Ocean Software‘s 1984 release for the ZX Spectrum, Kong Strikes Back, is an unashamed clone of Universal‘s Mr. Do’s Wild Ride, but with elements of Donkey Kong also thrown into the mix.
Tag Archives: British
Sir Lancelot, ZX Spectrum
Another game I have fond memories of buying and enjoying back in 1984, Melbourne House‘s classic ZX Spectrum platform game: Sir Lancelot.
Considering that it was squeezed into only 16K of RAM (yes, it even ran on 16K Spectrums) it is a remarkable achievement.
Prince of Persia, NES
Developed by Motivetime for Virgin Games and released in 1992, the NES version of Prince of Persia is unfortunately another flawed conversion.
Prince of Persia, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System port of Jordan Mechner‘s classic Prince of Persia was published by Domark in 1992. And in truth: it’s a bit hit and miss.
It looks alright, but the main character’s movement isn’t up to scratch, which is sacrilege.
Prince of Persia, TurboGrafx-16
Another fantastic conversion of Prince of Persia – this one for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. It was a CD-ROM only release, so took advantage of Red Book audio streamed directly from the disc, and as a result: the music in the game is quite amazing and really adds to the atmosphere of the game.
Prince of Persia, SAM Coupé
Uh oh… The 1990 SAM Coupé conversion of Jordan Mechner‘s classic Prince of Persia is disastrously flawed.
Don’t Press The Letter Q, Oric
Released for the Oric by IJK Software in 1984, Don’t Press The Letter Q is a very early ‘minigame’-based adventure, in a similar vein to more modern titles like Warioware.
Considering that Don’t Press The Letter Q is over 35 years old now, it has stood the test of time remarkably well. And – considering that it is an Oric exclusive – it is something of a stand-out title on the platform. Arguably even the best game on the Oric.
Island of Death, Oric
Ocean‘s Island of Death is a game I remember seeing back in 1984 (because of the striking Bob Wakelin cover art), but have never played – until now.
And I’m quite surprised by how good it is…
10 Best Manic Miner Conversions
LISTS: as decided by The King of Grabs, in order of greatness:
1. XBox 360
2. Game Boy Advance
3. MSX
4. Commodore 64
5. Amstrad CPC
6. SAM Coupé
7. Amiga
8. BBC Micro
9. Oric
10. Dragon 32
Of course, nothing beats the ZX Spectrum original.
See also:
Manic Miner in the Lost Levels – a homebrew download for the Nintendo DS
All hail to Miner Willy and to Matthew Smith.
Manic Miner, XBox 360
The original Manic Miner, emulated perfectly on XBox 360 by Elite Systems in 2012, plus with historical background notes, “Winter Mode”, scan lines on or off, pixel filtering, cheat mode, and more.
More on The King of Grabs: 10 Best Manic Miner Conversions
More: Manic Miner on Wikipedia
