted to the NES/Famicom by Eurocom Developments and it is an excellent adaptation of this fast-moving Defender derivative.
Silent Hill: Origins, PlayStation 2
Silent Hill: Origins – the fifth part of the Silent Hill series – was developed by British company Climax Action (with the help of some outsourcing), and not Konami, so was the first Silent Hill game not developed in Japan. It was initially released for the PlayStation Portable in 2007 and this PlayStation 2 port followed later, in 2008.
Silent Hill 4: The Room, PlayStation 2
Silent Hill 4: The Room was once again developed by Team Silent (an internal dev team at Konami Tokyo), and was first published by Konami in 2004. The word on the street is that Silent Hill 4 initially began life as a concept outside of the Silent Hill series and was later made canon when the devs decided to incorporate it. It plays differently to the previous three Silent Hill games, but does have the same DNA, mixing first-person exploration with the familiar third-person survival horror gameplay.
Silent Hill 3, PlayStation 2
Whereas the second Silent Hill was more of a ‘spiritual successor’ to the first game, the third Silent Hill is a direct sequel to Silent Hill [one], continuing the story, but with new characters, enemies and locations. As well as re-visiting places familiar to those who’ve played the first game.
Silent Hill 2, PlayStation 2
Silent Hill 2 is the sequel to the classic PS1 survival horror game, Silent Hill, and was developed and published by Konami in 2001. And – like the first Silent Hill – it is considered to be one of the best video games of all time by those who’ve played it.
Silent Hill, PlayStation
This infamous survival horror game is the first game in the Silent Hill series and was developed and published by Konami in 1999. It is considered to be one of the best video games ever made by those who’ve played it.
Gorf, ColecoVision
A rare home port of Nutting Associates‘ famous 1981 arcade game, Gorf. Rare because the original developers licensed both Space Invaders and Galaxian for inclusion in the original Gorf, which restricted its reach in home markets (because anyone wanting to release the game on another system would also have to license both games to make it legal).
The King of Grabs 