Wanderers: Chained in the Dark (ZX Spectrum)

No, thankfully this isn't a sombre simulation of the miserable existence of a long-suffering Wolverhampton Wanderers fan. In contrast, Wanderers: Chained in the Dark is a swords and sorcery mini-epic in 128KB, featuring trolls, demons and fantastical creatures that are all frankly a little on the cute side to disturb this seasoned adventurer.

There is a distinct lack of this type of game on our beloved Speccy. It's a rather excellent RPG adventure in the Japanese style, by which I mean: when you encounter a baddie you are whisked into a combat mode and obliged to take turns thrashing each other. I always found the game mechanic rather bizarre but perhaps it was a natural progression from pen and paper RPGs to this. I don't recall this style of game gaining popularity in the UK until the advent of Final Fantasy VII in the 90s, and by then the Spectrum was commercially dead and in any case unable to handle the size of contemporary RPGs.

Ninjajar! (ZX Spectrum)

Once again it's time to give the old Speccy a dusting off and inject a fresh infusion of life into the tape deck courtesy of the ever-prolific Mojon Twins! Stalwarts of the ZX Spectrum scene, the Mojon's output over the years has varied in quality from great to not-so-great, but their latest release Ninjajar! has undoubtedly set a new benchmark for the much-loved 8-bit home computer.

Janosik (ZX Spectrum)

Host to many legendary puzzlers, adventure games and cracking arcade remakes both new and old, the humble ZX Spectrum continues to surprise its loyal followers even today. However with a software library of over 25,000 titles and growing, the old 8-bit has its fair share of lame ducks. Janosik, seemingly an unofficial Spectrum port of an early 90's game for the Atari XL, sadly falls into this latter category.

Ninja Twins: Going to Zedeaks (ZX Spectrum)

[This review was originally written by J. Monkman for indiegames.com, and has been reposted here with the editors' permission].

Genuine 8-Bit conversions or remakes of modern indie releases are always fun, but even with the best-known examples of backwards-ported games there are always design sacrifices that have to be made due to the limited target hardware. For this reason an indie game running on a retro platform that actually improves on the original is a real rarity - yet that's arguably what the team behind Ninja Twins: Going to Zedeaks have seemingly achieved with their unofficial ZX Spectrum tribute/clone/sequel of KronBits 2013 freeware puzzler.

Krunel (ZX Spectrum)

The ZX Spectrum is like the 8-Bit equivalent of one of those local punk bands stuck touring the toilet-circuit; it might not be the prettiest or the best sounding act, but the Speccy at least has a spark of independence, defiantly strutting about the stage with its garish palette, ludicrous colour clash and glitchy sounding soundchip. And hey, I love me some punk.

Krunel from speccy.pl, is a simple Puyo-Puyo style puzzle game that neither deviates from the classic formula nor has any stand-out features (other than being a new 21st century game running on arcane hardware). Really, there's no reason for it to exist, but this is a Spectrum we're talking about here - and Speccy developers just do whatever they like.

The Speccies (ZX Spectrum)

I do love a good puzzler. In fact, I am famous among friends for my penchant for puzzle games due to the fact that as a child I named my first pet, a diminutive Russian hamster, after Taito's 'Puzznic', a tile based logic game that I played for many hours on my Sinclair Spectrum. I am aware of how tragic this makes my life appear, but Puzznic did seem like a cute name for the little fur-ball at the time. It has been a while since I came across a really good brainteaser on the Spectrum, but this new offering from Tardis Remakes has definitely been testing the ol' grey matter.

It was probably worth Tardis porting this game to the 48k Spectrum for the inspired name-change alone. The Brainies, presumably so-called as the cute creatures are little more than massive heads with tiny feet stuck on, have been rechristened as The Speccies. Oh-so-appropriate for a Spectrum remake of a game that never made it on to the machine on its original release in the early 1990s. The little critters don't actually wear spectacles, however, which seems to me a missed opportunity.

Sgt. Helmet Training Day (NES/ZX Spectrum)

You have to hand it to the Mojon Twins, those chaps turn out more ZX Spectrum games than Ocean did in the 80s. The Twins have some seriously durable code magic at work as their engines seem to lend themselves to whatever devious design they throw at them.

Sgt. Helmet Training Day is a fine example of them rising to a challenge, as from what I can understand (via Google translate) this game is a direct retaliation to the claims the Mojon Twins 'don't do run n' gun'. I must admit when I think back through their titles I can recall plenty of maze games and floaty platformers, so some of my assumptions still stand but I'll go into that later on.

Request In Peace (ZX Spectrum)

As far as I can tell, there isn't a videogame genre called 'firefighting'. Well, I'd like to propose one. It'd include those action games where you are just trying to stay on top of things; Oil Panic (Game & Watch), Tapper (Arcade), Pssst (Spectrum) et al. would reside under this sub-heading. Happily, Request In Peace would proudly sit there amongst them, as a fine example.

R2-D2 (ZX Spectrum)

R2-D2 in brief: A traditional platform collect-em-up, where the diminutive Star Wars droid takes an unlicensed holiday in a Manic Miner-style world; avoiding baddies whilst collecting nuts. The reason for this isn’t desperately clear, but I'm assuming he is going to use them to build something from Meccano whilst C3PO looks on and chides him.

Interestingly, game author 'kas29' (a.k.a. Алексей Кашкаров) has used Jonathan Cauldwell's Arcade Game Designer to make R2-D2, and although a polished effort with nice sprite design, the end result is somewhat 'by the numbers'. Had this been a 1983 Mastertronic release it would have been considered reasonably good, but Speccy owners have somewhat spoiled for choice since then, and unfortunately this fails to stand out amongst a crowd of similar titles.

Mojon Twins: Cover Tape 2 (ZX Spectrum)

When I initially sat down to write this review I figured I would separate the individual titles on the colossal Cover Tape 2 and assess them on their own merit, however upon playing through them all I came to the realisation that even though they all unique games, many are not actually that different from each other (with a couple of exceptions). For this reason, this article will primarily cover the highlights, giving a passing mention to the rest.

The ever-prolific Mojon Twins have a history of releasing many stellar 8-Bit games, and this collection is no exception. Harking back to the 'good olde days' when you'd pick up a ZX Spectrum magazine from your newsagent with a cassette tape attached brimming with games, Cover Tape 2 is essentially an assemblage of mini-games and prototypes that never really made the transition to full release. Predominantly of the platform ilk with a few maze-types thrown in for good measure, most of the games revolve around collecting items and unlocking doors whilst solving the odd situation based puzzle... However despite their similarities no two are truly alike.

Souls (ZX Spectrum)

Calling Souls by Retrobytes Productions a 'demake' would be a bit of an understatement. Other than gathering souls and saving your game/restoring your life at campfires, this modern retro title bears little resemblance to its majestic inspiration - the mighty, infamous, devilishly challenging Dark Souls by FROM Software. Unfortunately, the limitations of the ZX Spectrum don't translate well to a game attempting to capture this spirit.

Encyclopedia Galactica (ZX Spectrum)

Gone are the heady days of adventure and exploration, here on our tiny planet, where anyone could strike out on a voyage of discovery to make their name, make a fortune. Long gone. The days when Darwin set forth in the Beagle and sent back specimens of exotic flora and fauna. The days of the great plant hunters like Sir Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook and introduced plants like eucalyptus and acacia to Europe. I am sure that even today there are innumerable undiscovered species lurking under rocks, in the deepest jungle, or clustered around deep sea vents. It's just that... well, it's too much like hard work to find them, isn't it? Wouldn't it be better if we could cross the next great frontier and get out there to explore the rest of the universe?

That is what Encyclopedia Galactica, the new game from Jonathan Cauldwell, imagines: it is, quite literally, exploration on rocket fuel. That's not to say it is adrenaline soaked or delivered at a breakneck pace. On the contrary, the game plays at a gentle trot, and patience and methodicalness are rewarded over an itchy trigger-finger. Galactica puts you in the shoes of Dr Theo Rao: one scientist with a whole galaxy in front of him, star systems to explore, and new lifeforms to discover. All in a tin can of a spaceship that's like a GTI version of the one those kids made out of junk in Explorers. You must scour the galaxy and catalogue all life, from microscopic plankton in the oceans to intelligent - and sometimes aggressive - aliens. Many lie somewhere in between: fungi, herbs, fish, molluscs, birds... but mostly it's a menagerie of weirdness, as you'd expect.

Subacuatic (MSX/ZX Spectrum)

An entry into the MSXdev'12 challenge, Subacuatic by the Mojon Twins is difficult to pigeonhole into a single category - I'd perhaps call it an "action-adventure," but I wouldn't want to give the impression that there's lots of action going on, so let's go for "underwater exploration game." Maybe that's better.

Moving along, in Subacuatic players take the role of Ferdinand W. Templeton, an archeologist who must dive underwater to rescue his 4 prized artifacts so he can marry his lover and have enough money to keep on going. He has a phobia to water as well.  This does not bode well for Mr. Templeton, as the perils of this particular undersea world are everywhere. Even the seaweed will actually kill him, as no doubt many players have already discovered the hard way.

Ramiro El Vampiro (ZX Spectrum)

The website 'World Of Spectrum' lists over thirty titles credited to The Mojon Twins published over the last six years. It is pleasing to see that their impressive output doesn’t show any signs of slowing and the lovely Ramiro El Vampiro is their latest, and quite possibly one of their greatest so far.

Cheril the Goddess (ZX Spectrum)

I can only apologise for my crassness, but I don't think it is going to be possible to review the Mojon Twins' Cheril the Goddess without addressing her bosoms. So, I'm just going to get this over with: you see, she has a rather large and prominent pair (see the tasteful loading screen above). And, for reasons unexplained, she is apparently buck naked for the duration of the game - or at least wearing an article of clothing so skimpy as to make no difference.

Despite a discernible bounce when Cheril moves, there's really no need to shy away from playing when your partner/mum/grandma might see. Her sprite is so tiny that no, erm, details are on show - and despite having lovely hair she certainly does not titillate. Think Atom Ant with big boobs. On second thought, don't - it's a bit wrong. Now, there's an image I wish I had never conjured up...

Knights & Demons (ZX Spectrum/MSX/Amstrad CPC)

Being a retro geek and a high fantasy nerd, seeing a new game on the ZX Spectrum called Knights & Demons (from Kabuto Factory) naturally got me all aflutter. You can imagine then, my disappointment when I realised it was actually a puzzle game based on the old Light's Out toys from the 1990s. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I did have to readjust my expectations somewhat.

Light's Out was a puzzle game featuring a grid of lit tiles, where the aim was to switch off all the lights on your board. By selecting a tile on the grid you switch the status from on to off (or vice versa) as well as those tiles directly adjacent to the one you have just selected. Knights & Demons essentially takes this concept and replaces the lights with, you guessed it, knights and demons. It also introduces 'pikes', which allow you to switch off a tile without flipping any of the other tiles around it, which is useful for dealing with individual tiles when you don’t want to switch the others adjacent to it. As you progress through the game the number of pikes you possess doesn't reset, so the game becomes progressively harder as the number of pikes dwindles and you have to rely on your skill alone to clear the gameboard.

Intergalactic Space Rescue (ZX Spectrum)

Rescuing stranded space ships, lost in the inky black void of space – now that sounds like an exciting job, doesn't it? The ZX Spectrum has a long history of confounding expectation regarding the levels of excitement found in particular jobs. Trashman and Paperboy took the commonplace and mundane and made them fun. Unfortunately Intergalactic Space Rescue manages to defy expectation, and makes the fantastical rather mundane.

LumASCII (ZX Spectrum)

Bob Smith's latest Spectrum game LumASCII is a side scrolling shooter, with an aesthetic twist - it's all rendered in the Spectrum ROM font. The game plays as a tricky (power-up free) shoot-em-up, with your character and all the baddies and environments rendered in a screen full of squint-tastic coloured text. (Insert your own R-'TYPE' pun here.) If you touch a baddie your energy bar is chipped away - run out of energy and you lose one of your five lives. Classic stuff.

The text based 'sprites' in the game are often animated, and are amazingly recognizable given the limited palette of shapes available to draw them. Jellyfish, crabs, plants and other more abstract baddies come alive within this textual world. Graphical polish is evident, and the effort put in to make these look good shines through. Neat touches such as background star-fields (made of full stops) drift by in the background, and the main character (the wonderfully named "Chi-Chi Skyrocket") leaves a movement trail that fades as she moves around. Bosses come at the end of each stage, complete with their own energy bar to eat into. The production values are very high in this release, and continue to the loading screen, an ASCII homage to the iconic JetPac artwork.

Maritrini, Freelance Monster Slayer (Prequel) (ZX Spectrum)

Anyone who grew up in the 80s will no doubt remember The Goonies as the best film ever. Okay, maybe it isn't the absolute best film ever, but back then, as an eight-year-old with a love of adventure stories, I just couldn't imagine anything better. Hell, it's full of pirate ships, sunken treasure, bank robbers and lots and lots of slapstick violence. And that's not even to mention One-Eyed Willy, Chunk's 'Truffle Shuffle,' Corey Feldman as 'Mouth,' and that massive ugly bloke with the waggly ears.

I have slipped into this reverie on times past as the Fratellis - the nasty criminal gang led by Anne Ramsay's Mama - play a significant role in the latest offering from the Mojon Twins. This is the second game to feature our heroine Maritrini after the exceedingly polished original came out early in 2012. You might recall that Maritrini was not, in fact, a monster slayer, but an actress who stars in the show... Maritrini, Monster Slayer. Ironically, she did indeed have to take up monster slaying - a huge amount of monster slaying - in the first game, as she attempted to rescue her former boss's daughter from a crazed geneticist.

This prequel winds back the clock to a time when Maritrini was just a simple actress. Apart from the Fratellis and George Clooney's evil pig (don't ask), this plot is rather more humdrum. You must get Maritrini - hungover, groggy, and having just dragged herself out of bed with her one-night-stand - through her questionable morning routine and away to her audition for a part in 'Vigorous Monsters with Shiny, Manly Chests.' A future classic, I'm sure...

Bouncing Bomb: Redux (ZX Spectrum)

I can't claim to know much about reactor cores, but rarely is one featured in a plotline without being preceded by the word "unstable," having "gone critical," or being on the verge of meltdown. Based on this limited experience, I have concluded that they are far more trouble than they're worth. This world-view has been confirmed by the latest "experimental reactor core" I have encountered, the destruction of which is the central goal in Bouncing Bomb: Redux. Yes, it has gone critical; as author Phil Ruston acknowledges in the game's instructions: haven't they always?