BIG PIXEL[S]

BIG PIXEL IS BEAUTIFUL

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The Last Blade 2 (1998) – Riot at the Tea House

This stage is pure pixel-art craftsmanship: a sunny mountain path by the sea, distant ships on the horizon, travelers resting at center stage, stone steps on the right with a man and child, and two tiny jizō statues tucked in the bottom-left. So many small, intentional details.

The intro sells it, too—starting with a family looking out over the water, cutting to a low-angle shot tracking a big ship, then returning to the path before tilting up to the sky. Calm, alive, and gorgeous… right before the fight breaks out.

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Sherwood by Griffinsoft (2025)

Sherwood (C64) is a modern, multi-screen action platform adventure for the Commodore 64 with a Robin Hood twist. After using three enchanted arrows to win Nottingham’s archery contest, Robin is exposed and forced to flee—setting off on a quest to aid starving peasants, topple Prince John’s rule, and restore Richard the Lionheart to the throne.

Gameplay takes place in a large, interconnected world built around exploration and progression: hidden switches, locked doors, hazards, and platforming sections demand careful route-finding. Robin can run, jump, and climb (ladders/ropes—and even a beanstalk), while combat revolves around a six-direction aiming bow: hold fire, set your angle, release. A neat resource-management twist: each screen hides an “emergency” arrow that only becomes collectible when you’re out, making exploration feel directly tied to survival.

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Metroid Zero Mission (2004) by Nintendo R&D1 and Yoshio Sakamoto

Metroid: Zero Mission is a remake and reimagining of the original Metroid (1986), developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in 2004. It revitalizes the original NES game with modernized graphics, updated mechanics, a deeper narrative, and entirely new content that expands the universe and story of Samus Aran, one of gaming’s most iconic protagonists

Story & Setting The game follows Samus Aran, a lone bounty hunter, as she travels to the planet Zebes to stop the Space Pirates, who are using parasitic creatures called Metroids for biological warfare. The mission is to infiltrate their base, defeat Mother Brain (the AI in control), and prevent disaster.

Zero Mission expands on this core plot with cinematic cutscenes and Chozo lore, offering more context about Samus's childhood, her adoption by the Chozo, and the origins of her Power Suit. It also explores her resilience and ingenuity during a critical post-mission escape.

Gameplay Mechanics Zero Mission is a 2D Metroidvania — a mix of platforming, exploration, and action where gaining new items and abilities unlocks access to previously unreachable areas. Key features include:

• Power-Ups: Missile Tanks, Morph Ball, Bombs, Ice Beam, Varia Suit, Speed Booster, and more.

• Exploration-Based Progression: You’ll constantly backtrack to old areas with new abilities to uncover secrets.

• Map System: A detailed, color-coded map helps with navigation, solving a key flaw in the original.

• Tight Controls: Movement and combat are fluid, with responsive controls suited to modern players.

New Content & Enhancements While it closely follows the structure of the original Metroid, Zero Mission adds significant new gameplay and narrative segments:

• Zero Suit Samus: After completing the "original" mission, Samus’s gunship is shot down. She escapes without her Power Suit, forcing her into a tense, stealth-based infiltration of a Space Pirate mothership using only her agility and a stun pistol.

• New Areas: Chozodia (the Space Pirate base) and various hidden Chozo ruins weren’t present in the 1986 version.

• Boss Battles: Several bosses were redesigned or newly added, including Mecha Ridley.

• Save Stations: Replacing passwords from the NES version, save points make progress much more manageable.

Zero Mission had sold over 439,000 units in the United States and 69,000 in Japan as of February 2005. It was rereleased on the Virtual Console service for Wii U and the Nintendo Classics service for Nintendo Switch.

More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid:_Zero_Mission

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Prehistorik 2 (1993) by Titus France

Prehistorik 2 is a platform game sequel to Prehistorik. It was developed by Titus Interactive for MS-DOS and Amstrad CPC and published in 1993. Like its predecessor, the main character of Prehistorik 2 is a caveman on a quest for food who fights various animals and humorous end-of-level bosses.

Visit Original Link

more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistorik_2

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Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle (1993)

by Tim Schafer & Dave Grossman / LucasArts

The game in which there are no horizontal and vertical lines.

Day of the Tentacle (DOTT) is a 1993 point-and-click adventure game by LucasArts, and a sequel to Maniac Mansion. It follows three quirky characters—Bernard, Hoagie, and Laverne—who must stop the evil Purple Tentacle, a sentient mutant bent on world domination. After Purple drinks toxic waste and grows arms (and ambition), the heroes are sent across time—Hoagie to the past, Laverne to the future, and Bernard remains in the present. Players solve puzzles across these eras, where actions in one timeline affect the others.

The game is renowned for its cartoonish art style, absurd humor, and clever time-travel mechanics. For example, sending a message through time or freezing an object in the past to use it in the future are core puzzle elements. Its writing is sharp, with witty dialogues and exaggerated characters.

Originally released for DOS and Mac, DOTT became a cult classic and was praised for innovation and design. A remastered version launched in 2016 with HD visuals and voice acting updates, making it accessible for modern players. Today, it stands as one of the most beloved adventure games of all time, blending humor, storytelling, and clever puzzles into a timeless experience.

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Populous (1989) by Peter Molyneux / Bullfrog

Commodore Amiga

Populous is a video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts, released originally for the Amiga in 1989, and is regarded by many as the first god game.

The player takes on the role of a deity and must lead his people to victory against rival deities and their followers. The game, presented from an isometric perspective, contains over 500 levels, each representing a distinct land area inhabited by both the player and the enemy's followers.

Before development began, Peter Molyneux and Bullfrog used Lego to prototype the game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game)

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GODS (1991) by Bitmap Brothers

Commodore Amiga / Atari ST

Gods is a platform game by The Bitmap Brothers released for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991.

The player is cast as Hercules in his quest to achieve immortality. It was ported to the Acorn Archimedes, Genesis/Mega Drive, PC98, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Atari Jaguar.

The game is a beautiful pixel art masterpiece, but the gameplay is awful.

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Blade Runner - Rechel

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Black Crypt (1992) by Raven Soft

Commodore Amiga

Black Crypt is an Amiga-exclusive role-playing video game and Raven Software's debut title (they would later make Heretic and Hexen with ID Software). The game is one of the few to use an extra half-brite mode, which doubles the number of colors on the screen and sometimes looks simply beautiful.

Like most dungeon crawlers of the era, including the genre-defining Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder series, Black Crypt is set in a fantasy world inspired by Dungeons and Dragons.

At the start of the game, you create your characters from scratch, although they must be a Fighter, a Priest, a Magician, and a Druid. You can name your characters, choose their profile picture, and give them a few extra skill points, but you cannot change their class.

A Sega Mega Drive version was in development but was never released.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Crypt

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Alien vs Predator / Cutscene (1983)

Nintendo SNES

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by Waneella

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Flashback (1992)

Commodore Amiga

Flashback, released as Flashback: The Quest for Identity in the United States, is a 1992 science fiction cinematic platform game developed by Delphine Software of France. It was published by U.S. Gold in the United States and Europe and by Sunsoft in Japan.

A successor of sorts to the equally brilliant Another World, Flashback might look at first glance to be your typical 2D platformer. Still, it skillfully blends cinematic scenes with reflex-testing action to create one of the most memorable pixel graphics games of all time.

While it would find global fame on consoles (and director Paul Cuisset has been quoted as saying the Mega Drive version is the best), the Amiga version is where Flashback made its initial impact; this is effortlessly one of the finest games on Commodore Amiga.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(1992_video_game)

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The Stolen Idol by Octavi Navarro

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Night Sky by Waneella

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Alien Breed II: The Horror Continues (1993)

Commodore Amiga

Alien Breed II: The Horror Continues is a run and gun video game, the sequel to Alien Breed. It was released in 1993 by Team17 for the Amiga, available in both OCS/ECS and AGA versions. The AGA version of the game was also included as an extra in the Amiga CD32 version of Alien Breed: Tower Assault.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Breed_II:_The_Horror_Continues

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Cold Eruptions (2024) by MAK

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Dragon Knight III ドラゴンナイトIII (1991)

NEC PC-98

The original Dragon Knight III was released in Japan in 1991 for the NEC PC-9801 computer. Ports for the X68000 and PC Engine CD followed in 1992 and 1994, respectively. In addition to the regular version of the game, the PC port (Knights of Xentar in 1985) also has an "adult" version with more features.