in 1985

heya


around about now, or at least at the time of publication, look you see, it would generally be when some last minute gift purchases were being made. this would be ahead of the Christmas tradition of gift getting and gift giving, to be sure.

just 34 years ago the absolute best present you could get for someone would be a smart new game, on tape, for their Commodore 64. or, you now, two or three games which were quite class and brilliant, showcasing the potential of the ultimate computer.

for fun, then, and just to put a post up to prove that if nothing else i am probably not dead yet (these posts are written a couple of weeks in advance, so one never knows), here are three of the many smart games one could have got for Christmas in 1985.

best of the lot was probably ace, an acronym for air combat emulator, or something like that. class this game was, impressively coming out a good few months before the film Top Gun, letting you play Maverick and Goose long before you ever knew who they were. although i preferred Ice Man, as he had the better hair and was a better pilot.

this game worked best with two of you, with one being Maverick with the joystick and the other being Goose with the keyboard. usually i tried to play this with my dear friend Norman B@stard, who back then wished to be a fighter jet pilot and probably would still do that now, if asked. he tended to get annoyed with my approach of firing off all of the missiles and flares whilst we were still on the runway, but these things happen.

American sports seemed quite exotic and interesting to us growing up in the 80s. well, why would it not. in the UK football was plighted by hooligans and woeful players, rugby was all low scoring all kicked dull draws, we were rubbish at tennis and not as many of my friends as you may think loved cricket as much as i. the glimpses we got of american football, baseball and basketball looked quality.

now that i think, i am not sure the Commodore 64 version of World Series Baseball ever actually got released. i don't remember having it. the game was certainly on the Spectrum, as my other good friend Mike had it, and we played it. presumably the game cost more for the Amstrad to punish the people silly enough to buy an Amstrad.

from what i remember this very early, possibly first ever, computer game of Blade Runner was really rubbish. as in, unplayable crap. the only reason i have included the advert for it is the tag line. i can remember some story about how they made the game, but then one of the rights holders refused to let them licence the film for the game, so they had to do some legal shenanigans and say that it was based on the rights available soundtrack.

i really can't remember all of the details, but there was one rights holder to Blade Runner who flat refused to let anyone do anything with it. they had to wait for him to be dead before they could finally do things like release the lavish 5 DVD box set loaded with extras. go figure.

well, anyway, there you have it.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!