The best Speccy game by Software Projects: vote

[PeteProdge]

As I'm going through the software houses, I'm also trying to understand how long they were around for, from a ZX Spectrum perspective.



Bug Byte was pretty easy to determine as being there from the off, just like Quicksilva. Their final game (Wildwater), from what I can tell by the date of Crash's magazine review, was out in June 1988.

It's been tricky to find out when the first Software Projects game (a re-issue of Manic Miner) hit shop shelves. In a magazine interview with Matthew Smith and the company's director Alan Mator, it is said that the Software Projects re-release happened "a few months" after Bug-Byte put it out and apparently there was a time in the software charts where Manic Miner was listed twice, because of the two publishers. However, the earliest I can see it in a ZX Spectrum chart is in the Jan 1984 edition of C&VG. I've gone for December 1983. I could be wrong, so do correct me with any new evidence.

Software Projects bit the dust with Star Paws in 1988, which was originally meant to be some kind of official Road Runner game.

Anyway, back to the poll, and, like the Bug Byte poll, I have a feeling this also has a very-much-favoured-to-win title...

Astronut


BC's Quest For Tires


Dragon's Lair


Dragon's Lair II : Escape From Singe's Castle


Hysteria


Jet Set Willy


Jet Set Willy II


Learning With Leeper


Lode Runner


McKensie


Ometron


Orion


Push Off


Star Paws


Thrusta


Tribble Trubble

[stupidget]

Had to go for JSW. I can still remember the first time I played it and how I was just amazed by it. Being able to move around freely to explore a house and see what laid in wait in the next room was stunning. Me and my mates would spend hours playing it huddled round my tiny colour tv trying to just see all the rooms. Brilliant stuff.

[Morkin]

Ditto.

(JSW that is).

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Jet Set Willy, no need to add more. A classic.

But a pity it shades some interesting games like Hystera or Lode Runner, which is a simple idea (and simple graphics!) but quite addictive

[Nick]

I voted for Lode Runner in the end. As much as I love JSW it can be a bit frustrating with things like multiple deaths, the attic bug etc.

Just out of interest my top three Software Projects games would be:
1. Lode Runner
2. JSW
3. Thrusta

[Vampyre]

Has to be JSW. A totally iconic Spectrum game.

[andydansby]

Had to go with Lode Runner. Game builds up difficulty rather than being difficult on the front side. Level designer as well. Enemies have nice little AI as well and not move in a pattern.

[Metalbrain]

My top 3 would be:

1. Lode Runner
2. Thrusta
3. Hysteria

Never been a big fan of Willy

[Hank Scorpio]

JSW for me although Loderunner does come a close second. I think this could be a closer battle between the two than maybe some people thought.

[Morkin]

Forgot to do my top 3:

1. JSW
2. JSW 2
3. Loderunner

[DouglasReynholm]

JSW for me, though after someones recommendation last week during the discussion thread I fired up Lode Runner for the first time ever and found it extremely playable, so I can see what people are on about. Decent AI too, as someone else also pointed out. However - No memory of my formative years quite sticks out like that warm summers day, windows wide open, the Speccy on a rare excursion out of my bedroom and me playing JSW with Queen playing their Live Aid set on in the background. You could say it was a kind of magic, but that may be corny.

Edit: Pete - what made you pick Bug Byte and Software Projects to be first in the new series given that Matt Smith titles were the most likely to win?

[PeteProdge]

Pete - what made you pick Bug Byte and Software Projects to be first in the new series given that Matt Smith titles were the most likely to win?

I'm going through the software houses listed in the POLL OF POLLS, in order of the votes. After this, it'll be Microsphere's turn, then Ultimate, then... things get really tense with Imagine (who have made, like, a squillion games).

[DouglasReynholm]

I'm going through the software houses listed in the POLL OF POLLS, in order of the votes. After this, it'll be Microsphere's turn, then Ultimate, then... things get really tense with Imagine (who have made, like, a squillion games).

Ah, I see - I missed that. Thanks for the clarification.

[Fahnn]

Yeah, like I wrote in the other thread, this is Lode Runner by a mile for me. Getting close at the top now!

My top three:

1. Lode Runner
2. BC's Quest For Tires
3. Jet Set Willy

[djnzx48]

I went for Lode Runner, mostly to give JSW some competition*. And Lode Runner is a good game in its own right.

*and also because I forgot there's no vote switch option.

[Joefish]

JSW was impressive at the time, but is it really such a great game? It's as famous for its catastrophic bugs as anything else. And it suffers from a mix of empty screens and ludicrously difficult set-piece routes.

Software Projects has a better line-up here than Bug-Byte, anyway. My vote goes for the much more technically impressive and arcade-action orientated Hysteria.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

A priori, it was going to be a sure win for JSW... but now it's only one up (12/11)... wow!

[WIWC]

1) Ometron
2) Lode Runner
3) Astronut / Thrusta

[PeteProdge]

Jet Set Willy wins the poll, but only just! It's one point ahead of second-placed Lode Runner.

Incidentally, from the proportional-top-3-place voting (of which I've had to discard WIWC's vote, as the third place is ineligible), Lode Runner comes out on top...

10 points: Lode Runner
6 points: Jet Set Willy
3 points: Thrusta
2 points each: Jet Set Willy 2, BC's Quest For Tires
1 point: Hysteria

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Lode Runner got a sort of 'moral victory'. Unexpected.