In 1987 Konami released the hugely successful run-and-gun shoot ’em up Contra in arcades, and Gryzor is the localised European conversion of that game, published by Ocean Software in 1988.
Tag Archives: side scrolling
Beach Head, Commodore 64
Beach Head is an infamous war-based action game created by Access Software and first published for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers in North America 1983. It was later released by US Gold in Europe in 1984.
The game is set in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War and features five individual stages of combat, each based on a fictitious amphibious assault of an enemy island. You can play Beach Head at four difficulty settings.
Demon Front, Arcade
Demon Front is a 2002 arcade game developed and manufactured by Taiwanese company International Games System. It is a scrolling run-and-gun shooter that is basically a shameless clone of Metal Slug, but with a few unique ideas of its own.
You can play either single player or two player simultaneous and can choose between four different characters at the start of the game. There are three different buttons on the arcade cabinet – shoot, jump, and shield – and the basic idea is to run left to right, blasting everything that gets in your way.
The Kristal, Amiga
The Kristal is an obscure British adventure game based on an un-produced theatre play written in 1976 (called “The Kristal of Konos“), developed by Fissionchip Software and published by Addictive Games in Europe and Cinemaware in North America. The fact that Cinemaware picked up The Kristal for distribution in the US and Canada is a surprise in itself, as that kind of thing didn’t happen very often back in 1989 when this game was first released.
Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu, PC Engine
Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu is a scrolling beat ’em up with platforming elements, first released for the NES by Hudson Soft in 1990, and was later released for the PC Engine in 1991.
Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu, NES
The Famicom/NES version of Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu was developed by Now Production (who made Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti and Splatterhouse 3, among others) and was published by Hudson Soft in 1990. It’s a side-scrolling beat ’em up with platforming elements based around the famous movie actor Jackie Chan.
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.
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, PC Engine
Also known as Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, Rondo of Blood is a famous entry in Konami‘s Castlevania series that was initially made exclusively for the PC Engine CD and first published in 1993.
Lunar Jetman Retrospec Remake, PC
Another Retrospec remake of a classic Ultimate game. This time: Lunar Jetman. This one was released in 2002 and unfortunately is another flawed piece of software.
Outlaws, Commodore 64
Outlaws was released by Ultimate Play the Game in 1985 for the Commodore 64. It is a side-scrolling action game with a Wild West theme, with a main character riding a horse, trying to shoot outlaws and protect a local town over a variety of different stages.