Konami‘s 1993 Game Boy game, Kid Dracula, is a cutesy spin-off from the Castlevania series. It’s actually a remake of the 1990 Famicom game, “Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun“.
Tag Archives: Cult Game
Kid Dracula, NES/Famicom
Known in Japan as “Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun“, this cute and humorous Castlevania spin-off was initially released by Konami, in Japan only, in 1990, for the Nintendo Famicom. Numerous fan translations exist for the game, but it was also officially released in English for the first time – as “Kid Dracula” – in 2019, in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. That’s the version I’m showing here.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, PC
Developed by Troika Games and published by Sierra On-Line in 2001, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a rich and complex RPG with isometric 2D graphics, set in a fantasy world undergoing an industrial revolution. The game mixes magic and technology in a Victorian-styled “Steampunk” setting; is completely open-ended, and features lots of different races (humans, orcs, gnomes, elves, dwarves), with complicated – even racist – societal themes developing as you discover the world and interact with its many characters.
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Chase HQ, ZX Spectrum
There’s no doubting that Ocean Software‘s 1989 Spectrum conversion of Taito‘s classic Chase HQ is impressive. Programmed by John O’Brien, with graphics by Bill Harbison, and sound by Jonathan Dunn, this 8-bit chase game really pushes the Spectrum to its limits, and puts pretty much every other third-person driving game on the Speccy to shame, with its amazing road movement and exciting gameplay.
Starglider, Amiga
Argonaut Software‘s Starglider, when it first came out, was a flashy release. It came in a big blue box, with a novella, a manual, and a single floppy disk. Magazines were raving about it, and I remember buying it… for the ZX Spectrum. LOL.
Starglider, Atari ST
The Atari ST version of Argonaut Software‘s pioneering 3D shooter, Starglider, first came out in 1986 – a year before the Amiga version (for some reason – I don’t know why).
Typhoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child, Atari ST
Developed by Dan Gorlin Productions and originally released for the Atari ST by Brøderbund in 1988, Typhoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child is a simple but brilliant shooter/collect ’em up with analogue controls.
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Super Street Fighter II Turbo, 3DO
The 3DO has a surprisingly good port of Capcom‘s classic beat ’em up, Super Street Fighter II. It was released as Super Street Fighter II Turbo and features a few tweaks that differentiate it from other versions of the game, such as fight speed (three settings) and a difficulty slider (eight settings).
Castlevania Chronicles, PlayStation
Castlevania Chronicles is a remake of Akumajō Dracula – the first Castlevania game – and it was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET) and first published by Konami in 2001. In it, you play as the vampire hunter Simon Belmont, who must defeat Dracula and save Transylvania from the vampire’s tyranny.
X, Game Boy
This game – called simply “X” – was a Japan-only release, in 1992, on the original black and white Game Boy, but its conception and development would later have a profound effect on Nintendo‘s confidence in producing 3D-based games.
X was created by British developer Argonaut Software (specifically, by Dylan Cuthbert, who was later infamously ‘poached’ by Nintendo from Argonaut), and was a demonstration of their ability to produce 3D-based games on home video game systems. This impressed Nintendo, who then tasked Argonaut with creating a new 3D game on their Super Nintendo console, which eventually became the classic Star Fox. And the rest is history… Sort of.
The King of Grabs 