Tag Archives: difficult

Mega Apocalypse, Commodore 64

Mega Apocalypse is the sequel to Crazy Comets. It was programmed by Simon Nicol, with graphics by Bob Stevenson and music by Rob Hubbard, and was published for the Commodore 64 by Martech in 1987. It is a single-screen shooter in which you have to destroy a series of planets to complete each stage.

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Crazy Comets, Commodore 64

Programmed by Simon Nicol, with music by Rob Hubbard, Crazy Comets is the beginning of Simon Nicol‘s preoccupation with the arcade game Mad Planets.

Crazy Comets was first published by Martech in 1985.

After Crazy Comets, Nicol then made Mega Apocalypse, and then Apocalypse II (which never got released). Each game a clone of Mad Planets, although with Nicol‘s own twist.

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Zoids: The Battle Begins, Amstrad CPC

Zoids was a range of popular children’s toys during the 1980s. They were dinosaur robot-type things that fought each other and looked really cool (if you were six years old). The toys spawned TV shows and computer games, and this one – designed by The Electronic Pencil Company – is notable as one of the best.

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Gradius II, PC Engine

Gradius II on the PC Engine pushes the concept of this horizontally-scrolling shooter to new limits, with stunning new levels and an insane amount of challenge.

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Impossible Mission, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version of Dennis Caswell‘s classic platform/puzzle game, Impossible Mission, was first published in 1985 by US Gold. It is an okay adaptation. Playable, but nothing special.

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Hyper Dyne Side Arms, PC Engine

A very good PC Engine/Turbografx-16 conversion of the 1986 arcade game from Capcom, Hyper Dyne Side Arms is side-scrolling, bullet hell shooter featuring Mecha characters, fighting an invading alien empire. It was first released in 1989 and was published by NEC Avenue in Japan, and Radiance Software in North America.

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Hyper Dyne Side Arms, Arcade

Hyper Dyne Side Arms is a horizontally-scrolling shooter, developed and published by Capcom in 1986. It can be played by two players simultaneously and features special combination attacks that can be performed when both players merge together. The game, of course, can also be played single-player.

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R-Type II, Arcade

Irem‘s 1989 sequel to their hit shooter, R-Type, is definitely an upgrade to the series, rather than a recycling of parts of the first game (as the other supposed ‘sequels’ turned out to be).

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