The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
- PeteProdge
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:03 am
The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
"Ah, Ocean, they didn't put out many games" is probably the wrongest thing you could say about the Manchester-based colossus. Your page-down key is going to beg for mercy on this poll.
Whatever you may think of them, Ocean put out masses of games for the ZX Spectrum back in the day and were an absolute commercial titan, taking up residence in the charts of best sellers. When it comes to commercial success, they're up there with US Gold (who you could perceive as rivals to Ocean, although there were some connected financial interests and even collaborations amongst their competitive nature).
I can't think of any ZX Spectrum owner who didn't have an Ocean game. Any Speccy games player who claims they haven't played an Ocean title, well, that's like a drinker saying he's never been into a Wetherspoons.
You'd be guaranteed to see pages of adverts for Ocean Software in the Speccy mags. US Gold aside, I can't think of another software label who was that good at marketing. And we really have to doff our cap to the late great Bob Wakelin, a non-gamer who wielded that airbrush like a magician to create such fantastic artwork. A kind of Peter Saville for the ZX Spectrum scene? Who knows, but there was never any bad Ocean inlay/poster art when he was involved.
Ocean will be synonymous with licensed games, covering arcade, TV, movies and sporting brands. Yes, they put out original titles too, but that was typically an exception.
By and large, Ocean really tapped into the movie market. Just about anything that was (or was going to be) a Hollywood blockbuster, got snapped up by the guys at 6 Central Street. If it was occupying the window space in your local Ritzy or Blockbuster Video, there's a strong chance Ocean had the computer game rights. It's astonishing how many big-hitters of the VHS era have arrived on the Speccy thanks to Ocean.
I'm not saying their movie-based games were all gold, oh hell no. Yes, there was 1989's Batman, but you also had things like... Highlander.
Ocean's in-house team produced a lot of coin-op conversions, although many were farmed off to the Imagine label they had acquired. (This is strictly a poll for games under the Ocean badge, even though Ocean-controlled Imagine was pretty much Ocean!) Imagine was used for a lot of arcade stuff, particularly Konami, it barely published any original creative output. (Now there's an anomaly I must pick up on - Gryzor should be Imagine; Movie should be Ocean - probably a few more examples like this if I really dug into it.)
The biggest catalyst for Ocean's riches in the early days was getting Daley Thompson on board. And I don't think many keyboards and joysticks were ever the same again.
Anyway, 106 titles are listed here. You have masses of choice. Probably too much choice. This will take up a lot of your time to decide which is best. Yes, there's plenty of shovelware, but you can't deny there are some utterly outstanding games and it'll be a head-scratcher for most as to which will get picked. This is what I call a definitive list of every ZX Spectrum game put out under the Ocean name, so it's as democratic as possible. (Let the arguments begin...)
Here goes, see you back at 11:20am UK time Sunday 21st July 2019 for the outcome...
Addams Family, The
Adidas Championship Football
Adidas Championship Tie-Break
Armageddon
Batman (3D isometric game by Jon Ritman)
Batman: The Caped Crusader (arcade adventure)
Batman: The Movie
Battle Command
Beach Volley
Cabal
Cavelon
Chase HQ
Chase HQ II: Special Criminal Investigation
Chinese Juggler
Cobra
Combat School
Cosmic Wartoad
Daley Thompson's Decathlon
Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge
Daley Thompson's Super-Test
Darkman
Digger Dan
Donkey Kong
Double Take
Emilio Butragueno Futbol
Eskimo Eddie
Firefly
Flashpoint
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Gift From The Gods
Gilligan's Gold
Great Escape, The
Gryzor
Gutz
Head Over Heels
Highlander
Hudson Hawk
Hunchback
Hunchback - The Adventure
Hunchback II
International Match Day
It's A Knockout
Knight Rider
Kong
Kong Strikes Back
Madballs
Mailstrom
Mario Bros
Match Day
Match Day II
Miami Vice
Midnight Resistance
Moon Alert
Mr Wimpy
Mutants
N.O.M.A.D.
Narc
Navy Seals
NeverEnding Story, The
New Zealand Story, The
Night Breed
Nightmare Rally
Operation Thunderbolt
Operation Wolf
Pang
Phantom Club
Platoon
Plotting
Pogo
Power Drift
Pud Pud
Puzznic
Quondam
Rainbow Islands
Rambo
Rambo III
Red Heat
Road Race
Robocop
Robocop 2
Robocop 3
Roland's Rat Race
Royal Birkdale: Championship Golf
Run The Gauntlet
Shadow Warriors
Short Circuit
Simpsons, The: Bart vs The Space Mutants
Sly Spy
Smash TV
Space Gun
Street Hawk
Street Hawk - Kays Catalogue Edition
Super Bowl
Tai-Pan
Tank
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Top Gun
Total Recall
Track & Field
Transformers, The
Transversion
Untouchables, The
V
WWF Wrestlemania
Where Time Stood Still
Wizball
Whatever you may think of them, Ocean put out masses of games for the ZX Spectrum back in the day and were an absolute commercial titan, taking up residence in the charts of best sellers. When it comes to commercial success, they're up there with US Gold (who you could perceive as rivals to Ocean, although there were some connected financial interests and even collaborations amongst their competitive nature).
I can't think of any ZX Spectrum owner who didn't have an Ocean game. Any Speccy games player who claims they haven't played an Ocean title, well, that's like a drinker saying he's never been into a Wetherspoons.
You'd be guaranteed to see pages of adverts for Ocean Software in the Speccy mags. US Gold aside, I can't think of another software label who was that good at marketing. And we really have to doff our cap to the late great Bob Wakelin, a non-gamer who wielded that airbrush like a magician to create such fantastic artwork. A kind of Peter Saville for the ZX Spectrum scene? Who knows, but there was never any bad Ocean inlay/poster art when he was involved.
Ocean will be synonymous with licensed games, covering arcade, TV, movies and sporting brands. Yes, they put out original titles too, but that was typically an exception.
By and large, Ocean really tapped into the movie market. Just about anything that was (or was going to be) a Hollywood blockbuster, got snapped up by the guys at 6 Central Street. If it was occupying the window space in your local Ritzy or Blockbuster Video, there's a strong chance Ocean had the computer game rights. It's astonishing how many big-hitters of the VHS era have arrived on the Speccy thanks to Ocean.
I'm not saying their movie-based games were all gold, oh hell no. Yes, there was 1989's Batman, but you also had things like... Highlander.
Ocean's in-house team produced a lot of coin-op conversions, although many were farmed off to the Imagine label they had acquired. (This is strictly a poll for games under the Ocean badge, even though Ocean-controlled Imagine was pretty much Ocean!) Imagine was used for a lot of arcade stuff, particularly Konami, it barely published any original creative output. (Now there's an anomaly I must pick up on - Gryzor should be Imagine; Movie should be Ocean - probably a few more examples like this if I really dug into it.)
The biggest catalyst for Ocean's riches in the early days was getting Daley Thompson on board. And I don't think many keyboards and joysticks were ever the same again.
Anyway, 106 titles are listed here. You have masses of choice. Probably too much choice. This will take up a lot of your time to decide which is best. Yes, there's plenty of shovelware, but you can't deny there are some utterly outstanding games and it'll be a head-scratcher for most as to which will get picked. This is what I call a definitive list of every ZX Spectrum game put out under the Ocean name, so it's as democratic as possible. (Let the arguments begin...)
Here goes, see you back at 11:20am UK time Sunday 21st July 2019 for the outcome...
Addams Family, The
Adidas Championship Football
Adidas Championship Tie-Break
Armageddon
Batman (3D isometric game by Jon Ritman)
Batman: The Caped Crusader (arcade adventure)
Batman: The Movie
Battle Command
Beach Volley
Cabal
Cavelon
Chase HQ
Chase HQ II: Special Criminal Investigation
Chinese Juggler
Cobra
Combat School
Cosmic Wartoad
Daley Thompson's Decathlon
Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge
Daley Thompson's Super-Test
Darkman
Digger Dan
Donkey Kong
Double Take
Emilio Butragueno Futbol
Eskimo Eddie
Firefly
Flashpoint
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Gift From The Gods
Gilligan's Gold
Great Escape, The
Gryzor
Gutz
Head Over Heels
Highlander
Hudson Hawk
Hunchback
Hunchback - The Adventure
Hunchback II
International Match Day
It's A Knockout
Knight Rider
Kong
Kong Strikes Back
Madballs
Mailstrom
Mario Bros
Match Day
Match Day II
Miami Vice
Midnight Resistance
Moon Alert
Mr Wimpy
Mutants
N.O.M.A.D.
Narc
Navy Seals
NeverEnding Story, The
New Zealand Story, The
Night Breed
Nightmare Rally
Operation Thunderbolt
Operation Wolf
Pang
Phantom Club
Platoon
Plotting
Pogo
Power Drift
Pud Pud
Puzznic
Quondam
Rainbow Islands
Rambo
Rambo III
Red Heat
Road Race
Robocop
Robocop 2
Robocop 3
Roland's Rat Race
Royal Birkdale: Championship Golf
Run The Gauntlet
Shadow Warriors
Short Circuit
Simpsons, The: Bart vs The Space Mutants
Sly Spy
Smash TV
Space Gun
Street Hawk
Street Hawk - Kays Catalogue Edition
Super Bowl
Tai-Pan
Tank
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Top Gun
Total Recall
Track & Field
Transformers, The
Transversion
Untouchables, The
V
WWF Wrestlemania
Where Time Stood Still
Wizball
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
- Juan F. Ramirez
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 5102
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
- Location: Málaga, Spain
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Daley Thompson's Decathlon for me. The first top game by Ocean, IMHO.
- Juan F. Ramirez
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 5102
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
- Location: Málaga, Spain
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
And my Ocean's top 3:
1 - DT Decathlon
2 - The Grest Escape
3 - Cobra
1 - DT Decathlon
2 - The Grest Escape
3 - Cobra
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Head over Heels for me as it's the one game in the list that I spent the most time playing. It's also the first game I played originally on the 48 and then a 128 when I upgraded. I still remember being amazed by the menu tune and the different tunes for each zone. Great stuff indeed.
1 - Head over Heels
2 - Rainbow Islands
3 - Wizball
I'd probably put Nightmare Rally in 4th as my mate and me spent ages playing that, but, never seemed to get anywhere.
1 - Head over Heels
2 - Rainbow Islands
3 - Wizball
I'd probably put Nightmare Rally in 4th as my mate and me spent ages playing that, but, never seemed to get anywhere.
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1 Rainbow Islands - possibly the best arcade conversion on the Speccy
2 The Great Escape
3 Head Over Heels
2 The Great Escape
3 Head Over Heels
- PeteProdge
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:03 am
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1) Rainbow Islands
2) The New Zealand Story
3) Gryzor
The top two are utterly astonishing as arcade conversions, the gameplay is absolutely bang-on. Still astounded at how well they did. You can't ask for anything more, really.
2) The New Zealand Story
3) Gryzor
The top two are utterly astonishing as arcade conversions, the gameplay is absolutely bang-on. Still astounded at how well they did. You can't ask for anything more, really.
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
- Turtle_Quality
- Manic Miner
- Posts: 502
- Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:19 pm
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Daley Thompson's Decathlon for me
Followed by Match Day and Rainbow Islands
Followed by Match Day and Rainbow Islands
Definition of loop : see loop
- MarkRJones1970
- Microbot
- Posts: 178
- Joined: Sun Jun 16, 2019 9:31 am
- Location: Manchester, UK
- Contact:
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Why's Power Drift there? That was 1st published by Activision
Mark R. Jones
Ex-Ocean Software graphic artist -
Download my FREE PDF 'LOAD DIJ DIJ' (180,000+ words): https://ko-fi.com/i/IG2G3BEJZP
ZX Art page: https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/m/mark-r-jones/
Ex-Ocean Software graphic artist -
Download my FREE PDF 'LOAD DIJ DIJ' (180,000+ words): https://ko-fi.com/i/IG2G3BEJZP
ZX Art page: https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/m/mark-r-jones/
- PeteProdge
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:03 am
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Wait, what? *checks*MarkRJones1979 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:43 pm Why's Power Drift there? That was 1st published by Activision
Oh f***, you are right. Some did creep in a week ago, and in the discussion phase, someone here spotted Activision's Predator, which I removed. I thought that was it. They came in because I was navigating huge lists under 'Ocean' on this site, and it tends to include anything that Ocean rereleased (a lot of Activision games came up in big box Ocean compilations).
Well, I can't edit the poll now, but I can declare any vote for Power Drift to be null and void - which goes for the forum poll and any proportional votes. Thanks for spotting it, I seriously regret that error.
Make it 105 Ocean games on the ZX Spectrum!
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
-
- Manic Miner
- Posts: 532
- Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:11 am
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1. The New Zealand Story
2. The Great Escape
3. Cobra
2. The Great Escape
3. Cobra
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
A nearly impossible choice. So many that would probably be in contention for a top ten all time best list. I went for Head Over Heels in the end, it's an all time favourite of mine. It took me years to finish it, but it's still fun to revisit even if I can no longer get as far. If I were picking a top three it would probably be:
1. Head over Heels
2. Rainbow Islands
3. RoboCop
Although in all likelihood that list would be different every time I scrolled through those images. Ocean really were a power house back in the day.
1. Head over Heels
2. Rainbow Islands
3. RoboCop
Although in all likelihood that list would be different every time I scrolled through those images. Ocean really were a power house back in the day.
- Metalbrain
- Microbot
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:14 pm
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1 - Operation Wolf
2 - Chase H.Q.
3 - Robocop
Honorable mentions: Rainbow Islands, Puzznic, Batman: The Movie
2 - Chase H.Q.
3 - Robocop
Honorable mentions: Rainbow Islands, Puzznic, Batman: The Movie
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1. Nightmare Rally
2. Knight Rider
3. Pud Pud
2. Knight Rider
3. Pud Pud
- Juan F. Ramirez
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 5102
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
- Location: Málaga, Spain
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1 :: Firefly – probably Joffa’s finest hour
2 :: Head over Heels – cute graphics and immensely enjoyable gameplay
3 :: Robocop – first enjoyed it on 48K, then blown away when I bought a 128K some time later
Runners up: The Great Escape, Daley Thompsons’s Super-Test, Chase HQ
2 :: Head over Heels – cute graphics and immensely enjoyable gameplay
3 :: Robocop – first enjoyed it on 48K, then blown away when I bought a 128K some time later
Runners up: The Great Escape, Daley Thompsons’s Super-Test, Chase HQ
- PeteProdge
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:03 am
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
The strange thing is, that if this was carried out on the sales of games, then Robocop would be the runaway winner. (It's either Robocop or Activision's Ghostbusters which became the best selling ZX Spectrum game of all time.) As it is, Robocop only has one vote.
Currently way out in front is Head Over Heels, which is an original creation from Jon Ritman, no licenses involved. The History Of Ocean Software book reveals that Jon's isometric 3D take on Batman sold more than Head Over Heels. Which goes to show the commercial power of a license. Depressing, but true.
Currently way out in front is Head Over Heels, which is an original creation from Jon Ritman, no licenses involved. The History Of Ocean Software book reveals that Jon's isometric 3D take on Batman sold more than Head Over Heels. Which goes to show the commercial power of a license. Depressing, but true.
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
When I first saw the topic, I honestly thought RoboCop was going to be the clear winner. Indeed I was convinced I'd vote for it myself. It was only scrolling through the list of images that I began to realise just how many contenders there were and, great as it is, I really couldn't put it first.
It really does show the power of a licence though, that's for sure.
It really does show the power of a licence though, that's for sure.
- Juan F. Ramirez
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 5102
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
- Location: Málaga, Spain
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
With some many great hits it's difficult to have a clear winner, the votes will be very dispersed.
I'm looking forward to seeing the results...
I'm looking forward to seeing the results...
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1) The Great Escape
2) Cobra
3) Head Over Heels
4) Robocop
5) Wizball
6) Where Time Stood Still
7) Match Day II
8) N.O.M.A.D.
9) Gift from the Gods
10) Match Day / International Match Day
err... why is Power Drift in the list?
2) Cobra
3) Head Over Heels
4) Robocop
5) Wizball
6) Where Time Stood Still
7) Match Day II
8) N.O.M.A.D.
9) Gift from the Gods
10) Match Day / International Match Day
err... why is Power Drift in the list?
Last edited by WIWC on Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
1. Daley Thompson's Decathlon
2. Chase HQ
3. Head Over Heels
2. Chase HQ
3. Head Over Heels
ZX Spectrum Reviews REST API: http://zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
I loved Wizball too, I've never quite got the hate for it since I started on Speccy forums. Would probably have come 4th in my vote.stupidget wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:44 pm Head over Heels for me as it's the one game in the list that I spent the most time playing. It's also the first game I played originally on the 48 and then a 128 when I upgraded. I still remember being amazed by the menu tune and the different tunes for each zone. Great stuff indeed.
1 - Head over Heels
2 - Rainbow Islands
3 - Wizball
I'd probably put Nightmare Rally in 4th as my mate and me spent ages playing that, but, never seemed to get anywhere.
ZX Spectrum Reviews REST API: http://zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/
- PeteProdge
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 3522
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:03 am
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Pure human error, votes won't count for it. An explanation on page 1, here.
Reheated Pixels - a combination of retrogaming, comedy and factual musing, is here!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
New video: Nine ZX Spectrum magazine controversies - How Crash, Your Sinclair and Sinclair User managed to offend the world!
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Ocean were never my favourite software house but it's absolutely undeniable that over their long history, they released some very high quality games. Sure, there was some rubbish, but when they got it right they tended to get it very right.
1. Daley Thompson's Decathlon
2. Firefly
3. Gilligan's Gold
Honourable mentions to Armageddon, Moon Alert, Match Day, Cavelon and especially Wizball. It's painful to exclude Wizball here, as it's probably one of my top ten games of all time, but the Spectrum version just isn't as good as the C64 original and it's really noticeable if you play them one after another. I know saying things like that is tantamount to heresy around these parts, but it's true.
1. Daley Thompson's Decathlon
2. Firefly
3. Gilligan's Gold
Honourable mentions to Armageddon, Moon Alert, Match Day, Cavelon and especially Wizball. It's painful to exclude Wizball here, as it's probably one of my top ten games of all time, but the Spectrum version just isn't as good as the C64 original and it's really noticeable if you play them one after another. I know saying things like that is tantamount to heresy around these parts, but it's true.
www.fahnn.co.uk / Trine Michelson's Hot Parts: www.fahnn.co.uk/trine.txt / Big Deal (demo): http://www.fahnn.co.uk/big_deal.tap / tw@tter: http://www.fahnn.co.uk/[email protected]
Re: The best Speccy game by Ocean: vote
Well I’m sure their use of marketing and licences worked on me as there was a lot of Ocean games that I had to go out and purchase when they came out. Whereas a lot of my games collection from other software houses were more done on a whim in the shop based on price, artwork and graphics, or because I’d played them at a friends.
To be fair I wasn’t disappointed with the games they produced, lot of great stuff in their catalogue. I’ve gone with Combat School as my favourite, remember playing it loads, had great graphics, gameplay, was just hard enough but not impossible and it had great music on the 128k version.
1. Combat School
2. Match Day II
3. Daley Thomson’s Olympic Challenge
4. Operation Wolf
5. Run the Gauntlet
To be fair I wasn’t disappointed with the games they produced, lot of great stuff in their catalogue. I’ve gone with Combat School as my favourite, remember playing it loads, had great graphics, gameplay, was just hard enough but not impossible and it had great music on the 128k version.
1. Combat School
2. Match Day II
3. Daley Thomson’s Olympic Challenge
4. Operation Wolf
5. Run the Gauntlet
Vantage Point - Priest / Maiden influenced metal
http://www.facebook.com/vantagepointrocks
http://www.youtube.com/user/vantagepointrocks
http://www.facebook.com/vantagepointrocks
http://www.youtube.com/user/vantagepointrocks