Tony Crowther‘s 1985 release, William Wobbler, is somewhat controversial among critics and fans… Some love it; some hate it. Actually, let me re-phrase that: most people hate it… And (rather infamously) the leading Commodore 64 magazine of the time (Newsfield’s Zzap!64) gave it a hard time, and it pretty much sank without a trace.
Tag Archives: Obscure
Black Thunder, Commodore 64
I’m not entirely sure what to make of Black Thunder. It is a remake of Tony Crowther‘s previous game, Suicide Express, with slightly different graphics and released a year later by a different publishing house (Quicksilva).
Spore, Commodore 16/Plus4
Another conversion, but a damn good one, and worthy of a place in any Commodore 16 fan’s collection.
Shrunk down to fit into just 16K, Spore is a overhead maze shooter with simple graphics and excellent mechanics. A bit like a simplified version of Gauntlet in some respects, but far more frantic.
Big Mac, Commodore 16/Plus4
Written by Tony Kelly and published by Mastertronic in 1985, Big Mac is a highly frustrating platform/puzzle game with an interesting jump mechanic and some nice graphical effects, and is the predecessor to the much better Mr. Puniverse.
Mole Mania, Game Boy
This 1996 release on the Nintendo Game Boy is one of Shigeru Miyamoto‘s least known works, although it really is a hidden gem on the system and is well worth finding and playing now if you’ve never seen it.
Kokotoni Wilf, Commodore 64
Of the three versions of Kokotoni Wilf released by Elite Systems, the Commodore 64 version is arguably the worst.
Kokotoni Wilf, Amstrad CPC
Compared to the Spectrum original, Amstrad Kokotoni Wilf is pretty ugly. The developers have chosen a dark blue background with green caves, and the odd splash of colour in the (very flickery) sprites and landscape decorations. The graphics are very poor in my opinion.
Airball, Atari ST
Published by Microdeal in 1987, Airball is a weird and challenging isometric puzzle game where you play a bubble exploring a trap-ridden castle, looking for gems (which convert to a low number of points), and also looking for ‘Inflation Stations’ because the bloody stupid ball has a slow leak and needs to be constantly topped-up with air…
Airball, Dragon 32
Microdeal‘s isometric adventure/puzzle game Airball originated on the Dragon 32 in 1987. This is the original version.
Bank Buster, Atari ST
Programmed by M. Pezzotta and published by Methodic Solutions in 1988, Bank Buster is an obscure, single-player Arkanoid clone in which you break into a bank by tunnelling underground.
