Konami‘s “Akumajō Dracula” was first released in 1986 for the MSX2. It helped set the template for a series that is still going (relatively) strong to this day – the Castlevania series.
This MSX game was also the first game in the Castlevania series to be given an English language release, and it was released in 1987 in Europe under the title of “Vampire Killer“, which then changed to “Castlevania” when the North American NES version of this game was released on cartridge.
Also known as “The Quest for Identity“, Flashback is a classic platform action game from Delphine Software International, set some time in the future, where you’re trying to piece together your memory after a recent trauma. The MS-DOS version was first published by US Gold in 1993.
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle is a simple platform-based cartoon adventure for kids that is based on the TV series, The Smurfs, and was developed and published by Coleco and released for the ColecoVision and Atari 2600 in 1982.
Continue reading Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle, ColecoVision
The ColecoVision port of Bill Hogue‘s pioneering and influential Atari 8-Bit platform game, Miner 2049er, was programmed by Mike Livesay and published by Micro Fun in 1983. It is an excellent game, but it is arguably way too difficult for its own good.
The famous sequel to Nintendo‘s classic Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. sees the roles reversed in this cute platform game, in that this time it’s Mario (aka Jumpman, as he was known back then) who is the protagonist, and Donkey Kong who has been kidnapped and must be rescued. This time, by his son, Donkey Kong Junior.
Cabbage Patch Kids: Adventures in the Park is an action/platform game based on the Cabbage Patch Kids toys that were popular in the mid-Eighties (and are still available to this day). It was first released for the ColecoVision in 1984.
Continue reading Cabbage Patch Kids: Adventures in the Park, ColecoVision
The ZX Spectrum conversion of Data East‘s Midnight Resistance was created by Jim Bagley and Keith Tinman and was published by Ocean Software in 1990. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that it is probably the best run-and-gun shooter on the humble Speccy, and punches well above the machine’s weight.
The fourth and final Adventure Island game for the NES/Famicom was only ever released in Japan, in 1994. Now – thanks to the magic of fan translation patching – the game can be played by people who don’t read Japanese. In fact: Adventure Island IV has been translated into more than just English. It’s also patchable into Spanish, Polish and Arabic, thanks to the efforts of various fan translation groups.
Super Adventure Island II is the sequel to Super Adventure Island and was developed by Make Software, Inc. and first published by Hudson Soft in 1994. It is somewhat different to the first game, though, and has RPG elements, as well as also being more open-ended in how you play it.
Adventure Island II on the Game Boy is actually a port of Adventure Island III on the NES/Famicom. The Game Boy Adventure Island numbering scheme ignores the first game in the series and this 1993 handheld conversion is the rather excellent part three for the NES/Famicom, but re-titled as part two for the OG Game Boy. Because it’s always fun to confuse people with mismatched titles in a series…
The King of Grabs 