Tag Archives: puzzles

Get Dexter, Amstrad CPC

Get Dexter is an isometric action puzzle game originally released for the Amstrad CPC in 1986. It was programmed by Remi Herbulot with graphics by Michel Rho. In its native France the game is known as “Crafton & Xunk“, which I always thought was a bizarre title for a video game.

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The Kristal, Amiga

The Kristal is an obscure British adventure game based on an un-produced theatre play written in 1976 (called “The Kristal of Konos“), developed by Fissionchip Software and published by Addictive Games in Europe and Cinemaware in North America. The fact that Cinemaware picked up The Kristal for distribution in the US and Canada is a surprise in itself, as that kind of thing didn’t happen very often back in 1989 when this game was first released.

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OnEscapee, Amiga

This rather obscure Prince of Persia/Another World/Flashback tribute was created by Hungarian developer Invictus Games exclusively for the Amiga 1200 in 1997. It was initially released on CD-ROM only, which is strange as the Amiga 1200 didn’t come with a CD drive, so players had to purchase an external CD-ROM drive or somehow transfer the game to a hard drive and play it that way. Invictus later re-released the game as freeware for Windows, in 2004, to coincide with the company’s 10th anniversary.

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Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers, ZX Spectrum

As the title suggests, this is the sequel to the classic Spectrum ‘naughty kid’ game, Jack the Nipper. Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers was again written by Greg Holmes (with graphics help by Terry Lloyd) and published by Gremlin Graphics. It first came out on the ZX Spectrum in 1987.

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Jack the Nipper, ZX Spectrum

This puzzle-based platform game was written by Greg Holmes and published for the ZX Spectrum by Gremlin Graphics in 1986. The main character, Jack the Nipper, is a mischievous baby based loosely on the British comic character Sweeny Toddler.

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Dark Side, PC

The 1988 MS-DOS version of the classic Freescape game, Dark Side, is arguably the best version of the game available, since it runs fast and the controls are very responsive.

Incentive Software published the game in Europe and Microprose published it in North America.

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Impossible Mission, Atari 7800

Dennis Caswell‘s classic Impossible Mission was released for the Atari 7800 in 1988 and it is a decent adaptation of the Commodore 64 original.

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Cliff Hanger, Commodore 64

Written by James Day and initially published by New Generation Software in 1984, Cliff Hanger is a Wild West-themed game based on the popular ‘Looney Tunes‘ cartoon Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.

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Pentagram, Atari 8-Bit

Created by Jose Pereira, Miker, and Mariuszw in 2016, this Atari -8-bit homebrew conversion of Ultimate‘s Pentagram is not a bad effort overall. It seems to run slightly faster than the ZX Spectrum original, although it’s probably fair to say that it also inherits its shortcomings.

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Knight Lore, Atari 8-Bit

This conversion of the classic Knight Lore was ported to the 8-bit Atari by Krzysztof Dudek, Mario Krix, and Michal Radecki in 2008. And it’s another somewhat disappointing conversion, to be honest.

What I find frustrating about these homebrew conversions is how the programmers sometimes decide to change things to the detriment to the game, and don’t seem to realise that their choices are bad…

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