Category Archives: Commodore 16/Plus4

Mr. Puniverse, Commodore 16/Plus4

Written by Tony Kelly and published by Mastertronic in 1986, Mr. Puniverse is a platform maze game with a satisfying jump mechanic, and is also the sequel to Big Mac.

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Big Mac, Commodore 16/Plus4

Written by Tony Kelly and published by Mastertronic in 1985, Big Mac is a highly frustrating platform/puzzle game with an interesting jump mechanic and some nice graphical effects, and is the predecessor to the much better Mr. Puniverse.

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Jetbrix, Commodore 16/Plus4

Jetbrix is a 1986 release from Gremlin Graphics. It is another gem from the prolific Shaun Southern – the creator of Kikstart (among others).

It looks a bit like a cross between Tetris and Jet Pac, although it’s really not like either.

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Trailblazer, Commodore 16/Plus4

Shaun Southern‘s Trailblazer – I’m reliably informed – originated on the Commodore 16; not the Commodore 64 (on which it is probably better-known).

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Rescue From Zylon, Commodore 16/Plus4

Written by Mark J. Moore and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1985, Rescue From Zylon I would say is one of the best games ever released for the Commodore 16.

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Formula 1 Simulator, Commodore 16/Plus4

Oh dear. Formula 1 Simulator unfortunately proves that not all of talented and prolific coder Shaun Southern‘s games were “good”… Because this game is quite awful.

It’s a bad rip-off of Atari‘s Pole Position, and not even a playable one at that.

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Kikstart, Commodore 16/Plus4

Shaun Southern‘s Commodore 16 version of his hit bike game, Kikstart, is somewhat different to the original Commodore 64 version.

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Tom Thumb, Commodore 16/Plus4

This 1986 release from Anirog is seen as something of a ‘killer app’ on the Commodore 16, although personally I think it’s over-rated.

Tom Thumb is a smooth-scrolling platform game with a strange jump mechanic: Tom can only jump when the run button is pressed, and when he does it’s very slowly. Thankfully you can change his direction in mid air. Not that that makes a great deal of difference, because Tom Thumb is an extremely difficult game to make progress in.

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Commodore 16/Plus4 Special

The Commodore 16 is a somewhat underrated home computer that had a relatively short lifespan and was intended as a low-cost replacement for the Commodore VIC-20.

It had 16K of RAM (thus the name) and a 6502 compatible CPU that ran twice as fast as the CPU in its older and more expensive cousin, the Commodore 64. It had a video and sound chipset called “TED” that offered a colour palette of 121 colours, and more efficient use of video memory than the C64, but it had no hardware sprites (it did however have a built-in software sprite routine with fewer restrictions than on hardware sprites).

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