Taito‘s Arkanoid was released into arcades in 1986 and did for bat and ball games (often referred to as Breakout clones) what Mario did for platform games. That is: revitalise them with new ideas and features.
Tag Archives: clone
Pong, Arcade
Atari‘s Pong is a legendary black and white ‘bat and ball’ game from 1972, and was one of the earliest video game successes.
It’s basically a two-player table tennis simulation, with two ‘bats’ on either side of the screen, moving vertically to return a bouncing ball. If you fail to return the ball your opponent scores a point, and the first to eleven points wins.
Mr. Wimpy, Oric
It could be argued that the Oric version of Mr. Wimpy is better than the ZX Spectrum version. It does look slightly better graphically, but I think that a more diplomatic solution would be to say that both are as bad as each other…
Mr. Wimpy, ZX Spectrum
Mr. Wimpy is an early ZX Spectrum game from Ocean Software, first published in 1984. It is based on (and licensed from) the Wimpy chain of restaurants – in particular their mascot: Mr. Wimpy. Wimpy restaurants were more widespread in the 1980s than they are today, but this was still a surprising release from Ocean.
Horace and the Spiders, ZX Spectrum
The third and final Horace game on the ZX Spectrum, written by William Tang and published by Sinclair/Psion in 1983.
Horace Goes Skiing, ZX Spectrum
Hungry Horace author, William Tang, also produced this sequel – Horace Goes Skiing – the same year as its predecessor: 1982. It was again published by Sinclair/Psion.
This one is part Frogger clone and part skiing game, and is slightly more playable and enjoyable than its predecessor.
Hungry Horace, ZX Spectrum
This ZX Spectrum Pac-Man clone is a legendary early title from Beam Software/Melbourne House, and was published by Sinclair/Psion in 1982.
Tales of the Arabian Nights, Commodore 64
Interceptor Software‘s Tales of the Arabian Knights was the first game I ever played on a real Commodore 64, back in 1984.
Kong Strikes Back, ZX Spectrum
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.
Mr. Ee!, BBC Micro
When Mr. Ee! was released way back in 1984 the games industry was a bit like the Wild West – everybody cloned everyone else’s games and no one gave a sh*t. It wasn’t until later that official licenses and lawsuits for similarities became a thing.
Which is why Mr. Ee! is an almost perfect clone of the arcade game Mr. Do! and was marketed as such back in 1984. Because they could get away with it…
The King of Grabs 