Written by Mark J. Moore and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1985, Rescue From Zylon I would say is one of the best games ever released for the Commodore 16.

It is a fairly simple flick-screen rescue game where you have to pilot a balloon through a series of caverns, picking up trapped geologists and saving them from rising floodwaters.

If you hit the cavern walls, or are hit by acid rain, you gain one damage point. When you reach 10 damage points your ship is destroyed. Rescuing a geologist, though, removes one damage point from your total, so you can at least combat your cack-handedness with rescues.

Your ship is also instantly destroyed by hitting the ever-rising floodwater – an indication of the level it’s currently at is shown at the bottom of the screen. What that basically means is that you have to start by rescuing the lowest-trapped geologists first – and move as quickly as possible – in order to reach everyone in time. Not easy…

What makes Rescue From Zylon so good is the control system, and the inertia on the airship, which is perfect and makes the game very playable. It’s also a really fun challenge. You can’t ask for more from a game this small.

More: Rescue From Zylon on Plus/4 World
More: Rescue From Zylon on Moby Games