Oh, also Behind Jaggi Lines and BallBlazer. (One or both of those they renamed somewhere between beta and production, but I had, let's say, "not quite commercial" versions of them.)
Archon might be my favorite game of all time...But what's this with the overpowered unicorn? Was it way more powerful than the dark side equivalent (basilisk?)? Did they release another 8-bit version or something?
The unicorn was the fastest. The Basilisk was fast but not quite as, and could withstand more hits. (Or maybe I'm mixing it up with the bigger Serpent thing which was slow but very powerful?)
The best is finding a unicorn on a dark square and attacking it with a 'pawn' and charging it all zigzag-like. A lucky club swing could kill the unicorn, result in a real-world punch, and temporarily end a friendship. Stakes were high in that game.
BallBlazer/Blaster was an unreleased LucasFilms game, if I remember correctly. It was leaked and so wildly pirated that they didn’t bother releasing it.
Ballblazer received several releases across multiple platforms, including cartridges for 7800 and Famicom.
The prototype "Ballblaster" was widely pirated, though, as well as "Behind Jaggi Lines" (Rescue on Fractalus) - I had both as a kid. Key differences between the prototype and the final release are the addition of the company logo in the intro, more developed opponent AI, and the "endless solo" in the music(my recollection is that the prototype only has the bassline and chords).
Oh, also Behind Jaggi Lines and BallBlazer. (One or both of those they renamed somewhere between beta and production, but I had, let's say, "not quite commercial" versions of them.)