Here’s a rare instance of a home computer game becoming an arcade game. The original version of Brøderbund‘s Spelunker was coded by Tim Martin. The 1985 arcade version was created by a (largely unknown) Japanese team at Irem. And it is a very good conversion and a decent game in its own right.
Tag Archives: Monsters
The King of Dragons, Arcade
Capcom‘s somewhat obscure 1991 arcade game, The King of Dragons, is a scrolling three-player fighting game set in a colourful fantasy world.
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.
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.
Feda: The Emblem of Justice, Super Nintendo
Developed by Max Entertainment and published – in Japan only – by Yanoman in 1994, Feda: The Emblem of Justice is a tactical JRPG that features two central characters who are fighting against the corrupted empire they used to serve. A fan translation makes the game playable in English.
Continue reading Feda: The Emblem of Justice, Super Nintendo
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!
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.
Godzilla: Monsters Attack, Game Gear
Godzilla: Monsters Attack on the Game Gear was only ever released in Japan (as “Gojira: Kaijuu Daishingeki“) in 1995, but a fan translation thankfully makes the game playable to non Japanese speakers. Surprisingly, this is a turn-based strategy game, and not an action game or a beat ’em up.
The Addams Family, TurboGrafx CD
The Addams Family for TurboGrafx-CD was developed by ICOM Simulations, Inc. and first published by NEC Technologies in 1991. It does not follow the template of all the Ocean ports of this game. It instead does its own thing entirely and takes advantage of the audio streaming from the CD by adding lots more sound and speech. Which gives it a distinctive “talkie” feel.
The Addams Family, NES/Famicom
Developed and published by Ocean Software for the NES in 1992, The Addams Family is a cute and spooky platform game based on the 1991 Paramount film of the same name, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
The NES version follows much of the standard Ocean template for most of the game and it very much has its own look and visual style, and a few unique features of its own.