Shadow of the Beast is a scrolling fighting/action game originating on the Amiga. It was enough of a success for publisher Psygnosis to convert it to various home computers and consoles. The ZX Spectrum version was developed by Gremlin Graphics and published in 1990, and it is not a bad port overall.

The Spectrum version of course lacks the colour of the Amiga original but does feature decent graphics, smooth scrolling, and responsive controls, so plays well enough.

The main character, Aarbron, runs, jumps, kicks and punches his way through a variety of enemies and bosses as he tries to make his way through seven different levels to “free himself from the Shadow of the Beast“, whatever that means…

The game was released in 48K and 128K versions, although the 128K version still seems to use an annoying multi-load system. Shadow of the Beast is a fairly large game so that’s no surprise. The 128K version also has in-game music courtesy of David Whittaker (who wrote the original Amiga music). It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly memorable either.

Gameplay-wise, ZX Spectrum Shadow of the Beast is pretty good. I enjoyed playing the game although did notice some slowdown on occasion – usually during boss battles. Some of the bosses are very large so it’s no surprise the game struggles a bit when they move. Overall, this is a playable and relatively enjoyable late era Spectrum game.

More: Shadow of the Beast on Wikipedia
More: Shadow of the Beast on World of Spectrum