Castlevania: Curse of Darkness was the second game released for the PlayStation 2 by Konami, initially coming out in 2005. Much like its predecessor (Lament of Innocence), this game is also a hack and slash 3D action game, with horror and RPG elements.
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Coming out in 2003, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was the first Castlevania game released for the PlayStation 2. The story is set in 1094 – making this, chronologically, the first Castlevania game in the series’ timeline – and it focuses on the origins of the Belmont clan and Dracula.
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Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is a 3D platform adventure, developed by Heavy Iron Studios (who, incidentally, made the Godawful Evil Dead: Hail to the King), and published by THQ for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC and Game Boy Advance in 2003.
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Doshin the Giant is one of those games where you ask yourself: “What am I playing? Am I a God? Or am I a turd? And is there any reason why I can’t be both of those things at the same time?! And is that my belly button or my cock? I hope it’s the former…”
It’s also a game where you can lose yourself in the tropical paradise that is the island you live on, because the sound effects, lighting and music are soothing and dreamlike…
What can be said about Sega‘s fabulous Super Monkey Ball that hasn’t already been said before? It is a riot of colour and sound that has been bringing joy to games-players for over two decades now. The GameCube version was developed by Amusement Vision (an internal Sega dev team) and first came out in 2001. And it was a smash hit!
Developed by Namco and published – in Japan only – by NEC Avenue in 1989, Wonder Momo is a conversion of a weird Japanese arcade game featuring a female lead character who must fight off attackers during a theatre stage play. And, if that sounds bizarre, then – well – that’s because it is! Unlike the arcade original, the PC Engine version of Wonder Momo has been fan-translated into English and Spanish, so is more accessible to Western audiences.
I first encountered Namco‘s Wonder Momo on the PC Engine, because it had received a fan translation, and I was curious to see what the game was about. I then discovered that it was a conversion of a 1987 arcade game, featuring a young girl called Momo, who can turn into a ‘superhero’ by building up her “Wonder Meter“.
This bizarre arcade game was only ever released in Japan, but has subsequently built up a cult following around the world, and has also inspired manga/anime, and resulted in a sequel that was released in 2014.
A conversion of the 1988 arcade game, Atomic Runner Chelnov. Developer/publisher Data East dropped the “Chelnov” part from the title of the 1992 Megadrive/Genesis release, but the gameplay stays more or less the same.
You must shoot and jump your way through seven continually-scrolling stages, only stopping to fight bosses at the end of each.
Developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade Software for the Amiga in 1991, Gods is a stylised platform game in which you play as Hercules, on a quest to make his way through five large stages, themed with Greek mythological motifs.
Developed by Troika Games and published by Sierra On-Line in 2001, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a rich and complex RPG with isometric 2D graphics, set in a fantasy world undergoing an industrial revolution. The game mixes magic and technology in a Victorian-styled “Steampunk” setting; is completely open-ended, and features lots of different races (humans, orcs, gnomes, elves, dwarves), with complicated – even racist – societal themes developing as you discover the world and interact with its many characters.
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The King of Grabs 