Tag Archives: ladders

Acclaim Entertainment, Probe Software, Super Nintendo

Judge Dredd, Super Nintendo

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Having been a 2000AD reader since the very first issue I’ve always been sceptical about Judge Dredd games, films, and other third-party uses of the character, mostly because they’ve all been failures. Failing to capture the spirit and tone of the original comic.

This Judge Dredd game is based on the 1995 film of the same name – the one starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by Danny Cannon. I’ve previously avoided it until now, having been one of those who went to see the film when it first came out and being unimpressed by it. To be honest: ever since they announced Stallone as Judge Dredd I’ve been disappointed by the process of bringing one of my favourite comic characters to the big screen. Of all the actors they could’ve chosen to play Judge Dredd: they chose one of my least favourite actors of all-time. So my hopes for this video game were low to begin with.

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Sega, Sega AM7, Sega Saturn, System Sacom

Deep Fear, Sega Saturn

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Deep Fear is a Saturn exclusive survival horror game published by Sega in 1998. It’s basically a shameless Resident Evil clone, and someone obviously thought: “let’s cross Resident Evil with The Abyss” and came up with this underwater adventure.

You play an emergency chief on an underwater fuelling base and must investigate why a submarine has crashed into part of the rig, and why some people are suddenly transforming into disgusting monsters and attacking the crew.

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Alpha Denshi, Neo Geo, SNK

Magician Lord, Neo Geo

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Magician Lord is a bit of a rarity on the Neo Geo – it’s a scrolling action game based on fantasy characters. It’s like a run-and-gun game with magic, basically. Not the kind of game you see very often on the Neo Geo, and it’s a decent game to boot.

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Activision, Commodore 64, Mr. Micro

Karnov, Commodore 64

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This arcade conversion of Data East‘s 1987 coin-op was highly controversial at the time of release, because it was viewed as a “lazy, direct port” of the ZX Spectrum version, which was not what Commodore 64 owners wanted to see.

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Atari 8-bit, Automated Simulations, Epyx

Jumpman Junior, Atari 8-bit

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Jumpman Junior is the Atari 8-bit cartridge version of Randy Glover‘s classic 8-bit platform game, Jumpman. It was first published by Epyx in 1983.

Since the game came on cartridge the number of levels has been reduced, down to 12, but they are at least all-new levels and not recycled levels from the disk version.

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Atari 8-bit, Creative Sparks, Thorn EMI

Orc Attack, Atari 8-bit

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The classic Orc Attack was originally developed by Dean Lock for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and published by Thorn EMI in 1983.

You play a guy defending a castle rampart from attacking orcs that are trying to climb up using ladders. The orcs plant the base of the ladder on the ground then bring in sections to raise it up, taking just three connected sections to reach the top. You must run and grab rocks, placed at either side of the battlement, to throw down at the attackers. If the attackers reach the top of the rampart the stones temporarily turn into swords, which you must grab to hack down the invaders that are threatening your castle. When a round is complete you can throw burning oil onto them to torch the remainder.

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Activision, Atari 8-bit

Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Atari 8-bit

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This Atari 8-bit conversion of David Crane‘s classic Atari 2600 platform game is subtitled the “Adventurer’s Edition” because it contains a whole new second level that becomes available after you complete the first.

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Activision, Atari 2600

Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Atari 2600

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Activision‘s 1984 sequel to Pitfall! – Pitfall II: Lost Caverns – was again designed and programmed by David Crane. This time, though, the cartridge had a custom display processor chip inside, which allowed for improved visuals and continuous four channel music (the Atari 2600 is normally only capable of two channel sound).

Gameplay is similar to Pitfall!, although in this follow-up the world you can explore is much bigger than previously and is made up of eight screens in width, by 27 screens in height, making 216 screens in total. When you walk from one screen to another the new screen scrolls smoothly into view.

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Gremlin Graphics, ZX Spectrum

Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers, ZX Spectrum

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As the title suggests, this is the sequel to the classic Spectrum ‘naughty kid’ game, Jack the Nipper. Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers was again written by Greg Holmes (with graphics help by Terry Lloyd) and published by Gremlin Graphics. It first came out on the ZX Spectrum in 1987.

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Bad Video Games, BBC Micro, Micro Power

Killer Gorilla, BBC Micro

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Killer Gorilla is a throwback to the bad old days when companies could get away with releasing any old crap and people would still lap it up.

That Killer Gorilla was ever sold commercially is incredible in itself; never mind the fact that it was so popular that it was re-released numerous times. In reality it was nothing more than a coding experiment made by a kid who wanted to try to replicate Nintendo‘s arcade game, Donkey Kong.

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