Jeff Minter‘s affinity for Atari 8-bit computers meant that it was inevitable that the machine would get a version of his game, Gridrunner. Which it did in 1983.
Tag Archives: 1982
Turboflex, Atari 8-bit
Jeff Minter‘s 1982 Atari 8-bit game, Turboflex, is an interesting but frustrating bouncing ball game where the aim is for you to deliberately bounce a ball into a target inside a box by dropping flippers onto it – diagonal posts that spin the ball in different directions, depending on its position when hit by the ball. The target, depending on your game settings, moves, reverses or does other tricks, so as not to get hit/caught by you.
Rat Man, VIC-20
Described on the title screen as a “freaked-out game from Llamasoft“, Rat Man is a simple hammer-bashing game from the early days of the Commodore VIC-20 and Jeff Minter. Frankly, though, it hasn’t stood the test of time very well…
Headbanger’s Heaven, ZX Spectrum
Headbanger’s Heaven was apparently written for the ZX Spectrum first and later ported to the VIC-20. The Spectrum version first came out in 1982 and is a pretty poor game, but with interesting character graphics and somewhat professional presentation.
Headbanger’s Heaven, VIC-20
First released in 1982 through Llamasoft, Headbanger’s Heaven is arguably Jeff Minter‘s worst game, although that said: it’s still reasonable fun to play. I did read that the game originated on the ZX Spectrum and was converted to the VIC-20. Whatever possessed them to convert it is not clear, though…
Gridrunner, VIC-20
Jeff Minter‘s original 1982 VIC-20 version of Gridrunner is not a bad game overall. It’s a simple Centipede variant fought on a basic grid background, with sprites zipping all over the place and insects trying to get the better of you by destroying you before you can destroy them.
City Bomb, ZX Spectrum
City Bomb is a conversion of the super-simple Llamasoft VIC-20 bomber game, Blitzkrieg, to the ZX Spectrum. It was first released in 1982.
Blitzkrieg, VIC-20
Blitzkrieg is a city-bombing game by Jeff Minter, first released for the Commodore VIC-20 in 1982 through Llamasoft. It is notable for two reasons…
Andes Attack, VIC-20
Andes Attack was the first commercial game release from Jeff Minter and Llamasoft, and it was of course a clone of an arcade game (Defender). Andes Attack was first released in 1982 for the VIC-20 and did reasonable business, in spite of it not actually being very good.
3D Labyrinth, VIC-20
3D Labyrinth is a first-person maze game by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft. It was published for the VIC-20 in 1982 and features very basic graphics, showing your view as a series of perspective-based drawings that change with every step you take.
The King of Grabs 