Blitzkrieg is a city-bombing game by Jeff Minter, first released for the Commodore VIC-20 in 1982 through Llamasoft. It is notable for two reasons…
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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.
3D Labyrinth, VIC-20
3D Labyrinth is a first-person maze game by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft. It was published for the VIC-20 in 1982 and features very basic graphics, showing your view as a series of perspective-based drawings that change with every step you take.
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.
Wallie Goes to Rhymeland, Commodore 64
Wallie Goes To Rhymeland is the third and final game in the “Wallie” series, designed and programmed by Andrew Challis, with graphics by his sister, Claire. The game was first published by Interceptor Software in 1984 for the Commodore 64 and it is mostly forgotten now. Which is a pity because the game has some charm; it was made by a brother and sister team, and it also brought joy to the lives of everyday gamers back in the mid-Eighties.
Trollie Wallie, Commodore 64
Released by Interceptor Software in 1984, Trollie Wallie is a scrolling platform game featuring a weird mouth on legs, called “Wallie“. It’s actually the sequel to Wheelin’ Wallie which came out through Interceptor earlier that same year.
Wheelin’ Wallie, Commodore 64
Wheelin’ Wallie is a side-scrolling Pac-Man-like game where the aim is to eat dots along a course that scrolls from left to right, while trying to avoid the many hazards being thrown at you.
You play as “Wallie“, a disembodied head floating on a wheel than rolls on the ground. Collision with any object loses you a life, as does falling down a hole in the ground. You can trundle left and right as the screen automatically scrolls, and you can also move Wallie‘s head up and down, and that’s about it. Moving objects sometimes fly across the screen and must be avoided at all costs.
Beach Head, Atari 8-bit
The Atari 8-bit version of Bruce Carver‘s classic Beach Head came out simultaneously with the Commodore 64 version, so both are considered “the originals”, although this version was co-coded by Kevin Homer so technically could be considered a conversion.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Atari 2600
Published by Parker Brothers in 1982 The Empire Strikes Back on the Atari 2600 was the first officially-licensed Star Wars game ever released, and it depicts the AT-AT ‘walker’ attack on the rebel base on Hoth, with you playing as Luke Skywalker in a snowspeeder.
Continue reading Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Atari 2600
Strontium Dog: The Killing, ZX Spectrum
Quicksilva‘s second attempt at a Strontium Dog video game in 1984 – released the same year as the awful Death Gauntlet on the C64 – is only marginally better than their first attempt.
The Killing, on the ZX Spectrum, was written by Paul Hargreaves and once again sees you playing mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, trying to survive a gauntlet of hostility on an alien planet. This time, though, he’s voluntarily participating in a contest where vicious murderers fight to the death for cash, in a tournament called “The Killing“.
The King of Grabs 