Developed and published by Ocean Software and licensed from the 1986 Oliver Stone film of the same name, Platoon on the Commodore 64 managed to win over gamers and critics, back in 1987 when it was first released, with its atmospheric and varied gameplay.
Tag Archives: film tie-in
The Terminator, Megadrive/Genesis
This 1992 release from Virgin Games is one of a number of video game adaptations of James Cameron‘s famous 1984 sci-fi film, The Terminator.
This particular adaptation was developed by British company Probe Software and is a fairly standard – though fun and playable – run and gun game, flicking through all the major settings of the movie with cut scenes in-between.
Fantastic Voyage, ZX Spectrum
An officially-licensed adaptation of the classic 1966 science fiction film, written by John R. Edmonds and published by Quicksilva in 1984.
Discs of Tron, Arcade
The second video game based on Disney‘s famous 1982 movie, Tron, released into arcades in 1983 by Bally Midway. The first one is here.
The Evil Dead, Commodore 64
Another great film turned into video game kitty litter! This one in 1984, by Palace Software.
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.
The King of Grabs 