Thanks to the effort and dedication of many people, it is possible to play arcade games on your PC via emulators such as 'RAINE', 'MAME' (multiple arcade machine emulator) etc.

Have you ever wanted to see that arcade you saw many years ago to relive those memories? There are some excellent games that stand up (and I would say surpass), to what's churned out in today's consumer hungry market. See if any of these ring a bell: 'Bubble Bobble' (cute single screen platformer), 'Space Invaders' , 'Pacman' (where you gobbled up the dots in a maze), Pacland (colourful side scrolling platformer), 'Outrun' (pseudo 3D driving game - ace music), 'Marble Madness' (steer the ball in this isometric reflexes game), 'Bombjack'

You might well have heard of these games anyway because they were converted to the home formats (such as the Amiga, C64, Spectrum, Amstrad, Atari ST, Megadrive, SNES amongst others).

I could go on, but take a look at the image section to the left. This gallery I have compiled shows approximately 80 different games - each chosen for their popularity, graphics, gameplay or a mix of these. See if you can recognise any of them. Also, you can click on any of the pics for a full scale version!
The images shown only represent a small fraction of the total amount of games! There were thousands of others. Visit www.klov.com (killer list of video games) for a complete list of all the games!


Before I go any further, here's a prelude to how I got into games.

The very first computers I had were the Spectrum, Intellivision, and a Philips console. Nostlagic times indeed. I still remember the atmoshpere of games such as 'Treasure Island Dizzy' (Speccy), 'Xzap' (very weird C16 game) and 'Dungeons and Dragons' (Intellivision) at Christmas time. Later came the Commodore 64 (see ............ for the top C64 music!). Incorporating a sound chip superior to the early STs - suddenly, sound came alive! In-game music was easily done thanks to the strain being taken off the main processer. Around this era, I w.......................

Game comparisons

Graphically illustrated guide to how the various versions of games compare. In a few cases, there are enhanced pics that even beat the arcade originals! A typical example for say.... the game Pacland, could show in ascending order: Speccy, Amstrad, C64, Arcade and the all new Enhanced version.
Super Rainbow Islands!
A while back, my brother decided to take the original Rainbow Islands graphics and spruce them up a bit. For those who don't know, 'Rainbow Islands' was one of Taito's finest games - jammed pack with bonuses, secrets, hidden levels, codes and creamy playability.
The results are before you. Over to the right is the original Rainbow Islands screen from which the new design was based upon.
Super RI though includes a full hi-res display, graduated colour background and 4 player mode (!)
If there's anyone who would like to program a (non-profit) version based on this picture, that'd be cool! (It might be a tad tricky to implement the 4 player mode appropriately though ;-)

Pacland

Based on the cartoon (which actually came /before/ the game), this unique platform side-scroller from Namco is one of the quirkiest games you could expect to play. Unusual game design elements include the 'flying' trip (when you play the level in reverse), the music, foreground parallax, progressive difficulty structure and the ability to jump on enemies (the C64 version didn't allow for this). I have organised the different versions in order from worst to best and have included a couple of enhanced versions too!

The humble Speccy version :) Monochrome, but what did you expect? Also, the screens 'jump' instead of scroll.	The not bad C64 version. Looking similar to the arcade, except blockier of course. Fun to play, but missing vital sections from the arcade and only 5 levels.
The original arcade version! I enjoyed the game so much in fact that I purchased the perfect conversion for Playstation (it was part of the Namco Museum vol. 4).	An enhanced version of the original arcade I did! Did you know the arcade has over 30 levels (split over 6 main stages)!!! I've got to level 27 so far. See if you can beat this :)
One of the cool things about Pacland is the way the scene progresses from day to night and back to day again. This is another enhanced pic I made which takes the style to the max :)

Bombjack