Tag Archives: influential

La Abadía del Crimen, ZX Spectrum

I’m going to stick with the original Spanish title for this 1987 release by Opera Soft. The English translation being: “The Abbey of Crime“.

La Abadía del Crimen is an isometric adventure loosely based on the novel The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and follows the exploits of Friar William and his assistant Adso as they investigate a series of murders in a medieval Italian abbey.

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Kirby’s Adventure, NES

Kirby’s Adventure is the second game in the Kirby series (after Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy), and – boy – doesn’t it look good in colour?

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Kirby’s Dream Land, Game Boy

Kirby’s Dream Land for the Game Boy is the first game ever released in the long-running Kirby series. It was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo themselves in 1992.

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Deathsmiles, Arcade

Deathsmiles is an infamous (and much-loved) 2007 shooter from Cave – a Japanese company known for its relatively innovative and leftfield output. Cave shooters are ‘Bullet Hell’ in overdrive…

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Summer Games, Atari 8-bit

Epyx‘s classic multi-event sports sim, Summer Games, first came out on the Commodore 64, and this Atari 8-bit conversion came later.

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Dandy, Atari 8-bit

Dandy is an overhead maze shooter for up to four players, created by John Palevich for the Atari Program Exchange in 1983. It is the precursor to Gauntlet, Dark Chambers, and a whole host of other games.

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Ballblazer, Atari 8-bit

Another Lucasfilm Games‘ classic that originated on the 8-bit Atari, Ballblazer is a one-on-one, futuristic ball game played out on a giant checkerboard, with players inside floating hovercraft.

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Boulder Dash, Atari 8-bit

Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash was first released for the Atari 8-bit in 1984 (the Commodore 64 version came later).

Boulder Dash is one of those games that is very simple, but also very clever. Not to mention: extremely devious. In some levels, if you put a foot wrong, you’re toast and must re-start.

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International Karate, Atari 8-bit

International Karate was released in 1986 by System 3 Software.

It was written by Archer MacLean and was one of the first beat ’em ups – ever – to actually feel like a decent game to play and not a ridiculous slug-fest.

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Dropzone, Atari 8-bit

Archer MacLean‘s Dropzone was initially released on the Atari 8-bit machines in 1984, before it later appeared on the Commodore 64 and became a smash hit.

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