The best Speccy game by Atlantis Software: discussion

[PeteProdge]

Yeah, I'm a week late with the postings I'm making this morning. I went AWOL last weekend, but for retrogaming reasons, as I was at Blackpool's Play Expo - which is where I met Iain Lee (by accident!); @RoseTintedSpectrum (filmed an interview for my next Reheated Pixels video), Blackpool vlogger Walk On The Wild Side and Kim Justice.

Anyway, we get to page 35 of issue 19 of Your Sinclair, and there's a reference to Sceptre Of Bagdad, from Atlantis Software.

This label really was in the third division of budget software brands, wasn't it? Strangely, they've been going since 1984, so just about as old as the budget titan that is Mastertronic, but the quality is rather way off. A fair bit of their output got a second life on Crash's Power Tape, and a few appearances on SU's covertapes in their twilight years. Also, the three Shaw Brothers contributed lots of stuff to them, usually compiled BASIC platformers.

I make it 63 tangible ZX Spectrum games commercially released by Atlantis, this lot!:


Alpine Games
Aquasquad
Battle-Field
Cavemania
Caverns Of Kontonia
Cerius
Chinese Patience
Colditz Story
Connect 4
Crack-Up
Crossfire
El Dorado
Downtown
Eights
Gunfighter
Heartbroken
Hobgoblin
Hypa Raid
Interalia
Jock And The Time Rings
Kosmos
Last Vampire, The
League Challenge
Luna Atac
Mafia Contract
Mafia Contract II: The Sequel
Marie Celeste
Master Mariner
Moontorc
Moron
Nuclear Countdown
Olympiad '86
Overkill
Periscope Up
Pioneer
Plasma Ball
Pro Golf
Pro Golf II
Rattler
Return To Ithaca
Revenge Of The C5
Robot Rumpus
Sarlmoor
Satcom
Sceptre Of Bagdad
Sea Battles
Seahawk
Sinbad
Skatin' USA
Snoball In Hell
Spooky Castle
Submariner
Super Brat
Supercom
Superkid
Superkid In Space
Survivors
Tank Command
Temple Terror
Ten Pin Challenge
Thinker, The
Timezone
Vagan Attack

Do comment before next Sunday, when I start the actual poll. Let me know if I've made any mistakes in the above shortlist.

[Starquack]

I was sure that my favourite Atlantis game was going to Mrs Mopp and wondered why it wasn't on the list but now I see that it was originally released by one game company Compuserve and then rereleased by Atlantis to the public

[PeteProdge]

I was sure that my favourite Atlantis game was going to Mrs Mopp and wondered why it wasn't on the list but now I see that it was originally released by one game company Compuserve and then rereleased by Atlantis to the public

It's actually Computasolve!

But I like the idea of a dial-up-era ISP publishing Speccy games before the internet went domestic. Ahem.

[toot_toot]

Atlantis were indeed a strange label, although they started off as a definite sub standard budget label, by the end of the 80s their output was quite quirky. The Shaw brothers made some really good games, albeit they were very “samey”. And to be honest, I haven’t really played a huge amount of their output, so this is a good reason to go back and start playing some of those later games like The Last Vampire and Moontorc, which rated pretty highly at the time but I never actually played.

I also loved the covers that were very similar to the cartoony Mastertronic ones by John Smyth.



(I also just learned from the image above that Skatin USA is actually in the Superkid series, I guess it’s the third, but it’s not listed on the DB)

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... Skatin_USA

[toot_toot]

Actually.. I think John Smyth DID do some of the Atlantis covers, but he’s not credited as a contributor on some of them, like Skatin USA!

Definitely a publisher who had a different feel, depending on the era the game was released.

From this



To this

[PeteProdge]

Aw, so it is the cartoonist that worked for Words And Pictures (Mastertronic's choice of graphic agency)! I pretty much bought almost any Mastertronic game with that style of artwork on it (Curse Of Sherwood, Feud, 180, etc) but rarely ever saw Atlantis games in the shops.

[Starquack]

[Daveysloan]

Absolutely love Robot Rumpus, it's exactly my kind of simple, addictive single screen caper.

[hitm4n]

Sceptre of Bagdad (stands out as my fave here, loved this little game)
Supercom (hacking game as i recall? Or was that System15000, gonna need pics)
Super Brat (the only tennis game i recall enjoying)

[Nick]

That Connect Four cover looks a bit sinister.