Tag Archives: difficult

Mr. Gimmick, NES/Famicom

Known as Gimmick! in Japan and Mr. Gimmick everywhere else, this 1992 release was an attempt by Sunsoft to push the graphical powers of the Nintendo Entertainment System further than they’d ever been pushed before (in order to compete with the Super Nintendo, which was relatively new on the market).

In order to do this, Sunsoft used all kinds of clever programming techniques using graphical tilesets and colours, and the end result is very striking. But it wasn’t enough to compete with the newer consoles of the time and Mr. Gimmick sank without a trace, into relative obscurity.

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Track & Field, Arcade

Konami‘s 1983 arcade hit Track & Field broke new ground with its button-bashing gameplay.

It also broke a fair few cabinets along the way, with arcade machine operators having to repair the buttons on machines quite often, to keep them operative (and therefore earning money). A broken Track & Field machine was no good to anyone, and people tend to get carried away and hit too hard when playing this game.

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Scramble, Arcade

Scramble was the first ever side-scrolling shoot ’em up, coming out in arcades in 1981.

It was certainly one of the earliest colour video games, and was a big hit for developer Konami and distributor Stern Electronics.

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Kung-Fu Master, Arcade

Irem‘s Kung-Fu Master is a brilliant side-scrolling beat ’em up from the video game arcades of 1984. And it has lost little of its appeal over the years, because Kung-Fu Master is precise, violent and fun. Not to mention a huge challenge.

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The Sentinel, Amiga

Geoff Crammond‘s The Sentinel (aka The Sentry in North America) is a strange chess-like game where you have to sneak up on an overseeing watcher, who is perched high on a platform, overlooking the play area, and absorb him before he does the same to you.

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Bugaboo (The Flea), ZX Spectrum

A 1983 Spanish cult hit from Paco & Paco (aka Indescomp), Bugaboo is a simple platform game were you have to jump from ledge to ledge, to reach the hole at the top of the cave, and freedom.

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Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City, Nintendo DS [Part 2]

I want to post some more grabs from Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City on the Nintendo DS. Because it really is one of the best RPGs of all time, and because I can’t recommend you play it highly enough.

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