Known in Japan as “Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun“, this cute and humorous Castlevania spin-off was initially released by Konami, in Japan only, in 1990, for the Nintendo Famicom. Numerous fan translations exist for the game, but it was also officially released in English for the first time – as “Kid Dracula” – in 2019, in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. That’s the version I’m showing here.
Tag Archives: Sprites
Double Take, Commodore 64
Created by Denton Designs and published by Ocean Software in 1987, Double Take is a weird fantasy shooter/puzzle game, and is one of those games where – even if you read the manual – you’re still unlikely to know about what the f**k is going on! I spent a few hours recently trying to work this game out, and came away just as confused as when I started…
Nebulus, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum port of Nebulus was coded by John M. Phillips – the author of the original C64 version – and is therefore a very authentic conversion of this excellent platform/puzzle game. It was first published by Hewson Consultants in 1987.
Rainbow Islands Extra Version, Megadrive/Genesis
The “Extra Version” of Taito‘s classic Rainbow Islands is a modified version of the original arcade game, where the levels have been rearranged and the enemies changed to make the game more challenging. There are some new power-ups to discover, and the bosses have also been changed too. Rainbow Islands Extra was released into arcades in limited quantities in 1988, and was also released on the Sega Megadrive in 1990 and the FM Towns in 1992.
Continue reading Rainbow Islands Extra Version, Megadrive/Genesis
Bomb Jack, SG-1000
The SG-1000 version of Tehkan‘s classic Bomb Jack was developed and published by Sega in 1985.
Ordyne, Arcade
Released in Japan only, Ordyne is a cute and colourful (and very Japanese) one or simultaneous two-player ‘bullet hell’ shooter that was developed and distributed by Namco in 1988.
Gogo the Ghost, Commodore 64
Written by Marcus Charleville and Richard Dagsköld and published by Firebird in 1984, Gogo the Ghost is a simple maze game in which you must guide a friendly spectre through many screens of enemies and traps in order to rescue his “dream princess”.
Impossamole, PC Engine
The 1991 PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 version of Gremlin Graphics‘ classic Monty Mole game is a rare treat: it’s a British-developed PC Engine game, and an alright one at that. And, believe it or not, but the PC Engine version of the game is the one that’s currently available on Steam and GOG.com.
Clown-O-Mania, Amiga
This obscure isometric action/maze game was published by German company Starbyte in 1989 and is basically a clone of the 1983 Atari 8-bit game Flip and Flop. And it’s not a bad game, even though the title of it doesn’t make sense (it really should be “Clown-O-Rama” or “Clown-Mania” – the use of the “O” in this context doesn’t work in English).
Ghosts ‘N Goblins, PC
The 1987 PC MS-DOS version of Ghosts ‘N Goblins, I’m sorry to say, is a bit of a travesty. It looks terrible, and also plays like a lame duck. In fact, unless you can get the game set up properly in DOSBox (which took me some time to do), then it’s pretty much unplayable*.
The King of Grabs 