C64 | RETRO GAMESMASTER

Bounder Review

5th July 201824th May 2021 Peter Ward

HISTORY Bounder popularity spans decades and has continued to be featured in many retro magazines, videos and on social media to this day. This little tennis ball of fun continues to be highly regarded and fondly remembered. Originally created by Christian Shrigley, Andrew Green, Robert Toone and Published by Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd in 1985, Bounder featured many ground-breaking features such as Parallax Scrolling first seen in Bounder. The game featured 12 levels, all as challenging as the first and at times is unforgiving but that’s what kept drawing people…

Andy Capp

22nd July 201724th May 2021 Dan Tootill

Published by: Mirrorsoft Developed by: Blitter Animations Released: 1987 Also for: Amstrad CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum In case you didn’t know, Andy Capp is a notoriously un-PC British cartoon strip. It’s eponymous main character is an unemployed, beer-swilling, wife-beating layabout. He is strangely popular in the United States, even earning a mention in The Simpsons and an appearance in Family Guy. Andy Capp – The Game is an arcade adventure where the the player spends a week in the life of Andy. He must find his missing benefits cheque, scrape…

Turrican II

17th May 201724th May 2021 Peter Ward

Review by James Whelan Published by Rainbow Arts Software GmbH Developed by Factor 5 GmbH Released 1991 In 1990, German developers Rainbow Arts turned the Amiga gaming world on its head with the release of Turrican, a sprawling run-and-gun shoot-‘em-up which not only pushed the Amiga’s hardware to the limit but proved that beautiful looking games could actually be playable too. Critics heaped superlatives on Turrican which received numerous honors at various award shows. The bar had been set pretty high and it would take Rainbow Arts themselves, along…

Rock ‘n Wrestle

17th April 201724th May 2021 Dan Tootill

Published by: Melbourne House Developed by: Beam Software Released: 1985 Also for: Amstrad CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum There has never been a shortage of wrestling-themed video games, just look at the number of WWE titles released since the PlayStation 2 era. But a fair few were made for the old 8-bit systems and Rock ‘n Wrestle (known in the U.S. as Bop ‘n Wrestle) is a fairly early example. Popular opinion would suggest that it wasn’t a great game, but it had a sophisticated grapple system, rope physics, digitised sound…

Street Fighter II (Commodore 64)

9th September 201624th May 2021 Dan Tootill

Published by: U.S. Gold Developed by: Creative Materials Released: 1992 Also for: Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Game Boy, Master System, Mobile, MS-DOS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Sega Saturn, Super NES, X-Box, ZX Spectrum Having set a new standard for scrolling beat-’em-up games with Final Fight, Capcom went and made a sequel to their rather forgettable one-on-one fighting game Street Fighter (1987); the rest is history. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior burst into the arcades in 1992, leaving crowds of gamers awestruck and noticeably short on change.…

Rainbow Islands

6th July 201624th May 2021 Peter Ward

Bub and Bob, the heroes from Bubble Bobble, are back! This time negotiating the hazards of the Rainbow Islands. Myriad creatures conspire to impede your progress at every fun-filled level until you face the “Guardian”, the ultimate test of advancement….Good Luck The seven “Rainbow Islands” and their inhabitants. • Insect Island – caterpillars, spiders, crows • Combat Island – tanks, planes, helicopters • Monster Island – bats, werewolves, ghosts • Toy Island – water-pistols, deadly disks, teddy bears • Doh’s Island – balls, spheres, capsules • Robot Island – spanners,…

The Last Ninja

4th July 201624th May 2021 Dan Tootill

Published by: System 3 Developer: System 3 Released: 1987 Also for: Acorn Electron, Apple II, BBC Micro, MS-DOS The Last Ninja is a seminal action adventure game for the Commodore 64, released in 1987. It is set on the fictional island of Lin Fen in the Yellow Sea. The evil Shogun Kunitoki has all but destroyed the Ninjutsu and is set to acquire their knowledge and powers, the key to which is held within the ancient and sacred Koga scrolls. Believing there are no ninjas left alive to threaten him, Kunitoki is set to become…

Impossible Mission

23rd June 201624th May 2021 Dan Tootill

Published by: U.S. Gold Developer: Epyx / Dennis Caswell Released: 1984 Also for: Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 7800, BBC Micro, Oric Atmos, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum When we first got our Commodore 64 back in 1986 I knew we’d chosen well, if the size of the rack of games for the system in Boots was anything to go by. I got to know a few of the other kids at school who also had 64s, one of whom invited me to his house one afternoon and…

California Games

5th April 201624th May 2021 Dan Tootill

Published by: U.S. Gold Developer: Epyx Released: 1987 Also for: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari 2600, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, MS-DOS, MSX, NES, Sega Megadrive / Genesis, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum, Virtual Console Overview: Epyx took us to the Golden State for this instalment of the Games series, keeping the same blend of stunning visuals, immersive atmosphere and slick feedback we had come to expect as well as the slight wackiness of the events found in World Games. If you’re not familiar with the series, there are six very different sporting events and each is represented by…