Tag Archives: 1983

Atari 8-bit, Creative Sparks, Thorn EMI

Orc Attack, Atari 8-bit

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The classic Orc Attack was originally developed by Dean Lock for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and published by Thorn EMI in 1983.

You play a guy defending a castle rampart from attacking orcs that are trying to climb up using ladders. The orcs plant the base of the ladder on the ground then bring in sections to raise it up, taking just three connected sections to reach the top. You must run and grab rocks, placed at either side of the battlement, to throw down at the attackers. If the attackers reach the top of the rampart the stones temporarily turn into swords, which you must grab to hack down the invaders that are threatening your castle. When a round is complete you can throw burning oil onto them to torch the remainder.

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Bad Video Games, BBC Micro, Micro Power

Killer Gorilla, BBC Micro

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Killer Gorilla is a throwback to the bad old days when companies could get away with releasing any old crap and people would still lap it up.

That Killer Gorilla was ever sold commercially is incredible in itself; never mind the fact that it was so popular that it was re-released numerous times. In reality it was nothing more than a coding experiment made by a kid who wanted to try to replicate Nintendo‘s arcade game, Donkey Kong.

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Arcade, Ashby Computers and Graphics, Jaleco

Dingo, Arcade

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Dingo is a 1983 arcade game created by Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. (A.C.G.) and manufactured by Jaleco.

For those who don’t know: A.C.G. is the name of the company who would later develop and publish a series of classic games under the Ultimate Play the Game banner, including Jet Pac, Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf and Knight Lore (among others). Dingo is one of their first ever video games.

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Arcade, Ashby Computers and Graphics, Jaleco

Grasspin, Arcade

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Grasspin is a 1983 arcade game created by British developer Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. A.C.G., as they were known, were the team behind the famous Ultimate Play the Game brand and this is one of the games they made before launching Ultimate.

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Arcade, Ashby Computers and Graphics, Jaleco

Saturn, Arcade

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Saturn is an early arcade game created by Ashby Computers and Graphics (A.C.G.) for Jaleco. A.C.G. – if you didn’t know – was the trading name of the developers of the famous Ultimate Play the Game series of video games.

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Ashby Computers and Graphics, BBC Micro, Ultimate Play The Game

Jet Pac, BBC Micro

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The BBC Micro conversion of Ultimate‘s classic Jet Pac looks pretty chunky, graphics-wise, but plays well enough.

The ZX Spectrum version was smash hit when it was first released in 1983, and all the other conversions seem to lack the charm of the original. This one is no exception.

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Crystal Computing, Design Design, ZX Spectrum

Invasion of the Body Snatchas!, ZX Spectrum

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Created by Design Design and first published by Crystal Computing in 1983, Invasion of the Body Snatchas! is a super-hard Defender clone for the ZX Spectrum.

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Software Farm, ZX81

Forty Niner, ZX81

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This 1983 release from Software Farm broke new ground on the Sinclair ZX81. You see: graphics on the ZX81, before Forty Niner, consisted of chunky basic graphics and ASCII symbols, because the machine wasn’t really capable of anything else. Or so the world thought…

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Arcade, Century Electronics

Hunchback, Arcade

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Century Electronics UK‘s Hunchback is apparently NOT loosely based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as many have speculated. But since it features Quasimodo running from left to right over a castle rampart, trying to rescue Esmeralda from a tower at the end, that is an easy assumption to make.

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Imagine Software, ZX Spectrum

Molar Maul, ZX Spectrum

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This early ZX Spectrum game from Imagine Software was designed and programmed by John Gibson and first published in 1983.

It is a good example of a mundane idea being turned into a video game – namely: dental hygiene and the battle with tooth decay! Gibson apparently wrote the game in only four weeks.

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