The MSX got a pretty much perfect conversion of Head Over Heels, although I’m not sure who the person was who converted it.
Category Archives: Ocean Software
Ocean Software was a Manchester-based video game development and publishing house that was founded in 1983 by David Ward and Jon Woods. It was known for its ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 games (although it did publish for a wide variety of formats), and its movie licenses. Ocean was wound-up in 1998, and later sold to Infogrames. Bandai Namco acquired the rights to the Ocean label in 2009.
Head Over Heels, Amstrad CPC
The best-looking of all the 8-bit versions of Head Over Heels, in my humble opinion.
Head Over Heels, Commodore 64
Although the Commodore 64 was not thought to be particularly well-suited to these types of isometric platform games, Head Over Heels bucks the trend by being arguably just as good – if not better – than the Spectrum original.
Thanks to the sterling efforts of programmer Colin Porch.
Head Over Heels, ZX Spectrum
Jon Ritman did the programming and Bernie Drummond did the graphics. And the result was: Head Over Heels – an isometric platform game, published by Ocean Software, and featuring two different characters who can combine to become more agile.
Head Over Heels Week
Happy April Fools Day!
A celebration of jokes and humour, and – in our world – video games.
Written by Jon Ritman, with graphics by Bernie Drummond, Head Over Heels was first released in 1987 and is still a fantastic game to play now – across a number of different formats.
So every day this week we’re going to be celebrating Head Over Heels – a classic 3D platform game like no other – starting with the ZX Spectrum original, and covering all the different versions of the game as the week progresses.
Anyway: welcome to April. You lovely gaming fools.
The King of Grabs
Head Over Heels on The King of Grabs:
ZX Spectrum version, Commodore 64 version, Amstrad CPC version, MSX version, Atari 800 version, Atari ST version, Amiga version, PC version, Head Over Heels Week
Wizball, Commodore 64
Sensible Software‘s bizarre but brilliant 1987 Commodore 64 shooter with a difference!
Parasol Stars, Amiga
Parasol Stars is a wonderful sequel to Taito‘s classic Rainbow Islands, although it was never released in arcades.
The game was initially developed exclusively for the NEC PC Engine in 1991, and later released on other formats by Ocean Software. The brilliant Amiga version was released in 1992 and remains a firm favourite among Bubble Bobble series fans.
Wizkid, PC
Wizkid is also subtitled “The Story of Wizball II”, which is interesting, although it doesn’t really look or feel like a sequel to Wizball at all to me.
Worms, PlayStation
The 1995 PlayStation version of Andy Davidson‘s classic Worms is undoubtedly the best version of the game ever made. Ocean and Team 17 collaborated on this release.
It is an incredible multiplayer game, for up to four people.
The King of Grabs 