1.
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2.
Gyromite (NES)
3.
Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
4.
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
5.
Radical Dreamers (SNES)
6.
Video Games 1 (TI-99/4A)
7.
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
8.
Exile (TurboGrafx CD)
9.
Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (TurboGrafx CD)
10.
Xak (PC Engine CD,
Xak I・II)
11.
Xak II (PC Engine CD,
Xak I・II)
12.
Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
13.
Captain Silver (Sega Master System)
14.
Märchen Veil (Famicom Disk System)
15.
Vanguard (Atari 2600)
16. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)Kangaroo was a 1982 arcade game that ended up with ports on the three major Atari systems of the era (2600, 5200, 8-bit). It was originally developed by Sun Electronics, which I believe more-or-less became Sunsoft.
The game is a single-screen platformer in the vein of
Donkey Kong, where the goal is to work a kangaroo from the bottom of the screen to the top. To be more specific, you play as a mother kangaroo attempting to save her captive joey. One could argue that this is an early example of a video game featuring a female protagonist, but of course there's no way to discern kangaroo gender through ancient Atari graphics. Miss K. is sporting some fine lipstick on the box art though.
Kangaroo eschews scientific accuracy, as the joey has been kidnapped by... monkeys? Why not dingoes, koalas, or wombats? Who knows, maybe the primates are a nod to
Donkey Kong. As the mother kangaroo makes her ascension the monkeys assault from all angles. They will change mercilessly and also throw apples (or as they appear on an Atari, squares). Thankfully, our protagonist is armed. She can punch monkeys in the face (yeah!) or knock apples out of the way. There's other fruit to be collected in every stage, but these grant points. So, apples bad, non-apple fruits good. Ringing a bell in each stage will summon more happy fruit.
As the punch attack is mapped to the Atari joystick's sole button, this is one of those up-to-jump games. The jumps are a bit janky. Some distances are tricky and expect to fall through a platform now and again. It's not as bad as, say,
Ice Climber, but things can get frustrating.
The graphics are just okay. Very monochromatic and every character looks like a silhouette. There's also a ton of screen flickering, which can be a tad distracting. Sound effects are decent and some sweet "public domain" type music plays when levels are completed or a bell is rung.
Overall, not a bad game, but nothing incredible. I play it from time to time, but I also enjoy this single-screen genre immensely. It's pretty cheap (you can get a sealed copy for about $12 on eBay) and worth checking out of you're an Atari fan. Just don't expect something on par with
Donkey Kong.