Patapon 3 – the third game in the Patapon series – was developed by Pyramid and SCE Japan Studio and published by Sony in 2011.
I have to admit that I’d never played any of the Patapon games until recently, and – wow – I’m very impressed!
Tag Archives: God game
SimCity, Super Nintendo
The 1991 Super Nintendo version of Will Wright‘s classic SimCity was developed by Nintendo themselves, so is somewhat different to previous versions. It’s actually one of the best versions of SimCity around.
SimCity 2000, PC
The very first version of SimCity 2000 was released for Apple Macintosh by Maxis in 1993, followed soon after by a PC MS-DOS version.
The game was one of the first to use “SVGA” high resolution (640×840) graphics on a PC and even used its own version of the Mac WIMP environment in a PC game. The designers of SimCity 2000 were obviously Mac fans who did everything they could to bring the (then) familiar Macintosh display style to the early PC. Ironically, a Windows version of SimCity 2000 followed soon after.
Although SimCity 2000 is only the second SimCity game, it is quite a leap from the original game. The same basic play tenets are there – build a city; make your residents happy; expand and enhance; do your best to clean up after natural disasters… The presentation, though, is so much more detailed than before. SimCity 2000‘s isometric graphics are beautiful and iconic. The in-game detail – in terms of variables to play around with – is so much more complex than before.
SimCity 2000 is pre-Sims era Maxis, but it sees them break new group for a second time. More, actually, because Maxis had released a number of successful Sim games before SimCity 2000 (off the top of my head: Sim Ant, Sim Earth, Sim Life, Sim Farm, and of course SimCity).
SimCity 2000 was Maxis at the top of their game, before The Sims sent them stratospheric.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimCity_2000
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.
ActRaiser was initially released in its native Japan in 1990, but it took another year for the game to be released in North America, and receive an official translation.
Nintendo of America objected to the original game’s satirising of Christianity, so demanded changes. As a result the US version was released in November 1991.
The action sections were also given easier level designs; enemies were given new attacks; spells required less magic to cast; more time was given to finish each segment; and spiked pits did not now instantly kill the player. On the flip side: the God game sections were made considerably harder. The American version includes “Professional Mode”, which appears when the game is beaten. This is the action side of the game with the original Japanese levels reinstated.
The European version, which came later in 1993, made even further changes to the American version. It changed “Professional Mode” to “Action Mode” and made it available from the very beginning.
Version differences aside, ActRaiser is a very playable and interesting game, and remains so to this day. It is also impressive programming and design from Enix, who were obviously developing for the Super Nintendo from a very early stage.
Of particular note is the game’s soundtrack, by Yuzo Koshiro, which is considered one of the best of its time.
These grabs are from the European PAL release of ActRaiser, in case you were wondering.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActRaiser
Populous, PC
And here is the PC MS-DOS version of Bullfrog‘s classic Populous (1989), for comparison’s sake.
Apart from the title screen, it’s pretty much identical to the Amiga version.
Personally, I think that the DOS version plays slightly better, because the mouse click response is not as sluggish as on the Amiga.
I also think that the version for sale over at GOG.com is this version, running under DOSBox. Which makes Populous perfectly playable on modern systems.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game)
Gog.com: https://www.gog.com/game/populous
Populous, Amiga
Bullfrog‘s classic ‘God game’, Populous, was first released on the Amiga in 1989. It broke new ground with its ingenious mix of real-time strategy and sandbox-style landscape-building.
The aim of the game is to beat a competing ‘God’ by rapidly restructuring and flattening land and allowing your population to expand onto it.
As your followers grow, so does your power, which enables you to try a few dirty tricks on your opponent (such as dropping earthquakes on them, or floods, or volcanoes), and try to gain the upper hand. When your (or his) population reaches saturation point: you can then start an ‘Armageddon’ war and slug it out to the end. And – as is usually the case in war – it’s all a numbers game. Whoever has the most followers usually wins.
Populous is still very playable and fun to play now. The rules are simple and the input responses on the mouse are just about fast enough on the Amiga to make it enjoyable.
A classic from Bullfrog and the game that really put them on the map. AND you can still buy it from GOG.com! Sweet.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game)
Gog.com: https://www.gog.com/game/populous
