Robert and Trevor Figgins‘ isometric action/puzzle game, Bobby Bearing, originated on the ZX Spectrum but is arguably slightly better on the Amstrad CPC.
The game features the titular character, Bobby, who is a smiling ball bearing who can roll around, fit through holes, push things, and… erm, not much else. He does have character, though.
This 8-bit interpretation of the much-loved laserdisc arcade game was developed and published by Software Projects in 1986 and it is an exercise in frustration from start to finish.
Dragon’s Lair is actually a conversion of a Coleco Adam game that was published at the tail end of 1984. Software Projects acquired the license to convert it to home systems in the UK and made two games out of it.
Pentagram was released for the MSX in 1986, and it’s not really an Ultimate game, in truth, because it wasn’t written by the original Ultimate team; it’s a US Gold game. It’s not a bad game, though, even though it doesn’t have the flair or humour of an authentic Ultimate game.
The MSX version of Ultimate Play the Game‘s Gunfright is identical to the Spectrum original, except for the lack of a loading screen. It was initially released in 1986.
The Amstrad CPC received a conversion of Ultimate Play the Game‘s Filmation II game Gunfright in 1986 and it unfortunately suffers from the same problems that the previous Amstrad Filmation II conversion (Nightshade) did, namely: colour issues and slowdown problems.
The Commodore 64 conversion of Nightshade was coded by Shahid Ahmad and published by Firebird in 1986. It is a reasonable, if slower, version of the original game from Ultimate. What is more interesting, though, is the enhanced version, released by Nostalgia in 2016.
Known in North America as “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (complete with movie licensed characters), and “Ashura” in Japan. Also known as: “Not-So-Secret Commando“, since this is an unsubtle clone of Capcom‘s classic 1985 arcade game, Commando (and SNK‘s 1986 game, Ikari Warriors – since it has a simultaneous two-player mode and level designs that echo that game). Joking aside: it’s a pretty good clone of Commando, although it does play rather slowly.
This 1986 Commodore 64 conversion of Capcom‘s classic Ghosts ‘N Goblins was programmed by Chris Butler. Chris also created the graphics, which are pretty good overall, if a little spartan in places. Mark Cooksey created the music.
Infiltrator is a classic helicopter action game designed and programmed by Chris Gray and published in 1986 by US Gold (in Europe) and Mindscape (everywhere else).
The aim is to fly a chopper (called the Gizmo DHX-3) to an enemy compound, then infiltrate the base on one of three separate missions. Each mission is split into two halves: a first-person flying game, then an isometric stealth/exploration game.
Gradius – also known as Nemesis in some regions – was one of the first progressive weapons shooters to come out in arcades, and it was a big hit in 1985 when it was first released.
This led to the game being converted to many home computer systems, including the MSX, which was programmed by Konami themselves. So the game is unsurprisingly very good; very authentic, and with graphics and gameplay that push the MSX quite hard (I wouldn’t say “to its limits”, because I’m not a marketing a-hole, but it does push first-generation MSXes a fair degree).
The King of Grabs 