The Last
So that rounds up the first releases by their release date. But what about the last? Well, that does spring up some surprises too. Jonah Barrington’s Squash may be the last number (0310) in the main 310 range, but was not the final release by date in the range. Similarly, other system support will have also dropped considerably earlier than this, more so if the games market for that system was generally dying a slow death and it not necessarily being worth the effort. However, there’ll be some surprises, so here’s the last release by date for each system, starting with the earliest last release.
Dragon 32
Vegas Jackpot (ID 0002, January 1985)
Mastertronic’s fruit machine game had been already converted to a number of systems by the time that the Dragon 32 version came along. Unfortunately, the market for games had not really taken off due to competition, so this was to be their second and final release. Although only having three reels compared to four on other versions, the game was competent enough, using the Dragon’s four colour mode reasonably well. The slowness of the game means you can gamble to win easier, and the sound is non-existent. The small number of sales of this title may have also been a contributing factor to it being the final release.
Vic-20
Crazy Cavey (IV 0085, July 1985)
Mastertronic had supported the Vic-20 very well, with some excellent games such as Rockman, Phantom Attack and RIP being three of them. This is also up there with the best releases too – a cracking single screen platform game with lots of colour, everything well defined including the enemies and where the objects are, and spot on collision detection and responsive controls. All of this on an unexpanded Vic-20 as well, which showed considerable talent to cram all the game into that small footprint. The game’s author, Stuart Cross, would go on to make Megabolts on the Commodore 16 and Plus/4, also a fun and addictive game too. A superb way to bow out with their final Vic-20 game, Crazy Cavey is well worth checking out.
BBC Micro
Vegas Jackpot (IB 0002, September 1986)
More than two years after the Commodore 64 and Vic-20 versions of Vegas Jackpot were re-released by Mastertronic, it was inevitable to convert the game on as many systems as possible. The BBC version is the seventh and last system for this game. There are only three reels in play and like the Dragon version, the amount to win is limited. What did make this version unique was when you won a prize, you could either gamble or collect again when offered to collect the final winnings, which certainly gave it a different twist. Add to that some well defined graphics and good sound effects, and it at least proved that the game would be as competent here as on other systems.
MSX
Amaurote (IX 0169, November 1987)
After a strong start with some well-produced conversions on the MSX, unfortunately some of the games that were later converted to the system suffered from being Spectrum ports, with less consideration given to things that the MSX had, such as hardware sprites. By this time, the MAD label had become part of the main range, with the MAD labelling just acting as a price point. However, this game is notorious for one thing – bugs. And no, I’m not talking about all the bugs and creatures in the game that you have to deal with either, but some seriously bad game breaking bugs that effectively do their best to make the game either be unresponsive or crash in certain instances. And yet, with some care, this game could have easily been on a par with the Spectrum and Amstrad versions. We will detail those when we come to review the game.
Atari XL/XE
Rogue (IT 0224, September 1988)
Rogue had already been released for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC (one of the flippy releases) as well as the Commodore 64 earlier in 1988. The Atari conversion happened a few months afterwards, and all were based on a dungeon crawler type role playing game. You needed to search the dungeons of doom and bring back the Amulet of Yendor. It is very much a marmite game in that you will either love this sort of game and spend hours exploring, or you will get bored very quickly. The Atari conversion is competent enough, but does seem to be like they took the Commodore 64 version for the source.
Commodore 16 and Plus/4
Fighting Warrior (2C 0309, January 1990)
As per most of the final 310 range releases, this one was a Mastertronic Plus title, and a re-release, this time of the Melbourne House game. What does seem strange is that why Mastertronic decided to re-release it for the system, when their last release, the four game C16 compilation, was a year a half earlier in June 1988. In any case, the conversion from the Commodore 64 was a valiant attempt, spoilt by the fact you can get stuck with some occasionally unresponsive controls, and once you have worked out the way to defeat the enemies, you can complete the game in one go without too many problems. The small number of sales of this title proved that the decision to release may not have been the wisest.
Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC
Micro Mouse (March 1990)
Commodore 64 (IC 0305)
ZX Spectrum (IA 0305)
Amstrad CPC (IS 0305)
Although the inlays for all three games suggest a 1989 release date, it seems like for whatever reason, the release was held back and finally released in March 1990. What is notable is that the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC had their catalogue numbers switched, they should have been IS 0305 and IA 0305 respectively, but ended up the wrong way round. In this game you head around a circuit board and basically patch the sections that need to so that you debug the circuit, with plenty of paths along the circuit board to navigate and multiple levels of increasing difficulty. It does play well with responsive controls on the whole on the ZX Spectrum release, and whilst the Commodore 64 version plays reasonably well, the coder maybe did not wish to be known, using a pseudonym of Sue Donim (work it out!) as the programmer’s name instead. One final thing worth noting is that despite the full title of this game on its title screen being Micro Mouse Goes De-Bugging, this is not the same game as the 1983 where you had to debug programs using Micro Mouse.
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Final Thoughts
As you can see, Mastertronic’s main 310 range lasted just short of six years in all, between April 1984 and March 1990. Nine eight-bit systems were supported, with the three main systems all having the same final release as proof of that.
In terms of years between first and last, it is also intriguing too, so in order of longest period first, they are:
- Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum (joint first) – 5 years 11 months (April 1984 to March 1990)
- Commodore 16 and Plus/4 – 5 years (January 1985 to January 1990)
- Amstrad CPC – 4 years 8 months (July 1985 to March 1990)
- Atari XL/XE – 2 years 11 months (September 1985 to August 1988)
- MSX – 2 years 7 months (January 1985 to November 1987)
- BBC Micro – 2 years 5 months (April 1984 to September 1986)
- Vic-20 – 1 year 3 months (April 1984 to July 1985)
- Dragon 32 – 9 months (April 1984 to January 1985)
In future parts, we’ll also look at the likes of the original MAD range, as well as the re-release label Ricochet and what would prove to be some of the final original releases for the 8-bit systems, the PAL Developments range. Stay tuned!
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