TWO-FER #28: Zeppelin Games from the 1990's!

AMERICAN 3D POOL

Commodore 64 version:
Programming and graphics by Stephen Walters; Music by Thomas Mogensen. Published by Zeppelin Games in 1991.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Programming by Andrew J. Richards; Graphics by David "Tink" Taylor. Published by Zeppelin Games in 1992.

SLEEPWALKER

Commodore 64 version:
Programming by David Sowerby; Graphics by Neil Hislop; Music by Andrew Rodger. Published by Zeppelin Games in 1991.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Programming by John Carlyle and Steven Turner; Graphics by Clive Thompson. Published by Zeppelin Games in 1992.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS, PLURAL

To bring some more 1990's games into the blog's archive, I had to think of something really out of the ordinary to make an interesting two-fer, and eventually came up with another publisher that had not been featured too many times on the blog. Eventually, I found two games from Zeppelin Games that were both released in 1991/92, that would fit a two-for-one comparison entry nicely, particularly as Sleepwalker and American 3D Pool couldn't be much more different from each other. Not a high profile publisher by any means, but they do have some interesting titles, these two included.

UpDaTeS sChMuPdAtEs...

As much as I would have wanted to continue doing comparisons, I had to resort to doing this quick Updates entry because of one rather considerable and inconvenient reason. One of my external hard drives broke down completely all of a sudden, without it having taken any physical damage or anything of the sort, and this particular hard drive had most of my work files for FRGCB's YouTube material (along with plenty of irreplaceable work-in-progress music stuff and videos), so I'm only able to finish this season of My Nostalgia Trip Games, before having to redo all my previous plans. Right now, I'm trying to salvage things from my other USB hard drives, which are even older, and on surface, in an even worse condition than the one that broke down, so it'll take a week or two before I'm able to put all my usual focus on blogging and making videos. So, just to get something out to get this month started, I took the time to do this Updates entry to mention a few previously undocumented game things worth mentioning, some of them quite recent, too.

First off, some of you might have noticed from the comparison of IK+ having been updated a few days ago, that the retro gaming YouTube channel WORG - World of Retro Gaming - has given permission to link their comparison videos to my text comparisons, whenever possible. This means FRGCB is now collaborating with five different YouTube channels: WORG, Gaming History Source, Theshadowsnose, mikroman01 (the Mikroview series) and Retrocore. Thanks again to each of you for the permissions, if you're reading! ;)

Now, for the actual game updates that have been waiting to be done. As far as I've been able to dig into the blog's past, I can only update four entries now, but it's all better than nothing, so let's get on to them.

World Series Baseball (Imagine Software, 1985)

Designed and written by Ian Morrison and David J. Anderson for Platinum Productions, with music by Robin Muir, and loading screen by Frederick David Thorpe. Originally published for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum by Imagine Software in 1985.

Commodore 64 version written by David A. Collier, with loading screen by Frederick David Thorpe. Originally published by Imagine Software in 1985, and re-released in North America as "The Slugger" by Mastertronic in 1986.

Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16 and Plus/4 versions have no detailed credits. Amstrad CPC and C16/+4 versions published by Imagine Software in 1985.

IBM-PC conversion written by Randall Don Masteller, and published as "The Slugger" by Mastertronic in 1986.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Quite possibly the first baseball game that I ever played was this classic from Imagine Software, just released around the time the company was being bought by Ocean Software at the end of 1985. If I have understood correctly, World Series Baseball and its only sequel, the Spectrum-only World Series Basketball, were the last titles published under the original Imagine flag, so now being the game's 40th anniversary, I thought it a good time to finally make its comparison.

(CORRECTION, 30th of August: As was pointed out to me at the Spectrum Computing forum, I quote: "Both were published by Ocean in 1985, but development had started before Imagine went under in 1984. The original Imagine's last titles were Cosmic Cruiser and BC Bill." Thanks to StooB for the correction.) 

IK+ (System 3, 1987)

Designed by Archer Maclean
Programming and graphics by Archer Maclean
Loading screen by Paul Docherty
Music by Rob Hubbard
Originally published on the Commodore 64 by System 3 in 1987.

North American C64 version includes loading music by Russell Lieblich, and was published as "Chop 'N' Drop" by Activision in 1988.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions written by Dan Michek, with music by Rob Hubbard. Published by System 3 on the ZX Spectrum in 1987, and on the Amstrad CPC in 1988.

Commodore Amiga and Atari ST versions written by Archer Maclean, with music by Dave Lowe. Published by System 3 in 1988. Also published on the Amiga CD32 in 1994.

Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Sony Playstation versions developed by Ignition Entertainment:
PS1 programming by Jim Bagley
GBA programming by Jim Bagley and Adrian Scotney
GBA music and sound effects by Steve Cowell
Published by Ignition Entertainment in 2003.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Planned to be included on the comparison blog since the beginning, International Karate Plus was, similarly to Pitstop II, one of those games that felt like a last resort thing. Now that the blog has turned 12 years old, I thought the time is right to have some of more bigger 8-bit classics to get their place in the comparison blog, while I'm attempting to take the blog more towards the 16-bits. Archer Maclean's second game, International Karate, became a massive hit in 1986, which prompted a swift development for a sequel. IK+ had nothing international about it, as such, but it made the arena fighting game genre one of the biggest things at the time, thanks to a couple of rather unusual, and still rarely seen innovations.

Pitstop II (Epyx, 1984)

Written by Stephen H. Landrum and Dennis Caswell for the Commodore 64.

Converted for the Atari 8-bit computers by Lloyd D. Ollman Jr. for Synergistic Software.

Converted for the IBM-PC compatibles by Lauren Guimont for Synergistic Software.

Converted for Apple II by Ivan Manley, R. Clardy and D. Stinnett for Synergistic Software.

Also converted for TRS-80 Color Computer, but no credits are known.

Published by Epyx in 1984, except Apple II and TRS-80 CoCo versions in 1985.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Doing a comparison of Pitstop II always felt to me like the last resort - such an obvious choice of a C64 classic to tackle, that it wouldn't even make sense to compare it. However, thanks to the Reset64 magazine's request for a racing game comparison for their now to be the final issue, I took the chance to do a comparison of both Pitstop games, just to see how they compare against each other. Although the first Pitstop comparison ended up as the last comparison to be written for, and (still to be) published in the Reset64 magazine, I decided to release the two Pitstop comparisons on the blog almost back-to-back, just to get it done.

FRGR #17: Elfmania (Renegade, 1994)

Developed by Terramarque:
Main programming by Antti Toiviainen and Jani Askolin
A.I. programming and supervision by Stavros Fasoulas (uncredited)
Graphics by Antti Kallioinen
Music by Aleksi Eeben
Sound effects by Ville Hyvönen

Published by Renegade Software for the Commodore Amiga in 1994.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

It's time to exploit this blog's Finnishness once again, by doing another review of an old Finnish game. This summer's selection is the last game ever to be published with any notable input from the C64 legend, Stavros Fasoulas, and simultaneously, the first and only game to be published by Terramarque, who would later join forces with Bloodhouse of Stardust fame to become Housemarque - the oldest still active Finnish game developing company, who turns 30 years old exactly today, on the 19th of July, 2025.

Pitstop (Epyx, 1983)

Developed and published by Epyx for Atari 400/800, ColecoVision, Coleco ADAM and Commodore 64 in 1983.

Atari 400/800 version designed and written by Action Graphics.

ColecoVision & ADAM version by the Connelley Group and Action Graphics: Programming by Richard Ditton; Sounds by David Thiel; Graphics by Action Graphics.

Commodore 64 version written by Jamie Faye Fenton.

(Credits taken from Colecovision.dk)

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

I have to start this entry with a sad note. This comparison was originally written almost two years ago for the 16th issue of Reset64 magazine, which at that time was still in all appearances going strong and healthy. All sorts of real life events for the Reset64 staff were behind the initial delay, but then, a series of more or less unfortunate happenings started ringing the bells of doom for the magazine, with people stepping down from their roles in the magazine and even a death of a beloved member. So, in the end, issue 16 is still to be released, and is in the works by the remaining people. I asked for, and received permission to publish this comparison whenever I felt like (due to my personal scheduling problems) from the original editor of the magazine, who goes by the handle Unkle K at the Lemon64 forum, so I decided to dedicate this entry to all the current and past people at Reset64, and I hope to see the final 16th issue some day soon. Now, onto the comparison itself.

Just about 42 years ago, the happily straight-forward genre of racing games would be disturbed by the release of a game that would introduce something other than driving a car into the mix. The game, Pitstop, was the first to bring in actual pit stops into racing games, but of course, this was received with mixed reviews. In hindsight, the racing part of Pitstop probably could have been better, seeing as Pole Position was still considered the yardstick, but at least it was different, and became successful enough to have a sequel.