Palace Software‘s 1985 release Cauldron is one of those games that looks great, but is so difficult that it is not much fun to play overall.
Tag Archives: side scrolling
Horace and the Spiders, ZX Spectrum
The third and final Horace game on the ZX Spectrum, written by William Tang and published by Sinclair/Psion in 1983.
Karateka, Commodore 64
Karateka was Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner‘s first published game. He programmed it (originally for the Apple II) while attending Yale University in 1984.
It’s a simple martial arts fighting game that uses rotoscoped graphics to create realistic animation. Back in 1984 they were pretty revolutionary.
Karnov, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum conversion of the Data East arcade game, Karnov, is a good example of a decent arcade conversion on the Spectrum.
Jail Break, Commodore 64
Jail Break is a conversion of the Konami arcade game of the same name, and was developed and published by Konami themselves in 1986.
Kung-Fu Master, ZX Spectrum
This terrible Spectrum conversion of the mighty arcade game, Kung-Fu Master, was developed by Ocean and published by US Gold in 1986.
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Atari Jaguar
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy was released for the Atari Jaguar in 1993. It is a side-scrolling, ‘bullet hell’ shooter, and it is awful.
Continue reading Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Atari Jaguar
Cap’n’ Carnage, Atari ST
Cap’n’ Carnage is so bad that the programmer hasn’t even spelled the word “captain” correctly in the game itself… When you see a mistake like that you know you’re playing a low quality piece of software. Professionals do not make that kind of mistake on commercial releases. Oh dear me, this game is bad…
Labyrinth, Commodore 64
The actual, full title of this 1986 adventure game from Lucasfilm Games is Labyrinth: The Computer Game, but I’ll refer to it from now on as Labyrinth.
Labyrinth was the very first Lucasfilm Games adventure game and is based on the fantasy film of the same name – the one written by Terry Jones, directed by Jim Henson, and starring David Bowie in a big white wig.
Offendron Warrior, PC
Offendron Warrior is a superb retro gaming tribute to Eugene Jarvis‘s arcade classic Defender, using modern pixels and effects, by talented and prolific Korean Hijong Park. It’s currently available for free or donationware on Steam.
If you don’t know Defender – look it up, then go play it. Then come back and continue reading this.
The King of Grabs 