Tag Archives: 1984

Beach Head, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version of Beach Head was developed by Ocean Software and published by US Gold in 1984.

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Strangeloop, ZX Spectrum

Written by Charles Goodwin and published by Virgin Games in 1984, Strangeloop is a maze-based action adventure for the ZX Spectrum with a surreal, futuristic vibe to it.

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3D Bomberman, MSX

3D Bomberman (aka 3-D Bomber Man aka Sanjigen Bomberman) is an early, first-person interpretation of the Hudson Soft Bomberman concept. It was released in – Japan only – for MSX, Sharp X1, FM-7, PC-6001 and PC-8000 home computers in 1984.

In spite of the game’s title, this is not a true 3D game as it doesn’t contain any polygonal graphics, it’s just an old school way of describing a game that takes place along the ‘Z’ axis of an X,Y,Z three-dimensional grid.

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Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Arcade

Based on the 1983 film of the same name, Atari‘s Return of the Jedi was first released into arcades in 1984, and the game uses 2D, rasterized graphics, instead of vector-based graphics, like the Star Wars arcade game does.

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Choplifter, ColecoVision

I’m not quite sure what’s up with the 1984 ColecoVision version of Choplifter, but the game seems to run faster than any other version I’ve played. Arguably too fast…

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Choplifter, Atari 5200

The Atari 5200 version of Choplifter – first published by Atari, Inc. in 1984 – is more or less identical to the Atari 8-bit version released for home computers. Which is a little disappointing, as you’d maybe hope that it’d be enhanced in some way.

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Technician Ted, Amstrad CPC

The 1984 Amstrad CPC conversion of the ZX Spectrum game, Technician Ted (aka The Chip Factory starring Technician Ted), is pretty much identical to the original, except that it has a rather garish colour palette.

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Conan, Commodore 64

Datasoft‘s 1984 release, Conan, is a curious game. It doesn’t seem to be directly related to either of the two Conan films released in the early ’80s (although it does use artwork from the sequel, Conan the Destroyer), so my guess is that it was a quick cash-in on the popularity of Arnold Schwarzenegger by the developers.

The game was originally written for the Apple II by Eric Robinson and Eric Parker, and the Commodore 64 version was created by Ron J. Fortier and John Butrovich.

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All Or Nothing, ZX Spectrum

Written by Paul W. Reynolds (the same guy who wrote the classic Krakatoa) and published by Abbex Electronics in 1984, All Or Nothing is an isometric action game where you parachute into an enemy camp on a mission to find and steal their secret plans.

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