The NES/Famicom version of the classic Boulder Dash was developed by Data East and published by JVC in North America and Data East in Japan in 1990.
It is distinguished from other Boulder Dash conversions by having completely different graphics and sound from the original.
The Game Boy version of Boulder Dash was programmed by Beam Software and is somewhat similar to the NES version (not exactly the same since it was developed by a completely different company). It is a jolly re-imagining with different graphics, but the same devious level designs as the original. And it is of course monochrome, rather than colour.
The BBC Micro conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash was programmed by Andrew Bennett and published by Tynesoft in 1988. And I don’t know what it is about this port, but there is something wholly unsatisfactory about it.
The MS-DOS version of Boulder Dash uses CGA graphics, so doesn’t look the best, but – like the Apple II version – the lack of colour doesn’t affect the gameplay at all. In fact: just four colours seems to suit it well; if those colours are used a certain way.
Boulder Dash on the ZX Spectrum is a decent, playable conversion, but it isn’t great and does have its issues. It was programmed by Dalali Software and published by Front Runner (a software label owned by K-Tel Productions, a famous British record label) in 1985.
Boulder Dash on the Apple II was coded by Pat Montelo and published by Micro Fun in 1984, and it is arguably one of the best games on the system.
The MSX version of Boulder Dash was developed by Orpheus and published by Comptiq in 1985. It is another excellent 8-bit conversion, with feather light controls (TM) and authentic gameplay.
The Amstrad CPC conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s Boulder Dash is an almost perfect conversion of the classic Atari 8-bit game. The game was published by Mirrorsoft 1985, and converted by Dalali Software Ltd.
The ColecoVision conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Atari 8-bit game, Boulder Dash, is really quite wonderful. It was converted by Micro Lab and published on the Micro Fun label in 1984.
Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash was first released for the Atari 8-bit in 1984 (the Commodore 64 version came later).
Boulder Dash is one of those games that is very simple, but also very clever. Not to mention: extremely devious. In some levels, if you put a foot wrong, you’re toast and must re-start.
The King of Grabs 