Rod Land is a one or simultaneous two-player platform game created by Jaleco and first distributed into arcades in 1990. In it you control one of two fairies – Tam or Rit – each armed with a magic wand (or a ‘rod’, as the game’s title implies) which can immobilise monsters that chase you on each stage. The aim of the game is to rescue your ‘mom’ (and later, your dad) who has been kidnapped and taken to the top of a large tower.
Tag Archives: female lead
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut, PC
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge originally came out on the Nintendo DSi in 2010, and the “Director’s Cut” – shown here – is a remake for the PC that was first released on Steam in 2014. It was developed and published by WayForward Technologies.
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Silent Hill 3, PlayStation 2
Whereas the second Silent Hill was more of a ‘spiritual successor’ to the first game, the third Silent Hill is a direct sequel to Silent Hill [one], continuing the story, but with new characters, enemies and locations. As well as re-visiting places familiar to those who’ve played the first game.
Athena, Arcade
Athena is a platform action game featuring a female lead character called Princess Athena and was developed by SNK and first released into arcades in 1986.
Ion Fury, PC
Ion Fury is a cyberpunk-themed first-person shooter, developed by Voidpoint and published by 3D Realms in 2019. It is a prequel to the 2016 game, Bombshell.
Ion Fury runs on a modified version of Ken Silverman‘s Build Engine and is the first original commercial game to use the Build Engine in twenty years.
Bionic Commando: Elite Forces, Game Boy Color
Developed by an American company, called Nintendo Software Technology, Bionic Commando: Elite Forces is the only game in the Bionic Commando series to be developed and published by Nintendo (and not the franchise owner, Capcom). It first came out – exclusively for the Game Boy Color – in the year 2000, and is a sequel to Bionic Commando on the Game Boy.
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The Second Samurai, Megadrive/Genesis
The Second Samurai is the sequel to First Samurai and was developed by Vivid Image and published by Psygnosis for the Megadrive and Amiga in 1994. It is a scrolling platform action game with a samurai sword-wielding hero on a mission to defeat The Demon King. In this sequel Mr. Samurai has a female partner who can fight alongside him.
The game was programmed by Raffaele Cecco (famous for Cybernoid, Exolon and Stormlord, among other things), with graphics by Teoman Irmak and music by Brian Marshall.
The Great Giana Sisters, Amiga
Developed by Time Warp Productions and published by Rainbow Arts in 1988, the Amiga version of The Great Giana Sisters is maybe the best-looking and most playable version of this infamous and arguably overrated platform game, but it isn’t anything special.
Power Strike II, Game Gear
Power Strike II is a re-titling of the second Aleste game on the Game Gear. It was again developed by Compile and published by Sega in Europe and Brazil in 1993. The original Japanese title was “GG Aleste II: Lance Bird“.
GG Aleste, Game Gear
The Aleste series of shooters is well known on the MSX, Sega Master System and Super Nintendo, and on the Game Gear this spin-off is known as “GG Aleste” (or Power Strike in some territories). It was developed by Compile and published by Sega in 1991.