DIE HARD ARCADE: THE DYNAMITE COP COLLECTION

Hollywood iconography is a big thing in Japan, so much so that SEGA's AM1 R&D Division were heavily inspired by Die Hard to create Dynamite Deka (translation: Dynamite Detective). This early 3D beat-em-up was so indebted to John McTiernan's classic actioner that they gained the IP rights for the west. Thus we got Die Hard Arcade, the first entry in an incredibly underrated yet bat-shit crazy series.

DIE HARD TRILOGY

If there's one Die Hard game that everybody remembers, it's Die Hard Trilogy. Released in 1996 by Fox Interactive for the PlayStation (and later Windows and Saturn), it's actually three games in one; an action game, an arcade lightgun game and a racing game. That could be a warning sign as to the game's quality right there, but Die Hard Trilogy is actually regarded as one of the better movie tie-ins out there, and the huge number of sales reflect that.

DIE HARD COLLECTION

It's been thirty years since Die Hard - in my opinion the best action movie of all time - hit theatres. Since then there has been a number of game adaptations too with a good number of them bucking the movie licence curse by actually being good. Here are a number of the earliest attempts, some of which are criminally underrated.

LEGEND OF ZELDA BS: COMPLETE

   

Long-term readers of this site know I reviewed the Broadcast Satellite Zelda games a few years ago as part of a collection. Since then, these Nintendo oddities have recently been given the full BS treatment by fans. You can now play the games as intended, with voice acting, CD quality music and time limit all translated into English. It is the most authentic experience of these lost classics since they were originally broadcast for the Japanese market.

ALIEN VIRUS

With the number of games set in an abandoned space station, it could very well be a sub-genre all on its own. I know I've featured enough on them on this site to notice a pattern. So let's look at another one. Here's a 1995 adventure game by Trecision called Alien Virus.

CHAOS ISLAND: THE LOST WORLD - JURASSIC PARK

Way back in 1997, when Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World what the biggest thing in cinemas, a lot of games were naturally developed from the license. Many know the console games, the arcade shooter or even the delayed travesty that was Trespasser, but did you know a real-time strategy called Chaos Island was also developed by DreamWorks Interactive?

TRESPASSER: THE LOST WORLD - JURASSIC PARK

Can there ever be a more impressive failure of a video game than Trespasser: The Lost World - Jurassic Park? Released in 1998, a year behind schedule, DreamWorks Interactive's ambitious open-world FPS survival game was nevertheless way ahead of its time.