Ever since I first started computing in 1985, my first games on my Amstrad CPC outside of the infamous Amsoft 12-Games Pack were from Mastertronic, although at the time, I had no understanding of it’s significance but as time went by, I would get more games from Mastertronic, either as originals brought in the shops or second hand, or other ‘copies’. Even today I try to collect Mastertronic games – I have a reasonable collection for the Commodore 64 and as I type this, have secured a big job lot of titles on the ZX Spectrum.
However, the focus on this list is the Amstrad CPC – the list will include titles released as original titles and re-relases in no particular order…
Ninja (Entertainment USA)
Ninja was actually one of the first Mastertronic games I got and at the time, while I was unable to complete it, I still had a lot of fun with it. The randomised nature of the game ensured that it was never the same game twice. The graphics on the CPC were quite good although I hated the sound in between rooms. Even though I’ve since completed this game, I still go back to it on frequent occasions for a quick dose of Ninja action, even if I don’t complete it.
Double Dragon (Mastertronic Plus)
The original Amstrad edition of this game, by Binary Design was and still is very disliked, people preferring the later 128k disc only remake from Richard Aplin. While that is a good port, I find myself revisiting the original edition more often (it is a lot better than the two versions that came out on the Commodore 64). I don’t know why, but there is a certain charm to it. Yes, the gameplay is slow and there is no music, but the graphics are great. I still love the thought of loading this up to play on my CPC.
A particular memory was that I borrowed my friend’s ‘copy’ which, due to a move to London, ended up being for a large number of years! (He forgot to ask for it back before I left and I forgot to give it back to him and sadly, I never saw him again, even after returning to Gosport a year later). While living in London, I got this from (IIRC) WHSmiths in Woolwich Town Centre as I wanted a proper copy.
Ghostbusters (Ricochet)
May 1988. My grandmother came down from Sittingbourne, Kent with one of my aunts to Gosport for my 9th birthday and among my birthday presents from her was Ghostbusters, a re-release of the Activision licence of the hit 1984 film. At the time, I had no idea what Ghostbusters were, having never seen the movie (yet) – I didn’t even know of the idea of a movie licence, although I had played licensed games before (Batman, Knight Rider, Street Hawk).
The game loaded and the first thing was a (when I then considered great) digitised voice saying GHOSTBUSTERS! Then we get to the screens where you select your car and equipment. Again, having no idea about Ghostbusters, I chose the bare minimum. Didn’t take me long to get the hang of the game, but I ended up bankrupt, as I had no idea what the ghost bait was for or marshmallow sensor, so Mr Stay Puff wrecked the city – why do we have to pay for the damages? But I was eventually able to get the hang of the game and finish it. A nice touch is that your final bank balance is keyed to your name and you’re given an account number so you can use different items next time or even a different car.
Continental Circus (Mastertronic Plus)
Originally released on the Virgin Games label, the full price version passed me by but on one of my regular jaunts into Software Plus in Sittingbourne when visiting my grandmother, I saw this on the budget shelf and despite not knowing anything about it, I gave them my £2.99 and as soon as I got back to my grandmother’s, I loaded it on my 464 (I would take it with me). These were the days of putting 50 pence pieces in the electric meter so there was a danger of a power cut and losing the progress you made. While that happening was very rare, it did happen while playing this game.
Another strong memory of playing this was it was during the Barcelona 92 Olympics and while I was playing this, the phone rang and my aunt was shouting to my grandmother “did you see that!” referring to Linford Christie’s gold medal win…
Back to the game however, the graphics are nice and colourful and for a CPC, run at a great speed. The cars, viewed from behind, remind me of something from the 80’s cartoon series MASK. It allows you to hit another car but you have to get into a pit-stop for repairs but this adds something to the game. You have to finish the race in either a fixed position or better than that which is also good which means you don’t have to finish in first, second of third. The use of rain in later levels is very good although I never noticed any difference in the effects on your driving. Always one of the CPC racers I break out for a good game.
Formula 1 Simulator
Nowadays, the thought of a company other than Codemasters putting the word Simulator on a game seems unthinkable, but Mastertronic did and I believe before Codemasters did. Formula 1 Simulator is a nice budget racer which simple graphics and a nice variety of tracks. I remember playing a lot of this back in the day, but not doing so well – I do better at this game nowadays. Another thing I remember is that I would only play on the England Silverstone track.
Super Off Road Racer (Tronix)
Based on the arcade machine, Graftgold, the people behind many a classic game brought this to home computers for Virgin Games in 1990. The purpose is to race against three other racers on a variety of off-road tracks and earn money to upgrade your car. The graphics are rather simple, but they suit the purpose of the game very well and it has a nice sense of speed too. Always great to have a race on.
Tetris
Better known as the launch game for Nintendo’s Gameboy – I obtained this on budget after playing it on a friend’s Gameboy – the presentation, while being in colour is simple compared to the Gameboy game. But it was the first Tetris game on the CPC and while superseded by many Public Domain clones since, the original game, while not being the best, still plays a good game of Tetris and it has a nice Russian sounding musical soundtrack by David Whitaker.
The Caves of Doom (Mastertronic)
This was the first Mastertronic game I had and it was obtained for me by my father along with Mr Freeze by Firebird (which is another favourite of mine, but that’s for another website). You would find yourself placed right at the bottom of the titular Caves of Doom and you would have to avoid all the baddies and spikes so you can collect keys and bottles of milk (fuel) in order to escape, but it’s not that easy. Enemies can move at various speeds and there are even skeletons who can home in on you. Eventually, you will find your way to the surface and find your spaceship, only to return (why?) and start the whole game again.
Extra value and longevity were added to The Caves of Doom with the screen editor. Fed up of not being able to get out of the caves? You can make a route out be it just removing the doors or if you really want to do it quickly, remove most of the screen – you can’t edit out the baddies though they stay in the same rooms on the same pre-defined path so they’ll look weird moving on nothing. If you can work past the high difficulty of the game, you can really enjoy it, although the frequent hissing of your jetpack and weird noise when you lose a life will annoy you.
180
I didn’t play this game as much back in the day but it was a game my late mother enjoyed playing. It’s set in a pub where you are in a darts competition against several other people, who are picked at random who have to play your way to the final to beat Jammy Jim, who always gets 180 whenever he has his turn. A nice tune starts the game menu and whenever yo score 180, you get a digitised shout of 180! and a round of applause. This speech sample was a lot better than what you got in Ghostbusters. Aiming can be tricky as your hand moves as if you’re drunk, but with practice, you’ll learn to get it right in the end.
Milk Race
I remember being given this as a birthday present from my then best friend. It sees you racing in the Milk Race across the UK which ran from 1958 until 1993. The game is a side-way scroller and have to beat the other bikers and collect milk which is your energy and avoid the car which is also driving on the race track for some bizarre reason. Before you race, there is a nice map of the UK which shows the route from Newcastle in the north which would see you race towards Westminster in England. The graphics seem underwhelming but they do the job well and it was one I really enjoyed.
Honorary Mentions
The other Mastertronic games I recall having back in the day were Hacker, Kikstart 2, Storm, Xcel, Speed King, Molecule Man and Hyperball. Hacker and Kikstart 2 were great games, but not to make the list. Hyperball and Xcel, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing in either game. Nowadays, Xcel seems like a simple version of French game Captain Blood or even the 1992 game Frontier: Elite 2. Storm was greatly let down by being keyboard only. I remembered my mother brought Super Nudge 2000 which was a very slow fruit machine game coded by Rich Stevenson – I wasn’t overly keen on this one, preferring Amsoft’s Fruit Machine as it was faster, despite being written in BASIC.
Leave a Reply