The Game Boy Color port of Croc 2 is a 2D version of the PlayStation sequel that was developed by Natsume and published by THQ in 2001.
Tag Archives: Japanese
Chase HQ, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System version of Taito‘s classic Chase HQ was first released in 1991, and it is a relatively poor approximation of the ground-breaking arcade game.
Wario Land, Virtual Boy
Wario Land on the Nintendo Virtual Boy (aka Virtual Boy Wario Land) was developed by Nintendo R&D1 and first released in 1995. It’s a platform game that was designed to utilise the Virtual Boy‘s stereoscopic 3D capabilities, and therefore features objects that swing in and out of the screen, and also allows the player (as Wario) to explore foreground and background areas.
Knights of the Round, Arcade
Knights of the Round is a three-player hack-and-slash arcade game, developed and distributed by Capcom in 1991. The fact that the developers – for whatever reason – neglected to include the word “Table” at the end of the title of their game hints at some hilariously bad translation, and plenty of terrible spelling mistakes, which is exactly what you get in this game…
Twinkle Tale, Megadrive/Genesis
Developed by ZAP Corporation and published by Wonder Amusement Studio (a subsidiary of Japanese record label Toyo Recording), Twinkle Tale is a scrolling ‘bullet hell’ shooter released exclusively for the Sega Megadrive, in Japan only, in 1992. Fan translations into English, Spanish and Korean exist, making the game accessible to a good proportion of the world outside Japan.
OutRunners, Arcade
OutRunners is the 1993 sequel to the classic driving game, Out Run. It is specifically designed for two player head-to-head gameplay, which is why the game renders two screens – side by side – by default. For the purposes of this article, though, I’m showing just a single screen, because it looks better.
With enough machines, OutRunners could accommodate up to eight players racing against each other at the same time. An online version of the game was also released, allowing players to race each other over the internet, which was revolutionary for the time.
Splatterhouse, FM Towns
The FM Towns version of the controversial Namco arcade game, Splatterhouse, was developed and published by Ving – in Japan only – in 1992. It doesn’t suffer from any of the censorship, that some versions of the game do, and is a completely uncut and almost perfect port of the arcade original.
Gauntlet 4, Megadrive/Genesis
Gauntlet 4 (aka Gauntlet IV) was developed by M2 and published by Tengen in 1993, exclusively for the Megadrive/Genesis. In some respects the development of this game is just as interesting as the game itself.
Gauntlet 4 began life as a homebrew remake of Gauntlet, among a small group of friends in Japan, for the Sharp X68000 home computer. Atari Games, the developer of the original Gauntlet, eventually caught wind of the project and commissioned the group (now named M2) to produce a sequel instead.
Choplifter, NES/Famicom
The NES/Famicom version of Choplifter was reprogrammed and published by Jaleco in 1986, although it was only ever officially released in Japan.
Choplifter, SG-1000
The SG-1000 version of Choplifter was published – in Japan only – by Sega in 1985, and it is surprisingly good. It’s actually one of the better versions of the first Choplifter, with decent controls and some unique features not seen in other versions.
The King of Grabs 