The best Speccy game by Mastertronic Plus: vote

[PeteProdge]

As we know, Mastertronic set up to sell original and re-released games at £1.99 each, then shortly set up the Mastertronic Added Dimension (M.A.D.) label to sell games of a higher quality, at £2.99 each.

Then, in 1989, budget games for 8-bit platforms really became a low priority for the group (which had acquired Melbourne House, and also had established success as a marketer and distributor of the Sega Master System console across Europe, to the point where Virgin decided to take a big stake in the company). A bit of a re-brand occurred, with Mastertronic taking on a new look and the end of the M.A.D. label.

The 'replacement' for M.A.D. is Mastertronic Plus, which did the same role, putting out original and re-released titles at £2.99 each. Of course, we only put up the original stuff for the vote - these 15 titles...

3D Pinball


Advanced Soccer Simulator


Canyon Warrior


Die Alien Slime


Gregory Loses His Clock


Micro Mouse


Protector


Psycho Hopper


Rad Ramp Racer


Raster Runner


Rugby Manager


Sidewinder II


Speedboat Assassins


Super Stock Car


T-Bird


For completion's sake, here are the 16 ZX Spectrum re-releases that appeared on Mastertronic Plus, which aren't eligible for a vote...

Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing by Gamestar
Continental Circus by Virgin Games
Double Dragon by Melbourne House
Enterprise by Melbourne House
Fighting Warrior by Melbourne House
Fist II: The Legend Continues by Melbourne House
Gemini Wing by Virgin Games
Jonah Barrington's Squash by New Generation Software
Leviathan by English Software
Rescue On Fractalus! by Activision
Shinobi by Virgin Games
Silkworm by Virgin Games
Street Hassle by Melbourne House
Tetris by Mirrorsoft
Xenon by Melbourne House
Yes, Prime Minister by Mosaic Publishing

Chronologically, that's pretty much it for Mastertronic's brands, as it relates to these polls. Mastertronic and Mastertronic Plus ended around 1990 and was replaced by Tronix, which was pure re-releases from Virgin Games. I've also not covered Ricochet, a very prolific brand, as that was also dedicated to re-releases. Maybe one day I'll do a special poll on some of these budget re-release labels, like Ricochet, Kixx, Hit Squad, etc.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I've only played Canyon Warrior of the lot, so my vote went to it.

[uglifruit]

Surely Don Priestley's "Gregory Loses His Clock" is in with a shout. It's clearly In his Trap Door/Popeye/Flunky style ... and no worse, just saddled with being a late were budget release.

[WIWC]

1. Gregory Loses His Clock
2. Canyon Warrior
3. Sidewinder II

[PeteProdge]

Pretty straight forward really.

Gregory Loses His Clock, which I believe is the last hurrah from massive-sprite master Don Priestley, is the runaway winner, grabbing 75% of the vote share, 6 votes put it at number one.

There are only two other contenders, and they're in joint second place with 1 vote each: Canyon Warrior and Die Alien Slime.

With 8 votes overall, it's not been a popular poll, but we do have a properly defined winner. And after all, this was in Mastertronic's 'twilight' phase when it came to 8-bit game releases. They were pretty much focused on shifting Sega Master Systems around Europe, which - love 'em or hate 'em - they did a really good job of.

Normally I'd go to the proportional vote, but there's only been one put in, so by default, it becomes the actual proportional top-three result!..

1. Gregory Loses His Clock
2. Canyon Warrior
3. Sidewinder II