Adidas Championship Football

This uses the 128k 'squelch' (see Robocop) intelligently. The drum beat is very 80s. For some reason this game doesn't support Kempston joysticks properly, so you'll have to use Sinclair instead.

Bear A Grudge

Featuring that "well loved" character from Sinclair User, "Kamikaze Bear", this is a Space Harrier-esque shoot 'em up with the writers from SU as the bad guys. The game was only available on a cover cassette. Don't load it in 48k mode, the sound is awful.

Blinky's Scary School

Did you know that the words 'plinky' and 'plonky' are not in the dictionary? Yet these words describe this tune perfectly. A charming piece of music for a rather charming game.

Chubby Gristle

A laid back piece of music that's in no particular hurry to get anywhere. It suits the main character of the game ; a fat traffic warden. This is a platform game, more like Monty On The Run than Jet Set Willy, and is rather splendid.

CJ's Elephant Antics

It's the in-game music I like on this one. It sounds bloody awful at first, but give it a minute or so. It does get better. Very melancholy. The game itself is an okay-ish platform game resembling The New Zealand Story. Oh - press 3 at the title screen to select the Kempston joystick.

Dizzy - The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure

Obviously, the Codemaster's dictionary has a different meaning to the word 'ultimate' than mine, since they released at least five official sequels to this, along with a vast range of other character based arcade adventures. Good game, good 48k music. A 128k version would be AY-chip-tastic.

Magicland Dizzy

Here's the fourth Dizzy game. Great playability and in-game tune. I'm actually surprised that the Codemasters haven't done a 3D remake of the Dizzy games for the Playstation / PC.

Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters

An old friend and I once made up a song based on this game. It was rubbish. The game itself isn't that bad, really, even if some of the baddies look like the early eighties weetabix people.

Ghouls 'n' Ghosts

I think this music is taken from level two on the arcade version. Sounds very medieval and slightly creepy. The game takes longer to load than it first appears.

Kwik Snax

Kwi - kwi - kwi - kwik snax! Then the Yolk Folk playing live! Grand Dizzy body-popping! Arcade quality graphics! Multiple levels! Amazing sound! Not an original idea, but hey! This good game in extreme!

Little Puff

I always like games that give you a choice of two holes to jump through, one of which takes you to the next bit of the game. The other hole leads to a screen full of spikes and instant death. Great! With only one life on offer, choose the wrong hole and you'll just have to start the entire game again.

The Ninja Warriors

Sinclair User once gave away a tape with a load of arcade music on it, and this was included. It kicks ass. The speccy music isn't anywhere near as good. The game's rubbish. And the title's crap, too.

Peter Packrat

Converted from an Atari original released in '84, this Spectrum version is bigger and better. The music is slightly remixed and can easily be whistled.

Power Drift

Technically, this is an accomplished conversion from the arcade, which makes quite a nice Spectrum racing game

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Rainbow Islands

This music is illegal. Literally. It is far too close to the original song 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' from that film with the people in. That's why, when this game was re-released for the Playstation, they had to change the tune.

Robocop

Spooky. Haunting. This is not your average title music. It uses the spectrum 'squelch' (the stabbing sound that continues throughout).Great use of speech, too. And I don't care what anyone says, this game is very difficult!

Ruff And Reddy

...which is exactly how I like my women. What a terrible joke. But then, there's not much to say about this average platformer.

Short Circuit

No disassemble number five! Beautiful Stephanie! Number five stupid name. Resembles, looks like - butterfly. What a bloody stupid film.

Slightly Magic

Dun dunu ner ner ner, NER NER NER! Na na na - nananananana. Der ner ner, (ner ner ner ner ner) derderder nanana, na na na... but heavily distorted. And added campy voice saying "Slightly Magic". And dragons with dog collars. And smiling cats.

Stormbringer

Now, this is only here for one reason and that's the brilliant build up at the start of the tune. I never really got into the Magic Knight games. They always seemed like arcade adventures without the arcade bit.

War Machine

Does anyone out there in net-land remember a record called "The Jack That House Built" by Jack and Chill, released in the late 80s? Well, the same people who wrote that made the music for this game. It's a great game.

Xenon

What a strange futuristic ghostly tune! Unfortunately, it gets a bit repetitive after a while. The game is a frustrating shoot 'em up. I first played the sequal Xenon2, on the PC. It makes for a much better gaming experience.

Online Games

Next are some timeless classic games, which I decided to upload here because no games collection would be complete without them. These are the best web based implementations I found to date.

Space Invaders

Japanese company Taito had the inspired idea around 1978 that killing aliens was extremely good fun. So they invented a game called Space Invaders, lots of history then followed, some people got rich and so on...

It's a simple game with simple graphics, but it has one of the most vital assets for any computer game — gameplay. Modern games seem to forget this with their fancy "3D graphics" and "millions of dollars". All you need is a pointy green thing which shoots white stuff at a rampaging invasion of wobbling blobs. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Pac-Man

Here's a fantastic idea for a brand new computer game. Firstly, there's this yellow blob (with a mouth) which has to roam round a maze swallowing little pills. Meanwhile, four ghosts (named Blinky, Pinky, Inkey, and of course, Clyde) are chasing you as you listen to a high-pitched wailing noise.

I'm not insinuating Namco were off their heads when they came up with the concept, but I wonder if there is a hidden meaning. The more pills you eat, the higher you get (no pun intended) where the ghosts become more meddlesome and the bonus fruit more exotic.

Prince of Persia

This mini edition of the game, developed by UBI soft, revisits the first level of the original game, albeit using the graphics of the second release in the series. The actual second release tended to feel a bit too action oriented and video game like, but the authors returned to the slow paced, thinking man's platformer for subsequent relases. At the time I am writing this, the game is in its 4th incarnation, and features 3D graphics. The mix of puzzle and action, present throughout the whole series, maintains the same addicitive quality throughout.

(Please note that this game tries to access http://altfarm.mediaplex.com and http://img.mediaplex.com upon statup and once you accomplish the quest)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Although I must admit to never have shared the many people's view as to the value of the original book, the game purports to deliver a better experience. This is a text based adventure, of the most entertaining type. You have been warned.

3D Pong

Reinterpreted in 3D, this game is a difficult as ever. But hey, it really looks cool.