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: hidden gem
Energy Breaker, Super Nintendo
Energy Breaker is an isometric, tactical, turn-based RPG, developed by Neverland and published exclusively for the Super Nintendo by Taito in 1996. It was only ever released in Japan but does have an English fan translation patch available for it, which makes it playable to Western audiences.
Alcahest, Super Nintendo
Alcahest is a scrolling, overhead action game – with RPG elements – that was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Squaresoft in 1993. It was only ever released in Japan, but a fan-made, English translation patch is available to make it fully playable to Western audiences. Which is what I’m showing here.
Warlocked, Game Boy Color
Warlocked is a neat handheld Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, developed by British company Bits Studios and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color in 2000. Unfortunately, due to “poor sales”, it was only ever released in North America.
Battle Valley, Commodore 64
A fine side-scrolling action game released in 1988 on the budget Rack-It label (for a mere £2.99), Battle Valley is a hectic mixture of tank blasting and helicopter flying, with a pounding soundtrack and solid graphics.
The King of Grabs 