Tag Archives: Single-Player

Pokémon Colosseum, GameCube

Pokémon Colosseum was developed by Genius Sonority and published by The Pokémon Company in 2003 in Japan and 2004 everywhere else. It is not considered part of the main Pokémon series, but is a third-generation spin-off made exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube.

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Virtua Racing Deluxe, Sega 32X

This superb conversion of Sega‘s Virtua Racing arcade game required the 32X add-on peripheral for the Megadrive/Genesis and was first released in 1994. Called Virtua Racing Deluxe, it had features that were exclusive to this version, and it also had remarkable use of 3D polygonal graphics that were outstanding for the time.

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Treasure Trap, Atari ST

Treasure Trap is an isometric platform adventure developed by Doodlebug Designs and published by Electronic Zoo in 1989. It was released for both the Amiga and the Atari ST and it is the ST version that I’m looking at today.

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Emerald Dragon, Super Nintendo

Emerald Dragon is a Japan-only RPG that was developed by Alfa System and published by MediaWorks for the Super Nintendo in 1995. It was given an English fan translation (by Translation Corporation) in 2014, which is great because it is an excellent game!

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Secret Commando, Sega Master System

Known in North America as “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (complete with movie licensed characters), and “Ashura” in Japan. Also known as: “Not-So-Secret Commando“, since this is an unsubtle clone of Capcom‘s classic 1985 arcade game, Commando (and SNK‘s 1986 game, Ikari Warriors – since it has a simultaneous two-player mode and level designs that echo that game). Joking aside: it’s a pretty good clone of Commando, although it does play rather slowly.

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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.

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Imhotep, Commodore 64

Written by Manuel Caballero, Imhotep is a 1985 Commodore 64 release from Ultimate Play the Game. It’s an ancient Egyptian-themed, auto-scrolling shoot ’em up where you ride on the back of a bird, over pyramids and palm trees, shooting stuff and avoiding enemy bullets.

If you manage to get further into the game you’ll also encounter underground platforming levels; walking levels where you either have to jump over pits or throw rolling barrels into other barrels that are rolling towards you. There’s also a river section on a coracle.

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Pokémon Gold Version, Game Boy Color

Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo in 1999 in Japan and 2000 everywhere else. They are ‘second generation’ Pokémon games and were released simultaneously as twin titles, as has become the norm with Pokémon games.

These were the first proper, full-colour Pokémon games, with graphics that have been created to take advantage of the Game Boy Color‘s extended palette (Pokémon Yellow, which preceded this game, didn’t really do that; the graphics were simply colourised from the black and white originals). And you can tell from the very beginning that the visuals in Gold/Silver are a step-up from what we saw previously.

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Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap, Game Gear

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap is a platform action game developed by Westone and published by Sega in 1992. It is considered to be one of the best games on both the Master System and the Game Gear.

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The Official Father Christmas Game, Amstrad CPC

A game not often mentioned in online ‘Christmas video game’ lists, The Official Father Christmas Game is one of the better Christmas-themed video games that I’ve found so far. It was developed by Enigma Variations and published by Alternative Software for the Amstrad, Spectrum and C64 in 1989. All proceeds from the game went to the famous children’s charity, Save The Children.

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