The PG Hall of Fame: Phantom Mansion

Once upon a time, all game developers were carefree enough to call their heroes names like Hector The Spectre Detector. Nowadays, focus groups would probably rule that sort of thing out at the earliest possible opportunity.

So raise a toast in memory of Phantom Mansion, which alongside said ghost-hunting hero displayed plenty of other old-skool gaming goodness.

It was developed and published by UK firm Morpheme, which is still going today, albeit with more of a focus on web games. Phantom Mansion saw you taking Hector through 35 levels of the titular mansion, in an engrossing top-down adventure.

There were puzzles and obstacles aplenty. There were skulls to collect. There were demons and magic portals. And there was even something called The Spectral Gnome, which is another thing that probably wouldn't make it into a mobile game these days.

So why was Phantom Mansion so fun? It felt like a classic 8-bit game, so the fact that a new title was tugging on your nostalgic heartstrings was certainly one element.

But more important was the gameplay itself, which took the familiar 'find objects and use them in a certain location to get to the next location' formula, and refined it with some fiendish puzzles and a dollop of humour.

So, those 35 levels provided many hours of amusement. Well, I say amusement… often it was mixed with frustration, anger, blinding 'Eureka' moments of realisation, and ensuing joy. It was a proper adventure-puzzler, in other words.

Nowadays, of course, we can turn to all-singing all-dancing 3D titles like Devil May Cry 3D and Resident Evil: The Missions for our mobile survival-horror kicks. Even so, Phantom Mansion will still bring back warm memories for anyone who played it. And if that doesn't include you, then check out how the most recent online incarnation plays here.