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.

Pub Games (Alligata Software, 1986)

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Programmed by Richard Stevenson and David Wright (as Dollarsoft)
Published by Alligata in 1986.

Commodore 64 version:
Programming by John Stevenson
Graphics by JLM (?)
Music by Ben Daglish
Published by Alligata in 1986.

Amstrad CPC version written by Nix, and published by Alligata in 1987.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Starting this year's Abominations April, FRGCB is proud to present the non-awaited comparison of Alligata's classic pile of multi-event dirt that goes by the name Pub Games. It's a game that was unfortunate enough to find its way into my collection a couple of years ago via a joblot that I purchased from eBay, after solemnly swearing that Pub Games shall not ever be part of my collection. It's also a game that is often spoken of as a joke by myself and my friend and colleague Bob (of Retrogame Talkshow), merely by mentioning the name. So, of course, Pub Games was a perfect candidate for one of the games to be featured in Abominations April.

Zynaps (Hewson Consultants Ltd., 1987)

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Designed and written by Dominic Robinson; In-game graphics by Stephen J. Crow; Loading screen by John M. Phillips; Music by Steve Turner.

Commodore 64 version:
Designed by John Cumming and Dominic Robinson; Programming by John Cumming; Graphics by John Cumming and Stephen J. Crow; Music by Nigel Grieve.

Amstrad CPC version:
Programming by Michael Croucher and Dominic Robinson; Graphics by Stephen J. Crow and Mark R. Jones; Music by J. Dave Rogers.

Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum versions published by Hewson Consultants Ltd. in 1987.

Atari ST version:
Programming by Howie Davis; Graphics by Pete Lyon; Music by J. Dave Rogers.

Commodore Amiga version:
Programming by Howard Ball and Neil Metcalfe; Graphics by Pete Lyon; Music and sound effects by Giulio Zicchi.

Atari ST and Commodore Amiga versions developed by Microwish Software, and published by Hewson Consultants Ltd. in 1988.

Cover/poster art by Steve Weston.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Happy Easter, everybody! Having known this was going to be a busy March for me, I chose to put all my blogging focus on one of the last games I remember from my original Spectrum days (ca. 1984-1987), that I was somewhat obsessed about: Zynaps, Hewson's input into the already vast enough range of Gradius variants. I didn't know it at the time, nor did I give it much thought until years later, but now it seems somewhat obvious, that the game was originally designed for the ZX Spectrum. Despite being very likely the first game of its kind that I ever played, the genre didn't appeal to me even then, so I never did become all that good in Zynaps, but in an attempt to finally get better at it, I decided to give this game its turn now.

Gothik (Firebird, 1987)

Game concept and design by Paul Hutchinson.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version written by Paul Hutchinson, with loading screen by Drew Northcott. Published by Telecomsoft (Firebird) in 1987.

Amstrad CPC version written by Paul Hutchinson, and published by Telecomsoft (Firebird) in 1988.

Commodore 64 version written by Gavin "Gaxx" Raeburn, with loading screen by Paul "Dokk" Docherty. Published by Telecomsoft (Firebird) in 1988.

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GAME STATUS

There are two reasons why I chose Gothik from Firebird's vast catalogue as the second of this year's two February Firebird items: one, because I noticed that there haven't been too many Gauntlet-clones here at FRGCB, so it's about time to have the second one, no more than 6 years and 10 months after Pandora's classic Into the Eagles' Nest, rather coincidentally released the same year; and two, because I didn't have to make a video accompaniment, thanks to one already available in the Mikroview series.

Chickin Chase / Cock' In (Prism Micro-informatique S.A., 1984)

Developed by JAWX
Written by Francois Lionet
Originally published as "Cock' In" by Prism Micro-informatique S.A. for Oric Atmos in 1984.

Amstrad CPC version by JAWX, released as "Chickin Chase" by Firebird in 1985. Also released in France as "Poule Position" by Minipuce.

Commodore 64 version by JAWX, released as "Chickin Chase" by Firebird in 1985. Re-released in France as "Cock' In" by Prism Micro-informatique S.A.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version by JAWX, released as "Chickin Chase" by Firebird in 1985. Also released in France as "Cock' In" by Prism Micro-informatique S.A.

Thomson MO5/TO7 version written by Alain Fernandes, with graphics by Olivier Corviole. Published as "Coq'Inn" by VIFI in 1985.

Atari 400/800 and MSX versions by JAWX, released as "Chicken Chase" by Bug-Byte in 1986.

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GAME STATUS

This year's Firebird February will have to make do with only two games due to my constraining work schedules. First off, we have a French game from 1984 that wasn't originally even a Firebird release. JAWX developed Cock' In originally for the Oric Atmos, and got released by Prism Micro-informatique, but the game got converted for other platforms with various different names, with Chickin Chase being the chosen title for the Firebird release. This game has probably become more famous in the recent years thanks to certain online lists of the worst game covers ever, for which the original Cock' In cover has usually been chosen.