Tag Archives: scrolling

Cannon Fodder, 3DO

Sensible Software‘s classic point-and-click shooter, Cannon Fodder, was ported by Krisalis Software and released for 3DO systems in 1994 by Virgin Interactive. And it is a playable and accurate port of the original, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any mouse support – you can only play the game using a gamepad. Which is a little disappointing because Cannon Fodder was designed to be played with a mouse. Thankfully it still works okay with a gamepad*.

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Cannon Fodder, PC

The MS-DOS version of Cannon Fodder was ported by Audio Visual Magic Ltd., and was not the first version of Cannon Fodder released (as some seem to think – I’m looking at you, Moby Games). No – the original version of Cannon Fodder was the Amiga version, which was developed by Sensible Software themselves.

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Wiz, Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version of Melbourne House‘s fantasy maze shooter, Wiz, unfortunately suffers from an ailment that might make the game unpalatable to many Commodore 64 fans, and that is: it has slow, jerky scrolling…

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Wiz, ZX Spectrum

Created by Silhouette Software and published for the ZX Spectrum by Melbourne House in 1987, Wiz is an obscure scrolling action game where you control a wizard who must climb levels to gain magical powers so that he can break the link that joins the dark world to the light world. Whatever that means…

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Gates of Zendocon, Atari Lynx

Developed by Epyx and published by Atari Corporation, Gates of Zendocon is a scrolling shooter that was released exclusively for the Atari Lynx in 1989. The game was in fact a launch title for the colour handheld, along with California Games, Blue Lightning, and Electrocop.

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Zarlor Mercenary, Atari Lynx

Zarlor Mercenary is a single or multiplayer vertically-scrolling “bullet hell” shooter that was developed by Epyx and released exclusively for the Atari Lynx in 1990. The game plays in landscape (horizontal) format, and the background scrolls horizontally too.

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Under Fire, Arcade

I’ve played a number of bad lightgun shooters with digitised graphics recently and Taito‘s 1994 arcade game, Under Fire, is probably the worst of the bunch.

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Operation Wolf 3, Arcade

Developed by East Technology for Taito, and first distributed into arcades in 1994, Operation Wolf 3 is – as the title suggests – the third game in the famous Operation Wolf series. It’s a lightgun shooter for one or two players, and it goes the route of using digitised graphics, which I personally think was a mistake, because the hand-drawn 2D graphics of Operation Wolf, and the sequel, Operation Thunderbolt, are much better than the dodgy visuals in this.

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Mechanized Attack, Arcade

Mechanized Attack is a manic, one or two-player lightgun shooter that was released into arcades by SNK in 1989.

On the face of it you could argue that Mechanized Attack is a clone of Taito‘s 1987 hit, Operation Wolf. You could also argue that it’s not a very good clone.

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Switchblade II, Atari Lynx

Switchblade II is a platform action game that originated on the Amiga; was developed by Gremlin Graphics, and published for the Atari Lynx by Atari Corporation in 1992. It is similar in some respects to Capcom‘s Strider, although the main character – Hiro – isn’t quite as dynamic as Strider Hiryu. The first Switchblade wasn’t released for the Lynx – just the sequel was.

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