A British programmer/developer who made a name for himself with his very first game, Pud Pud, which was published by Ocean Software for the ZX Spectrum in 1984. Smith was just 17 at the time Pud Pud was released, but was fortuitous in that his pitch to Ocean, and them signing him up as ‘talent’, was all filmed and later broadcast on television in an episode of BBC TV’s Commercial Breaks, which gave him an instant profile to an appreciative audience. Bob Wakelin‘s ace cover art also did Smith‘s early games a lot of good.
Category Archives: Lists
To Infinity And Beyond: The Infinity Engine Games
The Infinity Engine by BioWare is synonymous with great RPGs. You think Infinity Engine, you think Planescape: Torment, or Baldur’s Gate. Or Icewind Dale. All great level-grinding adventures and all published by Interplay in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Continue reading To Infinity And Beyond: The Infinity Engine Games
10 Best Prince of Persia Conversions
LISTS: as decided by His Majesty The King of Grabs, in order of greatness:
1. Super Nintendo (1992)
2. PC Engine/Turbografx-16 (1991)
3. Commodore 64 (2011)
4. PC MS-DOS (1990)
5. Atari ST (1990)
6. Amiga (1990)
7. Sega CD (1992)
8. Sharp X68000 (1991)
9. ZX Spectrum (1996)
10. Megadrive/Genesis (1993)
And of course there’s always the Apple II original, which is ‘The Daddy’ of them all.
All Hail The Prince of Persia, and all hail Jordan Mechner!
More: Prince of Persia on Wikipedia
All versions of Prince of Persia on The King of Grabs:
Apple II, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, PC MS-DOS, SAM Coupé, Sharp X68000, PC Engine/Turbografx-16, Sega Master System, Sega CD, Game Boy, Super Nintendo, Nintendo Entertainment System, Megadrive/Genesis, Game Boy Color, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
The Elder Scrolls Series, PC
There’s been approximately four years on average, between episodes of The Elder Scrolls series, and we are currently long overdue an announcement on a follow-up to 2011’s Skyrim. At the time of writing, it’s been eight years since Skyrim, and three years since the remaster.
10 Best Manic Miner Conversions
LISTS: as decided by The King of Grabs, in order of greatness:
1. XBox 360
2. Game Boy Advance
3. MSX
4. Commodore 64
5. Amstrad CPC
6. SAM Coupé
7. Amiga
8. BBC Micro
9. Oric
10. Dragon 32
Of course, nothing beats the ZX Spectrum original.
See also:
Manic Miner in the Lost Levels – a homebrew download for the Nintendo DS
All hail to Miner Willy and to Matthew Smith.
10 Best Spy Hunter Conversions
LISTS: as decided by The King of Grabs, in order of greatness:
These are just an opinion, but please do feel free to comment with your opinions. Unless you’re a comment spammer. In which case: do feel free to f*ck off…
Bally Midway‘s classic Spy Hunter is a brilliant overhead race game with guns and bumping cars and speed boats and chasing helicopters, and general high-speed excitement. It is such a good game that it has been converted to pretty much every gaming system known to man.
Here’s our rundown of the top 10 Spy Hunter conversions…
1. Nintendo Entertainment System < Probably the most fun
2. Atari 800 << Better than most
3. Commodore 64 <<< Entertaining
4. ZX Spectrum <<<< A fun conversion
5. ColecoVision <<<<< Pretty good
6. Amstrad CPC <<<<<< Reasonable
7. Atari 2600 <<<<<<< Basic
8. BBC Micro <<<<<<<< Forgettable
9. Apple II <<<<<<<< Rubbish
10. PC MS-DOS <<<<<<<<< Utterly terrible
And, of course, not forgetting the utterly brilliant arcade original.
More: Spy Hunter on Wikipedia
Steve Crow’s Classic ZX Spectrum Games
Game designer Stephen J. Crow made some seminal games for the ZX Spectrum, starting with Laser Snaker in 1983 and Factory Breakout in 1984 for Poppy Soft.
10 Best Intellivision Games
LISTS: as decided by The King of Grabs, in descending order of greatness:
1. Treasure of Tarmin
2. Tower of Doom
3. Cloudy Mountain
4. B-17 Bomber
5. Lock ‘n’ Chase
6. Stadium Mud Buggies
7. Chip Shot Super Pro Golf
8. Bump ‘n’ Jump
9. Auto Racing
10. Dracula
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision
Derek Brewster Week
Derek Brewster is a British game developer who made a name for himself in the 1980s.
He created a large variety of games for a number of different systems, but is probably best known for his work on the ZX Spectrum.
Games Beginning With ‘B’ Week
It’s time for another random celebration of video gaming goodness! This time: of games beginning with the letter ‘B’… 🙂
Enjoy,
The King of Grabs
Here’s a full run-down of what was published:
Ballblazer, Atari 7800
Booty, ZX Spectrum
Bomb Jack, Arcade
Bonanza Bros., Megadrive
Booga-Boo, MSX
Brainstorm, Commodore 64
Bomberman ’94, PC Engine
Bubsy, Atari Jaguar
Bobby Bearing, ZX Spectrum
Battle Valley, Commodore 64
Breath of Fire, Super Nintendo
Breath of Fire II, Super Nintendo
BMX Kidz, Commodore 64
Battlecruiser 3000AD, PC
Bubble Ghost, Atari ST
Bubble Ghost, Amstrad CPC
Bubble Ghost, Game Boy
Braxx Bluff, ZX Spectrum
Bounder, Commodore 64
The King of Grabs 