Tag Archives: 8-bit

Castle Master II: The Crypt, ZX Spectrum

Castle Master II: The Crypt was the final Freescape game to be released for the Spectrum (or any system it found its way on to), and was only made available as a double pack with the original Castle Master, not long after the first Castle Master‘s release in 1990. It was again developed by Incentive Software/Major Developments and published by Domark.

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Castle Master, ZX Spectrum

I’ve written about a variety of Castle Master versions on this website (Amiga, PC, Amstrad CPC, and even Commodore 16/Plus4), but I haven’t yet covered the original ZX Spectrum version, which was developed by Major Developments (an internal team at Incentive Software) and published by Domark in 1990.

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Strike Fleet, Commodore 64

Strike Fleet is a naval combat simulation developed by Lucasfilm Games and first published by Electronic Arts in 1988. It is the unofficial sequel to the game P.H.M. Pegasus* and it received rave reviews at the time of its original release. * = You can even take control of a Pegasus class craft if you want, which is a classy nod to the game’s predecessor.

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P.H.M. Pegasus, Commodore 64

P.H.M. Pegasus was developed by Lucasfilm Games and first published by Electronic Arts in 1987. It is a naval combat simulation where the player uses helicopters, convoy ships and hydrofoils to patrol and survey the sea, to clear areas of enemy forces, and escort friendly ships through risky waters.

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Time-Gate, ZX Spectrum

Written by John Hollis and first published by Quicksilva for the 48K ZX Spectrum in 1983, Time-Gate was the first Spectrum game I ever played and is a simple first-person space shooter – basically a Star Raiders clone with a few differences.

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Thing Bounces Back, Commodore 64

Thing Bounces Back is the 1987 sequel to Thing On A Spring and it is more of the same platforming action, starring ‘Thing‘, the spring-with-a-head-and-feet, and similar mechanics to the first game.

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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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