Tag Archives: Non-violent

Celebration, Ocean Software

Head Over Heels Week

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Happy April Fools Day!

A celebration of jokes and humour, and – in our world – video games.

Written by Jon Ritman, with graphics by Bernie Drummond, Head Over Heels was first released in 1987 and is still a fantastic game to play now – across a number of different formats.

So every day this week we’re going to be celebrating Head Over Heels – a classic 3D platform game like no other – starting with the ZX Spectrum original, and covering all the different versions of the game as the week progresses.

Anyway: welcome to April. You lovely gaming fools.

The King of Grabs

Head Over Heels on The King of Grabs:
ZX Spectrum version, Commodore 64 version, Amstrad CPC version, MSX version, Atari 800 version, Atari ST version, Amiga version, PC version, Head Over Heels Week

Arcade, Data East, First Star

Boulder Dash, Arcade

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This 1990 arcade version of First Star‘s classic Boulder Dash dispenses with Rockford as we know (knew) him, and replaces him with a miner’s hat-wearing boy, although this doesn’t affect the game negatively.

Continue reading Boulder Dash, Arcade →

Arcade, Taito

Rainbow Islands, Arcade

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Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 is possibly Japanese game developer Taito‘s finest hour. On any system.

Continue reading Rainbow Islands, Arcade →

Eighting, GameCube, Nintendo

Kururin Squash!, GameCube

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I only discovered this marvellous game recently, on the back of posting screenshots of its predecessor on here. But I’m extremely glad I did, because Kururin Squash! is a fantastic update of the same game mechanics that made Kuru Kuru Kururin so compelling to play: guiding a spinning stick around a series of mad, twisting mazes.

Continue reading Kururin Squash!, GameCube →

Eighting, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo, Wii U

Kuru Kuru Kururin, Game Boy Advance

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Kuru Kuru Kururin is a weirdly-named but wonderful (and original) Game Boy Advance game, developed by Eighting and first published by Nintendo in 2001.

The idea is that you have to control a spinning stick, and take it around a series of increasingly twisting and torturous courses, without touching the sides, or hitting other hazards. And do it against a time limit. It’s one of those games with a simple premise, but offers quite a tough and interesting challenge.

Continue reading Kuru Kuru Kururin, Game Boy Advance →