Phantasy Star Gaiden is a handheld RPG, released only in Japan for the Game Gear in 1992. The game was developed by Japan System Supply and is a short, non-linear spin-off from the main Phantasy Star series. A fan translation patch makes the game playable to non Japanese-speakers.
Tag Archives: cute
The Addams Family, Game Gear
The Sega Game Gear got a version of the movie-licensed platform game, The Addams Family, in 1993. This one was programmed by Arc Developments, and not by Ocean Software (who had done most of the other versions). It was published in North America and Europe by Flying Edge, and by Acclaim in Japan.
The Addams Family, Megadrive/Genesis
The Megadrive version of Ocean Software‘s The Addams Family is excellent – definitely on-par with the SNES version; arguably even better because it has a nice little intro animation that the SNES version doesn’t have.
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.
The Addams Family, Amstrad CPC
The 1992 Amstrad CPC version of Ocean‘s ubiquitous The Addams Family is probably the ugliest out of all the versions. The chunky pixels and small play window certainly don’t make for much to look at.
The Addams Family, NES/Famicom
Developed and published by Ocean Software for the NES in 1992, The Addams Family is a cute and spooky platform game based on the 1991 Paramount film of the same name, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
The NES version follows much of the standard Ocean template for most of the game and it very much has its own look and visual style, and a few unique features of its own.
The Addams Family, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System version of The Addams Family is very good. It features an interesting player character in Gomez, in this one wearing a blue suit, who can jump and climb through a complex set of levels in order to rescue his other family members.
All the while holding his hand, distinctively, in his jacket pocket…
Pengo, Game Gear
Sega‘s classic ice-pushing arcade maze game, Pengo, is well-represented on the Game Gear, with this jolly conversion by Coreland Technology (the original developer of Pengo arcade). It was first released in 1990 in Japan, and 1991 in Europe. It doesn’t look like it had a North American release.
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.
Wee Ninja, Atari 8-bit
Wee Ninja is a homebrew scrolling platform game for Atari 8-bit home computers (with 32K of RAM). It was written by Paul Lay and first released by Playsoft in June 2025, to rapturous applause.
