The best Speccy re-released games from the main rerelease labels: discussion

[PeteProdge]

Something for the month of December, and to put some excitement in after all those rather tepid software houses in that first issue of Crash.

I'm talking about the major budget rerelease labels set up to reissue full price games. Yeah, not just breaking my rule of 'not covering any rereleases', but outright ONLY covering rereleases! (There are some cases where a few games were published ORIGINALLY on these labels, so I want to avoid that.)

Kixx (US Gold), The Hit Squad (Ocean), Ricochet (Virgin Mastertronic) and Encore (Elite) are the four ones I'd like to cover across each of the four Sundays of December 2021, in that order.

We start with US Gold's Kixx, which reissued games from the likes US Gold/Go!/Firebird/Gremlin/Palace/Topo Soft/Image Works/Hewson/Microprose/Advance Software Promotions/System 3/Micro Style/Storm Software/Rainbow Arts

I think this list is correct, tell me if I'm wrong...

10th Frame
1943
3D Pool
4x4 Off-Road Racing
720 Degrees
Ace Of Aces
Acro Jet
Action Countdown
Action Fighter
Airborne Ranger
Auf Wiedersehen Monty
Avenger
Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
Barbarian II: The Dungeon Of Drax
Bionic Commando
Black Beard
BraveStarr
California Games
Coliseum
Crack Down
Crystal Castles
Cybernoid
Dragons Of Flame
F-15 Strike Eagle
Final Fight
Footballer Of The Year
Forgotten Worlds
Games, The - Summer Edition
Games, The - Winter Edition
Gary Lineker's Hot-Shot!
Gary Lineker's Superskills
Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer
Gauntlet
Gauntlet II
Ghouls 'N' Ghosts
Gunship
Hardball!
Heroes Of The Lance
Impossible Mission II
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
Infiltrator
Italy 1990
Jack The Nipper
Jack The Nipper II: Coconut Capers
Krakout
LED Storm
Last Duel
Leader Board
Marauder
Masters Of The Universe - The Movie
MERCS
Metro-Cross
Microprose Soccer
Monty On The Run
Moonwalker
Myth: History In The Making
Night Raider
Night Shift
Out Run
Out Run Europa
Project Stealth Fighter
Rick Dangerous
Rick Dangerous 2
Road Blasters
Road Runner
Rod-Land
Rolling Thunder
Rygar
SWIV
Samurai Trilogy
Shadow Dancer
Side Arms
Silent Service
Silent Shadow
Skate Crazy
Solomon's Key
Spy Hunter
St. Dragon
Stardust
Stifflip & Co
Street Fighter
Street Fighter II
Strider
Strider II
Stunt Car Racer
Summer Games
Super Cycle
Super Monaco GP
Super Scramble Simulator
Supersports
Techno Cop
Thunder Blade
Tiger Road
Titanic
Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper
Turbo Out Run
Turrican
Turrican II
Tusker
Vendetta
Vigilante
Way Of The Tiger, The
Winter Games
World Class Leader Board
World Games
X-Out

I have discounted Go For Gold, Mission Elevator and Troll from the above, as they appear to be originally published by Kixx. (These should be in a typical poll to cover original releases.)

Then we move onto the mighty Hit Squad from Ocean/Imagine, which proliferates through eBay heavily these days, with their boxed games seemingly cherished more than the original releases!

Originally an imprint to put out a few compilations of back catalogue games, when Ocean founded The Hit Squad as a proper budget label, it reissued games from Domark/Ocean/Activision/Firebird/Titus/Imagine/Incentive/Database Educational Software/System 3/Dinamic/Konami/Ubi Soft/The Edge/Electric Dreams.

I think this list is correct, tell me if I'm wrong...

APB
Addams Family, The
Afterburner
Altered Beast
Arkanoid
Arkanoid II - Revenge Of Doh
Badlands
Batman (3D isometric)
Batman: The Caped Crusader
Batman: The Movie
Bubble Bobble
Cabal
Castle Master
Chase HQ
Cobra
Combat School
Crazy Cars
Cyberball
Daley Thompson's Decathlon
Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge
Daley Thompson's Super-Test
Darkman
Dragon Ninja
Dragon Spirit
Driller
Empire Strikes Back, The
Enduro Racer
Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters
Ghostbusters II
Great Escape, The
Green Beret
Gryzor
Hard Drivin'
Head Over Heels
Hudson Hawk
Hyper Sports
IK+
Klax
Konami's Tennis
Last Ninja 2
Licence To Kill
Match Day
Match Day II
Miami Vice
Midnight Resistance
Mikie
NARC
Navy Moves
Nemesis
New Zealand Story, The
Night Breed
Operation Thunderbolt
Operation Wolf
Pictionary
Ping Pong
Pit-Fighter
Platoon
Power Drift
Predator
Pro Tennis Tour
Puffy's Saga
Puzznic
Quartet
R-Type
R.B.I. 2 Baseball
Rainbow Islands
Rambo
Rambo III
Rampage
Rastan
Real Ghostbusters, The
Red Heat
Renegade
Renegade III
Return Of The Jedi
Robocop
Run The Gauntlet
S.D.I.
S.T.U.N. Runner
Salamander
Shadow Warriors
Shao-Lin's Road
Short Circuit
Simpsons, The: Bart Vs The Space Mutants
Skate Wars
Skull & Crossbones
Slap Fight
Sly Spy: Secret Agent
Smash TV
Space Gun
Spitting Image
Spy Who Loved Me, The
Star Wars
Super Hang-On
Super Space Invaders
Super Sprint
Target: Renegade
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Toobin'
Top Gun
Total Recall
Trivial Pursuit
Untouchables, The
Vindicator, The
Vindicators
WEC Le Mans
WWF Wrestlemania
Wizball
Wonder Boy
World Series Baseball
Xybots
Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Bizarrely, The Hit Squad also rereleased the three editions of educational software Fun School 2 for specific age ranges (Fun School 2 For 6-8 Year Olds; Fun School 2 For The Over-8s and Fun School 2 For The Under-6s) at £2.99 each. Seems to be a bizarre choice to sit alongside Operation Thunderbolt and Dragon Ninja, but there you go! I have discounted Fun School 2 from the list, because we don't do educational software in these polls.

Then you have Mastertronic's Ricochet, which reissued games from Mirrosoft/Ultimate/Electric Dreams/Activision/Martech/Incentive/PSS/Virgin Games/Bubble Bus Software/Artic/Firebird/US Gold/Software Projects/Melbourne House/CRL/Gremlin/Wizard

I think this list is correct, tell me if I'm wrong...

Action Reflex
Alien 8
Aliens
Ballblazer
Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge
Confuzion
Covenant, The
Dan Dare II: Mekon's Revenge
Dan Dare: Pilot Of The Future
Eddie Kidd Jump Challenge
Eidolon, The
F.A. Cup Football
Fifth Quadrant, The
Geoff Capes Strong Man
Ghostbusters
Gobbleman
Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole
Hacker
Helichopper
How To Be A Complete Bas**rd
Impossible Mission
Jet Set Willy II
Jetpac
Knight Lore
Knightmare
Knuckle Busters
Nightshade
Rebel
Starquake
Tau Ceti
Tempest
Throne Of Fire
Toy Bizarre
Trailblazer
Way Of The Exploding Fist
William Wobbler

And finally, Elite got in on the action, with much of its back catalogue appearing on Encore. Games were reissued from the likes Elite Systems/Hit-Pak/Cascade/Richard Wilcox/Durell/Software Projects/Image Works.

I think this list is correct, tell me if I'm wrong...

1942
3DC
Ace
Ace 2: The Ultimate Head To Head Conflict
Airwolf
Airwolf II
Batty
Beyond The Ice Palace
Blue Thunder
Bomb Jack
Bomb Jack II
Buggy Boy
Chain Reaction
Combat Lynx
Commando
Critical Mass
Deep Strike
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair II: Escape From Singe's Castle
Frank Bruno's Boxing
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Grand National
Great Gurianos
Harrier Attack!
Hopping Mad
Ikari Warriors
Kokotoni Wilf
Live And Let Die
Overlander
Paperboy
Passing Shot
Question Of Sport, A
Roller Coaster
Saboteur!
Saboteur II
Scooby-Doo
Sigma 7
Space Harrier
Super Trux
Thanatos
Thundercats
Turbo Esprit
Wanderer

I've discounted Mike Read's Pop Quiz and Spitfire, as these appear to be original releases on the label. In fact, I did do a poll on that!

Also, it's quite interesting that Firebird is the only software house that appeared on three of these reissue labels.

Anyway, feedback is welcome...

[toot_toot]

I’m sure that Mike Reid’s Pop Quiz was an original full price release, I remember borrowing it from the local library. But there seems to be no copies of it on eBay… weird.

There were also the brilliant Multimixx compilations on the Kixx label, the Gauntlet and Leaderboard ones were particularly good.

Personally, I always had more time for the Ricochet re-releases, the initial packaging made them a little bit different to the original releases, the print quality of the inlay was pretty decent and they were great value for £1.99. Plus I think everyone had to legally own a copy of the Ricochet re-release of Ghostbusters, right?

[PeteProdge]

I’m sure that Mike Reid’s Pop Quiz was an original full price release, I remember borrowing it from the local library. But there seems to be no copies of it on eBay… weird.

Ah yes, we did have a discussion on that a while back when scouring through Elite and Hit-Pak's original releases.

There were also the brilliant Multimixx compilations on the Kixx label, the Gauntlet and Leaderboard ones were particularly good.

Granted, they were good, but I aim for single standalone games in these polls, never compilations. (I mean, one could argue that Batman: The Caped Crusader and the Daley Thompson's efforts are kind of compilations... but hey, I count it as a complete game package.)

You also had the four They Sold A Million compilations that started back in 1985 from The Hit Squad, which is the very reason Ocean created that brand. These won't be counted either.

Personally, I always had more time for the Ricochet re-releases

Really? I personally think they're the poorest of the four labels I've presented here. Now yes, they had some Ultimate games and Jet Set Willy II, I will concede those are pretty awesome, but the bulk of their games are ancient tat or mediocre filler that would be more in place on a Crash covertape!

the initial packaging made them a little bit different to the original releases, the print quality of the inlay was pretty decent and they were great value for £1.99. Plus I think everyone had to legally own a copy of the Ricochet re-release of Ghostbusters, right?

Indeed, it is either THAT release of Ghostbusters, or Ocean's Robocop which could well be the UK's best-selling ZX Spectrum game. Hugely prolific, and I did buy the Ricochet release of Ghostbusters yet felt so underwhelmed by the actual game, it's just 'meh!' and I recently learned the concept was going to be an original Activision game about car modifications, which then got hastily retooled once they got the Ghostbusters license and felt they could 'weld' it onto this game.

[StooB]

bulk of their games are ancient tat

It's not a fair comparison. The Ricochet label was started a year before Kixx and Encore and two years before The Hit Squad so it's obviously going to have older games.

[PeteProdge]

bulk of their games are ancient tat

It's not a fair comparison. The Ricochet label was started a year before Kixx and Encore and two years before The Hit Squad so it's obviously going to have older games.

That is indeed true, and let's face it, Mastertronic had to acquire those full price games, whereas Elite, Ocean and US Gold were sitting on them. They were never interested in the budget market (I think it's in the Ocean or US Gold book where they state that they'd make a financial loss on selling a game for £1.99) until they saw how well it was taking off in the late 80s as a viable way of making a secondary profit on previous collateral.

[StooB]

Colosseum
Titanic
Silent Shadow
Stardust

are all Kixx originals.

and Summer Games was only previously released on a compilation, so not really a "re-release", or is it?

[PeteProdge]

Colosseum
Titanic
Silent Shadow
Stardust

are all Kixx originals.

Aaaah... well... they are Kixx originals from a UK perspective, but according to ZXDB, these games were definitely available for purchase under the Topo Soft brand in Spain. I see these as rereleases.

and Summer Games was only previously released on a compilation, so not really a "re-release", or is it?

Well, it did come out before, so I would argue it is a rerelease.

[StooB]

Colosseum
Titanic

are all Kixx originals.

Aaaah... well... they are Kixx originals from a UK perspective, but according to ZXDB, these games were definitely available for purchase under the Topo Soft brand in Spain. I see these as rereleases.

There's no evidence these two were actually released first by Toposoft. They are listed as appearing first on the "Erbe 88" compilation, but the 1988 release date for that seems very unlikely considering it also contains Operation Wolf which was released for Christmas 1988.

[PeteProdge]

Aaaah... well... they are Kixx originals from a UK perspective, but according to ZXDB, these games were definitely available for purchase under the Topo Soft brand in Spain. I see these as rereleases.

There's no evidence these two were actually released first by Toposoft. They are listed as appearing first on the "Erbe 88" compilation, but the 1988 release date for that seems very unlikely considering it also contains Operation Wolf which was released for Christmas 1988.

Point taken on these two, they'll be removed from the list as the poll goes live later today.

[toot_toot]

Colosseum
Titanic
Silent Shadow
Stardust

are all Kixx originals.

Aaaah... well... they are Kixx originals from a UK perspective, but according to ZXDB, these games were definitely available for purchase under the Topo Soft brand in Spain. I see these as rereleases.

and Summer Games was only previously released on a compilation, so not really a "re-release", or is it?

Well, it did come out before, so I would argue it is a rerelease.

AFAIK most of those Toposoft games were originally released in the UK on the full price Action Countdown compilation (on the Kixx label).They were subsequently re-released as Kixx individual releases. There were a couple that were truly original releases, Silent Shadow being one.

[PeteProdge]

Doing this again for December! (Well, alright, some of it will spill over into January 2023.)

Yes, it's where I let the rule against re-releases slide and go in on pure rereleases from labels that are mainly or fully dedicated to rereleases.

TRONIX [re-releases]

This label emerged as... well, it's a long story. Budget titans Mastertronic bought Melbourne House (mainly for rereleases!), then faced financial problems with efforts to break into coin-op gaming (Arcadia truly tanked) but at the same time had the astute observation that the Sega Master System had no UK distributor, so approached Sega to become that and ended up doing the same for France and Germany, with tremendous success. Virgin bought the whole operation and renamed it Virgin Mastertronic although kept the three brands going for a few years, but the Sega and full price sides of things became the focus. Budget titles? Well... alan-partridge-shrug.gif! Tronix was the final budget brand and dedicated to rereleases of recent full price games from Virgin Games and Melbourne House. You may note some influence from the Sega deal, as well as some Tecmo coin-op conversations. All heralded with in-yer-face scuzzy-futuristic-techno branding that wouldn't look out of place as artwork for Jesus Jones or 808 State.

Continental Circus
Double Dragon
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Gemini Wing
Golden Axe
Italia '90 - World Cup Soccer
Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Ninja Warriors, The
Shinobi
Silkworm
Viz - The Computer Game
Xenon

MASTERTRONIC [re-releases]

Literally the first game under the Mastertronic label was a rerelease (The Adventures Of St. Bernard from Carnell Software, a defunct label Mastertronic bought). Their best-selling Speccy game was also a rerelease (Formula One Simulator).

Adventures Of St. Bernard, The
Apollo 11
Bullseye (formerly Darts)
Camelot Warriors
Chuckman
Cid, El
Formula One Simulator
Gnasher
Hundra
Kentilla
Legend Of The Amazon Women
Nonamed
Quest For The Golden Eggcup
Quest For The Holy Grail, The
Sailing
Sky Ranger
Spectipede
Stop Ball
Tank Trax
Video Olympics (formerly Video Olimpic)
Wizard's Warriors, The
Xcel

MASTERTRONIC ADDED DIMENSION [re-releases]

The 'premium budget' label from Mastertronic carried three rereleases. See if you can spot the really really huge famous Speccy game in this list, it's quite subtle!:

Action Force
Delta Wing
Manic Miner

MASTERTRONIC PLUS [re-releases]

Quite a bit from Virgin and Melbourne House of course (some resurfacing on Tronix), plus stuff from the likes of Activision.

Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing
Continental Circus
Double Dragon
Enterprise
Fighting Warrior
Fist II: The Legend Continues
Gemini Wing
Jonah Barrington's Squash
Leviathan
Rescue On Fractalus!
Shinobi
Silkworm
Street Hassle
Tetris
Xenon
Yes, Prime Minister

MASTERVISION [re-releases]

Three games from Mastertronic's first software house purchase (Carnell Software) and there's Journey's End from Games Workshop.

Black Crystal
Journey's End
Volcanic Dungeon
Wrath Of Magra, The

First poll should start on Sun 4th Dec with the Tronix stuff. As usual, alert me in this thread if there are any mistakes/omissions in my lists! Thanks!

[PeteProdge]

As next Sunday will be December and I want to turn the 'best Speccy game by...' polls into something away from the norm, I'm trying to think of more re-release brands (or brands that occasionally put out re-releases) in the budget price bracket to cover. It's what I tend to do in December - break the rules to cover only re-releases.

We've done:

Ricochet
The Hit Squad
Kixx
Encore
GBH
Tronix
Mastertronic
Mastertronic Added Dimension
Mastertronic Plus
Mastervision

The only one I can think of that's untouched is Alternative Software, but I think there might be a few more.

And yeah, there'll come a point where they'll be all exhausted and I'll have to think of a different twist on the 'rules'. But if you can suggest any more, that'll be great!

[stupidget]

Good luck with all the screenshots for this list. Your patience threshold is far higher than mine, I'd give up after about 4.

[PeteProdge]

Good luck with all the screenshots for this list. Your patience threshold is far higher than mine, I'd give up after about 4.

It's become muscle memory by this point. A few phpBB tags stored as cut-and-paste and away I go into a Sublime Text tab and get on with it.

I know I could probably go back to my PHP days and write a script with judicious use of the cURL command to scrape the results and generate the appropriate phpBB mark-up/data to paste in, just never got round to it. (And there might be anti-scrape scripts placed on this site, for which I don't blame the webmaster(s).)

[Nick]

There's 2.99 Classics, which was another Elite imprint. There was also Summit, an offshoot of Alternative.