Tag Archives: 1986

Batman, ZX Spectrum

There were a number of decent Batman games on the ZX Spectrum, but this one from Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond was particularly memorable. For having a pudgy Batman and an isometric viewpoint…

Batman was released by Ocean Software in 1986 and was Ritman and Drummond‘s first isometric game together.

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Parallax, Commodore 64

First released by Ocean Software in 1986, Parallax is a wild overhead shooter from legendary UK gamedev company Sensible Software.

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Academy, ZX Spectrum

Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.

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Out Run, Arcade

Sega‘s single-player arcade classic race game – Out Run. Played and enjoyed by millions of people throughout the world.

Out Run was first released in 1986 and took video game arcades by storm with its superfast, colourful graphics, jaunty music, gripping gameplay, and cabinet steering wheel.

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Nosferatu the Vampyre, ZX Spectrum

By 1986 the ZX Spectrum was awash with isometric action/adventures games. After the success of Ultimate Play The Game‘s Knight Lore, everyone was trying to make and release them.

Looking back now I would have to say that many of the so-called “clones” were actually very good, although few were outstanding.

Piranha‘s Nosferatu the Vampyre was one of the few outstanding ones, it having been created by Spectrum veteran game design team Design Design, and it also being an interesting take on the classic tale of vampirism written by Bram Stoker (actually this game being based on the 1979 film starring Klaus Kinski).

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Starstrike II, ZX Spectrum

The sequel to Realtime Software‘s brilliant Starstrike 3D, Starstrike II is another excellent and groundbreaking first-person space shooter, only this time with impressive “filled” polygons, instead of the simpler wireframe graphics of the original.

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Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back, Commodore 64

The sequel to Cauldron, Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back was a brilliant ‘curveball’ from Palace Software, back in 1986, and is still a great game to play now.

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Metroid, NES

This first Metroid, for the Nintendo Entertainment System, was initially released in 1986 and remains the toughest episode in the whole series to date.

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