Gameplay
 | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (February 2021) |
| Fat Worm Blows a Sparky | |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Durell Software |
| Designer(s) | Julian Todd [1] |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum |
| Release | 1986 |
| Genre(s) | Action game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Fat Worm Blows a Sparky is action game written by Julian Todd for the ZX Spectrum and published by Durell Software in 1986. [1] Todd wrote the game in the five months before going to university. [2] It was not ported to other systems, and it is the only published game he developed.
The player controls a microscopic worm being chased across the circuit board of a Sinclair Spectrum. [3] The game world is rendered with solid vector graphics.
| | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (February 2021) |
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| Crash | Smash [4] |
CRASH awarded Fat Worm 95%. [5] The reviewers were impressed with the solid 3D graphics and the quirky nature of controlling the protagonist, and called it "extremely silly, and wonderful fun". Your Sinclair , similarly impressed, scored 9 out of 10 and a Megagame award. [6] Julian later became critical of the gameplay, stating that kid programmers like himself had "insufficient understanding" and that at the time "it seemed logical that the players ought to suffer" as much as the developers, but that feedback from players in the form of pokes and cheats often enhanced published games to make them fun. [7]
The NewZealand Story is a platform game developed and released in arcades by Taito in 1988. The concept and setting were inspired by a holiday trip in New Zealand by one of the Taito programmers. The player controls Tiki (ティキ), a kiwi who must save his girlfriend Phee Phee (ピューピュー) and several of his other kiwi chick friends who have been kidnapped by a large blue leopard seal. While avoiding enemies, the player has to navigate a scrolling maze-like level, at the end of which they release one of Tiki's kiwi chick friends trapped in a cage. In 2007, the arcade game received a remake for the Nintendo DS under the title New Zealand Story Revolution.
The Way of the Exploding Fist is a 1985 fighting game based on Japanese martial arts developed by Beam Software, by a team consisting of Gregg Barnett, Bruce Bayley, Neil Brennan and David Johnston. Originally developed on the Commodore 64 and published in June 1985 by Melbourne House, ports were made for Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron and Commodore 16.
Knight Lore is a 1984 action-adventure game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, and written by company founders Chris and Tim Stamper. The game is known for its use of isometric graphics, which it further popularized in video games. In Knight Lore, the player character Sabreman has forty days to collect objects throughout a castle and brew a cure to his werewolf curse. Each castle room is depicted in monochrome on its own screen and consists of blocks to climb, obstacles to avoid, and puzzles to solve.
Uridium is a science fiction side-scrolling shoot 'em up initially designed by Andrew Braybrook for the Commodore 64, and later ported to other 8-bit machines. It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called Uridium. The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed".
The Rebelstar games are a series of turn-based tactics video games designed by Julian Gollop. Rebelstar Raiders was published in 1984 by Red Shift for the ZX Spectrum. It was reworked in machine code as Rebelstar, published by Firebird in 1986. A sequel, Rebelstar II, was published in 1988 by Silverbird. Rebelstar, but not its sequel, was also adapted for the Amstrad CPC home computer.
Master of Magic is a role-playing video game for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum home computers. It was distributed by Mastertronic in 1985 under its M.A.D. label.
Earthlight is a horizontally scrolling shooter published for the ZX Spectrum in 1988 by Firebird Software. Written by Pete Cooke, Earthlight features parallax scrolling and shadow effects, a novelty for the Spectrum.
Driller is a 1987 puzzle video game. It was written by British developers Major Developments and published by Incentive Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. It uses the Freescape 3D game engine.
Dynamite Dan II: Dr Blitzen and the Islands of Arcanum is a platform game and the sequel to 1985's Dynamite Dan. It was written for the ZX Spectrum by Rod Bowkett and published by Mirrorsoft. An Amstrad CPC port was released the same year.
Julian Todd is a British computer programmer and activist for freedom of information who works in Liverpool.
Rex is an action-adventure shoot 'em up video game similar to Metroid that was published by Martech in 1988 for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.
Android Two is a shoot 'em up maze video game written by Costa Panayi and published by Vortex Software in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum and in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC. It is the sequel to Android One: The Reactor Run, released earlier in 1983.
Quazatron is an action game developed by Graftgold, and released in 1986 by Hewson Consultants. It was designed by Steve Turner for the ZX Spectrum.
Bruce Lee is a platform game written by Ron J. Fortier for Atari 8-bit computers and published in 1984 by Datasoft. The graphics are by Kelly Day and music by John A. Fitzpatrick. The player takes the role of Bruce Lee, while a second player controls either Yamo or alternates with player one for control of Bruce Lee.
Dark Sceptre is a strategy adventure video game by Mike Singleton's design team Maelstrom Games, for Beyond Software. It was published by Firebird Software for the ZX Spectrum in 1987 and for the Amstrad CPC in 1988.
Codename MAT is a space combat simulator published in 1984 by Micromega for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC written by Derek Brewster. The game is similar to Atari, Inc.'s Star Raiders from 1979. Both games allow switching between front and aft-facing views and have strategic chart and scan modes. While Star Raiders has the player fighting Zylons, in Codename MAT the enemies are Myons.
Highlander is a 1986 fighting game developed by Canvas and published by Ocean Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC home computers. It is based on the 1986 film of the same name. Highlander was panned by reviewers.
Light Force is a 1986 vertically scrolling shooter designed by Greg Follis and Roy Carter, developed by their company Gargoyle Games, and published under their Faster Than Light imprint. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum platforms.
Silicon Dreams is a trilogy of interactive fiction games developed by Level 9 Computing during the 1980s. The first game was Snowball, released during 1983, followed a year later by Return to Eden, and then by The Worm in Paradise during 1985. The next year they were vended together as the first, second and last of the Silicon Dreams.
Judge Dredd is a platform shoot 'em up video game based on the character of the same name. It was developed by Beam Software and published by Melbourne House. It was released in Europe in 1986, for Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.