Tag Archives: Monsters

Castlevania, Nintendo 64

Developed by Konami‘s Kobe division and first released in 1999, Castlevania on the N64 (sometimes referred to as “Castlevania 64“) is a third-person 3D game – the first 3D game, in fact, in the popular horror/platform/action series.

Continue reading Castlevania, Nintendo 64

Vradark’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum Next

The sequel to Vradark’s Sphere on the ZX Spectrum, Vradark’s Revenge is another fantasy-based Roguelike from the same development team, SaNchez, only this time it has been created specifically for the ZX Spectrum Next, which is an enhanced, modern ZX Spectrum remake/variant that first came out in 2017.

Vradark’s Revenge was initially released in 2022 and an emulated version, that runs in Windows, was later released on Steam in 2023 through publisher “Drunk Fly Oy” (which is a bizarre company name if ever there was one).

Continue reading Vradark’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum Next

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.

Continue reading Vradark’s Sphere, ZX Spectrum

Aliens: Neoplasma, ZX Spectrum

Aliens: Neoplasma is a homebrew ZX Spectrum game that was released by a Russian dev team called “SaNchez” in 2019. The game is for Spectrum 128K models only and is a run-and-gun shooter with platforming elements. It’s available in English, Russian and Spanish (each language is a separate download).

Continue reading Aliens: Neoplasma, ZX Spectrum

Beyond the Forbidden Forest, Commodore 64

Beyond the Forbidden Forest is the 1986 sequel to 1983’s classic 8-bit survival horror game, Forbidden Forest. It was again devised and programmed by Paul Norman, and published by Cosmi Corporation in North America and US Gold in Europe.

Continue reading Beyond the Forbidden Forest, Commodore 64

Forbidden Forest, Commodore 64

Created by Paul Norman for Cosmi Corporation, Forbidden Forest is a legendary survival horror game from 1983 in which you play an archer trying to avoid attacks from a variety of hostile creatures inside a sprawling forest.

Continue reading Forbidden Forest, Commodore 64

Rainbow Islands, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum has an excellent port of Taito‘s classic arcade game, Rainbow Islands, thanks to the developers at Graftgold. It was first published by Ocean Software in 1990.

Continue reading Rainbow Islands, ZX Spectrum

The Eidolon, ZX Spectrum

I didn’t even know that Lucasfilm Games‘ classic 8-bit fantasy exploration game, The Eidolon, was available for the ZX Spectrum until recently. It was ported to the Spectrum by P.A.W. Software and first published by Activision in 1986. And this is my first time playing it.

Continue reading The Eidolon, ZX Spectrum

Three Wonders, Arcade

Three Wonders is an unusual arcade game from Capcom that was first released in 1991. What’s unusual about it is that the game is based around three separate games – each of which you can choose to play in any order, cooperatively with a friend, and that are supposedly linked by the game’s storyline and characters.

Continue reading Three Wonders, Arcade

The Eidolon, Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version of Lucasfilm GamesThe Eidolon came out just after the Atari 8-bit original, in 1985. The game divided critics, but in my opinion it is an atmospheric and unusual cave exploration game, with weird-looking monsters and scary-looking dragons, and is still worth playing today.

Continue reading The Eidolon, Commodore 64