Powerslide is a fully-3D post-apocalyptic racing game set in the far-flung nightmare future of 2020. It features 8 main tracks as well as 4 special (non-racing) tracks, set in a variety of locations. The gameplay focuses on high-speed, low-friction racing, which often results in vehicles drifting and sliding (appropriately) through courses, rather than following a traditional racing line.
Dark Reign: The Future of War is a 1997 Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, developed by Auran Development (now known as N3V Games) for Windows PCs. Its single-player campaign centres on the conflict between the downtrodden Freedom Guard and the mighty Imperium. The player takes on the role of a Togran survivor (one of the few left after the aforementioned conflict) who is sent back in time to intervene in the war in an attempt to prevent the destruction of their people. The campaign is divided into missions which can be played from both the perspective of the Freedom Guard as well as the Imperium.
Branching narrative ‘movie games’ based on the children’s spooky ‘Choose Your Own Nightmare’ stories. Long before Netflix, Brilliant Digital’s ‘Multipath Movies’ could be streamed in real-time online.
“Oh, sorry — you weren’t using that prefrontal lobe for anything special, were you?” Scientist Dr. Curien has discovered a way to artificially sustain life forms (in other words, create zombies). Blast your way in this gory horror rail-shooter, ported from arcade to Sega Saturn by Tantalus.
A Sega Saturn port by Tantalus, Manx TT SuperBike is a motorcycle racing game based on the famous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (TT) race and features FMV content of the track.
Wipeout 2097 is the sequel to the original anti-gravity racing game Wipeout. Tantalus ported the game to the Sega Saturn, making their mark via billboards around the racing tracks.
Wipeout is a futuristic first-person racing game where anti-gravity racing has become the world’s most popular sport in the year 2052. One of many games ported by Melbourne-based studio Tantalus.
Based on the film’s plot, players travel to the Isla Sorna where they are tasked with preventing smugglers from the nefarious corporation BioSyn from extracting and exploiting the remaining dinosaurs. In the 1990s Torus worked on several licensed property tie-ins and ports to handheld. The low Australian dollar against the US and many other currencies made Australian studios like Torus attractive for outsourcing, though the budgets and timeframes—usually for Christmas—were tight.
Collage Slam on the Game Boy features 44 real college basketball teams and five game modes, which take place as arcade-style two-on-two matches.
A tie-in game to the tv series, Torus’ “MTV’s Beavis and Butt-head” is an adventure game for the Game Boy console where players go from escaping detention to freeing a gang leader from prison.
Torus Games’ DragonHeart was released on Game Boy in 1996 alongside the fantasy film of the same name. As the hero Bowen, players befriend the dragon Draco and fight other draconic beasts to end the reign of the evil King Einon.
Beam Software’s Stargate for the Game Boy is a Tetris-like puzzle game where players must close the gates to prevent an invasion from the alien ruler Ra.
Beam Software’s ambitious full motion video detective mystery features a glamorous and mysterious lady whose motives may not be pure, a gallery of seedy characters to interact with and many puzzles to be solved by you as gumshoe detective Scott Anger (a man with a tragic past and a hard drinking habit).
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC was brought to the Game Boy Color by Torus Games in early 2000. It features two-on-two basketball games and includes a secret Melbourne team called Torus.
Torus Games’ Game Boy port of NBA Jam Tournament Edition is a two-on-two basketball game featuring NBA teams and their star players. Tournament Edition ups the ante of a regular basketball game with its ultra sped-up “Juice Mode” and power-ups that incite “monster dunks” and bombs that send players to the ground.
NBA Jam 99 brings the NBA to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. The port was released in 1999 and developed by Torus Games.
Mary King’s Riding Star is an equestrian simulator where players take part in dressage, show jumping, and cross country events.
“Your Game Boy is about to become a man.” Duke Nukem on Game Boy Color is a side-scrolling platformer and shooter by Torus Games.
Star Wars: Yoda Stories is a top-down adventure game where players take on the role of Luke Skywalker as he trains and completes missions for the Jedi Master Yoda.
Disney’s The Lion King: Simba’s Mighty Adventure follows Simba’s journey from cub to king as told in the films The Lion King and The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride. The Game Boy Color game is mostly a side-scrolling platformer where players, as Simba, roar, claw and roll to defend themselves against dangerous creatures.
Choplifter II is a military-themed search and rescue Game Boy game by Beam Software. Players fly a chopper over war zones, jungles, and through tight cave tunnels with the objective of rescuing hostages from an unnamed enemy.
The original Shadowrun game design concept was developed by Gregg Barnett. It was very forward thinking according to Shadowrun map designer Justin Halliday but also rather technically infeasible. The games design document promised the feel of a 3D world. Halliday explains “It envisaged this beautiful isometric game on the SNES with forced perspective where you could move your character between foreground and background objects.” None of which had previously been done on the SNES.
Aussie Rules Footy was the first Australian Rules Football (AFL) game for console (1). It was developed by Beam Software and published under their Laser Beam Entertainment identity that Fred Milgrom created to publish Nintendo games locally. The game was only released in Australia.
Bad Street Brawler is a game title familiar to many for its celebrated place on “worst videogame ever” lists and its canonical status as one of only two games ever designed specifically for use with the infamous Mattel Power Glove for the NES. But its real story is that of Beam Software’s quest to develop for Nintendo in the late 1980s.
Released in 1992, International Cricket is the second of the Australian Sports Games Beam Software self published in Australia for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES ) through their publishing arm Laser Beam Entertainment. It followed on from Aussie Rules Footy in 1991.