Developed by a team led by Yu Suzuki at Sega in 1985, Space Harrier is a super-fast third-person, flying-into-the-screen fantasy blasting game, originally housed inside a hydraulic cabinet in arcades. This would jerk around as you moved the control stick, giving you a feeling of movement as you played the game.
Tag Archives: Japanese
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Arcade
Capcom‘s Cadillacs and Dinosaurs is a side-scrolling beat ’em up, based on a series of comics (and an animated TV series), and first released into arcades in 1993.
The game bears all the hallmarks of classic Capcom arcade games of the time: vivid, colourful graphics, relentless action, and violent, cartoon humour.
Rainbow Islands, Arcade
Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 is possibly Japanese game developer Taito‘s finest hour. On any system.
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium, Megadrive/Genesis
For my money: THE best game on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis.
Sega‘s very own level-grinding RPG franchise comes to full fruition in this fourth instalment of the Phantasy Star series, first released in 1993.
Continue reading Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium, Megadrive/Genesis
Killer7, PlayStation 2
Killer7 – it has to be said – is possibly THE weirdest game of all time.
Part first-person shooter; part on-rails shooter. A full-on nightmare of strange characters, both playable and not.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, GameCube
It is debatable what the best Mario Kart game of all time is.
Panzer Dragoon Saga, Sega Saturn
Considered by many to be the best game on the Sega Saturn, Panzer Dragoon Saga is a level-grinding RPG set in a world where people fly dragons (so God knows why it is called “Dragoon” – other than bad translation!).
It was first released in 1998 and was in development for two years.
Baten Kaitos Origins, GameCube
Baten Kaitos Origins is a prequel to Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, but released after the first game, by Namco in 2006.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, GameCube
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is a brilliant Final Fantasy-style, level-grinding RPG, initially released by Namco on the Nintendo GameCube in 2003.
Continue reading Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, GameCube
Kururin Squash!, GameCube
I only discovered this marvellous game recently, on the back of posting screenshots of its predecessor on here. But I’m extremely glad I did, because Kururin Squash! is a fantastic update of the same game mechanics that made Kuru Kuru Kururin so compelling to play: guiding a spinning stick around a series of mad, twisting mazes.