The Atari ST version of Argonaut Software‘s pioneering 3D shooter, Starglider, first came out in 1986 – a year before the Amiga version (for some reason – I don’t know why).
Tag Archives: wireframe graphics
X, Game Boy
This game – called simply “X” – was a Japan-only release, in 1992, on the original black and white Game Boy, but its conception and development would later have a profound effect on Nintendo‘s confidence in producing 3D-based games.
X was created by British developer Argonaut Software (specifically, by Dylan Cuthbert, who was later infamously ‘poached’ by Nintendo from Argonaut), and was a demonstration of their ability to produce 3D-based games on home video game systems. This impressed Nintendo, who then tasked Argonaut with creating a new 3D game on their Super Nintendo console, which eventually became the classic Star Fox. And the rest is history… Sort of.
Mercenary: The Second City, ZX Spectrum
Mercenary: The Second City is an add-on for the classic game Mercenary that gives the player a new environment and new missions to solve. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in 1988.
Mercenary, ZX Spectrum
Paul Woakes‘ classic open-world cockpit exploration game, Mercenary, was ported to the 48K ZX Spectrum by David Aubrey-Jones and published by Novagen Software in 1987.
Battlezone 2000, Atari Lynx
Battlezone 2000 is a conversion of the classic Atari arcade game Battle Zone, although in truth it is much more than just a conversion. The game actually has two distinctly different play modes, one of which is hidden and must be unlocked.
S.T.U.N. Runner, Arcade
S.T.U.N. Runner is a 1989 arcade game by Atari Games that uses 3D polygonal graphics to create a fast-paced tunnel shooter.
The “S.T.U.N.“, by the way, means “Spread Tunnel Underground Network“, which doesn’t mean a great deal in the grand scheme of things…
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Arcade
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is the sequel to the timeless Atari, Inc. shooter, Star Wars, and it was first released into arcades in 1985. It is, of course, based on the classic 1980 film of the same name.
Starion, ZX Spectrum
Starion is a classic space combat game, written by David Webb and published by Melbourne House in 1985.
Elite, Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes conversion of Bell and Braben‘s classic Elite was written by Warren Burch and Clive Gringras and published by Hybrid Technology in 1991.
It is considered by many to be the definitive version of Elite available, although that is both a matter of taste, and also a matter of actually getting the game to run in a RISC OS environment.
Elite, NES
Developed by Imagineer, the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Elite is pretty good – considering that the NES isn’t particularly suited to generating wireframe 3D graphics. Yes, the wireframe 3D is slow (like in all the 8-bit versions of Elite), but not to the point where it makes the game unplayable.
The King of Grabs 