Tag Archives: 8-bit

The Last Ninja 2, Commodore 64

The sequel to the classic The Last Ninja was first released by System 3 in 1988 – one year after the original game.

It was designed by the same team as made the first game, except this time they had on board the highly-respected John Twiddy as writer/coder, and Matt Gray doing music.

Graphically, The Last Ninja 2 is arguably better than its predecessor, with more colour and variety in the environments, and some of the gameplay niggles from the first game have thankfully been addressed too. In particular: it is now easier to pick things up!

Continue reading The Last Ninja 2, Commodore 64

The Last Ninja, Commodore 64

First released in 1987, The Last Ninja is a classic isometric action adventure game originating on the Commodore 64, and later being converted to other systems.

It has to be said, though: the control system used in this game does leave a lot to be desired when playing it nowadays. Getting your ninja guy to do what you want him to do is tricky – even when you know what you’re doing…

Continue reading The Last Ninja, Commodore 64

Kung-Fu Master, Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 conversion of the classic arcade game, Kung-Fu Master, is not too bad. It is certainly better than the awful Spectrum version.

Continue reading Kung-Fu Master, Commodore 64

Total Eclipse 2: The Sphinx Jinx, ZX Spectrum

Published by Incentive Software in 1991, Total Eclipse 2: The Sphinx Jinx is a direct follow-up to the 1988 Freescape classic, Total Eclipse.

Continue reading Total Eclipse 2: The Sphinx Jinx, ZX Spectrum

Total Eclipse, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version of Total Eclipse was the first version of the game released.

Using the legendary Freescape Engine, Total Eclipse is an Egyptian-themed exploration/puzzle game set in a primitive 3D world. Primitive because it was one of the first ever games to allow games-players to explore a 3D world in this way, and it worked quite well, in spite of the low frame rate and slowdown.

Continue reading Total Eclipse, ZX Spectrum

Panzadrome, ZX Spectrum

Developed by The RamJam Corporation and published by Ariolasoft in 1985, Panzadrome is an overhead maze shooter involving tanks, and it is not a bad game, as far as Speccy tank/maze games go.

Continue reading Panzadrome, ZX Spectrum

Tribble Trubble, ZX Spectrum

Written by Jim Scarlett and published by Software Projects in 1984, Tribble Trubble was a minor hit at the time of release, garnering some critical acclaim (I remember it getting a Smash in an early issue of Crash magazine, which was a big deal) and doing okay sales-wise.

Looking at it now: it still has charm, and some appeal, and is still worth playing – if you like tearing your hair out trying to beat insignificant tasks… 🙂

Continue reading Tribble Trubble, ZX Spectrum

Hercules, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum also had a version of Steve Bak‘s bonkers C64 platform game, Hercules. It was written by Quantum Productions and published by Alpha Omega Software in 1986.

Continue reading Hercules, ZX Spectrum