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Mazinger Z

| 1994-05-11

The Mazinger Z arcade game was a vertical shoot ’em up game based on the Mazinger franchise. It was released in 1994 by Banpresto.

Overview
The game follows a plot somewhat based on the original three anime series that compose the franchise: Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, and Grendizer.

Plot
The Mechanical Beasts, Mycenae Forces, & Vegans had teamed up to conquer the world with their massive army. Can the three Mazingers work together & stop their invading forces?

Gameplay
The player is given a choice of playing as Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, or Grendizer and play through a series of levels based on the Mazinger Z anime. As the robot flies through the level it attacks enemies with several attacks like beams and missiles. Enemies can attack from several points: when standing still they throw projectiles, some can fly while firing projectiles, ram into the robot, while others just move. The player can pick up power-ups by shooting either Aphrodite A or Venus A which will drop power ups. These Power-ups can enhance their attacks, recover health and energy, use special attacks based on what the robot can use in the anime. At the end of the level, the player fights against a large boss. Some levels include a sub-boss fight prior to the end of the level. The game also features a co-op mode that allows two players to play the game.

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Mazinger Z

| 1993-05-11

Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ) is a 1993 Japanese Super Famicom video game.

STORY
Dr. Hell’s robot army has destroyed Tokyo, and now only Kouji Kabuto, and the giant robot Mazinger Z, can stop them from taking over the entire world.

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Captain America in: The Doom Tube of Dr. Megalomann

| 1987-05-19

Captain America in: The Doom Tube of Dr. Megalomann, also known as Captain America Defies The Doom Tube, is a video game based on a comic book series of the same name. It was published in 1987 by U.S. Gold on their Go! label for computers including the Amstrad CPC and the Commodore 64 and was published a year later on the ZX Spectrum. Reviews were mixed, with the graphics and audio generally seen as poor. It is the first video game to feature Captain America.

Gameplay
Players take on the role of Marvel superhero Captain America and must guide him around the Doom Tube base of Dr Megalomann. The base is a long tube inside another tube, splitting areas up into chambers around a central core. The virus has been released into the base, and players can only access areas below their immunity level. By defeating enemies they can collect ying-yang which boosts their immunity. Captain America can throw his shield to take out enemies, but the number of shields he holds are limited, although he can re-use those which kill enemies or if he recalls a shield before it is lost. As the player moves Captain America around areas they need to recover parts of a password which will allow them access into the final area to disable the missiles. The game is played in real time, giving the player only one hour in which to complete the game.

Plot
Dr Megalomann is aiming to launch rockets containing a deadly virus. The CIA discover his secret base below the Mojave Desert, called the Doom Tube. Captain America is sent in to stop the rockets from being launched and to save the world.

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Howard the Duck: Adventure on Volcano Island

| 1986-05-19

Howard the Duck, also known as Howard the Duck: Adventure on Volcano Island, is an action video game released in 1986 by Activision for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Apple II. The game is a tie-in to the film Howard the Duck that came out in the same year.

Gameplay
The game involves players controlling Howard the Duck to save his best friends, Phil and Beverly. After being parachuted to Volcano Island, Howard needs to find a backpack to proceed with the search. The game consists then of four levels, in the last of which Howard, armed with a Neutron gun, will finally face Overlord.

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Questprobe featuring Human Torch and the Thing

| 1985-05-16

Questprobe is a trilogy of graphical adventure video games featuring Marvel Comics characters. The three games are Questprobe featuring Hulk, Questprobe featuring Spider-Man and Questprobe featuring Human Torch and Thing.

The games were designed by Scott Adams, developed and published by Adventure International and the first was originally released in 1984 for the Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64 with the sequels being published each following year. The original plan was for a series of twelve games, but Adventure International’s bankruptcy in 1985 brought a rapid and premature end to the line.

The manual of Questprobe featuring the Hulk credits John Romita Sr., Mark Gruenwald and Kem McNair with creating the art; however, it is not clear if this is the in-game art, or the artwork in the manual. The manual feature quite detailed images. After this first title in the series, Scott Adams did a major upgrade to his adventure game engine. Because of this, Questprobe featuring The Hulk was much rougher than the subsequent titles in the series. It could only handle two word directions at a time and understood very few terms.

The second Questprobe adventure which featured Spiderman improved the “verb noun” command interface of The Hulk and allowed fuller sentence inputs. The title also incorporated improved graphics.

• Questprobe featuring The Hulk (1984) for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Commodore 16 / + 4, DOS, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum
• Questprobe featuring Spider-Man (1984) for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum, MSX
• Questprobe featuring Human Torch and the Thing (1985) for Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum

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Questprobe featuring Spider-Man

| 1984-05-16

Questprobe is a trilogy of graphical adventure video games featuring Marvel Comics characters. The three games are Questprobe featuring Hulk, Questprobe featuring Spider-Man and Questprobe featuring Human Torch and Thing.

The games were designed by Scott Adams, developed and published by Adventure International and the first was originally released in 1984 for the Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64 with the sequels being published each following year. The original plan was for a series of twelve games, but Adventure International’s bankruptcy in 1985 brought a rapid and premature end to the line.

The manual of Questprobe featuring the Hulk credits John Romita Sr., Mark Gruenwald and Kem McNair with creating the art; however, it is not clear if this is the in-game art, or the artwork in the manual. The manual feature quite detailed images. After this first title in the series, Scott Adams did a major upgrade to his adventure game engine. Because of this, Questprobe featuring The Hulk was much rougher than the subsequent titles in the series. It could only handle two word directions at a time and understood very few terms.

The second Questprobe adventure which featured Spiderman improved the “verb noun” command interface of The Hulk and allowed fuller sentence inputs. The title also incorporated improved graphics.

• Questprobe featuring The Hulk (1984) for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Commodore 16 / + 4, DOS, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum
• Questprobe featuring Spider-Man (1984) for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum, MSX
• Questprobe featuring Human Torch and the Thing (1985) for Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum

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Questprobe featuring The Hulk

| 1984-05-16

Questprobe is a trilogy of graphical adventure video games featuring Marvel Comics characters. The three games are Questprobe featuring Hulk, Questprobe featuring Spider-Man and Questprobe featuring Human Torch and Thing.

The games were designed by Scott Adams, developed and published by Adventure International and the first was originally released in 1984 for the Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64 with the sequels being published each following year. The original plan was for a series of twelve games, but Adventure International’s bankruptcy in 1985 brought a rapid and premature end to the line.

The manual of Questprobe featuring the Hulk credits John Romita Sr., Mark Gruenwald and Kem McNair with creating the art; however, it is not clear if this is the in-game art, or the artwork in the manual. The manual feature quite detailed images. After this first title in the series, Scott Adams did a major upgrade to his adventure game engine. Because of this, Questprobe featuring The Hulk was much rougher than the subsequent titles in the series. It could only handle two word directions at a time and understood very few terms.

The second Questprobe adventure which featured Spiderman improved the “verb noun” command interface of The Hulk and allowed fuller sentence inputs. The title also incorporated improved graphics.

• Questprobe featuring The Hulk (1984) for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Commodore 16 / + 4, DOS, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum
• Questprobe featuring Spider-Man (1984) for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum, MSX
• Questprobe featuring Human Torch and the Thing (1985) for Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum

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Spider-Man

| 1982-05-16

Spider-Man is a vertically scrolling action game written by Laura Nikolich for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Parker Brothers. It was both the first video game to feature Spider-Man and the first Marvel Comics based video game.

GAMEPLAY
The game involves players controlling Spider-Man to scale a building using his web shooters in order to defuse bombs planted by the Green Goblin. Spider-Man is only able to use his web lines to move up the building either vertically or diagonally. Generic criminals dwell along the many floors of the building, moving randomly from one window to another. Spider-Man counts with limited web fluid to achieve his goal, indicated by a meter at the bottom of the screen. The web fluid meter slowly depletes as time passes, acting like a time limiter of sorts. If the meter depletes completely, Spider-Man will plummet to the ground with no means of saving himself and a life will be lost. If the player has no lives left, the game will be over.

Spider-Man can replenish a little amount of web fluid for each captured criminal or for each small bomb defused. To capture a criminal, Spider-Man must make physical contact with them. However, if a criminal manages to touch his web line, they will cut it and send Spidey plummeting below, though the player can shoot another web in time to save himself.

Near the top of each building, the layout changes to a series of girders where the Goblin has planted many small bombs to hinder Spidey’s progress. When a bomb is about to explode, it will change its color from black to red. Defusing a red bomb yields more points than a black one.

Upon reaching the top of the building, Spidey must then face off against the Goblin, who has planted a “super bomb”, whose fuse is activated upon defeating a certain number of enemies and/or defusing a certain number of small bombs. Once the fuse is lit, there is a limited time to reach the super bomb before it detonates, claiming one of Spidey’s lives. Upon defeating the Goblin (which involves simply avoiding him) and defusing his super bomb, the game starts over at the next level, which may feature faster-moving and/or more instances of the Green Goblin, taller buildings, taller scaffold sections or a quicker-depleting supply of web fluid. The building is also sometimes a different color.

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