Martin Wheeler‘s 1984 Spectrum game, Sorcery, was a decent hit for publisher Virgin Games. Enough at least for Virgin to convert the game to various other systems, including for the Amstrad CPC, which is the better version.
Tag Archives: early
Beach Head, Commodore 64
Beach Head is an infamous war-based action game created by Access Software and first published for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers in North America 1983. It was later released by US Gold in Europe in 1984.
The game is set in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War and features five individual stages of combat, each based on a fictitious amphibious assault of an enemy island. You can play Beach Head at four difficulty settings.
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.
Jumpman Junior, Atari 8-bit
Jumpman Junior is the Atari 8-bit cartridge version of Randy Glover‘s classic 8-bit platform game, Jumpman. It was first published by Epyx in 1983.
Since the game came on cartridge the number of levels has been reduced, down to 12, but they are at least all-new levels and not recycled levels from the disk version.
Football Manager, ZX Spectrum
It might look like an outdated pile of crap by today’s standards but Addictive Software‘s 1982 game, Football Manager, was a massive hit on the ZX Spectrum at the time.
Orc Attack, Atari 8-bit
The classic Orc Attack was originally developed by Dean Lock for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and published by Thorn EMI in 1983.
You play a guy defending a castle rampart from attacking orcs that are trying to climb up using ladders. The orcs plant the base of the ladder on the ground then bring in sections to raise it up, taking just three connected sections to reach the top. You must run and grab rocks, placed at either side of the battlement, to throw down at the attackers. If the attackers reach the top of the rampart the stones temporarily turn into swords, which you must grab to hack down the invaders that are threatening your castle. When a round is complete you can throw burning oil onto them to torch the remainder.
Carnival, Arcade
The classic 1980 arcade game, Carnival, was developed by Gremlin Industries (not to be confused with Gremlin Graphics) – an American company – and manufactured by Sega in 1980. It’s a funfair-themed game where the aim is to shoot moving targets while conserving your limited supply of ammunition for as long as possible.
Dingo, Arcade
Dingo is a 1983 arcade game created by Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. (A.C.G.) and manufactured by Jaleco.
For those who don’t know: A.C.G. is the name of the company who would later develop and publish a series of classic games under the Ultimate Play the Game banner, including Jet Pac, Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf and Knight Lore (among others). Dingo is one of their first ever video games.
Grasspin, Arcade
Grasspin is a 1983 arcade game created by British developer Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. A.C.G., as they were known, were the team behind the famous Ultimate Play the Game brand and this is one of the games they made before launching Ultimate.
Saturn, Arcade
Saturn is an early arcade game created by Ashby Computers and Graphics (A.C.G.) for Jaleco. A.C.G. – if you didn’t know – was the trading name of the developers of the famous Ultimate Play the Game series of video games.