Tag Archives: Australian

The Hobbit, PC

The 1983 MS-DOS version of Beam Software‘s classic text adventure, The Hobbit, allows you to choose between 40 or 80 column display for the text parser, and whether you want to play the game with pictures or not.

Continue reading The Hobbit, PC

Fist II: The Legend Continues, Commodore 64

Fist II: The Legend Continues is the sequel to the classic The Way of the Exploding Fist, and it plays quite differently to its predecessor. It was once again developed by Beam Software (mostly by the same people who made Fist One) and first published by Melbourne House in 1986.

Continue reading Fist II: The Legend Continues, Commodore 64

The Way of the Exploding Fist, Commodore 64

The Way of the Exploding Fist is a classic one-on-one martial arts fighting game, developed by Australian company Beam Software and published by Melbourne House in 1985.

Continue reading The Way of the Exploding Fist, Commodore 64

Duke Nukem, Game Boy Color

Duke Nukem on the Game Boy Color is a conversion of the classic MS-DOS game and was developed by Australian company Torus Games and published by GT Interactive in 1999. It is based on both Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II although it plays more like the second game than the first.

Continue reading Duke Nukem, Game Boy Color

Planet of the Apes, Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance version of Planet of the Apes is somewhat different, visually, to the Game Boy Color version, although it is basically the same game underneath. Graphically, the GBA version goes for a “digitised”, more realistic look, which I don’t think is as appealing as the pure 2D drawn look of the GBC version. It makes the game look more like an early ’90s Amiga game, which I think dates it significantly.

Continue reading Planet of the Apes, Game Boy Advance

Planet of the Apes, Game Boy Color

Planet of the Apes for the Game Boy Color was developed by Torus Games/Visiware and was first published by Ubisoft in 2001. It is based on the 1968 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1963 book by Pierre Boulle. Actually, to be more accurate, the game follows the plot of the 1970 sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, more closely than it does the first film, where Brent (played by James Franciscus) crash-lands on a post-apocalyptic Earth on a rescue mission to find Taylor (Charlton Heston), and eventually finds himself held prisoner in an underground city run by telepathic humans.

Continue reading Planet of the Apes, Game Boy Color

Aliens: Thanatos Encounter, Game Boy Color

Developed by an Australian company called Wicked Witch Software for Crawfish Interactive, and published by Fox Interactive in 2001, Aliens: Thanatos Encounter is an overhead shooter in the style of Team 17‘s Alien Breed. It was released exclusively for the Game Boy Color.

Continue reading Aliens: Thanatos Encounter, Game Boy Color

Judge Dredd, ZX Spectrum

Melbourne House‘s Judge Dredd on the ZX Spectrum was released slightly later than the 1986 Commodore 64 version, coming out in early 1987. It was again programmed by Australian software company Beam Software, and it plays similarly to the C64 original. That is: it’s a bit of a travesty.

Continue reading Judge Dredd, ZX Spectrum

Judge Dredd, Commodore 64

This 1986 adaptation of Judge Dredd – the infamous cop of the future who debuted in 2000AD comic – was developed by Beam Software and published by Melbourne House, and it’s a bit of a travesty to be honest.

Continue reading Judge Dredd, Commodore 64

Carmageddon TDR 2000, PC

Also known as “Carmageddon: Total Destruction Racing 2000” or “Carmageddon 3: TDR 2000” in North America, Carmageddon TDR 2000 was not developed by the same team who made the first two Carmageddon games, but an Australian developer called Torus Games. As you might have worked out from the game’s title, it was originally released in the year 2000.

Continue reading Carmageddon TDR 2000, PC