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.
Tag Archives: pioneering
Gryphon, Commodore 64
Tony Crowther‘s 1985 release through Quicksilva, Gryphon, is a much misunderstood game. Most people don’t even get past the first stage, because they don’t know what’s going on…
Mercenary, Commodore 16/Plus4
Requiring 64K of RAM to run, and coded by Paul Woakes himself, Mercenary on the Plus4 is an almost perfect conversion of his classic 3D, C64 exploration game.
Trailblazer, Commodore 16/Plus4
Shaun Southern‘s Trailblazer – I’m reliably informed – originated on the Commodore 16; not the Commodore 64 (on which it is probably better-known).
Pikmin, GameCube
Pikmin was released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001 and was an instant hit with gamers.
Designed and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, the first game in the Pikmin series introduces Captain Oilmar, an alien who crash lands on a mysterious planet and where he befriends small creatures called Pikmin who help him rebuild his ship.
Trailblazer, Commodore 64
Trailblazer is a well-regarded, ball-based racing game written and designed by the prolific Shaun Southern of Mr. Chip Software and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1986.
Trailblazer did apparently originate on the Commodore 16 and was expanded to take advantage of the Commodore 64‘s extra memory, and the result is a suped-up version of the original game.
Kikstart, Commodore 64
Less successful than its sequel (and arguably less enjoyable too), Kikstart was written by Shaun Southern and published by Mastertonic in 1985.
Stop The Express, MSX
Hudson Soft converted and published Stop The Express (aka Bousou Tokkyuu SOS) itself in Japan in 1984.
Stop The Express, Commodore 64
Converted from the ZX Spectrum original by Hudson Soft and published on the C64 by Commodore itself, Stop The Express is both an excellent conversion, and a great little game in its own right.
One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, Commodore 64
This classic one-on-one basketball game on the Commodore 64 originated on the Apple II in 1983 and was later converted to other systems courtesy of Electronics Arts.
One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird is remembered as one of the best basketball games of all time and does indeed have a lot of subtlety to it that isn’t obvious until you play it.
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The King of Grabs 