

Cauldron and Cauldron II were successful in the 8-bit days, and this moved the series forward. You play a witch (although the character looks decidedly masculine, for no apparent reason), and have to negotiate four worlds, each split into bite-size chunks. The levels are populated with bats, trolls and snakes, which have programmed attack patterns and follow you off the screen. You can collect and cast up to 12 spells, which are accessed using the cursor or function keys (the manual amusingly refers to Amigas having F11 and F12 keys, which they don't). These include upgraded weapons (the default one isn't especially powerful), and help such as magic staircases and a metal melter. Some sections of water kill you, other identical ones take you to different sections.

Platform / Adventure / Action / Fantasy
Mario is super in a whole new way! Combining the finest 3-D graphics ever developed for a video game and an explosive soundtrack, Super Mario 64 becomes a new standard for video games. It's packed with bruising battles, daunting obstacle courses, and underwater adventures. Retrieve the Power Stars from their hidden locations and confront your arch-nemesis— Bowser, King of the Koopas! • Run freely in a grassy meadow, tip-toe through a gloomy dungeon, climb to the top of a mountain, or take a swim in the moat! • Leap headfirst into a watery painting and soon you'll be searching for the surface in an underwater realm! • On-the-fly, 3-D rendered gameplay delivers the action of ruthless enemy attacks from every angle! • Find the Caps that give Mario super powers and ponder the mysteries of the pyramid; you can even race Koopas for fabulous prizes! • With the Nintendo 64 Controller and its analog Control Stick, Mario can crawl, kick down obstacles, swim, do reverse flips, and even stick the landing on his backwards somersault! • Saved game information is stored for up to four players in memory.

Platform / Quiz/Trivia / Adventure / Action / Fantasy
Grunty returns—and that's bad news for Banjo and Kazooie! In this all-new adventure, combine everything you learned in the award-winning prequel, Banjo-Kazooie, with dozens of brand-new moves and abilities. Explore eight original worlds-like a monstrous factory and a dilapidated amusement park. Solve incredible puzzles that link those worlds together—sometimes you'll have to complete tasks in several worlds to solve a single puzzle!

Platform / Quiz/Trivia / Adventure / Action / Fantasy
Trouble brews when Gruntilda the witch captures the unbearably beautiful cub, Tooty. But before the grisly hag can steal the bear's good looks, big brother Banjo and his fine-feathered friend, Kazooie, join forces to stop her. Combining their 24 moves and special powers, Banjo and Kazooie will fend off armies of beasts. Bear and bird must hunt down the 100 puzzle pieces and 900 musical notes that will ultimately lead them to Gruntilda. However. miles of swamp, desert, and snow and one bear of an adventure stand in their way.

Platform / Role-playing (RPG) / Adventure / Action / Fantasy
Draw the correct magic seal quickly, or your enemies will never die! Fight and explore through one of the largest castles ever seen in the series! Race another player through custom-made castle rooms in versus mode! A year has passed since Soma Cruz discovered the evil of Dracula hidden inside his body. Now, a mysterious cult wants to release the power of the Lord of Darkness. As Soma, you must do everything in your power to stop them before it's too late.

Platform / Puzzle / Arcade / Action / Fantasy
In the game, each player controls one of the two Bubble Dragons, Bub and Bob. The player can move along platforms, as well as jump to those above and to the side, similar to most platform games. The player can also blow bubbles. These can trap enemies, who are defeated if the bubble is then burst by the player's spiny back. Bubbles that contain enemies can be popped at the same time resulting in different foods being projected around the level. Each enemy trapped in a bubble equates to a different food. Food is consumed and transferred to points (an increasing scale of 1000 points is awarded for each enemy burst in tandem with another meaning: one enemy burst equals one food item worth 1000 points, two enemies burst equals two food items worth 1000 and 2000 points, three enemies burst equals three food items worth 1000, 2000 and 4000 points, and so on), which results in earning lives. These same bubbles also float for a time before bursting, and can be jumped on, allowing access to otherwise inaccessible areas. Players progress to the next level once all enemies on the current level are defeated. Enemies turn "angry" — becoming pink-colored and moving faster — if they are the last enemy remaining, escape from a bubble after being left too long or a certain amount of time has been spent on the current level. A monster will also become angry if either player collects a skull (the only negative item in the game), and the monster is hit by the resulting comet crossing the screen (however, this is a rare occurrence). After a further time limit expires, an additional invincible enemy appears for each player, actively chasing them using only vertical and horizontal movements. These do not need to be defeated to complete the level, and disappear once a player's life is lost. Contact with enemies and their projectiles (rocks, lasers, fireballs, etc.) results in death.


Platform / Adventure / Action / Fantasy
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return is a side-scrolling platformer in which the titular character, Tomba, moves on predetermined linear paths until he reaches an intersection point where a flashing arrow appears over his head. At that point, Tomba can move in any direction the arrow points. Some areas of the game can be explored in a top-down view, allowing Tomba to move around freely. The main goal of the game is to complete all 137 objectives (133 make the regular ones, while the other four are obtained from a Tomba 1 save file), which range from retrieving a fishing hook for a fisherman to helping Santa Claus find his "sack". Completing a task earns the player "Adventure Points", which can be used to unlock specific boxes scattered around the game's world. As the game progresses, Tomba can obtain suits that give him special abilities. For example, the flying squirrel suit allows Tomba to glide long distances, while the pig suit allows Tomba to communicate with friendly pigs. Scattered throughout the levels are magical feathers that can instantly transport Tomba to any area that has previously been visited.

Thousands of history's famous monsters gather for the meeting of the century. But their volcanic convention center erupts, mysteriously turning them into terrors of pint-size proportions. They escape to the home of Jack, the teenage "Captain of Cool." There begins a battle between the good ghouls and The Warlock's band of evil beasts. You must become The Vampire or The Monster and lead the forces of right through a humongous, human-size world six levels deep, featuring Jack's house, a scummy sewer, a hazardous construction site, and an odd oriental palace. Don't get burned on the kitchen stove or crushed by runaway golf balls. Meanwhile you'll have to punch and zap at all your fiendishly favorite monsters including the head-rolling Skeleton, the rock candy throwing Goblin, the bone-crushing Cyclops, and dozens more! Every monster you mash is worth points. Score enough and you'll get an extra life. Something you'll really need when you finally face the powerful Warlock and his magic lightning jolts. So be a pocket-size peacemaker and conquer the smallest threat to monsterdom the world has ever known!