An original C16/Plus4 release from Players Software, first published in 1987, Auto Zone is a side-scrolling, car-driving platform game where you drive a small buggy from right to left across four different stages, trying to survive to the end.
Tag Archives: 1987
Spore, Commodore 16/Plus4
Another conversion, but a damn good one, and worthy of a place in any Commodore 16 fan’s collection.
Shrunk down to fit into just 16K, Spore is a overhead maze shooter with simple graphics and excellent mechanics. A bit like a simplified version of Gauntlet in some respects, but far more frantic.
Voidrunner, Commodore 16/Plus4
Jeff Minter‘s Voidrunner is about as a good as a bullet hell shooter gets on the Commodore 16. It was published alongside Hellgate (as a double pack) by Llamasoft in 1987.
Mega Man, NES
Known as “Rock Man” in its native Japan, Mega Man is a Nintendo Famicom game developed and published by Capcom in 1987. It is the beginning of the long-running Mega Man series.
What the first Mega Man did was establish a style of its own – for both gameplay and graphics.
Zolyx, Commodore 64
Written by Hungarian coder Zoltán Tass and published by Firebird in 1987, Zolyx is a variation on the ‘painting game’ theme, made popular by the classic arcade game, Qix.
Defender of the Crown, Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 conversion of Defender of the Crown is a celebrated retro gaming classic. Apart from loading times, there’s little to fault about it.
Airball, Atari ST
Published by Microdeal in 1987, Airball is a weird and challenging isometric puzzle game where you play a bubble exploring a trap-ridden castle, looking for gems (which convert to a low number of points), and also looking for ‘Inflation Stations’ because the bloody stupid ball has a slow leak and needs to be constantly topped-up with air…
Airball, Dragon 32
Microdeal‘s isometric adventure/puzzle game Airball originated on the Dragon 32 in 1987. This is the original version.
Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh, Arcade
Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh (aka Arkanoid 2) is the sequel to Taito‘s hit game Arkanoid and was released into arcades in 1987.
It takes the ‘bat and ball’ genre (aka the ‘Breakout‘ genre) to previously unheard of levels of both playability and difficulty, and it also managed to influence a lot of other games in the process.
Maniac Mansion, Commodore 64
Released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, Maniac Mansion was the birth of SCUMM (Story Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion), the game engine that defined LucasArts point-and-click adventures for a decade. Actually, back then they were called Lucasfilm Games, and they were breaking new ground in a number of different places.
The King of Grabs 