I don’t know why, but the Amiga version of Cinemaware‘s classic Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon looks absolutely terrible. The graphics are appalling and the presentation overall is very rough around the edges. Compare it to the Commodore 64 version and it’s easy to see the disparity.
Tag Archives: side scrolling
Flimbo’s Quest, Commodore 64
Flimbo’s Quest is a scrolling platform shooter that basically recycles the gameplay from the classic C64 game, Hawkeye. Designer/programmer Laurens van der Donk was a member of demo scene coders Boys Without Brains (who created Hawkeye), which explains the connection. From what I can tell, though, van der Donk was not involved in creating Hawkeye, so I’m not entirely sure how or why Flimbo’s Quest came to be.
Fist II: The Legend Continues, Commodore 64
Fist II: The Legend Continues is the sequel to the classic The Way of the Exploding Fist, and it plays quite differently to its predecessor. It was once again developed by Beam Software (mostly by the same people who made Fist One) and first published by Melbourne House in 1986.
Continue reading Fist II: The Legend Continues, Commodore 64
Sunset Riders, Super Nintendo
The 1993 Super Nintendo conversion of Konami‘s 1991 arcade hit, Sunset Riders, is considered to be something of a classic on the system, and it is a lot of fun to play, either single-player, or with two players playing simultaneous co-op.
Merry Christmas From Horace, ZX Spectrum
This 2016 homebrew release for the ZX Spectrum is a tribute/sequel to the classic Hungry Horace, Horace Goes Skiing, and Horace and the Spiders games from Psion, originally developed in the early 1980s by Beam Software. It is a Christmas-themed Horace game written by Steve Broad.
Defender 2000, Atari Jaguar
Developed by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation in 1995, Defender 2000 is a re-imagining of the classic Williams Electronics arcade game from 1981, but with more ‘realistic’ graphics. It was an Atari Jaguar exclusive and only appeared on Atari‘s ill-fated console, in cartridge form. It was released as a companion title to Tempest 2000 – also by Llamasoft – and which is arguably the better game of the two. Both are decent games, though.
Defender II, Amiga
Defender II was programmed by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft and published by Arc Developments in 1990. It is a home computer-only sequel to Williams Electronics‘ classic arcade game, Defender. The game includes a version of the original Defender, and its sequel, Stargate – as well as Minter‘s own Defender II.
Andes Attack, Atari ST
The Atari ST version of Andes Attack was developed and published by Llamasoft in 1989. It is a re-imagining of Jeff Minter‘s earlier Defender clone, first released on the VIC-20 in 1982. It is also a precursor to Minter‘s Defender II, which plays very similarly and was released the following year, in 1990.
Thing On A Spring, Commodore 64
Thing On A Spring is a fondly-remembered Commodore 64 game first published in 1985 by Gremlin Graphics. It was written by Jason Perkins and Anthony Clarke, with graphics by Mark Rogers and catchy music by Rob Hubbard.
Dropzone, NES/Famicom
Archer MacLean‘s classic side-scrolling shooter, Dropzone, was converted to the NES/Famicom by Eurocom Developments and it is an excellent adaptation of this fast-moving Defender derivative.