All Aboard! The Last Train to Tranz-Central, ZX Spectrum

Who doesn't love a free game? A free game with TRAINS in SPACE? (Cue Tim Curry SPAAAAACE). The game I will gush about today is an excellent freebie from Quantum Sheep, a talented coder of what I always like to call 'New Retro'. 

I enjoy waxing nostalgic about the classics (and not so classics!) of yesteryear, but it's always important to remember that there's a flourishing scene of new games for old machines and consoles. There are heaps of new games to try before reaching for Jet Set Willy or Skool Daze for the umpteenth time.

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Pastfinder, Commodore 64

Well. Come. Back.

Back in time, my friends, to 1984, or should we say 8878? No - I was right the first time: 1984. A plucky chap, way back when created a game on one of the Atari 8-Bit computers called Explorer. Activision got hold of it and said - no chance - we're calling it PASTFINDER. Also, get someone to port it to the C64 – because we’re selling shed loads of them. And lo - they did.

David Lubar’s “Pastfinder” is an absolute gem of a game. Reviewed in the very first edition of Zzap64 it scored some 86% (it was reviewed many years later when released on Mastertronic’s MAD budget label and clocked up a whopping 93% - which is much more fitting!) earning itself a Sizzler to boot. It’s bloody brilliant. Bloody difficult. Bloody bonkers. But bloody brilliant.

A key contributing factor to this is simply the gameplay – it is so, so, so simple. Though, the background and actual thread of what you have to do always felt way more complicated in the 80s – I’m still not quite sure now. But the way your Pastfinder craft moves, with its vaguely arachnid-esque leg movements and stunning spinning horizontal movement - delightful; the frankly very basic, but excellently-designed planet surfaces and colour combos are interesting and some are dynamic: with moving parts causing terrain obstacles and forcing erratic avoidances; the limited SFX and repetitive noises – all add up to a cracking computer game steeped in that heavy metal / radiation / future gone tits up vibe. It is delicious.

Outrun on the Commodore 64

Well. Come. Back.

Nothing makes this man go moist as much as hearing some decent retro-gaming music played out of a tri-channelled sound chip called SID. Wotcha!

"Splash Wave" and "Magical Sound Shower" are arguably (is anything not "arguably" nowadays?) two of the most well-known video game slices of aural delight out there and indeed, so is "Passing Breeze" which was scurrilously omitted from the C64 conversion. Sam is forever aggrieved.

We all likely recall seeing for the first time that huge arcade cabinet grounded on the barking mad arcade carpet and thinking - they've got an actual Ferrari in here!?!?!? I also remember never playing it, because it was 50p a go and not 10p a go (like Roadblasters or Bubble Bobble was), but I sure spent a good few minutes stood there standing, watching some other kid failing miserably at this glorious-looking SEGA racer.

Isometric Adventures in Sherwood - The Adventures of Robin Hood, Commodore Amiga

You may have seen the name in big lists of Amiga games. The Adventures of Robin Hood. It'll be some sort of Codemasters-alike platformer, you might think to yourself as you pass on by, thinking back to the likes of Super Robin Hood or Leander. But no, this is absolutely not a game in the classic Amiga library that you should be passing up on - and it's surprisingly revolutionary. 

Not strictly an Amiga game, The Adventures of Robin Hood was published by Millennium in 1991. It casts you as the eponymous heroic outlaw of legend, who has been kicked out of his castle by the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham and begins his new adventures having a bit of a mope by the castle walls. 

One thing you might have noticed about the Robin on the cover is that he seems to be a slightly odd fusion of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood in appearance and posed like Kevin Costner in the then-recently released Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves movie. 

Alan Rickman was so good in that, wasn't he?

Backup of Vitno Game Reviews Begins

So, as promised, the backup of written reviews from Vintage is the New Old has begun. This is something that will take quite some time. Some reviews are old and have dead links, broken video etc, which I will edit and update before they get the ok to be shared again on CommodoreBlog.

Currently we have two new (old) reviews by Alec, Pets Rescue for the C16/Plus/4 and also Nixy The Glade Sprite which is a ZX Spectrum game. Why are we sharing ZX Spectrum stuff on CommodoreBlog, I hear you scream! Well these reviews are just too good to lose and although CommodoreBlog is technically a Commodore website, just like the Twitter account, we occasionally like to share News and such about various other platforms. I am particularly fond of ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Amstrad and MSX, so don't be too surprised to see these formats pop up now and then here. It's my blog, there are no rules! I have also added a few Amiga and Speccy reviews by yours truly. You can find them over on the Reviews page.

Retro Rewind: Alpharay, an impressive shooter for the Commodore Plus/4

Developed by the team that brought us Pets Rescue for the Plus 4, Alpharay is a visually impressive horizontal scrolling shoot ’em up that sees you power-up your Alpharay fighter with the objective to destroy the enemy robot fleet that is invading your home system. The game features six graphically gorgeous levels to battle through, a power-up weapon system and a great soundtrack driving the action gameplay all along the way. 

Download: alpharay.zip
Source: plus4world.powweb.com

High Voltage TED Collection, Listen to 908 Commodore Plus/4 Favourites!

High Voltage TED Collection (HVTC) is an attempt to create a pure TED collection. (Music for the Commodore C16, 116 and the Plus/4.) Created from the cleanest code that generates the music and archives it in a structured format. Currently there are 908 tunes available in the database.

Download: hvtc_20200819.zip
Website: plus4world.powweb.com

Scorpius, Commodore 64

Well. Come. Back.

Now – just hold on a minute, alright? Some of you that read this are going to fling your arms up into the air and start huffing and puffing about horizontally-scrolling shooters and R-Type and Katakis and Armalyte and all the rest of it. Some of you, will be sagely nodding your head, thinking back to the Entropic Days of Elysium whence you and a friend spent many a moment, both ports plugged with joy, bobbing along blasting enemies in subaquatic glee. A few might be trying to remember the power-ups; select chunks of humanity will have a repetitive, though not un-kind SID in their head, timed to the back and forth bob of their craft. Do you remember the days, my friends? When computer games cost us £1.99?

For me, Scorpius was a Saturday Pocket Money Punt – I had enough for one game, as was often the case and devouring the rack of budget titles that I didn’t yet have, something grabbed me about Scorpius. Now, this was way before I realised the pedigree associated with the game and it wasn’t until much, much later, by happenstance, that I made the connection between Scorpius and The Rowland Brothers (now, what else did they do..?) – when you look, the links are so, so obvious now.

FIZZ, A New Platform Puzzler Released for the Commodore 64!

Dive into a world of mind-bending challenges with Fizz, the innovative platform puzzle game for the Commodore 64. Test your wits and coordination as you explore 40 captivating single-player levels and 30 cooperative multiplayer puzzles.

Download: FIZZ-V1.0.0.zip

LED Storm, Commodore 64

Well. Come. Back.

Dateline 1989: LED Storm, ladies and gentlemen is an absolute banging C64 game and arcade conversion from those plucky people at Software Creations. Now, I'll be honest, unlike other arcade conversions, I am pretty certain I never actually played (potentially even saw) LED Storm in the local arcade "Dusters" back in Plymouth as I was growing up in 1988. However, I absolutely, and with great fondness, recall getting a copy of and playing for some hours at a time the C64 version.

Who cares about the premise? Not I, m'lud, I hear you cry and I tend to agree and frankly, the 'story' behind LED Storm is immediately forgettable. Something, I am sure, about a "Red car and a Blue car had a race... But all Red wanted to do was stuff his face...", oh and the ability to transform your vehicle from a cool, squat fat-looking (hyper) sports car into some sort of motorised cycle. And "L.E.D."..? Laser Enhanced Destruction Storm - of course!

Deadhead Preview, Commodore 64

A new finding for GTW, and a neat looking preview of a sooped up Defender style game. I had a quick blast, it's great fun! Grab the download and read more about it on GTW64.

Download: Preview_Deadhead.zip
Source: GTW

Tales of Gorluth III Dungeon of Reminiscence. Now available to download on itch.io for your Amiga!

Tales of Gorluth III, Dungeon of Reminiscence. A Linear Action Adventure for the Commodore Amiga. A very emotional and thrilling story about YOU and your way back to yourself! The final chapter of the award-winning franchise.

Source: amiworx.itch.io