The Galaxian conversion for the ColecoVision was first released in 1984 by Atarisoft, and it is a decent port of the classic 1979 arcade game from Namco. A secret message in the game credits James D. Eisenstein for writing the graphics and program (he also dedicates the game to his then wife/girlfriend, Jeneane).
Tag Archives: 1984
The Evil Dead, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum version of Palace Software‘s The Evil Dead video game was never released as a stand-alone title, although it was given away as a freebie on the b-side of the cassette for the ZX Spectrum version of Cauldron. Probably because Palace realised that no person in their right mind would pay money for a game this bad.
Karate Champ, Arcade
Karate Champ is an early one-on-one beat ’em up that was pioneering and influential, and was a precursor to fighting games that followed. It was developed by Technos Japan and manufactured into arcades by Data East in 1984.
SonSon, Arcade
SonSon is a scrolling platform shooter created by Capcom and distributed into arcades in 1984. It is loosely based on the Chinese “Monkey King” story from the novel Journey to the West. SonSon can be played single-player, or two player simultaneous co-op.
Spellbound, ZX Spectrum
Not the excellent David Jones Magic Knight adventure game from Mastertronic Added Dimension, but the atrocious Q*Bert clone from Beyond Software.
Rocket Roger, Commodore 64
Rocket Roger is a scrolling action game written by Steve Evans and published by Alligata Software in 1984. In it you control the titular Roger who must fly around using a jet pack and collect crystals from a series of underground caves. The crystals are needed to power your spaceship and you need to collect 99 of them to escape the planet.
Tapper, Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 version of the classic arcade game, Tapper, is actually surprisingly good. It was developed by Bally Midway and published by Sega in 1984.
Alien, ZX Spectrum
Developed by Concept Software and published by Argus Press in 1984, this adaptation of the classic 1979 film, Alien, is arguably the first serious video game based on the Alien series (I certainly wouldn’t describe the Atari 2600 version of Alien as ‘serious’).
Sheep in Space, Commodore 64
Sheep in Space is a weird horizontal shoot ’em up, written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft in 1984, and featuring a flying sheep who must complete horizontally-scrolling levels by shooting all the available enemies. Sheep in Space has its roots in Defender and Jeff‘s previous game, Ancipital.
Revenge of the Mutant Camels, Commodore 64
Revenge of the Mutant Camels is the 1984 sequel to Attack of the Mutant Camels and this time you play as a camel who must fight his way through 42 different attack waves. You can choose sequential or random attack waves, but the aim is the same: you must survive through all 42 waves to beat the game.
The King of Grabs 