Of all his Spectrum games, Firefly was the one that programmer Jonathan Smith said really “came together” during development.
Firefly is an eight-way scrolling shooter with light puzzle elements that was first released by Ocean Software in 1988.
Tag Archives: shooter
Hysteria, ZX Spectrum
Published by Software Projects in 1987, Hysteria – at first glance – seems to owe quite a bit to Cobra, the infamous scrolling shooter from Ocean. At least graphically (the main character is a spitting image of the sprite in that game).
Terra Cresta, ZX Spectrum
A conversion of the superb Nichibutsu arcade game, programmed by the late Jonathan Smith and published by Imagine Software in 1986.
Green Beret, ZX Spectrum
A conversion of the infamous Konami arcade game Rush’n Attack (name changed later in the West to Green Beret), by the inimitable Jonathan Smith. Published by Imagine Software in 1986.
Cobra, ZX Spectrum
Loosely-based on the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name, Cobra is a legendary run-and-gun platform game programmed by the late Jonathan Smith for Ocean Software and first released in 1986.
Street Hawk: Subscriber Edition, ZX Spectrum
We may never know the full version of events surrounding this notorious Ocean Software game, but legendary Spectrum programmer Jonathan Smith was almost certainly involved. It does bear a few of his hallmarks, but is a ridiculously simple and quite boring shoot ’em up.
Continue reading Street Hawk: Subscriber Edition, ZX Spectrum
Fallout 3, PC
After a gap of some ten years – between the release of Fallout 2 and “the void” of there being no other Fallout games – came Fallout 3 from Bethesda. Like a bolt from the blue: Fallout was back, and this time it was in 3D.
Alien Rampage, PC
Alien Rampage is an old-school run-and-gun shooter from 1996 with all the ingredients required to make an entertaining game. Smooth scrolling; cool explosions; lots of different weapons; plenty of different monsters; gory gibs; an agile central character.
Smash TV, Atari ST
On the face of it the Atari ST conversion of Williams Electronics‘ classic Smash TV looks pretty good, but scratch below the surface and you might realise that it has one or two major deficiencies.
Earthlight, ZX Spectrum
Pete Cooke‘s Earthlight is an unusual side-scrolling shoot ’em up with extremely nice graphics. It was originally published for the ZX Spectrum by Firebird in 1988.
The King of Grabs 