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Top 5 Games Charts: May 1987

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Back in May 1987, Mannequin was released and Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was rocketing to number one on the music charts. On the video games front, the Spectrum, C64 and Atari XE/XL computers were lavished with quite a few awesome games.

These were the top five games on each platform for the month of May 1987:

 

C64 1) Park Patrol (Firebird)
2) BMX Simulator (Codemasters)
3) Gunship (Microprose)
4) LA SWAT (Mastertronic)
5) Micro Rhythm (Firebird)

 

ZXSpectrum48k 1) Leaderboard (US Gold)
2) Bomb Jack II (Elite)
3) Paperboy (Elite)
4) Olli and Lissa (Firebird)
5) Gauntlet (US Gold)

 

atari_xe 1) BMX Simulator (Codemasters)
2) Colony (Bulldog)
3) Green Beret (Imagine)
4) Gun Law (Mastertronic)
5) Silent Service (Microprose)

 

SuperByte 2013: Chiptunes, Retro Gaming and 8-Bit Art

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SuperByteFest_banner

Back in 2012,  a musical and cultural festival was held in Manchester – SuperByte 2012. This event had all day micromusic (chiptunes) and retro gaming aplenty. The festival turned out to be the largest of its kind in the UK and attracted visitors from all over Great Britain and mainland Europe.

For 2013, SuperByte is back and bigger than ever! From 13 to 14 September 2013, the UK and international chiptune community will descend on Jabez Clegg in Manchester for two days of live music, visual arts, retro gaming and heaps more. SuperByte 2013 is going to be huge!

Get your SuperByte 2013 tickets now.

Event: SuperByte 2013 Festival
When: September 13 – 14 2013
Where: Jabez Clegg, Manchester

 

 

Top 5 Games Charts: August 1985

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While Madonna’s “Into the groove” was rocking the number one spot on the music charts in August 1985, there were some awesomely great games in the charts of that month for the C64, Spectrum and Amstrad. Here is a hit of nostalgia:

 

C64 1) The Way Of The Exploding Fist (Melbourne House)
2) Elite (Firebird)
3) Hyper Sports (Imagine)
4) Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Ocean)
5) Tour De France (Activision)

 

Amstrad_CPC464 1) Dun Darach (Gargoyle Games)
2) Beach Head (US Gold)
3) Red Moon (Level 9)
4) Alien 8 (Ultimate)
5) Knightlore (Ultimate)

 

 ZXSpectrum48k 1) Frank Bruno’s Boxing (Elite)
2) Hyper Sports (Imagine)
3) Jet Set Willy 2 (Software Projects)
4) Spy Vs Spy (Beyond)
5) Glass (Quicksilva)

 

 

Tempest 2000: Psychedelic Fun On The Jaguar

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Format: Atari Jaguar
Release Date: April 13, 1994
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Llamasoft (Jeff Minter)

It has been a long time coming. Nineteen years to be exact. It took us nineteen years to finally take Jeff Minter’s game for a proper review spin.

Tempest 2000, the beefed-up remake of Dave Theurer’s 1981 arcade classic, was Atari’s  killer game that helped it shift lots of Jaguar consoles upon its release in 1994. This game was never going to be a straight ‘pretty up’ by Jeff Minter. The great Yak added his usual quirkiness to this seminal favourite. What he produced was nigh on perfection.

You may ask, what is so damn good about Tempest 2000. Well, if you are patient for one second, we will let you know. Yak (Jeff Minter) took a first generation arcade game and injected crisp 3D polygon graphics, an awesome techno soundtrack and oodles of new enemy types and obstacles.

T2K_screenshot3_arg

Don’t think that Tempest 2000 is just an audio visual enhancement to the original – Yak also added 100 varying webs (levels), new opponents, collectable power-ups like the particle-blaster/laser, jumps, and A.I. Droids who destroy anything that gets too close. Thrown in this awesome gaming mix was the new “Melt-O-Vision” transition effect – very psychedelic (very Jeff Minter) indeed. Add the different types of play options – two-player cooperative and competitive play modes, and you got yourself one awesomely gorgeous masterpiece.

T2K_Jaguar_arg

No game, no matter how great it looks and sounds, is complete without a complimentary control system. There is only one way to play Tempest 2000, and that is with a rotary controller. You could use the standard Atari pad, but it just doesn’t do the game justice. The rotary control enhances the enjoyment of the game and it definitely helps in achieving those lucrative high scores.

Tempest 2000 is a an incredibly great title which was released on an incredibly obscure system. This game is the jewel in the Jaguar’s crown. If you haven’t played it, you are missing out big time!

Graphics Superbly crisp 3D polygons that only the Yak can produce. Yes, the Jaguar can handle it.

90%
Sound A perfect techno soundtrack. Light-synthesizer tunes throughout with very meaty sound effects. It is an awesome aural pleasure. Make sure you turn up the volume!

95%
Playability Getting into the game is quiet easy – spin around on the web and blast away the approaching enemies. To truly experience this game you must play it with a rotary controller.

90%
Lastability Considering there are 100 levels to complete, this game will last forever.

91%
Overall Jeff Minter can seriously do no wrong. The Yak knows how to produce brilliant games, and this one is no exception. Even Dave Theurer approves of it (Ed: we made that up)! Get it and play hard.

91%

 

Video Games Graveyard

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Survival of the fittest or just plain bad business decisions. Just as Betamax was left in the wake of the VHS behemoth,  the video games market is strewn with carcasses of systems and games that just never made it.

Jaguar

Some of history’s most spectacular gaming console flops come from two of the industry’s heavy hitters, Atari and Sega. The hardware manufacturing death knell was getting quite loud at Atari – they decided to throw in the towel and quit making games consoles after the Atari Jaguar was caught in the crossfire of the Sega versus Nintendo battle of the 1990s. The Jaguar was rushed to market and suffered the consequences. Selling fewer than 250,000 units just wasn’t going to cut it. Perhaps Atari should have done the math (get it!) before they embarked on the Jaguar.

dreamcast-console_arg

A few years after Atari ceased making hardware, it was Sega’s turn to wave the console making white flag. Once a pillar of the video games console industry, Sega’s Dreamcast was met with initial enthusiasm but Sega also abandoned making consoles after the Dreamcast was smashed by the new kid on the block, Sony’s PlayStation 2.

Atari_ET_arg

As for gaming flops, Atari’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial takes the gong. The game was rushed (it took 5 weeks to develop) to retail stores for the 1982 Christmas season but was such a disappointment, that millions of unsold game cartridges ended up in landfill in the New Mexico desert. Atari ordered more E.T. cartridges to be made than there were installed Atari VCS 2600 units! Again, Atari should have DONE THE MATH.



Nintendo Life Interview With Ausretrogamer

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ausretrogamer in 8-bitIt is not every day you get an email from a world renowned Editorial Director, especially one as big as Damien McFerran of Nintendo Life.

When Damien got in contact with me to be interviewed in the Nintendo Life ‘Ninterview’ segment, I jumped at the chance.

You can read the full interview (I mean, Ninterview) at Nintendo Life

 

 

 

Best-Selling Portable Video Game Systems Of All Time

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GB    Lynx    Game Gear_1

In last week’s Best-Selling Video Game Consoles: 1972 to 2002 post, it was clear that Sony had taken the stranglehold in the consoles market in the mid 90’s. The portable games market is a different beast. From the early days of crude portability with the tabletops, to Gunpei Yokoi’s wondrous Game & Watch series, the pedigree of portable gaming had been set quite early. Once the Game Boy burst onto the scene (another Gunpei Yokoi creation), Nintendo knew they had a winner. Which portable systems gave the Game Boy a run for its money ? Look below, there should not be too many surprises.  [Read more…] about Best-Selling Portable Video Game Systems Of All Time