The A-Z of Cool Computer Games 0749082062, 9780749082062

Citation preview

miscellany of the gr of the classic compy began in the Sg

with

dawn of Space | of the video gam@@idustry,

the

and

ended when Sony launched the PlayStation in the Nineties, and computers suddenly went ‘overground’,

Within these pages you will find a pot pourri of memorable games from yesteryear, an assembly of computers and consoles, and lots of data on the more bizarre and well-loved pieces of paraphernalia, attitudes and add-ons that helped define the glory years of the computing scene. A quick flick through will bring forth dormant memories

-of your

own

gaming

years and make you remember how great and fabulous it was to be growing up in the age of the silicon chip.

AK re

The A-Z of Cool Computer Games

PE) Tey SoA get waited Wena >

The A-Z of Cool Computer Games Jack Railton

3 1336 07391 7818

First published in Great Britain in 2005 by Allison & Busby Limited 13 Charlotte Mews London WI1T 4) www..allisonandbusby.com Copyright © 2005 by JACK RAILTON Cover image: Space Invaders © TAITO CORPORATION 1978

The moral right of the author has been asserted. This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10987654321 ISBN 0 7490 82062

Printed and bound in Wales by Creative Print and Design, Ebbw Vale

JACK RAILTON

Is the pen-name

of Jack Kibble-White

who reviews and writes about popular culture for publications and websites such as ScriptWriter Magazine, bbc.co.uk, Off The Telly and TV Cream. He is the coauthor of the book TV Cream: The Ultimate Guide to ‘70s and ‘80s Pop Culture, and has acted as programme consultant on a number of Channel Four entertainment documentaries. He has also contributed to BBC4’s Time Shift series and makes the occasional appearance on radio and television, usually to talk about old telly.

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/azofcoolcomputer0000rail

This book is dedicated to Sweetpea

Tee

Pts

Bi .

uautenn o-loanoteb it asad aif oe:

nae +

4

-

: =~

=

hs

a

sy

~

=

i

-

4

eA

7

4

ty

7

>

-

f

‘

~~ *. a

:

-

fa aJ > n

-=

y

ee

Porter

i=

Acknowledgements Introduction The Point of this Book The Games Adventure Games Ant Attack Bandersnatch Beat ‘em Ups

Bomberman Breakout Carrier Command Chuckie Egg Coin-op Conversions Daley Thompson’s Decathlon Demo Mode Doom

Ecco The Dolphin Elite First-person Shooter Flight Simulators Football Manager Fragfests Game Creators God Games Hidden Bits in Games The Hobbit Hungry Horace Jetpac

Knight Lore K-Tel Productions

17 19 23 25 29 31 33 34 a7 38 40 AI 43 44 46 47 50 51 52 54 55 57 59 60 62 64 65 67 68 70

12

Jack Railton

Lemmings Manga Manic Miner Mario

71 73 73 71

Metagalactic Llamas Battle At The Edge Of Time Military Mortal Kombat

79 80 81

Motion Capture

83

MUD

84

Night Trap Painted-on Doors Platformers

87 88 90

Pokemon Pokes and Cheats Pong

91 93 94

Populous

95

Puzzle Games Really Difficult Games Rise of the Robots Skool Daze Sonic The Hedgehog

o7 98 100 101 102

Spacewar Sports Games Strategy Games

104 105 107

Street Fighter II

108

Super Mario Kart Tetris

110 11

3-D Tomb Raider Uridium Xenon

Amusement Arcades

114 116 118 119

121

After Burner II

125

Computer Space

125

The A-Z of Cool Computer Games

= 13

Death Race Donkey Kong

127 128

Dragon’s Lair Driving Games Frogger

131 133 135

High Scores

136

OutRun Pac-Man Pole Position

137 138 140

R-lype Shoot ‘em Ups

140 141

Space Invaders

143

Spy Hunter

144

Tron Yie Ar Kung-Fu Zaxxon

145 146 147

Social Mores Bad Influence

149 153

Boys’ Bedrooms Chat Rooms Computer Club Computer Magazines Computer Shops Conspiracy Theories Dads The Domesday Project Film and Television Tie-ins Film Versions of Computer Games

154 156 158 160 163 166 167

GamesMaster

173

Hacking

176

Interactive Movies Piracy

178 180

Role-playing

183

Sex

185

168 170 172

14

Jack Railton

Social Acceptability

187

Typing-in programs

188

Video game Industry Crash

190

Violence

191

WarGames The Machines

194 197

Acorn Archimedes

201

Amstrad CPC-464

204

Amiga 500 Apple Apple Mac

202 .

205 206

Atari Atari ST BBC Micro Binatone

Commodore 64

207 209 212 214

a2

tS

Crashes

247

Deep Blue

218

Dragon 32 Loading...

219 220

Magnavox Odyssey

221

Master System

222

Mattel IntelliVision

224

Mega Drive

226

Microsoft

228

Neo-Geo

229

Nintendo

231

NES

25>

PC

234

PlayStation Programming

DOG 237

QL

238

sega

240

SNES

242

The A-Z of Cool Computer Games

15

System Rivalry VIC-20

243 245

ZX81

246

ZX Spectrum

249

The Paraphernalia Barcode Battler Big Trak

255 255 256

©d

257

Choose Your Own Adventure Books Cover Mounted software Game and Watch Game Boy

259 260 262 264

Game Genie

265

Handheld gaming Joysticks Killer Apps Mindlink Packaging and marketing Peripherals Pinball Pocket Calculators and Digital Watches Prestel Rubik’s Cube

266 268 269 271 27a 274 275 276 279 280

Simon

281

Software Bundles Tamagotchi Virtual Boy Virtual Reality Credit Note

281 283 284 285 288

Index

289

1: ws ae

»

|

¢

‘

a

‘

,

‘

;

J

ES:

4 ) f