Tag Archives: 8-bit

Boulder Dash II, Commodore 64

Subtitled “Rockford’s Revenge“, Boulder Dash II was again designed and programmed by Peter Liepa and published in North America by Electronic Arts in 1985 as “Super Boulder Dash” (alongside a re-release of the first game). Boulder Dash II was published in Europe as a stand-alone game, though, by Beyond Software.

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Boulder Dash II, Atari 8-bit

Boulder Dash co-creator Peter Liepa created Boulder Dash II on Atari 8-bit machines first, before converting it to the Commodore 64. He’s said openly in interviews that he prefers Atari‘s machine when it comes to programming games, so it should come as no surprise to find arguably the best version of Boulder Dash II on the Atari 8-bit.

As far as I know, though, it was only released in North America as part of the “Super Boulder Dash” package from Electronic Arts (alongside a re-release of the first Boulder Dash). The Atari 8-bit version was never released as a stand-alone game. At least not by First Star Software.

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Boulder Dash, Commodore 16/Plus4

I don’t know for sure if the Commodore 16/Plus4 conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash is official or a homebrew port (my guess is that it’s a homebrew port because I can’t find any reliable information about it online), but it unfortunately has a number of issues.

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Boulder Dash, BBC Micro

The BBC Micro conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash was programmed by Andrew Bennett and published by Tynesoft in 1988. And I don’t know what it is about this port, but there is something wholly unsatisfactory about it.

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Boulder Dash, ZX Spectrum

Boulder Dash on the ZX Spectrum is a decent, playable conversion, but it isn’t great and does have its issues. It was programmed by Dalali Software and published by Front Runner (a software label owned by K-Tel Productions, a famous British record label) in 1985.

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Boulder Dash, Apple II

Boulder Dash on the Apple II was coded by Pat Montelo and published by Micro Fun in 1984, and it is arguably one of the best games on the system.

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Boulder Dash, MSX

The MSX version of Boulder Dash was developed by Orpheus and published by Comptiq in 1985. It is another excellent 8-bit conversion, with feather light controls (TM) and authentic gameplay.

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Boulder Dash, Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s Boulder Dash is an almost perfect conversion of the classic Atari 8-bit game. The game was published by Mirrorsoft 1985, and converted by Dalali Software Ltd.

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Rainbow Islands, Amstrad CPC

Graftgold‘s conversion of Rainbow Islands on the Amstrad is a decent port of the brilliant Taito arcade game. It was published by Ocean Software in 1990.

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Park Patrol, Amstrad CPC

Tony Ngo‘s classic Commmodore 64 game, Park Patrol, has a decent conversion on the Amstrad, courtesy of programmer Andrew Rogers and publisher Firebird Software. The Amstrad version was released in 1986 at a budget price (£1.99 if I remember correctly).

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