Tag Archives: scrolling

Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Atari 2600

Activision‘s 1984 sequel to Pitfall!Pitfall II: Lost Caverns – was again designed and programmed by David Crane. This time, though, the cartridge had a custom display processor chip inside, which allowed for improved visuals and continuous four channel music (the Atari 2600 is normally only capable of two channel sound).

Gameplay is similar to Pitfall!, although in this follow-up the world you can explore is much bigger than previously and is made up of eight screens in width, by 27 screens in height, making 216 screens in total. When you walk from one screen to another the new screen scrolls smoothly into view.

Continue reading Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Atari 2600

Super Turrican 2, Super Nintendo

This sequel to Super Turrican was again created by German developer Factor 5 and was published by Ocean Software for the Super Nintendo in 1995.

Continue reading Super Turrican 2, Super Nintendo

Mega Turrican, Megadrive/Genesis

Mega Turrican is a Megadrive/Genesis-exclusive remake of the famous run-and-gun shooter which was popularised on the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts and later ported to other systems. This version was developed by Factor 5 (as were all of the later ports) and published by Data East in North America and Sony Imagesoft in Europe in 1994.

Continue reading Mega Turrican, Megadrive/Genesis

Super Turrican, Super Nintendo

Super Turrican is an enhanced conversion of the original Turrican, created by German developer Factor 5 and published by Seika/Hudson Soft in 1993.

Continue reading Super Turrican, Super Nintendo

Panther, Atari 8-bit

This Mastertronic Atari 8-bit budget release from 1987 feels like a budget game – and I don’t mean that as a compliment. It feels like an unfinished, un-polished game.

Panther is an isometric shoot ’em up in the style of Zaxxon, but with very little going on in the game itself.

Continue reading Panther, Atari 8-bit

Shinobi II: The Silent Fury, Game Gear

Shinobi II: The Silent Fury is the sequel to the first Shinobi on the Game Gear and it was first published by Sega in 1992.

It’s a scrolling platform action game where you control Joe Musashi on a mission to retrieve five elemental crystals that have been stolen by the enemy and hidden across different locations in the game.

Continue reading Shinobi II: The Silent Fury, Game Gear

Arena, Game Gear

The game’s full North American title is Arena: Maze of Death, but it was released as just Arena in Europe so that’s what I’m going to call it. It’s an isometric shoot ’em up with you playing a “pro-democratic freedom fighter” called Guy Freelander who must fight his way through a variety of industrial locations in order to reach a television station to broadcast proof of an evil corporation’s wrongdoings.

Continue reading Arena, Game Gear

Zybex, Atari 8-bit

Zybex is a 1988 shoot ’em up from British developer/publisher Zeppelin Games. It’s a horizontally-scrolling progressive weapons blaster with a main character that looks a bit like the jetpack guy from Dropzone.

Continue reading Zybex, Atari 8-bit

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament, Game Gear

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament is the even better sequel to the excellent Micro Machines. It is a single or multiplayer overhead racing game where you race different types of toy vehicles on a variety of miniature courses.

Continue reading Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament, Game Gear

Power Strike II, Game Gear

Power Strike II is a re-titling of the second Aleste game on the Game Gear. It was again developed by Compile and published by Sega in Europe and Brazil in 1993. The original Japanese title was “GG Aleste II: Lance Bird“.

Continue reading Power Strike II, Game Gear