Category: Arcade and Action Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Assembly Line, The GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1989, Empire Interactive A very addictive puzzle game, Pipe Mania is the European release of LucasFilm’s original Pipe Dreams. The game idea wasn’t new when it came out, but Pipe Mania executes the lay-random-tiles-to-form-a-pipe principle very well,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kevin Chiu GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Kevin Chiu A cute little game that obviously takes its inspiration from a similar-sounding Blizzard blockbuster, SnowCraft is a fast and furious action game that features very smooth graphics, simple yet addictive gameplay, and that magical “just one…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Richard Horrocks GAME DEVELOPER:Taito GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1991, Empire Interactive Good conversion of Taito’s popular arcade game of the same name. The PC version adds many bonuses and extras to the original from the early 80’s. The game is very similar to an early game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Carlyle GAME DEVELOPER:Zeppelin Games GAME PUBLISHER:Zeppelin Games Copyright 1993, Zeppelin Games Arnie 2 is a fun isometric view action shooter by Zeppelin. Nothing special here, but the game has vibrant VGA graphics, nice MOD music and pretty tough levels. In a plot that is similar…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tony Reeves GAME DEVELOPER:Zeppelin Games GAME PUBLISHER:Zeppelin Games Copyright 1993, Zeppelin Games Arcade Trivia Quiz is a trivia gameshow featuring many questions from various categories. Although it supports up to three players, playing solo is interminably boring, since there is no computer players– unless you like…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jason Heggie & Shadligh Dale GAME DEVELOPER:Alternative GAME PUBLISHER:Alternative Copyright 1993, Alternative Suburban Commando is a multi-style action game based on the movie of the same name. Features a fairly poor R-Type clone level, three standard jump’n run levels and three beat’em up levels. Well, quite…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Alternative GAME PUBLISHER:Alternative Copyright 1992, Alternative Popeye 2 is a fairly poor jump’n run featuring the popular comic hero with an affection for smoking green grass, for a thin woman and as an abnormal feature in this game – jumping – although this was…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Alternative GAME PUBLISHER:Alternative Copyright 1993, Alternative Huckleberry Hound is a straight-forward jump’n run by Alternative Software featuring the Hanna-Barbera comic character. It’s your solid platform game, as used by other low-budget titles from, eg., Codemasters. Nice colourful VGA graphics – although a bit more…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Sanders GAME DEVELOPER:Zeppelin Games GAME PUBLISHER:Zeppelin Games Copyright 1993, Zeppelin Games Stack-up is a little variation on the well-known and often copied Tetris type of game. Instead of vertical rows of blocks, you will have to handle horizontal rows of blocks in this one. As…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ian Copeland & John Murphy GAME DEVELOPER:Zeppelin Games GAME PUBLISHER:Zeppelin Games Copyright 1993, Zeppelin Games A fun action-puzzle game that nicely crosses elements from Lemmings, jump’n run games and [a James Cameron movie minus love story]. The SS Lucifer is sinking and so you’re off to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Zeppelin Games GAME PUBLISHER:Zeppelin Games Copyright 1993, Zeppelin Games Jump’n run platformer starring “super-hero” Santa Claus, equipped with a load of snow balls, in his world-important mission to find the lost Christmas presents. Zeppelin’s rather pathetic attempt to corner the Christmas market is quite…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1989, Loriciel Westphaser is a very nice Operation Wolf-style shoot’em up by Loriciel set in a Wild West scenario. Gameplay is simple: shoot targets as they appear on screen. Shooting innocents will penalize you, while shooting baddies earn score. Despite…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1992, Loriciel Tiny Sweek is a nice puzzle game starring the Skweek characters. Starts very easy but gets a bit more challenging in later levels. The goal of the game is to get every Skweek to the pad with the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1989, Loriciel Skweek is a decent PC conversion of Loriciel’s fun action/puzzle game, in which you control a wooly something over many levels, colouring the platform pieces by walking over them. Of course, there are many extras, bonuses and dangers…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:V. Baillet GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1987, Loriciel Mach 3 is a classic 3D shooter by Loriciel with a typical Michel Winogradoff sampled title tune – very cool. The action is very smooth and fast, and overall it’s a very polished CGA game that manages…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1992, Loriciel Bumby’s Arcade Fantasy is a mediocre action-puzzle game. Easy game principle, the typical “steer a jumping ball through obstacle-filled rooms while collecting stuff” game with some nice twists. Very easy at first, gets more difficult and complicated in…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Cribier Franck GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1991, Loriciel Booly is a fun puzzle game similar to Tetris but with a dash of electronics circuitry thrown in. The goal, as in all good puzzlers, is easy to say but hard to achieve: you have to bring…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1991, Loriciel Baby Jo is a quite fun jump’n run game by Loriciel – a bit similar to SEGA’s classic Wonderboy. You are baby Jo, a baby (in diapers, no less) who has to struggle through many levels to find…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:B. Aure GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1986, Loriciel Bob Winner is an early action game with some adventure elements by Loriciel, set in the US’ wild, wild West. Bob Winner is on a quest to find a lost civilisation, and has to collect three keys…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Impact GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1990, OCEAN Nightbreed: The Interactive Movie is the second game in OCEAN’s planned trilogy of games based on Clive Barker’s movie of the same name. This one is an action/adventure hybrid, and much worse than the first game in the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Impact GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1990, OCEAN First in a slated trilogy of games based on a cult classic movie of the same name, Nightbreed is a first-person action game that stars you as Boone, the hapless hero in the movie. Although the game is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jon Woods & John Meegan GAME DEVELOPER:OCEAN GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1989, OCEAN The Untouchables is a horrible platform action in six different episodes, based on Brian DePalma’s movie of the same name. You are cast as one of The Untoucables, Elliot Ness, who is going after…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kevin Ayre & John G. Wood GAME DEVELOPER:Empire Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Empire Interactive Copyright 1991, Empire Interactive This looked so promising, like what Conan should have been. A nicely drawn, well-storied game with lots of hacking and slashing. It didn’t pan out in the end. The story…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:D. Arnaud & N. Massonnat GAME DEVELOPER:Loriciel GAME PUBLISHER:Loriciel Copyright 1990, Loriciel Pinball Magic is an early pinball game by French company Loriciel. In a nice twist to regular pinball tables, here you have to clear tables by activating all letters, which opens the exit to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:OCEAN GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1991, OCEAN Fantasy jump’n run well-suited for fans of the genre. Also features some simple adventuring elements such as picking up objects and “using” them on characters that come by your way. Technically very nice, enjoyable gameplay and overall Elf…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Nick Jones GAME DEVELOPER:Hewson GAME PUBLISHER:Hewson Copyright 1989, Hewson Stormlord is an excellent tongue-in-cheek arcade/adventure casting you in the role of Stormlord the hard man, in his quest to rescue fairydom and the rest of the inhabitants of his land from the evil witch. Under this…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Phillips GAME DEVELOPER:Hewson GAME PUBLISHER:Hewson Copyright 1987, Hewson One of the best (and cutest) platform games ever made for any computer, Nebulus is a fantastically original and addictive gem from Hewson, British developer of several solid action gems that are virtually unknown on the PC…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chris Wood GAME DEVELOPER:Hewson GAME PUBLISHER:Hewson Copyright 1989, Hewson One of the best action/puzzle hybrids ever made for the Amiga, Hewson’s Netherworld translates onto the PC screen quite well, with minor losses (the wonderful Amiga music is gone, for instance) but with all the addictive gameplay…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Shaun Ridings GAME DEVELOPER:Sensible Software GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1987, OCEAN One of the most original games ever. The C64 version of Wizball is definitely an all-time classic. Sadly the PC version is nearly unplayable on modern computers, even with a slowdown utility. The premise is as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Sensible Software GAME PUBLISHER:OCEAN Copyright 1992, OCEAN A much-improved sequel to Commodore 64 platform classic Wizball, Wizkid deviates from the original in many ways. The screen no longer scrolls around a level, and Wizkid cannot bounce around like his predecessor. The basic action premise…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:SEGA GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1995, SEGA One of the most underrated platform conversions of all time and one of the least known SEGA games, Comix Zone is an innovative platform game that turns the typical side-scrolling format into a cool interactive comic book, where…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Digital Caf? GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, Digital Caf? A great sequel to one of the best marketing gimmicks of all time, Chex Quest 2 is more of an “add-on” to the original Chex Quest than a true sequel, because it requires that the original…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Anonymous A fun freeware fighting game based on the popular Japanese cartoons Gundam, Gundam Wars 4 is a fast-paced little game similar to Little Fighters, in which you try to defeat your opponent. What makes this game different is…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Aprompt GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, Aprompt Perhaps the first fanmade Dragon Ball Z game for PC in existence today, this version of Dragonball Z is a playable beta version of a never-released PC game based on the immensely popular Japanese anime/manga of the same…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Itochu GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Itochu One of the most unique and fun little games you’ll ever come across, Oden Todo Fish is a fast-paced fishing game like none other. Forget realism or the drill of arduously charting your course to a fishing spot–here…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Giga-Rensya GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Giga-Rensya This download includes 15 fun mini-games starring cute Japanese cat *kutar* (asterisks are phonetically correct), created by Giga-Rensya, a promising Japanese freeware site. Although the games are in Japanese, there is not much text to read since they…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Digital Caf? GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Digital Caf? Undoubtedly the strangest and most complete conversion of all DOOM engine licensees, Chex Quest was a free CD-ROM action game released by General Mills on a CD stuffed free into boxes of Chex Cereals. This promotion…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:BlueSky Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1987, Dominoes Pizza Avoid the Noid is an advertisement ploy for Domino’s Pizza that is a surprisingly playable game. In one of the earliest advertising tie-ins ever made for PC, you play a pizza delivery boy who must deliver…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1997, General Mills Commercialized marketing tie-in games usually do not get a mention in gaming magazines, and for good reason: they are typically awful. Cap’n Crunch’s Crunchling Adventure, however, is an exceptionally well-designed game that is a lot more fun…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Flair GAME PUBLISHER:Capstone Copyright 1992, Flair A fun platform game from Flair Software, Trolls features great graphics, smooth-as-silk animations, and very good level design that characterizes all Flair releases. You control a Troll of the title, who’s not the ugly lumber monster from AD&D…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Elite Systems GAME PUBLISHER:New World Computing Copyright 1991, Elite Systems A great conversion from the hit arcade game of the same name, Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja is a fun platform game starring to bumbling cavemen, Joe and Mac. After their cave-babes were kidnapped…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Flair GAME PUBLISHER:MicroValue Copyright 1993, MicroValue A great platform game that was more successful on the Amiga, Oscar casts you in the role of Oscar, a cutesy chipmunk whose task is to find little clones of himself in various movie backdrops. Gameplay is conventional…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Bowman & Damon Slye GAME DEVELOPER:Dynamix GAME PUBLISHER:Activision Copyright 1989, Dynamix Probably the very first giant robot game that can proudly claim to be a simulation than a straightforward action shooter, Mechwarrior is a great game set in FASA’s famous BattleTech world of giant robots.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:David Perry GAME DEVELOPER:Virgin Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Virgin Interactive Copyright 1994, Virgin Interactive Cool Spot is a fun, colorful platform game featuring the 7-up mascot as the hero. The game’s objective is fairly simple: you have to collect enough number of bonuses throughout each level in order…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Julian Scott GAME DEVELOPER:Virgin Interactive GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1992, Virgin Interactive McDonald Land is a fun little platform game created by Virgin Interactive to promote McDonald, one of the world’s most recognizable franchise back when Happy Meals were all the rage. The game stars you, the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Rasputin GAME PUBLISHER:Rasputin Copyright 1993, Rasputin One of the most unknown underdogs ever, Jetstrike is a great side-scrolling flying game in the spirit of classic Choplifter, but with many more options and gameplay features. Aside from attractive VGA graphics and a wide variety of…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Colgate-Palmolive GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1992, Colgate-Palmolive A cute little platform game commissioned by toothpaste giant Colgate-Palmolive to promote its Colgate brand, Harald Hardtand stars a tooth (yes, tooth) superhero as he ventures into a certain unhealthy mouth to rid its owner of green germs…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Softstar GAME PUBLISHER:Softstar Copyright 1991, Softstar An okay top-down shooter from prolific Taiwanese developer SoftStar, Dawn Raider takes place in a futuristic world where the Earth is rife with civil wars that broke out among warring clans. The game won’t dislodge Tyrian or even…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Henk Nieborg GAME DEVELOPER:Psygnosis GAME PUBLISHER:Psygnosis Copyright 1996, Psygnosis Little-known PC port of the better-known Playstation game, The Adventures of Lomax features the lemmings from Psygnosis’ classic arcade puzzle series, but takes them back this time to the old school of classic platform gameplay. The plot…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roger Pedersen GAME DEVELOPER:Merit Studios GAME PUBLISHER:Merit Studios Copyright 1989, Merit Studios This is one of those standard cheap arcade games based on a popular license (in this case, the Burt Renyolds/Dom DeLouise voiced children’s movie of the game’s name). Most of them have little thought…