There must be something about those late July vibes that get games developers all pent up, because today has seen some cracking releases over the years. Here’s a quick look at five of the best.
Super Mario Land – 26 years old
The oldest game on the list, Super Mario Land was originally released way back in 1989. Just to put that into perspective, this game was released 3 months before the Berlin Wall came down. Wow. As one of the release titles for the original Game Boy, Mario had to save the perma-damsel Princess Daisy from the clutches of the evil alien Tatanga.
Star Fox 64 – 18 years old
He’s been doing barrel rolls for longer than this, but Star Fox 64 was the first outing Fox McCloud and the gang had on the legendary Nintendo 64. Star Fox 64 was a re-telling of the original Ssuper Nintendo title that saw Fox, Peppy, Slippy and Falco attempting to save the Lylat system from the clutches of evil. Nintendo currently have a new Star Fox in the works, with Star Fox Zero being planned for release on the Wii U later this year.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six – 17 years old
Tom Clancy was a war novelist and historian who sadly died in 2013, but that hasn’t stopped his legacy of novels and games from continuing. It all started back in 1998 with the original Tom Clancy’s Rainbox Six, a stealth shoot ’em up that spawned a host of genre favourites. With Rainbox Six: Siege set for release this year and Tom Clancy’s The Division due early next year, it’s showing no sign of slowing up.
Soul Calibur – 17 years old
Namco’s first proper foray into weapon based beat ’em ups was the now infamous Soul Calibur, and is actually the second game in the “Soul” series following Soul Edge in 1996. After it’s initial release on the Sega Dreamcast (R.I.P) Soul Calibur has gone on to be one of the most successful beat ’em up franchises in video game history alongside Street Fighter and Tekken.
Speaking of Tekken…
Tekken 4 – 14 years old
The confusingly named Tekken 4 is actually the fifth game in the long running Tekken franchise – that is if you’re counting Tekken Tag Tournament, which I absolutely am. Originally released for on Playstation 2, it was the first Tekken game to include walled stages, and introduced 6 new characters to its impressive 23 character roster. Fans are now waiting on Tekken 7, some 21 years after the series started on the original Playstation.
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.