Tag: RetroGamingPage 3 of 29

Hyper Sports – “Six hyper-sporting events”

“Our accountant just couldn’t believe it. He thought we’d end the year with about £2,000 in profits”. So said Mark Butler, co-founder of Imagine Software, in a profile…

The Way of the Exploding Fist – “10th Dan”

Gregg Barnett was born in Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia. He moved to Melbourne for university and then joined software company Melbourne House in 1982. Up to then, his…

Football Manager – “Match highlights to follow”

The UK chart success of Computer Scrabble in 1984 showed the audience for direct computer versions of modern board games. The makers of predecessor Monty Plays Scrabble had…

Alien 8 – “Activated cryogenic chambers”

Right after Ultimate released Underwurlde and introduced the ability-unlocked-gateway mechanic to 2D platformer maze games, they also put out the much more significant game they had been holding…

Ghostbusters – “You crossed the streams”

Games based on movies go back a long way, including in the UK’s games charts. Earlier in 1984, the charts played host to Richard Wilcox Software’s Blue Thunder,…

Underwurlde – “Scurrying slithering shadowy grave”

1983 was a good year for Ultimate. They released their first game Jetpac to much success earlier in the year. Then (after some other, less successful 16K games)…

Elite – “The Universe will open up before you”

The Universe, as has been observed before, is an unsettlingly big place, a fact which, for the sake of a quiet life, most people tend to ignore. […]…

American Football – “The tactical battle against the Opposing Team”

In 1984, the Los Angeles Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII. I had to look that one up. Despite that lack of American Football knowledge, though, I know something…

Sherlock – “Careful examination shows that the drawer has a false bottom”

When making The Hobbit, Beam Software and Melbourne House apparently knew they were onto a good thing. They decided early that they wanted to make another similar adventure…

Computer Scrabble – “Are you also using a Scrabble® board?”

In 1938 in New York, Alfred Butts invented Scrabble. Well, he invented Criss-Cross Words, a board game based on an earlier game of his called Lexiko. It was…