Timeline

HADES NEBULA

■ YEAR: 1987 ■ FORMAT: C64 Darren began his career with this Star Force-inspired vertically scrolling shooter, which looks and sounds the part but is rather spoiled by its sadistic level of difficulty.

SHINOBI

■ YEAR: 1989 ■ FORMAT: Amiga While at SCI, Darren secured licences to put some big arcade titles on to home micros, including this fine 16-bit version of Sega’s ninja favourite.

super kick OFF

■ YEAR: 1992 ■ FORMAT: SNES Dino Dini’s top-down take on footy gets nicely updated for the Super Nintendo, with a wealth of customisable options to tinker with.

Porky Pig’s HAUNTED HOLIDAY

■ YEAR: 1995 ■ FORMAT: SNES Darren gets a designer credit on this platformer, which had variable weather conditions to accompany the action.

the LION king

■ YEAR: 1995 ■ FORMAT: Game Boy Squeezing the tale of Simba, Timon, Pumbaa et al on to the humble NES was no mean feat and this 8-bit version retains most of the original’s features.

toca

■ YEAR: 2000 ■ FORMAT: Game Boy Color This handheld version sensibly adopts an isometric view of the racing action and is worth playing if only for the simple pleasure of scattering cones at every corner.

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

■ YEAR: 2005 ■ FORMAT: Mobile Darren’s enduring love for the C64 led to him helping to put a number of Epyx titles on to mobile, including a version of this seminal puzzle platformer.

c64 MINI

■ YEAR: 2018 If you needed more proof of his beige credentials, Darren was a key member of the team that brought this plug-andplay to market. We can’t wait for the handheld model.