This 1992 sequel to the arcade classic Terra Cresta is a PC Engine exclusive – it did not appear in arcades first.
It’s more of a remake than a sequel, but is incredibly varied and a more than worthy successor to Terra Cresta. As far as mainstream ‘Bullet Hell’ shooters go there are few better.
Terra Cresta is the sequel to the classic Moon Cresta and is a beautifully-made, vertically-scrolling shooter with progressive weapons build-up, and challenging ‘Bullet Hell’ action.
It was developed by Nichibutsu and released into arcades in 1985.
This 1985 Famicom Disk System conversion of BurgerTime is just as good as the arcade original – excepting for the slightly less colourful graphics.
The official conversion of BurgerTime for the MSX was created by Dempa Shimbunsha and Data East in 1986.
It looks a bit like a Spectrum game, which is ironic because there is no official BurgerTime on the ZX Spectrum (there are plenty of bad clones though).
BurgerTime is a classic Data East arcade game from the early 1980s – 1982 to be precise – and it is one that is held in high respect, probably for its high level of difficulty (arcade games that are generally considered to be ‘hard to master’ are often quite revered).
On the face of it, BurgerTime looks quite simple, and it is – simple to understand, that is. Not to beat.
Nintendo have a way of branching out their video game franchises in new and surprising directions, and 1993‘s Mario & Wario is a good example of that.
Electrician is a simple wire-connecting game originally made by Synapse Software for Atari 8-bit computers, and later converted to the Famicom Disk System by KEMCO in 1986.
The game is set in New York; the opening cut scene shows a beautiful and poignant pixel representation of the Twin Towers.
Lutter is an obscure-but-interesting combination of platform game and maze game, but with RPG elements – like levelling – also thrown into the mix.
You play the titular Lutter, a knight of the realm on a quest to rescue the princess from a maze-like castle of platforms, ladders, doors and monsters.
Translating into English as “Love Warrior Nicol“, Ai Senshi Nicol is an obscure Konami shoot ’em up, released for the Famicom Disk System in 1987. It has, to date, never been released outside of Japan.
Otocky is a cute and colourful side-scrolling shooter with a unique and interesting take on the subject. It was developed by SEDIC for ASCII Corporation and first published in 1987.
You see, rather than firing bullets, you throw balls at enemies to destroy them. And you can throw the balls in eight directions, so in effect you can shoot at enemies behind you (and above and below you) too.
The King of Grabs 