Originating on the Amstrad CPC, Spindizzy is a genius piece of coding and game design. It is an isometric exploration game, where you play as a spinning gyroscope (called GERALD) trying to collect gems across a large map of screens. It was designed by Paul Shirley, and the Spectrum port was handled by Phil Churchyard. Spindizzy on the Spectrum was published by Electric Dreams in 1986.
Tag Archives: Electric Dreams
Citadel, Commodore 64
Martin Walker‘s classic scrolling shooter, Citadel, was released exclusively for the Commodore 64 by Electric Dreams in 1989. The premise of Citadel is quite interesting – as is the gameplay.
Chameleon, Commodore 64
Chameleon is a side-scrolling action game by Martin Walker (of Hunter’s Moon and Citadel fame) and it was published in 1986 by Electric Dreams Software.
Big Trouble in Little China, Amstrad CPC
The 1987 Amstrad CPC version of Big Trouble in Little China is more or less a direct port of the ZX Spectrum original, but with slightly more colour in the graphics. It is noticeably slower than the Spectrum version, though.
Big Trouble in Little China, Commodore 64
Based on the 1986 John Carpenter film of the same name, Big Trouble in Little China is a side-scrolling action game designed by Mev Dinc and published by Electric Dreams Software for the C64 in 1987. And it is pretty lame, it has to be said.
Big Trouble in Little China, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum version of Electric Dreams‘ Big Trouble in Little China was the first released, coming out the same year as John Carpenter‘s famous film, in 1986. The Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 versions followed later, in 1987.
Spindizzy, Amstrad CPC
I was always under the impression that Paul Shirley‘s classic Spindizzy originated on the Commodore 64 and was ported to other machines, but this interview with Shirley says that the game actually originated on the CPC and was ported to other systems. Since Paul Shirley coded the C64 version himself I had guessed that that was a logical assumption to make, but it now looks to be wrong.
The Amstrad version of Spindizzy – one of the best games ever made in my humble opinion – is pretty much perfect, with crisp, clean, detailed graphics and responsive controls.
R-Type, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum conversion of Irem‘s classic arcade game R-Type is considered by many to be one of the best games ever made for Sir Clive‘s classic 8-bit home computer.
I, of the Mask, ZX Spectrum
I, of the Mask is a strange 3D action game written by Ant Attack author, Sandy White. It was published in 1985 by Electric Dreams Software, and it still confuses games-players to this day…
Karnov, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum conversion of the Data East arcade game, Karnov, is a good example of a decent arcade conversion on the Spectrum.
