Killapede
(Players, 1986)
As you might have guessed, this is a clone of the classic game Centipede, where you have to shoot all the segments of a centipede that travels left and right across the screen. This version is no different, although there is more than just the centipede to contend with – you have to avoid spiders and other nasty insects that also flit about the screen, and if you take too long, the ghost will get you! I think this game has dated a lot, and the digitised speech that has been added isn’t enough to impress me.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
Novabug,
The Oliver Twins.
Can you stop a murder before it occurs? Well, you can at least try in this rather neat murder mystery game in which one of a group of authors is intent on getting rid of another member. You have a few tricks of the detective trade to use. You have access to background files, surveillance techniques (listen in and record conversations) and the ability to break into rooms to search for clues (you’ll need to brush up on your trivia knowledge to gain access). You can question your chosen subject and monitor their reactions to questioning before making an accusation. The game has some really nice cartoon graphics, a good sense of humour and it’s got replayability as well, which makes it worth investigating.
Killer Cobra
(Mastertronic, 1987)
This is based on the classic arcade game Scramble, in which you flew a spacecraft through mountains and caverns while shooting missiles and bombing targets on the ground. Here, though, the spacecraft is replaced by a helicopter. The action is fast and furious, and the game scrolls very fast indeed; there’s no time at all to relax! By the time you get to the third section, things become really tough indeed. There are three difficulty levels which range from difficult to impossible, but with practice, you should be able to master the first two sections. The graphics are fairly basic, but it is meant to stay faithful to the original, and the sound effects aren’t too bad.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Xyphoe.
Killer Gorilla
(Micro Power, 1984)
The lovely princess has been captured by the nasty gorilla and you have to rescue her by climbing ladders, walking along platforms, and avoiding the barrels that the gorilla throws at you. Er, this is Donkey Kong, isn’t it? That’s absolutely correct, although it’s not particularly good. There are only four levels, and when you’ve completed them, you go back to the first one. The fireballs that roam each level are more unpredictable than the barrels and tend to get in your way a lot. The graphics are really basic and so are the sound effects, although the music that is played on the “how high can you try?” sequence is delightful!
Killer Ring
(Reaktör, 1987)
I’m sure I’ve seen this one before... oh, I know! It’s a Galaxian clone, isn’t it? The only new thing that has been added are that if you play on the difficult mode, there’s a force field that scrolls vertically and prevents you from shooting through it. There are only six waves of aliens before you face the Supreme Starfighter, who you must kill by first blasting through his spaceship, and then aiming at his heart. After that, the game restarts. The graphics do their job and the music is pretty good, but it’s too easy.
Killerball
(Microïds, 1991)
Killerball is a futuristic sport where two teams consisting of five players skate around a circular ice rink and try to score goals by pushing the ball into a small hole in the wall. It’s a rather violent game, as the only way to get the ball is to knock the player holding it to the ground. You can play either a computer or a friend and take part in any of three leagues. The graphics and animation are marvellous, as is the tune, but playing against the computer is very frustrating indeed as it’s rather difficult to score goals, and of course the computer gets it right every time.
KimoHiyoko
(sararyCow, 2018)
In the 31st century, chickens and machines have collaborated to use nanotechnology to develop a tiny robot that can enter the body of a chicken, search for infections and administer an antidote. You control one of these robots, and you have to explore the body and retrieve samples in order to develop the antidote. When you’re getting close to a sample, you will hear the chicken’s heartbeat increasing. Well, the plot is outlandish, and the graphics are just as psychedelic – vivid, garish shades of pink, green and yellow. Playing the game isn’t such a wonderful experience, though. It takes over three seconds to scroll between rooms, which totally marred my enjoyment of the game, and despite the brightly coloured graphics, I found the gameplay to be rather dull with not much to do.
Kinetik
(Firebird, 1987)
Here’s a most unusual game in which you explore a landscape of more than 40 screens in your spherical ship, trying to find three different objects. The reason why it’s unusual is that there are all sorts of strange gravitational effects which make your ship very tricky to control; each screen has a different effect and you’ll need to work out how to battle against the effect. When you have collected the three objects in the right order, normal gravity will be restored. The graphics are rather Spectrum-like, although some clever tricks allow more than the usual number of colours on the screen at the same time. However, I found that controlling the ship was just too frustrating to make the game enjoyable.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
XeNoMoRPH.
King Leonard
(Mind Games España, 1986)
While King Leonard was a long trip away from his kingdom, his iniquitous brother Ataulfo stole his treasure, hid it within the castle, and left it guarded by various enchanted beings. You control King Leonard, having returned from his trip, and you must make your way through the castle while avoiding touching any of the many enemies. From the moment the game begins, you know it’s an ugly Spectrum port, as the control selection menu refers to ‘Kempston’ (a joystick interface for the ZX Spectrum) rather than ‘joystick’. The tune on the menu is grating and the gameplay offers nothing that hasn’t been seen before, with some of the enemies requiring nearly pixel-perfect jumping to get past them.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Amstrad CPC World.
Kingdom of Speldome
(Tynesoft/Artic Computing)
You are Prince Falstaff, and you have been tasked with retrieving the Sword of Battles. However, that is only the beginning of your mission, and you will need to travel through the Kingdom of Speldome (also spelt Spelldome), search for other objects, and give them to the beings who are looking for them. That’s really all there is to this text adventure, which was created using GAC. If you encounter someone and you have the correct item, it is taken from you and you can continue; if you don’t have it, you will be killed and the game ends. There are pictures to accompany the majority of locations, which are fairly good by the standards of GAC, but there isn’t much variety in the locations, and the lack of any puzzles worthy of the name means that it’s really only suitable for people who have little experience of playing text adventures.