Tag Archives: magic

Witchaven II: Blood Vengeance, PC

The sequel to 1995’s Witchaven, Witchaven II: Blood Vengeance was once again developed by Capstone Software and published by Intracorp Entertainment. This time in 1996. It was the final game for both companies, before they went bust.

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Witchaven, PC

Developed by Capstone Software and published by Intracorp Entertainment in 1995, Witchaven is a sword and sorcery hack-and-slash ’em up, based on the Wyrm Works tabletop Role-Playing Game of the same name, and made using the Build Engine.

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Magical Starsign, Nintendo DS

This is the sequel to the excellent Magical Vacation on the GBA. Magical Starsign was developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo, exclusively for the Nintendo DS, in 2006. Unlike its predecessor, Magical Starsign was given an official release in the west, in English.

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Magical Vacation, Game Boy Advance

Magical Vacation is a GBA RPG, developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo, in Japan only, in 2001. An English fan translation is available for the game, but it’s unfortunately not yet complete. That said: the majority of the game has been translated, and it’s absolutely worth playing because this is such a beautiful adventure!

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Phantasy Star Gaiden, Game Gear

Phantasy Star Gaiden is a handheld RPG, released only in Japan for the Game Gear in 1992. The game was developed by Japan System Supply and is a short, non-linear spin-off from the main Phantasy Star series. A fan translation patch makes the game playable to non Japanese-speakers.

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Ranarama, Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad version of Steve Turner‘s Ranarama is every bit as good as the Spectrum original, although it is probably fair to say that it isn’t quite as colourful. It still looks good, though. And – even more importantly – it plays just as good, if not better, than the original.

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Minima, PC

Written for the PICO-8 development platform and first released in 2018, Minima is a miniature version of the early Ultima games and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi. It’s a tiny RPG with exploration, a scrolling overworld, first-person dungeon crawling, turn-based combat and movement, and NPCs to talk to.

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Wycheweald, ZX Spectrum

Wycheweald is a rare thing on the ZX Spectrum – an actual Role-Playing Game, with a first-person viewpoint and turn-based combat. It was created by Red Zebra and first released in 2023. And, while it is a little slow to play, it is well presented and quite absorbing. That is: if you like these kinds of esoteric RPGs. Which I do! 🙂

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Ultima: Runes of Virtue II, Game Boy

Developed by Origin Systems and published by FCI (North America) and Pony Canyon (Japan), in 1993, Ultima: Runes of Virtue II is the sequel to Ultima: Runes of Virtue, although in reality it is more of a remake than a sequel.

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Ultima: Runes of Virtue, Game Boy

Ultima: Runes of Virtue is a cut-down version of Richard Garriott‘s famous Ultima games, in particular the Age of Enlightenment trilogy, because Runes of Virtue features some of the main characters from those games. It was developed by Origin Systems and published by FCI in North America, and Pony Canyon in Japan, in 1991.

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