Lazy Jones is a cult classic Commodore 64 game that tries to cram as many derivative minigames into 64K as is possible – stuff like Space Invaders, Frogger, and platform game clones (one minigame is called Eggie Chuck – a direct reference to the classic Chuckie Egg).
Tag Archives: minigames
Herbert’s Dummy Run, ZX Spectrum
Herbert’s Dummy Run is the fourth game in the Wally Week series and was published by Mikro-Gen in 1985. It was written by Dave Perry and features Herbert Week – Wally’s baby son.
Sam & Max Hit the Road, PC
Sam & Max Hit the Road, released by LucasArts in 1993, marks the video game debut of the infamous dog/rabbit crime-fighting duo.
Created by artist Steve Purcell, Sam & Max are “freelance police” and basically engage in a series of surreal mysteries involving bigfoot, and a whole host of other weird characters and strange situations.
Super Mario Bros. 3, NES
Of the three Super Mario Bros. games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, this 1988 release must surely rate as the best.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Commodore 64
Back in 1985 gamers were astounded to see the release of an officially-licensed game, based on the pop band Frankie Goes To Hollywood. “Whatever will they think of next?” went the chattering classes. Well, just like the records that were burning up the charts, the Frankie Goes To Hollywood video game license turned out to be ‘gold dust’ to publisher Ocean Software, and the game itself is remembered as being a pretty good one (which is rare for licensed product).
Don’t Press The Letter Q, Oric
Released for the Oric by IJK Software in 1984, Don’t Press The Letter Q is a very early ‘minigame’-based adventure, in a similar vein to more modern titles like Warioware.
Considering that Don’t Press The Letter Q is over 35 years old now, it has stood the test of time remarkably well. And – considering that it is an Oric exclusive – it is something of a stand-out title on the platform. Arguably even the best game on the Oric.
Gunfright, ZX Spectrum
Another isometric action adventure from Ultimate Play The Game, this one with a Wild West theme.
Gunfright was first released in 1985 and uses the Filmation II Engine as first seen in Nightshade.
It Came From The Desert, Amiga
One of my favourite Cinemaware games, It Came From The Desert is a satirical detective story based on 1950s sci-fi B-movies about giant ants and was first released in 1989.
Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Super Nintendo
Konami‘s classic Super Nintendo platform game, Legend of the Mystical Ninja (1991), is about as much fun you can have on this particular system – it is just so chock full of variety and fun that it is undeniably one of the best games on the SNES.
Continue reading Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Super Nintendo
Beach Head II, Commodore 64
Soooo much better than the first Beach Head… Beach Head II is a balls-to-the-wall, digitised speech-laden action game that sees “The Allies” versus “The Dictator”. The game was developed by Access Software and first published in 1985.