Krull

Had this on the Amstrad. Real stand-out title on that platform - looked incredible for its time. However, my main takeaway is that I hope they kept the bug where you could select anything in the shop and just … sell it. Even if you hadn’t bought it. Basically infinite money, so you could deck your ship out with everything you wanted.

Fascinating stuff. Get fed up with hearing Americans refer to “Eurojank” - although I understand the criticism to a point - when there’s a history and games culture here that is quite distinct and valuable in its own way. Anyway, Larian and CD Projekt Red would like a word. Rockstar North doesn’t even care.

@KingMike My Game Gear was a handheld, but calling it a portable is a stretch. I basically sat next to a plug socket, sometimes for hours. Playing Phantasy Star via a Master System cartridge convertor is one of my fondest gaming memories - it could have been made for that little screen. Chef’s kiss.

I love that the notable Switch games are the same as for the Game Boy. I mean, they’re still pretty much pertinent.

The 3DS is my favourite handheld - glasses-free 3D is indeed still magical, and the fact that it can play DS games too gives it a combined library that few can rival.

GBA is a worthy winner, can’t deny it, but the PSP deserves to be above some of the Nintendo handhelds. Personally, I’d have it third, after 3DS and Switch.

I’m not sure I ever beat one of these game books, despite cheating like my life depended on it. But I always appreciated the writing and art. This was a great read too

What a list! These are superb games, even if I’m not sure Breath of Fire II deserves a place above Phantasy Star IV or Dragon Quests IV or V. Hard to leave out FF Tactics (if Fire Emblem is there, FF Tactics deserves a place) too.

Plenty of games take me back to the arcades where I first played them (Street Fighter II is linked to a family holiday in Nice, for instance) or friends’ houses. It’s such a strong association that these days, when I go abroad, I like to bring or buy a game so that I play it for the first time there.

I do have other place associations unrelated to where I played or bought a game, though. In the town where I grew up, we had a fantastic modernist library that looked exactly the buildings in Syndicate. Don’t know if Peter Molyneux ever visited the town, but wouldn’t be surprised if someone involved with Bullfrog did.

One more, and much more recent: rambling around the countryside near my current home reminds me of Dragon Quest - and particularly IV-VI. Related to Covid lockdowns, exploring the area around me when I couldn’t go anywhere else, and the retro gaming podcasts I was listening to at the time.

I’m giving this one to Ocarina of Time - it beat Metroid to the 3D Metroidvania genre. Metal Gear Solid is a great shout, though, as is Resident Evil if you include something like Sweet Home as a spiritual predecessor.

Played quite a few of these back in the day - but cursed the day I failed to pick up Defenders of Oasis, as I only ever saw one copy in the wild, and did not have that kind of money in those days.

Aside from the Shinobi and Disney games, I’ll give a shout out to Wimbledon, which was a really good tennis game with very light RPG elements. A sprite-based precursor to Virtua Tennis, if you will. Also: Phantasy Star via the MS convertor.

Zipstick all the way. Base held in the palm of the hand, thumb over the button. More buttons don’t always mean more. I got through three or four of those (maybe more) on Sensible Soccer alone.

Shout out to the Xbox One controller - an excellent joypad for a console I have absolutely no feelings for.

IK+ was so good. A very solid three-way fighter, lifted even further by its crunchy sound design. Many happy local multiplayer sessions crowded around a CRT and Amiga, quickly deteriorating Zipsticks in hand.

Sleepwalker on the Amiga really wasn’t that bad. It was like a 6.5. Have to give it credit for being a fairly original concept at the time, too.

Why can’t Panasonic get gaming right? It has always been a worthy rival to Sony in electronics, but just seems to have absolutely no grasp of the video games industry. Every time it dips in a toe, it gets dunked in acid goo.

@TenguKing That’s funny - I feel exactly the opposite. I was a Sega kid, and completely had my head turned by the facts that Sega games basically just looked brighter, faster and, frankly, cooler. Nintendo was for babies.

These days, I think Nintendo just flat out had the better games. Even if you think the first-party battle is fairly even (arguable), the support of Squaresoft and Enix just completely tips the balance for me.

@Maulbert Bless your heart. I will bite my tongue because, honestly, who cares? They’re both great sports, and fans can call them what they want.

I’m European, and have no issue with Americans, or anyone else, calling football soccer. However, given that it is a derivation of Association Football, Americans need to get used to the entire rest of the world calling their game “naffer”, from the NFL. “Naffle” would also be an acceptable substitute.

(I love both sports, by the way. Naffer is hands down the greatest sport to watch in a bar. All those breaks in the play suddenly make sense, while soccer requires constant, antisocial attention.)

I really, really want that Cerezo Osaka Capcom shirt...

Brilliant story. Peter Molyneux was a real visionary in that era. Best version of Populous, though, is the one on the Master System. Weird, but true.

Oh, the number of times I got a ropey Ocean game for the Amstrad based on the box art... RIP, Bob.

I recall Desert Strike being punishingly difficult, forcing my young self to memorise a viable order to pick up hostages, or else simply run out of fuel. Only ever borrowed it, but I'm not sure I ever got beyond level 3. Think I played the Amiga version; it was class.