Tag Archives: weapons

Gradius, MSX

Gradius – also known as Nemesis in some regions – was one of the first progressive weapons shooters to come out in arcades, and it was a big hit in 1985 when it was first released.

This led to the game being converted to many home computer systems, including the MSX, which was programmed by Konami themselves. So the game is unsurprisingly very good; very authentic, and with graphics and gameplay that push the MSX quite hard (I wouldn’t say “to its limits”, because I’m not a marketing a-hole, but it does push first-generation MSXes a fair degree).

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Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Arcade

There were two Wonder Boy sequels released in 1988 – both prefixed with the title “Wonder Boy III“. There was this game – Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair – released into arcades, and also Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap for the Sega Master System. Both were developed by Westone and published by Sega.

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Arnie 2, Commodore 64

The sequel to Zeppelin Games1992 budget hit, Arnie, Arnie 2 is more of the same isometric scrolling shoot ’em up action – starring everyone’s not-so-favourite, non-licensed Arnold Schwarzenegger parody.

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Arnie, Commodore 64

Written by Chris Butler and published by Zeppelin Games in 1992, Arnie is an isometric scrolling shoot ’em up featuring a one-man army (unsurprisingly called Arnie), on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base and assassinate a General.

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Splatterhouse 2, Megadrive/Genesis

The official sequel to Namco‘s classic Splatterhouse was released exclusively for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis in 1992; it did not appear in arcades, like the original.

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Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, Famicom

Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti is a spin-off from the infamous Splatterhouse series and was a Japan only release, published by Namco for the Nintendo Famicom in 1989.

Rather than take the gruesome approach of the original game, in Wanpaku Graffiti the characters are “super deformed” (and made cute) and the game takes a comical approach to the presentation and gameplay, which was obviously deemed to be more fitting to a Famicom audience.

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Splatterhouse, Arcade

Splatterhouse is an infamous side-scrolling horror-themed action game that was released into arcades by Namco in 1988. It is known for its grotesque opponents and for its satirisation of well-known horror films of the 1980s.

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Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, XBox

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is an expanded version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (which was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001). Substance was released for the XBox by Konami in 2002.

It’s the fourth Metal Gear game co-written and designed by Hideo Koijima and the seventh game in the series as a whole.

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Metal Gear Solid, PlayStation

Metal Gear Solid is an award-winning tactical espionage action game focusing on stealth gameplay and it was first released by Konami in 1998. It was directed, produced and written by Hideo Koijima and follows on from the MSX games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

You play as codename “Solid Snake“, a legendary American soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility in order to neutralise a terrorist threat who are threatening a nuclear strike on The White House. Snake must sneak around, liberate hostages and stop the terrorists from launching the strike, all the while avoiding enemy contact as much as possible and gathering information about the situation.

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