Let’s not beat around the bush: Vampire: Master of Darkness is a blatant rip-off of Castlevania, but it’s a good one. It was developed by SIMS Co., Ltd. and published by Sega for the Master System and Game Gear in 1992.
Tag Archives: Cult Game
Emerald Dragon, Super Nintendo
Emerald Dragon is a Japan-only RPG that was developed by Alfa System and published by MediaWorks for the Super Nintendo in 1995. It was given an English fan translation (by Translation Corporation) in 2014, which is great because it is an excellent game!
Secret Commando, Sega Master System
Known in North America as “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (complete with movie licensed characters), and “Ashura” in Japan. Also known as: “Not-So-Secret Commando“, since this is an unsubtle clone of Capcom‘s classic 1985 arcade game, Commando (and SNK‘s 1986 game, Ikari Warriors – since it has a simultaneous two-player mode and level designs that echo that game). Joking aside: it’s a pretty good clone of Commando, although it does play rather slowly.
Outlaws, Commodore 64
Outlaws was released by Ultimate Play the Game in 1985 for the Commodore 64. It is a side-scrolling action game with a Wild West theme, with a main character riding a horse, trying to shoot outlaws and protect a local town over a variety of different stages.
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap, Game Gear
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap is a platform action game developed by Westone and published by Sega in 1992. It is considered to be one of the best games on both the Master System and the Game Gear.
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F-Zero GX, GameCube
F-Zero GX is the successor to F-Zero X (Nintendo 64) and is a fast-paced, futuristic racing game featuring 3D graphics and challenging gameplay. It was also the first significant video game collaboration between Nintendo and Sega, having been developed by Sega‘s famous Amusement Vision (AV) team (with Shigeru Miyamoto acting as producer) – the same team who made the brilliant Super Monkey Ball series. In fact, F-Zero GX uses an enhanced version of the 3D engine that powered Super Monkey Ball.
Starquake, BBC Micro
Steve Crow‘s classic Spectrum game, Starquake, was converted to the BBC Micro by Kenton Price and published by Bubble Bus in 1987.
Graphically, the game is rather chunky because it uses a low-resolution screen mode (presumably so that more colours can be used on-screen at the same time), but the gameplay is mostly the same as the original.
Golvellius: Valley of Doom, Sega Master System
Developed by Compile and originally released for the MSX in 1987 Golvellius was converted to the Master System by Sega in 1988. It is an action RPG with overhead, flick-screen exploration, Zelda-like sword-based combat and scrolling sections through caves.
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Royal Stone, Game Gear
Royal Stone is a tactical, turn-based fantasy RPG with combat and magic that was released for the Game Gear – in Japan only – by Sega in 1995. Thankfully, an English fan translation does exist, so that we – non-Japanese-speakers – can now understand the storyline and enjoy the game in full.
Ghosts ‘N Goblins Arcade, Commodore 64
Ghosts ‘N Goblins Arcade is another 2015 release from Nostalgia that re-makes the original (flawed) Elite port of Ghosts ‘N Goblins, and it features completely new graphics, sound, and gameplay features that bring it more into line with the original Ghosts ‘N Goblins arcade game.
