Apple II games.
The Apple II conversion of Elite is arguably the slowest and ugliest of all the versions available. And that – I think – is me being charitable to it…
Ian Bell himself programmed this conversion of Elite in 1986, so its authenticity cannot be called into question and I shouldn’t really mock it.
I’m not sure if it’s the game or the emulator – or something else – but controlling the spinning top-like device, GERALD, in the Apple II version of Spindizzy is like trying to navigate Cape Horn in a rowing boat in the depths of winter. It’s suicidal…
The Apple II version of Prince of Persia is the original, released by Brøderbund in 1989.
The game wasn’t a big hit initially, but word of how good it was grew when the game was converted to other systems and was also released in Asia and Europe. Prince of Persia gradually built into a phenomenon.
Like the MS-DOS version of Spy Hunter, the Apple II conversion of the classic Bally Midway arcade game is a bit… erm, rubbish.
The graphics might be a bit indistinct, but the basic BurgerTime gameplay is mostly intact in this supposedly 1982 conversion.
I say ‘supposedly’ because I doubt very much that this Apple II conversion was released the same year as the arcade game. It’s much more likely to have been released in either 1983 or 1984. I’m pretty sure that the majority of the internet are wrong on this and that the ‘1982’ reference goes back to the original arcade game.
Dan Gorlin‘s classic 2D action game, Choplifter, originated on the Apple II in 1982, courtesy of Brøderbund.
Doug Smith‘s famous platform game, Lode Runner, was first released on the Apple II in 1983.
Airheart is Dan Gorlin‘s predecessor to/prototype of the brilliant Typhoon Thompson and was first released for the Apple II by Broderbund in 1986.
Richard Garriott’s Akalabeth was first released in 1979 for the Apple II home computer (and shortly afterwards for PC MS-DOS), and is arguably the first ever graphical Role-Playing Game ever released.
The King of Grabs 