RENEGADE 2-IN-1
(Imagine, 1987 & Goodboy/Tiboh, 2022)
Now here’s a game that we all must have played back in the day, specifically the days of 1987 when it came out. Imagine did such a good job with its Target; sequel, and such a bad job with its threequel, that the original is in danger of getting slightly overlooked. But 4 likely characters by the names of Goodboy (woof woof), Tiboh, Intense and Ralf certainly haven’t overlooked it. No siree, a couple of years ago they thought they’d jazz it up, give it a remix, mash it up and see what came out. And the result is Renegade 2 in 1, which I think just means you can play it the original way or the rejigged way.
Renegade’s plot is pretty much the storyline of every macho '80s movie ever. You have to get your girl back by fighting the many street gangs of New York/Gotham/Birkenhead, through a subway, a pier, the red light district and some lovely back alleys. You can’t use weapons, it’s just not your thing, so you have to kick, punch, jump and throw people around in order to disperse the crowds. Not having played this in quite a while, I forgot just how little space you get to operate in. The gangs seriously hem you in and one false move and they’re on top of you from every possible direction. Tricky stuff.
This mod adds quite a bit of new stuff, which is great. There are 2 impressive new load screens, some great music borrowed from the Atari ST version apparently, and generally everything has been re-coloured to the max, in a way that resembles modern equivalents such as Mighty Final Fight. It’s a worthy overhaul for a slightly unsung classic which is well worth having another crack at, even if the action is a bit claustrophobic by modern standards.
SHADOW DANCER 128K
(U.S. Gold, 1991 & Tiboh/Monsters, 2022)
Okay, this is definitely a new one on me, sounds a bit like Midnight Ballet Dancing Simulator, could be quite original. Ah, no it’s ninjas again, well no matter. U.S. Gold brought this out in 1991, so a lot of people might have tuned out of the Speccy scene by that point, me included. Oh and it’s a coin-op conversion, how very unexpected of our American friends! Ah well, enough cynicism, let’s see what on earth it’s all about then.
You’re Joe Mushashi (they picked that name?) who has to stop a load of terrorists from blowing up his local terrorists by attacking them with shurikens, while impressively also taking his dog out for a walk. There can’t be many games where you have to fight the forces of evil while keeping man’s best friend exercised too. The action is pretty darn slow really, but benefits from being sped up with an emulator, and the graphics are very nice and large. Fair to say it’s standard arcade fare on the whole, but nothing too extraordinary.
So what was new in ’22? Well someone has coloured in the original loading screen very nicely indeed (U.S. Gold forgot to do that, doh) and there is now some pretty good music accompanying the (rather pedestrian) action, so that’s nice. And you also get a little mission briefing at the start of levels, which was apparently a Commodore 64 thing. Spit, spit. I suppose we have to give them the odd bit of credit now and again.
SPACE CHAOS: BATTLE IN FUTURE
(Games Workshop, 1985 & Blindmouse)
It’s surprising there aren’t more mods of Julian Gollop’s classic Chaos, but this seems to be the only one I could find. It’s taking Chaos into the future and making it all spacey like, much like Rebelstar. But would it have Ratface Flanagan and photons in it? And servo droids mowing the lawn. And the ability to eat coffee tokens. And insane opportunity fire shoot-outs in narrow corridors. The answer is no, because they’re in Rebelstar, not Chaos, silly reviewer.
The basic game is the same, but all of the old spells have been chucked out, and shiny new ones installed in their place. Instead of Dungeons & Dragons type creatures, we now have a whole host of obscure robots, although I think we all know C3PO and R2D2. There's (deep breath) Space Sword, Starbase, Fire Bolt, B7 Drone, Space Flaps (!), Stepper, Vampire (?), Space Bow, Silver Killer, Alpha, Cent-B, DR-1, Com, Des-2, S-Clive, Monster, Space Shield, Terminal, CM-1, Killer, Dark Monster, Space Station, Boss, Moon Base, 'Nothing'. Christ knows what most of those are...
It’s an interesting proposition, this. But I think it’s lacking some of the more unpredictable spells from the original, such as Gooey Blob, Magic Fire, Magic Wood and Shadow Wood. Without these the landscape is rather too bare. I think if one were to do a mod of such a game, one might be best keeping most, if not all, of the features of the original, and incorporating new ones on top. But then again, is it really wise to tinker with a classic?
SPHERICAL REMASTERED
(Rainbow Arts, 1989 & Rafal Miazga, 2016)
I don’t recall this game for some reason, but it was released in 1989 by Rainbow Arts, who are probably most famous in Spectral circles for not quite releasing The Great Giana Sisters. It got some rave reviews too, including a Crash Smash with 90%. And more recently it’s been one of many which has received Rafal Miazga’s remastering / reimagining / recolouring / remusicaling / reloadingscreening treatment. So what’s it all about then?
There’s a massive introductory story in typically fantastical prose. I need the cheat notes really, so let’s check out the back of the inlay. You’re a wizard (Harry) and must use your skills of magic (sorted) and logic (oh) to guide a sphere to its goal by filling gaps in with blocks. There are over 200 levels, and even a simultaneous 2 player mode, a real rarity in a puzzle game. It reminds me of the more recent Fire ‘N’ Ice, which was probably inspired by this title.
This is quite a cool game, pretty addictive and enjoyable as you progress through the levels. So what has Mr. Miyagi, sorry Miazga, done to it himself? Well this is a funny one, as he appears I think to have made the backgrounds a bit more minimalist. They’re rather over-busy on the original unusually so the revised version seems a bit easier on the eye. There’s a very nice tune playing, I think that’s a new thing. And there’s a new dodgy loading screen, but otherwise it’s all good, both old and new.
THE BARK
(Oleg Origin, 1997 & Zosya, 2023)
I’ve only just reviewed The Dark and its upgrades and variations, when along comes The Bark. The Dark with dogs. How strange. This is apparently a mod of The Dark: The Lost Pages actually, which starts off 2D, then goes 3D if you get that far, which I didn’t. Apparently the levels are the same as on that game, only with more canine graphics.
You play a cat, which seems more interesting to me since I’m more of a cat person myself. Your name isn’t Miss Tinkerbell, but Xandra and very stereotypically you seem to want to fight a load of dogs, but probably only the little yappy ones. But you have weapons available, which must be most cats’ dream scenario. Level 1 sees you in a big open area trying to find a key to get out, which took me in my crapness a lot of goes. Then on level 2 you have to murder a dragon. So it’s all good fun really.
I think the main point of this might be to show off those levels from The Lost Pages which were so very hard to get to, but to present them in a slightly different way. And obviously someone thought of the title and worked back from there! It’s a novel idea, but could you really see many old games getting a doggy makeover? Woof Justice, Bark Sceptre, Ma-Dogs. Instead of Mazogs, you see? Not sure it’ll catch on.
THE HOBBIT 128
(Melbourne House, 1982 & Kayamon, 2015)
Once upon a time there lived a hobbit, then there was a Boggit. And Melbourne House told his story a long time ago, and very good it was too. Although if one was to be critical, a lot of the screens took their sweet time using the FILL command before their full picture was revealed. This caused minor consternation in some quarters, but wasn’t really a major issue as these pictures were considered quite impressive in those very early days.
But in 2015 a group of Spectrum programmers thought they could do better. So they produced a 128K version of the old classic, but complete with some very nice images indeed. The game itself is unchanged, presumably with entertaining bugs and everything, but the visuals are dramatically different. There’s also a very lovely new loading screen to enjoy into the bargain.
You’d have to say this is a wholly successful execution, the new pictures really do add hugely to the ambience. I wonder what other adventures could have their graphics tarted up a bit… Level 9 ones would benefit from do-overs I think, since when they did eventually do graphics, they weren’t the best. And surely someone could make some really nice pics to accompany the original Adventure, or Colossal Caves, or Classic Adventure, depending on your preference. I’d do it myself but I’m busy that day.
THE PERILS OF WILLY
(Bug-Byte, 1983 & Allan Turvey, 2020)
There have been one or two MM/JSW clones over the years haven’t there? Geoff Neil’s played them all, and good for him, but I’ve tried the odd one and generally found them to be fairly pale imitations. But this one is a tad different, it’s a conversion of a game that was released on the ‘mighty’ VIC-20 between the releases of Manic Miner and ‘Jetpac’ Willy. Spectrum owners must have moved on by that point, but maybe the poor VIC-20philes were not so lucky.
This time round Willy’s been off on a bender and he has to make his drunken way home. So I wonder if this is what happened right before JSW then – little does he know what Maria has in store for him… Anyway, he has to go through parks avoiding ducks, negotiate railway stations avoiding trains, and collect music notes along the way as you do. There are 33 screens in the original, and Mr. Turvey has recreated them all here, like the good ‘un that he is.
The screen is squashed a bit in translation from Commodore’s best machine before the Amiga (ooh bitchy), but it still looks grand. Plenty of colour and manic sprites abound, trundling and spinning around the place a treat. It’s lovely to play a ‘proper’ mod of those famous games, and everything seems very authentic, it sure takes you back. The piece de resistance is a couple of Led Zep tunes in there too, I guess it’s Willy’s fave air guitar music when he’s off his head.
TOURNAMENT ARKANOID
(Imagine, 1987 & Bentley/Carroll, 2022)
Back in 1987, in between the release of Arkanoid and its sequel, the Revenge of Homer Simpson (sorry) there was another Skywalker, I mean Arkanoid game released in the arcades, but only in the US of A. It was called Tournament Arkanoid and it was hard as nails, only for absolute meatheads. Quite why anyone would play Arkanoid and think it was far too easy is beyond me, but I guess either it was deemed as such by some, or (Po)Taito just fancied wringing more coins out of kids’ pockets. I apologise for the poor quality of puns in this paragraph, but if I have to suffer, you do too.
What was the story behind Arkanoid anyway? Well, a mothership called Arkanoid was destroyed but a spacecraft called Vaus managed to escape the carnage. It’s the Dimension Changer’s fault, so you have to destroy him, once you’ve got through his 32 layers of protective brick, then reverse time and restore the mothership. But don’t reverse it too much or you’ll undo the entire history of the universe, so care is required.
These 2 guys used an Arkanoid editor to make this, trying to make it as close to the obscure arcade title as they could. So screen 1 resembles the original game’s screen 1, only most of the bricks need hitting multiple times in order to get rid of them. And on it goes into further tortuous levels. It’s all a bit too much to me, I need my games made childishly simplistic really, not even more ba$tard hard! It’s almost as bad as the second level of Batty...
TURBO THE TORTOISE-30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
(Hi-Tec, 1992 & Bentley/Tiboh/Goodboy, 2022)
Here’s another walk in the park from Goodboy and his mates, this time giving Hi-Tec’s very late budget title from 1992 a 30th birthday makeover. It seems that Hi-Tec did some good work at the latter end of the Spectrum’s lifetime, it’s just a darn shame they didn’t start 10 years earlier. The game actually got a re-release from the Masters of Code as well, it could be that they picked it up when Hi-Tec went bust.
Turbo the tortoise was napping in a mad scientist’s experimentation chamber when the scientist’s deranged assistant accidentally turned it on, and lo, Turbo was embiggened and given super powers. And he wasn’t even teenage or a ninja yet. He must travel through 6 different time zones and find the rest of the pieces to complete the doc’s prototype, whatever that may entail. He does this in jumpy platformy style, bouncing on enemies’ heads and throwing things at them. Like he’s Yoshi kinda.
I’m quite impressed by this game, yes it’s a platformer but it is convincingly Mario-esque and rather fun to play. The graphics are good if monochrome, and this mod doesn’t appear to have added more colour unless I’m mistaken. It’s a 128K single load unlike the original, and there’s a great new loading screen and some other graphical flourishes. Oh, and the status bar appears at the bottom of the screen rather now rather than the top. What’s that all about?
TURRICAN AND TURRICAN II (2 IN 1)
(Rainbow Arts, 1990 & Goodboy/Tiboh/Slider, 2021)
Crash and YS seemed to love both Turrican games, with Sinclair User rating both only in the 70’s, percentagewise. They were relative latecomers to the party in ’90 and ’91 and I wasn’t particularly aware of them at the time, and having played them only recently, I admit I’m struggling to see their attraction. But the games market wasn’t what it was by then, so perhaps they seemed better, or more likely I’ve not reached the good bits in them yet.
You’ve got to destroy the evil Morgul (Tolkein gonna sue) by travelling through 5 different worlds in the first game. While in the second you have to travel through 5 different worlds to liberate the planet Landorin (George Lucas gonna sue) from its robotic oppressors. There’s a lot of shooting and jumping, and the whole thing looks like a miniaturised version of Trantor to me.
Goodboy and Tiboh enlisted the help of Slider (no idea) for this mod and they seem to have given it quite an overhaul. There are new loading screens of course, plus some rather nice introductory scenes and some AY music translated from other machines’ versions of the game. And both games have been incorporated into just the one load, hence the title, so if you really do dig Turrican, you’ll be in seventh heaven.
-FIN-
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