Tag Archives: jolly

Aisystem Tokyo, Megadrive/Genesis, Taito, Ving

Rainbow Islands Extra Version, Megadrive/Genesis

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The “Extra Version” of Taito‘s classic Rainbow Islands is a modified version of the original arcade game, where the levels have been rearranged and the enemies changed to make the game more challenging. There are some new power-ups to discover, and the bosses have also been changed too. Rainbow Islands Extra was released into arcades in limited quantities in 1988, and was also released on the Sega Megadrive in 1990 and the FM Towns in 1992.

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Dreams Co., Ltd., Game Boy Color, Taito, TDK Mediactive

Rainbow Islands, Game Boy Color

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Rainbow Islands on the Game Boy Color was ported by Dreams Co., Ltd. and published by TDK Mediactive in 2001. From what I can tell it was only released in Europe, which – considering it was created by a Japanese developer – is a little strange.

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Arcade, Century Electronics

Dazzler, Arcade

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Dazzler is an obscure early arcade game – first released in 1982 – from UK-based Century Electronics. In it you play as “OH” (Our Hero) and must deliver bananas to a “monkey” (really an ape) inside a maze, and avoid chasing vultures.

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Nintendo, Super Game Boy

Donkey Kong, Super Game Boy

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The Game Boy port of Donkey Kong was first released by Nintendo in 1994 and it really is something special. I’m showing the Super Game Boy version of Donkey Kong here, with its special arcade bezel border and enhanced colour palette. It was, in fact, the first Game Boy cartridge released with Super Game Boy enhancements. If you want to see the original B&W version, click here.

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Game Boy, Nintendo

Donkey Kong, Game Boy

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The 1994 Game Boy remake of Nintendo‘s iconic arcade game is something very special. It is an enhanced re-imagining of Donkey Kong that begins with the original game and then transforms into something amazing – a brand new game with nine themed stages and 95 individual levels.

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NES/Famicom, Ocean Software, Taito

Rainbow Islands, NES/Famicom

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The NES version of Rainbow Islands was developed and published by Taito (it was published by Ocean Software in Europe) in 1992. It is a decent enough port of the classic arcade game but does have some deficiencies compared to the original.

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FACE Co. Ltd., PC Engine

The Fairytale Dreams of Alice, PC Engine

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Originally released for the PC Engine in 1990 in Japan only as “Fushigi no Yume no Alice” (aka Alice in Wonderdream), this challenging and colourful platform game was fan-translated in 2021 as The Fairytale Dreams of Alice and is now fully playable in English.

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Amiga, Random Access, Sales Curve Interactive

Rod Land, Amiga

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The Amiga conversion of Rod Land is an enhanced port of the Jaleco arcade game from 1990. It features extra levels, extra animation, hidden features and bonuses, and glitch fixes. The conversion was done by Random Access and was published by Storm (a sub-label of The Sales Curve) in 1991.

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