Master of Magic is an archaic Role-Playing Game that is a throwback to the earliest days of home computing – except that it was released in 1985.
The game was programmed by Richard Darling (of Codemasters fame) with graphics by James Wilson. It was published at a budget price (£2.99) by Mastertronic on their M.A.D. label.
International Karate was released in 1986 by System 3 Software.
It was written by Archer MacLean and was one of the first beat ’em ups – ever – to actually feel like a decent game to play and not a ridiculous slug-fest.
Firebird Software released BMX Kidz for the Commodore 64 in 1987.
Programmed by Archer MacLean himself (the man behind the original Commodore 64 version), and published by System 3 in 1988, the Atari ST conversion of the classic International Karate Plus is pretty much flawless, and is also arguably the best beat ’em up on the entire system.
Thrust is a conversion of the late Jeremy Smith‘s classic BBC/Commodore 64 gravity game, and it is a very good one.
Action Biker was created to market Skips Crisps in the UK, and therefore features KP Skips Crisp’s mascot “Clumsy Colin” as the playable character.
Road Rash II (1992) is an excellent continuation of the Road Rash theme, this time with more variety (you can now kick, as well as punch and use weapons, such as bike chains), and simultaneous two-player, split-screen play.
Electronic Arts‘ 1991 release, Road Rash, is a fantastic motorbike racing game where the riders can actually punch each other as they are zooming down the roads.
This is obviously a very dirty trick to either knock other riders off their mount, or to gain some other kind of advantage, but it is allowed in the context of this game and it is hilarious!
Created by Pete Harrap and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1985, Monty On The Run is the sequel to Wanted: Monty Mole, and a real step up in quality from the first game, in terms of satisfying platform action.
And here is the PC MS-DOS version of Bullfrog‘s classic Populous (1989), for comparison’s sake.
The King of Grabs 