Penetrator is a side-scrolling shooter, developed by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler (as Beam Software) and published by Melbourne House in 1982.
Defender II, Atari 2600
The original Defender on the Atari 2600 is rubbish, but Defender II is the shizzle.
Ninja Golf, Atari 7800
A notch above “Monkey Tennis” in terms of great ideas, Ninja Golf was dreamt-up and released for the Atari 7800, way back in 1990.
Sinbad and the Golden Ship, ZX Spectrum
This obscure budget text adventure, with graphics, was released on the ZX Spectrum by Mastertronic in 1986.
Hercules, Commodore 64
Steve Bak‘s insane-but-fun platform game, Hercules, was first released on the Commodore 64 by Interdisc in 1984. By “insane” I mean: the game is deliberately deceptive to the point of driving the player to insanity! 🙂
Defender of the Crown, Amiga
The Amiga version of Cinemaware‘s classic Defender of the Crown is both beautiful to look at, and great fun to play. Actually, pretty much every version of Defender of the Crown I’ve played has been great, but the Amiga version is probably the most well-remembered. It was also the very first version of Defender of the Crown too – all the other versions followed later.
The Firemen, Super Nintendo
The Firemen is an original overhead action game with you controlling a small team of intrepid fire fighters while out on duty.
Bad Games Week Ends
Bad Games Week now ends! We’re back to ‘good’ games from now on. 🙂
Here’s a summary of links to what was published:
Grange Hill ZX Spectrum
Grange Hill, Commodore 64
Grange Hill, Amstrad CPC
Ultra Vortek, Atari Jaguar
Rise of the Robots, PC
Black Crystal, ZX Spectrum
Black Crystal, Commodore 64
Scuba Dive, Commodore 64
Kung Food, Atari Lynx
Toilet Kids, PC Engine
Quarantine, PC
Thank You,
The King of Grabs

Quarantine, PC
On the face of it, Quarantine sounds like a fun game: you’re a post apocalypse taxi driver, eking a living out on fares and the odd bigger payday mission – to buy BIG GUNS to put on your car and therefore blow the opposition to smithereens.
Toilet Kids, PC Engine
Toilet Kids (PC Engine, 1992) isn’t a bad game in itself, although the idea behind it is unquestionably puerile.