Tag Archives: 8-bit

3D Monster Maze, ZX81

3D Monster Maze was developed by Malcolm Evans for J.K. Greye Software in 1982.

This classic black and white maze game was one of the first ever video games to use a first-person viewpoint inside a 3D maze.

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Everyone’s A Wally, ZX Spectrum

Chris Hinsley‘s 1985 follow-up to Pyjamarama sees the return – once again – of Wally Week. The mechanic turned mundane video game hero.

The unique thing about Everyone’s A Wally is that you can switch between five different characters and go about your adventuring business – two years before Maniac Mansion.

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Driller, ZX Spectrum

Driller first appeared on the ZX Spectrum in 1987. This version is where it all began.

Driller‘s engine – called Freescape – was to go down in history as one of the first to make 3D gaming a real possibility.

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Driller, Amstrad CPC

Driller was the very first Freescape game. A very important game for its time. It first came out in 1987.

It was one of the first ever games that allowed you to explore a full 3D environment, and Freescape was the engine that made it possible.

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EarthBound Zero, NES

This classic NES game was initially released in Japan in 1989 under the title of Mother.

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Academy, ZX Spectrum

Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.

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Nosferatu the Vampyre, ZX Spectrum

By 1986 the ZX Spectrum was awash with isometric action/adventures games. After the success of Ultimate Play The Game‘s Knight Lore, everyone was trying to make and release them.

Looking back now I would have to say that many of the so-called “clones” were actually very good, although few were outstanding.

Piranha‘s Nosferatu the Vampyre was one of the few outstanding ones, it having been created by Spectrum veteran game design team Design Design, and it also being an interesting take on the classic tale of vampirism written by Bram Stoker (actually this game being based on the 1979 film starring Klaus Kinski).

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Starstrike II, ZX Spectrum

The sequel to Realtime Software‘s brilliant Starstrike 3D, Starstrike II is another excellent and groundbreaking first-person space shooter, only this time with impressive “filled” polygons, instead of the simpler wireframe graphics of the original.

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