RYGAR [JAPAN] (NES)
Published and developed by Tecmo, Rygar was released on this day in 1987, and later found its way onto other systems as recently as 2014. Originally an arcade game (released in 1986), Rygar takes place at some point in the past, where dominators have fought for rule of the planet, and evil baddie Ligar has risen to take command over the land of Argool. Rygar himself, a dead warrior risen from the grave, has come to stop him using his legendary weapon “Diskarmor.” The gameplay between the NES and arcade games mark the largest difference between the two; the arcade version traditional side-scrolling, whereas the NES version is more akin to an open-ended Metroid-style adventure. Music from the game is sampled in the title screen of another NES game Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
DREAMFALL: THE LONGEST JOURNEY (PC)
An adventure game developed by Funcom for Xbox and PC, the Windows version was released on this day in 2006, with the Xbox version released the next day. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is the second title in the series, following The Longest Journey, which was released in 1999. Dreamfall takes place 10 years after the events of the original title and focuses on three main characters: Zoe Castillo, April Ryan, and Kian Alvane. These characters live in parallel worlds: one, “Stark,” is driven by technology (and is much like ours); the other, “Arcadia” is a fantasy-style world of magic and wonder. The story reveals a complicated and intriguing relationship between the two that allows players to jump in without having played the original The Longest Journey title. In March of 2007, a sequel Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey as an episodic video game was announced, although complications in production delayed the release of the title until 2014. The first “book” Reborn was released in October of 2014, followed by three more titles since. The sixth and final chapter was recently announced on April 6th of this year.
BALDUR’S GATE: ENHANCED EDITION (ANDROID)
The enhanced edition of Baldur’s Gate has found its way onto Windows, iOS, OS X, Android, and Linux. It was, of course, android who landed its slot on the list on this day in 2014. The remake of the title, developed by Overhaul Games and published by Atari, was originally scheduled for summer of 2012 but was delayed until November of that year. The re-released versions were specifically made different from the originals, including new major NPCs, an arena adventure, a revamped user interface, increased modding flexibility, and new multiplayer matchmaking; all in addition to several hundred improvements to the original game itself. The game faced contractual issues over its release on iOS/OS X, bringing it off their markets for 8 months. The game itself received average, but favourable reviews, as an enhanced version of a classic game.
Some other titles released on this day:
- Ninja Kid (Japan) – NES – 1986
- Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul – PC – 2001
- Valhalla Knights – PSP – 2007
- The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – Xbox 360 – 2012
My Life, or Something Like It 