What I love about Jeff Minter‘s Gridrunner Plus Plus is that it combines the simplicity of the arcade hits of old, with modern, trippy visuals. And a good dose of humour.
Tag Archives: Tribute
Melkhior’s Mansion, PC
Another superb tribute to Ultimate‘s isometric adventures, this one called Melkhior’s Mansion. It was created by BitGlint Games and could be described as an “isometric Atic Atac“, although there is definitely more to it than that.
Viva Mortis, PC
Released in 2015 by author Adam Strange, Viva Mortis is a brilliant tribute to the classic isometric Ultimate games.
H.E.R.O. Is Back 2, PC
The second H.E.R.O. tribute game from Luca Carminati was released for the PC in 2020. It is called “H.E.R.O. Is Back 2” and is an excellent update of John Van Ryzin‘s classic mine rescue game.
H.E.R.O. Is Back, Commodore 64
Created by Luca Carminati and first released in 2025, H.E.R.O. Is Back is a homebrew continuation of John Van Ryzin‘s classic mine rescue game, H.E.R.O.
Ghosts ‘N Demons, PC
Written by BonusJZ and first released in 2016, Ghosts ‘N Demons is an amazing homebrew tribute to Capcom‘s Ghouls ‘N Ghosts arcade game. It’s actually an unofficial remake of the original “Makaimura” for the WonderSwan handheld gaming console, which goes some way to explaining the game’s weirdly small screen size.
Sam’s Journey, Commodore 64
Developed by Knights of Bytes and published by Protovision, Sam’s Journey is a super-polished platform game released for the C64 in 2025. It has numerous similarities to Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo, which is no bad thing, and features 27 levels, each with multiple sections.
Apocalypse II, Super Nintendo
***CANNED GAME***
Written by Simon Nicol for Psygnosis in 1994, Apocalypse II was almost complete when it was decided to not release it. This was, of course, a blow to everyone involved, but it was also probably the right thing to do…
Mega Apocalypse, Commodore 64
Mega Apocalypse is the sequel to Crazy Comets. It was programmed by Simon Nicol, with graphics by Bob Stevenson and music by Rob Hubbard, and was published for the Commodore 64 by Martech in 1987. It is a single-screen shooter in which you have to destroy a series of planets to complete each stage.
Crazy Comets, Commodore 64
Programmed by Simon Nicol, with music by Rob Hubbard, Crazy Comets is the beginning of Simon Nicol‘s preoccupation with the arcade game Mad Planets.
Crazy Comets was first published by Martech in 1985.
After Crazy Comets, Nicol then made Mega Apocalypse, and then Apocalypse II (which never got released). Each game a clone of Mad Planets, although with Nicol‘s own twist.
