The PlayStation version of Konami‘s Azure Dreams is an excellent level-grinder, and this Game Boy Color version is also very good, but differs somewhat from the original.
It still takes place in the provincial city of Monsbaiya, and you are still a Monster Hunter. Whereas the PlayStation version uses a 3D isometric viewpoint, this one instead goes for an overhead, 2D view. With titchy characters and intricately-detailed locations rendered as flat pixel art.
Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET) and published by Konami in 1997, in Japan, and in 1998 in North America and Europe, Azure Dreams is a ‘Roguelike’ Role-Playing Game about a young boy who wants to become a Monster Hunter.
Spyro the Dragon is the first game in the Spyro series and was developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony, exclusively for the PlayStation, in 1998. Spyro himself is a small, purple dragon, and in this opening game he is attempting to save his dragon friends who have all been turned into crystal by the evil Gnasty Gnorc.
The Game Boy Color port of Croc 2 is a 2D version of the PlayStation sequel that was developed by Natsume and published by THQ in 2001.
Developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade Software for the Amiga in 1991, Gods is a stylised platform game in which you play as Hercules, on a quest to make his way through five large stages, themed with Greek mythological motifs.
Vixen, by Martech, was released for a number of 8 and 16-bit home computer platforms in 1988, and it proved to be somewhat controversial. Mainly because the game used glamour model Corinne Russell as both reference for the lead character, and to plaster all over the packaging and marketing for the game, which upset a lot of vocal, prudish people in the UK, leading to calls for it to be banned. Retailer Boots even refused to stock the game unless Martech changed the game’s packaging…
Datasoft‘s 1984 release, Conan, is a curious game. It doesn’t seem to be directly related to either of the two Conan films released in the early ’80s (although it does use artwork from the sequel, Conan the Destroyer), so my guess is that it was a quick cash-in on the popularity of Arnold Schwarzenegger by the developers.
The game was originally written for the Apple II by Eric Robinson and Eric Parker, and the Commodore 64 version was created by Ron J. Fortier and John Butrovich.
This obscure isometric action/maze game was published by German company Starbyte in 1989 and is basically a clone of the 1983 Atari 8-bit game Flip and Flop. And it’s not a bad game, even though the title of it doesn’t make sense (it really should be “Clown-O-Rama” or “Clown-Mania” – the use of the “O” in this context doesn’t work in English).
First released for the Sony PlayStation in 1999, and is the sequel to the smash hit Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Croc 2 is a 3D platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive.
Now here’s a bizarre one from the dim and distant past… Uncle Poo, created by Diatec in 1983, is a weird old vertical screen game in which you play an old man who collects gems and money from a maze that is patrolled by monsters, and is slowly being flooded by water.
The King of Grabs 