Category Archives: Company

Video game companies.

Black Crystal, Commodore 64

Black Crystal is infamous for being an overpriced and under-produced RPG from the early days of home computing.

This Commodore 64 version plays pretty much the same as the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum versions, in that: it’s absolutely awful and will have you both tearing your hair out in minutes, and also wondering who on earth would make such a game…

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Black Crystal, ZX Spectrum

Black Crystal is infamous for being an overpriced and under-produced RPG from the early days of home computing.

The first version of Black Crystal was the ZX81 version, which was designed and programmed by Roy Carnell and Stuart Galloway and released in 1982. A ZX Spectrum version followed in 1983, then a Commodore 64 version later in 1985.

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Rise of the Robots, PC

Mirage‘s infamous 1994 beat ’em up, Rise of the Robots, was hyped massively before, during and after its initial release, but never managed to break free from criticism that it was nothing more than a steaming pile of donkey muck.

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Ultra Vortek, Atari Jaguar

My goodness, Ultra Vortek must rate as one of the worst beat ’em ups of all time!

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Grange Hill, ZX Spectrum

Argus Press Software released this licensed adventure game, based on the successful BBC TV series of the same name, in 1987. It is infamous for being one of the worst games ever made, and it truly is, for a number of different reasons…

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Rings of Power, Megadrive/Genesis

Rings of Power is an isometric Role-Playing Game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Electronic Arts for the Sega Megadrive in 1991.

Unlike many RPGs of the time, Rings of Power is very open-ended.

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Questprobe 3: Human Torch and The Thing, ZX Spectrum

The third and final Questprobe adventure game, released by Adventure International in 1985.

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Questprobe 2: Spider-Man, ZX Spectrum

The second Questprobe adventure game – featuring Spider-Man – is just as difficult as The Hulk, and only marginally more entertaining.

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