Achievements got! - Part 3

The number of visits to FRGCB has passed 50,000! Thank you for your continued interest!

Yes indeed, half of a hundred thousand has been passed, and this achievement was actually gotten on the 25th of this month (January), so I'm actually a bit late in announcing this momentuous occasion. Also, the comparison entry for The Goonies games (posted just a little less than a year ago) was the first one to cross the 1,000 views line! If I recall correctly, this one happened on the 14th of January. Closely behind on the 2nd place is the first part of A History Of Finnish Games - brilliant! And what's still more, this post is my 100th post on the blog, so there's another milestone right there.

Now, although I'm currently working on a comparison I hinted about in August, I'm not entirely certain whether or not I will be able to post it before February, at the beginning of which there will be some sort of a break in posting anything due to some personal matters. So it might take a week or two before I can start posting again. I'll get back on the blog as soon as I'm able to - hopefully within the next two weeks, but I can't promise anything. See you when the time allows. =)

TWOFER #9: Pinball Special!

David's Midnight Magic (Brøderbund Software, Inc., 1981)

Designed and programmed by David Snider for the Apple ][ in 1981.
Converted by David Snider and released for the Atari 8-bits in 1982.
Converted by Martin Kahn for the Commodore 64 in 1983.
Converted by SystemSoft for the NEC PC-8801, PC-9801 and PC-6001/6601 in 1984.

Unofficial conversion for the Commodore Plus/4 by Imre Szabo, and released as freeware in 1987.
Redesigned and programmed by Glenn Axworthy for the Atari 2600 in 1987, and released by Atari as "Midnight Magic".

Night Mission Pinball (subLOGIC, 1982)

Designed and programmed by Bruce A. Artwick for the Apple ][, Atari 8-bits, Commodore 64 and IBM-PC compatibles in 1982.

Commodore 64 version extra credits:
Sound effects by Sue Kiefstad
Disk system by David Denhart

Unofficial conversion for the Commodore Plus/4 by Mucsi of Muffbusters in 1990.
Read more »

Dropzone (U.S. Gold, 1984)

Written by Archer MacLean for the Atari 8-bits and Commodore 64, and originally released through U.S. Gold.

Converted for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy by Eurocom Developments Ltd., and published by Mindscape in 1992. Music for the NES version by Neil Baldwin.

Converted for the Sega Game Gear by Codemasters in 1994. Further credits currently unknown.

Rewritten for the Nintendo Game Boy Color by Awesome Play, based on the Game Boy version:
Produced by Dave Wolowitz, James Daly, Lisa Koch and Russell Ballenger - Art and Design Management by Lenny O'Donnell - Art, animation and modelling by Bethany Pawluk and Scott Grimando - QA Management by Carol Caracciolo - Published by Acclaim in 1999.


---

GAME STATUS

This year certainly starts off strong regarding requests and suggestions, this being the second game in a row of such. It's also the second one in a row of requests from dedicated forums, in which the requested game isn't available for the machine the community forums are dedicated for, which is a bit peculiar. Anyway, this particular suggestion was originally made by a World of Spectrum forum user by the name of ewgf, so this one goes for you and anyone else who has been waiting for an entry on an Archer MacLean title.
Read more »

Hard Drivin' (Atari Games/Domark, 1989)

Original game design by Rick Moncrief, Max Behensky, Jed Margolin, Stephanie Mott and Eric Durfey, all of whom made various other things at the side. Original graphics by Sam Comstock, Kris Moser and Deborah Short. Additional programming by Gary Stark, Mike Albaugh and Ed Rotberg. Music by Don Diekneite.

Hard Drivin' was conceived, designed, engineered and built in the USA and Ireland by the Hard Drivin' Atari Applied Research Group. You can find the full list of credits for the original arcade version here at MobyGames.

Incredibly, the second game on FRGCB to require a separate list of credits is another game from Atari Games, which started its life in the arcades. Naturally, as with Toobin', the home conversion was again made by Tengen and published by Domark. Although I'm sure most of you readers already know how that turned out, I for one haven't played all the versions yet, so I'm a bit curious about this. So, click on to start with the credits, and then proceed to the actual introduction...
Read more »

Unique Games! - Part 6

Once again, Happy New Year, readers! As promised, 2015 will begin with the first proper Unique Games entry in a long while, even though the previous entry in the series was written less than a month ago. We will start the year off with a list of mostly unique and/or exclusive familiar titles for mostly familiar machines, and save the more obscure ones for the later entries to keep things more interesting. So, without further ado, let's get on with it...
Read more »

Ski or Die (Electronic Arts, 1990)

Developed for the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga and IBM-PC compatibles by Electronic Arts. Designed by Michael Abbott, Nana Chambers and Michael Kosaka. Programmed by Michael Abbott and Nana Chambers. Graphics and animation by Michael Kosaka, Michael A. Lubuguin, Cynthia Hamilton, Connie Braat and Peggy Brennan. Music and sound effects for the Commodore Amiga and DOS versions by Rob Hubbard. Music and sound effects for the Commodore 64 version by Dave Warhol. Produced by Don Traeger, Jim Rushing, Happy Keller and Jon Horsley. Technical Assistant: Jesse Taylor.
Production Manager: Zina J. Yee. Graphics Director: Nancy L. Fong. Package Illustrator: Steve Lyons.

Released for the Commodore 64 and IBM-PC compatibles in 1990, and for the Commodore Amiga in June 1991.

Converted for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Konami, and released by Ultra in the US in February 1991, and in Europe in October 1991.

---

INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Instead of finishing off this year's Christmas season with a traditional Epyx sports title, I decided to go for something slightly lighter. Ski or Die from Electronic Arts still keeps the tradition within the winter sports theme, but it has less events than any of the Epyx multi-event sports games, and this one was only ever released for four platforms, in contrast to, for example, Winter Games' twelve. But strangely enough, Ski or Die does have some old Epyx blood in it: Michael Kosaka was involved in the making of Summer Games II and World Games before co-designing Ski or Die.
Read more »

Christmas TWOFER!

1. The Official Father Christmas Game (Alternative Software, 1989)

2. Special Delivery (Thorn EMI / Creative Sparks, 1984)

For this year's Christmas season, I wanted to do something properly thematic, instead of just making a huge comparison on a winter-themed sports game, so I decided to make two Christmas-themed special entries. You might have read the first one already, but in case you missed it, you can read it here. But today's entry is a Two-for-One Christmas-themed special, naturally featuring two Christmas games under the magnifying glass. While it can't be said that Christmas-themed games ever were very special in gameplay or anything, it is difficult to find anything of this sort to make a comparison of. So in that sense, I was lucky enough to notice that there actually are some Christmas games that were possible to make comparisons of. So whether you like it or not, here we go...
Read more »

Spy vs Spy (First Star Software, 1984)

The year's final properly big entry comes a bit early, and isn't even seasonally thematic. I went for the big one now, so that I would have more time to prepare for the final entries of the year, because I will be too busy on the Christmas week with other things. So, this foreword is for giving you a bit of a warning, that you're in for a properly huge entry this time - the biggest single entry I have done so far, so grab a bucket of coffee and prepare for a long ride. Also, for those of you with slower internet connections, this entry is rather heavy in graphics.

---

CREDITS

Developed for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit computers and Apple ][ computers by First Star Software:
Coding - Michael Riedel on Commodore 64 and Apple ][, Jim Nangano on Atari 8-bits
Sounds - Nick Scarim

Also released by Beyond in Europe and Avantage in America in 1984.
Read more »

Unique CHRISTMAS Games!

Yes, I'm getting a bit predictable with my season themed list entries, but since we didn't have much of properly Christmas-y games under the glass last year, I thought I would make up for it this year. Hopefully, this will be of some interest to at least some of you. Although this is supposed to be part of the Unique Games series, I decided to leave the "Unique" bit for even less focus than usual, because there are so few Christmas themed games out there, where the word would actually fit the description in any way. For those of you waiting for some proper entries in the Unique Games series, I promise to get back to the good stuff after the New Year. But for now, hang on to your elf costumes, or whatever you're wearing, and jump on board for the sleigh ride...

Read more »

NGOTM: UWOL - Quest For Money (Ubhres Productions/The Mojon Twins, 2009)

Written by anjuel & na_th_an of The Mojon Twins. First released for the ZX Spectrum 128k. Credits more or less as they appear on the Mojon Twins website:

Story by David Pimperl Marco
Code by na_th_an with SPLIB2
In-game graphics and loading screen by anjuel
Additional graphics by na_th_an
Cover art by Ferrán Criado
Music by Augusto Ruiz
Music player by wyz
Apack Decomp. ad.: utopian
Developing tools by Augusto Ruiz
Levels and support: Augusto Ruiz, anjuel, na_th_an, kendroock, daivod, dadman, t.brazil, ivanZX, benway, sejuan, konamito, danthalas, metalbrain and zemman


Read more »

Quedex (Thalamus, 1987)

Designed and written by Stavros Fasoulas for the Commodore 64, with music by Matt Gray and title screen by Paul "Dokk" Docherty. Released in 1988 as "Mindroll" in the United States through Epyx.

As Mindroll, Quedex was converted and released worldwide through Epyx and Thalamus for:

IBM-PC compatibles, 1988:
Created by Stavros Fasoulas
Coding by Kenneth C. Dullea III
Graphics by Bradley W. Schenck
Music by Scott T. Etherton
Directed by Baron Reichart Kurt von Wolfshield
Special Magic by Edgar Tolentino

Commodore Amiga, 1989:
Coding by Stavros Fasoulas
Graphics by Bradley W. Schenck
Music by Scott T. Etherton
Additional work by Baron Reichart Kurt von Wolfshield and Bradley W. Schenck

TRS-80 CoCo, 1989:
Converted by Jesse Taylor

---

INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Seeing as it is now the 6th of December, the Finnish Independence Day, it's only suitable to feature something to support the Finnishness of this blog, and what could be more suitable than a comparison of a Finnish game. There aren't too many Finnish retro games that I can do a proper comparison about, so here's one of the very rare specimen: Quedex - The Quest for Ultimate Dexterity, as it is subtitled in the original cover inlay. And apparently, it's pronounced "cue-dex", not "kweddex". (Source: ACE magazine, issue #1)
Read more »

TRAZ (Cascade Games, 1988)

Originally released for the Commodore 64
Programmed by Jon K. Menzies
Graphics by John Cassells and Damon Redmond
Music by Jeroen Kimmel

Converted for the ZX Spectrum by Imagitec:
Programming by Nigel Speight
Graphics by Damon Redmond
Music by Nigel Pritchard
Released by Gamebusters in 1989

Also released for the IBM-PC compatibles by Cascade Games in 1989
Conversion credits are currently unknown.

---

GAME STATUS

Having noticed only recently that the blog hasn't had a comparison of any breakout games during 2014, I decided to postpone another big one until a bit later on. So here's a comparison of my favourite breakout game ever, TRAZ (short for TRansformable Arcade Zone) by Cascade Games. Instead of getting together again with our usual threesome, one of the bunch is different, since the Amstrad version wasn't released, although it was advertised to have been in the making. Shame, but I suppose it would have been just a boring Spectrum port in any case.

Read more »

Hoppin' Mad (Elite Systems, 1988)

Written by Chris Coupe for the Commodore 64, with music by Mark Cooksey and title screen by Mat Sneap. Converted for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC by Neil Latarche with graphics by Elizabeth Latarche.

An unreleased conversion/remake was also made for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Mark Crane, with graphics by Steve Beverley and music by Mark Cooksey.

---

GAME STATUS

Here's another quickie to fill up the space between the two larger entries. Hoppin' Mad is a nice and quirky little arcade game by Elite, which started its life as Cataball on the Commodore 64 in 1987. Although I do like the name Cataball more, Hoppin' Mad was the title used for all the conversions it got. The reason why I chose this particular entry for now was because I found out about the unreleased NES version, and wanted to write about it.
Read more »

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Gremlin Graphics, 1990)

Developed by Magnetic Fields for the Commodore Amiga: code and music by Shaun Southern, with graphics by Andrew Morris.

Converted for the Atari ST by Magnetic Fields, with music by Ben Daglish. Converted for the Commodore 64 by Ashley Bennett. Converted for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC by Ali Davidson, with graphics by Berni. Also released on the Commodore Amiga CD32 in 1994 as part of the Lotus Trilogy.

---

GAME STATUS

As we're getting closer to another season of Top Gear, I decided to get into some driving games again. Yes, that means there's going to be at least two of your requests fulfilled within the next few months, one of them being really close to being ready now. But I'll start with a nice little classic Gremlin title from 1990, which at the time gave quite a shot of energy into an old genre.

Read more »

Emulators!

Occasionally, I get some inquiries as to which emulators I would suggest for certain machines, particularly the ones that are not as easy to find. So I decided to do a quick entry on my chosen emulators, and add in a few recommended ones in the mix. I'm aware that there might be more accurate and more optimisable emulators out there, but my criteria for any emulator is simply, the ease of use, and that it works preferably on a 32-bit Windows 7. Sure, it needs to be as accurate as possible at the same time, but being easy to use is the most important thing for me in getting me to actually test any of the machines out even in emulation. So, this one goes out for all you other lazy retro gamers like me, who don't take pleasure in reading manuals too much. ;-)

Read more »

BC's Quest For Tires (Sierra On-Line, 1983)

Designed and programmed by Charles Benton for the Atari 8-bits and Commodore 64. Programmed by Rick Banks and MaryLou O'Rourke of Sydney Development for Apple ][, Colecovision and IBM-PC compatibles. Based on the characters from the comic strip "B.C." by Johnny Hart. Original cover art by Johnny Hart.

Released in 1983 for Apple ][, Atari 8-bits and ColecoVision, and in 1984 for Commodore 64 and IBM-PC compatibles.

Converted for the ZX Spectrum by Mike Davies, and released through Software Projects Ltd. in 1984.

Converted for the MSX by N.R. Dick for Interphase Technologies, Inc. and released through Toshiba-EMI Ltd. in 1985.

---

GAME STATUS

First in the series of Sydney Development titles based on Johnny Hart's comic strip characters, B.C.'s Quest For Tires has the distinction of being also the first "runner"-type platforming game, currently a more popular genre of gaming than it ever was before with the likes of Canabalt and Temple Run. Also, Quest For Tires also happens to be the only Sierra On-Line game ever to be converted for the ZX Spectrum, so this comparison will be a singular event in that sense.
Read more »

River Rescue (Thorn EMI, 1982)

Designed by Jeremy Smith and programmed by Will Kemp.
Originally released for the Commodore VIC-20 in 1982.

Converted for the Atari 400/800 computers by Kevin Buckner in 1983. Converted for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum by Phil Snell in 1984. Converted for the Commodore 64 in 1984; credits unknown.

---

INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Without giving too much away regarding the future entries, I decided to do another small one before getting into the spirit of the season. And why not, since it's not so snowy here yet... but yes, winter is coming again. Inevitably.

This game here, River Rescue, was one of my childhood favourites on the ZX Spectrum, even if the gameplay never made much sense to my young mind. Of course, back then, I didn't have the know-how to read English instructions nor the ability to consult any others who knew what the game was all about. Who were you supposed to rescue, anyway? And how? Was there a bigger purpose to this game? It's about time I found out properly.
Read more »

Kikstart 2 (Mastertronic, 1987)

Developed by Mr Chip Software for the Commodore 64: Coding by Shaun Southern, graphics by Andrew Morris, testing by Peter Liggett

Converted by Icon Design for the Commodore Amiga in 1987: Coding by Laurence Vanhelsuwé, graphics by Jon Brennan, music by David Whittaker

Converted by Icon Design for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum in 1988: Coding by Paul Murray and graphics by Ed Knight

---

INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Late in the 1970's, BBC television started showing a series about motorcycle trials called Kick Start. This programme greatly inspired a young programmer by the name of Shaun Southern, who in 1985 made a computer game somewhat based on the concept, and titled it Kikstart, which eventually spawned a sequel. One might wonder, why have I chosen to write only about the sequel to one of the most important budget titles of all time. I could say that the original doesn't have as interesting conversions as this one, but my excuse is really that I never really cared for the original, and I never learned to play it properly. But since I'm not very likely to be doing a proper comparison of the original Kikstart games, I might as well write up about them as another post scriptum after the main subject.
Read more »

Batman the Movie (Ocean, 1989)

Commodore 64 version: Coded by Zach Townsend; Graphics by Andrew Sleigh; Music by Matthew Cannon

Commodore Amiga & Atari ST versions: Coded by Mike Lamb, Jon O'Brien and Alan Short; Graphics by Dawn Drake, Bill Harbison and John Palmer; Music by Jonathan Dunn and Matthew Cannon

Amstrad CPC/GX4000, MSX & ZX Spectrum versions: Coded by Mike Lamb; Graphics by Dawn Drake; Music by Matthew Cannon

IBM-PC compatibles conversion by Astros, based on the Amiga & ST versions.

---

INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

We're veering off a bit from the horror genre here, but in the great non-Finnish tradition of Halloween, people running around wearing masks is apparently a big part of the whole thing, whether or not it actually includes any death or other horrendous things. So, for the final October entry, I have prepared a properly big one, although it has actually taken me a year or so to write. So, grab your coffee and read on.

Read more »