Developed by Nintendo and TOSE Co., Ltd., Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters is the sequel to Kid Icarus – a much-loved game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. Of Myths and Monsters was published by Nintendo, exclusively for the original Game Boy, in 1991 in North America, and 1992 in Europe. For some reason, it wasn’t released in Japan, where it was made.
Continue reading Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Game Boy
3D Bomberman (aka 3-D Bomber Man aka Sanjigen Bomberman) is an early, first-person interpretation of the Hudson Soft Bomberman concept. It was released in – Japan only – for MSX, Sharp X1, FM-7, PC-6001 and PC-8000 home computers in 1984.
In spite of the game’s title, this is not a true 3D game as it doesn’t contain any polygonal graphics, it’s just an old school way of describing a game that takes place along the ‘Z’ axis of an X,Y,Z three-dimensional grid.
The ZX Spectrum version of Poogaboo: La Pulga 2 – the sequel to the classic Bugaboo (The Flea) – was coded by the same guy who created the original (Paco Suárez), so plays similarly, and is also what I’d call an authentic sequel.
Poogaboo was only ever released in Spain – by Opera Soft, in 1991 – so is relatively obscure as Spectrum games go. I’m a big fan of the original Bugaboo, but hadn’t heard of this sequel until recently, so was pleasantly surprised by its existence.
Sega‘s arcade game, Shadow Dancer, is the sequel to 1987’s arcade hit, Shinobi. It is the second (and final) arcade game in the Shinobi series, and was first distributed into arcades in 1989.
The Commodore 64 version of Gauntlet II was developed by Gremlin Graphics and was published by US Gold in Europe, and Mindscape in North America, in 1987.
Released in 1999, this is the sequel to Legend of the River King and is another JRPG twinned with a fishing game. It is more detailed and refined than its predecessor and is by far the better game of the two. It was developed by Victor Interactive Software and published exclusively for the Game Boy Color by Natsume.
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master is the second sequel in the Shinobi series, released by Sega – exclusively for the Megadrive/Genesis – in 1993. Shinobi III sees Sega slightly changing the focus of this famous platform/action game, with less emphasis on difficulty and more on the speed at which you play the game and the timings of your attacks. Which will be welcomed by some players.
Continue reading Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Megadrive/Genesis
The Revenge of Shinobi (known in Japan as “The Super Shinobi“) is the 1989 Megadrive/Genesis sequel to the classic Sega arcade game. It once again features Joe Musashi, and takes place three years after the events of the first game. The criminal organization “Zeed” have reformed and have renamed themselves “Neo Zeed“, and they have decided to exact their revenge on the Oboro Ninja Clan by killing Joe’s master and kidnapping his bride, Naoko. So you must rescue your fiancée, and get revenge for the death of your master.
Poogaboo: La Pulga 2 is the rather obscure sequel to the ZX Spectrum classic, Bugaboo (The Flea), aka La Pulga. It was written by the original author of La Pulga (Paco Suárez), and was published by Opera Soft, for PC MS-DOS, the ZX Spectrum, MSX and Amstrad CPC, in 1991.
The Typing of the Dead: Overkill was developed by Modern Dream and published by Sega in 2013. It is a first-person shooter that fuses the gruesome and colourful horror of the House of the Dead series, with keyboard typing mechanics. A sort of: “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing with Zombies and Monsters“, if you will.
The King of Grabs 