Jack and the Beanstalk is a ZX Spectrum game published by Thor Computer Software in 1984. It was written by Chris Kerry, assisted by his brother, Steve.
Tag Archives: British
Wiz ‘N’ Liz, Megadrive/Genesis
Wiz ‘N’ Liz was developed by Raising Hell Software for the Amiga and Sega Megadrive only and was first published by Psygnosis in 1993. It is a side-scrolling collecting game with cute graphics and jolly music and can be played one or two-player.
Astronut, ZX Spectrum
Not to be confused with the animated TV series The Astronut Show, this is a 1984 release for the ZX Spectrum, written by Patrick Richmond and published by Software Projects.
Barbarian, Atari ST
Palace Software‘s notorious Barbarian is a ‘sword and sandal’ beat ’em up with a knockout gimmick: you can decapitate your opponent with a well-placed sword stroke!
Granted: you have to time it correctly, and get the distance between you and your opponent right, but when you pull it off the head bounces off in hilarious fashion, before being finally getting booted off the screen by a gremlin.
Winter Camp, Commodore 64
Winter Camp is the 1992 sequel to the popular Summer Camp. Both were ‘auteur pieces’ on the Commodore 64, with John D. Ferrari doing design, programming, and graphics on both releases.
Summer Camp, Commodore 64
Summer Camp is an old school platform game that came out towards the end of the C64‘s life – 1990 to be precise.
It’s a cartoony collect ’em up in the style of Manic Miner, although in this you play Maximus Mouse trying to collect pieces of a blueprint.
Xenon 1, Oric
Xenon 1 by IJK Software is a very early shoot ’em up for the Oric 1 home computer. It shows off what the Oric is capable of, which is: not very much… 😉
Creatures, Commodore 64
Also known as “Clive Radcliffe Exterminates All The Unfriendly Repulsive Earth-ridden Slime“, Creatures is a beautifully-realised platform/puzzle game with colourful graphics and challenging gameplay.
The game was programmed by John Rowlands, with graphics by Steve Rowlands, and was published by Thalamus in 1990.
Retrograde, Commodore 64
Developed by Apex Computer Productions, in association with Transmission Software, and published by Thalamus in 1989, Retrograde is a side-scrolling, progressive weapons shooter written by the same guys who made Creatures.
Retrograde came before Creatures, though.
Special Criminal Investigation, Commodore 64
Special Criminal Investigation is quite a ‘special’ game. It is part of the Chase HQ series and was released on cartridge only, for the Commodore 64 at least, by Ocean Software in the UK.
SCI was also released late in the Commodore 64‘s lifetime (in 1990 to be precise), so benefited from coders knowing advanced programming techniques that could push the beige bread bin further than it had ever been pushed before.
And the result is a fast-paced, visually-impressive, and highly playable racing game. Sorry, chasing game… A conversion of the Taito arcade game, sometimes known as simply S.C.I. or Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation.
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