Last Updated 5th May 2019
The BBC Games Archive - digital memories
Last Updated 5th May 2019
The biggest Software produce/publisher for the BBC ever. In fact it is still going to this day, making it the only actively supporting BBC software house. It still sells titles, but no longer develops any. The company is now being run by Steve Hanson. In the early 80's it released bundles of classics, and every game seemed to be a good one. It has probably developed more games that most other publishers have today. It acquired Acornsoft in the late 80's, and gained the rights to sell their games, but now it seems that Acorn have bought the name back again. It has produced loads of individual titles, as well as 18 Play It Again Sam Compilations, 2 Acornsoft Hits Compilations, and 2 Superior Software compilations.
Please contact me if you have any additional information about the company or its games!
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Author: Unknown
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The modern classic town building game - this is purely amazing that they managed to fit this colossal game into 32k! You play the town planner, and have to manage a whole city, watching it grow and dealing with problems such as natural disasters, pollution, crime and others. It is massive and can be played for hours without boredom!
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Author: Unknown
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This one really reminds me of Acornsoft Firebug, but this time you are a thief, and have to collect all of the money which is pouring out of the bank which you have just broken into. Once you have collected a certain amount of money, you advance to the next level. Of course it is not that easy, you have to dodge the policeman who chases you, as well as a range of other obstacles - including flying cones!
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Author: Unknown
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This is one of the most annoying games ever - it doesn't work on a BBC B, but does on a Master, strange considering that it was written before the Master was designed! You fly along in your ship, blasting the aliens, and shooting the fuel dumps to gain fuel for your ship. The graphics are good, and so is the sound, but this is not a very detailed game as it was one of their earliest.
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Author: Unknown
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One of my favourites, this puts you in control of an advanced time travelling plane, you have to shoot down planes, and then shoot down the big boss plane. You advance through time-themed levels, 1914, 1942, 1985, 2000, it is great fun, and also suprisingly hard on the latter levels. The graphics are nice and small, allowing you to see a large playing area.
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Author: Unknown
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Another great graphics adventure from Superior, this time you are a wizard, hoping to make spells to defeat the evil ruler of earth. You have to find the ingredients to spells, and cast them in the correct places, in order to negotiate puzzles and obstacles. It is a huge game, with lovely graphics, all in high-res. The gameplay is good, but what would have been nice was a save game feature, as it takes a long time to get into, but only a short time to die!
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Author: Unknown
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A nice enjoyable shoot-em-up, you are actually inside the plane, and have to shoot as many of the invading Luftwaffe planes as you can before they shoot your plane out of the sky. The graphics are very simple low-resolution ones, but it is quite a good game, although the noise of the guns gets very annoying!
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Author: Unknown
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A parody of basically every Spy game/film ever, this is a great to play arcade adventure. You are Spycat and have just been fired from MI4.5, you have to get your revenge by releasing the secret documents. The graphics and animation are some of the best I've seen, and with a main enemy called Clive Amstrad, who can resist a play of this game?!
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Author: Unknown
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Simple game for two players, you are each in command of a space ship (think the one out of Meteors) and you have to destroy each other. You have to successfully hit your opponent 20 times before he dies. Entertaining, if rather one-dimensional.
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Author: Unknown
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A nice graphical game, sort of an arcade adventure, you have to find the five medical cases, and bring them to the top of the starport, where you can lift off in your space shuttle. You have to fight against the manic robots, and the many puzzles which require completion. It is great fun, and will last for ages, it has some great sound effects too. Only available on PIAS14.
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Author: Unknown
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A simple game, this is a space invaders variant, you have to defeat several different types of invader, then after a few levels dock with the rest of the command ship to gain points, and an extra piece of the ship, which enables you to fire more bullets at once. It has good graphics, yet simple, it was one of the early releases, but definitly a good one.
(C)2009 C. Boylan