Category Archives: Systems

Video gaming systems.

OnEscapee, Amiga

This rather obscure Prince of Persia/Another World/Flashback tribute was created by Hungarian developer Invictus Games exclusively for the Amiga 1200 in 1997. It was initially released on CD-ROM only, which is strange as the Amiga 1200 didn’t come with a CD drive, so players had to purchase an external CD-ROM drive or somehow transfer the game to a hard drive and play it that way. Invictus later re-released the game as freeware for Windows, in 2004, to coincide with the company’s 10th anniversary.

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Bruce Lee, Apple II

Predictably the Apple II conversion of Bruce Lee isn’t that great. It’s nowhere near as bad as the awful BBC Micro version, but it does have its problems. It first came out in 1984 and was programmed by Rick Mirsky.

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Bruce Lee, Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC version of Datasoft‘s Bruce Lee, developed by Timedata Ltd., is excellent – not far off the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 versions, which are rightly regarded as retro-gaming classics.

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Bruce Lee, ZX Spectrum

Bruce Lee on the ZX Spectrum was developed by Ocean Software and is an excellent conversion of the Atari 8-bit original. It’s playable, solid, and remains great fun to play to this day. It even retains the simultaneous two-player mode from the original.

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Bruce Lee, BBC Micro

Bruce Lee on the BBC Micro is… well, let’s just say that it’s “different” to the classic Atari 8-bit or Commodore 64 originals. Not hugely different in terms of gameplay – more: different in terms of how it looks, and in the detail. The game was published by US Gold and Micro Power in 1986.

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Dark Chambers, Atari 7800

Dark Chambers is a one or two-player maze/action game that was directly influenced by Dandy, in that it was originally written by John Howard Palevich – the creator Dandy – to further expand (or in this case: simplify) the concept of a multiplayer fantasy action game.

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Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers, ZX Spectrum

As the title suggests, this is the sequel to the classic Spectrum ‘naughty kid’ game, Jack the Nipper. Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers was again written by Greg Holmes (with graphics help by Terry Lloyd) and published by Gremlin Graphics. It first came out on the ZX Spectrum in 1987.

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Jack the Nipper, ZX Spectrum

This puzzle-based platform game was written by Greg Holmes and published for the ZX Spectrum by Gremlin Graphics in 1986. The main character, Jack the Nipper, is a mischievous baby based loosely on the British comic character Sweeny Toddler.

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Karnov’s Revenge, Neo Geo

This 1994 Neo Geo release from Data East is the second game in the “Fighter’s History” series. It is tentatively related to the Data East arcade game Karnov, in that it features the red-trousered, bald character of the same name, but it’s a fighting game, in true Neo Geo style.

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