Tag Archives: 8-bit

Hunchback: The Adventure, ZX Spectrum

Rather than produce another platform game, Ocean Software chose to make a graphical adventure for their third Hunchback game. Which was an unusual choice.

Hunchback: The Adventure again features Quasimodo trying to rescue Esmeralda, this time from the evil Cardinal of Notre Dame. It’s a three-part game, requiring the same number of loads. In part one Quasimodo must escape from Notre Dame itself, and from the Cardinal’s many guards who are trying to stop him. In part two he must make his way under the city of Paris until he reaches the Cardinal’s mansion. And finally, in part three, he must challenge the Cardinal and escape with Esmeralda in tow.

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Hunchback II: Quasimodo’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum

The sequel to the hit game Hunchback was released in 1985 by Ocean Software. Hunchback II is another platform game where you control Quasimodo on a mission to collect bells and survive through seven screens of conveyors and climbing ropes. Make it to the end and again rescue Esmeralda as she waits patiently for her green-coloured hero.

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Hunchback, ZX Spectrum

Hunchback is a conversion of the 1983 arcade game by Century Electronics. It has been written that Hunchback is loosely based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, because it features Quasimodo running along a castle wall, trying to rescue Esmeralda from a tower at the end, but that is disputed by some who claim that Robin Hood is the main influence. Regardless, at least in this conversion the main character does actually look like Quasimodo

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Nosferatu the Vampyre, Amstrad CPC

This Amstrad CPC conversion of the classic ZX Spectrum game definitely benefits from having better use of colour than the original. It also runs a little faster than the Speccy version, which makes it slightly more playable.

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Molar Maul, ZX Spectrum

This early ZX Spectrum game from Imagine Software was designed and programmed by John Gibson and first published in 1983.

It is a good example of a mundane idea being turned into a video game – namely: dental hygiene and the battle with tooth decay! Gibson apparently wrote the game in only four weeks.

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APB, ZX Spectrum

Another fine conversion of Atari‘s classic arcade game, APB (All Points Bulletin), this time converted by Walking Circles for Tengen and first published by Domark in 1989.

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Turbo Esprit, ZX Spectrum

Considered by those who know it as an early precursor to Grand Theft Auto, Mike Richardson‘s excellent Turbo Esprit is an action/driving game where the aim is to catch and arrest drugs smugglers by driving around a city and pinpointing them using a map. It was first published for the ZX Spectrum by Durell Software in 1986.

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Rambo: First Blood Part II, Commodore 64

Rambo: First Blood Part II, by Ocean Software, is a legendary Commodore 64 game without much substance. People revere the music (by Martin Galway), and also like the simple 360 shooter gameplay, but the truth is: this is an example of an early video game without much to do, and what there is is rather simplistic.

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R-Type, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum conversion of Irem‘s classic arcade game R-Type is considered by many to be one of the best games ever made for Sir Clive‘s classic 8-bit home computer.

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Turrican II: The Final Fight, Commodore 64

Turrican II: The Final Fight is the outstanding sequel to the excellent Turrican – a classic run-and-gun platform shooter created by German coder Manfred Trenz. It was originally published by Rainbow Arts for the Commodore 64 in 1991.

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