Can’t believe it has been seven years already.
The Warriors is a video game based on the 1979 film of the same name. Without being tied to a release date for a film project (though a remake was planned at one point), Rockstar Toronto had ample time to flesh out the game and its mechanics, making it arguably one of the best licensed titles out there.
Team Chaotix fo’ life.
Sonic Heroes was the first Sonic the Hedgehog game to be released across multiple platforms on day one. The game is best known for its three character set up, which allows you to switch between characters on the fly, and the return of Team Chaotix, who had not been seen since Knuckles’ Chaotix on the 32X.
One for the Schafer crowd.
Psychonauts is a fan-favourite platformer with something of a troubled development history. Tim Schafer’s first post-Lucasarts game was meant to be an Xbox exclusive published by Microsoft themselves. Some four years and $US13 million dollars later, it ended up being released by Majesco, who were nearly bankrupted following the game’s terrible performance at retail.
Van Dammit.
Street Fighter: The Movie is, as the name suggests, based on the film which was loosely based on the game. Unlike the arcade version, the home version was actually developed internally by Capcom, which some might say was an attempt at salvaging the project and turning it into something playable.
The one that started a real turnaround for superhero games.
Spider-Man is the nineteenth (I believe) game based on Marvel’s most popular comic book character, and the first to be published by Activision, who still holds the license to this day. The game was developed by Neversoft using the same tech from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
Throwing snowballs at turkeys: the video game.
South Park for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and PC was the first game based on the now long running animated comedy. Acclaim picked up the license and had Iguana Entertainment churn out a quickie first person shooter. The result was not pretty – and it’s actually the best one Acclaim published. After Acclaim’s third abysmal South Park game (South Park Rally), series creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone refused to license the video game rights to the series for almost 10 years.
You almost became a Jill sandwich!
Resident Evil is the first game in one of Capcom’s biggest franchises. It seemingly came out of nowhere in 1996 and took the world by storm – one of the first games of the then new fifth generation consoles to really break out. It was originally intended to be a remake of Capcom’s 1986 Famicom horror game Sweet Home.
Ah, the top down days.
Grand Theft Auto: Director’s Cut is a compilation pack which includes the original Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto: London 1969. It does not have the PC exclusive London 1961 pack.
Rare’s final SNES release.
Donkey Kong Country: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble was the third and final game in the series to appear on the SNES. This time around, both Donkey and Diddy are kidnapped, and it’s up to Dixie and newcomer Kiddy to do the rescuing. The game actually came out after the Nintendo 64, which hurt its sales performance.
It’s all fun and games until someone discharges in the water.
Quake was a game changer on its release in 1996. It marked the end for the faux 3D first person shooter, bringing in full 3D polygon characters and weapons. Quake was also extremely mod friendly, helping many young programmers, artists and designers make their way into the game development industry. Some mods, like Team Fortress went on to become full commercial products in their own right. Quake also proved to be a powerful force behind the speedrunning movement, thanks to the Quake Done Quick series.
One for the shareware crowd.
Aliens Ate My Babysitter is the sixth and final episode of the Commander Keen series. Keen has to rescue his babysitter Molly, who has been kidnapped by the Bloogs. The Commander Keen series has remained stagnant since this release; series designer Tom Hall has said that he is interested in revisiting the series if he can get the rights, though.
Still a right jerk of a game.
The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is a good case study for the way markets operated and content was controlled in the late 1980s. Today it would be unthinkable that Nintendo would develop a major Mario sequel and not release it here, but it happened back then. It was eventually released in its updated form as a part of Super Mario All Stars, but not in its original form until its Virtual Console release in 2009.
The best Mega Man? I don’t agree, but many feel that way.
Mega Man 3 might not seem that different from its predecessor on first impression, but the addition of the slide move and Mega Man’s side kick Rush prove otherwise. It sold over a million units worldwide – a heck of a lot more than any recent Mega Man game.
Or Dragon Quest II, if you prefer.
Dragon Warrior II is set about 100 years after the first game, with the player taking control of a prince who happens to be a descendent of Loto/Erdrick, who is on a quest to defeat the evil wizard Hargon. It was one of the first games to utilise the concept of your party growing as your quest is played out. The game has been re-released twice: one on the SNES (Japan only) and on a combo cartridge with the first game.
Originally developed as RC Pro Am 64, would you believe?
Diddy Kong Racing is a multi-vehicle kart racing game for the Nintendo 64. Basically rushed out for Christmas in 1997 when Banjo-Kazooie and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time were delayed, DKR‘s adventure mode and multi-pathed tracks proved popular with content-starved N64 gamers everywhere.
