Jeff Minter‘s original 1982 VIC-20 version of Gridrunner is not a bad game overall. It’s a simple Centipede variant fought on a basic grid background, with sprites zipping all over the place and insects trying to get the better of you by destroying you before you can destroy them.
Tag Archives: clone
Andes Attack, VIC-20
Andes Attack was the first commercial game release from Jeff Minter and Llamasoft, and it was of course a clone of an arcade game (Defender). Andes Attack was first released in 1982 for the VIC-20 and did reasonable business, in spite of it not actually being very good.
Snapper, BBC Micro
Snapper is Acornsoft‘s 1982 tribute to Pac-Man on the BBC Micro. It was written by Jonathan Griffiths and is considered to be one of the best unofficial Pac-Man clones ever made. On any 8-bit system.
Nosferatu, Super Nintendo
Nosferatu is a Prince of Persia-style platform game developed and published by SETA Corporation for the Super Nintendo in 1994. As SNES games go, it’s a pretty obscure title that not many people got to play at the time, but is worth unearthing and playing now if you like this type of game.
Deep Fear, Sega Saturn
Deep Fear is a Saturn exclusive survival horror game published by Sega in 1998. It’s basically a shameless Resident Evil clone, and someone obviously thought: “let’s cross Resident Evil with The Abyss” and came up with this underwater adventure.
You play an emergency chief on an underwater fuelling base and must investigate why a submarine has crashed into part of the rig, and why some people are suddenly transforming into disgusting monsters and attacking the crew.
Violent Storm, Arcade
Released into arcades in 1993 by Konami, Violent Storm is a three-player scrolling beat ’em up in the mould of Capcom‘s 1989 hit, Final Fight.
Guile, Archimedes
The best way to describe Guile on the Archimedes is: it’s a lot like David Braben‘s Zarch (aka Virus), but set in tunnels. And if you’ve ever played Zarch before then you’ll know that that means that this game is gonna be difficult…
The box describes Guile as: “a unique three-dimensional flight simulator set in a dungeon adventure“, which is sure to have any rational gamer scratching their head in confusion.
The Great Giana Sisters, Amiga
Developed by Time Warp Productions and published by Rainbow Arts in 1988, the Amiga version of The Great Giana Sisters is maybe the best-looking and most playable version of this infamous and arguably overrated platform game, but it isn’t anything special.
Run Saber, Super Nintendo
Run Saber is a side-scrolling action game developed by Hori Electric and published by Atlus in 1993 for the Super Nintendo. It is something of a clone of Capcom‘s classic arcade game, Strider.
Although Run Saber was developed in Japan it was only released in North America and Europe. A later Japanese release was cancelled.
Fortress, BBC Micro
Fortress on the BBC Micro is a bland and overly-difficult Zaxxon clone written by Matthew Newman and first published by Pace in 1983.