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This one's almost notorious… hailed for being super realistic, because three years of programming work by a real-life pilot had gone into it, it having been developed in cooperation with Airbus and Lufthansa… and, as every single contemporary review will point out, a thick manual sporting 150 pages of detailed descriptions of virtually everything, including basic explanations of flight physics, plus an even thicker book of approach routes towards all major western European airports are contained in the package! Wow, right?
Ambermoon is an action RPG made in 1993 by Thalion. Back at the time, it was one of the first role playing games with 3D graphics moving freely in a 360° surrounding. These elements are mixed with a 2D overhead map view. Other games like the Eye of the Beholder trilogy also had a 3D engine, but only in 45° tracker style. What all these games had in common was the unique story. Challenging, motivating and very well told.
Known mainly as a developer of very unique and very colorful role-playing games for the Amiga, Thalion has produced several high-quality puzzle games as well. Probably the best puzzle was Atomix, a mix of timed puzzle and educational software. Over the course of ever fifty levels, the player had to combine atoms into molecules, in order to advance further.
A fighting game which actually gives the whole punching and kicking some context? Unheard of! Not only does Chambers of Shaolin have some sort of story (a "save the princess" plot, which outside the genre wouldn't be all that special, but within the confines of the genre… well, you know what you usually get), but it even uses this to refine the usual gameplay. If I had been part of the marketing department at the time, I would probably have printed something about "role-playing elements" and "customized character development" on the box.