Tag Archives: Retro Gaming History

Samurai Shodown II, Neo Geo

SNK‘s Samurai Shodown II is a legendary fighting game for the Neo Geo, first released in arcades in 1994, then later for home consoles.

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Windjammers, Neo Geo

Windjammers is a legendary two-player sports game from Data East, published on the Neo Geo in 1994. It can of course be played single-player, against the AI, too.

It is kind of a cross between tennis and Frisbee-throwing. Or maybe even table hockey and Frisbee-throwing… The intro screen describes itself as “the flying disc game“. It’s weird but fun, and instantly playable, whatever it is.

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Yars’ Revenge, Atari 2600

Written by Howard Scott Warshaw and published by Atari, Inc. in 1982, Yars’ Revenge is one of those old video games that plays a lot better than it looks, and is much more subtle that you might think upon first inspection.

In fact, it took me decades to actually ‘click’ with the game and finally be bothered to learn how to play it properly.

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Pokémon Ruby Version, Game Boy Advance

Pokémon Ruby Version – released the same time as Pokémon Sapphire Version – was developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo in 2002 in Japan and 2003 everywhere else. It is known as a ‘third generation’ Pokémon game.

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Castlevania: Harmony Of Dissonance, Game Boy Advance

The second Castlevania game released for the Game Boy Advance, Harmony of Dissonance was published by Konami in 2002.

In this game you play as Juste Belmont, a direct descendant of Simon Belmont – the protagonist from the first Castlevania. And – for some reason – he has a blue glow around him, and a blue trail, that he leaves in his wake as he moves…

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Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Game Boy Advance

This handheld version of Mario Kart was developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo on the Game Boy Advance in 2001, and it is quite wonderful to play! Like pretty much every Mario Kart game ever made… What’s not to like about them?

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Advance Wars, Game Boy Advance

Advance Wars is turn-based tactical war game developed by Intelligent Systems and was first published in North America on September 10th 2001.

As everyone knows: the following day the world witnessed the horrific attacks on the World Trade Centre, and this tragic event resulted in the delay of Advance Wars being released to the rest of the world.

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Pac-Mania, Arcade

Pac-Mania is the 1987 sequel to the classic Pac-Man, and it is generally very highly-rated by those who’ve played it.

Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani was involved in Pac-Mania‘s development for Namco, so the game is properly canon, totally authentic, and deviously subtle.

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Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Super Nintendo

The follow-up to one of the best platform games of all time (Super Mario World), is – unsurprisingly – also one of the best platform games of all time!

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island was released by Nintendo in 1995 to much anticipation, and it didn’t disappoint.

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