Alley Cat feels exactly like some programmer had a wild late-night coding session on too much coffee (or whatever they had back then) and just let the surreal vibes flow.
That limited 4-color palette (black, cyan/magenta, white) turns the whole thing into an LSD fever dream. Add to that the squeaky PC speaker sound and you got yourself a game!
The gameplay loop itself is unhinged in the best way: You're Freddy the alley cat, jumping bins, dodging dogs, climbing fences, then breaking into people's apartments to knock over vases, eat fish, and court Felicia while Cupid shoots arrows at you. It's like the developer (Bill Williams, ) said why not, went full on "Frogger + dating sim + slapstick cartoon?" and then just shipped it. And serioulsy, why not?
It's charming as hell and oddly hypnotic. I mean just look at those footprints on the floor, what a cute little detail.
Blackthorne (1994) for the SNES is a "cinematic platformer". Developed by Blizzard (then known as Silicon & Synapse), and published by Interplay, it's a "Prince of Persia with guns".
The SNES version had some of its gore effects censored in comparison to the PC/DOS release.
Re-released for the Switch, PS4, Windows, and Xbox One as part of the Blizzard Arcade Collection (2021).
Maldita Castilla: Requiem for the Genesis/Mega Drive (PlayOnRetro) is a reinterpretation of Locomalito's 2012 PC game. The original was a tribute to 80s arcade classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins rooted in Spanish mythology, while on the MD it adds alternate routes and challenges rather than being as a straight 1:1 port.
Info:
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