While I wouldn’t call myself a Pokémon fanatic, I do really enjoy the games because they are so well made, and because I love level-grinders. Pokémon Pearl (and its companion, Diamond) is considered by many as one of the best games in the series, and people still love to play it now.
Compared to previous generations, Pokémon Pearl has lots of new features, and compared to later generations: the series hasn’t yet started to collapse under its own weight.
The follow-up to the classic PS2 game Dragon Quest VIII is another fine level-grinder, with cheerful, colourful graphics and mesmerising gameplay. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix on the Nintendo DS in 2009.
Getting straight down to it: Dragon Quest IX (nine) is similar to the previous game in the series, but with a few fundamental changes…
Ugh… Now this is a turkey of a game if ever I saw one… Created by Tong Electronics in 1982, Leprechaun is a dour collect ’em up that was designed for children but in fact offends their intelligence.
In fact: it would probably offend everyone now, except for those people who want to play the worst video games of all time, in which case it is probably mana from heaven…
Puzznic on the PC Engine was converted by Taito themselves and released in 1990. Was it a Japanese release only? Seems like it might have been…
Puzznic might not look like much but it is actually a truly brilliant game. It first came out as an arcade game in 1989.
It’s a one or two-player game (take it in turns two-player, not simultaneous) where the aim is to clear blocks on various different-shaped boards.
Epyx programmed this 1988 conversion of California Games themselves, and – to be honest – it’s actually not that bad, considering the Atari 2600‘s limitations.
Gunple: Gunman’s Proof was developed by Lenar and published by ASCII Corporation in 1997. It was one of the last games to be released for the SNES and was only ever released in Japan. An English fan translation does exist, though, which means that non Japanese speakers can enjoy this wonderful game.
In essence, Gunple could be described as ‘Zelda with guns’ or a ‘Wild West Zelda‘, because – graphically – the game does have a lot of similarities to Nintendo‘s classic A Link To the Past. In fact: some of the background graphics, in my opinion, appear to have been lifted from the aforementioned Zelda game, which in reality is no bad thing.
The second sequel to the wonderful Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijyūrokubei no Karakuri Manji Katame was again only ever released in Japan and was recently given a fan translation, allowing English-speaking audiences to finally enjoy it.
Continue reading Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijyūrokubei no Karakuri Manji Katame, Super Nintendo
The sequel to the wonderful Konami hit, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Magginesu (translated title being: Goemon 2: The Strange General McGuinness) was released in 1993, but only in Japan.
A brilliant fan translation was released just this year – February 2020 to be precise – which now makes this fantastic game more accessible to Western audiences.
Continue reading Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Magginesu, Super Nintendo
Toki is a relatively obscure platform-based arcade game, by Japanese developer TAD Corporation, which was first released in 1989. And it is as bloody hard as nails!
Draconus is a 1988 release on the Atari 800 by British developer Zeppelin Games. It is a platform game with more than a hint of Metroidvania about it.
The King of Grabs 