Sunday 26 February 2023

SPECIAL: Telecomsoft Exclusives

The main excuse, of course, for bringing about a Firebird-themed month for this February was to continue the line started by the Mastertronic Exclusives special last May. Just as a quick reminder, the idea is to list games that were released by the publisher of choice, exclusively for certain platforms, whether or not they were actually unique in anyway, without listing any of the games already featured in the Unique Games series. As such, this list will not be a definitive one, but rather a look at the best of what Telecomsoft's labels Firebird and Silverbird had to offer exclusively for each represented platform. To my knowledge, the third label, Rainbird, never released any exclusive games, although they did do some odd publishing.

Telecomsoft's game publishing history was, while prolific and extremely memorable for us 80's gamers, unfortunately short, since they only existed from 1984 to 1989, before getting bought by MicroProse, who still continued to publish games under Telecomsoft's three labels until 1990. The majority of Telecomsoft's games were released for the two major home computers, Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, but they did have a good number of games on other platforms as well, even exclusive ones. However, the two major 16-bit computers, the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, shared all their games that did not get made for the 8-bits.

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ACORN BBC MICRO + ELECTRON


Due to Telecomsoft's location, their main focus for game releases were the British-originated platforms, one of them being the two 8-bit Acorn computers, before they were found largely unprofitable. Still, a few considerable Acorn-exclusive classics were released during 1984 and 1985.


1. Acid Drops (Firebird, 1984) - BBC

From way too many shoot'em-ups released by Firebird for the Acorn computers, my favourite might be Acid Drops. The reason is, there's more to it than what's instantly apparent. For about 90% of the game's playtime, it is a single-screen shoot'em-up, but between each level, you fly through a horizontally scrolling tube with similar small gaps you need to get through as you see in the recent Flappy Bird style games.


The actual shooting part of the game is thankfully quirky, as well, since while the real focus is still on the aliens invading your personal space, and you can only shoot them one relatively slow bullet at a time, there's a lurking danger hovering above you. At the top of the screen, there's a pool of acid, slowly corroding the pool and eventually making holes in it, which makes the acid - lethal to you - fall in drops. You can also shoot holes into the bottom of the pool, so you need to be really careful when shooting at the aliens. As an additional quirk, the acid drops don't hurt the aliens, but rather mutate them into something more dangerous upon collision. It's a simplistic-looking game, but with a good enough twist to make it well worth checking out.


2. The Hacker (Firebird, 1984)
- BBC/Electron

There's always one or two exclusive Manic Miner clones for these sorts of machines, and Firebird released two of them for the BBC Micro. The other one, Fat Man Sam, I considered a bit too impossible to play, so the one worth mentioning left is The Hacker, also released for the Electron. The Electron version only differs from the BBC Micro version by being a bit slower, and having naturally worse sound effects.

An elaborate story about hacking into a system to get access to games, and creating a controllable avatar inside the network makes the game just as implausible as any other Manic Miner clone, but who ever played these games for the plotline, anyway? Well, there are twelve stages in The Hacker, all of which can be practiced by typing HELP while the high score table is displayed. The level design in the later levels is what really separates The Hacker from most other Manic Miner clones, but it's also what makes this game particularly difficult. But it's still better than what you would expect at first, and worth a go.



3. Bird Strike (Firebird, 1984) - BBC

The second Acorn-exclusive shoot'em-up from Firebird is one of those shooters that take place in a single area, so it only has one background image in it. You control a small land-to-air defense device, which has to shoot down a bunch of old-school fighter planes that come down from above the clouds. The funny thing is, the real purpose of this setup is, that the planes are sending off carrier pigeons, which are carring musical notes. To get a bonus score for the level, you need to kill enough pigeons and fill up the notation line above the skyline before finishing off the fighter planes.

To be frank, this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen or heard in connection to a shoot'em-up game. It's also rather surprising, that it's not half bad to play. There must be something funny in British drinking water, but when after almost 40 years, I find these kinds of surprises on a relatively obscure platform, I cannot really complain. Very much recommended!



4. Star Drifter (Firebird, 1985) - BBC/Electron

Here's an obligatory maze-adventure, which were so popular on the Acorn computers in the 80's, and it was released for both BBC Micro and Electron. For that reason alone, I was tempted to overlook this one, but I'm glad I took a chance with it, because Star Drifter is one of the best Sabre Wulf variants I have ever played.

You start the game with nothing but empty pockets, but you find a gun soon enough. Your inventory "tube" has three slots, which are pushed out through the other end as you collect more things, and since the gun is a thing that you have in your inventory, you can only shoot things when holding the gun. You will also find keys and treasures, and you need to shoot a LOT of alien creatures to get anywhere. Somehow, the game managed to surprise me further by having walls that you can shoot down and walk through them, in addition to the unlockable doors. And I'm sure there must be a lot more to this game, but I haven't had the time to dig into it further. Anyway, highly recommended!



5. Gold Digger (Firebird, 1984) - BBC

If you're into coffee break fun games, but think that they're often too long, Gold Digger (or GolDigger) might be your thing. It's a single screen Dig Dug and Boulderdash variant of sorts that wastes three lives faster than a single Tetris block spends time falling down on its own speed. Well, maybe not that quick, but it's pretty hyperspeed, anyway.

Your mission is to collect all the gold nuggets from the screen before the timer runs out, but you are also being chased by something called misers, which you need to shake off or get them smashed by rocks. Each level brings in another miser with a different strategy, so you need to really hone your technique with this one! It's pretty good fun, once you get into the hectic rhythm of it, but there's a good chance you'll spend a longer time loading the game than playing.



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SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM


The other, more profitable British-originated platform was more internationally successful, which can be seen in the timeline of releases from both Firebird and Silverbird. The quality of these exclusive Spectrum games was relatively high, considering they were all more or less budget titles.


1. Byte Bitten (Firebird, 1984)

It has often been said, that Byte Bitten is one of the first games to feature mini-games. Technically, this is not exactly accurate, since Byte Bitten is just two games in turns: an arcade maze-adventure and a Defender-styled helicopter shooter called Sea King, which you can actually practice without bothering with the maze part of the game.

That said, Byte Bitten is a funny little game, where you play as the father of an unnamed virtual family, who has caught a severe case of game addiction. Before you can have a round (full four lives through) of your favourite game, Sea King, you need to complete a job given to you by one of your family's members, usually your offspring - fetch an object from the maze-like house. There is humour in the very real-life sort of situation here, but honestly, Sea King just isn't worth the bother, and I would rather just complete the fetching missions. Too bad the house is riddled with random alien creatures, making the chores so bothersome, as they always are. But considering all that nonsense, Byte Bitten is one of Firebird's better early titles.



2. Vectron (Insight Software/Firebird, 1985)

I had to make one exception to a so far unwritten rule here, that none of the listed games should be a re-release. The original release by Insight Software is lost from the archives, you see, so there is some debate, whether Insight actually ever got to release Vectron, or if the only release came from Firebird. Whatever the case regarding that, Vectron is one of the hidden Spectrum gems designed by Mike Follin, with more excellent music from his brother Tim. The game was apparently supposed to be released for the C64 and Amstrad as well, but neither of them seem to have ever existed.

Vectron is a fast and furious 3D shooter in a maze environment, where you control some sort of a device inside a computer, and you need to shoot all the hostile machines before finding the exit. Sounds easy, but the device you hunt down evil droids with moves automatically, and you can only control a cross-hair to shoot and turn the vessel through corners, hoping to minimize any damage you will be taking. And you will, a lot at first. Vectron is an insanely difficult game to get into the rhythm of, but once you figure out how to juggle with the backwards controls, the map overlay screens and the actual shooting part of it all, there is a chance you might get to enjoy the game. But be warned, it's a harsh one.



3. Octan (Silverbird, 1988)

From a bunch of Spectrum-exclusive shoot'em-ups released under both Firebird and Silverbird labels, I chose Octan as the representative. Or "Ostai", if the semi-cyrillic typography is something to be considered. Whenever I start up one of these mostly generic shooters, my first reaction is usually a groan, but for some reason, Octan managed to intrigue me with its presentation.

Gameplay-wise, Octan doesn't really differ all that much from most of the shooters that are considered top of the line, although there is a different kind of a special weapon selection system that is only opened during boss fights. The game does suffer a bit unfairly of a common Spectrum problem, which is monochrome graphics in an unnecessarily busy play area, and there are some problems with hit detection, but for a budget title, Octan is a surprisingly competent one.



4. Halloween: Olli & Lissa 2 (Silverbird, 1990)

The Olli & Lissa trilogy is one of the strangest trilogies on the 8-bit computers for two reasons. The titular characters' names sound almost Finnish (Olli, often short for Olavi, and Liisa, are very traditional names here), and the second part was only ever released on the Spectrum, although oddly, it was the last of the trilogy to be released. Otherwise, it's fairly traditional arcade-adventuring.

Whereas Olli & Lissa parts 1 and 3 were clear platform-adventuring, Halloween makes you control a fairy on a broom, so you're floating around like the witch in Cauldron, instead of jumping. In fact, you're not even controlling either Olli or Lissa, but the protagonist in this game is called Arabella - it just takes place in the same place as the other two games. It's a bit tricky, but it's similar enough to games like Dizzy, Cauldron and Sorcery to make you feel close to home.



5. 3D Stock Car Championship (Firebird, 1988)

Oddly, here's a racing game exclusive for the ZX Spectrum, and it's not even a proper 3D game, despite its name. What 3D Stock Car Championship is, is a max four-player single-screen isometric racing game with some nice multiple angle toy car modelling, sliding physics on higher speeds and adjustable computer opponent levels.

The brilliant thing about 3D SCC is, that you can basically do practice rounds by dropping all other racers from the grid by selecting "unwanted" for cars other than yours. The practice might be needed, since the car is accelerated by pushing the fire button, but you also need to switch gears, which happens by taking your finger off the fire button for a second. And as I said, higher speeds makes the car slide quite easily, so you need to become used to that. If you bump into a wall, you need to reverse a little bit, which happens by pulling the joystick down. 3D SCC is one of those games, that only reveal their genius when you play them - it doesn't really look or sound like much, but it's surprisingly good fun to play.



6. Gyron (Firebird, 1985)

Looking back at the first half of the 1980's and how 3D games evolved, it's not all that easy to say, what could they have possibly made to make the 3D games of that time made to be more appealing to some unassuming gamer trying to find new and interesting games based on screenshots and reviews. The way Torus, the team behind Gyron, approached the issue of appeal, was to offer a prize of a Porsche 924 or £12,500 in cash for the first person to solve the game's second part - Necropolis. The original game additionally featured a practice game, Atrium, in addition to the aforementioned Necropolis.

The Gyron games are basically wireframe first-person maze games with free, quad-directional movement. There is also a puzzle of sorts to be solved, which involves shooting towers with your laser gun from the right direction, but shooting the towers might result in unexpected consequences. While Gyron is definitely more complex and difficult than what I'm able to describe here, the game was simple enough for around 60 people to complete it, so a play-off was organized simultaneously in London, Spain and Denmark for a third challenge, specifically written for the event, and thus with the addition of Arena, Gyron became a trilogy. Even today, Gyron is one of the most engaging first-person maze games on the Spectrum, and should be mandatory for all Spectrum-enthusiasts.


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COMMODORE 64


Perhaps the most profitable platform for Telecomsoft's products was the American originated Commodore 64, which not only had some of the best arcade conversions of the bunch, but also the biggest amount of exclusive releases, most of them quite high in quality, too. However, because most of the best ones have already been featured in the Unique Games series, this list will show off some of the lesser known gems.


1. Train Robbers (Firebird, 1987)

Probably my absolute favourite wild west themed game on the C64 takes you chasing after a high speed steam locomotive, which you must then climb aboard and reach the other end while dodging tunnels and jump over gaps. Once at the other end, you enter the train car, which contains a treasure you need to collect, and a couple of angry black dogs whose gnawing teeth you need to avoid. Easier said than done, of course, but a lot of the game is also a matter of chance, so it never gets old!

This is like the opposite of Kane or Outlaws, except the gameplay is more reminiscent of Stop the Express and Realm of Impossibility to some extent. Thanks to the randomly appearing tunnels and the practically homing guard dogs, Train Robbers is challenging enough to make you want to rip your joystick to pieces after the first dozen attempts, but it's also a very well made game, and a rewarding one too. Highly recommended!



2. Slimey's Mine (Silverbird, 1988)


This game had somehow completely escaped my notice until I started working on this entry, but what a marvellous little arcade mash-up Slimey's Mine is! The main hub of the game makes you jump on a bunch of platforms from a top-down view, some of which diminish upon every leap you take from them (similarly to a certain frog game I can't get the name of in my head at the moment). The area you jump around in is somewhere in space, and you need to look out for traps and empty spots. Some of the platforms are solid, but have a rectangular hole in them, which you can go through to enter one of the game's numerous mines.


The mines themselves are played in the style of Berzerk, but here, you need to pick up gems and other items dropped by killed aliens to be able to make progress. Some of the rooms are blocked by unpassable land mass, for which you need an explosive device to clear the way. Apart from a lacklustre soundtrack, Slimey's Mine is one of the best Silverbird releases I have ever played - if not the best.


3. Ozzy versus the Universe, Part I: Demons of Topaz (Firebird, 1984)


The oldest game for the C64 list has nothing to do with a certain singer from Black Sabbath, although who would blame you, if you thought so. Demons of Topaz is a side-scrolling platformer by Andrew E. Bailey, who was later responsible for the C64 port of Microcosm, which I wrote a comparison of some years ago. The full title should also be disregarded, since there was never a Part II of this game.

Although the laughably bad bitonal rendition of Bizet's March of the Toreadors is instantly memorable in its horridness, the game isn't half bad. Very challenging and annoying, yes, but surprisingly playable. The game feels pretty much like a side-scrolling version of Jet Set Willy, although with upgraded jump controls. The idea is to one by one retrieve seven fuel pods, which appear as large diamonds, and then take off to... well, start over again, apparently. So, I can't honestly say Demons of Topaz is particularly special in any way, but it does have its own specific sort of feel to it, which makes it worth a look.



4. Bushido: the Way of the Warrior (Firebird, 1989)

One of the most unfortunately overlooked games in Firebird's catalogue is Bushido, developed by none other than Steve Turner of Graftgold. Personally, I think the game was released a bit too late in the C64's life to make much of an impact, but then it's not exactly the most playable game, either. I admit, it took me a few attempts to understand what Bushido was about, and the tilted 3D-styled view of the play area, which reminds me of those mid-80's Ultimate Play The Game titles with Sir Arthur Pendragon for the C64, didn't help much giving a first impression.

Oddly, even though Bushido plays like a fairly straight-forward maze-action game inside vast buildings, it also has some RPG elements in it. You start the game by selecting one of a few different characters, all of which have different abilities and statistics in different areas you can develop along the way. Most of the character development happens by combat and training, but you also need to find all sorts of items to help you on your way - be it shields, swords, keys or who knows what, most of which can only be found by jumping around the back walls and killing enemies. One of the most unique things about Bushido is, that your character actually ages along the way - recovering from a defeated battle will take 6 months, for example. Bushido could have easily been part of the Unique Games series thanks to its odd combination of elements, but better late than never. Recommendable, but a bit too complicated and unattractive for its own good.



5. Combat Crazy: Warbringer (Silverbird, 1988)

Another game from the Silverbird catalogue is strangely listed as Combat Crazy, although the only title you see in the game is Warbringer. It's basically a side-viewed omni-directionally scrolling platform shooter with a seemingly endless map that doesn't have too much of visual variety. But that all can be taken as both pros and cons.

The main focus is on gameplay, which has been pleasantly finetuned far enough to make Warbringer surprisingly evolved and complex for what it is, yet simple enough to make it instantly playable and mildly surprising. If I were to namedrop some other games that Warbringer instantly reminds me of, the comparison wouldn't put the game in a particularly good light, but despite being a budget release with less than optimal points of comparison, it is a surprisingly solid game, and I can heartily recommend it to any run'n'gun fan.



6. Super Rider (Firebird, 1985)

Since I started the C64 section with a game with a horse, I'll end the section with another: Super Rider, an equestrian game with some of the oddest visuals I have ever seen on the C64. The loading screen already looks like it was attempted to be made look like a simulated watercolour painting, and most of the game's terrain elements are somehow triangular.

The idea is simply to ride your horse from start to finish, and gather as much of points by performing horsey stunts - jumping over either purpose-built obstacles or chasms, if you dare. Gather enough points, and you can proceed to the next level. There is something oddly charming about Super Rider's strange visual approach, combined with a few well-known classical tunes programmed slightly sloppily. It's an acquired taste, to be sure, but I consider Super Rider to be a distant cousin of Bump 'n' Jump.


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COMMODORE 16 (and PLUS/4)

It seems as if Firebird's niche focus shifted from the Acorn computers to the Commodore 16 (and Plus/4) after 1985 for the next two years. Unfortunately, most of the exclusive games were more misses than hits. But then, C16 games are a bit cheap by necessity, so you will have to take them as they come.


1. Into the Deep / Space Mission (1986)

One of the better C16-exclusives is a primordial cave-flyer turned into Choplifter, somehow. What I mean by primordial cave-flyer is, that the gameplay is basically copied from games like Zeppelin, Where's My Bones? and Fort Apocalypse, but is more basic in execution. The Choplifter part is the mission of rescuing all the floating human heads from the caves, and eventually bringing them to the base.

For some odd reason, the game identifies as Space Mission in the loading screen, it has no title screen with a title in it, and the cover art says it's Into the Deep. If you happen to like this sort of thing and want to buy it into your building C16/+4 collection, now you know what to look for.



2. Netrun 2000 (1986)

Here's a game that desperately tries to be something akin to the creations of Jeff Minter, but fails at recreating the hyperactive feel of his games. It's a sideways two-way Centipede/Gridrunner variant, which in itself wouldn't be a bad idea, but unlike in Minter's creations, the shooting is a bit too stiff and clunky instead of hyper and fluid, as it ought to be in these sorts of games.

Once you manage to make progress, you will notice the enemy design varies nicely, and it's really all about finding a rhythm and keeping an eye on both sides of the screen. There's a wall-like presence in the middle, which your guns are siding, and the wall acts something like a shield, so you have to be careful not to let too many enemies reach it. All in all, it's fairly playable, and still one of the better C16 games I have tried out, but I wouldn't choose it as a game to represent what's good about the C16.



3. Shark Attack (1986)

Another simple shooter here, and this one also had an alternative cover title, with the "Attack" dropped from its full in-game title. Shark Attack really focuses on the shark part of the title, because that's all you need to - and even can - shoot at. In a rather funny way, the game has been turned into a timed shooting gallery style game, because you need to hit the cross-target on the shark's side precisely to kill it and move on to the next level, before you run out of air.

Each new level only differs from the last by throwing a different underwater hazard at you, whether they are roaming fishes, randomly spawning medusas or whatever. Sometimes there are more than one hazard, so the timing game becomes extra difficult then. All things considered, it's a fun little coffee break fun type of a game, but nothing truly exciting.



4. Torpedo Alley (1986)

Here's probably the most simplistic submarine battle game that I have ever played, which might or might not be considered a good thing. At least, you don't have to learn 20 different keys to get anything happening, like you do in simulators.

All you need to do is shoot torpedos at passing boats, which move at different speeds, so it's really all about timing, again. Sometimes, a bomber plane might pass, which is when you need to dive out of sight, until you feel the bomber has passed and resurface. That's all there is to it, really - the only controls you need are fire, down and up. Simple and surprisingly good fun despite the game's slow pace.

 

5. Runner (1986)

The last one for the C16 list is a ladder-based platformer, in which the protagonist is equipped with a jetpack. The idea in Runner is simple: collect three keys from the top of each level to move on to the next level, and watch out for small ball-shaped enemies while at it. Some of the enemies can climb ladders, and others can only fall down.

Of course, since it's a C16 game, there are bound to be some playability issues - this time it's the game's reaction time to your controller's commands. It took me a couple of tries to find out that you need to keep the fire button down for a while for it take effect, and I didn't even realize you had a jetpack until after the second Game Over. If it wasn't for the specific types of enemies and the jetpack, Runner wouldn't be much to write about, but as it is, it manages to be a fairly interesting game in the C16 catalogue. But that's about it, really.


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OTHER 8-BITS


For most of the other 8-bits, where Telecomsoft had any publications, the focus was mostly on conversions, if any. Only for the 8-bit Atari computers and Amstrad CPC, they managed to spit out a couple of exclusive titles.


1. The Extirpator! (Firebird/Silverbird, 1988) - Atari 400/800

The first odd thing about The Extirpator! is certainly the odd title, but to my mildly OCD mind, the more pressing matter is, that the game insists at all times, that it is released by Firebird, while the game's cover says Silverbird. I suppose the decision to go with the new label either came too late for the developers to make any changes to the original texts before manufacturing, or something got mixed up in the manufacturing process at Telecomsoft headquarters. Who knows.

Then, the game itself is truly a hidden gem among all 8-bit catalogues. It seems more like a tech demo than a proper game, although there's nothing wrong with the game as such - it is a perfectly playable side-scrolling shoot'em-up with no real gameplay shenanigans, except for two: your weapon has a relatively slow charging system, and you only have a finite amount of power in the weapon at a time. Think of it as an overheat mechanism, for the lack of a better description. You also have a certain amount of shield energy to spare for your nine lives. The game has some visual candy, though, like a weird randomly acting board of strange lights below the info panel, and a considerable amount of parallax scrolling background graphics, new ones for almost every level, not to mention some very nice looking level bosses. And of course, there's the title music by Rob Hubbard, which was originally the loading music for Sanxion on the C64. Pretty good overall, and highly recommendable, if you're into shooters, at least.



2. Matta Blatta (Firebird/Silverbird, 1988) - Atari 400/800

Yeah, it seems like the only game developers who felt like creating something exclusive for the Atari had the same thing in mind - more shoot'em-ups! Matta Blatta - which I think is supposed to be Master Blaster - is similarly side-scrolling shooter as the previous game, but this one is based around the idea of stupidly long attack waves of a single type of enemy. Well, there's always something odd about these. And again, Firebird and Silverbird are both mentioned similarly to the other game.

There's a weird randomness about how the enemies appear on the screen, as well, so you can have no well-rehearsed movement patterns for dodging everything going on. It's not as impressive as The Extirpator! in any particular way, but it kind of works better as a shoot'em-up. The last odd thing about Matta Blatta is, that a similar (but not the same) game with the same exact title was released for a machine called Supervision in 1992. And since it's one of the two Atari-exclusives, I had to include it here.



3. Bio Spheres (Silverbird, 1987) - Amstrad CPC

For the Amstrad CPC, the game devs and producers were much more single-minded about which publisher they would be using for these exclusive games. Bio Spheres was released by Silverbird, and is considered one of the better Silverbird games for the CPC. It's also something other than a shoot'em-up, which is already a plus in my book, no matter how good they might be at this point.

At first, Bio Spheres feels like a Gauntlet clone, as it plays largely in a similar manner. The idea is quite different, though: you need to blast a bomb hidden somewhere within each level to smithereens, but in order to not kill yourself while at it, you have to collect six pieces of a shield to get safe. There are all kinds of enemies that shoot at you, and some of which you can't even kill - kind of like Gauntlet, really, but I found Bio Spheres visually more pleasing for some reason. Definitely one of the better hidden Amstrad gems, so check it out.



4. Thunder Zone (Firebird, 1987) - Amstrad CPC

And here's another shoot'em-up, this time in first-person perspective. Although Thunder Zone looks simple enough to just blast everything, it's not quite as simple as that... unfortunately. But I have a feeling this game might be more of a misunderstood hidden gem, thanks to its strange control method.

The way you this game seems to be controlled is by moving the cursor below the icon with one of the number keys, which chooses either one of three weapons, a shield (which makes the entire screen look blue), hyperspeed or space ship maintenance. Your designated fire button does the chosen action. The game also has controls for left and right, but I haven't found out what they actually do, because they control neither the cursor nor the ship. Despite its problems, I think Thunder Zone is an interesting game, if a bit simplistic in design and clumsy in its looks.


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ATARI ST & COMMODORE AMIGA


Because Telecomsoft was already doing the final rounds in 1989, before MicroProse bought the company, the 16-bits didn't really have much of a chance getting much of backlog from the company's three labels. Since both Atari ST and Commodore Amiga did have some games that didn't make it to the 8-bits, but didn't have any really exclusive titles for either machine, these four games represent both machines. It might be worth to mention, that all these games were ST-originals, though.


1. Whirligig / Spacecutter (Firebird/Rainbird, 1988)

Let's start this on the wrong foot. Here's a semi-complex space game, which has some shooting in it, although it's not its main purpose. You control a space ship by using your mouse, even though controlling the ship isn't exactly analog. The main point of the game is to somehow drag objects through stargates, and then warp through one yourself, but even by reading the game manual, I haven't been able to perform any dragging. You do need to shoot at things, though, so that's something you can relate to, even if the only weapon you have is homing missiles, which can backfire if there's nothing to home on to other than your own ship.

I'm having trouble believing that the late great Mike Singleton, who was responsible for such classics as the Lords of Midnight, War in Middle Earth and the two Midwinter games, would create something like this. The folks at Telecomsoft must have been equally stumped, because they named the game Whirligig to be published by Firebird for the European market, and Spacecutter to be published by Rainbird for the American market. But hey, it's different enough to be worth trying it out, and the only game in the entire Telecomsoft catalogue to get such an odd combo-release. If only it used more player-friendly controls, I might have attempted a bit more valiantly.



2. Return to Genesis (Firebird, 1988)

If Whirligig/Spacecutter didn't wet your shooter glands, maybe Return to Genesis will. There is some reason to be excited about this game, too, since it's made in the same style as the C64 classic, Uridium, but the point is to collect stranded scientists from the deck of the large spaceship, while avoiding getting hit by enemy vessels or their projectiles.

Too bad the controls are questionable at best. If you play the Amiga version, the only controller in use is your mouse, and although on the Atari ST you can use a joystick, your manta-wannabe ship can turn left or right randomly while steering it up or down - same as it does when using a mouse. But from the two bad choices, the ST version is less unplayable. Mind you, I have only tried it out through emulation so far, so there's a chance it might work better on real hardware. Luckily, you don't really have to focus on the shooting part of the game as much as you do in Uridium, and you also don't have to worry about landing the manta-like ship anywhere for the destruction sequence. Return to Genesis is a game I would like to enjoy, as it gives a nice twist on the Uridium-like genre.



3. Quartz (Firebird, 1988 ST / 1989 Amiga)

There's always time for yet another shoot'em-up, when it's interesting enough to mention. Quartz is, perhaps a bit surprisingly considering its relative obscurity, a shoot'em-up game with probably the most variety that I have ever seen in a shooter game before, as well as one the most interesting power-up systems I have ever come across in shoot'em-ups.

During the first four sections of the game, you will get to play an Asteroids type omni-directional shooter, a side-scrolling level and a vertically scrolling level, which goes downwards. I haven't been able to get any further yet, because it is a nicely challenging, but interesting game, in which you need to prepare for different kinds of boss fights every second level. Since by default, you only have a single-bullet shooter in your ship, you need to collect power-up pellets enough to either upgrade your ship with weapon upgrades that only last for a finite time period, or fix your damaged ship, so you also need to strategize with that. All of that makes Quartz probably my favourite shoot'em-up in a long time, and certainly my favourite on this entire list.



4. Fire and Brimstone (Firebird/MicroProse, 1990)

To grab the chance to end this article on both a low and a high note, we have what is reportedly the last game to be released under the Firebird label before MicroProse retired it. Fire and Brimstone is something like a Ghosts 'n' Goblins -type affair with a Norse mythology theme to it, except it's made in a flip-screen style and there are more puzzle elements than in GnG. All aspects of what should make the game worth at least checking out, such as the people behind it - Tim Coupe, Chris Sorrell and David Whittaker - are a bit let down by the harsh difficulty level.

Even in the first 5 screens, the gameplay is such that requires you of pixel perfect jumping, the usage of different weapons to deal with different monsters, some randomly appearing item pick-ups and the knowledge on how to pass the sleeping blue guard appearing in the first screen without getting killed.
I somehow managed to get to the end of level 1, only to be informed that I need to have collected all the parts of a key to get through the door to the next level, and then thrown back to the beginning, now facing the problem of not being able to get past the fourth screen with an impossible jump which requires the usage of a blue bottle to make platforms appear over the trap. Oh well. All I can say is, Fire and Brimstone offers a good deal of challenge to those of you who thought Rick Dangerous was too easy.



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As I said in the beginning, that's not all that's actually available as exclusive Telecomsoft games, but basically the most mention-worthy of that lot, perhaps. The ones that got left out were released for ZX Spectrum and C64, and I think there was also one for C16. But, for at least most of the above, I can give you my recommendations.

Telecomsoft's catalogue of classics is vast, to be sure: you have Action Fighter, Booty, Bubble Bobble, Druid, Elite, Revs, Rick Dangerous, Samurai Warrior, the Sentinel, Thrust and Zolyx, just to name some from the top of my head; and these classics overshadow the underdogs quite severely, so I hope this list of exclusives raised your interest towards the cult classics and less limelighted ones.

Thanks for reading - see you next month with something quite different!

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