The original Commodore 64 version of Jeff Minter‘s Hover Bovver is just as niggly and annoying as the Atari 8-bit version, which was released as the game’s “evil twin” in 1983.
Tag Archives: Cult Game
Hellgate, VIC-20
Another classic single-screen shoot ’em up from Jeff Minter – that is the sequel to his earlier game, Laser Zone. Hellgate was published by Llamasoft in 1983 for the VIC-20 and further refines Minter‘s ideas for X and Y shooters.
Gridrunner, Commodore 64
Gridrunner came out on the Commodore 64 in 1983, making it a fairly early shooter for the system. Gameplay is basically the same as the VIC-20 original, but with slightly better graphics and a few more clock cycles to play with.
Gridrunner, Atari 8-bit
Jeff Minter‘s affinity for Atari 8-bit computers meant that it was inevitable that the machine would get a version of his game, Gridrunner. Which it did in 1983.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2, VIC-20
Matrix: Gridrunner 2 was confusingly re-titled as “Attack of the Mutant Camels” on the VIC-20 in North America. The suits in charge of this re-naming fiasco insisted that the title from one of Llamasoft‘s older games be used, instead of “Matrix“.
Well: f*ck them, I’m calling it “Matrix: Gridrunner 2” in light of a lack of some common sense here…
Attack of the Mutant Camels, Atari 8-bit
The Atari 8-bit version of Attack of the Mutant Camels came out simultaneously with the Commodore 64 version, in 1983, and is pretty much the same game, but with a few graphical tweaks.
Attack of the Mutant Camels, Commodore 64
Attack of the Mutant Camels is Jeff Minter‘s 1983 tribute to the then popular The Empire Strikes Back on the Atari 2600.
Gridrunner, VIC-20
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.
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.
Sexy Parodius, Arcade
Parodius is a spin-off series from Konami‘s classic Gradius/Nemesis series. It’s a parody of Gradius, thus “Parodius“, and “Sexy Parodius” is the arcade version of it.