The best BBC game ever?

Post by **Samwise** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:25 pm

Actually the docking computer was more than capable of driving you into the space station .. the AI was quirky to say the least.

Most commanders quickly realised that it was both safer ad quicker to fly up to the space station and point the nose to the letter box entrance, before engaging the computer.

Sam.

Post by **Arcadian** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:36 pm

Garrettimus wrote:I´d like to know please what is the best BBC game ever.

Hopper and Arcadians are the best BBC games, closely followed by Zalaga, Chuckie Egg, Firetrack, Psycastria and Acid Drops. Oh, and Haunted House of course.

Post by **Samwise** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:45 pm

Hopper? really?

Having only had a handful of games when I was a lad, we played this to death.

I'm not sure it's worthy of the "best" accolade, tho.

I can see your reasoning behind Arcadians, tho.

"GAH!!! I've been FRAZZLED *AGAIN* !!!"

and

"MATCHBOX! I GOT A MATCHBOX!!!"

Sam.

AJW · Post by **AJW** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:45 pm

Moist_Mog wrote:Hmm... think I'm going to go against the weight of opinion and go for the Repton series... or Repton 3 if it's got to be one particular game... easily the one that took up the most of my time, some of which was designing new levels (see me thread below... I will definitely get round to sorting my levels out soon)...

For me Elite was just too bloody hard... maybe it was cos I was just an impatient little sod at the time but I could never get anywhere and to this day never managed to dock without crashing... arggghhh!!! etc... but it was definitely one of the most advanced.

I did get into the Arc version... much easier with a mouse and... err... a docking computer from a mag coverdisk...

Really loved Chuckie Egg as well... I'd also put Frenzy right up there for addictive quality... it was very basic technically though and came out in about 1984 I think.

Sure I'll think of some others soon

If docking on the BBC was hard then docking with a mouse on ArcElite is just ridiculous!

sorvad · Post by **sorvad** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:02 pm

I could dock, took about an hour or so to do it once and then about another hour to become adept. But you had to put that initial "solid" time in. I did this before even attempting to do any trading or real playing of the game. I think that paid dividends in not becoming frustrated later.

For me it was the best as it was the one I put the most hours in, ever ! Nothing hooked me to a game more than this, and I would rush my tea down in order to get back to the bedroom to get back on the game, I was totally absorbed. I can say that no other game of the 8 bit era did that or even came close for me.

But it's all down to personnel tastes, what one person likes differs from someone else, otherwise we wouldn't have such a wonderful variety of software to choose from

retro_junkie · Post by **retro_junkie** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:21 am

stairwaytohell wrote:Hopper and Arcadians are the best BBC games

I would go along with these 2 plus Snapper - all 3 easily among my favourite games of all time and all 3 I actually much prefer over the arcade versions. With the old Acornsoft conversions, you are never wishing the computer was faster, the graphics more detailed, the movement less jerky... they are all perfect as far as gameplay goes and it was remembering these games(and playing bad remakes or even full arcade versions on PC or PlayStation) that made me finally start using the Electron again (and this site and ElectrEm!). Then again, I am just going on the Electron versions... Some other beeb favourites maybe don't translate too well.

Chuckie Egg would be next, then bigger games like Pipeline, Codename Droid, Hostages (always overlooked!)...

I actually never had ANY of the 'big' beeb games - Exile, Elite or Repton (none of them!). I've downloaded them from here and WILL be giving them a good go... Exile is stunning. I can't actually do anything on Elite but I was going to buy an original for the full manual... As for Repton... I'm sure it's better than it seems but the Electron version is very jerky... I actually prefer Boulderdash! I kind of feel a duty to my Electron to give Repton more of a chance though!

Post by **Samwise** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:34 am

retro_junkie wrote:I can't actually do anything on Elite but I was going to buy an original for the full manual...

You absolutely need to read the manual and the accompanying novella, The Dark Wheel by Robert Holdstock.

That's not because you need the keys - you could get those online, but the reason Elite went down in history was because of the whole universe it let you into and a BIG part of that, was down to both the manual and the novella - they really set the scene and make you feel like a part of the Elite universe.

Track them down on eBay - you won't regret it!

Sam.

Cybershark · Post by **Cybershark** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:59 am

time-out on the Elite talk please?

stairwaytohell wrote:Hopper and Arcadians are the best BBC games, closely followed by Zalaga, Chuckie Egg, Firetrack, Psycastria and Acid Drops. Oh, and Haunted House of course.

Arcadians i just never understood the big fuss about. just wave after wave... Zalaga on the other hand, well that was the business.
Psycastria (and Syncron) were a bit too fast paced for my tastes

Acid Drops i really enjoyed though!

but no mentions of Citadel yet?

i had a lot of time for Elixir too, depite it being a bit too difficult to control the guy sometimes. Beverly Hills Cop was pretty damned impressive... hmm... Tynesoft multiloads... Rodeo Games ftw!

Dreamland Fantasy · Post by **Dreamland Fantasy** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:34 am

I have already mentioned about Exile, Arcadians and Elite, but I've been having a think about other BBC games that I used to love playing in my younger days, and here's what I came up with (in no particular order):

- Castle Quest
- The Cube of Zoth
- Repton 3
- Citadel
- Smash 'n' Grab
- Monsters
- Maze
- Magic Mushrooms
- Karate Combat
- Powerplay
- Trivial Pursuit
- Scrabble
- Stryker's Run
- Stryker's Run II - Codename: Droid
- Thunderstruck
- Holed Out
- White Knight Mk. II Chess
- Cylon Attack
- Merry Xmas Santa
- Granny's Garden
- Flowers of Crystal
- The Lost Frog
- Banjax
- Millionnaire
- Swarm
- Space Pilot
- Time Traveller
- Flip!
- Barbarian
- Ransack
- Fortress
- Planetoid
- Snapper
- Mr Ee
- Wizadore
- Killer Gorilla
- Crazy Painter
- Pole Position
- Knightlore
- Alien 8
- Wizard
- Estra

That's just some of the games. There are others, but I forget the names of them and there are probably more besides.

Kind regards,

Francis.

Moist_Mog · Post by **Moist_Mog** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:32 am

Maybe there should be an Elite forum...

How much you need a docking computer depends on how you play(ed) the game. I wouldn't just jump in somewhere and then head straight for the space station... I'd go around blasting pirates for a good 20 minutes first and after all that effort the last thing you want is to crash on docking.

AJW, I found docking with a mouse easier than with keys, but still only ever managed it once or twice... then 'acquired' a docking computer

And another two for the best games vote...

Starstriker... colourful and very playable blaster... and not ridiculously hard.

Thrust... had a bash on this one lately and although it's a fairly basic momentum simulator, it gets my vote for addictive quality. It was followed by Rotor (I think) and Drop Ship on the Arc.

ivor_the_injun · Post by **ivor_the_injun** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:15 am

Elite novella and manual can be found on Ian Bell's homepage...

http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/

Active Elite newsgroup here:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan. ... =&ie=UTF-8

ivor_the_injun · Post by **ivor_the_injun** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:50 am

Maybe some of these aren't a patch on the likes of Elite technically, but that never stopped me whiling away many a night playing them...

3D Bomb Alley
Arena 3000
Bar Billiards
Beach Head
Caveman Capers
Contraption
Cute To Kill
Dare Devil Denis
Despatch Rider
Deathstar
Dunjunz
Felix Meets The Evil Weevils
Football Manager
Freefall
Frenzy (excellent port of Qix)
Graham Gooch's Test Cricket
Great Britain Ltd
Gunsmoke
Gyroscope
Imogen
Lemming Syndrome
Magic Mushrooms
Microball (excellent pinball simulator)
Revs
Savage Pond (which I'd love to see a remake of with decent collision detection)
Shark
Skirmish (remake of Joust)
Sphere Of Destiny
Spy Hunter
Super Pool
Tarzan Boy
Uridium
Way Of The Exploding Fist
Xor
Ziggy

Post by **Samwise** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:57 am

Guys, guys!

You're just cutting 'n' pasting from the games list now ... surely you can restrict yourselves to at least a top ten? That's half the challenge of finding the "best"!

Sam.

Dreamland Fantasy · Post by **Dreamland Fantasy** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:59 am

Imogen
...
Savage Pond (which I'd love to see a remake of with decent collision detection)

Ah, I had forgotten about Imogen. Loved that game!

And Savage Pond was one of the ones I couldn't remember the name of.

Kind regards,

Francis.

retro_junkie · Post by **retro_junkie** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:07 pm

ivor_the_injun wrote:Savage Pond (which I'd love to see a remake of with decent collision detection)

I did start a thread about the poor collision detection in Savage Pond but nobody replied! It's a shame because it's a really good, highly original game... still, it isn't ruined... it's still one of the games I play most often...

Cybershark · Post by **Cybershark** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:48 pm

*nods repeatedly at Ivor's selection*

Beach Head... ooh aye... thing is with games like that, Spy Hunter and Dare Devil Dennis, there were possibly better versions for other formats.

original stuff like Contraption, Shark and Imogen though... no contest

Garret, if you're still reading you may find this page to be most help:
http://www.bbcmicrogames.com/

Dave Footitt · Post by **Dave Footitt** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:32 pm

samwise wrote:Guys, guys!

You're just cutting 'n' pasting from the games list now ... surely you can restrict yourselves to at least a top ten? That's half the challenge of finding the "best"!

Sam.

Well, it took some doing!

Elite - No real description required. Utterly compelling
Magic Mushrooms - Spent ages designing the levels
Castle Quest - Atmospheric, addictive and a great romp
Firetrack - Technically ace
Wizadore - Sure I got quite far on this, recently played it and couldn't even get the first scroll! So damn hard
Manic miner - Only ever made level 16 despite hours and hours playing
Imogen - Cracking graphics and imagination
Citadel - Huge, great, and the first time I heard speech
Chuckie egg - Just for the ability to bounce your player around so much
Dunjunz - Our very own gauntlet

Bonus - All Firebird games, cheap as chips and with the ace Melvyn Wright's music machine!

GarethW · Post by **GarethW** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:06 pm

Top ten games

1. Elite ('nuff said - but check out Oolite for a modern remake - absolutely fantastic)
2. Exile
3. Citadel
4. Repton 2
5. Cylon Attack
6. Dodgy Geezers
7. Star Drifter
8. Football Manager
9. Beach Head
10. Imogen

All these games had awesome atmosphere and playability.

Ta muchly

Gareth

AJW · Post by **AJW** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:13 pm

Can't say I know much about 5,6, 7 but the rest are excellent choices.

Post by **Samwise** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:35 pm

Cylon Attack for the Atom, BBC B and Electron was awesome.

Described by Hac-Man as a poor man's Elite ... or perhaps, as it came out earlier, Elite was a rich man's Cylon Attack!

Some more info on this and other A&F releases here:

http://www.bagshot-row.org/chuckie-egg/anfreleases.html

Sam.

ug1ym0nk3y · Post by **ug1ym0nk3y** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:41 am

Top Ten ... in no particular order, since choosing the ten was hard enough!

- Elite - the daddy, say no more.
- Firetrack - never played it, but plainly a technical tour de force
- Repton - brilliant characterisations, look and development. Addictive.
- Castle Quest - good looking, thoughtful and original aspect.
- Exile never played it - often quoted as best game ever, screenshots and reviews support that.
- Citadel never played it but plainly the best of the genre ... colourful.
- Hopper - simple, gorgeous, addictive.
- Sabre Wulf - colourful, tuneful, atmospheric.
- Yie Ar Kung Fu - good looking, simple and eminently playable version of the genre.
- Thrust - technically brilliant, wonderfully original, simple and highly addictive.

Honourary mentions:-

- Chuckie Egg - simple and addictive - too simple?
- Killer Gorilla - excellent version of the arcade game.
- Snapper - excellent version of the arcade game.
- Revs - technical tour de force - more a simulator than a game?
- Jet Pac - smooth and addictive.
- Planetoid - excellent version of the arcade game.
- Boffin - well presented, playable, demanding version of the genre.
- Cholo - original, atmospheric.
- Arcadians - smooth, polished - a king of the genre.
- Arkanoid - excellent version of the arcade game.
- Mr Ee - excellent version of the arcade game. Colourful and never boring!
- Blagger - cult BBC game.
- Codename Droid - all round good game.
- Psycastria - fast, demanding, good looking.
- Sentinel - one step from being a titan - too slow and not enough clarity.
- Beach Head - brilliant gameplay and variety of levels.

Cybershark · Post by **Cybershark** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:26 pm

ug1ym0nk3y wrote:- Firetrack - never played it, but plainly a technical tour de force

oh, it just occured to me that along with some people not having played Firetrack that a greater number are probably not aware of its basis. as a serious arcadehead of that era then along with being able to enjoy Firetrack in its own right i was also thrilled that it was so heavily based on a game i loved called Starforce. anyone with MAME should go look it up and see the similarities

http://www.emulatronia.com/reportajes/x ... rforce.htm

AJW · Post by **AJW** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:25 pm

samwise wrote:Cylon Attack for the Atom, BBC B and Electron was awesome.

Described by Hac-Man as a poor man's Elite ... or perhaps, as it came out earlier, Elite was a rich man's Cylon Attack!

Some more info on this and other A&F releases here:

http://www.bagshot-row.org/chuckie-egg/anfreleases.html

Sam.

That website seems to be down

jon28 · Post by **jon28** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:03 am

ug1ym0nk3y wrote: - Castle Quest - good looking, thoughtful and original aspect.

When it came out Castle Quest was pretty ground breaking, especially the very smooth scrolling and the puzzle elements. There was a price to pay, which was mainly that it didn't last very long and the ending is pretty crap.

I don't think anything comes anywhere close to Elite though. When it was first released it was the best computer game available on any platform.

frutbunn · Post by **frutbunn** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:35 am

jon28 wrote:I don't think anything comes anywhere close to Elite though. When it was first released it was the best computer game available on any platform.

No, me neither. I couldn't believe Elite the first time I saw it, it was just so immersive for the day, those poor 3D graphics were like CGI effects! Totally unbelievable and unprecedented game play. It was never off our Beeb for months! Totally amazing, you could almost imagine being there!

Post by **Samwise** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:15 am

AJW wrote:That website seems to be down

Sorry AJW,

I'll kick it when I get home tonight ... that's what happens when you host a webserver on a residential broadband connection. very flaky!

Sam.

Dave Footitt · Post by **Dave Footitt** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:08 am

frutbunn wrote:
jon28 wrote:I don't think anything comes anywhere close to Elite though. When it was first released it was the best computer game available on any platform.
No, me neither. I couldn't believe Elite the first time I saw it, it was just so immersive for the day, those poor 3D graphics were like CGI effects! Totally unbelievable and unprecedented game play. It was never off our Beeb for months! Totally amazing, you could almost imagine being there!

Not sure I'd describe Elite's 3D as "poor", most of its design still holds up pretty well today IMHO

It was incredibly immersive yes, although it did "borrow" a few bits from the Traveller RPG.

Hats off to them, it was a masterpiece, I remember it took me ages to save up £17 for the disc version!

GarethW · Post by **GarethW** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:21 pm

If you are a fan of Elite then try oolite - fantastic game. Ok, advert over heh heh.

Yeah, Elite was the classic. However, Repton 2 and Citadel hold very fond memories for me. I loved the exploration element of Repton 2 and the animation in Citadel was awesome.

Thanks

Post by **Samwise** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:59 pm

samwise wrote:
AJW wrote:That website seems to be down
Sorry AJW,

I'll kick it when I get home tonight ... that's what happens when you host a webserver on a residential broadband connection. very flaky!

Sam.

Ahh, turns out the Dynamic DNS update didn't work last time our ISP changed our IP address ... Fixed that now.

Meantime, this address will work until it filters through DNS:

http://bagshot-row.dyndns.org/chuckie-e ... eases.html

Cheers,

Sam.

Dave Footitt · Post by **Dave Footitt** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:49 pm

GarethW wrote:If you are a fan of Elite then try oolite - fantastic game. Ok, advert over heh heh.

Yeah, Elite was the classic. However, Repton 2 and Citadel hold very fond memories for me. I loved the exploration element of Repton 2 and the animation in Citadel was awesome.

Thanks

I do have a dabble on Oolite now and again, but my Macbook doesn't seem to like it much

A game I spent a lot of time on (although looking at it recently don't know why) is 'Gisburne's Castle'. Not sure I ever completed it but spent many a night trying!

stardot.org.uk

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