Realm of Impossibility (Electronic Arts, 1984)

Originally designed by Mike Edwards for the 8-bit Atari, and released as "Zombies" by Bram, Inc. in 1983. Enhanced version re-titled as "Realm of Impossibility" published by Electronic Arts in 1984. Music for the 1984 version by Dave Warhol.

Converted for the Commodore 64 in 1984 by Mike Edwards and Henry S. Bolley, with music by Dave Warhol.

Converted for the ZX Spectrum 48k by Mike Edwards and published by Ariolasoft in 1985.

Converted for the Apple ][ computers by Marek Popiel, and published by Electronic Arts in 1986.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

I know, I know - I was supposed to do a big one for the end of this month, but I realised about a week before my self-set deadline that I wouldn't be able to make it, because the comparison I was working on was just too big for that. But I will get that done as soon as possible, which will probably be about a month from now. To make up for it, I have chosen to do something completely unexpected, and I hope this will be one of those that will make people more interested about an often forgotten game. Who knows, perhaps this IS a big one for some of you.

Cybernoid - The Fighting Machine (Hewson, 1988)

Designed by Raffaele Cecco and Nick Jones for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Programming by Raffaele Cecco. Music by J. Dave Rogers.

Converted for the Commodore 64 by Nicholas A. Jones, with graphics by Hugh Binns and music by Jeroen Tel.

Converted for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga by Tony Cooper. Graphics for the Amiga version by Stephen Robertson, and for the ST version by Stephen Robertson and Tony West.

Converted for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Chris Harvey with artwork by Adrian Carless. Published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1989.

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GAME STATUS

This month's already half-way through and we're only getting to the second entry now. And it should be an interesting one, since it's the first comparison from a Hewson game - kind of surprising it took me this long to get here, but there you go. Cybernoid was always a C64 game for me due to the awesome Jeroen Tel soundtrack, but then I have never really played any of the other versions, so it's about time I took a proper look at them. I'm aware that Retro Sanctuary has made a comparison of Cybernoid a long time ago, but it doesn't feature the 16-bit versions in it, and besides, this will be a different view of the game anyway.

Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior (Palace Software, 1987)

Developed and released for the Commodore 64 by Palace Software: Programming by Stanley Schembri, Designed by Steven Brown, Music by Richard Joseph, Artistic assistance by Gary Carr.
Released by Epyx in the USA as "Death Sword".

Converted for the Amstrad CPC by Andrew Fitter in 1987; for the ZX Spectrum by Shaun Griffiths in 1987; for the Atari ST by Gary Thomson of Seer Computer Systems in 1988; for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro by Peter Scott of Superior Software in 1988; for the Commodore Amiga by Richard Leinfellner in 1988; for the Apple ][ and IBM-PC compatibles by Designer Software in 1988.

Unofficial conversions for the Commodore Plus/4 by Muffbusters and SF in 1990: Muffbusters version programming, graphics and sounds by Mucsi, with title screen by Jeva. SF version by Ferenc S.

Conversion for the Atari 8-bits released by Laboratorium Komputerowe Avalon (L.K. Avalon) in 1993: Programming by Piotr Pazdzierkiewicz, Graphics by Piotr Podsiadlo, Music by Jakub Husak.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

I have been meaning to do a comparison of Palace Software's Barbarian for a long time now, but due to various reasons and excuses that I have allowed myself to make, there just hasn't been a moment so far that felt right for this one. Make of it what you will, but the time is now. On April Fools' Day 2015, I had finally begun to work on this one, so you can imagine it's one of those super long ones again, so prepare yourself with plenty of coffee. Making a comparison of Barbarian was never a suggestion, but I know many of my friends enjoyed this game back in the day, and long after that time, so this one goes for all those friends that I got around to playing Barbarian with.

NGOTM: Teodoro no sabe volar (Retroworks, 2010)

Designed for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers by Fco. Javier Velasco (Pagantipaco)

SPECTRUM CREDITS: Programming, graphics and music by Fco. Javier Velasco. Additional programming by Jaime Tejedor and Javier Peña. Sound engine by Jonathan Smith. Music engine by Beepola. Translation by Jaime Tejedor and Yuri Potapov. Testing by José Juan Rodenas, Javier Ortiz, Iván Sánchez and Sandro Mestre.

MSX CREDITS: Original idea, design and graphics by Fco. Javier Velasco. Programming and additional graphics by José Vila Cuadrillero. Sound engine, music and sound effects by José Vicente Masó.

AMSTRAD CREDITS: Original idea and design by Fco. Javier Velasco. Programming by José Vila Cuadrillero. Graphics, Screen and Loader by David Donaire Sánchez. Sound engine, music and sound effects by José Vicente Masó.

MSX & AMSTRAD: Translation by Jaime Tejedor. Testing by David Donaire, José Juan Rodenas, Javier Peña, Jaime Tejedor, Manuel Pazos and Fran.

Released originally for the ZX Spectrum 48k and 128k in 2010 as English and Spanish versions.
Russian translation for the ZX Spectrum released in 2011.
The Amstrad and MSX versions released in 2012.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME REVIEW

It's time to take another more recent game under inspection, and this time we've got one that hasn't got a C64 version (holey moley, that's the second non-C64 entry in a row!), at least not yet, nor does it have an official English title, so that's a first one. Also, this is a game that has sort of escaped my noticed so far, for some reason, so the first time I will be playing this one will be for the blog.

Alley Cat (Synapse Software, 1983)

Original concept by John Harris. Written by Bill Williams for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1983.
Converted for the IBM-PC compatibles by Bill Williams, and published by IBM in 1984.

Also converted for the NEC PC-8801, and published by Kotobuki-Raison in 1985. Further credits are unknown.

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GAME STATUS

This came out as a suggestion a while back, but since the bulk of the blog's readership is mostly C64 and Spectrum-based, for a long time I thought it wouldn't serve much purpose in doing a comparison about a game that wasn't released for either of those, nor even the Amstrad. But Alley Cat has a curious status of being one of the most widespread DOS games, at least in Finland, but I suspect it's probably so all around the world, and most of retrogamers know it through that connection, even if most of their gaming history is related to some other computer. So, while all of the machines included in this comparison are often featured on the blog, this is the first time ever, that the Atari 8-bit or IBM-PC's are not put against their arch nemesis - or is that nemesi in plural? Anyway, this one goes out to that certain anonymous reader who suggested the game in a comment a few months ago, as well as all you others who have Alley Cat somehow included in your gaming history. (And sorry about the cover picture - I couldn't find a scan of the original anywhere.)

Scumball (Mastertronic/Bulldog Software, 1988)

Produced for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 by Software Creations.

Written by Peter Gough for the ZX Spectrum.

Converted for the Commodore 64 by Martin Howarth, with graphics by Tiny and music by Tim Follin.

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GAME STATUS

For RESET magazine's sixth issue's Format Wars article, I had chosen to write about budget game publisher Mastertronic's final release under the Bulldog sub-label - Scumball. At least in my mind, it has to be one of the most memorable budget titles of all time, and I'm sure it is so to many others as well. Although clearly a cousin to Ultimate's Underwurlde from 1984 and Bubble Bus' Starquake from 1985, Scumball was more accessible due to the initially much lighter price tag and a more easily memorizable map. At the time of release, Crash gave the Spectrum version a very respectable 81%, and shortly after, Zzap!64 gave the C64 version 79%, so that alone should make you expect a rather tight comparison.

Unique Games! - Part 7

It's been well over three months since I did the previous proper entry in this series, so it's about time I did another one. This time, the list will be featuring mostly familiar items for many, but some surprises, some properly strange titles and a new machine to introduce to the UG hall of fame - a machine that celebrated its 20th anniversary just last year, and for some reason, the occasion went by unnoticed for many. But let's save that one for the last, now let's get on with some more exclusive and sometimes even actually unique games!