Hudson Soft‘s Adventure Island on the NES/Famicom is an adaptation of Sega‘s Wonder Boy arcade game, although subsequent Adventure Island games were original titles and the series went on to become a relatively popular ‘spin-off’ in its own right. Adventure Island was initially released in Japan in 1986, then in North America 1988, and finally in Europe in 1992.
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Megadrive/Genesis
The Megadrive/Genesis version of Bits Studios‘ Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein is a bit of a poor relation to the Super Nintendo version of the game. Mainly because the lack of colour in the visuals tends to make this version look a bit rough when compared to the SNES version. But it is what it is: a fairly bog standard platform game loosely based on Kenneth Branagh‘s 1994 film.
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Super Nintendo
The 1994 Super Nintendo game, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is an adaptation of the film of the same name, starring Robert De Niro, Helena Bonham Carter and Kenneth Branagh. It was developed by British company Bits Studios and published by Sony Imagesoft in North America only.
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Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu, NES
The Famicom/NES version of Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu was developed by Now Production (who made Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti and Splatterhouse 3, among others) and was published by Hudson Soft in 1990. It’s a side-scrolling beat ’em up with platforming elements based around the famous movie actor Jackie Chan.
Penguin Adventure, MSX
Penguin Adventure is the sequel to 1983’s Antarctic Adventure and was first published for the MSX in 1986 by Konami. The story again follows Penta, the Konami mascot penguin, who this time must bring home a golden apple in order to cure Penguette, the penguin princess.
Pokémon Gold Version, Game Boy Color
Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo in 1999 in Japan and 2000 everywhere else. They are ‘second generation’ Pokémon games and were released simultaneously as twin titles, as has become the norm with Pokémon games.
These were the first proper, full-colour Pokémon games, with graphics that have been created to take advantage of the Game Boy Color‘s extended palette (Pokémon Yellow, which preceded this game, didn’t really do that; the graphics were simply colourised from the black and white originals). And you can tell from the very beginning that the visuals in Gold/Silver are a step-up from what we saw previously.
Wario Land 4, Game Boy Advance
The fourth game in the Wario Land series (after Wario Land, Wario Land II, and Wario Land 3) is arguably the best one at this point, having been released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2001.
All three of the previous games were fun, varied, and beautifully-designed, but the enhanced graphics and power of the Game Boy Advance definitely gives this the edge over its predecessors.
Out to Lunch, Super Nintendo
Or, to give the game its full title: Pierre le Chef is… Out To Lunch. This side-scrolling platform game is all about a French chef trying to collect ingredients for his dishes by travelling to a variety of different countries to catch them.
The 1993 Super Nintendo version is the original, with the Amiga and CD32 ports coming later, in 1994. A Game Boy version was also released in 1993.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, PlayStation
Developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive in 1997, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a colourful 3D platformer featuring a cute crocodile.
Croc actually started out as a prototype 3D platform game featuring Yoshi from Nintendo‘s Super Mario series, but when it was pitched to Nintendo they rejected the idea, so Argonaut re-worked it into an original property.
Toki, NES
Toki is a conversion of the 1989 arcade game by Tad Corporation and it features a jumping ape who can spit bullets at his enemies. It’s a platform game with relatively short levels and occasional boss fights, and it is known for its rock-hard difficulty.
