| Ostron | |
|---|---|
 Original cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Andrew Glaister |
| Publisher(s) | Softek |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Platform |
Ostron, originally released as Joust, [1] is a ZX Spectrum video game developed and released by Softek in 1983. It is a clone of the 1982 arcade video game, Joust . [1] [2]
Crash deemed Ostron "a very enjoyable game, with good graphics and sound". [1]
Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade video game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, MSX and Commodore 64 computers from 1983 until 1987. Ultimate are perhaps best remembered for the big-selling titles Jetpac and Sabre Wulf, each of which sold over 300,000 copies in 1983 and 1984 respectively, and their groundbreaking series of isometric arcade adventures using a technique termed Filmation. Knight Lore, the first of the Filmation games, has been retrospectively described in the press as "seminal ... revolutionary" (GamesTM), "one of the most successful and influential games of all time" (X360), and "probably ... the greatest single advance in the history of computer games" (Edge).
Joust is an action game developed by Williams Electronics and released in arcades in 1982. While not the first two-player cooperative video game, Joust's success and polished implementation popularized the concept. Players assume the role of knights armed with lances and mounted on large birds, who must fly around the screen and defeat enemy knights riding buzzards.
Skate or Die! is a skateboarding video game released by Electronic Arts (EA) in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It is EA's first internally developed game. Versions for the Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum followed. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Konami, published under the company's Ultra Games branding.
Sabre Wulf is an action-adventure game released by British video game developer Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1984. The player navigates the pith-helmeted Sabreman through a 2D jungle maze while collecting amulet pieces to bypass the guardian at its exit. The player does not receive explicit guidance on how to play and is left to decipher the game's objectives through trial and error. Sabreman moves between the maze's 256 connected screens by touching the border where one screen ends and another begins. Each screen is filled with colourful flora, enemies that spawn at random, and occasional collectibles.
Jetpac is a shooter video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game and released for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20 in 1983 and the BBC Micro in 1984. It is the first game to be released by Ultimate Play the Game, the company which later became Rare. The game follows Jetman as he must rebuild his rocket in order to explore different planets, while simultaneously defending against hostile aliens. It was written by Ultimate co-founder Chris Stamper with graphics designed by his brother, Tim Stamper. Reviewers praised Jetpac's presentation and gameplay, and it won "Game of the Year" at the Golden Joystick Awards in 1983.
Crash, stylized as CRASH, is a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer, primarily focused on games. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress. It was relaunched as a quarterly A5 magazine in December 2020 with the backing of the original founders.
Lunar Jetman is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game. It was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and later on the BBC Micro. In this sequel to Jetpac, the second instalment of the Jetman series, Jetman has to destroy alien bases whilst simultaneously defending himself, along with Earth, from a hostile alien race.
Atic Atac is an arcade-adventure video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and the BBC Micro in 1985. The game takes place within a castle in which the player must seek out the "Golden Key of ACG" by unlocking doors and avoiding enemies. It was Ultimate's second game to require 48K of RAM; most of their previous games for the Spectrum ran on unexpanded 16K models.
Atarisoft was a brand name used by Atari, Inc. in 1983 and 1984 to publish video games for non-Atari home computers and consoles. Each platform had a specific color for its game packages: video games sold for the Commodore 64 were in green boxes, games for the TI-99/4A in yellow, the IBM PC in blue, and so on.
Winged Warlords is a ZX Spectrum game which was published by CDS Microsystems in 1983. It is a clone of Joust in terms of level design and gameplay. The graphics are different, with the ostrich mounts being replaced with winged horses.
Andrew Glaister is a video game programmer.
Fairlight is an isometric projection arcade adventure video game developed by Bo Jangeborg and Jack Wilkes and released in 1985 on Softek's The Edge label. Developed in seven months, Jangeborg created the "Worldmaker" graphic development system to replicate the Filmation system used by Ultimate's Knight Lore. The game used code from a graphics utility he had developed in 1983, called Grax, which had also been the foundation of graphics package The Artist, published on Softek's SofTechnics label. Jack Wilkes contributed art assets towards the game, including enemy sprites and the title screen. A sequel, Fairlight II, was released in 1986.
Chequered Flag is a racing video game developed by Psion Software and published by Sinclair Research in 1983. It was the first driving game published for the ZX Spectrum and one of the first computer car simulators.
Megapede is a Centipede clone for the ZX Spectrum programmed by Andrew Beale and published by Softek in 1983. Beale also wrote a Berzerk clone, Robon, for the Spectrum.
Repulsar is a ZX Spectrum video game programmed by Andrew Beale and published by Softek in 1983. It is a clone of the 1980 Atari, Inc. arcade game Missile Command.
Firebirds is a ZX Spectrum video game developed and released by Softek in 1983. It is a clone of the 1980 arcade game Phoenix.
Monsters in Hell is a ZX Spectrum game written by Martin Lewis and released by Softek in 1983. The player kills wizards by digging holes in the floor to watch them plummet to their death. The screen layout and gameplay are similar to the 1980 Universal arcade game Space Panic.
Robon is a clone of Berzerk for the ZX Spectrum written by Andrew Beale and released by Softek in 1983. The game's documentation refers to it as a "version of the popular arcade game."
Edge Games, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher headquartered in Pasadena, California, best known for the practices of its founder and chief executive officer, Tim Langdell, in enforcing trademarks relating to the word "edge", which sources have described as "litigious".
Automonopoli, also known as Go to Jail, is an unauthorised computer version of the boardgame Monopoly, released in June 1983 by Automata UK for the ZX Spectrum. Although other two-player Monopoly computer programs already existed, the developer advertised that their Automonopoli was the first with an artificial intelligence strong enough to compete against and defeat human players.