Released in 1983 by Sierra On-Line, Ultima on the Atari 8-bit is more archaic and frustrating than the original Apple II version. And it looks pretty awful too, with a real lack of colour – especially in towns where the game is in monochrome unless you play on a machine (and monitor) that supports “artifacting“. In artifacting mode the dungeon and town graphics look similar to Apple II graphics, but they don’t really take advantage of the Atari‘s superior graphics capabilities.
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Ultima, Apple II
The original 1981 Apple II version of Richard Garriott‘s Ultima was the first version of Ultima ever released. It was published by California Pacific Computer and is a stripped-down version of the more widespread re-release version put out by Origin Systems in 1986 (which can be seen here).
SonSon II, PC Engine
SonSon II is the 1989 sequel to Capcom‘s 1984 arcade game, SonSon, and was developed by NEC Avenue and released exclusively for the PC Engine. Once again it is loosely based on the adventures of the “Monkey King” as popularised by the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.
Mad Max, PC
The 2015 game, Mad Max, was developed by Swedish company Avalanche Studios and published by Warner Brothers Games. It is an action/adventure/Role-Playing Game based on the hit 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road, and it is pretty bloody amazing!
Monkey Puncher, Game Boy Color
Monkey Puncher is a bizarre animal-based strategy game developed by Atelier Double/Taito and published by Event Horizon Software in the year 2000. In it you must train a monkey to become a successful boxer by showing him how to train, by feeding him food, and by praising him when he does good. You don’t actually control the monkey itself, but instead you devise a plan to increase its statistics in the hope that it’ll win matches.
Sim Ant, PC
Initially released for PC MS-DOS in 1991, Sim Ant (aka SimAnt) is a video game that simulates the life of an ant colony. It’s a game that has fascinated me since I first played it, in the same way that watching a real ant nest – or documentaries about ants – fascinates me.
Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, Super Nintendo
Torneko no Daiboken: Fushigi no Dungeon (translating as “Torneko’s Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon“) is the first game in the Mystery Dungeon series from Chunsoft, the developer known for creating the Dragon Quest series. It is a ‘Roguelike‘ dungeon-crawler, with randomised maze-like dungeons and was first released in 1993.
Continue reading Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, Super Nintendo
Rogue, Atari 8-bit
I was hoping that the Atari 8-bit version of Rogue might be better than the other 8-bit versions (or at least a balance between the awful C64 version and the half-decent Amstrad version), but I was hoping for too much – especially as it’s another Mastertronic “special” (ie. a good example of a publisher not giving a sh*t about what they released).
Rogue, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC version of Rogue is arguably the best of the 8-bit conversions from Mastertronic, although it’s not without its problems. It was developed by Icon Design and first published in 1988.
Rogue, ZX Spectrum
Rogue on the ZX Spectrum was developed by Icon Design and published by Mastertronic Added Diminsion in 1988. And it’s a pretty poor conversion of the classic dungeon-crawler.
