Last Updated 5th May 2019
The BBC Games Archive - digital memories
Acornsoft
Probably the original BBC Software company, this was a software arm of Acorn itself. In my mind, and many others, it is recognised as one of the best. It was particularly good at converting the arcade games of the time (Asteroids, Space Invaders, etc) and it also did a few text adventures which were also good. It is probably best known for the discovery of Elite, and Revs, Geoff Crammonds' first in a long line of succesful racing games.
Superior Software eventually came in and bought the whole of Acornsoft's back catalogue in 1986 and from then on some of the games were re-released on the Play It Again Sam, and Acornsoft Hits collections. After five years in the ring it was still the unbeaten champion, and you can imagine why, Acorn had all the knowledge about the beeb, everything which it was capable of, and how to do it in the best way possible, which is why most of their games are extremely well programmed.
Acornsoft also produced a lot of software on ROM, not to mention business and educational packages.
Please contact me if you have any additional information about the company or its games!
Revs
Released:
Author: Geoff Crammond
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The second biggest classic (after Elite) of Acornsoft. This is a really accurate simulation of Formula 3, and was written by Geoff Crammond, the writer of F1GP for the PC. This is really excellently done, considering how much detail there is. One of the best things about the game is that it is ultra-realistic, the way the car handles is suberb, just like (I imagine) the real thing. Skids, spins and crashes with other cars are all included.It has great graphics, a good feeling of speed, and is bloody difficult!
Revs 4 Tracks
Released:
Author: Geoff Crammond
Play
4 extra tracks for the game above, which really make it a long lasting game, and it provides a bit of variation from the Silverstone track that comes with the original game. The new tracks in this version are Donington Park, Snetterton, Oulton Park and Brands Hatch.
Rocket Raid
Released: 1982
Author: Jonathan Griffiths
Play
A pretty boring game this one. You are in a littl rocket, going from left to right across the screen, and have to blow up the communication bases and rockets that the enemy launch. It is really boring at first, but then does get more interesting. For some reason the collision detection is not up to Acornsoft's normal standard.
Sliding-Block Puzzles
Released:
Author: Unknown
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Should really be called Sliding-Block Puzzle because this is really only one puzzle (the mixed up squares which make part of a picture puzzle) but there are six different pictures which can be used to play it. Its quite hard, just like the real puzzles, although quite why there is the need for such a game on a computer is not really known. The graphics are quite good and it makes the right sliding sounds so its quite a competent little game really.
Snapper
Released: 1982
Author: Jonathan Griffiths
Play
This is one of the most loved games ever, it is another perfect coversion by Acornsoft, this time of the well-known Pac-Man, and includes all the features. The reasons there are so many versions is because originally Acornsoft used the Pac-Man character as it is in the original Arcade machine, but they were sued, and had to change it to the Snapper character (one with a hat, and he had legs.) It didn't detract from the perfectly done gameplay, eating the dots and grabbing power pills to chase the badies with!
Snooker
Released:
Author: Kevin Reid
Play
A pretty good snooker game, but for some reason it goes doo-lally on my Beeb, although it worked perefectly on the Torch Machine I had before. It is a good game, for one player only, and the way the balls move are suprisingly realistic. All the action is viewed from overhead, and the graphics are good, not that snooker is very graphically detailed anyway!
Sphinx Adventure
Released: 1982
Author: Unknown
Play
In my view this is the worst text adventure that Acornsoft ever did. It is very monotonous, the playing field is too large, with too many mazes, and not enough objects and puzzles. Probably the main thing that makes it boring is the way that there is hardly any description in the text, few rooms with good descriptions would make it a much better game, it certainly packs in a large amount of code.
Spooky Manor
Released:
Author: Unknown
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Play
No Info Yet.
Squeeze
Released:
Author: Unknown
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Play
No Info Yet.
Starship Command
Released: 1982
Author: Peter Irvin
Play
A great game this one. You are in a little ship (looking much like USS Enterprise in the later levels) and have to shoot up all the little aliens in their ships. To hinder you, some of the ships have high powered lasers, and can go invisible at any time! It is played from top down, in a high res, black and white mode. Supremely fast, and has a eject the pod sound!
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