Rainbow Arts‘ classic C64 shoot ’em up, Turrican, was converted to the Amstrad by Probe Software, and it demonstrates how to do this kind of side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter on the CPC. Compared to something like Gryzor, Turrican is streets ahead in terms of presentation and playability.
Tag Archives: guns
Gryzor, Amstrad CPC
In 1987 Konami released the hugely successful run-and-gun shoot ’em up Contra in arcades, and Gryzor is the localised European conversion of that game, published by Ocean Software in 1988.
Fred, ZX Spectrum
Written by famous Spanish software house Indescomp, Fred is a scrolling platform/maze game where you control a cartoon Indiana Jones-type character plundering treasures from an Egyptian tomb, while avoiding contact with ghosts and mummies.
Fred was first released in 1984. In its native Spain the game was published by Investronica, while in the UK and other parts of Europe the game was published by Quicksilva.
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures, Super Nintendo
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures is a run-and-gun platform/action game developed by Factor 5 (the German team who made Super Turrican, among others), with the supervision of LucasArts, and published by JVC in 1994.
The game features sequences based on the first three Indiana Jones films; the first being Raiders of the Lost Ark obviously; the second being Temple of Doom (my favourite), and the third being The Last Crusade.
Continue reading Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures, Super Nintendo
Doom 64, Nintendo 64
Developed by Midway Studios San Diego and published by Midway Games in 1997, Doom 64 is a sequel to Doom II that contains a single-player campaign, but no multiplayer.
In total there are 28 campaign levels and four secret levels. Monster and weapon graphics have been redesigned and are unique to Doom 64.
Doom, PC
This is the 2016 version of Doom, sometimes referred to as “Doom 4“, because it is essentially the fourth iteration of the classic id Software first-person shooter.
And: it really is quite something…
Demon Front, Arcade
Demon Front is a 2002 arcade game developed and manufactured by Taiwanese company International Games System. It is a scrolling run-and-gun shooter that is basically a shameless clone of Metal Slug, but with a few unique ideas of its own.
You can play either single player or two player simultaneous and can choose between four different characters at the start of the game. There are three different buttons on the arcade cabinet – shoot, jump, and shield – and the basic idea is to run left to right, blasting everything that gets in your way.
OnEscapee, Amiga
This rather obscure Prince of Persia/Another World/Flashback tribute was created by Hungarian developer Invictus Games exclusively for the Amiga 1200 in 1997. It was initially released on CD-ROM only, which is strange as the Amiga 1200 didn’t come with a CD drive, so players had to purchase an external CD-ROM drive or somehow transfer the game to a hard drive and play it that way. Invictus later re-released the game as freeware for Windows, in 2004, to coincide with the company’s 10th anniversary.
Carnival, Arcade
The classic 1980 arcade game, Carnival, was developed by Gremlin Industries (not to be confused with Gremlin Graphics) – an American company – and manufactured by Sega in 1980. It’s a funfair-themed game where the aim is to shoot moving targets while conserving your limited supply of ammunition for as long as possible.
Arena, Game Gear
The game’s full North American title is Arena: Maze of Death, but it was released as just Arena in Europe so that’s what I’m going to call it. It’s an isometric shoot ’em up with you playing a “pro-democratic freedom fighter” called Guy Freelander who must fight his way through a variety of industrial locations in order to reach a television station to broadcast proof of an evil corporation’s wrongdoings.
The King of Grabs 