Category: Arcade and Action Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Pickford GAME DEVELOPER:Binary Design GAME PUBLISHER:Mastertronic Copyright 1988, Mastertronic Feud is a very rare PC version of a fun and highly underrated action/adventure game from Binary Design, published by Mastertronic. As the name suggests, the game is about a feud ? in this case, between…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Lothlorien GAME PUBLISHER:Anonymous Copyright 2001, Anonymous Agent USA is a good Windows remake of the original 8-bit classic game of the same name, released by Lothlorien in 1984. Designed for kids, the game is a fun action game with a bizarre premise. You are…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Pete Cooke & Equin0x Tetrachloride GAME DEVELOPER:CRL Group GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Pete Cooke & Equin0x Tetrachloride A Whole New Ball Game is a solid Windows remake of the Spectrum ZX game of the same name, designed by Pete Cook in 1988. The object of the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Sandy White & Tyrone Cartwright GAME DEVELOPER:Quicksilva GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Sandy White & Tyrone Cartwright Ant Attack PC is a faithful recreation of Sandy White’s excellent Ant Attack, the world’s first isometric 3D game published by Quicksilva in 1983 for the Spectrum computer. The idea…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Peter Ekberg GAME DEVELOPER:Firebird GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Peter Ekberg Thrust is a faithful fanmade remake of classic C64/Spectrum ZX game of the same name, which is in turn based on Gravitar, ATARI’s arcade classic. Your goal is to maneuver your spaceship through treacherous caves, fighting…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:GraphiX Zone GAME PUBLISHER:GraphiX Zone Copyright 1996, GraphiX Zone Gemstorm is one of the best Tetris variants I’ve ever seen. Rather than simply adding bells and whistles like better graphics or music like most Tetris clones, Gemstorm adds both cosmetic updates and gameplay improvements.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Hannes Seifert GAME DEVELOPER:NEO Software GAME PUBLISHER:NEO Software Copyright 1995, NEO Software Prototype is a great-looking but little-known horizontal shooter from NEO Software. The game boasts excellent multi-parallax scrolling graphics with amazing illusion of depth. There are 8 levels and hundreds of enemies to attack. One…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stephen Clarke-Willson GAME DEVELOPER:Above the Garage Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Stephen Clarke-Willson CyberDome is a great 3D space shooter that sports a very complex 3D engine for its time, patented under the name SuperSet engine. In this fun game set in cyberspace, the gameplay is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brian Colin & Jeff Nauman GAME DEVELOPER:Game Refuge GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1993, Game Refuge One of the most underrated games for the SEGA Genesis console, General Chaos is a fun and funny arcade/strategy game. Think of crossing the zany action gameplay and humor of Cannon…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Treasure GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1994, Treasure Dynamite Headdy is an excellent and unique platformer for the SEGA Genesis console that has the same trademark zany sense of humor and creativity that characterize all Treasure games. In this one, you play a robotic ant who…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Treasure GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1993, Treasure Released in 1993, Gunstar Heroes for the SEGA Genesis is an amazingly addictive and original platformer that ranks as one of the best games of its kind ever made for any system. Treasurefan’s excellent review for the sadly…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Criterion Studios GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1996, Criterion Studios Scorched Planet is a fun, marginally above-average 3D action shooter from Criterion Studios, published by Virgin Interactive. The clich? plot: save the human race on Dator 5 planet from the marauding Voraxian Hordes. The game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Durcak GAME DEVELOPER:Cauldron GAME PUBLISHER:JRC Interactive Copyright 1996, Cauldron Quadrax is an excellent logic game that was the best-selling title in Slovakia and Czech Republic in 1996, the year of its release, but was little known outside these countries. The game is actually a PC…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mikko Mononen GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Mikko Mononen Eskimo Fishing Trip is a neat PC implementation of the mechanical fishing toy, where you try to catch the fish with the fishing rod when their mouths are open. The fish go up and down at…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Quintet GAME PUBLISHER:Enix Copyright 1991, Enix Actraiser is a fun action/strategy hybrid from Quintet/Enix for the SNES. You play the role of a god who is trying to reclaim the earth from evil beings and make it habitable for your people. Similar to EVO…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Grafix GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Grafix Isin-Densin Zero is yet another excellent vertical shooter from Japan’s rapidly growing freeware scene. You know the drill by now: excellent graphics, smooth gameplay, and a lot of cool ship designs. The game goes above and beyond most…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:HQ Team GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, HQ Team Changoo 4 is the fourth and best entry in the Changoo series, fanmade games based on Crayon Shin-Chan, an excellent humorous manga (and now anime) series that is wildly popular in Asia but is rarely known…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Anonymous Dogma is a Japanese fighting game that suffers a bit for being not completely finished. For some reason, the development stopped, so we have only a single background, a single BG music (though it’s quite a good one),…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Oh!X & Isawo-Kikuchi GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Oh!X & Isawo-Kikuchi sion2000 is a neat 3D first-person space shooter from Japan. The objective is simple: shoot everything in sight. Although it’s an arcade shooter, the control resembles a flight sim game in that pressing UP…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Unobstructed Reason Corporation GAME PUBLISHER:Unobstructed Reason Corporation Copyright 1995, Unobstructed Reason Corporation Mimi & the Mites is a fun shareware puzzle/action hybrid from the Unobstructed Reason Corporation (probably the best game company name ever). While it looks like a standard side-scroller at first glance,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bob Lancaster GAME DEVELOPER:MicroLink GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1989, Bob Lancaster Between 1987 and 1990, Bob Lancaster wrote 6 games that he released under the name of “MicroLink,” a PC user group he belonged to. All the games boast simple, ASCII-character graphics, but the excellent gameplay and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bob Lancaster GAME DEVELOPER:MicroLink GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1990, Bob Lancaster Between 1987 and 1990, Bob Lancaster wrote 6 games that he released under the name of “MicroLink,” a PC user group he belonged to. All the games boast simple, ASCII-character graphics, but the excellent gameplay and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Michael Haar GAME DEVELOPER:DIGITAL Nightmares GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, DIGITAL Nightmares Giants of Steel is a fun 3D giant robot action game from DIGITAL Nightmares, a small Germany-based developer who released the game into the public domain after selling it for a number of months as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Teeny Weeny Games GAME PUBLISHER:GT Interactive Copyright 1996, Teeny Weeny Games Barbarians is a lackluster platformer developed by Teeny Weeny Games, who also developed Pocahontas, another lackluster platformer published by GT Interactive. Similar to Enixs excellent console game EVO, the idea here is to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Xing GAME PUBLISHER:Xing Copyright 2000, Xing Umihara Kawase and its sequel Umihara Kawase Shun are two very innovative platformers that were sadly never released outside Japan. Which is a shame, because they are both unique and highly innovative game that will make you wonder…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Xing GAME PUBLISHER:Xing Copyright 1994, Xing Umihara Kawase and its sequel Umihara Kawase Shun are two very innovative platformers that were sadly never released outside Japan. Which is a shame, because they are both unique and highly innovative game that will make you wonder…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Rich Karpp GAME DEVELOPER:BlueSky Software GAME PUBLISHER:inSCAPE Copyright 1996, inSCAPE Assassin 2015 is an entertaining 3D action/adventure hybrid that is unfortunately far too short and easy. The description from MobyGames follows: “You are Jack Butcher, a former soldier, and now an assassin working for the government.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Metropolis GAME PUBLISHER:Metropolis Copyright 1997, Metropolis Katharsis is a decent modern shooter that offers excellent 3D background graphics (although not the ships themselves), and even a plot (!). The premise is quite clich? (i.e. defend the planet against the evil Conquerors), but the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Natsume GAME PUBLISHER:Bandai Copyright 1996, Bandai Endless Duel is the first and only game based on Bandais popular giant-robot Gundam Wing anime/action figure series, part of the long-running Mobile Suit Gundam universe. The game is a 2D fighting game similar to Street Fighter, only…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Steve Evans & Christophe Plattet GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Christophe Plattet Aaah, those were these days…. Here is a true gem for all you oldtimers who, like myself, have started gaming back when ZX Spectrum or Commodore’s C=64 were state of the art. World…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Moritz Moeller GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Moritz Moeller Plastic Kitten is a great freeware Q*Bert clone for the PC designed as a promotional game for Muschihaus, a German music label. You play Plastic Kitten, an anime-inspired voluptuous cat-woman who must save the world from…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Millennium GAME PUBLISHER:Psygnosis Copyright 1995, Millennium Defcon 5 is a good first-person action game from Millennium that deserves much more attention than it received, although original Playstation version (published by Data East) did marginally better than this rare PC port. The game takes place…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Masahiro Yoshihara & Morten Grouleff GAME DEVELOPER:Virgin Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1992, Technos Japan Ask any longtime action gamer, and most will tell you that Technos classic arcade classic Double Dragon series took a nosedive with the final game in the trilogy, Double Dragon III:…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Masahiro Yoshihara & Mike Day GAME DEVELOPER:Binary Design GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1989, Technos Japan After Arcadia did a dismal PC conversion of Technos’ arcade blockbuster Double Dragon, Technos USA wisely decided to choose a different company to do a PC conversion of the second game,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Masahiro Yoshihara GAME DEVELOPER:Arcadia GAME PUBLISHER:Arcadia Copyright 1988, Technos Japan Double Dragon is a disappointing PC version of Technos’ classic beat’em up series that were very successful in the arcades and on console systems. The plot, if you haven’t heard of this blockbuster before, goes as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:PPM Soft GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, PPM Soft PicoShot is potentially the worlds smallest shooter ever made. At first, I hated this game. Really. I wondered what was the sense of making a game which takes a tiny, stamp-sized, 64×64 window, moving a ship…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mark Currie GAME DEVELOPER:Gatecom GAME PUBLISHER:Gatecom Copyright 1992, Mark Currie Death Squadron is a rare commercial ripoff of Mark Currie’s 1990 freeware Chopper Commando 2, a fun oldie Sopwith-style 2D aerial bombing game for DOS. Gatecom pretty much took Currie’s game, changed the name, and marketed…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:SEGA GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1984, SEGA Frogger II: Three Deep is a fun sequel to Ataris cross-the-road classic Frogger. Instead of the road, this time Mr. Frog must swim from the bottom of his pond past deadly foes to get to three moving home…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:CG Computer Graphic Corp. GAME PUBLISHER:CG Computer Graphic Corp. Copyright 1997, CG Computer Graphic Corp. Spirit Warrior is a marginally above-average 3D fighting game from Taiwanese company CG. The game is very little known because it was never marketed outside Asia, and it never…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Derek Yu & Jon Perry GAME DEVELOPER:Blackeye Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Blackeye Software Eternal Daughter is an excellent platformer from Blackeye Software, the wonderful folks who brought us outstanding freeware titles like Snowbrawl and Diabolika. The game casts you as Mia, a young girl born…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Scott Ramsay GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1989, Compute! Publication Iskib is a very rare 2D side-scrolling platformer designed to be included with an issue of Compute! magazine – one of the first instances such marketing gimmick was used for a PC magazine. The object of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Y. Fujii GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Y. Fujii Techno Puck is a cool Pong-style paddle game with some nifty features including dual paddles, power-ups, special items, and different level designs. Similar to air hockey, your goal is to knock the ball past the opponent’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Rod Ashley & Sean Conran GAME DEVELOPER:Cascade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1991, Cascade Frightmare is an okay shooter first published by Cascade Games in 1987. This Accolade-published PC version dates from 1991, and ranks among one of the rarest PC games ever made. Unfortunately, rare doesnt necessarily…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Software Creations GAME PUBLISHER:Acclaim Entertainment Copyright 1994, Marvel Comics Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety is the sequel of Maximum Carnage, one of the best superhero action games ever made. Unfortunately Maximum Carnage was never released on PC, so PC gamers will have to take…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Gion Camaj & Joe Campana GAME DEVELOPER:Image Space Incorporated GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1995, Image Space Incorporated Zone Raiders is a decent 3D futuristic driving combat game that unfortunately doesnt offer anything to set it above Wipeout XL or Quarantine. In the game, you play an…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Alicuu GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Alicuu Fighters Kyodotai is a great freeware 2D fighting game from Japan. Although the game?s graphics looks a bit outdated in VGA, Fighters Kyodotai shines through in the gameplay department. To begin with, there are dozens of characters to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Dirk Vandenheuvel GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Dirk Vandenheuvel DriftZone is an outstanding Asteroids-style game that adds a lot of gameplay options and bells & whistles to the addictive shoot-the-asteroids gameplay of the arcade original. There are two different game types available: a ‘Classic’ mode…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Anonymous Renga Funsai Yuugi is a novel combination of vertical shooter and Breakout: your spaceship is equipped with flippers, which you use to bounce the ball back to destroy the blocks on the top of the screen. The graphics…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Anonymous GFID Advance Place: Project Zero is a fun freeware vertical shooter from Japan. Although the ships (including your own) are smaller than in an avarage shooter, this makes the playing field quite large in comparison, thereby allowing awesome…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bio_100% GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Bio_100% WinDepth is an excellent modern fanmade version of Atari’s classic Depth Charge submarine-sinking game. The idea is simple: you control a battleship that drops depth charges from the surface to destroy submarines down below. Since the charges take…