ActRaiser is an interesting Japanese fantasy action game that was developed by Quintet and published by Enix on the Super Nintendo in 1990. It has side-scrolling, platform-based hack-and-slash sections, with an interesting overhead ‘God game’ component.
Tag Archives: overhead
Blaster Master, NES/Famicom
Released in Japan and North America in 1988, and Europe in 1991, Sunsoft‘s Blaster Master is a mixture of platforming and shooting that was a minor hit on the Nintendo Famicom/NES.
Super Contra, Arcade
Super Contra is the sequel to Contra and was developed and distributed into arcades by Konami in 1988. It’s another challenging vertical screen run-and-gun shooter featuring super soldiers Bill and Lance, fighting the same alien creatures as seen in the previous game. Except this time they’re on a different mission and events are set one year later.
Cannon Fodder, Game Boy Color
Believe it or not: Sensible Software‘s classic Amiga game, Cannon Fodder, was also released for the Game Boy Color, and it’s actually not a bad game at all. It was developed by Sensible Software themselves – so is very authentic to the original – and was published by Codemasters in 2000.
Galaga: Destination Earth, PlayStation
Galaga: Destination Earth is a modern re-imagining of the classic Namco arcade game, Galaga, developed by British studio King of the Jungle and published by Hasbro Interactive for the PlayStation and Windows in 2000.
Sim Ant, PC
Initially released for PC MS-DOS in 1991, Sim Ant (aka SimAnt) is a video game that simulates the life of an ant colony. It’s a game that has fascinated me since I first played it, in the same way that watching a real ant nest – or documentaries about ants – fascinates me.
Ikari Warriors, MSX
The 1987 MSX2 version of the classic coin-op, Ikari Warriors, is arguably the best 8-bit conversion of this scrolling shooter around. It was converted by SNK themselves, so is about as authentic as an MSX fan could hope for. In fact: the producer of this port was Koji Obada, who designed the original arcade game.
Thunder Force II, Megadrive/Genesis
Techno Soft‘s Thunder Force II originally came out for the Sharp X68000 home computer in 1988 and this Megadrive port followed later, in 1989. It’s official title is “Thunder Force II MD” – the ‘MD‘ of course meaning ‘Megadrive‘.
Aliens: Thanatos Encounter, Game Boy Color
Developed by an Australian company called Wicked Witch Software for Crawfish Interactive, and published by Fox Interactive in 2001, Aliens: Thanatos Encounter is an overhead shooter in the style of Team 17‘s Alien Breed. It was released exclusively for the Game Boy Color.
Hover Bovver, Atari 8-bit
Jeff Minter‘s early grass-cutting maze game, Hover Bovver, was first released by Llamasoft in 1983 for both Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit systems. Both versions are fairly pointless points-scoring exercises with gameplay and maze layouts that don’t really make much sense.
The King of Grabs 