All posts by Mallo

Writer and screenshot enthusiast. Ex-PC Zoner.

Metagalactic Llamas: Battle at the Edge of Time, VIC-20

The original Metagalactic Llamas: Battle at the Edge of Time first came out for the VIC-20 in 1983. The Commodore 64 version was a later port, in 1984.

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Matrix: Gridrunner 2, Atari 8-bit

Jeff Minter‘s Matrix: Gridrunner 2 was unfortunately re-titled and marketed as “Attack of the Mutant Camels” for the Atari 8-bit North American market, which causes considerable confusion about this game even now. I’m sticking with the original titles, to avoid confusion, for the HESWare re-titled versions of Matrix.

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Matrix: Gridrunner 2, ZX Spectrum

Published by Salamander Software in 1984 the Spectrum conversion of Jeff Minter‘s Matrix: Gridrunner 2 is a decent enough game, with non-flickery graphics and responsive controls. The conversion was coded by Shaukat Ali Tenquist, who kindly commented below to let us know.

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Matrix: Gridrunner 2, Commodore 64

The sequel to Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, is a more refined, varied and engaging incarnation of Gridrunner than was seen previously. It was written by Jeff Minter and first published by Llamasoft in 1983.

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Laser Zone, ZX Spectrum

The Spectrum version of Llamasoft‘s Lazer Zone was programmed by Chris Clark for Salamander Software and first published by Quicksilva in 1983. It’s a fairly decent shoot ’em up, with a tricky dual gun mechanic to get your head around.

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Hover Bovver, Atari 8-bit

Jeff Minter‘s early grass-cutting maze game, Hover Bovver, was first released by Llamasoft in 1983 for both Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit systems. Both versions are fairly pointless points-scoring exercises with gameplay and maze layouts that don’t really make much sense.

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Hover Bovver, Commodore 64

The original Commodore 64 version of Jeff Minter‘s Hover Bovver is just as niggly and annoying as the Atari 8-bit version, which was released as the game’s “evil twin” in 1983.

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