James Pond II: Codename RoboCod is the 1991 sequel to James Pond: Underwater Agent and was again written by Chris Sorrell and published by Millennium Interactive. Unlike the first James Pond game this follow-up is much more structured and playable than its predecessor.
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James Pond: Underwater Agent, Amiga
Written by Chris Sorrell, with music by the late Richard Joseph, James Pond: Underwater Agent is the first in a trilogy of James Pond games and was first published on the Amiga by Millennium Interactive in 1990.
Karnov, Commodore 64
This arcade conversion of Data East‘s 1987 coin-op was highly controversial at the time of release, because it was viewed as a “lazy, direct port” of the ZX Spectrum version, which was not what Commodore 64 owners wanted to see.
Park Patrol, Amstrad CPC
Tony Ngo‘s classic Commmodore 64 game, Park Patrol, has a decent conversion on the Amstrad, courtesy of programmer Andrew Rogers and publisher Firebird Software. The Amstrad version was released in 1986 at a budget price (£1.99 if I remember correctly).
Roland on the Ropes, Amstrad CPC
Just like Amsoft‘s Roland in the Caves was a re-titling of Indescomp‘s ZX Spectrum classic Bugaboo the Flea, Roland on the Ropes is a re-titling of Indescomp‘s ZX Spectrum game, Fred.
In Roland on the Ropes you play a cartoon-like tomb raider type character exploring a scrolling maze of platforms and ropes, looking for treasure and also trying to stop ghosts, mummies, and other creatures from killing you by shooting them with a gun. Your bullets are limited but you can find more ammo littering the cave to top up your gun. Ultimately your aim is to find the exit to the next level, as well as score as many points as possible.
Dragontorc, Amstrad CPC
I didn’t know that Dragontorc existed on the Amstrad until recently and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it did. Dragontorc is one of my all-time favourite ZX Spectrum games and it translates well to the CPC, flickery graphics included.
Dragontorc was designed and programmed by Steve Turner (of Graftgold fame) and is a sequel to the game Avalon, both of which feature a levitating mage called Maroc on a quest to defeat the forces of evil.
Turrican, Amstrad CPC
Rainbow Arts‘ classic C64 shoot ’em up, Turrican, was converted to the Amstrad by Probe Software, and it demonstrates how to do this kind of side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter on the CPC. Compared to something like Gryzor, Turrican is streets ahead in terms of presentation and playability.
Gryzor, Amstrad CPC
In 1987 Konami released the hugely successful run-and-gun shoot ’em up Contra in arcades, and Gryzor is the localised European conversion of that game, published by Ocean Software in 1988.
Fred, ZX Spectrum
Written by famous Spanish software house Indescomp, Fred is a scrolling platform/maze game where you control a cartoon Indiana Jones-type character plundering treasures from an Egyptian tomb, while avoiding contact with ghosts and mummies.
Fred was first released in 1984. In its native Spain the game was published by Investronica, while in the UK and other parts of Europe the game was published by Quicksilva.
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures, Super Nintendo
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures is a run-and-gun platform/action game developed by Factor 5 (the German team who made Super Turrican, among others), with the supervision of LucasArts, and published by JVC in 1994.
The game features sequences based on the first three Indiana Jones films; the first being Raiders of the Lost Ark obviously; the second being Temple of Doom (my favourite), and the third being The Last Crusade.
Continue reading Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures, Super Nintendo
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