Tag Archives: early

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.

Continue reading Carnival, Arcade

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.

Continue reading Dingo, Arcade

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.

Continue reading Grasspin, Arcade

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.

Continue reading Saturn, Arcade

Blue Print, Arcade

Blue Print is a strange arcade maze game developed by Ashby Computers and Graphics (A.C.G.). It was licensed to Bally Midway in North American and European markets, and Jaleco in Japan, in 1982. A.C.G. would later became famous for their Ultimate Play the Game home computer games (Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf, Knight Lore, et cetera), and became even more famous as Rare (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, et cetera).

Continue reading Blue Print, Arcade

Jet Pac, BBC Micro

The BBC Micro conversion of Ultimate‘s classic Jet Pac looks pretty chunky, graphics-wise, but plays well enough.

The ZX Spectrum version was smash hit when it was first released in 1983, and all the other conversions seem to lack the charm of the original. This one is no exception.

Continue reading Jet Pac, BBC Micro

Invasion of the Body Snatchas!, ZX Spectrum

Created by Design Design and first published by Crystal Computing in 1983, Invasion of the Body Snatchas! is a super-hard Defender clone for the ZX Spectrum.

Continue reading Invasion of the Body Snatchas!, ZX Spectrum

Back Track, Dragon 32

Incentive Software‘s Back Track is a fun overhead maze game for the Dragon 32, first released in 1984.

It features a character called Eddie who has been captured by a mad professor who refuses to release him until he completes a sequence of five tests.

Continue reading Back Track, Dragon 32

Phantom Slayer, Dragon 32

Phantom Slayer is an early 3D maze game where the aim is to kill sinister, hooded figures that are chasing you through a randomly-generated, first-person maze. It was written by Ken Kalish and published by Med Systems in 1982 for the TRS-80 (and its UK counterpart, the Dragon 32).

Continue reading Phantom Slayer, Dragon 32

Hunchback II: Quasimodo’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum

The sequel to the hit game Hunchback was released in 1985 by Ocean Software. Hunchback II is another platform game where you control Quasimodo on a mission to collect bells and survive through seven screens of conveyors and climbing ropes. Make it to the end and again rescue Esmeralda as she waits patiently for her green-coloured hero.

Continue reading Hunchback II: Quasimodo’s Revenge, ZX Spectrum