The best Speccy game by Imagine: vote

[AndyC]

I'm going to go with Zzoom, as it feels more "Imagine" than the others I'd pick. Slim pickings though, with a few exceptions it always seemed to me that the Imagine label was for the less good Ocean titles.

1. Zzoom
2. Arkanoid
3. Renegade

[Metalbrain]

1 - Green Beret
2 - Target: Renegade
3 - Arkanoid

[Dark]

Starting my spectrum life with a plus 2 meant I missed the first incarnation of Imagine, so to me they were always a software house of the big coin-up’s. I was completely oblivious to their early games and how they started out.

I got Renegade as a free gift when I subscribed to Crash magazine, me and my friends were blown away by it. By the time the sequel came round I was very excited to get it, and although I thought it was brilliant, through the two player option and being able to pick up weapons, it might have been slightly too easy. Thus I give a slight edge to the original. I never played the third in the series, in fact I didn’t even know about it until my recent bout of nostalgia brought me back to the Spectrum. Thus I assume I had moved on to my Sega Master System when it was originally released.

Anyway, my top three Imagine titles are,

1. Renegade
2. Target Renegade
3. WEC Le Mans

[Pegaz]

1. Konami Tennis
2. Yie Are Kung-Fu
3. Terra Cresta

[Fahnn]

Really close decision, but in the end I'm going for Jumping Jack for its sheer originality (and longevity). There still isn't really anything else like it (that I can think of, anyway).

1. Jumping Jack
2. Hyper Sports
3. Ping Pong

[PQR]

1 – Target: Renegade
2 – Hyper Sports
3 – WEC Le Mans

Runners up: Renegade, Green Beret

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Just came across this Imagine advert, really great:

[WIWC]

This is harder than the Ocean poll for me.

1) Movie
2) WEC Le Mans
3) Arkanoid

4) Jumping Jack
5) Renegade
6) Legend of Kage

[Vampyre]

1. Hypersports
2. Renegade
3. Green Beret

[Joefish]

Suprised really that I wasn't rating the later arcade conversions much above The Alchemist.
Looking back, they were churning out arcade versions of some fairly mediocre arcade games. I mean, were people really crying out for the chance to play Mag Max or Legend of Kage at home, or were the software houses so short of (or maybe afraid of) original ideas they'd convert anything going? I guess the appeal of arcade conversions was you could pretend you were playing something with better graphics.

WEC Le Mans was technically brilliant, but I still don't get how so many games like this missed the fact that on most later arcade racers the road started out much wider than the screen - look at how wide it is at the start of OutRun. So why is it squeezed to fit entirely within the screen width with no room to pass?

So for sheer fun and playability my vote goes to Green Beret.

[Vampyre]

Looking back, they were churning out arcade versions of some fairly mediocre arcade games. I mean, were people really crying out for the chance to play Mag Max or Legend of Kage at home, or were the software houses so short of (or maybe afraid of) original ideas they'd convert anything going? I guess the appeal of arcade conversions was you could pretend you were playing something with better graphics.

I could be wrong here but I have a vague memory that they wouldn't necessarily buy the rights to individual arcade games (I reckon that changed from 1987/88 onwards) but to whatever arcade machines the manufacturer released over a given time. So that's why there was tripe like Mag Max, Rygar, etc which weren't very good arcade games to begin with, but they might as well do crappy conversions and put them out anyway.

Then when the PC Engine and Megadrive arrived in 87/88 the arcade manufacturers cottoned on to the kind of money they could make from licencing deals.

Probably wrong, but I got that impression from somewhere.

[beanz]

Stonkers, I don't consider the "later" games really Imagine. Imagine in name only.

[Joefish]

I could be wrong here but I have a vague memory that they wouldn't necessarily buy the rights to individual arcade games (I reckon that changed from 1987/88 onwards) but to whatever arcade machines the manufacturer released over a given time. So that's why there was tripe like Mag Max, Rygar, etc which weren't very good arcade games to begin with, but they might as well do crappy conversions and put them out anyway.

Could be true - except I actually liked the arcade Rygar! Although mainly for the graphics; the colourful worm sprites and the parallax scenery - but yes, there was certainly no point converting it to the Speccy; particularly with a load of stuff missed out. Thundercats did the same but much better for home systems.

Then when the PC Engine and Megadrive arrived in 87/88 the arcade manufacturers cottoned on to the kind of money they could make from licencing deals.

I always thought the main thing counting against the MegaDrive was its emphasis on the sort of flash-in-the-pan arcade games SEGA liked to produce. They'd take your money off you for a mind-blowing graphical (and moving-cabinet) experience, but at home, to play over and over again, you don't necessarily want a game that's designed to kill you ASAP to move on to the next punter. I suppose that's true for a lot of arcade conversions.

[Morkin]

1. Target; Renegade
2. Hypersports
3. World Series Baseball

[WIWC]

Target: Renegade's success will always remain a mystery to me.

[R-Tape]

It's perilously hot conkers.

I voted Rastan. I think it's underrated. Huge sprites, great atmosphere, and a majestic sweep of the sword that puts the C64 version to shame (though to be fair, every system has its howlers). The game is also a challenge, with no easy way to rely on a flying kick in microgravity.

And despite having a pop, Target Renegade is my second choice! I don't feel I can vote Renegade as well, and as much as I've enjoyed Green Beret, it has a Cobra-esque feel of technical exercise + game to me. It's more based on what I know about it than have experiences about it, but my third vote is Movie.

1 - Rastan
2 - Target Renegade
3 - Movie

[PeteProdge]

It's great to say that the best game won. Well done to Target: Renegade, scooping the top slot with 13 votes.

Green Beret is second with 8 votes.

Renegade is third with 5 votes.

Hyper Sports doesn't make the podium, as it's fourth with 4 votes.

The first sighting of a pre-Ocean Imagine game is at fifth place. Jointly, on 3 votes each, we have: Jumping Hack and Movie.

Sixth place, 1 vote each: Alchemist; Arcadia; Arkanoid - Revenge Of Doh; B.C. Bill; Konami's Tennis; Ping Pong; Rastan; Schizoids; Stonkers; Terra Cresta; WEC Le Mans; Zzoom.

Proportionally, it's close...

26 Target: Renegade
16 Green Beret
16 Hyper Sports
9 Renegade
7 Jumping Jack
5 Arkanoid
5 WEC Le Mans
4 Movie
3 Alchemist
3 Arcadia
3 Konami's Tennis
3 Ping Pong
3 Rastan
3 Zzoom
2 Arkanoid - Revenge Of Doh
2 Mikie
2 World Series Baseball
2 Yie Ar Kung fu
1 Terra Cresta