Created by Paul Voysey and Tayo Olowu, with graphics by Yemi Olowu, PSI Warrior is an almost mythical game, released fairly early in the C64‘s lifetime (1984) by Beyond Software.
Tag Archives: Sci-Fi
Mega Apocalypse, Commodore 64
Mega Apocalypse is the sequel to Crazy Comets. It was programmed by Simon Nicol, with graphics by Bob Stevenson and music by Rob Hubbard, and was published for the Commodore 64 by Martech in 1987. It is a single-screen shooter in which you have to destroy a series of planets to complete each stage.
Hyper Dyne Side Arms, PC Engine
A very good PC Engine/Turbografx-16 conversion of the 1986 arcade game from Capcom, Hyper Dyne Side Arms is side-scrolling, bullet hell shooter featuring Mecha characters, fighting an invading alien empire. It was first released in 1989 and was published by NEC Avenue in Japan, and Radiance Software in North America.
Hyper Dyne Side Arms, Arcade
Hyper Dyne Side Arms is a horizontally-scrolling shooter, developed and published by Capcom in 1986. It can be played by two players simultaneously and features special combination attacks that can be performed when both players merge together. The game, of course, can also be played single-player.
Koronis Rift, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC version of Koronis Rift is very similar to the Atari 8-bit original. The Amstrad‘s multi-colour graphics mode emulates the Atari graphics so well that you’d have to wonder if it’s a clone of Atari‘s graphics mode… It probably is. 🙂
Koronis Rift was ported to the Amstrad by Mr. Micro Ltd. – for Lucasfilm Games – and first published by Activision in 1987.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition, PC
This enhanced edition of the classic sci-fi RPG, System Shock, was developed by Nightdive Studios and first released in 2023. What Nightdive has done is bring the original 1994 classic into the modern age, with high definition graphics and a boatload of quality-of-life features.
System Shock, PC
This is the original VGA/SVGA* version of System Shock, first released in 1994. The game was developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems in North America and Electronic Arts in Europe.
*= System Shock was originally released in VGA (320×200 resolution), but was soon upgraded to SVGA (640×480 resolution) via patches and re-releases. I’m showing both the VGA and SVGA versions here.
3D Starstrike, Amstrad CPC
Written by Graeme Baird, Ian Oliver and Andrew Onions, 3D Starstrike was the hit-outta-nowhere* from Realtime Software, in 1984. Well, actually, that was the ZX Spectrum version, which came out the year before this – the Amstrad CPC port. Which was released in 1985.
*= Aided somewhat by the success of Atari‘s famous Star Wars arcade machine.
Quake II, Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 version of id Software‘s Quake II was developed by Raster Productions and released in 1999, by Midway in North America and Activision in PAL regions.
Alien 3, Game Boy
Now this is an interesting departure from the majority of Alien 3 games of the time… It’s an overhead scrolling adventure, rather than a side-scrolling shooter.
Developed by British firm B.I.T.S. (aka Bits Studios) and published by LJN in North America and Acclaim in Japan in 1993, Alien 3 on the Game Boy sees you playing Ripley, on Fury 161, and the similarity to the film ends there… LOL.