Electronic Arts 1992
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch, Francais
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

A young actress has been brutally murdered right behind the theatre. It looks like Jack the Ripper has found his first victim outside Whitechapel: the poor woman's throat has been cut and there are more wounds which could only have been inflicted with a scalpel all over the body. Inspector Lestrade from Scotland Yard is leading the investigation - and he asks the world's first, most famous and only consulting detective for help: Sherlock Holmes.

Magnetic Scrolls 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Europe's answer to Infocom wasn't in fact all that similar to its american counterpart. Apart from the obvious facts of being founded a lot later and surviving longer, Magnetic Scrolls developed their games for a completely different market. While Infocom was still stuck with the inferior 'typewriters' ruling the US market (to this day), Magnetic Scrolls wrote their games for 'home computers' - with the European market in mind, where these machines were immensely popular. The Pawn, their first game, was developed for the Sinclair QL, a then brand new computer which turned out to be a very bad flop. The game was ported to the other new 16 bit machines: the Atari ST and the Amiga. These versions first showed how fresh Magnetic Scrolls' approach to the genre was: they featured a set of graphics showing the settings in stunning quality! The later ports to the ever-popular 8 bit platforms (C64, Sinclair Spectrum) had to live without these graphics again.

Softdisk 1985
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Before there was idSoft, there was Ideas from the Deep. And before there were 3D shooters, there were Pyramids of Egypt. True to idSoft's later games, this game is an arcade that requires quick thinking and some tactical-level decision-making.

Black Blade Design / Titan Computer 1998
Genre: Simulation, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: Italiano, English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Mobygames isn't omniscient. There. I've said it. Heresy? Then show me where they cover this game (ok, ok, I'm aware this might change, I'm refering to the time of writing, of course). Yet, it obviously exists.

Melbourne House 1985
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: C64

After the success of Karate Champ, it was only a question of time until the first imitations would arrive. The Way of the Exploding Fist is one of these. Whatever your personal verdict about the game's quality (and imitations in general) is: It's certainly one of the games with the most creative names ever! Exploding Fist? Hard not to like it!

BAO Ltd. 1996
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

'Tower' is indeed a very different simulation. Not many games in the past gave you the opportunity to be an air traffic controller. This is a very demanding profession as you are responsible for the lives of hundreds and thousands of passengers and one false decision could have catastrophic consequences.

Mr. Chip / Gremlin Graphics 1986
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: Francais, English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

A football rolling along courses made of coloured tiles, trying to make it to the end before time runs out. The colour of the ground indicates different effects on the ball: yellow increases speed, green decreases it, white makes it bounce, magenta bounces it back and cyan switched left/right controls. Rolling into holes (black) makes the ball fall into the void of space... only to bounce up again a moment later (but at a loss of time).

Jumping Jack Flash 1992
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

You travel through space with your ship. For some reason, there are lots of evil guys attacking you. To be honest, there are only evil guys who attack you. Not a single friend to count on. Only enemies. And they all want to shoot you. I hope you know why. You have no other choice than to defend yourself by destroying them first!

Microsoft 1991
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

I tend to dislike card games. My father loved them, and he was much better at them than I ever will be. There is one notable exception to this rule, however: TriPeaks. It's a very simple card game. You enter your name, and a deck of cards pop up, shaped like a mountain with three peaks, with all lowest cards revealed. You get the rest of the 52 cards in the deck, all turned over, except one. Say, you get a 5. You must pick a card from the mountain that's either one higher or lower than your current card, so in this example 4 or 6. Then that card becomes your next card, and you have to pick a card one lower or higher than that one. The idea is to make series, or streaks, of cards. Why? Money. You start the game broke. First card in a streak nets you $1, the next $2, the next $3 and so on. Having to buy another card loses you $5. The object of the game is to get filthy rich. It's more difficult than it sounds, however. I rarely get over $200 no matter how long I play. My father easily got $3500 in a single game.

Sales Curve 1993
Genre: Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Your master needs troddlers for his magic, and as they are not a bright bunch, you are needed to make them reach their destination, for this you have a magic wand that allows you to create, and dissipate, solid stone block.