Retro Arcade Games

There are many arcade games what we all remember - those ones that we fed incessantly, trying to reach that next level, trying to topple that high score.

Here we pick out a few favourites and see how they translated to home (now Retro computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Vic 20, Commodore 64, Oric 1, Oric Atmos, Dragon 32, Commodore Amiga and Amiga 1200) machines.

There was nothing better than a good arcade conversion on your home computer back in the 80's and 90's. This was the time when arcade hardware was streets ahead of home technology, so any conversion that did the original game justice was bound to do well...

The granddaddy of all things vector graphics, Star Wars was a superb arcade game that did the movie justice.

The full sit down cockpit version (released in 1983) really put you into the action and placed the sterio speakers just behind your head. Now you really were in deep space battling tie fighters as the sounds moved around you.

With the famous trench run from the movie re-created, Star Wars was an exhilarating gaming experience. Many other Star Wars computer games were released over the next few years, and official conversions of the games made it onto home computers.

The ZX Spectrum was first given an unofficial version of the game called 3D Starstrike by Realtime Software.

In 1987 we were eventually given the official licensed version of the game courtesy of Domark and Vector Grafix. ZX Spectrum Star Wars and Amiga Star Wars were both fine versions of the Atari arcade machine - with the Amiga version being particularly good.

Konami's 1985 game was an excellent side scrolling stab em up. This is one of my favourite arcade games of all time, and the conversion to the ZX Spectrum by the legendary Joffa Smith is one of the greatest arcade conversions on the Sinclair machine.

It was also known as Rush n Attack in certain parts of the world (notice the play on words?) and had you as a skilled Green Beret soldier battling through four scrolling levels to rescue some prisoners.

What was different was the fact that you were only armed with the famous Green Beret knife, meaning you had to hack your way through soldiers, martial artists, paratroopers and attack dogs. You could grab power-ups such as flame throwers and grenades, but these had to be used wisely.

Green Beret was ripe to be converted to home machines and the late, great Joffa Smith developed ZX Spectrum Green Beret for Imagine Software in 1986.

It was an excellent conversion that re-created the arcade original levels and enemies well. Green Beret was a tough game but you could beat it with plenty of practice!

Hypersports was Konami's follow up to their ultra popular Track And Field arcade game.

Once again you needed olympian endurance when bashing those buttons and waggling that joystick. With seven events to play through (Swimming, Skeet Shooting, Long Horse, Archery,Triple Jump, Weight Lifting and Pole Vault) Hyper Sports was another excellent sports game that had a bit of variety.

Imagine had the rights to convert some of Konami's games to home systems, and once again Joffa Smith came up with the goods on the ZX Spectrum.

ZX Spectrum Hypersports was a huge hit - and probably broke plenty of keyboards and joysticks in the process!

Capcom and Data East released blast-everything-in-site Commando in 1985. It was massively popular during that year.

Taking the role of Super Joe you had to shoot your way through 8 areas of enemy mayhem avoiding foxholes, trucks, motorcycles as well as gun toting soldiers, rocket launching troopers and mortar emplacements.

You had an infinite supply of bullets plus a limited supply of grenades to help you in your quest. More grenades could be collected as you went - and you did need them.

Commando was converted to home machines and ZX Spectrum Commando was released by Elite Software right at the end of 1985 and was an excellent conversion which crammed nearly every aspect of the arcade machine into 48K!
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Amiga Commando did not arrive until 1989 and was a quickly put together conversion that was average at best - which is a shame. We really hated those lazy and quickly thrown together ports.

Space Harrier is a truly classic game (and machine!)

Released in 1985 by gaming giants Sega, Space Harrier was definately something different. With a fully mounted hydraulic cabinet, sterio sound and awesome 3D graphics, Space Harrier was an astounding piece of kit at the time.

The movement of the cabinet combined with the game itself made for an absorbing and fast moving game which ensured you kept pumping those coins in - uttering those famous words 'Get Ready!'

This game was also converted to home machine, and Elite Software converted Harrier to the ZX Spectrum. Despite the limitations of the machine developed Keith Burkhill did a good job - and ZX Spectrum Space Harrier despite not matching the arcade game, was playable and fun. It's a shame that no Spectrum 128 version appeared complete with authentic AY Music.

Amiga Space Harrier did not appear until 1989 - and once again it could have been better considering the machines capabilities compared to the ZX Spectrum. Still, it wasn't bad and we could enter the fantasy zone once again.

With the retro scene booming - more and more people are playing games online (such as Miniclip Games) and also the Best PC Games.

With the myriad of sites available for online play it has never been easier to re-live those classic games again. The likes of Pacman will always be around too - those true classics will be there years to come.

You may even find updated versions of those classics - so try a bit of online gaming for another slice of nostalgia pie on your own machine.