Master-specific game - bouncing ball?

Avengah · Post by **Avengah** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:31 am

Anyone know what this game is called, and if it is available for download anywhere? You control a bouncing ball, and can move it up, down, left or right. You have to bounce from one end of the level to the other, while avoiding falling down the holes. There are several squares which affect the ball either positively or negatively - some increase bouncing speed (bad), some decrease it (good), and I can't remember what the others do. I think some might disappear after one bounce. 
 
This game was Master only - it would not run on the BBC B. Does anyone know what it is and where I can get it? 
 
Cheers, 
 
Matt

melchett · Post by **melchett** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 5:27 pm

Sounds a bit like Sphere of Destiny or its sequel but as far as I know they were available for the BBC B too?!?! 
 
Both of the above are available for download on this site if you want to check...

Avengah · Post by **Avengah** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:12 am

It definitely wasn't Sphere of Destiny. That is a 3D game with a large sphere, and you only jump when you tell it to or on a purple square, whereas in the game I'm thinking of, it's a top-down 2D game with a very small ball, that's bouncing all the time. Sorry!

AJW99 · Post by **AJW99** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:24 pm

Was it Ricochet? This was compatible with the BBC (and Electron possibly) and was released individually and then on PIAS15. 
 
regards 
 
Andrew

Rich TW · Post by **Rich TW** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 3:10 pm

Could it perhaps be Vertigo, from one of the Play It Again Sams (16 or 17)? 
 
There was definitely a Master-only version of it.

Spa8nky · Post by **Spa8nky** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:21 pm

It almost sound like a game called Fervour but I'm sure that was an archimedes only release, quality game though!

Rich TW · Post by **Rich TW** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:12 pm

Not wishing to hijack this thread, but all this has reminded me of something I had on disc a long time ago. 
 
I am sure I remember a BBC version of Marble Madness, or if not that, something which looked very like it! From memory, you controlled a rather badly animated white marble or gyroscope, on a primarily red coloured sloping maze. At least, the first level was red I think. 
 
It doesn't appear in the archive, in fact the only reference I can find to it is here: 
 
<a href="http://www.acorn-gaming.org.uk/Features ... tml">Acorn Gaming site</a> 
 
near the bottom. 
 
<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Guide marble down slopes, tiny screen<hr></blockquote> 
 
Does anyone remember this? And is it the same as the thing I remember? I don't remember "my" one having a small screen, so maybe there were two Marble Madness / SpinDizzy clones...? 
 
Anyone with better memories than me?

AJW99 · Post by **AJW99** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:03 pm

I would have said Perplexity but that's on it. There was one by Impact software IIRC but not called Marble Madness.

AJW99 · Post by **AJW99** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:06 pm

P.S. It's a shame the Level 9 games aren't on there as Emerald Isle freezes and Worm in Paradise crashes <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/frown.gif ALT=":(">

Rich TW · Post by **Rich TW** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:39 pm

Actually, it's funny - I realised exactly what the marble game was as soon as I'd posted. In trying to describe it, I mentioned a gyroscope, and it so happens there's a Melbourne House title in the archive called (surprise) "Gyroscope". That's the one. 
 
But now I'm intrigued about Marble Madness. 
 
It must have been disc-imaged and put on the net at some point, for it to appear in that 'compatibility list' I found. 
 
Someone must know about an aborted Beeb conversion of this... surely??

Jeremy Grayson · Post by **Jeremy Grayson** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:12 am

Hiya, 
 
The nearest we got to an even halfway official version of Marble Madness (Gyroscope excluded) was Pluribus, a game Mat Newman of Fortress fame was working on for Superrior at the very start of 1988. This was shelved when Richard Hanson decided it needed extensive modification; instead, Newman decided to concentrate on Space Super-Hi-Way, the sequel to his 1983 zapper Space Hi-Way, though this too was never released. 
 
There's bound to be further news on Pluribus in the Lost and Found section of this site; failing that, the Games Page of Acorn User mentioned it two months running (February and March 1988, I think) 
 
Jeremy

Jeremy Grayson · Post by **Jeremy Grayson** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:17 am

...could quite possibly be Helter Skelter by Audiogenic. This wasn't a Master-only game as far as I recall, although there may have been some enhancement to the Master version in common with a number of late period ASL releases. 
 
Jeremy

Rich TW · Post by **Rich TW** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:04 pm

Jeremy Grayson wrote:<blockquote>Quote:<hr>The nearest we got to an even halfway official version of Marble Madness (Gyroscope excluded) was Pluribus<hr></blockquote> 
Yeah, I wondered about Pluribus... maybe a demo version got out there somewhere and became known as Marble Madness. I would love to track down that elusive disc image though and take a look. 
 
Incidentally, do you have "insider knowledge" on the Superior/Beeb games scene? Did you once work/write for them at some point? Your name seems familiar, though perhaps it's just from this site...

Jeremy Grayson · Post by **Jeremy Grayson** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 8:06 pm

Hiya, 
 
-------------------------------------------------------Incidentally, do you have "insider knowledge" on the Superior/Beeb games scene? Did you once work/write for them at some point? Your name seems familiar, though perhaps it's just from this site... 
------------------------------------------------------- 
 
Flattered by the suggestion, Rich, but my involvement with Beeb games starts and finishes with being a player, factfinder, researcher and retainer of useless information about them! Never did work for Superior, just remember a bit about their input (real and intended). 
 
Apart from this site, I've also been contributing info, screen shots, etc. to The BBC Games Archive for the last seven years of its existence, and was also part of the gang who ran a stall at CG Expo UK this year under the BBC Computer Games Resources moniker. 
 
...and you, I believe, were a regular contributor to Acorn User's *Info section during the magazine's latter years, no? 
 
Jeremy

Rich TW · Post by **Rich TW** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 5:46 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>...and you, I believe, were a regular contributor to Acorn User's *Info section during the magazine's latter years, no?<hr></blockquote> 
It's a fair cop guv. 
 
Yeah, Matt and I were pretty much the sole 8-bit contributors before they cut the Beeb stuff from the magazine completely. We sent another disc full of articles which never saw the light of day, including an Elite-style 3d wireframe graphics demo, and some other 3d stuff using a fast filled triangle plotter. Shame that.

Moist Mog · Post by **Moist Mog** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:34 pm

There was a similiar thing called Balls! which I think is on this site... I remember the reviews of it quite well... think it was mail-order only... maybe that's the one... only other similar game I can think of that hasn't been mentioned was Phaethon but that was definitely Arc only.

Jeremy Grayson · Post by **Jeremy Grayson** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 12:46 pm

Hiya, 
 
If I remember rightly, Balls was essentially a two-player (split screen?) version of Sphere of Destiny; that being so, it would have to be emliminated from investigations here. 
 
Ta, 
 
Jeremy

Moist Mog · Post by **Moist Mog** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 6:09 pm

So, not Fervour (was definitely Arc only) and not Phaethon (also Arc only)... I didn't have Balls! (ho ho!) but I remember seeing it reviewed and it's stuck in my mind for some reason... you could be right in saying it was two-player only... and not Sphere of Destiny. 
 
Can't think of any others. Actually, I can't think of any BBC games that were Master only except that there was a enhanced version of Stryker's Run for the Master... then again this could be because I never had a Master so didn't check...

stardot.org.uk

Master-specific game - bouncing ball?

Master-specific game - bouncing ball?

Re:Master-specific game - bouncing ball?

It wasn't

none

Re: Master-specific game - bouncing ball?

Re: Master-specific game - bouncing ball?

Re: Marble Madness

Marbles

compatibility list

Re: Marbles

Marble Madness

2D ball game thing...

Re: Marble Madness

Marble Madness etc.

Re: Marble Madness etc.

Balls!

Balls

Hmm..