Tag Archives: Single-Player

Formula 1 Simulator, Commodore 16/Plus4

Oh dear. Formula 1 Simulator unfortunately proves that not all of talented and prolific coder Shaun Southern‘s games were “good”… Because this game is quite awful.

It’s a bad rip-off of Atari‘s Pole Position, and not even a playable one at that.

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Kikstart, Commodore 16/Plus4

Shaun Southern‘s Commodore 16 version of his hit bike game, Kikstart, is somewhat different to the original Commodore 64 version.

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Tom Thumb, Commodore 16/Plus4

This 1986 release from Anirog is seen as something of a ‘killer app’ on the Commodore 16, although personally I think it’s over-rated.

Tom Thumb is a smooth-scrolling platform game with a strange jump mechanic: Tom can only jump when the run button is pressed, and when he does it’s very slowly. Thankfully you can change his direction in mid air. Not that that makes a great deal of difference, because Tom Thumb is an extremely difficult game to make progress in.

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Pikmin, GameCube

Pikmin was released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001 and was an instant hit with gamers.

Designed and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, the first game in the Pikmin series introduces Captain Oilmar, an alien who crash lands on a mysterious planet and where he befriends small creatures called Pikmin who help him rebuild his ship.

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Trailblazer, Commodore 64

Trailblazer is a well-regarded, ball-based racing game written and designed by the prolific Shaun Southern of Mr. Chip Software and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1986.

Trailblazer did apparently originate on the Commodore 16 and was expanded to take advantage of the Commodore 64‘s extra memory, and the result is a suped-up version of the original game.

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Kikstart, Commodore 64

Less successful than its sequel (and arguably less enjoyable too), Kikstart was written by Shaun Southern and published by Mastertonic in 1985.

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Mole Mania, Game Boy

This 1996 release on the Nintendo Game Boy is one of Shigeru Miyamoto‘s least known works, although it really is a hidden gem on the system and is well worth finding and playing now if you’ve never seen it.

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One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, Commodore 64

This classic one-on-one basketball game on the Commodore 64 originated on the Apple II in 1983 and was later converted to other systems courtesy of Electronics Arts.

One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird is remembered as one of the best basketball games of all time and does indeed have a lot of subtlety to it that isn’t obvious until you play it.

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