The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

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The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Poll ended at Sun Nov 10, 2019 10:34 am

Se-Kaa Of Assiah
2
50%
Sinbad And The Golden Ship
2
50%
 
Total votes: 4

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PeteProdge
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The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

It's a straight two-horse race here, as I only count original titles (not re-releases). The Mastervision label from Mastertronic put out 6 games for the ZX Spectrum, only 2 of them are original, and they are..

Se-Kaa Of Assiah
ImageImage

Sinbad And The Golden Ship
ImageImage

...so, with just two to choose from, there's no opportunity for a top-three proportional vote in the comments.

If you're unfamiliar with this imprint, well, there's a clue in the screenshots that Mastervision was dedicated to the adventure/RPG side of things. It was set up very early in Mastertronic's life, probably acknowledging that adventures are a bit of an acquired taste when compared to typical action games. Oh, and that they started off with higher-than-budget prices, like £3.99.

Mastervision was never going to be as well stocked as the general Mastertronic label, especially as adventures don't quite hit the sales register in the way other games do. It was rather neglected over its lifetime, and eventually, adventures just popped up here and there on their other brands.

For completion's sake, the other four games - the re-releases - are listed below, but aren't up for a vote...

Black Crystal by Carnell Software
Journey's End by Games Workshop
Volcanic Dungeon by Carnell Software
Wrath Of Magra, The by Carnell Software

As you can see, Mastertronic made quite a lot of the assets of Carnell Software, who they acquired as part of the set up.

Well, there you go, 7 days to vote on this. I have to say, these are quite obscure titles, I don't think there'll be a deluge of votes, but do prove me wrong!
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by StooB »

There are no references to "Mastervision" on the cover of Sinbad, just Mastertronic, so I think Se-Kaa wins this one by default.
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

StooB wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 12:35 pm There are no references to "Mastervision" on the cover of Sinbad, just Mastertronic, so I think Se-Kaa wins this one by default.
I hate to admit fault, but looks like you are correct.

I normally bow to the inlay cover as the authority on these things, but it's a combination of Mastertronic and Master Adventurer there, as seen in this eBay photo...

Image

Now, the one thing going for including it as a MasterVision title, is the spine code, which follows that of other MasterVision games...

MS001 Se-Kaa of Assiah (original, 1984)
MS002 Black Crystal (Carnell Software re-release, 1984)
MS003 Volcanic Dungeon (Carnell Software re-release, 1984)
MS004 Journey's End (Games Workshop re-release, 1985)
MS005 Sinbad And The Golden Ship (original, 1986)

MSxxx appears to be reserved for MasterVision titles, like BSxxx for Bulldog Software and RSxxx or RASxxx for Richochet. Although this was sometimes munged up on other things, like M.A.D. games getting its own MADxxx and the regular ISxxx(x) that is normally used for regular Mastertronic titles.

Well, this has come about as both SpectrumComputing and WOS list this as a MasterVision game.

It's somewhat ambiguous as to what it really is. The game itself certainly fits the MasterVision aim of being an adventure, that's not in doubt.

It could be argued that Mastertronic wanted to retitle MasterVision as Master Adventurer.

Could we have a steward's inquiry? If it really is Mastertronic, then this should have been in last week's Mastertronic poll, but even then, I doubt it'd have attracted much of a vote.
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by StooB »

PeteProdge wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 1:05 pm It could be argued that Mastertronic wanted to retitle MasterVision as Master Adventurer.
This is a possibility as MasterVision was later used for VHS Video releases.

Plus MS001, Se-Kaa was also re-released as a non MasterVision title:

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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

Hmm, that opens up the possibility that Sinbad did come out under the MasterVision brand at one point, but the Mastertronic re-release is the inlay has been preserved.

The group has repurposed other things in their company. Bulldog was a distribution business that went titsup owing some money, so they got to use the name for their 'best of British' imprint.
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by hitm4n »

Shame Journeys End aint on the lista s that would be my vote. Haven't played the others, so i'll abstain this one.
I don't have anything cool to put here, so i'll just be off now to see a priest with yeast stuck between his teeth and his friend called Keith who's a hairpiece thief...
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by stupidget »

For some odd reason I was a massive fan of Se-Kaa. I think I was sold on the text on the front stating 96k over two tapes, which meant to my 11 year old brain that it must be amazing. To be honest it wasn’t that bad and I spent a lot of time playing it. I span it up the other day on my +2 and before I new it I’d lost 30 mins playing it, which shows that I’m still a fan :)
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

Aaaargh!

It's a tie! The one thing I didn't want to happen! 4 votes, split exactly 50/50.

As it's between literally two games, there's no possibility for a proportional vote. We've been here before (if you remember the battle between two of Encore's never-released-before games), so I'm gonna re-run this poll to get a proper winner.

Gah.
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Oh no! A new poll! But they were only two options! :roll:

(Today is voting day in Spain after only a few months... I'm starting to hate voting! :mrgreen: )
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Re: The best Speccy game by Mastervision: vote

Post by PeteProdge »

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:28 pm I'm starting to hate voting! :mrgreen: )
Oh, well, here over in Britain, we've had this 'thing' since the middle of 2016 that we're all trying to forget!
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