Tag Archives: fantasy

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Game Boy Color

Before you skip the page, just a second while I quantify something… This game – and its successor, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – are both really good games… Even though they are based on something that I don’t care about. Harry Potter. I haven’t read the books (and I do like to read), and I haven’t seen the films (and I love films). Harry Potter just doesn’t interest me… But I do like both of these Game Boy Color Harry Potter games. They are fun RPG/level-grinders, with turn-based combat and Zelda-like adventure sections. They have good interfaces and lots of interesting items and spells. They are different.

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The Legend of Zelda, NES

1986 saw the release of the original The Legend of Zelda on the NES, although it wasn’t on cartridge – it was on floppy disk. Specifically: for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System (FDS).

A cartridge version, with battery backup-up saves, was released in North America in 1987.

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Dragon Warrior, NES

Developed by Chunsoft and released for the Famicom by Enix in 1986, Dragon Quest was a landmark moment in video game history.

Dragon Warrior is the American NES release of Dragon Quest, translated into English and tweaked here and there (I say “tweaked here and there” but the US version had battery back-up saves and the Japanese version used password saves, so there was a big difference there), and released by Nintendo in 1989. These grabs are from the later North American English language release.

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Hercules, Commodore 64

Steve Bak‘s insane-but-fun platform game, Hercules, was first released on the Commodore 64 by Interdisc in 1984. By “insane” I mean: the game is deliberately deceptive to the point of driving the player to insanity! 🙂

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Rings of Power, Megadrive/Genesis

Rings of Power is an isometric Role-Playing Game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Electronic Arts for the Sega Megadrive in 1991.

Unlike many RPGs of the time, Rings of Power is very open-ended.

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Alchemist, ZX Spectrum

This very early, side-scrolling fantasy action game was created by Ian Weatherburn for Imagine Software in 1983.

In the game you control the titular Alchemist – a guy who can shape-shift into a golden eagle and fly to places he can’t normally walk to.

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ActRaiser, Super Nintendo

Developed by Quintet for Enix in 1990, ActRaiser is a hybrid side-scrolling hack and slash platform game, with an overhead ‘God game’ type section.

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Doomdark’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum

Sequel to Mike Singleton‘s classic fantasy war game Lords of Midnight, Doomdark’s Revenge is much bigger and more complex than its predecessor, although essentially it still follows the same style of play as the original – with unique, turn-based movement and tactical combat.

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Lords of Midnight, ZX Spectrum

The late Mike Singleton‘s classic Lords of Midnight is a pioneering fantasy war game with strategy and RPG overtones. It was first released in 1984 on the ZX Spectrum by Beyond Software and immediately became a cult hit.

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