Just take a
good look at this awesome piece of pixel art!
Isn’t that gorgeous?
This
particular loading screen was inspired by the North American NES box art of the
very first game released in 1986.
Back in the
day, Konami should have released a ZX Spectrum version of the amazing and
tÃmeles Castlevania.
They’ve completely missed the chance.
So, the
homebrew Russian developer Rewind has just made available Castlevania Spectral
Interlude.
Stories
like these are what made the ZX Spectrum so popular in early 80s, back then
all youngsters were creating their own games in their own bedrooms!
Castlevania
Spectral Interlude was intended to be a port of the second installment of the
game, subtitled Simon’s Quest and released for the NES in 1987, but it turned
out being a totally new game and exclusive for the Zed X Spectrum.
If you’re a
fan of the franchise and never had the opportunity to play around with a ZX
Spectrum, here’s your chance. The story of this totally new and exclusive game
is centered on the disappearance of Belmont from later Castlevania games.
This is
kind of a slap in the face to Konami that always underestimated the European
market and, mainly, the 8 and 16 bit home computers.
So, what’s
the main features on this new Castlevania independent title? Once loaded, the
very first thing to point out is the extreme high quality music that simply
blown my mind away! The 12 song soundtrack, composed by Vladimir Tugay, is also
available in Soundcloud and is simply brilliant. The
graphics, by Aleksey Golubtsov, are also high quality stuff with more than 150
colorful game screens including hidden rooms, and, let’s not forget the coder
behind this project, Aleksander Udotov. Without him, all these great pieces
probably wouldn’t fit in this awesome puzzle.
This is definitely a
“MetroidVania” type of game: 2D action-platformer with exploration,
backtracking and RPG elements, and I invite you all to try it out and beat this
monster!
The game
was released for free and can be played either on a 128k ZX Spectrum or with
the help of a ZX Spectrum emulator.
I’ll post all
the direct links below for you to check out.
Homebrews
are becoming very popular and an awesome way to dust off our old hardware. Who would have ever imagine that the ZX Spectrum would ever have a Castlevania game in its library! Finally, in 2015, that dream became reality!
Follow the links below to grab this awesome exclusive gem!
Visit the "official" web page to download the game and, you liked it, please support de developer: http://spectralinterlude.com
First of
all, there’s some rules that we need to, somewhat, respect:
1 – Buy a
game with your significant other and avoid sequels;
2 – Prepare
some snacks and other surprises;
3 – Be
patient with your explanation of the controls and gameplay;
4 – Take
lots of breaks to avoid getting too tired;
5 – Lose on
purpose from time to time;
6 – If your
loved one isn’t enjoying it, you need to stop immediately;
7 – If you
lose because of your partner, don’t be mad! Just laugh it out loud!
So, here’s
my list, without any specific order, of awesome games for Valentine’s day!
Starting
with LEGO series of games:
All of us
have grown up playing with those LEGO blocks that have that amazing feeling of
transporting our mind to this alternative reality.
Boys and
girls, we all are familiar with those cute little characters that are around
since 1949. I used to play with these way before I placed my hands on my first
video game.
LEGO games
are available for a handful of platforms: PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, Vita, Xbox, XBOX360,
Xbox One, PC, Nintendo DS, 3DS, Game Boy Advance, Game Cube, Wii, Wii U, and this
is one awesome way to spend Valentine’s day!
Next up:
SONIC & ALL-STARS RACING TRANSFORMED
This is a
funny mascot-based racing game in which players race against each other using
characters from various Sega franchises. There’s also several varieties of
weapons to pick up and use against your opponents, just like in the beloved
ReVolt, from 1999.
Sonic is
such a cute video game character that will certainly be recognized right away
and even bring back some good old memories of playing the very first Sonic game
on the Master System or Megadrive/Genesis!
Sonic &
All-Stars Racing Transformed is available for PS3, PS Vita, Xbox360, Wii U, DS,
PC and Android and iOS portable devices.
And, what
about a good old arcade game from 1982?
Here’s: Ms
PAC MAN
If you have
an arcade cabinet in your home, this is one good way to spend some time with
your loved one! There’s hundreds of co-op games that you could play with your
soul mate. Imagine how hard it is to choose just one.
Because of
that, I’ve chosen Ms Pac Man. That way, you’ll be letting your significant
other play and you’ll just stay there, watching and be thrilled for getting in
return some smiles and laughter.
PLANTS VS
ZOMBIES is one of those original ideas that turns certain games into great classics.
Just
imagine having a variety of different plants protecting your brain from getting
eaten by zombies! Well, that’s what this game is all about!
Originally
available for PC and Mac and, later, for portable systems, XboX live and
PlayStation Network, this is a highly addictive and funny game to play alone or
in co-op mode.
FEZ is such
a beautiful indie puzzle platform game that utilizes pixelated art style with
plenty of references to other classics of video gaming like, for instance, The
Legend of Zelda, Tetris and Super Mario Brothers.
Available
for download since 2012 for Xbox360, PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS4 and Vita, this
kind of unique two-dimensional puzzle platform game set in a three-dimensional
world is so amazingly beautiful that you and your partner will find yourselves
stopping to smell the roses for countless times!
Set in a
beautiful and challenging world, Rayman Origins is one of those games that you
can’t miss when trying to get someone into gaming.
Released
for the PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox360, Wii, 3DS and PS Vita in 2011, this amazingly
colorful side-scrolling platformer is playable with up to four local players,
but, for valentine’s day, 2 players is enough, don’t you agree with me?..
ROCK BANDseries
is another great opportunity to bring people together. Just form a band
with you loved one and choose which instruments both will be using and free
yourselves playing and singing some of the most charismatic, influential and
brilliant songs ever made!
Grab a PS3
or Xbox360 and start making some noise!
In the end,
you’ll be hugging and kissing!! That’s guaranteed.. or your money back!
Another
cute and awesome little puzzle game ideal to play with friends and, above all,
super special friends, is Critter Crunch, released for PS3, PC, Mac and all iOS
devices between 2008 and 2012.
The concept
is quite simple, control this furry creature named Biggs and, with his long
tongue, we must clear each screen launching smaller critters into the mouths of
larger ones filling them up. By doing this, you’ll be helping the continuous
flow of the food chain.
Ahhhh..
such a cute game, with regurgitation scenes and all…
Castle
Crasher,
with its unique cartoon art style, is a side-scrolling beat-em-up,
with some RPG elements thrown in, that’s so amazingly fun and addictive set in
a medieval scenario where a dark wizard has stolen a mystical gem and captured
four princesses. Stories like these, of knights in shining armors and damsels
in distress, are always welcome in such an important date as valentine’s day.
You and your partner will be, for hours, fighting these hordes of funny looking
enemies just to breach the castle and save the day!
It’s
available for Xbox360, PS3, PC and Mac.
Diner Dash:
In this
strategy and time management type of game we’ll find ourselves working hard on
a diner, seating and serving people. You just drag and drop customers on any
available table, serve their meal and, when they finish, take the correspondent
check. At this time, customers leave you a tip and all the dishes on the table
for us to clear so other customers can use that particular table.
This is an
ideal type of game to get someone into gaming and it is available for PC, Mac,
Wii, DS, PSP, PS3, Xbox360, Android and iOS devices, and it spawned numerous
sequels.
I couldn’t
end this video without pointing a Mario game. So, my favorite is the New Super
Mario Bros. for Wii. It’s a highly addictive super colorful game that needs
absolutely no introduction.
This little
gem sold over 10 million copies and was considered the fastest selling
single-system game ever made! That’s one hell of an accomplishment! Just
fantastic.
And this
game is enjoyed by all genders, from youngsters to senior folks! So, once
again, you won’t miss with this one! Your soul mate will certainly fall into
your harms just begging for one more go.
TEAM 17,
best known for their Worms franchise, was also responsible for other amazing
titles like this one.
Developed
in conjunction with Psionic Systems and released in 1992, Assassin’s plot is
simple: infiltrate an high-tech underground fortress and kill the main villain
– Midan.
In the
process, there’s countless of genetically-engineered mutants that we must
destroy in order to reach and conquer the main objective.
The
programmers gave Assassin a number of friendly options: the ability to choose
the number of lives – one, three or five – and the game’s difficulty – Rookie,
Arcade or Ultimate. That way any player can try out Assassin and, even if this
type of game isn’t your thing, you can really advance and be thrilled for doing
so!
Five main
levels awaits us and one final battle in the end with Midan himself.
We start
off being dropped in a forest that surrounds Midan’s fortress. In this area the
enemies are quite easy to engage and take down, but, as soon as you reach the
construction zone, they will be alerted to your presence and tougher to kill.
The third level is set in the missile control where Midan’s personal security
guards are literally waiting for you and power-ups and bonuses are really
scarce around here. Succeeding this you’ll find yourself in the genetic asylum,
home of some nasty genetic experiments. I advise you to get out of this hostile
place quickly! Those nasties are really hard to beat! Finally, right before
you’re face to face with Midan, a final test awaits us: a maze-like warren of
corridors and shafts filled with Arnie’s terminator-like endoskeletons and wall
mounted laser cannons.
As an Amiga
fan, Martyn Brown, founded Team 17 to make games that required 1Mb of RAM, as
he was tired of seeing 512k ones being made for machines that would be able to
do more.
Assassin
was the least successful game from Team 17, mainly because of some bad reviews
and a “special edition”, released 2 years later, that didn’t bring anything new
to the game. On the contrary, various gameplay elements were even removed! What
were they thinking? Even the box art from the original game was way better and
appealing than the one from that supposed “special edition”.
Besides
this, I think that this game deserved more recognition. Back in the day I
thought that it was a huge hit. How I was wrong.
Being an
Amiga exclusive, not all of you will be able to try it out, but you can always
use an emulator for that purpose.
Graphically
enjoyable and extremely playable, Assassin has also the most impressive atmospheric
sound effects in a video game from British composer Allister Brimble, author of
over 100 amazing tunes for the Amiga.
Speaking of
playability, the fluid animation and the control that the player has over the
main character, with some astonishing moves with a simple flick of the
joystick, is just overwhelming.
Assassin
was one of those gems that Amiga users would brag and made Atari ST owners
explode in anger! But, again, I can’t understand why it didn’t sell well..
piracy?.. It is way better than U.S. GOLD’s Strider arcade conversion for home
computers. No doubt about it!
Anyway, try
it! It’s an amazing title and, with those awesome sound effects, you’ll be
immersed in it for many hours!
