Afterburner
Afterburner, the arcade game that thrilled young and old alike
when it was released. With a hydralic seat and its flight control
stick with a Vulcan cannon and missiles at your command. This
was a decent conversion of Sega's arcade hit ported to the PC.
The game is viewed from behind the plane with you fighting wave
after wave of enemy fighters.
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Developer:
SEGA |
Publisher:
SEGA |
Year:
1989 |
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Chaos Engine
Sixteen levels (in four groups of four) await you in this long-developed
Bitmap Brothers title. The basic gameplay is similar to Gauntlet,
but in an open air setting, with bridges across rivers and such
in the maps. The visuals are in the 'metallic and blue' style
the Bitmaps appeared to favour. There were 6 characters available
in the game, each with different strengths and weaknesses, and
different starting prices. In 2-player mode you each chose a character
and played co-operatively, but in one-player games you also choose
a character for the computer to control, with its Artificial Intellegence
allowing it to open doors, pick up power-ups and take on baddies
away from the ones occupying your character.
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Developer:
n/a |
Publisher:
n/a |
Year:
1900 |
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Double Dragon 1 & 2
Billy and Jimmy Lee must rescue Billy's girlfriend after she
is captured by Mr. Big and his gang. Featuring one- or two-player
action, players could do a range of moves such a elbowing the
enemy in the ribs, grabbing them by their hair and slamming their
faces in your knee, flying kicks, throws and kicking and punching.
You also had a range of weapons at your disposal such as baseball
bats, whips and crates. Fight your way through the levels to the
final confrontation with Mr. Big. Watch out for his machine gun.
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Developer:
Arcadia |
Publisher:
Tradewest |
Year:
1988 |
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Golden Axe
Decent conversion of SEGA's smash hit arcade beat'em up Golden
Axe... decent for PC standards of that time, that is.
In Golden Axe you can choose to play as one of three characters,
with each having their own characteristics. Gillius Thunderhead
has great attack power but little magic, Axe Battler the Barbarian
has average attack and magic skill, and Tyrus Flare has great
magical power but weaker weapon attacks. Each character has standard
attack moves where successive hits on an opponent generate a "combo"
of several different attacks. Your characters also have a rear
attack, a charging attack, a throw attack, and a jumping attack.
Each character has a magic meter of various length which can be
powered up by collecting "Magic Pots" dropped by elves
that you smack with your sword at various points in the game.
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Developer:
Synthetic Dimensions |
Publisher:
SEGA |
Year:
1990 |
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Ikari Warriors 3
The presidential candidate's daughter has been kidnapped! It
is your job to get past enemy lines and rescue her. This is the
third game in the Ikari Warriors series, and features similar
arcade/action gameplay. The screen is a top down view which scrolls
vertically, with numerous bad guys to defeat. You start the game
with just your fists, and as the levels progress you can find
weapons and other objects to help you out.
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Developer:
SNK USA, Inc. |
Publisher:
Data East |
Year:
1989 |
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One Must Fall 2097
One of the BEST fighting games ever made. Period. When it first
came out the response on the action newsgroup comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
was overwhelmingly positive, despite garnering virtually no attention
in the gaming magazines. Pick your trusty mech and enter the many
competitions to win fame and fortune. Numerous upgrades to your
mech can be had for a price, and the ability to improve your own
character, RPG-style, is a nice touch. Now I'm *not* an action
gamer, but this game did keep me hooked for hours.
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Developer:
DIversions Entertainment |
Publisher:
Epic MegaGames |
Year:
1994 |
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R-Type
R-Type is a side scrolling shoot 'em up best known for it's extremely
tough and strategic gameplay. You control the R-9 spaceship as
it launches a last-ditch effort to repel the evil Bydo empire.
R-Type features huge bosses and intricate, often maze-like levels.
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Developer:
Irem |
Publisher:
Electric Dreams Software |
Year:
1989 |
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Wings of Fury
In this game, you are the pilot of a small prop plane. You must
perform assaults on various islands and platforms using either
rockets, bombs, or torpedoes. At the start of the mission, you
may choose the difficulty by selecting your rank. Beginners may
find that the hardest part is launching off of your aircraft carrier.
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Developer:
Broderbund |
Publisher:
Broderbund |
Year:
1989 |
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Xenon 2 Megablast
A typical Bitmap Brothers smash, Xenon 2 was originally developed
for the Amiga and later ported to the PC. The port itself is as
true to the original as possible under the circumstances. This
is a fairly nice vertical shooter with misc. upgrades to your
ship, in which you have to pass a level full of enemy groups (each
group you destroy grants you a cash reward), and then you have
a destroy a "boss"-type creature. Every once in a while
you enter Colin's Bargain Basement, where you can use this cash
to purchase upgrades for your ship.
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Developer:
Bitmap Brothers |
Publisher:
Image Works |
Year:
1990 |
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