Magical Vacation is a GBA RPG, developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo, in Japan only, in 2001. An English fan translation is available for the game, but it’s unfortunately not yet complete. That said: the majority of the game has been translated, and it’s absolutely worth playing because this is such a beautiful adventure!
Tag Archives: Cult Game
The Addams Family, Amiga
The Amiga version of Ocean‘s classic platform game, The Addams Family, was created by an internal team at Ocean Software in Manchester in 1992, working on multiple ports simultaneously, and trying their best to make great games under pressure.
Ranarama, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad version of Steve Turner‘s Ranarama is every bit as good as the Spectrum original, although it is probably fair to say that it isn’t quite as colourful. It still looks good, though. And – even more importantly – it plays just as good, if not better, than the original.
Batty, Amstrad CPC
Batty, Commodore 64
First published by Hit-Pak (the ‘budget’ label of Elite Systems) in 1988, the C64 version of the classic bat-and-ball action game, Batty, is more or less the same as the ZX Spectrum original, but with chunkier graphics. And, like the original, it is an excellent Breakout/Arkanoid clone.
Batty, ZX Spectrum
Written by Mark Crane and first published by Hit-Pak (the budget label of Elite Systems) in 1987, Batty is a clone of the games Breakout, and Arkanoid, but with a few of its own unique features.
The game was a minor hit on the ZX Spectrum and was also released for the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64.
Pastfinder, MSX
I would have to say that David Lubar‘s Pastfinder is one of my favourite games of all-time. Not only does it have an interesting player craft, but there’s also a compelling game buried within this seemingly impenetrable shooter.
Qix, Game Boy
The Nintendo Game Boy version of Qix was developed by Minakuchi Engineering. It was first published by Nintendo in 1990.
Spindizzy, ZX Spectrum
Originating on the Amstrad CPC, Spindizzy is a genius piece of coding and game design. It is an isometric exploration game, where you play as a spinning gyroscope (called GERALD) trying to collect gems across a large map of screens. It was designed by Paul Shirley, and the Spectrum port was handled by Phil Churchyard. Spindizzy on the Spectrum was published by Electric Dreams in 1986.
H.E.R.O. Is Back, Commodore 64
Created by Luca Carminati and first released in 2025, H.E.R.O. Is Back is a homebrew continuation of John Van Ryzin‘s classic mine rescue game, H.E.R.O.
