Tag Archives: side scrolling

The Violinist of Hameln, Super Nintendo

The Violinist of Hameln is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Daft and published in 1995 by Enix and is based on the Japanese manga series of the same name. The game was a Japan-only release, but a fan-made translation patch is available to play the game in English.

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Cobra, Commodore 64

The 1986 Commodore 64 version of Cobra – based on the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name – is infamous for its sheer awfulness. It is based on the more successful ZX Spectrum game, designed and programmed by the late Jonathan Smith, but has lost a great deal in translation to the C64.

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Super BurgerTime, Arcade

Super BurgerTime is the obscure 1990 sequel to Data East‘s classic 1982 arcade hit, BurgerTime. The game didn’t get wide distribution at the time of its original release, which is why it’s not that well known.

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Crime City, Arcade

Taito‘s Crime City in an obscure run-and-gun arcade game, first released in 1989. It is part of the Chase HQ series, and the two playable characters – Tony Gibson and Raymond Brody – are the same leads as in the first Chase HQ. You can play either alone, or two players can play the game simultaneously, cooperatively.

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Combat School, Arcade

Combat School is a 1987 arcade game developed and manufactured by Konami. In it you play a military recruit who is undergoing basic training at a Marine Corps training camp. The game is also known as “Boot Camp” in North America.

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Cadash, Arcade

If you’re looking for a weird, obscure fantasy action game to play you could do a lot worse than Taito‘s 1990 arcade game Cadash, which mixes platform gaming with RPG-style elements in a way that is rarely seen in this kind of coin-operated title.

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Big Trouble in Little China, Amstrad CPC

The 1987 Amstrad CPC version of Big Trouble in Little China is more or less a direct port of the ZX Spectrum original, but with slightly more colour in the graphics. It is noticeably slower than the Spectrum version, though.

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Big Trouble in Little China, Commodore 64

Based on the 1986 John Carpenter film of the same name, Big Trouble in Little China is a side-scrolling action game designed by Mev Dinc and published by Electric Dreams Software for the C64 in 1987. And it is pretty lame, it has to be said.

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Big Trouble in Little China, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version of Electric DreamsBig Trouble in Little China was the first released, coming out the same year as John Carpenter‘s famous film, in 1986. The Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 versions followed later, in 1987.

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Haunted Castle, Arcade

Haunted Castle is an obscure Castlevania arcade game, developed by Konami and first released in 1988. Until recently, I’d never seen it before, and playing it now I have to say that it is pretty unsophisticated for a late Eighties arcade game, and it pales into insignificance compared to other Castlevania games, like Super Castlevania IV or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It’s also insanely difficult. Maybe unfairly so.

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