Tag Archives: exploration

Backpackers Guide to the Universe, ZX Spectrum

Bob Hamilton‘s third game featuring the charismatic lead character ‘Ziggy’ (The Pyramid and Doomsday Castle being the previous two), this time exploring a large, alien planet in search of riches and knowledge.

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Underwurlde, ZX Spectrum

Ultimate Play The Game‘s Underwurlde was first released on the ZX Spectrum in 1984 and was the company’s eighth release (actually a simultaneous release with Knight Lore), and the third game featuring the lead character ‘Sabreman’ (Sabre Wulf and Knight Lore being the other two).

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SD Snatcher, MSX

SD Snatcher is a great, futuristic, level-grinding RPG that was first released on the MSX2 (in Japan only) in 1990 by Konami.

The game was co-written by Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame) and features overhead exploration sections, and first-person combat sections.

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Chibi-Robo!, GameCube

Released in 2005 on the Nintendo GameCube in Japan, and 2006 everywhere else, Chibi-Robo! is a memorably cute third-person 3D exploration game in which you take control of a small, house-cleaning robot that must do chores for a nutty family in order to rise up the worldwide robo rankings.

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Elite Plus, PC

There were many versions of the classic space combat/trading game, Elite. The best, though, is arguably Elite Plus on the PC in VGA. Made by Chris Sawyer of Realtime Software in 1991.

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Maziacs, ZX Spectrum

This very early 1983 ZX Spectrum game by Don Priestley is still a joy to play to this day.

The premise is simple: you have to find the missing gold and return it to its rightful place.

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Frontier: Elite II, PC

David Braben‘s long-awaited 1993 follow-up to the classic space trading game Elite unfortunately doesn’t involve Ian Bell.

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Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, Game Boy Advance

Taito’s Lufia series has enjoyed moderate success over a number of platforms and releases over the decades, but this Game Boy Advance release (out in 2002 in Japan, and 2003 in North America – it never got an official European release) is the best game in the series, in my opinion.

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