Back in 1984 in the UK there was an infamous, historic miner’s strike that lasted for over a year and caused hardship for many communities. Rather than sit and spectate, young Peter Harrap wrote a satirical platform game about a mining mole and published it, with all the profits going to help the struggling, striking miners. That game was Wanted: Monty Mole, and it launched Pete Harrap on his career making video games, and also the Monty Mole ‘franchise’. Although I can’t really call it a franchise because it wasn’t. It was simply a series of games.
Tag Archives: Retro Gaming History
Beneath A Steel Sky, PC
Revolution Software‘s second point-and-click adventure (after Lure of the Temptress); first released in 1994; Beneath A Steel Sky is a humorous, futuristic, dystopian, “film noir” mystery, co-designed by legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons.
Atari ST Special
The Atari ST was a 16-bit home computer that was a great breeding ground for video games in the ’80s and ’90s. Many original classics were born on the ST (Dungeon Master, Simulcra, and Frontier to name but a few), and many older classics were ported to the ST to give them a new lease of life.
Tempest, Arcade
Tempest, by Dave Theurer, is one of the first ever ‘tube shooters’. It was released by Atari in 1981.
You control a spider-like yellow craft that walks along the edge of a 3D playfield, often taking the form of a cylindrical tube. You shoot bullets down the tube at enemies that are rising upwards to get you. Thus the name ‘tube shooter’.
Phoenix, Arcade
Phoenix is another great vertical shoot ’em up from the golden age of video gaming. It was developed by Amstar Electronics of Arizona and manufactured by Centuri in 1980, and featured even more progressive gameplay than Space Invaders and Galaxian.
Galaxian, Arcade
Galaxian is an iconic video game from the golden age of gaming history.
In fact, Galaxian was Namco‘s response to Space Invaders. It came out in 1979 and enthralled gamers with its hypnotic but brutal gameplay. Which it still does, to this day.
Space Invaders, Arcade
Space Invaders, owned and manufactured by Taito, is the best-selling video game and highest-grossing entertainment product of all time.
Doom, PC
id Software‘s hit shooter, Doom, blew the roof off the gaming world when it was first released in 1993.
It was the first First-Person Shooter that moved really fast and smoothly, and gave you a real sense of ‘being there’ when you played it.
Bubble Bobble, Arcade
Taito‘s Bubble Bobble first came out in arcades in 1986. Its colourful, jolly, platform action proved a sensation among gamers, and it has since gone on to earn “legendary” status in the retro gaming community.
SimCity 2000, PC
The very first version of SimCity 2000 was released for Apple Macintosh by Maxis in 1993, followed soon after by a PC MS-DOS version.
The King of Grabs 