Tag Archives: Iconic

GameCube, Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, GameCube

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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii in 2006 and is an unusual, beautifully-produced game with stunning visuals and evocative gameplay. It was the final first-party release from Nintendo for the GameCube.

Twilight Princess features involving, varied, and ever-evolving gameplay, with a more mature-looking Link in the title role (possibly in response to criticism of its predecessor, 2002’s The Wind Waker, due to its cartoony, cel-shaded graphics). The story involves Link trying to stop Hyrule from being engulfed by a corrupt parallel dimension called The Twilight Realm.

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Commodore 64, Maxis

SimCity, Commodore 64

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This classic city-building game was originally devised by creator Will Wright while he was working on the classic C64 shooter, Raid On Bungeling Bay. Wright found that he enjoyed making the overhead cities for the game – using his self-made editor – more than he enjoyed playing the game itself, so he set to work creating a game that would allow players to do the same.

SimCity was originally developed for the Commodore 64 and was initially released for that system in August of 1989, but was quickly ported to pretty much every video gaming system known to man at the time. It also spawned a long-running series, and provided a strong base from which developer/publisher Maxis would grow – specialising in “sim“-type games that would become its main market for decades to come.

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Apple II, Datasoft

Bruce Lee, Apple II

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Predictably the Apple II conversion of Bruce Lee isn’t that great. It’s nowhere near as bad as the awful BBC Micro version, but it does have its problems. It first came out in 1984 and was programmed by Rick Mirsky.

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Access Software, Game Gear, Tiertex

World Class Leaderboard, Game Gear

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The Game Gear has a surprisingly good conversion of World Class Leaderboard in its library. It was programmed by British company Tiertex and published by Sega in 1991.

Anyone who knows golf games will know Leaderboard – created by Bruce and Roger Carver of Access Software – because it was one of the first really good golf games ever made for home computers. It has a very simple but effective control system that makes its easy to play and understand. All versions of Leaderboard use this two-bar, two-press control system, including this conversion on the Game Gear.

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Codemasters, Game Gear

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament, Game Gear

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Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament is the even better sequel to the excellent Micro Machines. It is a single or multiplayer overhead racing game where you race different types of toy vehicles on a variety of miniature courses.

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Atari 8-bit, Homebrew, Ultimate Play The Game

Gunfright, Atari 8-Bit

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One of the better Atari 8-bit homebrew Ultimate conversions, Gunfright was ported by Mariusz, Jose Pereira, Emkay and Saul Cross in 2017. It plays pretty much the same as the ZX Spectrum original and looks similar to the Commodore 64 homebrew release of 2017. In fact there may be a connection between them since one of the people who worked on the C64 port also worked on this.

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Atari 8-bit, Homebrew, Ultimate Play The Game

Knight Lore, Atari 8-Bit

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This conversion of the classic Knight Lore was ported to the 8-bit Atari by Krzysztof Dudek, Mario Krix, and Michal Radecki in 2008. And it’s another somewhat disappointing conversion, to be honest.

What I find frustrating about these homebrew conversions is how the programmers sometimes decide to change things to the detriment to the game, and don’t seem to realise that their choices are bad…

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Homebrew, PC, Retrospec, Ultimate Play The Game, Windows

Alien 8 Retrospec Remake, PC

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I’m sorry to say this because I love what Retrospec tried to do with this 2008 remake of Ultimate Play the Game‘s classic Alien 8, but the end result is unplayable, infuriating and flawed.

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Homebrew, PC, Retrospec, Ultimate Play The Game, Windows

Knight Lore Retrospec Remake, PC

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Some Retrospec remakes are very good, but occasionally they get it wrong and put something out that doesn’t really work. Knight Lore and Alien 8 are two Retrospec remakes of Ultimate games that just do not work as well as the originals.

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Homebrew, PC, Retrospec, Ultimate Play The Game, Windows

Atic Atac Retrospec Remake, PC

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This homebrew PC remake of Ultimate Play the Game‘s 1983 Spectrum hit Atic Atac was published for free in 2006. It is one of Retrospec‘s better remakes.

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