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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A huge adventure game, in the same graphical style as Pipeline. You have to infiltrate Castle Ravenskull, collecting all the treasure, whilst getting through loads of extremely fiendish puzzles. Definitly one of the best Superior has ever done, it has great graphics, and a really good musical score. It is also hard, like Pipeline, and will keep you going for ages.
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Author: Unknown
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Probably THE most famous game ever done by Superior, it was the Super Mario of the BBC world, this is an all-time classic. You play the part of Repton, the humanised reptile, with a zest for life, and probably (by now) one hell of a diamond collection. The idea is simple, collect all the diamonds, avoiding the rocks, and dodging the evil monsters which hatch from eggs. One of my all-time favourites. Snap up a copy if you see one!
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Author: Unknown
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The sequel, and in my opinion the weakest, Repton game. This one drops the multi-level shinangans of the first games, and has one massive level, you have to collect all the pieces of letters, AND collect all the diamonds, and eat up all the soil pieces. This is just too hard, and has too many objectives, which makes it not as good as the other games in the series.
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Author: Unknown
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Superior hit back with an excellent second sequel, incorporating a really good idea, a level designer. This is even larger than Repton 1, and has a return to the standard level based format of the original. It has all the classic things, and some redesigned graphics, and more puzzles than ever before. Definitly one for the collection, strangely though, it is written by different people to Repton 1.
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Author: Unknown
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The last of the Repton games, this combines 4 new repton games and a designer. It is quite good, and the levels that have been designed are new and exiting. The game comes with loads of designs of new levels, and it is great fun if you love Repton, but newcomers should play through the original games first.
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Author: Unknown
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Another installment in the Repton saga, this time the last. You play Repton in a challenging series of levels, through the different time periods, from prehistoric, to future. I really like this game, it is perhaps my favourite out of the pre-Repton 3 games, it is a shame he never made a come back!
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Author: Unknown
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This is a really original game, you have to guide Sprat, the amazingly bouncy character around the levels. It is an arcade adventure, you have to recover the five hourglasses of time, and restore them to Denzil, the rightful owner of the kingdom, who has been overthrown by the evil madman whose name I forget! It is a great game, particularly how you have to make Sprat jump up and down to traverse the levels. This was their last great Arcade adventure before the Beeb market faded out of existence.
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Author: Unknown
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A great little game, it is a sort of maze game, except set in a Racing Car, you have to drive around, collecting as many flags as possible, whilst the other four cars follow you, trying to catch up with you and stop you. You can use smoke screens to block the other cars movements, and it is generally a good fun game. The graphics are great for the period it was made in, and the gameplay is nice and original.
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Author: Unknown
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The basic aim of this game is to save yourself from the Mutants and Robots, by dropping rocks on them. All you have to do is run around the maze, with your rocks, and drop them. The maze is drawn simply with a sort of grid, and the monsters run around it. You can only move a certain amount before you die. It is not a very good game, but at least it is quite original.
(C)2009 C. Boylan