Another great film turned into video game kitty litter! This one in 1984, by Palace Software.
Tag Archives: film tie-in
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Atari 2600
This notorious 1982 release for the Atari 2600 was – at the time – the most expensive movie license ever acquired by a video game company ($35 million dollars it apparently cost), and it also undoubtedly hastened the demise of Atari Inc. (as it was back then), and was also a major contributing factor to the video game market crash of 1983.
The Great Escape, ZX Spectrum
Denton Designs made this smart little POW game for Ocean Software in 1986. It basically re-enacts the risky life of being a Prisoner of War during the Second World War, with a planned escape being top of the list of things to do, and is loosely-based on the 1963 film starring Steve McQueen.
The Addams Family, Super Nintendo
Back in the early 1990s Ocean Software had a reputation for producing mostly movie-licensed action games, and The Addams Family on the Super Nintendo is arguably the pinnacle of that niche.
Manos: The Hands of Fate, PC
Now this is a game I never thought I’d ever get to play… A game based on arguably the worst film of all time. A film called Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), and a film that is so bad that it has been known to reduce grown men to tears… And – believe it or not – I’ve sat though it twice. Yes: twice. Anyone who’s seen Manos: The Hands of Fate might want to congratulate me on that feat since sitting through the film twice requires a special kind of skill… Thankfully – as a lover and connoisseur of bad films – I have developed an immunity to [most of] them over the years, and it was with some excitement that I purchased this game on Steam and installed it…
Cobra, ZX Spectrum
Loosely-based on the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name, Cobra is a legendary run-and-gun platform game programmed by the late Jonathan Smith for Ocean Software and first released in 1986.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Intellivision
The Empire Strikes Back, by Parker Brothers, was the first ever licensed Star Wars video game. It was initially released in 1982 on the Atari 2600, then followed in 1983 on the Intellivision.
Continue reading Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Intellivision
Alien 3, Megadrive/Genesis
Probe Software developed this side-scrolling version of Alien 3 for Acclaim in 1992.
It is a run-and-gun platform game with you playing a bald Ripley trying to rescue cocooned prisoners while fending off waves of attacking aliens.
The Rocky Horror Show, ZX Spectrum
Based on the Richard O’Brien stage musical of the same name, CRL‘s 1985 cult hit The Rocky Horror Show is a simple action adventure in which you can play as either Brad or Janet and must rescue your opposite number from the clutches of the evil Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Gunhed, PC Engine
Gunhed is a classic vertically-scrolling. progressive-weapons shooter released for the PC Engine in 1989. It is based on the Toho film of the same name. In North America the game goes by the name of Blazing Lasers.