Zero Wing is a side-scrolling bullet hell shooter developed by Toaplan and distributed into arcades by Namco in Japan and Williams Electronics in North America in 1989.
Tag Archives: side scrolling
Tiger Road, Arcade
Tiger Road is a single-player hack-and-slash platform/action game, released into arcades by Capcom in 1987. It pre-dates Sega‘s Golden Axe by two years, but is very similar in terms of gameplay.
Castlevania, NES/Famicom
The first Castlevania game was initially released in Japan, by Konami, under the title of “Akumajō Dracula” in 1986. Versions for the MSX2 and Famicom Disk System were developed simultaneously, with the Famicom version coming out on 26th September, and the MSX version a month later, on 30th October. That same game was later released in Europe on 30th October 1987 – translated into English – under the title of “Vampire Killer“.
When it came time to convert the game to the Nintendo Entertainment System for a North American release it was decided to re-title the game as “Castlevania“*. This turned out to be a significant decision as it became a big hit and grew to become a popular and well-known series of video games. The name “Castlevania” entered into the lexicon of classic, instantly-recognisable game titles, later becoming a portmanteau of “Metroid” and “Castlevania” (“Metroidvania“) to describe an entire sub-genre of action/platform games that all share similar gameplay features.
*= Although it’s not clear who actually came up with the name “Castlevania” it has been reported that the change was due to Konami of America senior vice president Emil Heidkamp‘s discomfort with the religious connotations of the title “Akumajō Dracula“, which he believed translated as “Dracula Satanic Castle” (although some argue that it translates as “Demon Castle Dracula“).
Batman Returns, Atari Lynx
Batman Returns on the Atari Lynx was first published by Atari Corporation in 1992. It’s a scrolling action game that sadly lacks fun and playability.
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, Arcade
The second game in the Alex Kidd series, and the only one released as an arcade game, Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars is a one or simultaneous two-player platform game, developed by Sega and first released in 1986. It of course features the cute boy wonder, Alex Kidd, although this time he’s accompanied by his female partner, Stella. Stella can be played alone or cooperatively with Alex.
Shadow of the Beast, Super Nintendo
***CANNED GAME***
The Super Nintendo version of Shadow of the Beast was prefixed with the word “Super” to differentiate it from other ports, and… it was cancelled before release and never officially made it out. It was developed by IGS (Information Global Service) and an unfinished prototype of the game was leaked in 1993.
Last Resort, Neo Geo
Last Resort is a scrolling ‘bullet hell‘ shooter developed by SNK and first released as an arcade game, on Neo Geo MVS hardware, in 1992. From what I can ascertain it doesn’t seem to have been released on cartridge for Neo Geo AES home systems, but it was later released on the Neo Geo CD.
Shadow of the Beast, ZX Spectrum
Shadow of the Beast is a scrolling fighting/action game originating on the Amiga. It was enough of a success for publisher Psygnosis to convert it to various home computers and consoles. The ZX Spectrum version was developed by Gremlin Graphics and published in 1990, and it is not a bad port overall.
Golden Axe: The Duel, Arcade
Golden Axe: The Duel is the third arcade game in the Golden Axe series (after Golden Axe and The Revenge of Death Adder) and is a two-player versus fighting game based on characters from the popular side-scrolling hack and slash games. It was first released into arcades in February 1995.
Golden Axe III, Megadrive/Genesis
The third Golden Axe game was initially only ever released in Japan, exclusively on the Megadrive in 1993. It wasn’t until two years later, in 1995, that it received a localised English language release in North America via the online-only Sega Channel.
The King of Grabs 