Classic Replay

The Oliver Twins just dropped in to say hi and answer a few questions. It's about time as well, now they can take their rightful place as CPC Legends! Here's what they had to say for themselves: What was your first experience of tech? OT) Wow... long time ago... PO) I remember at Junior school, must have been about ’77 seeing someone with a RED LED digital watch. You had to push the button for the RED LED to show. AO) About a year later we got a Merlin. PO) Our Friend Ivan, gave us access to his Dad’s Apple II in about 1980 – and we got absolutely addicted to games like Tax-Man & Zork & Night Mission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(game) AO) For Christmas ’80 our parents bought us a Binatone TV Game console, which played variations on Pong. PO) but we got our first computer, a ZX81 in late 1981 when our brother bought a second hand one and put it under the family TV. share something about the Amstrad CPC, nobody else knows? OT) um... ...

Part one of a chronological view of the consoles and games I've played over the years. Please click on video below... 

The RAF had an insane idea, instead of taking off horizontally (creatively speaking that is) why not take off vertically? Early testing involved eight Kestrel aircraft, (the prototype and forerunner of the Harrier Jump Jet) testing involved taking off from unprepared fields and woodlands. The results proved the concept worked, and in the late 1960’s, the RAF placed the Harrier into active service. Although the RAF have long since taken the Harrier out of service, today; the US marine corps continue to use its services and will continue to do so well into 2030! This was one of the first side-scrolling games for the CPC, it was released a year earlier on the Speccy and received favourable reviews. I suppose most people today will think that Harrier Attack belongs and should stay in the scrap yard, but back in eighty-four, not only was it my favourite aircraft, it fast became my favourite game and only aviation medicine. There's no flying skills needed, the manual rests in you...

I'm old enough to remember when the Amstrad CPC was first launched, at a time I'd just joined a primary school and hadn't the slightest hope of ever owning one, however much I may have wanted to. But a house move in 1984 provided my father with the size of garage that allowed him some extra cash, by tinkering with and repairing old cars. That Christmas I opened my Presents, and there she stood, the Amstrad CPC 464 Colour Personal Computer, so here I am telling this tale. The CPC looked a thing of beauty, came with plenty of oomph, more than enough to keep up with the ZX Speccy and C64; the operating system was really good and the screen, whilst certainly heavier than a modern monitor, took very little time to setup and get used to. While I was getting on with reading the manual, I tried to load my first ever CPC game, but everything I tried wouldn't work, the cassette player just wouldn't start. I was convinced the computer needed some attention. With previous...

In the hot seat this month is 8-bit legend Jim Bagley. He's the main man and sole programmer responsible for many classic games on the Speccy and CPC. He was behind the fantastic Batman: The Caped Crusader, Cabel, Midnight Resistance and the massively addictive adventure, Hudson Hawk! But all these were nothing compared to what Jim considers his greatest achievement... Read on!   I played Batman the Caped Crusader to death? Glad it was good enough to keep you playing, I enjoyed making it. and Hudson Hawk was a great game, Yeah, shame the movie was a flop, I really loved the game also, it was fun to make as well! Amstrad Action awarded it a MasterGame! You must of been really proud? Yeah, I was, especially considering the slating the movie got, it was like we were off to a bad start I guess the only way was up lol. I loved Midnight Resistance, although a tad slow, played like a dream back in the day? Thanks :D yeah it was a bit slow on CPC unfortunately, but it was p...

CPC Legend - Jas Austin Interview: If the thought of attribute clash or MODE 0 warms your cockles, you'll love this interview with CPC and all-round ZX Speccy legend Jas Austin. To help jog the memory, Jas coded the wonderful Amstrad and Speccy versions of a lot of classic games, including Altered Beast on the Speccy, Nemesis the Warlock, War, Slaine and the futuristic bullet hell shooter, REX (CRASH awarded 82%)! He also programmed Alien 3 and the excellent R-Type on the GameBoy. So Mr Anderson, how on gods green earth was Rex even possible on the humble Speccy? HaHa! Mr Anderson indeed... Damn rumbled. Our previous game for Martech hadn't done particularly well commercially. So for Rex, we decided to re-invent ourselves with fake names and a new company 'The Light' We even invented a back story... That we were all ex IBM employees and wrote the game in a matter of weeks. Of course, all a complete pack of lies. Yes, Rex did have a lot going on... I've a...

Jet Set Radio Cel-shaded, psychedelic, roller blading graffiti action. Sega at their best! Countdown: 100 - Jet Set Radio - Dreamcast Join our blog for more...