Jack and the Beanstalk is a ZX Spectrum game published by Thor Computer Software in 1984. It was written by Chris Kerry, assisted by his brother, Steve.
Tag Archives: maze
Crystal Castles, Arcade
Crystal Castles is a legendary arcade maze game developed and published by Atari, Inc. in 1983. What made the game so good were: the trackball and jump button controls (which gave a good degree of freedom to make headway at pace) and the unusual isometric graphics (which drew on-screen in an unusual and interesting way).
Neo Bomberman, Neo Geo
Every home console had to have a version of Bomberman, and the Neo Geo had one too.
Actually, technically that’s not true, because – while Neo Bomberman did get a Neo Geo release – it was only ever for the MVS (arcade system). It was never officially released for the AES (home system). So only ever appeared in arcades. And that was mostly just in Japan.
Neo Bomberman was sold into some countries outside of Japan, although when the game is played on a European system the text is displayed in Spanish and not English.
Platoon, Commodore 64
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.
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.
Halls of the Things, Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 has a version of Design Design‘s classic Halls of the Things and it looks and plays very similarly to the original Spectrum version. Which is no bad thing, because this is a challenging and fun little action game.
The Staff of Karnath, Commodore 64
The first game in the Sir Arthur Pendragon series, The Staff of Karnath was released on the Commodore 64 in 1984 to some acclaim. Mostly because it was an Ultimate game, and in the eyes of many people (myself included), Ultimate could do no wrong.
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…
Eskimo Eddie, ZX Spectrum
This obscure 1984 release from Ocean Software is basically a clone of Sega‘s classic arcade game, Pengo, but with an extra level tacked-on at the beginning. Similar in many ways to Ocean‘s Mr. Wimpy, which was BurgerTime with an extra level tacked on at the start. As if it would confuse the copyright police… “These are not the clones you are looking for… It is a completely different game… Look… [waves hand like Obi Wan]”
Panzadrome, ZX Spectrum
Developed by The RamJam Corporation and published by Ariolasoft in 1985, Panzadrome is an overhead maze shooter involving tanks, and it is not a bad game, as far as Speccy tank/maze games go.