Games from 1987

Based on the board game of the same name, 221 B Baker St. pits up to four players against each other in a race to solve mysteries set in Victorian London. After picking a character (Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Irene Adler, or Inspector Lestrade), players select one of the thirty available mysteries and read its case file in the game's manual. The case file presents the particulars of the case, mentions the people involved, and explains what the players need to deduce to win the game. Solving the mysteries entails moving around London (the game board) via a roll of the dice, entering locales to collect clues, and then piecing the clues together. Among the fifteen locations available are a pub, a park, and a bank, and each location is brought to life with voice synthesis. Each location will have a clue, but not all clues will be useful. Before solving the case, players must visit Scotland Yard for a badge. Players might also want to use a badge to lock a location with a useful clue, requiring other players to detour to the locksmith. Once a player believes they have solved the case, they must return to Baker Street and answer a quiz. If the player is incorrect, the other players can continue.

A great RPG from Origin Systems and quite often overlooked. Top down style from creator Chuck Chuckles Bueche. Post apocalyptic, you play the part in aiding the underground to free the people from enslavement by an evil robotic race known as the Tzorg.

4th & Inches is an action/strategy football game for one or two players. You control the action during the variety of plays that can be called, choose when to take timeouts, and select which players on your team will be on the field. There are two teams (the All-Pros and the Champs) and you can see each players statistics to determine how fast or strong he will be.

A solid follow-up to ACE. Similar to its predecessor, ACE 2 is an oldie head-to-head air combat flight sim set in modern days of aviation. The game has a very strong arcade feel, as all the missions you fly are nondescript or generic. Your plane is also a generic, hypothetical modern fighter, and the goal is to fly different sorties to kill enemy aircraft. Very similar to ACE, except that you can now play a 2-player hotseat game, or solo competition against the computer, in split-screen mode.

You have been turned into a ball of air with a slow leak by an evil wizard. You must find the Spellbook and the ingredients for the spell. Without these, you will never turn back into a human again.

The Black Knight has brought misery to the land, and the end way to end this is to enter his haunted house to slay him. You are the brave adventurer taking on this quest through 14 increasingly-tough zones. The bulk of the game is side-viewed, involving single screens to pass through, which incorporate ropes, cages and trapdoor. There are enemies walking, flying and hovering through this, and many of them respawn. Unusually your weapon to take them on (rocks) can be thrown through 360 degrees, which aims to make the gameplay more realistic and methodical. The screens were linked by hub screens, which the player passes through simply by clicking on a door.