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).
Tag Archives: John Lathbury
Atic Atac, Commodore 64
Wow… This is arguably the best modern remake of an old video game that I’ve ever seen!
This beautiful 2020 homebrew rendition of Ultimate‘s classic Spectrum game comes courtesy of three individuals: the code was written by Tomaz Kac of Nostalgia, the graphics were created by Steven Day (aka Ste), and the music by Saul Cross.
All three of them deserve some serious credit.
“After 37 years the C64 finally gets its own version of Atic Atac,” says Tomaz Kac, “I hope we did the game justice. We tried to make it very special, not just by getting as close to Spectrum version, but by expanding it quite a bit. We hope you like it!”
Alien 8, MSX
The MSX version of Ultimate‘s classic isometric action adventure, Alien 8, is almost identical to the ZX Spectrum original – including slowdown caused by sound effects playing and lots of on-screen movement.
Lunar Jetman, BBC Micro
The BBC Micro conversion of Ultimate‘s classic Lunar Jetman is a very good one, using a high res display mode for the graphics, which are mostly monochrome (just like the Spectrum original).
Sabre Wulf, Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 version of Ultimate‘s classic Sabre Wulf was made by Greg Duddle of Mr. Micro for Firebird Software, who published the game in 1985.
Sabre Wulf, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad conversion of Sabre Wulf features the same chunky graphics as the BBC version, except with some extra colouring. It does make make a difference though. The Amstrad version doesn’t look quite as harsh as the BBC version.
Sabre Wulf, BBC Micro
The BBC Micro version of Ultimate Play The Game‘s classic Sabre Wulf is so chunky and garish that it hurts the eyes! That said: it plays well enough.
Alien 8, ZX Spectrum
The original ZX Spectrum version of Alien 8 was first released in 1985, not long after Knight Lore had already blown the world away with its incredible isometric graphics and characteristic gameplay.
Jet Pac, VIC-20
Jet Pac on the Commodore VIC-20 is pretty much the same as the classic ZX Spectrum version. It even has ‘colour clash’ like the original…
Gunfright, ZX Spectrum
Another isometric action adventure from Ultimate Play The Game, this one with a Wild West theme.
Gunfright was first released in 1985 and uses the Filmation II Engine as first seen in Nightshade.