Tag Archives: Cult Game

Switchblade II, Atari Lynx

Switchblade II is a platform action game that originated on the Amiga; was developed by Gremlin Graphics, and published for the Atari Lynx by Atari Corporation in 1992. It is similar in some respects to Capcom‘s Strider, although the main character – Hiro – isn’t quite as dynamic as Strider Hiryu. The first Switchblade wasn’t released for the Lynx – just the sequel was.

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Switchblade II, Amiga

The sequel to Switchblade, Switchblade II originally came out on the Amiga and was developed and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1991. The designer/programmer of the original Switchblade, Simon Phipps of Core Design, had no involvement in the creation of this follow-up.

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Switchblade, Atari ST

Created by Simon Phipps (co-founder of Core Design), and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1989, Switchblade is a platform action game that could be described as a ‘spiritual successor’ to the Rick Dangerous games (also created by Simon Phipps). Switchblade features similar gameplay and graphics to Rick Dangerous, although it is more refined, less cartoony, and is far less frustrating to play. Switchblade came out on the Atari ST first and ports for the Amiga, C64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum followed.

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Rick Dangerous 2, Amiga

Rick Dangerous 2 is the sequel to 1989’s Rick Dangerous. It was developed by Core Design (with programming by Simon Phipps, graphics by Terry Lloyd, level design by Robert Churchill and sound/music by David Pridmore), and published by Micro Style (a Microprose sub-label) in 1990.

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Rick Dangerous, Amiga

Rick Dangerous is a cartoony Indiana Jones parody that was written by Simon Phipps, co-founder of Core Design, with graphics by Terry Lloyd. It was published on various 8-bit and 16-bit home computers by Firebird Software in 1989 and was generally well-received.

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Metro-Cross, Arcade

Metro-Cross is a scrolling race/action game in which you control a character known as “The Runner“, who must cross the finish line on a course full of obstacles, before the timer reaches zero. It was developed and distributed into arcades by Namco in 1985.

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Eric and the Floaters, ZX Spectrum

I find it pretty amazing that Hudson Soft‘s famous maze-based, bomb-blasting game, Bomberman, was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1984, but it was. It was developed by Hudson Soft themselves and published by Sinclair Research in the UK (much like Hudson Soft‘s other famous Spectrum game, Stop the Express). Even more bizarre is the name of the game, but there was a good reason for the change…

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Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters, Arcade

The second Lethal Enforcers, first released into arcades in 1994, goes in a different direction to the first Lethal EnforcersLethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters being a lightgun shoot ’em up set in the ‘Wild West’, in 1873. What hasn’t changed, though, is the fact that Konami used the same technology for digitising the graphics in this game as they did the first, and it still looks pretty dodgy as a result…

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Lethal Enforcers, Arcade

Lethal Enforcers is the first in a series of arcade lightgun shooters from Konami. It was initially released in 1992 and features digitised photos of people and places, which was relatively innovative back in ’92, but by today’s standards now looks pretty rough.

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Zzoom, ZX Spectrum

Written by John Gibson and published by Imagine Software in 1983, Zzoom is a simple first-person shoot ’em up where the aim is to protect refugees from attacking enemy forces.

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