Turrican was written by German coder Manfred Trenz and was first published for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts in 1990. It is a scrolling platform shooter that has similarities to Nintendo‘s Metroid series of games, and also owes a lot to the obscure Data East arcade game Psycho-Nics Oscar.
Tag Archives: underground
Dusk, PC
Dusk is a 2018 release from New Blood Interactive, developed by American programmer David Szymanski. It is a horror-themed first-person shoot ’em up with simplistic graphics, atmospheric music, lots of weapons, and plenty of blood and gore.
It doesn’t look like much when viewed as still screenshots, but the beauty of the game comes from its refined controls, interesting level design, and engaging, fast-paced gameplay.
Pokémon Pearl, Nintendo DS
While I wouldn’t call myself a Pokémon fanatic, I do really enjoy the games because they are so well made, and because I love level-grinders. Pokémon Pearl (and its companion, Diamond) is considered by many as one of the best games in the series, and people still love to play it now.
Compared to previous generations, Pokémon Pearl has lots of new features, and compared to later generations: the series hasn’t yet started to collapse under its own weight.
Rex, ZX Spectrum
Rex is a very enjoyable platform shooter, created by Neil Harris, John Anderson, and Richard Allen and published by Martech in 1988. Some describe it as a ‘Metroidvania‘ type game, although it reminds me more of another Spectrum classic – Starquake. Or maybe a Monty Mole game, crossed with Cybernoid.
Bank Buster, Atari ST
Programmed by M. Pezzotta and published by Methodic Solutions in 1988, Bank Buster is an obscure, single-player Arkanoid clone in which you break into a bank by tunnelling underground.
Mr. Do!, Arcade
Universal‘s 1982 arcade game Mr. Do! is an iconic, early digging game, with chasing monsters and falling apples, and plenty of cute, Japanese surrealism.