The best rereleased Speccy game by Alternative Software: vote

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 1:18 pm

Attention turns to Roger Hulley's Alternative Software for the first of a few 're-releases' polls this December.

The main brand, Alternative, put out 53 original ZX Spectrum games, but this poll is strictly for the rereleases that came out under the brand - all 105 tangible games are here. You get a varied mix here, some top stuff from Microsphere (the two Skool based games will do well, I reckon), Piranha (ah, Trap Door's also gonna do well), lots of CRL stuff, a few things from Martech and Mikro-Gen and what must be some Activision games that Mastertronic turned down. Some of these surfaced up in compilations like '4 Most...', although most are straight-up standalone rereleases at budget price.

It's a long list, so let's dig in:

19 Part 1: Boot Camp

Aliens (US Version)

ACE 2088

A-Maze

Andy Capp

Army Moves

Attack On Atlantis

Australian Rules Football

Back To Skool

Bargain Basement

Big Sleaze, The

Big Trouble In Little China

Boss, The (renamed as Soccer Boss by Alternative)

Brainstorm

Butch Hard Guy

Capitan Sevilla

Championship Baseball

Championship Sprint

Classic Axiens

Classic Muncher

Colour Of Magic, The

Confuzion

Cricket Crazy

Dandy

Danger Mouse In Double Trouble

Danger Mouse In Making Whoopee

Danger Mouse In Black Forest Chateau

Doombase

Dotty

Double, The

Everyone's A Wally

Fallen Angel

Fernando Martin Basket Master

Firestorm

Flunky

Formula One (renamed as Formula Grand Prix by Alternative)

Freddy Hardest

Frightmare

Fury, The

Galactic Games

Game Over

GBA Championship Basketball

Ghostly Grange

Gilbert: Escape From Drill

Graham Gooch's Test Cricket

Gunboat

Hellfire Attack

High Steel

Howard The Duck

Howzat

Hysteria

Ice Attack

Implosion

Indoor Soccer

Jaws

Kidnap

Mega Apocalypse

Meganova

Micro Olympics (renamed as Olympic Spectacular by Alternative)

Moon Cresta

Mr Weems And The She Vampires

Munsters, The

Nightmare

Nosferatu The Vampyre

Oink!

One Hundred And Eighty!

Operaton Hormuz

Pheenix

Popeye

Rally Driver

Red Arrows

River Rescue

Rocky Horror Show, The

Rogue Trooper (renamed as Space Trooper by Alternative)

Run For Gold

Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, The

Skool Daze

Skuldugery

Spindizzy

Spitfire 40

Splat!

Stagecoach

Star Paws

Star Raiders II

Stelar (renamed as Starburst by Alternative)

Strike Force Cobra

Strike Force Harrier

Super Shuffle

Tarzan

Through The Trap Door

Time Wreck

Tower Of Evil

Train Game, The

Trap Door, The

Turbo Girl

Uchi Mata

Vixen

W.A.R.

Wheelie

Who Dares Wins II

Windsurfer (renamed as Seasurfer by Alternative)

Yacht Race (renamed as Ocean Racer by Alternative)

Yeti

Yogi Bear

Zoids

Alternative's other imprints - Summit, Winner and React - will also be considered for rerelease polls throughout this month!

p13z · Post by **p13z** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 1:25 pm

1. Back To Skool
2. Skool Daze
3. Through the Trapdoor

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 1:33 pm

1) Back To Skool
2) The Trap Door
3) Skool Daze

and bubbling below?

The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole is astonishing and my preferred way to play a text adventure!

I always had a soft spot for Yogi Bear and I do understand I'm in the minority on that one.

Sorry, can't muster up any enthusiasm for Through The Trap Door.

stupidget · Post by **stupidget** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 1:58 pm

A damn fine list of games there. I've gone for Wheelie as my mate and I used to spend ages playing this gem.

1 - Wheelie
2 - Everyone's a Wally
3 - Spindizzy

Juan F. Ramirez · Post by **Juan F. Ramirez** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 3:14 pm

1 - Skool Daze
2 - Everyone's a Wally
3 - The Rocky Horror Show

hitm4n · Post by **hitm4n** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 5:32 pm

I wasn't going to vote here, too many top games, but The Trap Door is the finest of the finery so i'll vote for that...
Not doing a top three though, it would do too many games out of a justified vote.

Matt_B · Post by **Matt_B** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 6:35 pm

1. Skool Daze
2. Formula One
3. Spindizzy

worcestersource · Post by **worcestersource** » Mon Dec 11, 2023 11:46 pm

1 Star Raisers II
2 Wheelie
3 Trap Door

RWAC · Post by **RWAC** » Tue Dec 12, 2023 7:17 am

1 Skool Daze
2 Back 2 Skool
3 Wheelie

Hank Scorpio · Post by **Hank Scorpio** » Tue Dec 12, 2023 8:54 pm

1 Back 2 Skool
2 The Trapdoor
3 Skool Daze

clebin · Post by **clebin** » Tue Dec 12, 2023 9:22 pm

1. Back 2 Skool
2. Everyone's A Wally
3. Skool Daze

toot_toot · Post by **toot_toot** » Tue Dec 12, 2023 11:06 pm

Not that I think anyone would vote for it, but I think Confuzion was re-released on the Summit label, not the Alternative one.

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Tue Dec 12, 2023 11:20 pm

toot_toot wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 11:06 pm Not that I think anyone would vote for it, but I think Confuzion was re-released on the Summit label, not the Alternative one.

Nope! Confuzion originally came out in 1985 by Incentive, then a 1987 rerelease was by Alternative. Apparently there were other rereleases - from EDOS, Ricochet and Spain's System 4.

toot_toot · Post by **toot_toot** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 6:03 pm

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 11:20 pm Nope! Confuzion originally came out in 1985 by Incentive, then a 1987 rerelease was by Alternative. Apparently there were other rereleases - from EDOS, Ricochet and Spain's System 4.

Ah, ok, but that’s not the Comfuzion in your list!

You’ve linked to this https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... ndo_Tracer (and the screenshots are also from Comando Tracer). I only noticed because I thought it looked really interesting!

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Dec 14, 2023 1:37 pm

1. Everyone's A Wally
2. Back 2 Skool
3. Formula One

Just missing out - Skool Daze, The Trapdoor, Adrian Mole.

Nitrowing · Post by **Nitrowing** » Thu Dec 14, 2023 7:26 pm

Too many fond memories for me to choose a favourite - sitting this out

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Fri Dec 15, 2023 8:13 am

toot_toot wrote: ↑Wed Dec 13, 2023 6:03 pm Ah, ok, but that’s not the Comfuzion in your list!

You’ve linked to this https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... ndo_Tracer (and the screenshots are also from Comando Tracer). I only noticed because I thought it looked really interesting!

Oops! Thanks for pointing this out.

I really screwed up there. Still, with over a hundred games, I had to make a mistake.

Comando Tracer only got rereleased on Summit.

Here's the corrected entry for Confuzion...

Confuzion

Mpk · Post by **Mpk** » Fri Dec 15, 2023 9:25 am

Tough choice.
1 Skool Daze
2 Wheelie
3 about a dozen others could be here. I Abstain.

zx1 · Post by **zx1** » Sat Dec 16, 2023 4:09 pm

Hard to pick one, so many great titles but plumped for Back to Skool.
Others i like are Wheelie, Trapdoor, Andy Capp, The big sleaze, Wheelie, Skool Daze, Contact Sam Cruise, Yogi Bear and The two Adrian Mole titles amongst others.

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Sun Dec 17, 2023 10:38 am

zx1 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2023 4:09 pm Others i like are Wheelie, Trapdoor, Andy Capp, The big sleaze, Wheelie, Skool Daze, Contact Sam Cruise, Yogi Bear and The two Adrian Mole titles amongst others.

The Adrian Mole games are very good, but I'm going to have to be pedantic and point out The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole did not emerge as an Alternative re-release (or even on any other Alternate imprint like Summit or Winner), it was rereleased on Mastertronic's Ricochet label. Because of that, I played it before I played The Secret Diary!

zx1 · Post by **zx1** » Sun Dec 17, 2023 10:57 am

For years i thought i imagined that there was two Adrian Mole titles until i found them on emulation.
Might fire one up later on actually.

zx1 · Post by **zx1** » Sun Dec 17, 2023 10:57 am

Was Summit owned by Alternative?

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Sun Dec 17, 2023 12:05 pm

zx1 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 17, 2023 10:57 am Was Summit owned by Alternative?

Yep! Voting has just started on the best rereleased Summit Software game for the ZX Spectrum, plus their other label, Winner, is being discussed.

There's another brand as well, called React, whose entire output were three rereleased Martech games. I'll come to them eventually.

PeteProdge · Post by **PeteProdge** » Fri Dec 22, 2023 8:43 am

Ah, I should have concluded this on Monday but have been laid out with a horrifically heavy cold for most of this week. Only just recovering...

Back To Skool has won this, with 9 votes!

Its prequel, Skool Daze, was also battling to be top, but it's second, with 6 votes.

In joint third we have: Everyone's A Wally; Splat!; Star Raiders II; The Trap Door and Wheelie - 2 votes each.

Joint fourth, 1 vote each: The Big Sleaze; The Colour Of Magic; Formula One/Formula Grand Prix; Hysteria and Rogue Trooper/Space Trooper.

We see similar things on the proportional results:

Back To Skool 16
Skool Daze 14
Everyone's A Wally 9
Wheelie 6
Trap Door, The 5
Formula One (renamed as Formula Grand Prix by Alternative) 3
Star Raiders II 3
Spindizzy 2
Rocky Horror Show, The 1
Through The Trap Door 1

hitm4n · Post by **hitm4n** » Fri Dec 22, 2023 6:13 pm

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 8:43 amAh, I should have concluded this on Monday but have been laid out with a horrifically heavy cold for most of this week.

Not good enough !!

Spectrum Computing