Sega‘s 1985 arcade version of Choplifter is a rare beast indeed. It is a game that went from home computers, to the arcades, when usually the opposite is true. Dan Gorlin‘s helicopter shooter/rescue game was deemed good enough to be completely reprogrammed and put into an arcade cabinet.
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Choplifter, Atari 8-bit
The Atari 8-bit home computer version of Dan Gorlin‘s Choplifter was published by Brøderbund in 1982. It came out not long after the Apple II original.
Battletoads, NES/Famicom
Battletoads is a scrolling action game, developed by Rare and published by Tradewest in 1991. It satirises (and takes advantage of the popularity of) the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and features a group of cartoon toads, called Zitz, Rash and Pimple.
Two of the toads – Zitz and Rash – are on a mission to rescue their third member, Pimple, and Princess Angelica, both of whom have been kidnapped by the evil Dark Queen and taken to her planet. The toads fly to the planet in their spaceship and lower themselves down to the surface using their ‘Turbo Ropes’. From there they begin the fight to free their friends.
Gods, Amiga
Developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade Software for the Amiga in 1991, Gods is a stylised platform game in which you play as Hercules, on a quest to make his way through five large stages, themed with Greek mythological motifs.
Costa Capers, ZX Spectrum
Costa Capers is the sequel to the classic Spectrum platformer, Technician Ted. The game was published by Firebird Software in 1985 and features similar gameplay to the original, with the same distinctive Ted sprite.
Technician Ted: The Megamix, ZX Spectrum
Technician Ted: The Megamix is a special version of the game, created for 128K Spectrums, which contains many more screens than the original release. It’s also been improved visually, and has some new AY-based music. Technician Ted: The Megamix was released by Hewson Consultants in 1986.
Willow, Arcade
Based on the 1988 film of the same name, Willow is a platform action game developed by Capcom and distributed into arcades in 1989. The intro says: “A magnificent fantasy filled with love, friendship and adventure!“, but in reality the game is a violent hack-and-slash ’em up, and is some distance from “love, friendship and adventure”…
Technician Ted, Amstrad CPC
The 1984 Amstrad CPC conversion of the ZX Spectrum game, Technician Ted (aka The Chip Factory starring Technician Ted), is pretty much identical to the original, except that it has a rather garish colour palette.
Double Take, Commodore 64
Created by Denton Designs and published by Ocean Software in 1987, Double Take is a weird fantasy shooter/puzzle game, and is one of those games where – even if you read the manual – you’re still unlikely to know about what the f**k is going on! I spent a few hours recently trying to work this game out, and came away just as confused as when I started…
Conan, Commodore 64
Datasoft‘s 1984 release, Conan, is a curious game. It doesn’t seem to be directly related to either of the two Conan films released in the early ’80s (although it does use artwork from the sequel, Conan the Destroyer), so my guess is that it was a quick cash-in on the popularity of Arnold Schwarzenegger by the developers.
The game was originally written for the Apple II by Eric Robinson and Eric Parker, and the Commodore 64 version was created by Ron J. Fortier and John Butrovich.
The King of Grabs 