Airheart is Dan Gorlin‘s predecessor to/prototype of the brilliant Typhoon Thompson and was first released for the Apple II by Broderbund in 1986.
Tag Archives: Single-Player
Parallax, Commodore 64
First released by Ocean Software in 1986, Parallax is a wild overhead shooter from legendary UK gamedev company Sensible Software.
Academy, ZX Spectrum
Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.
Umihara Kawase, Super Nintendo
Umihara Kawase is a weird-but-great Japanese platform game first released for the Super Nintendo in 1994.
The game has an excellent rope-based mechanic that makes it different and interesting to play.
Out Run, Arcade
Sega‘s single-player arcade classic race game – Out Run. Played and enjoyed by millions of people throughout the world.
Out Run was first released in 1986 and took video game arcades by storm with its superfast, colourful graphics, jaunty music, gripping gameplay, and cabinet steering wheel.
Shining In The Darkness, Megadrive/Genesis
When I first played Shining In The Darkness – a 1991 party-based Role-Playing Game for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis, developed by Climax Entertainment and published by Sega – I was ready to dismiss it, because of the unattractive, ‘cartoony’ graphics, the clunky interface, and the generic script. But after some determined play – admittedly: in an emulator, and using quicksaves – it became apparent that this was no ‘throwaway’ level-grinder. It was in fact something quite special…
Starquake, ZX Spectrum
Arguably game designer Steve Crow‘s finest hour, Starquake is a brilliant platform action game first released through Bubble Bus Software in 1985.
Nosferatu the Vampyre, ZX Spectrum
By 1986 the ZX Spectrum was awash with isometric action/adventures games. After the success of Ultimate Play The Game‘s Knight Lore, everyone was trying to make and release them.
Looking back now I would have to say that many of the so-called “clones” were actually very good, although few were outstanding.
Piranha‘s Nosferatu the Vampyre was one of the few outstanding ones, it having been created by Spectrum veteran game design team Design Design, and it also being an interesting take on the classic tale of vampirism written by Bram Stoker (actually this game being based on the 1979 film starring Klaus Kinski).
Dark Side, ZX Spectrum
Dark Side is the 1988 sequel to Driller is a very early example of a first-person, full 3D, explorable world, that can be viewed from almost any angle.
The game engine – Freescape – has gone on to become famous as one of the earliest examples of its type, and one that was hugely influential on every 3D exploration game that followed.
Auf Wiedersehen Monty, ZX Spectrum
Peter Harrap and Shaun Hollingworth‘s Auf Wiedersehen Monty is an underrated sequel to Monty Is Innocent. It was first released by Gremlin Graphics for the ZX Spectrum in 1987.
The King of Grabs 