The third and final entry in the “Super Star Wars” series was of course Super Return of the Jedi, which was first released in 1994 through JVC. It was again developed by Sculptured Software for the Super Nintendo. Unlike the other two games in the series this one also made it onto the Sega Game Gear and Nintendo Game Boy that same year (no other platforms received it, though, until the Wii Virtual Console in 2009).
Continue reading Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Super Nintendo
This sequel to Super Star Wars was once again developed by Sculptured Software and published by JVC, this time in 1993. Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is another hectic run-and-gun platform game, with added variety in the form of Mode 7 stages and a cockpit shooter.
Continue reading Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Super Nintendo
Super Star Wars is a run-and-gun, side-scrolling action game based on the 1977 film Star Wars. It was developed by Sculptured Software and published by JVC for the Super Nintendo in 1992.
DMA Design‘s Grand Theft Auto III was where the GTA series really took off. It was released in October 2001 via Rockstar Games and took the series in a whole new direction, with a third-person street view perspective, rather than the overhead view of the previous two games.
The sequel to the notorious crime simulator, Grand Theft Auto, was developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games in 1999. Grand Theft Auto 2 is more of the same overhead, scrolling car-stealing action, although this time it is a set in a futuristic metropolis known as “Anywhere City“, where three feuding gangs are competing to become the dominant crime syndicate in the city.
First released in 1997 for MS-DOS PCs, the first Grand Theft Auto laid the framework for the series as it’s become today, which is: one of the best-selling and most popular video game franchises of all-time. Not to mention one of the most controversial.
Grand Theft Auto was developed by Scottish company DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive in Europe and Take-Two Interactive in North America.
In 1987 Konami released the hugely successful run-and-gun shoot ’em up Contra in arcades, and Gryzor is the localised European conversion of that game, published by Ocean Software in 1988.
Ocean Software‘s 1989 conversion of Taito‘s classic arcade race game, Chase HQ, is a bit of a doozy on the Amstrad. While it doesn’t have quite the impact that its amazing arcade parent does, it does do a very good job of trying to recreate its high-octane, criminal-chasing thrills.
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures is a run-and-gun platform/action game developed by Factor 5 (the German team who made Super Turrican, among others), with the supervision of LucasArts, and published by JVC in 1994.
The game features sequences based on the first three Indiana Jones films; the first being Raiders of the Lost Ark obviously; the second being Temple of Doom (my favourite), and the third being The Last Crusade.
Continue reading Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures, Super Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii in 2006 and is an unusual, beautifully-produced game with stunning visuals and evocative gameplay. It was the final first-party release from Nintendo for the GameCube.
Twilight Princess features involving, varied, and ever-evolving gameplay, with a more mature-looking Link in the title role (possibly in response to criticism of its predecessor, 2002’s The Wind Waker, due to its cartoony, cel-shaded graphics). The story involves Link trying to stop Hyrule from being engulfed by a corrupt parallel dimension called The Twilight Realm.
Continue reading The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, GameCube
The King of Grabs 