Eight Man (aka “Eightman” aka “8 Man“) is a one or two-player scrolling beat ’em up based on Kazumasa Hirai‘s manga and anime character of the same name, who is considered one of the earliest Japanese cyborg superhero characters. The game was developed by Pallas and published exclusively for the Neo Geo by SNK in 1991.
Tag Archives: side scrolling
Usagi Yojimbo, Commodore 64
Also known by its more long-winded name: Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo, this elegant fighting game was developed by Beam Software and first published by Firebird in 1988. Programming was by Doug Palmer; script was by Paul Kidd; graphics by Russel Comte, and music by Neil Brennan.
Kosmic Kanga, ZX Spectrum
Kosmic Kanga is a bouncing, platforming, shooting game in which you play a large, yellow kangaroo that fires boxing gloves as bullets. The game was created by Dominic Wood and first published for the ZX Spectrum in 1984, by Micromania.
Jump Bug, Arcade
Jump Bug is a 1981 arcade game developed by Alpha Denshi, under contract with Hoei Corporation, and was distributed by Sega in Europe and Japan, and Rock-Ola in North America, and it’s still very much a fun game to play nowadays.
Defender, Atari 2600
It’s no secret that the Atari 2600 port of Defender sucks. Thankfully, though, the 2600 has a saviour in form of Defender II, the much better sequel.
Barnstorming, Atari 2600
Barnstorming was designed by Steve Cartwright and first published by Activision in 1982. Like most people who play it for the first time, I had to check if I was playing the game as intended, because there’s so little to it.
Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken, Megadrive/Genesis
Developed by Vic Tokai, and based on the “Magical Hat” manga series by Yōji Katakura, Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken was first released, by Sega, for the Megadrive in Japan in 1990. It is a colourful platform game with smooth movement, easy-to-understand controls, and gameplay that is fairly forgiving overall.
Continue reading Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken, Megadrive/Genesis
Decap Attack, Megadrive/Genesis
Decap Attack is a side-scrolling platform game, developed by Vic Tokai and published by Sega in 1991. This game was originally released in Japan, in 1990, as “Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken“, but developer Vic Tokai failed to secure the Magical Hat license for use outside of Japan, so decided to remove all traces of it, and completely re-skin the game. So Decap Attack is essentially a Westernised re-skinning of Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken.
Beach Head, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum version of Beach Head was developed by Ocean Software and published by US Gold in 1984.
Akumajō Dracula, MSX
The MSX and Famicom Disk System versions of Konami‘s original Akumajō Dracula (aka “Vampire Killer“), were being worked-on simultaneously by developers inside Konami, in 1985 and ‘86.
The Famicom Disk System version was released one month before the MSX version. Although they are essentially the same game, there are some significant differences between them.
The King of Grabs 