#Atic Atac

[jimmawww]

Fave Health Bars

Atic Atac

The Legend of Zelda

Fallout 3

Pokemon Red

Team Fortress 2

Street Fighter 2

Doom

Doom (2016)

Dead Space

Halo

Super Mario 64

Resident Evil 4

Metal Gear Solid 2

Metal Gear Rising

Killer 7

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Dark Souls

Skyrim

Star Fox 64

Star Fox Adventures

Star Fox Assault

No More Heroes

Killer Is Dead

Earthbound

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy XIV

Kingdom Hearts 2

Deus Ex

Jet Force Gemini

[retrocgads]

UK 1985

[cyberpunkonline]

The Best Halloween-Themed Games on the Spectrum 48k: 8-bit Frights That’ll Have You Scream “LOAD”

Alright, Spectrum warriors, it’s time to slip on that vintage ZX hoodie and celebrate Halloween the only way we know how—by loading up some good ol’ 48k games for this year’s #CyberSamhain event! Now, if you thought the Commodore 64 had some strange horror gems, wait until you see what Sinclair’s little wonder has in store. The Spectrum 48k was the king of quirky games with more bugs than a haunted house, but that’s what we loved about it, right?

So buckle up and grab that cassette tape because we’re about to dive into the best spooky, Halloween-themed games on the Spectrum 48k. Hold on to your joysticks, folks—it’s going to be a creepy, pixelated ride.

1. Cauldron (1985) Witches and pumpkins, what more could you want for Halloween? Cauldron is a proper retro classic, and this witch ain't your typical broomstick-riding pushover. You’re on a mission to collect ingredients to take down the Pumpkin King (yes, you read that right). The game’s got it all: flying, platforming, tricky jumps, and enough frustration to make you cast a spell on your Spectrum. Those pixel-perfect jumps? They'll have you pulling out your hair faster than you can say, “Accio controller!” But trust me, it’s worth every frustration-induced rage quit.

Resource: For a full witchy breakdown of Cauldron, check out Spectrum Computing’s archive—they’ve got all the juicy retro details to keep you spellbound.

2. Dark Star (1984) Not strictly Halloween-themed, but when the word dark is right there in the title, you know it belongs on this list. Dark Star is part space shooter, part survival horror—well, at least in that classic 8-bit "I'm all alone in this terrifying void of space" way. You’re tasked with stopping an alien invasion, but the tension? That comes from the eerie, oppressive silence of space, plus some incredibly tricky enemies. The sparse graphics make it feel even creepier, like you’re fighting aliens in a haunted arcade cabinet. Yeah, it’s a stretch, but if space horror is your thing, give this one a whirl.

Resource: The World of Spectrum database has a deep dive into Dark Star, so hit that up if you want to explore more of the game’s spooky sci-fi vibes.

3. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1986) When it comes to classic horror, you can’t forget about vampires. Nosferatu the Vampyre on the Spectrum 48k might look like a jumble of pixels and questionably animated sprites, but hey, that’s part of the charm! You play as Jonathan Harker, trying to survive your encounter with the infamous Count Dracula himself. The castle is dark, full of traps, and you’re constantly on the lookout for bloodsuckers. It’s got the kind of campy, eerie atmosphere perfect for Halloween, with the added bonus of feeling like you’re starring in your own 80s horror flick. Just remember to keep that wooden stake handy!

Resource: Spectrum Computing has the lowdown on Nosferatu, so grab your garlic and head there if you want to learn more about this vampire-slaying adventure.

4. Atic Atac (1983) If you’re in the mood for some top-down spooky fun, Atic Atac is the way to go. Set in a haunted castle, you’ve got to find the pieces of the Golden Key to escape, while avoiding all manner of ghouls, ghosts, and creepy-crawly creatures. The game’s classic ZX Spectrum charm comes through with its minimal color palette and basic graphics, but that’s what makes it so iconic. Plus, the haunted house vibe, coupled with the eerie sense of isolation, makes it perfect for a Halloween gaming session. You’ll be running in circles, screaming “where’s the key?!” in no time.

Resource: Check out Lemon64's counterpart, Spectrum Computing, for a proper throwback guide to Atic Atac—they’ve got all the tips you need to survive the haunted castle.

5. Jack the Nipper (1986) Okay, so Jack the Nipper isn’t exactly a Halloween game, but what’s creepier than playing as a naughty toddler causing chaos in a town full of unsuspecting adults? There’s something unsettling about this game, from Jack’s weird, smiling face to the mayhem you cause. Whether it’s releasing animals from a zoo or chucking food at people, this game is all about trickery and a bit of mischief—like the ultimate Halloween prank. Plus, the cartoony graphics have a weirdly spooky vibe if you play it at midnight…alone…with the lights off. You’ll see what I mean.

Resource: If you’re feeling nostalgic for more toddler terror, Spectrum Computing has a deep dive on Jack the Nipper.

6. Alien 8 (1985) If sci-fi horror is your jam, then Alien 8 will scratch that itch. This isometric survival game sees you exploring an alien-infested spaceship while trying to reactivate the ship’s cryogenically frozen crew. Sounds easy? Think again. The game’s got atmosphere, tension, and puzzles that will make you want to throw your Spectrum across the room. And those aliens? Creepy little things. It’s the kind of slow-burn suspense that’s perfect for Halloween, when the line between space and haunted house blurs into one massive pixelated nightmare.

Resource: Hit up Lemon64’s Spectrum archive for all things Alien 8—they’ll guide you through the maze of alien-infested corridors.

7. Splat! (1983) Alright, let’s get a bit weird, shall we? Splat! is one of those bizarre Spectrum games that kind of feels like it was made for Halloween but without really trying. You’re in a maze, trying to avoid being crushed by giant bricks while creepy, abstract monsters chase you around. It’s fast-paced, weirdly stressful, and the abstract graphics make it feel a little unsettling in the way only early 80s games can. Perfect for a Halloween night where you just want to feel off.

Resource: If you’re up for some weird arcade action, check out World of Spectrum’s breakdown of Splat! and get lost in the bizarre fun.

Final Thoughts So, there you have it, retro gamers—the spookiest, most bizarre Halloween-themed games you can play on the Spectrum 48k for #CyberSamhain. Whether you’re chasing vampires, flying on a broomstick, or causing trouble as a tiny toddler (seriously, that game’s still weird), these titles will give you that creepy, nostalgic feel with the added bonus of feeling like you’re back in the 80s. Dust off that Spectrum, load up your tapes (or hit the emulator, we won’t tell), and enjoy the ghoulish, pixelated glory. Because nothing says Halloween like battling vampires with nothing more than your joystick and a load of patience.

[retrocomputergamegirl]

Atic Atac 1983

[bitmapbooks]

Atic Atac featured in our book - Sinclair ZX Spectrum: a visual compendium

Relive the glory days of the seminal British computer with this collection of classic games, lovingly realised using high quality paper and special inks.

Reprints are due in November. Sign up for an email reminder here: https://www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/all-books/products/sinclair-zx-spectrum-a-visual-compendium

#bitmapbooks #book #retrogaming #retrogames #gaming #art #reading #foryou #zxspectrum #bookstagram #booktok #fyp #aticatac

[retrovulcano]

Atic Atac para Commodore 64 y Amstrad CPC

Corría la primavera de 1983 cuando Ultimate Play The Game lanzaba lo que sería su primera «vídeoaventura» y que abriría las puertas a todos sus exitosos juegos posteriores y a todo un género que en la actualidad continúa deleitándonos. Atic Atac sería uno de los primeros títulos disponibles para el Spectrum de 48K, ya que hasta la fecha de este lanzamiento, el modelo de 16K era el mayoritario en ventas. No existía versión ni para Commodore64 ni para AmstradCPC hasta ahora…

Gracias a Steven Day que se encarga del aspecto gráfico con Tomcat de Nostalgia y GnG encargándose del aspecto técnico y la programación ahora por fin podemos disfrutar de esta gran clásico en nuestro #Commodore64 y #TheC64. Realizado en una vista aérea, y aprovechando las capacidades gráficas y sonoras del C64 esta versión es fiel al original pero captura toda sus esencia mejorándola. Tendremos tres personajes entre los que elegir: un mago, un caballero o un ladrón; cada uno con sus propias habilidades y capacidades. En el castillo tendremos que reunir las tres piezas de la llave de oro que abre la puerta principal para poder escapar. En el laberinto que forman las mazmorras y las habitaciones nos encontraremos comida, armas, llaves de colores para abrir las respectivas puertas, pasadizos secretos amén de multitud de enemigos: momias, el Conde Drácula… Y, atención, aquí hay una diferencia fundamental con el original de Spectrum; se han incluído pequeñas «misiones adicionales»… ¿Cómo accedes a ellas? Pues tienes que encontrar el látigo, la cazadora y el sombrero de explorador; cuando tengas estos tres objetos podrás entrar en una habitación secreta donde te darán más pistas… Cuando hayas completado esa misión aparecerás como Sabreman y podrás acabar el juego, no sin antes encontrar la moneda de plata y acabar con el hombre lobo… Esta nueva versión está disponible en https://csdb.dk/release/?id=188753 para descargarla y jugarla en tu C64 o en tu TheC64. ¡Disfrútala!

Con John Ward a cargo de la programación, gráficos de Steven Day y efectos de sonido de Saul Cross la conversión a #AmstradCPC del legendario Atic Atac es por fin una realidad. Si en la increíble adaptación al Commodore 64 se incluyeron mejoras respecto al original y nuevos desafíos, esta conversión es más fiel al original de Spectrum. Puedes descargarla desde https://github.com/shaymanjohn/aticatac-cpc/releases ¡Imprescindible!

[explo-bit]

Atic Atac

ZX Spectrum

Ultimate Play the Game

1983

[mygamingmemories]

Atic Atac - Once in every lifetime, comes a game like this

A knight, a wizard and a serf walk into a castle....a bit of a corny start for a joke , but let's meet one of  the truly great Spectrum games, Atic Atac.

I wish I could tell you dear reader about the first time I played this game. I wish I could tell you that when the loading screen appeared wind machines switched on, strobe lights flashed , eighties power chords echoed from some giant synthesizer and a heavenly choir ascended from the sideboard.  If fate had realised at the time how much of an impact this little game would have had on my life , I'm sure it would have arranged them. But let us start at the beginning. The loading screen itself was a sheer feast for the eyes, the use of colour was fantastic . I loved that magenta robed figure, especially against the dark blue of the stones. It held so much excitement , surely no game could live up to the excitement of the loading screen? Straight into the game and already there is an interesting twist, a choice of three characters , each character being able to access a different secret passageway. ( My Famous Five senses were tingling already, the Five always had secret passageways.) You had a knight, a wizard and a serf  ( a low level farmer who cannot leave the land where they work) , I immediately felt a certain empathy with the serf and we began our long friendship. The aim of the game was more complicated than I had played before, find coloured keys, open coloured doors with the keys, collect objects that kill/stun other characters and ultimately find three pieces to form a key that lets you escape from the castle .( Phew...any questions?)

So off we went,  zipping in and out of wine barrels ( the serf's  secret passage of choice) , through decorated rooms, some had pictures, some had suits of armour, some had rugs and others had trap doors . Now, to the 11 year old this was an amazing game, so many rooms, so many flying nasties and  one of the best bits, if your energy was getting low you could eat things to refuel. Yes, if you played carefully you could make this game last for a whole side of an LP (younger readers may wish to google that term!) And....no, I'm not finished yet...your life force was represented by a chicken that gradually got eaten away. I'm not entirely sure why I found this so funny as a kid, but it was one of the unique points of the game. ​ Within a few days this game had me hooked , there was just so much to explore, with every key found you unlocked more doors, so more to explore. There was a great sense of achievement with every key found, and greater achievement with each part of the big key found. Yes folks, my name is Julie and I had an Atic Atac addiction. No other game got a look in, I played this so often I could play it on a black and white TV! (Although  I feel  should make a confession, the reason I played it so often on a black and white TV was that I could get away from the main living room and use the TV to gain illicit glimpses of Saturday morning TV in-between playing. Mike Read , you have an awful lot to answer for.)  

But surely Julie, when you finished the game and escaped the castle this addiction ended? Hmm, not really, because then I played as the other characters, then I decided to see how fast I could finish the game, how near to 100 percent could I achieve  (98% in case you are interested). This game had well and truly captured my imagination.  ​ But why should this game have been so addictive, and still so endearing? It could have been the wonderful Spectrum colours, it could have been the clean animation, the options for exploration, the simple puzzle solving , the fact that it could be completed in about 30 minutes. It was all of these but also the fact that when we got this game it corresponded with my final year of primary school.

Just as the serf , wizard and knight were exploring their haunted castle, carrying out their quests, discovering new rooms and new items. So was I, a new school, new classrooms, new things to learn. But as someone who back in those days was usually shy and tongue tied, how would  I make friends in a class of completely new people?  Funnily enough, it was usually just one sentence , "Hello, I'm Julie, do you like Atic Atac ?".  Although I'm no longer that shy or tongue tied , this game is still an ice breaker  , a conversation starter , a friendship igniter.

Those of us who played it in the early 80's talk about it with a sense of reverence , a sense of love , to most of us it's a dear friend from a far more innocent time.

A knight , a wizard and a serf walk into a castle......but that's okay, there is a whole generation of Spectrum gamers in there to welcome them .

[miloscat]

[Review] Grabbed by the Ghoulies (XB)

This initial offering from Rare for the Xbox Zero left a rough first impression, but it’s pretty alright.

Originally planned for the Gamecube, Ghoulies was one of the many casualties of the buyout. In this case, it flopped on release, potentially due to its typically Rare cartoony style not fitting the demographic that Microsoft had initially courted. As a result it’s become a cult classic, beloved by some Rare fans but overlooked by many. Rare Replay gave it a second chance; it was the only game in the collection to actually have been remastered rather than just emulated! Of course, I played it on my old reliable doorstop, the enormous classic Xbox. But it was the first test of my newly acquired third-party component output cables, which (after having to turn off PAL-60 mode for some reason) resulted in a clear and high-quality image! Wahey!

Anyway, Ghoulies is an odd sort of game. In some ways it seems to call back to games of Rare’s past such as Nightshade or Atic Atac as you go from room to room in a vast haunted mansion, beating up beasties and knocking around nasties, although such connection is claimed to be coincidental. (In other ways, it directly calls back to many Rare and Ultimate classics through copious easter eggs and references that are tremendous fun to spot, mostly paintings hanging on the walls.) Either way, the game as it is is a twin-stick beat-em-up through a linear series of enclosed challenge rooms.

Each room has its own decor, from cluttered attics to chaotic kitchens, stables to ballrooms, all swarming with a variety of Ghoulies with monstrously fun designs. As you’re locked in each time, a different scenario is presented to the dreadfully boring teen hero type Cooper: survive for X time, defeat Y Ghoulies but not Z, don’t damage anything, etc. Break one of the rules of Baron von Ghoul’s mischievous game, and the Reaper appears to try and insta-kill faint you (although he can sometimes help you clear a tricky task by zapping your enemies instead!). By enclosing each room and tailoring a task, each one is a fun self-contained bite-sized chunk. There’s 100 in all, with a hidden book collectible in each that unlock 20 extra challenges in the menu.

When I got into the groove of playing, I enjoyed Ghoulies most of the time. The awkward thumbstick-based auto-attack system isn’t great and is certainly not helped by the awful camera, and the weapon system where you can pick up assorted household objects around the mansion to whale on the zombies, imps, vampire chickens, etc. is a cool idea but imperfect in practice, particularly in the more chaotic rooms. You can find various nice powerups lying around or by slowly destroying environmental objects, but they also mix in more handicaps as you progress.

It’s worth mentioning the sometimes questionable treatment of the female characters. Cooper is such a dull protagonist, and his girlfriend Amber is a damsel in distress for about half the plot, and transformed into a monster who must be beaten up. She becomes playable in some of the bonus challenges, performing identically to Cooper, so it’s a shame she wasn’t integrated into the story better. It seems that much like Berri in Conker’s Quest and Krystal in Dinosaur Planet, she was intended to have a larger co-leading role in earlier versions of the game which was reduced by the final build... an unfortunate and frustrating trend with Rare games in this era. Sigh.

After playing it I could maybe understand why it failed to make a huge splash. It was clearly rushed in parts due to development being moved to a new console under a new publisher, with ample evidence of cut content (for example, secondary antagonist Dr. Krackpot is built up but dispatched in a cutscene... he’s kind of the General Scales of this game). The game’s scope may reflect this too: it’s not very long. Perhaps in later generations it may even have been a downloadable game. The fighting engine feels underdeveloped too; you don’t really have any actions apart from “hit in this direction”. With no dodge or block it’s easy to get crowded and knocked over, your weapons smashed as you fumble through tight choke points.

The chaos of fights can work in your favour though, and it’s fun to see Ghoulies hitting each other by mistake and then retaliating, or knocking them into scenery that breaks beneath them, even if the damage is a little limited and contextual. The cartoony look of the game may not have fit the zeitgeist of the time, but I appreciated it, along with Grant Kirkhope’s characteristic soundtrack. There’s also lots of fun dialogue from the silly characters between rooms or in the motion comic-style cutscenes, even if it’s a bit heavy-handed on the “cheeky” innuendo sometimes. Anyway, Ghoulies isn’t my new favourite Rare game but I’m glad I gave it a chance... I just wish it had had more dev time to realise its potential and its planned concepts!

[mingos-commodoreblog]

Commodore Plus/4 - Atic Atac+

[retrocgads]

UK 1983

[indieretronews]

[sarkymarky-blog1]

The moment my life went wrong

The moment my life went wrong

Back in the Summer of 1983, I was a child you would recognise from the wreck I’ve made of childhood.

I was an extrovert, I was never in the h

  ouse, I was out with a massive group of friends any chance I could get.

Then December comes. As any other kid, I looked in my mum and dad’s wardrobe’s looking to see what presents I would be getting for Christmas. Nothing. A little weird, so I took a risk…

[xlysos]