Tag Archives: maze

Ms. Pac-Man, Arcade

The 1982 sequel to the smash hit Pac-Man originally started out as a third party modification kit for Pac-Man machines, developed by General Computer Corporation, and called ‘Crazy Otto‘.

After legal action from Atari, GCC was forced to present Crazy Otto to Midway, the North American distributor of Pac-Man, who bought the game and developed it into Ms. Pac-Man.

Further complicating the story, apparently Midway did this without Pac-Man‘s original owner Namco‘s consent, which caused some licensing issues later. The truth is by no means clear, but in the murky world of video game licensing it is sometimes the case that people sell and exploit rights to products they have no right to.

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Death Mask, Amiga CD32

Death Mask was developed by Apache Software and published by Alternative Software in 1994. It was released on the Amiga and CD32 and is something of a Doom clone; although one that is split-screen multiplayer.

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Fernandez Must Die, Commodore 64

Tony Crowther‘s 1988 tribute to Commando and Ikari Warriors, Fernandez Must Die is a scrolling shooter with military overtones.

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Bombuzal, Commodore 64

Bombuzal is a critically-acclaimed puzzle game designed/coded by Tony Crowther and David Bishop and published by Image Works in 1988.

In it you play a small, green blob whose job it is to dispose of all the bombs on a level.  To explode a bomb you must be standing on top of it and hold down fire, and – once triggered – you can then walk away from it in whatever directions are available.

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Zig Zag, Commodore 64

Written by Tony Crowther and published by Mirrorsoft in 1987, Zig Zag is a weird and wonderful isometric shoot ’em up where you fly a wedge-shaped ship around a maze collecting crystals.

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Son of Blagger, Commodore 64

The 1984 sequel to Blagger, Son of Blagger is different to its parent in that this time the platforming is done within a large, scrolling landscape, rather than the Manic Miner-style, single screen stages of the first game. It is basically the same game engine as another Tony Crowther game: Wanted! Monty Mole.

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POD: Proof of Destruction, Commodore 16/Plus4

POD: Proof Of Destruction is another decent bullet hell shooter on the C16, and another game designed and programmed by the prolific Shaun Southern.

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Baby Berks, Commodore 16/Plus4

Another Berks game, again released in 1985 and programmed by Jon Williams for CRL Group Ltd.

Baby Berks is very similar to the first Berks, only this time the Berks have become the chasing enemies, and your targets (to shoot) are the Baby Berks that hatch from eggs.

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