Tag Archives: Pat McCarthy

Gauntlet, NES/Famicom

The 1988 NES version of Gauntlet was developed and published by Tengen, and – surprisingly – it doesn’t feature the levels from the arcade original, but does its own thing instead.

Continue reading Gauntlet, NES/Famicom

Marble Madness II, Arcade

***CANNED GAME***

Marble Madness II is the unreleased sequel to the classic Marble Madness. It was developed in 1991 by Atari Games and underwent market testing in a variety of locations, but these were deemed a failure so the game was cancelled and never released.

Continue reading Marble Madness II, Arcade

Marble Madness, FM Towns

The FM Towns version of Marble Madness is pretty damn special. Not only does it have a unique symphonic rendition of the game’s famous soundtrack, but it also has a Time Trial mode, and you can also choose the colour of your marble! It was only ever released in Japan, and – like the excellent X68000 version – it was ported by Tengen and published by Home Data Corporation in 1991.

Continue reading Marble Madness, FM Towns

Marble Madness, Megadrive

The Japanese Megadrive release of Marble Madness is completely different to the North American and European release of the game and was developed and published by Tengen in 1993. It is far superior to the Western Megadrive/Genesis release and is more authentic to the arcade original. In fact: it is very, very close to the arcade game, in terms of graphics, sound and gameplay. If you didn’t know that the Japanese version of the game was different, I’d recommend checking it out as it may shock you to find out how good it is…

Continue reading Marble Madness, Megadrive

Marble Madness, X68000

The Sharp X68000 version of Atari‘s classic Marble Madness is pretty much arcade perfect – barring, of course, the trackball controls of the original arcade game. In fact: if you compare the graphics to the arcade game you might notice that they’re crisper and slightly higher resolution.

Continue reading Marble Madness, X68000

Skull & Crossbones, Arcade

I hadn’t seen this 1989 arcade game from Atari Games before, until I played it recently, and even then I found it on the Commodore 64 first, then realised that it was an arcade conversion.

Skull & Crossbones has all the ingredients of a classic arcade action game, but – having played it extensively now – I can see why it failed…

Continue reading Skull & Crossbones, Arcade

Rampart, Arcade

Atari Games1990 arcade game Rampart is a strange but compelling single-screen castle-building action game, with artillery-based shooting sections.

Continue reading Rampart, Arcade

Gauntlet II, Arcade

Gauntlet II is the 1986 sequel to the classic four-player arcade game, Gauntlet. It was made by pretty much the same Atari Games team that made the first game, so retains a lot of its qualities. Which is great, because the first Gauntlet was brilliant and fans wanted more of the same – only with enhancements. Which is exactly what they got.

Continue reading Gauntlet II, Arcade

Vindicators, Arcade

Vindicators is a one or two-player futuristic tank combat game released into arcades by Atari Games in 1988.

The simultaneous two-player co-op mode is arguably the most fun you can have with Vindicators, although the single-player game is also challenging.

Continue reading Vindicators, Arcade

Gauntlet Title Screens, Arcade

These Gauntlet title screens are cool.

They are from the 1985 arcade original. They show the potions, power-ups and monsters. How many shots to kill each monster. Plus some other interesting information about the game.

Continue reading Gauntlet Title Screens, Arcade