Tag Archives: pioneering

GameCube, Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, GameCube

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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii in 2006 and is an unusual, beautifully-produced game with stunning visuals and evocative gameplay. It was the final first-party release from Nintendo for the GameCube.

Twilight Princess features involving, varied, and ever-evolving gameplay, with a more mature-looking Link in the title role (possibly in response to criticism of its predecessor, 2002’s The Wind Waker, due to its cartoony, cel-shaded graphics). The story involves Link trying to stop Hyrule from being engulfed by a corrupt parallel dimension called The Twilight Realm.

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Bethesda, id Software, PC, Steam, Windows

Doom, PC

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This is the 2016 version of Doom, sometimes referred to as “Doom 4“, because it is essentially the fourth iteration of the classic id Software first-person shooter.

And: it really is quite something…

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Addictive Games, ZX Spectrum

Football Manager, ZX Spectrum

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It might look like an outdated pile of crap by today’s standards but Addictive Software‘s 1982 game, Football Manager, was a massive hit on the ZX Spectrum at the time.

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Commodore 64, Maxis

SimCity, Commodore 64

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This classic city-building game was originally devised by creator Will Wright while he was working on the classic C64 shooter, Raid On Bungeling Bay. Wright found that he enjoyed making the overhead cities for the game – using his self-made editor – more than he enjoyed playing the game itself, so he set to work creating a game that would allow players to do the same.

SimCity was originally developed for the Commodore 64 and was initially released for that system in August of 1989, but was quickly ported to pretty much every video gaming system known to man at the time. It also spawned a long-running series, and provided a strong base from which developer/publisher Maxis would grow – specialising in “sim“-type games that would become its main market for decades to come.

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Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Black Version 2, Nintendo DS

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Pokémon Black Version 2 is a direct sequel to Pokémon Black Version (and White Version 2 is a direct sequel to White Version), and was released for the Nintendo DS in 2012 by The Pokémon Company. It was again developed by Game Freak, and takes place once more in the Unova region.

The story this time is set two years after the events of Black and White and the criminal organisation Team Plasma have returned as ‘Neo Team Plasma‘, and the player must once again thwart their plans to rule the world.

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Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Black Version, Nintendo DS [Part 2]

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What makes this game really special, though, are the new features and the incredible density of content. Few games have the sheer level of detail as Pokémon Black and White do.

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Game Freak, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Black Version, Nintendo DS [Part 1]

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Released in 2010 for the Nintendo DS, Pokémon Black and White are fifth generation Pokémon games that take place in the Unova region. They were once again developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company. I tossed a coin and chose to play Black Version for this playthrough, which is what these screenshots are from.

I took over twenty thousand grabs while playing this game and whittled them down to a thousand, then to 400 of the best shots. And because I’ve got quite a bit to say about Pokémon Black Version I decided to split this article into two parts.

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Incentive, Major Developments, Microprose, MS-DOS, PC

Dark Side, PC

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The 1988 MS-DOS version of the classic Freescape game, Dark Side, is arguably the best version of the game available, since it runs fast and the controls are very responsive.

Incentive Software published the game in Europe and Microprose published it in North America.

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Arcade, Gremlin Industries, Sega

Carnival, Arcade

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The classic 1980 arcade game, Carnival, was developed by Gremlin Industries (not to be confused with Gremlin Graphics) – an American company – and manufactured by Sega in 1980. It’s a funfair-themed game where the aim is to shoot moving targets while conserving your limited supply of ammunition for as long as possible.

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Access Software, Game Gear, Tiertex

World Class Leaderboard, Game Gear

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The Game Gear has a surprisingly good conversion of World Class Leaderboard in its library. It was programmed by British company Tiertex and published by Sega in 1991.

Anyone who knows golf games will know Leaderboard – created by Bruce and Roger Carver of Access Software – because it was one of the first really good golf games ever made for home computers. It has a very simple but effective control system that makes its easy to play and understand. All versions of Leaderboard use this two-bar, two-press control system, including this conversion on the Game Gear.

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