Tag Archives: waterfalls

Pokémon Gold Version, Game Boy Color

Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo in 1999 in Japan and 2000 everywhere else. They are ‘second generation’ Pokémon games and were released simultaneously as twin titles, as has become the norm with Pokémon games.

These were the first proper, full-colour Pokémon games, with graphics that have been created to take advantage of the Game Boy Color‘s extended palette (Pokémon Yellow, which preceded this game, didn’t really do that; the graphics were simply colourised from the black and white originals). And you can tell from the very beginning that the visuals in Gold/Silver are a step-up from what we saw previously.

Continue reading Pokémon Gold Version, Game Boy Color

Wario World, GameCube

Wario World for the GameCube was developed by Treasure and published by Nintendo in 2003. It was the first 3D Wario game and, unusually, was released in Europe and North America before it eventually came out in Japan (almost a year after its initial release in the West).

Continue reading Wario World, GameCube

Cataclysm, Archimedes

Cataclysm is an obscure action puzzle game on the Archimedes that involves channelling water from plugged-up vats in the top of a vertically-scrolling level, into a drain at the very bottom. Which you do by controlling a jet-pack-wearing guy who can manipulate objects to make the water take a certain route through the scenery.

Continue reading Cataclysm, Archimedes

Turrican, Commodore 64

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.

Continue reading Turrican, Commodore 64

Toki: Going Ape Spit, Megadrive/Genesis

This 1991 Sega Megadrive conversion of Toki is only loosely-based on the original 1989 arcade game, which is good because the original was much too hard to be fun, and this is more playable.

Continue reading Toki: Going Ape Spit, Megadrive/Genesis

Gunple: Gunman’s Proof, Super Nintendo

Gunple: Gunman’s Proof was developed by Lenar and published by ASCII Corporation in 1997. It was one of the last games to be released for the SNES and was only ever released in Japan. An English fan translation does exist, though, which means that non Japanese speakers can enjoy this wonderful game.

In essence, Gunple could be described as ‘Zelda with guns’ or a ‘Wild West Zelda‘, because – graphically – the game does have a lot of similarities to Nintendo‘s classic A Link To the Past. In fact: some of the background graphics, in my opinion, appear to have been lifted from the aforementioned Zelda game, which in reality is no bad thing.

Continue reading Gunple: Gunman’s Proof, Super Nintendo

Legend of Mana, PlayStation

Legend of Mana is the fourth game in the Mana series. It was once again directed by Koichi Ishii and was published by Square on CD-ROM for the PlayStation only in 1999.

Continue reading Legend of Mana, PlayStation

Creatures, Commodore 64

Also known as “Clive Radcliffe Exterminates All The Unfriendly Repulsive Earth-ridden Slime“, Creatures is a beautifully-realised platform/puzzle game with colourful graphics and challenging gameplay.

The game was programmed by John Rowlands, with graphics by Steve Rowlands, and was published by Thalamus in 1990.

Continue reading Creatures, Commodore 64

Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy, Neo Geo

Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy was first released on the Neo Geo by SNK in 1994. It is a side-scrolling arcade platform game, sometimes referred to as a “predecessor to Metal Slug“, and featuring two playable characters… Yes, you guessed it: Roddy and Cathy.

Continue reading Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy, Neo Geo

First Samurai, Commodore 64

First released on the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, this 8-bit Commodore 64 conversion came later, in 1992. And – considering that it is stepping down a generation – the programmers did a good job of retaining what made the originals so good.

Platform action – lots of swords! Leaping around like a lunatic! Climbing cliff faces. Killing monsters – discovering secrets! Atmospheric SID tunes. What more could you want? 🙂

Continue reading First Samurai, Commodore 64