Alternative World Games is a parody of the famous Commodore 64 Epyx ‘Games‘ series, developed by Hungarian company Novotrade and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1987. It is apparently known as “Sports-A-Roni” in North America, although I’ve no effing idea what that’s supposed to mean…
Tag Archives: Sports
Winter Gold, Super Nintendo
Winter Gold is an Olympic-style sports game developed by Norwegian company Funcom and published by Nintendo in 1996. While it is not that well known it is interesting because it was one of the few games to utilise the Super FX chip to provide extended 3D graphics capabilities, in the same way that Star Fox, Doom, Vortex and Stunt Race FX did.
Mario Tennis, Game Boy Color
Developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo in 2000 (in Japan – 2001 everywhere else), Mario Tennis on the Game Boy Color is an alternate handheld version of the Mario-based tennis game on the Nintendo 64 which was published under the same name that same year.
World Class Leaderboard, Game Gear
The Game Gear has a surprisingly good conversion of World Class Leaderboard in its library. It was programmed by British company Tiertex and published by Sega in 1991.
Anyone who knows golf games will know Leaderboard – created by Bruce and Roger Carver of Access Software – because it was one of the first really good golf games ever made for home computers. It has a very simple but effective control system that makes its easy to play and understand. All versions of Leaderboard use this two-bar, two-press control system, including this conversion on the Game Gear.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Game Boy Advance
Developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision in 2001, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on the Game Boy Advance is one of those games that you’d expect not to work that well – being a handheld conversion of a popular and successful 3D game – but it actually turns out to be a fantastic game in its own right.
Super Pool, Archimedes
Another Archimedes game that I had recommended to me, but turned out to be poor, is Super Pool. It’s another game by the prolific Gordon J. Key (E-Type; Apocalypse) and published by The Fourth Dimension in 1991.
Ninja Baseball Bat Man, Arcade
This excellent arcade fighting game from Irem was originated in Irem‘s North American office but programmed by Irem Japan and first came out in 1993. It apparently sold well in Japan, but didn’t do so well in the United States, so is considered quite rare in the West.
Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge, ZX Spectrum
The third and final of the Ocean-released Daley Thompson sports games is Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge, which was first published in 1988.
This one again features ten Olympic decathlon events, split over two days, they being: 100 metre dash, long jump, shot putt, high jump, 400 metres, 110 metre hurdles, pole vault, discus, javelin, and 1500 metres.
This time Daley is trying to beat the world record, rather than win a gold medal.
Continue reading Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge, ZX Spectrum
Daley Thompson’s Supertest, ZX Spectrum
The second of the Ocean-released Daley Thompson sports games is Daley Thompson’s Supertest, which was first published in 1985.
This time there are twelve events, including: rowing, penalties, ski-jump, tug O war, triple jump, 100m sprint, javelin, 110m hurdles, pistol shooting, cycling, springboard diving, and giant slalom (skiing).
Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, ZX Spectrum
Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, developed and published by Ocean for the ZX Spectrum in 1984, was possibly the first home computer game to feature a celebrity, and a person of colour, as the star of the game – at least in the UK anyway.
If you don’t know: Daley Thompson is a British Olympic decathlon star, and was a gold medal winner at the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and as such was a household name in the UK back when this game was released in 1984. Younger readers might not know who Daley Thompson is, but they really should. Thompson is a legend and has been described as the greatest all-round athlete the world has ever seen. Look him up on YouTube if you want to see his Olympic achievements.
The King of Grabs 