Designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, Centipede is a superfast fixed-screen shoot ’em up from the arcades of 1981.
Tag Archives: spiders
Toilet Kids, PC Engine
Toilet Kids (PC Engine, 1992) isn’t a bad game in itself, although the idea behind it is unquestionably puerile.
H.E.R.O., Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 version of John Van Ryzin‘s 1984 classic H.E.R.O. plays just as good as the Atari 2600 original, although the graphics are a little messier.
H.E.R.O., Atari 2600
John Van Ryzin‘s popular H.E.R.O. (Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation) first made its appearance on the Atari 2600 (aka Atari VCS), via Activision, way back in 1984.
Sim Ant, Super Nintendo
I’ve played a number of different versions of Sim Ant and would have to say that the Super Nintendo version is probably my favourite.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Game Boy Advance
Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a fun and visually spectacular scrolling beat ’em up on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.
The game was created by famous Japanese development house, Treasure – in association with Hitmaker – and was published by Sega in 2003.
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).
Wriggler, ZX Spectrum
A weird, colourful, original worm-based race game on the ZX Spectrum, released by Romantic Robot in 1985.
Actually, Wriggler is less of a “race” game and more of a “crawl” game. The pace is not very fast at all.
Scarabaeus, Commodore 64
This obscure Commodore 64 classic is one of THE scariest – and most confusing – games of all time. Both in one!
In Scarabaeus you have to explore an ancient Egyptian tomb, chasing ghosts, avoiding zombies and spiders, and eventually making your way to the Pharaoh’s tomb in the centre of the third level.
Legend of Grimrock, PC
This incredible “indie” dungeon crawler absolutely drips atmosphere and is bloody terrifying in places! It’s a heck of a challenge too…
Legend of Grimrock plays very much in the mould of Dungeon Master, and other first-person, tile-based RPGs, but it does it so much better than almost all of the others.