Tag Archives: 8-bit

Thing On A Spring, Commodore 64

Thing On A Spring is a fondly-remembered Commodore 64 game first published in 1985 by Gremlin Graphics. It was written by Jason Perkins and Anthony Clarke, with graphics by Mark Rogers and catchy music by Rob Hubbard.

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Dropzone, NES/Famicom

Archer MacLean‘s classic side-scrolling shooter, Dropzone, was converted to the NES/Famicom by Eurocom Developments and it is an excellent adaptation of this fast-moving Defender derivative.

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Carrier Command, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum conversion of Realtime Software‘s classic Carrier Command is arguably even better than the 16-bit originals. Mostly because it’s been tweaked a little to accommodate it on the humble Speccy, and as a result it plays really well as a strategy game, with extra action elements. Carrier Command on the Spectrum is for 128K machines only and was first published by Rainbird in 1989.

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Dark Sceptre, ZX Spectrum

Dark Sceptre is a single-player fantasy strategy game designed by the late Mike Singleton (of Lords of Midnight and Doomdark’s Revenge fame), and Maelstrom Games, and it was published by Firebird Software for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC in 1987.

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Repton 3, BBC Micro

Repton 3 – first released by Superior Software in 1986 – was designed and written by Matthew Atkinson; not Repton‘s original designer, Tim Tyler. Thankfully Repton 3 reverts back to the formula that made the first Repton game so successful, with a series of password-accessible, time-limited levels, split into three data files (prelude, toccata, and finale).

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Repton 2, BBC Micro

The sequel to the classic BBC digging/puzzle game, Repton, Repton 2 was again designed and coded by Tim Tyler and published by Superior Software in 1985. Unfortunately this second game in the series is not quite as good as its predecessor, in my opinion.

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Repton, BBC Micro

Repton for the BBC Micro is a classic digging/puzzle/maze game written by Tim Tyler and published by Superior Software in 1985. The game is usually described as a Boulder Dash derivative, and while it’s true that its author was influenced by Chris Gray and Peter Liepa‘s classic game, he hadn’t played it before he wrote Repton – he’d reportedly only read a review about the game in a magazine. Repton is sufficiently different to Boulder Dash to stand on its proverbial own two feet, but the similarities are obvious and drawing comparisons is unavoidable.

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Canyon Warrior, ZX Spectrum

Canyon Warrior is a vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up written by Ste Cork and published by Mastertronic in 1989. The game came out very late in the ZX Spectrum‘s life, which is probably why it’s technically quite impressive (for the Spectrum).

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Myth: History in the Making, ZX Spectrum

Designed by Mark Cale; programmed by Neil Dodwell, and with graphics by Concept Animations, System 3‘s Myth: History in the Making is an action/platform game based around a series of ancient myths and a teenage boy’s adventure within them. It was first released for 8-bit home computers in 1989.

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