Tag Archives: keys

Croc 2, PlayStation

First released for the Sony PlayStation in 1999, and is the sequel to the smash hit Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Croc 2 is a 3D platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive.

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Ghosts ‘N Goblins, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version of Capcom‘s arcade classic, Ghosts ‘N Goblins, was first released by Elite Systems in 1986.

There is some confusion about who programmed the game. The title screen says that it was coded by Keith Burkhill, yet some sources say that Nigel Alderton programmed it. It could be that both worked on the game, but it’s not entirely clear…

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Ghosts ‘N Goblins, NES/Famicom

The NES/Famicom port of Capcom‘s classic arcade game, Ghosts ‘N Goblins, was developed by Micronics and first published in 1986. And – just like its parent – it is a very difficult game to make progress in.

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Vradark’s Sphere, ZX Spectrum

Vradark’s Sphere is a Roguelike fantasy role-playing game that was created by Aleksander Udotov, for 128K Spectrums, and first released in 2018. To me it is the epitome of what I would call “Modern Retro” (ie. a modern game, made to look old or be played on old hardware), and it looks and plays fantastically well.

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Pocky & Rocky 2, Super Nintendo

The sequel to Pocky & Rocky (known as Kiki Kaikai in Japan) was developed by Natsume and published by Ocean Software in Europe (by Natsume themselves in Japan and North America). Pocky & Rocky 2 was first released in 1994 and is a similar scrolling shooter to its predecessor, but with multiple companions, instead of just one.

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Slayer, 3DO

Based on TSR‘s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition ruleset, Slayer is a first-person Role-Playing Game that was developed by Lion Entertainment and released exclusively for the 3DO in 1994. The game was published by SSI in North America; by Mindscape in Europe, and by T&E Soft in Japan (under the title “Lost Dungeon“).

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Key Quest, VIC-20

Key Quest is considered to be one of the best games ever made for the Commodore VIC-20. It was programmed by Randy Ubillos and David Dixon of Computer Applications, Inc. and released on cartridge in limited numbers* by Micro-Ware in 1983.

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Montezuma’s Revenge, ColecoVision

Originating on Atari 8-bit home computers in 1983, this ColecoVision port of the pioneering platform game, Montezuma’s Revenge, was developed and published by Parker Brothers in 1984.

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Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, FM Towns

Origin/Blue Sky Productionsclassic MS-DOS RPG, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, was released for the FM Towns in 1993 by Electronic Arts Victor, Inc.*

*= Electronic Arts Victor was a joint venture between Electronic Arts and the Victor Musical Industries subsidiary of JVC, established in September 1992 in Tokyo. Electronic Arts Victor‘s mission was to translate Electronic Arts‘ library of games to Japanese language and to distribute them in Japan, as well as to create original titles for the Japanese market.

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Chaos Strikes Back, FM Towns

Chaos Strikes Back is a continuation of the classic Role-Playing Game, Dungeon Master. It’s a sequel – but not the sequel – to the first game, and was originally released as a stand-alone expansion disk on the Atari ST. On the FM Towns it was published on CD-ROM by Victor Musical Industries in 1990, and there’s a bit of faffing around to do before you can actually start the game*. Thankfully you can at least do this in English as there’s an option to play in that language.

*= Before you can play Chaos Strikes Back you must either create a new party (by entering the prison and choosing from the available portraits), and then save it to a new 720Kb floppy disk; or load a set of characters from a pre-existing FM Towns Dungeon Master save. You then need to enter the CSB portrait editor utility program and then click on ‘Make New Adventure’ to activate and save a new Chaos Strikes Back file to the disk. Only then will you be able to load and start the game…

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