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Recollected Games

  • schema: Recollected game

These are games which are possibly not remarkable enough nor classic enough to be put in one of the other lists, but which I have memories of playing (or at least seeing) regardless, and I'd like to note those memories somewhere.

This list is kind of a grab bag and will possibly never be as well organized as the other lists. There is a good chance any particular entry here will move to some other list.

TRS-80

Ninja Warrior

screenshot

  • written by: Programmer's Guild Inc.
  • published by: Programmer's Guild Inc.
  • date released: 1983
  • entry @ mobygames

Holy cow. I remember this game!

Arcade

Congo Bongo

screenshot: coin-op screenshot: Commodore 64 screenshot: SG-1000

Here is what is notable about Congo Bongo: the arcade game uses isometric projection, but the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, and some other conversions use oblique projection, while the SG-1000 conversion uses orthographic projection, i.e. "side view", i.e. it's just plain two-dimensional.

Which raises the aesthetic question: at what point does the game stop being Congo Bongo?

Springer

I remember seeing it in an airport in Mexico.

Lasso

  • available for: Arcade

I remember seeing it in an airport in Mexico.

Doesn't appear to be on the Internet Archive.

Bubbles

I thought it was cute when I saw it.

Black Widow

For a long time, this was rather cryptically identified on this list only as the "spider eat grubsteak game".

Xenophobe

MS-DOS

Cyberbykes

screenshot

  • subtitle: Shadow Racer VR
  • written by: Artificial Software
  • published by: GameTek
  • genre: Racing
  • date released: 1995
  • wikipedia: Cyberbykes
  • play online @ archive.org (playable demo)

I remember discovering a secret area you could jump to on one level (I think it was "Warwickshire"?), but I don't remember if I ever successfully jumped to it...

Stunts

screenshot

Worth noting.

Magic Carpet

screenshot

  • written by: Bullfrog Productions
  • published by: Electronic Arts
  • genre: Difficult to say
  • date released: 1994
  • wikipedia: Magic Carpet (video game)
  • entry @ mobygames
  • play online @ archive.org (Actually "Magic Carpet Plus", with extra levels)

Developed by the same folks who developed Populous, and has some Populous-like game mechanics in it, while being more or less an entirely different game.

Console / 16-bit and above

Katamari Damacy

  • published by: Namco
  • genre: Maze-Runner (nominally)
  • available for: Sony PlayStation
  • controls: dual analog joystick
  • wikipedia: Katamari Damacy

An extremely original game — sort of a four-dimensional maze game where the fourth dimension is scale. Rolling things up is also surprisingly satisfying and disturbingly addictive. To top it all off, the soundtrack can't be beat.

Typhoon Thompson

screenshot

  • written by: Dan Gorlin
  • published by: Brøderbund
  • genre: Shoot-'em-Up (nominally)
  • available for: Amiga 500, Atari ST
  • controls: mouse and keyboard
  • date released: 1988
  • wikipedia: Typhoon Thompson

Quite possibly the cutest game ever.

Not actually a shoot-'em-up, as the author pointed out in his interview for Halcyon Days:

I like it because it's unique, the gameplay is simple but infinitely variable, and for me the characters really come to life. Some people mistook it for a shooter at the time, but it's really more like a game of Blitzkrieg Chess. If you just start blasting you lose immediately. Each kind of enemy has moves it can make, and the player has his moves, but things never happen the same way twice. It's not high concept in the way that "Choplifter" is, but rather a kind of art piece.

Super Monkey Ball 2

  • genre: Maze-Runner
  • available for: Nintendo GameCube
  • controls: analog joystick
  • wikipedia: Super Monkey Ball 2

I didn't think I'd like this one, since I really don't like those wooden mazes that you tilt with the two dials — which is essentially what this game is. But somehow it manages to be fun. Especially when you start barrelling down a spiral, completely out of control. The party games I could mostly do without, with the exception of racing, which is at least as fun as the main game.

Some students had borrowed a video projector from the lab, and hooked it up to their GameCube. I played this on it, projected on the wall. IMAX style. It was vertigo-inducing.

Llamasoft

Llamatron

screenshot

  • written by: Jeff Minter
  • genre: Shoot-'em'-Up
  • available for: Atari ST, Amiga, MS-DOS
  • controls: joystick and 1 button
  • date released: 1991
  • wikipedia: Llamatron

Fast-paced, psychedaelic, mindless fun, like most Jeff Minter games. Basically a clone of the arcade game Robotron, but with shaggy, smelly quadrupeds. And cans of Coke. And Mandelbrot sets...

Llamatron was written for the Atari ST, but I only ever played a version for MS-DOS, and apparently this an erstaz version, although I do not recall where I read that.

Hovver Bovver

  • written by: Jeff Minter
  • genre: Collect the dots
  • wikipedia: Hovver Bovver

I didn't realize "bovver" was supposed to be "bother" until a very, very long time after I first saw this game.

Food and Drink Mascot-Based Video Games of Note

M.C. Kids

  • available for: NES, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS
  • wikipedia: M.C. Kids
  • play online @ archive.org (DOS)

A strangely high-quality platformer promoting a certain fast-food franchise.

Kool-Aid (starring Kool-Aid man) (Atari 2600)

Culturally notable.

Spot

  • date: 1990
  • available for: DOS, Game Boy, Commodore 64, NES, Amiga, Atari ST
  • play online @ archive.org (C64)
  • entry @ mobygames

7-Up's mascot. Puzzle Game

Cool Spot

7-Up's mascot, again. Action game

Fido Dido

Fido Dido, 7-Up's other mascot. Though it is not known to me if it is in his capacity as 7-Up's mascot that he appears in this game. Will need to research this more.

The Noid (Domino's Pizza mascot) (NES)

Unknown

Licensed Cartoon Characters

See also: One or two games in British TV-Derived Games of Note use licensed cartoon characters.

Popeye (Arcade)

This was actually quite good. But the arcade version is not on the IA.

Smurf Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (ColecoVision)

Not terrible

Garfield (NES)

Apparently it was awful.

Road Runner (Arcade)

But I think this is not the Road Runner game I remember seeing at Expo 86, because in that one, there was running left and right on an S-shaped curve in the road; on a higher-resolution (think "Rampage" or "Xenophobe") display.

Also...

Aliases

This section is to provide aliases for games that are known by more than one name.

Big Mac: The Mad Maintenance Man

See Big Mac.

Kick-Man

See Kick.

Sam & Ed Basketball

See Basketball Sam & Ed.

Slinky

See Slinky!.

Trap Door

See The Trap Door.

Mr. Do

See Mr. Do!.

Burgertime

See BurgerTime.