Spectrum Computing

"Ah, Ocean, they didn't put out many games" is probably the wrongest thing you could say about the Manchester-based colossus. Your page-down key is going to beg for mercy on this poll.

Whatever you may think of them, Ocean put out masses of games for the ZX Spectrum back in the day and were an absolute commercial titan, taking up residence in the charts of best sellers. When it comes to commercial success, they're up there with US Gold (who you could perceive as rivals to Ocean, although there were some connected financial interests and even collaborations amongst their competitive nature).

I can't think of any ZX Spectrum owner who didn't have an Ocean game. Any Speccy games player who claims they haven't played an Ocean title, well, that's like a drinker saying he's never been into a Wetherspoons.

You'd be guaranteed to see pages of adverts for Ocean Software in the Speccy mags. US Gold aside, I can't think of another software label who was that good at marketing. And we really have to doff our cap to the late great Bob Wakelin, a non-gamer who wielded that airbrush like a magician to create such fantastic artwork. A kind of Peter Saville for the ZX Spectrum scene? Who knows, but there was never any bad Ocean inlay/poster art when he was involved.

Ocean will be synonymous with licensed games, covering arcade, TV, movies and sporting brands. Yes, they put out original titles too, but that was typically an exception.

By and large, Ocean really tapped into the movie market. Just about anything that was (or was going to be) a Hollywood blockbuster, got snapped up by the guys at 6 Central Street. If it was occupying the window space in your local Ritzy or Blockbuster Video, there's a strong chance Ocean had the computer game rights. It's astonishing how many big-hitters of the VHS era have arrived on the Speccy thanks to Ocean.

I'm not saying their movie-based games were all gold, oh hell no. Yes, there was 1989's Batman, but you also had things like... Highlander.

Ocean's in-house team produced a lot of coin-op conversions, although many were farmed off to the Imagine label they had acquired. (This is strictly a poll for games under the Ocean badge, even though Ocean-controlled Imagine was pretty much Ocean!) Imagine was used for a lot of arcade stuff, particularly Konami, it barely published any original creative output. (Now there's an anomaly I must pick up on - Gryzor should be Imagine; Movie should be Ocean - probably a few more examples like this if I really dug into it.)

The biggest catalyst for Ocean's riches in the early days was getting Daley Thompson on board. And I don't think many keyboards and joysticks were ever the same again.

Anyway, 106 titles are listed here. You have masses of choice. Probably too much choice. This will take up a lot of your time to decide which is best. Yes, there's plenty of shovelware, but you can't deny there are some utterly outstanding games and it'll be a head-scratcher for most as to which will get picked. This is what I call a definitive list of every ZX Spectrum game put out under the Ocean name, so it's as democratic as possible. (Let the arguments begin...)

Here goes, see you back at 11:20am UK time Sunday 21st July 2019 for the outcome...

Addams Family, The


Adidas Championship Football


Adidas Championship Tie-Break


Armageddon


Batman (3D isometric game by Jon Ritman)


Batman: The Caped Crusader (arcade adventure)


Batman: The Movie


Battle Command


Beach Volley


Cabal


Cavelon


Chase HQ


Chase HQ II: Special Criminal Investigation


Chinese Juggler


Cobra


Combat School


Cosmic Wartoad


Daley Thompson's Decathlon


Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge


Daley Thompson's Super-Test


Darkman


Digger Dan


Donkey Kong


Double Take


Emilio Butragueno Futbol


Eskimo Eddie


Firefly


Flashpoint


Frankie Goes To Hollywood


Gift From The Gods


Gilligan's Gold


Great Escape, The


Gryzor


Gutz


Head Over Heels


Highlander


Hudson Hawk


Hunchback


Hunchback - The Adventure


Hunchback II


International Match Day


It's A Knockout


Knight Rider


Kong


Kong Strikes Back


Madballs


Mailstrom


Mario Bros


Match Day


Match Day II


Miami Vice


Midnight Resistance


Moon Alert


Mr Wimpy


Mutants


N.O.M.A.D.


Narc


Navy Seals


NeverEnding Story, The


New Zealand Story, The


Night Breed


Nightmare Rally


Operation Thunderbolt


Operation Wolf


Pang


Phantom Club


Platoon


Plotting


Pogo


Power Drift


Pud Pud


Puzznic


Quondam


Rainbow Islands


Rambo


Rambo III


Red Heat


Road Race


Robocop


Robocop 2


Robocop 3


Roland's Rat Race


Royal Birkdale: Championship Golf


Run The Gauntlet


Shadow Warriors


Short Circuit


Simpsons, The: Bart vs The Space Mutants


Sly Spy


Smash TV


Space Gun


Street Hawk


Street Hawk - Kays Catalogue Edition


Super Bowl


Tai-Pan


Tank


Terminator 2: Judgment Day


Top Gun


Total Recall


Track & Field


Transformers, The


Transversion


Untouchables, The


V


WWF Wrestlemania


Where Time Stood Still


Wizball

Daley Thompson's Decathlon for me. The first top game by Ocean, IMHO.

And my Ocean's top 3:

1 - DT Decathlon
2 - The Grest Escape
3 - Cobra

Head over Heels for me as it's the one game in the list that I spent the most time playing. It's also the first game I played originally on the 48 and then a 128 when I upgraded. I still remember being amazed by the menu tune and the different tunes for each zone. Great stuff indeed.

1 - Head over Heels
2 - Rainbow Islands
3 - Wizball

I'd probably put Nightmare Rally in 4th as my mate and me spent ages playing that, but, never seemed to get anywhere.

1 Rainbow Islands - possibly the best arcade conversion on the Speccy
2 The Great Escape
3 Head Over Heels

1) Rainbow Islands
2) The New Zealand Story
3) Gryzor

The top two are utterly astonishing as arcade conversions, the gameplay is absolutely bang-on. Still astounded at how well they did. You can't ask for anything more, really.

Daley Thompson's Decathlon for me

Followed by Match Day and Rainbow Islands

Why's Power Drift there? That was 1st published by Activision

MarkRJones1979 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:43 pm Why's Power Drift there? That was 1st published by Activision

Wait, what? *checks*

Oh f***, you are right. Some did creep in a week ago, and in the discussion phase, someone here spotted Activision's Predator, which I removed. I thought that was it. They came in because I was navigating huge lists under 'Ocean' on this site, and it tends to include anything that Ocean rereleased (a lot of Activision games came up in big box Ocean compilations).

Well, I can't edit the poll now, but I can declare any vote for Power Drift to be null and void - which goes for the forum poll and any proportional votes. Thanks for spotting it, I seriously regret that error.

Make it 105 Ocean games on the ZX Spectrum!

1. The New Zealand Story
2. The Great Escape
3. Cobra

A nearly impossible choice. So many that would probably be in contention for a top ten all time best list. I went for Head Over Heels in the end, it's an all time favourite of mine. It took me years to finish it, but it's still fun to revisit even if I can no longer get as far. If I were picking a top three it would probably be:

1. Head over Heels
2. Rainbow Islands
3. RoboCop

Although in all likelihood that list would be different every time I scrolled through those images. Ocean really were a power house back in the day.

1 - Operation Wolf
2 - Chase H.Q.
3 - Robocop

Honorable mentions: Rainbow Islands, Puzznic, Batman: The Movie

1. Nightmare Rally
2. Knight Rider
3. Pud Pud

Pegaz wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:59 pm 1. Nightmare Rally

Great game. Spent hours playing it.

1 :: Firefly – probably Joffa’s finest hour
2 :: Head over Heels – cute graphics and immensely enjoyable gameplay
3 :: Robocop – first enjoyed it on 48K, then blown away when I bought a 128K some time later

Runners up: The Great Escape, Daley Thompsons’s Super-Test, Chase HQ

The strange thing is, that if this was carried out on the sales of games, then Robocop would be the runaway winner. (It's either Robocop or Activision's Ghostbusters which became the best selling ZX Spectrum game of all time.) As it is, Robocop only has one vote.

Currently way out in front is Head Over Heels, which is an original creation from Jon Ritman, no licenses involved. The History Of Ocean Software book reveals that Jon's isometric 3D take on Batman sold more than Head Over Heels. Which goes to show the commercial power of a license. Depressing, but true.

When I first saw the topic, I honestly thought RoboCop was going to be the clear winner. Indeed I was convinced I'd vote for it myself. It was only scrolling through the list of images that I began to realise just how many contenders there were and, great as it is, I really couldn't put it first.

It really does show the power of a licence though, that's for sure.

With some many great hits it's difficult to have a clear winner, the votes will be very dispersed.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results...

1) The Great Escape
2) Cobra
3) Head Over Heels

4) Robocop
5) Wizball
6) Where Time Stood Still
7) Match Day II
8) N.O.M.A.D.
9) Gift from the Gods
10) Match Day / International Match Day

err... why is Power Drift in the list?

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:32 pm

Pegaz wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:59 pm 1. Nightmare Rally

Great game. Spent hours playing it.

Pegaz wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:59 pm 2. Knight Rider

Spent seconds playing it. They felt like hours.

1. Daley Thompson's Decathlon
2. Chase HQ
3. Head Over Heels

stupidget wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:44 pm Head over Heels for me as it's the one game in the list that I spent the most time playing. It's also the first game I played originally on the 48 and then a 128 when I upgraded. I still remember being amazed by the menu tune and the different tunes for each zone. Great stuff indeed.

1 - Head over Heels
2 - Rainbow Islands
3 - Wizball

I'd probably put Nightmare Rally in 4th as my mate and me spent ages playing that, but, never seemed to get anywhere.

I loved Wizball too, I've never quite got the hate for it since I started on Speccy forums. Would probably have come 4th in my vote.

WIWC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:08 amerr... why is Power Drift in the list?

Pure human error, votes won't count for it. An explanation on page 1, here.

Ocean were never my favourite software house but it's absolutely undeniable that over their long history, they released some very high quality games. Sure, there was some rubbish, but when they got it right they tended to get it very right.

1. Daley Thompson's Decathlon
2. Firefly
3. Gilligan's Gold

Honourable mentions to Armageddon, Moon Alert, Match Day, Cavelon and especially Wizball. It's painful to exclude Wizball here, as it's probably one of my top ten games of all time, but the Spectrum version just isn't as good as the C64 original and it's really noticeable if you play them one after another. I know saying things like that is tantamount to heresy around these parts, but it's true.

Well I’m sure their use of marketing and licences worked on me as there was a lot of Ocean games that I had to go out and purchase when they came out. Whereas a lot of my games collection from other software houses were more done on a whim in the shop based on price, artwork and graphics, or because I’d played them at a friends.

To be fair I wasn’t disappointed with the games they produced, lot of great stuff in their catalogue. I’ve gone with Combat School as my favourite, remember playing it loads, had great graphics, gameplay, was just hard enough but not impossible and it had great music on the 128k version.

1. Combat School
2. Match Day II
3. Daley Thomson’s Olympic Challenge

4. Operation Wolf
5. Run the Gauntlet