Boulder Dash III was developed and published in Europe only by a Swedish company called American Action AB in 1986 (it wasn’t released in North America at all). It was the first game in the Boulder Dash series not to be designed and programmed by original co-creator Peter Liepa, and it suffers as a result of that.
Tag Archives: 1986
Boulder Dash, PC
The MS-DOS version of Boulder Dash uses CGA graphics, so doesn’t look the best, but – like the Apple II version – the lack of colour doesn’t affect the gameplay at all. In fact: just four colours seems to suit it well; if those colours are used a certain way.
Park Patrol, Amstrad CPC
Tony Ngo‘s classic Commmodore 64 game, Park Patrol, has a decent conversion on the Amstrad, courtesy of programmer Andrew Rogers and publisher Firebird Software. The Amstrad version was released in 1986 at a budget price (£1.99 if I remember correctly).
Donkey Kong, Amstrad CPC
Ocean Software‘s 8-bit conversion of the classic 1981 Nintendo arcade game, Donkey Kong, is considered to be close to perfect on the Amstrad CPC. All the screens; all the sound effects, and all the challenging gameplay elements are present and correct in this port.
Spindizzy, Amstrad CPC
I was always under the impression that Paul Shirley‘s classic Spindizzy originated on the Commodore 64 and was ported to other machines, but this interview with Shirley says that the game was actually originated on the CPC and ported to other systems. Since Paul Shirley coded the C64 version himself I had guessed that that was a logical assumption to make, but it now looks to be wrong.
The Amstrad version of Spindizzy – one of the best games ever made in my humble opinion – is pretty much perfect, with crisp, clean, detailed graphics and responsive controls.
Get Dexter, Amstrad CPC
Get Dexter is an isometric action puzzle game originally released for the Amstrad CPC in 1986. It was programmed by Remi Herbulot with graphics by Michel Rho. In its native France the game is known as “Crafton & Xunk“, which I always thought was a bizarre title for a video game.
Light Force, ZX Spectrum
Light Force is one of the best vertically-scrolling shoot ’em ups on the ZX Spectrum and it was published by Faster Than Light in 1986. It was written by Greg Follis and Roy Carter – the same guys who wrote the classic Spectrum games Tir Na Nog, Dun Darach and Marsport for Gargoyle Games.
The game is a fairly straightforward – if very playable – shooter, with smooth-scrolling backgrounds that have destructible elements, but it is so well presented that it’s hard not to be impressed.
Bruce Lee, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC version of Datasoft‘s Bruce Lee, developed by Timedata Ltd., is excellent – not far off the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 versions, which are rightly regarded as retro-gaming classics.
Bruce Lee, BBC Micro
Bruce Lee on the BBC Micro is… well, let’s just say that it’s “different” to the classic Atari 8-bit or Commodore 64 originals. Not hugely different in terms of gameplay – more: different in terms of how it looks, and in the detail. The game was published by US Gold and Micro Power in 1986.
Jack the Nipper, ZX Spectrum
This puzzle-based platform game was written by Greg Holmes and published for the ZX Spectrum by Gremlin Graphics in 1986. The main character, Jack the Nipper, is a mischievous baby based loosely on the British comic character Sweeny Toddler.
The King of Grabs 