Tag Archives: trackball

Typhoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child, Atari ST

Developed by Dan Gorlin Productions and originally released for the Atari ST by Brøderbund in 1988, Typhoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child is a simple but brilliant shooter/collect ’em up with analogue controls.

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The Irritating Maze, Neo Geo

Developed by Saurus and first distributed into arcades on the Neo Geo MVS system by SNK in 1997, The Irritating Maze might seem like an innocently humorous title for a video game, but it is in fact one of the mostly aptly-named video games of all-time…

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Syvalion, Arcade

Released into arcades by Taito in 1988, Syvalion is a strange-but-interesting scrolling shooter in which you control a golden metal dragon (called “Mechadragon“) that must fight its way to the end of a series of mazes within a time limit. The dragon can breathe fire to destroy enemies and must pick up power-ups, or move quickly without firing, to keep its flame breath bar filled. At the end of each stage is a boss battle which you need to win to progress.

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Cabal, Arcade

Cabal is a third-person, war-based shooter developed by TAD Corporation and distributed into arcades by Taito in Japan, by Fabtek in North America and by Capcom in Europe, in 1988.

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Combat School, Arcade

Combat School is a 1987 arcade game developed and manufactured by Konami. In it you play a military recruit who is undergoing basic training at a Marine Corps training camp. The game is also known as “Boot Camp” in North America.

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Snacks ‘N Jaxson, Arcade

Snacks ‘N Jaxson is one of the weirdest arcade games I’ve ever played in my life… It is beyond bizarre; it may even frighten children, or anyone who plays it, because it is so damn strange.

And it looks damn ugly too. The colours used in the game are unappealing, and the gameplay is also unnervingly jarring. Whoever designed it must’ve either taken a lot of acid back in the early Eighties, or been a John Wayne Gacy fanatic. Or both.

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Crystal Castles, Arcade

Crystal Castles is a legendary arcade maze game developed and published by Atari, Inc. in 1983. What made the game so good were: the trackball and jump button controls (which gave a good degree of freedom to make headway at pace) and the unusual isometric graphics (which drew on-screen in an unusual and interesting way).

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SegaSonic the Hedgehog, Arcade

SegaSonic the Hedgehog is an arcade game from 1993 starring Sega‘s famous blue mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. It features beautiful isometric graphics and trackball-based multiplayer gameplay.

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Rampart, Arcade

Atari Games1990 arcade game Rampart is a strange but compelling single-screen castle-building action game, with artillery-based shooting sections.

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Millipede, Arcade

Millipede is a direct sequel to Atari‘s Centipede and was first distributed into video game arcades in 1982.

It’s basically the same trackball-controlled gameplay as before, but with a few changes and enhancements.

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