Match Day (Ocean Software, 1984)

Designed and written by Jon Ritman and Chris Clarke for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, with sounds by Guy Stevens. Published by Ocean Software in 1984.

Acorn BBC Micro version by Chris Roberts, and published by Ocean Software in 1985.

Amstrad CPC/PCW version by Sentient Software Ltd, and published by Ocean Software in 1985.

Commodore 64 version by Mercury Microwave:
Programming and graphics by Derek Ham and Paul Thomas Ralphs, with music by Martin Galway.
Published by Ocean Software in 1986 in "They Sold A Million II" compilation; no standalone release is known to exist.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k updated version released as "International Match Day" was written by Jon Ritman and Chris Clarke, with loading screen by Frederick David Thorpe. Published by Ocean Software in 1986.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Ocean October 2024 starts off with a game that all the retrogamers out there will already know, which version will lose the most spectacularly. I'm not completely sure, though, whether Match Day is really a game we need to put too much energy into comparing, though, because ever since football games went over to the 16-bits, trying to decide on which one is better over any other has been as futile as trying to decide whether pineapple belongs on a pizza or not. But here at FRGCB, the comparison shall be made nonetheless.

Nemesis the Warlock (Martech, 1987)

Designed and written by Creative Reality.
Game concept by David Dew, Jason Austin and Michael J. Archer.

Amstrad CPC version:
Programming by Neil Dodwell and Jason Austin
Graphics by David Dew
Sounds by Rob Hubbard

Commodore 64 version:
Programming by Michael J. Archer
Graphics by David Dew
Sounds by Rob Hubbard

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Programming by Jason Austin and Michael Archer
Graphics by David Dew
Sounds by Rob Hubbard

All versions published by Martech in 1987.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

As a reasonably quick one to fill the gap between August and the upcoming Ocean October, I decided to take a look at a game, that I knew from previous experience, would not be too complex to write about. My first memory of Martech's Nemesis the Warlock was reading about it from a Finnish games yearbook in the late 1980's, where the reviewer mentioned the game's ultra-violent approach, which instantly piqued my interest, being a horror fan from an early age. It wasn't a particularly praising review, but the concept of games being ultra-violent was a new idea to me then, and I did wonder, how would this style be approached in a computer game. So, having only ever played the C64 version, I wanted to finally see, how the two other versions compared to it.

TWO-FER #26: Datamost Double-Feature

1. Monster Mash / Monster Smash! (The Software Farm/Datamost, 1982-1984)

Written by David Eisler for the Apple II computers, and originally published by The Software Farm in 1982.

Converted for the Atari 8-bit computers by David Eisler, and published by Datamost, Inc. in 1983.

Converted for the Commodore 64 by David Eisler and Mark Riley, and published by Datamost, Inc. in 1984.

2. Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory (Datamost/Comptiq, 1983-1984)

Atari 8-bit version written by Ron Rosen with music by Gary Gilbertson.
Commodore 64 version written by Ron Rosen.
Both the Atari and C64 versions released by Datamost, Inc. in 1983.

Apple II version written by Ron Rosen with Robert "Wolf" McNally, and released by Datamost, Inc. in 1984.

NEC PC-88 conversion by Programmers-3, with title by M. Katuka, and released by Comptiq in 1984.

Fujitsu FM-7 conversion by Programmers-3, and released by Comptiq in 1984.

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INTRODUCTION AND GAME STATUS, PLURAL

Datamost was one of the earlier game publishers that focused on the Apple II, Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers for about four years before going belly-up, and they were based in Chatsworth, California, United States. Although they did produce some rather well-known games for their time, such as the Bilestoad, Ardy the Aardvark, Cohen's Towers, Cosmic Tunnels, Ankh and Polar Pierre, they haven't had their turn properly in the comparison blog so far. So, after my summer holiday and the recent Updates entry, I decided to take two of Datamost's classic games and deal with them in the same entry, since I talked about the possibility of a comparison of Monster Smash in my most recent C64 episode of My Nostalgia Trip Games on FRGCB's YouTube channel. Unfortunately, we're already in a bit of trouble, since there seems to be no readily available image file of the Fujitsu FM-7 version of Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory, and the only gameplay video I found of it anywhere was from twitch.tv, which has been deleted since starting to write this comparison. Hence, the FM-7 version is missing from the accompanying video until I can properly update both this comparison and the video, if I can ever bother to do so.

UPDATES.. not again? (These go to eleven.)

Unfortunately, that seems to be the case once more. Since the last Updates post, which goes all the way back to July 2021, a good deal of new versions for games previously featured on the blog have been released for various platforms. I have been spotting and collecting these items for a few months now, most of them through the irreplaceable Indie Retro News blog, so I thought it a good time to release this entry after getting back from my summer holiday, to have a relatively gentle landing back to reality while starting the blog's eleventh year.

Kung-Fu Master (Irem, 1984)

Designed by Takashi Nishiyama and developed by Irem Software Engineering, with music by Masato Ishizaki.
Originally published as "Spartan X" for the Japanese arcades by Irem in 1984, and distributed as "Kung-Fu Master" by Data East in North America in 1984 and in Europe in 1985.

Nintendo Famicom / NES version developed by Nintendo:
Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto
Programming by Toshihiko Nakago
Music by Koji Kondo
Published as "Spartan X" in Japan, and "Kung Fu" elsewhere in 1985 by Nintendo.

Apple II version:
Programming by Clayton Jung and Mike Farr
Art by Erin M. and Donna Steiner Buttlaire
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in North America by Data East in 1985.

Commodore 64 version adapted by Berkeley Softworks.
Programming by Chris Hawley
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in North America by Data East in 1985, and in Europe by U.S. Gold in 1986.

MSX version developed and published as "Seiken Acho" by IREM/ASCII Corporation in 1985.

Amstrad CPC version by Choice Software.
Programming by James Edward Cosby
Loading screen by C. Thornton
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in Europe by U.S. Gold in 1986.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Written by David J. Anderson (for Ocean Software)
Loading screen by F. David Thorpe
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in Europe by U.S. Gold in 1986.

Atari 2600 version programmed by Dan Kitchen. Published as "Kung-Fu Master" by Activision in Europe and North America in 1987, and by HES in Australia in 1987.

Atari 7800 version developed and published as "Kung-Fu Master" in North America by Absolute Entertainment in 1989.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Seeing as Kung-Fu Master was released on practically every major 8-bit home computer and the NES, there should be no question that this arcade classic is one of the biggest games of its time. This beat'em-up grandaddy was loosely based on an old Jackie Chan movie, titled Spartan X (hence the original Japanese title), although it has been said, that inspiration was also heavily drawn from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death. Released in November 1984, Kung-Fu Master has the distinction of being the first side-scrolling martial arts action game, prototyping later beat'em-ups as much in the way of structure and narrative, as in gameplay mechanics. So, celebrating the game's 40th anniversary this year, I thought it would be proper to write and sync up this comparison to that. Be warned, though - it's a long one, so you might want to grab a cup of coffee before you read any further.

Army Moves (Dinamic Software, 1986)

Amstrad CPC, MSX and Sinclair ZX Spectrum versions:
Programming by Víctor Ruiz Tejedor
Graphics by Víctor Ruiz Tejedor and Santiago Morga B.
Loading screen by Javier Cubedo
Music by Manuel Cubedo
Amstrad and Sinclair versions published by Dinamic Software (Spain) and Imagine Software (rest of Europe) in 1986.
MSX version published by Dinamic Software and Imagine Software in 1987.

Commodore 64 version:
Programming by Zach Townsend
Graphics by Andrew Sleigh and Jane Lowe
Music and sound effects by Fred Gray
Published by Imagine Software in 1987.

Commodore Amiga version:
Programming by Marc Wilding
Graphics by Simon Butler
Music and sound effects by David Whittaker
Published by Imagine Software in 1987.

Atari ST version:
Programming by Marc Wilding
Graphics by Steven Cain
Music and sound effects by David Whittaker
Published by Imagine Software in 1988.

IBM-PC compatibles version:
Programming by Victoriano Gomez
Title screen by Javier Cubedo
Published by Dinamic Software in 1989.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

In the 80's, and to some extent, 90's as well, Spanish game developers were more or less known primarily for using highly suggestive imagery for game cover art, perhaps to render themselves more appealing to more adult audiences. Before this style would take off properly, Dinamic Software did publish a few reasonably highly considered games, such as Saimazoom, Camelot Warriors and the home conversions of the arcade game West Bank. One of Dinamic's most well-known game series would take off with Army Moves from 1986, which I personally found through Ocean's game compilation called Live Ammo on the C64. I figured, now would probably be a good time to dig into all seven versions of the game, as I have been trying to balance things out a bit here on the blog, and I have strong suspicions that the C64 version might not win this time. Let's see.

Jail Break (Konami, 1985)

Developed by Konami for the arcades.
Directed by Oolong Sugimo.
Produced by Kagemasa Kozuki and Soft Second Development Room.
Music and sound effects by Sound Effect Study Room.
Originally published as an arcade game kit in North America by Konami Industry Co., Ltd. in 1985.
Full arcade game published in Japan as "Manhattan 24 Bunsho - NY 151 Nishi Dai 100 Street"
by Konami Industry Co., Ltd. in 1986.

Amstrad CPC conversion:
Programming by Neil Dodwell (Catalyst Coders)
Graphics by Stuart J. Ruecroft
Sprites by Mark R. Jones
Scrolling and sprite routines by Michael Croucher
Music by David Whittaker
Published by Konami Ltd. in 1986.

Commodore 64 conversion:
Programming by Darrell Etherington and Dave Garside
Graphics by Mark Jones
Music by David Whittaker
Published by Konami Ltd. in 1986.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum conversion:
Programming by Andrew Glaster
Graphics by Stuart J. Ruecroft
Published by Konami Ltd. in 1986.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

This year's Abominations April ends with arguably one of Konami's worst arcade games ever, which had three even worse home computer conversions, giving Jail Break the sort of infamy that not many games can boast of. When you think about that, it is of small wonder, that Konami decided to cancel the MSX release of Jail Break before it got finished, and there's no trace of any Famicom version having even been under consideration. For my part, I find all that rather unfortunate, because this comparison would have become much more interesting with those two, but we shall have to make do with the four versions we have.