The Spectrum version of Barbarian is an okay fighting game, but it doesn’t quite have the satisfying decapitation animation of the original C64 version…

While you can still lop the heads off opponents with a well-timed swing, the animation and timing of it in this version is not quite right. Which is a problem, since that action alone is a big USP for this game, and its cack-handed implementation hurts it.

Like the C64 original, this version comes in two flavours, each with different backdrops. Of the versions I tried, some had a two-player versus mode, while others didn’t. Both versions had identical gameplay, though.

Barbarian on the ZX Spectrum was first published by Palace Software in 1987.

More: Barbarian on Wikipedia
More: Barbarian on World of Spectrum