Tag Archives: puzzles

Enix, Produce!, Super Nintendo

Mystic Ark, Super Nintendo

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Developed by Produce! and published by Enix in 1995, Mystic Ark was only ever released in Japan for the Super Famicom, although an English fan translation does exist, making the game playable to Western audiences. And it is a very good RPG, well worth playing now.

Mystic Ark has been described by some as “The 7th Saga II“, and while it does share some similarities with The 7th Saga (by having a circular monster radar and also featuring some of the same monsters) it is not really a sequel as it plays quite differently.

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Enix, Produce!, Super Nintendo

Brain Lord, Super Nintendo

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Brain Lord is a strangely-titled, obscure Japanese action RPG developed by Produce! and published by Enix for the Super Nintendo in 1994. The game was officially translated into English and released in North America, but was never released in Europe.

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Amiga, Guildhall Leisure Services, Krisalis Software

Legends, Amiga

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Legends is a cutesy action adventure game developed for the Amiga by Yorkshire-based Krisalis Software and first published in 1996 by Guildhall Leisure Services. It takes many of its cues from Nintendo‘s early Zelda games, but unfortunately doesn’t come close to the greatness of those games.

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Amstrad CPC, Domark, Incentive, Major Developments

Castle Master II: The Crypt, Amstrad CPC

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Castle Master II: The Crypt is the sequel to the ghost-hunting Freescape game, Castle Master, and it was released by Domark in 1990 as part of a double pack with the first Castle Master. As far as I know it was never published as a stand-alone title.

The Crypt is the same as Castle Master in many respects, except that the puzzles and environments are obviously different. The controls and aims are the same as before: destroy the spirits before they destroy you; find keys to open doors, and loot the treasures inside a haunted crypt to score points as you go.

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Amstrad CPC, Domark, Incentive, Major Developments

Castle Master, Amstrad CPC

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Castle Master is a first-person 3D adventure game set in a haunted castle, where the aim is to destroy spirits before they overwhelm you. The game uses the famous Freescape engine, which was an early 3D engine for creating polygonal environments. It was developed by Incentive Software and first published by Domark in 1990.

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Amstrad CPC, Electric Dreams

Spindizzy, Amstrad CPC

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I was always under the impression that Paul Shirley‘s classic Spindizzy originated on the Commodore 64 and was ported to other machines, but this interview with Shirley says that the game was actually originated on the CPC and ported to other systems. Since Paul Shirley coded the C64 version himself I had guessed that that was a logical assumption to make, but it now looks to be wrong.

The Amstrad version of Spindizzy – one of the best games ever made in my humble opinion – is pretty much perfect, with crisp, clean, detailed graphics and responsive controls.

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Amstrad CPC, ERE Informatique, ERE International

Get Dexter 2, Amstrad CPC

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The sequel to the classic Amstrad adventure, Get Dexter, is more of the same isometric puzzle-solving, and weird futuristic adventuring, except that this time the game world is comprised of interlinked exterior screens rather than a simple maze of rooms.

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Amstrad CPC, ERE Informatique, PSS

Get Dexter, Amstrad CPC

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Get Dexter is an isometric action puzzle game originally released for the Amstrad CPC in 1986. It was programmed by Remi Herbulot with graphics by Michel Rho. In its native France the game is known as “Crafton & Xunk“, which I always thought was a bizarre title for a video game.

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Addictive Games, Amiga, Cinemaware, Fissionchip Software

The Kristal, Amiga

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The Kristal is an obscure British adventure game based on an un-produced theatre play written in 1976 (called “The Kristal of Konos“), developed by Fissionchip Software and published by Addictive Games in Europe and Cinemaware in North America. The fact that Cinemaware picked up The Kristal for distribution in the US and Canada is a surprise in itself, as that kind of thing didn’t happen very often back in 1989 when this game was first released.

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Amiga, Invictus Games, Sadeness Software

OnEscapee, Amiga

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This rather obscure Prince of Persia/Another World/Flashback tribute was created by Hungarian developer Invictus Games exclusively for the Amiga 1200 in 1997. It was initially released on CD-ROM only, which is strange as the Amiga 1200 didn’t come with a CD drive, so players had to purchase an external CD-ROM drive or somehow transfer the game to a hard drive and play it that way. Invictus later re-released the game as freeware for Windows, in 2004, to coincide with the company’s 10th anniversary.

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