Tag Archives: planets

Frontier: Elite II, Atari ST

While all the other space exploration and combat games on 16-bit home computers flail around in their own mucky diapers, Frontier: Elite II makes a mockery of everything else in its class by not only being a staggering piece of programming, but also a damn fine, playable game too.

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Solar Jetman, NES

Or, to give the game its full title: Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship.

Solar Jetman is a really good gravity game in the style of Thrust or Exile, and also a spiritual sequel to the classic Ultimate games Jet Pac and Lunar Jetman – it starring the titular ‘Jetman’ of those titles.

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Academy, ZX Spectrum

Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.

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Star Fox, Super Nintendo

I’m going to use the Japanese and North American name for this game – Star Fox – rather than the European name (Star Wing, which was chosen because the name “Star Fox” was apparently too similar to a German company called “StarVox”!).

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Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis, Atari ST

Paul Woakes‘ third game in the Mercenary series (after Damocles) retains all the flying, exploration and puzzling of the first two games, but also allows you to fly off planet, and visit other places in the Gamma System.

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Damocles: Mercenary II, Atari ST

Developer Paul Woakes takes the Mercenary series much further in Damocles (1990) – the second game in the series.

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Rescue On Fractalus, Commodore 64

LucasFilm Games‘ classic space shooter, Rescue On Fractalus, was first released on Atari 8-bit computers in March 1984, and this Commodore 64 version came a year later, in 1985.

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