1.
Superior Software
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Superior Software Ltd is a video game publisher. It was one of the publishers for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in the 1980s. It currently releases games for Microsoft Windows, mostly updates of its original games, Superior Software was established in 1982 by Richard Hanson and John Dyson, two graduates of the University of Leeds, England. They had previously programmed software published by Micro Power, and they wrote Superiors first four-game releases for the BBC Micro, £100 was the most money that we would lose from the Superior Software venture if it had not worked out. Anyway we received a good response to our first advertisement. We started to place advertisements in a few magazines, and invited other programmers to send their software to us for evaluation. Superior mostly focused on the machines of Acorn Computers Ltd, but also attempts to enter the market of other platforms including the Oric-1. Key management personnel have included Steve Botterill, Chris Payne and Steve Hanson and their most well-known games are the Repton series of games, which sold over 125,000 units for the Acorn computers. They also published the seminal Zarch for the Acorn Archimedes, as well as follow-up games using the engine, Conqueror. Superior also published a number of educational and utility software including the speech synthesis program Speech. The Play It Again Sam series of compilations were used to re-release their old titles and they were also used to release new games that were thought not quite up to the standard of their full price games. The series eventually ran to 18 on the BBC Micro, though the latest ones were released on disc only, well into the demise of the 8-bit scene, and very few copies were sold. This includes the original three Repton games as well as Repton Spectacular, featuring new levels, and iRepton for the iPhone. As well as new versions of the Repton games, Superior Interactive has published re-releases called Galaforce Worlds, Ravenskull, Pipeline Plus, Ricochet, category, Superior Software games Acornsoft Superior Interactive website Superior Interactive profile from MobyGames
2.
Acornsoft
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Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. David Johnson-Davies was Managing Director and in early 1981 was joined by Tim Dobson, Programmer and Chris Jordan, Acornsoft ceased to operate as a separate company upon the departure of David Johnson-Davies in January 1986. Past this date, Acorn Computers used the Acornsoft name on office software it released in the VIEW family for the BBC Master series. In 1986 Superior Software was granted a licence to publish some Acornsoft games and rereleased many, individually and as such as the Play It Again Sam. By agreement, the Acornsoft name was used on the packaging of some of the subsequent Superior games. Superior chose not to take on Acornsofts text adventure games, most of which were released in updated versions by Topologika along with some sequels from the same authors, Acornsoft titles extended their consistent branding to the softwares loading screens. Acheton – A text adventure Arcadians – A Galaxian clone Aviator – A Spitfire flight simulator, all games were compatible with the BBC Micro Model B. Games followed by Model A & B were compatible with both machines. Games followed by Electron were also released separately for the Acorn Electron, Games are listed by their catalogue numbers which are roughly the order of release of the BBC versions. Acornsoft produced a range of educational titles aimed at many different age groups. These included Podd (find out which actions a red blobby character can perform, Squeeze and these titles were part of the Acornsoft catalogue but used a different code. They ran on both the BBC Micro Model B and Acorn Electron, the Ivan Berg Software range was also mainly educational but had its own distinct code. This included the 6 Grandmaster Quizzes, relationship aids. I Do Your Guide to a Happy Marriage and The Dating Game and GCE/CSE revision guides. Acornsoft also distributed other ranges of educational programs developed by such as ICL, Good Housekeeping and Bourne. Acornsoft produced a range of software for home and business use. View Professional was a combined wordprocessor, spreadsheet and database similar to PipeDream on the Z88, the X. code was then used for other types of software. Acornsoft information and list of games – At The BBC Games Archive
3.
Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs can run. For example, an OS may be a platform that abstracts the underlying differences in hardware, platforms may also include, Hardware alone, in the case of small embedded systems. Embedded systems can access hardware directly, without an OS, this is referred to as running on bare metal, a browser in the case of web-based software. The browser itself runs on a platform, but this is not relevant to software running within the browser. An application, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, which hosts software written in a scripting language. This can be extended to writing fully-fledged applications with the Microsoft Office suite as a platform, software frameworks that provide ready-made functionality. Cloud computing and Platform as a Service, the social networking sites Twitter and facebook are also considered development platforms. A virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine, applications are compiled into a format similar to machine code, known as bytecode, which is then executed by the VM. A virtualized version of a system, including virtualized hardware, OS, software. These allow, for instance, a typical Windows program to run on what is physically a Mac, some architectures have multiple layers, with each layer acting as a platform to the one above it. In general, a component only has to be adapted to the layer immediately beneath it, however, the JVM, the layer beneath the application, does have to be built separately for each OS
4.
Acorn Electron
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The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC v2 along with its operating system, the Electron was able to save and load programs onto audio cassette via a supplied converter cable that connected it to any standard tape recorder that had the correct sockets. It was capable of graphics, and could display onto either a television set. For a short period, the Electron was reportedly the best selling micro in the United Kingdom, after Acorn Computer released the BBC Micro, executives believed that the company needed a less-expensive computer for the mass market. In June 1982, cofounder Hermann Hauser was asked about the recently announced £175 Sinclair ZX Spectrums potential to hurt sales of the BBC Micro, Acorns Chris Curry stated that the Electron is designed to compete with the Spectrum. The idea is to get the price very low. The company reduced the number of chips in the Electron by 90% from the BBC Micros about 100, problems with the ULA delayed the Electron, however, and Acorn repeatedly missed deadlines to ship the computer. The company expected to ship the Electron before Christmas, and sell 100,000 by February 1984, reviews were generally favorable, noting its excellent graphics compared to the Commodore 64. The reduced processor speed was attributable to the use of a 4 bit wide memory system instead of the 8 bit wide memory system of the BBC Micro to reduce cost. The Electron used just 4 64kbit RAM devices instead of the 16 16kbit RAM devices deployed on the BBC Model B, in the BBC Micro, the RAM ran at 2x the speed of the CPU allowing the video and CPU memory access to be cleverly interleaved. On the Electron two accesses had to be made to get an 8 bit word, meaning that the CPU was unable to access its RAM while screen refresh accesses were happening and this reduced the effective CPU speed by as much as a factor of 6. At the same time the BBC Micro B+ was being developed just metres away in the same Laboratory and this model used 8 64kbit RAMs enabling the screen memory to be overlayed with the BASIC and OS ROMs in the processor memory map. This allowed the full 32k byte program RAM to be used in addition to using a 20kbyte memory mapped screen, had this memory topology also been used in the Electron it is likely that it would have been the Spectrum Killer that it set out to be. The ULA continued to cause problems, delaying large-scale manufacturing, by October 1983 Acorn had received orders for more than 150,000 units, and expected to produce 25,000 a month before Christmas, the existing backlog would take more than six months to fulfill. Demand for the Electron was high but only two of WH Smiths London branches had inventory, Acorns Christmas 1984 sales were greatly below expectations and in January 1985 the company reduced the Electrons price to £129. In conjunction with an expansion into the United States, by February Acorns market capitalization declined 85% from the previous year. Olivetti acquired the company later that year and Dixons Retail acquired the remaining Electron inventory for less than manufacturing cost, with hindsight, the machine lacked the RAM and processing power to take on the prevailing Spectrum and Commodore 64. While it may not have been as popular as the Spectrum, Commodore 64 or Amstrad CPC and this meant the Electron had a lifespan not much shorter than those more popular micros and much longer than competitors such as the Oric-1 and Dragon 32
5.
BBC Micro
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Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability, and the quality of its operating system. An accompanying 1982 television series The Computer Programme featuring Chris Serle learning to use the machine was also broadcast on BBC2, renamed the BBC Micro, the system was adopted by most schools in the United Kingdom, changing Acorns fortunes. It was also successful as a home computer in the UK despite its high cost. Acorn also employed the machine to simulate and develop the ARM architecture which, many later, has become hugely successful for embedded systems, including tablets. In 2013 ARM was the most widely used 32-bit instruction set architecture, during the early 1980s, the BBC started what became known as the BBC Computer Literacy Project. The BBC wanted to base its project on a microcomputer capable of performing tasks which they could then demonstrate in the TV series The Computer Programme. The list of topics included programming, graphics, sound and music, teletext, controlling external hardware, the Acorn team had already been working on a successor to their existing Atom microcomputer. Known as the Proton, it included better graphics and a faster 2 MHz MOS Technology 6502 central processing unit. The machine was only at the stage at the time. The team worked through the night to get a working Proton together to show the BBC, not only was the Acorn Proton the only machine to match the BBCs specification, it also exceeded it in nearly every parameter. Based on the Proton prototype the BBC signed a contract with Acorn as early as February 1981, by June the BBC Micros specifications and pricing were decided. The machine was released as the BBC Microcomputer on 1 December 1981, BYTE called the BBC Micro Model B a no-compromise computer that has many uses beyond self-instruction in computer technology. In terms of versatility and expansion capability, as with Sinclairs ZX Spectrum and Commodores Commodore 64, both released later in 1982, demand greatly exceeded supply. For some months, there were long delays before customers received the machines they had ordered, efforts were made to market the machine in the United States and West Germany. By October 1983, the US operation reported that American schools had placed orders with it totalling $21 million. In October 1984, while preparing a major expansion of its US dealer network, Acorn claimed sales of 85 per cent of the computers in British schools and that December, Acorn stated its intention to become the market leader in US educational computing. The New York Times considered the inclusion of local area networking to be of importance to teachers. The operation resulted in advertisements by at least one dealer in Interface Age magazine, Acorn became more known for its model B computer than for its other products
6.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
7.
Racing video game
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They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings. In general, they can be distributed along a spectrum anywhere between hardcore simulations, and simpler arcade racing games, Racing games may also fall under the category of sports games. In 1973, Ataris Space Race was an arcade video game where players controlled spaceships that race against opposing ships, while avoiding comets. It was a competitive two-player game controlled using a two-way joystick, the same year, Taito released a similar space-themed racing video game Astro Race, which used an early four-way joystick. The following year, Taito released Speed Race, an early driving racing game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado and it also featured an early racing wheel controller interface with an accelerator, gear shift, speedometer and tachometer. It could be played in either single-player or alternating two-player, where each player attempts to beat the others score, the game was re-branded as Wheels by Midway Games for release in the United States and was influential on later racing games. That same year, Sega released Moto-Cross, an early motorbike racing game, based on the motocross competition. Also known as Man T. T. Sega re-branded the game as Fonz, the game also introduced the use of haptic feedback, which caused the motorcycle handlebars to vibrate during a collision with another vehicle. Road Champion, released by Taito in 1978, was an overhead-view timed car racing game where players try to race ahead of the opposing cars and cross the finish line first to become the winner. In 1979, Segas Head On was a game that played like a maze chase game and is thus considered a precursor to the 1980 hit Pac-Man. Monaco GP, released by Sega in 1979, improved upon previous overhead-view racing games with a scrolling view. It also featured an early example of a radar, to show the cars location on the map. Turbo, released by Sega in 1981, was the first racing game to feature a third-person perspective and it was also the first racing game to use sprite scaling with full-color graphics. The most influential racing game was released in 1982, Pole Position, developed by Namco and published by Atari in North America. It was the first game to be based on a racing circuit, and the first to feature a qualifying lap. While not the first third-person racing game, Pole Position established the conventions of the genre, tX-1, developed by Tatsumi in 1983, was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari in America, thus the game is considered a successor to Pole Position II. It also introduced nonlinear gameplay by allowing players to choose which path to drive through after each checkpoint, if the fuel runs out, the game would end. An early attempt at creating a driving simulator was Tomys Turnin Turbo Dashboard
8.
Motorcycle racing
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Motorcycle racing is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major genres include road racing and off road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing, other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and land speed record trials. The FIM classifies motorcycle racing in the four main categories. Each category has several sub categories, Road racing is the sport of racing motorcycles on hard surfaces resembling roads, usually paved with tarmac. Races can take place either on purpose-built racing circuits or on closed public roads, historically, road racing meant a course on closed public road. This was once commonplace but currently only a few such circuits have survived, races take place on publics roads which have been temporarily closed to the public by legal orders from the local legislature. Two championships exist, the first is the International Road Racing Championship, the latter accounts for the majority of road races that take place each season, with an award for the highest placed rider. Prominent road races include the Isle of Man TT, North West 200, ireland has many road racing circuits still in use. Other countries with road races are the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Grand Prix motorcycle racing refers to the premier category of motorcycle road racing. This class is restricted by rider age, with an upper limit of 25 for newly signed riders and wild card entries. Moto2, Introduced by Dorna Sports, the rights holder of the competition. Prior to that season, the class was 250 cc with two-stroke engines. Moto2 races in the 2010 season allowed both engine types, from 2011 on, only the four-stroke Moto2 machines were allowed, motoGP, is the current term for the highest class of GP racing. The class was contested with prototype machines with varying displacement and engine type over the years, originally contested by large displacement four stroke machines in the early years it eventually switched to 500 cc two strokes. In 2002990 cc four-stroke bikes were allowed to compete alongside the 500 cc two strokes and then replaced them in 2003. 2007 saw a reduction to 800 cc four stroke engines to slow things down a bit before finally settling on 1000 cc four strokes in 2012. Grand prix motorcycles are prototype machines not based on any production motorcycle, superbike racing is the category of motorcycle road racing that employs modified production motorcycles. Superbike racing motorcycles must have four engines of between 800 cc and 1200 cc for twins, and between 750 cc and 1000 cc for four cylinder machines
9.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used
10.
BBC Master
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The BBC Master is a home computer released by Acorn Computers in early 1986. It was designed and built for the British Broadcasting Corporation and was the successor to the BBC Micro Model B, the Master 128 remained in production until 1993. The Master featured several improvements on its predecessor and these were physically identical to those used by the Acorn Electron Plus 1 interface, but with enhanced electrical characteristics for some of the cartridge connector pins. The improved version of BBC Basic was named Basic4, although the Master was intended to be compatible with legally written software for the older models, there were some problems running older programs, particularly games. Conversely, although few programs were targeted specifically at Master series machines. The Master was available in different models. This was the standard issue computer, the 128 in the name referred to its 128 KB of RAM, though it also featured 128 KB ROM. This was a Master with 4 MHz 65C102 coprocessor card, the Master AIV was essentially a Master Turbo model with a SCSI interface and a VFS ROM added, and formed the basis of the BBC Domesday System. The ET system was designed for use in a network and as such had no interfaces except RGB and Composite video, plus an Econet interface module and it used the same main circuit board as the Master 128, but the components for missing interfaces were simply not fitted. The internal ROM also contained much less software than that of the Master 128 and this system boasted a coprocessor card with a 10 MHz Intel 80186 and 512 KB memory. It also had the ability to run DOS Plus and the GEM graphical user interface, the Master Scientific was announced at the time of the BBC Masters launch, but was not produced. It was to have an 8 MHz 32016 coprocessor with 32081 floating point processor and 512 KB of RAM and this was similar to the previous external 32016 Second Processor. This model separated the keyboard from another unit which could be placed under the monitor, the Compact also utilised a limited re-burn EEPROM, instead of the battery backed clock plus CMOS memory found in the other models, and hence had no real time clock of its own. As a result of this, the *TIME and TIME$ commands returned dummy values, the unit under the monitor housed a 3½-inch floppy disk drive and the system power supply. The remainder of the system was housed in the unit as the keyboard. The cartridge and cassette ports were removed as a space saving measure, a multifunction mouse and joystick port was provided as a 9-pin D type with its function configured in software. A Centronics printer interface was also provided, the 1 MHz bus and analogue port were not provided on the Compact. Additionally, no internal sockets were provided for adding a co-processor or 2nd processor, however, the machine did include a 50-way Expansion Port edge-connector on the right side of the keyboard, that carried the same signals as Cartridge Socket#3 on a Master 128
11.
Circuit de la Sarthe
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The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe located in Le Mans, Maine, France, is a semi-permanent race course most famous as the venue for the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race. The track also includes roads that remain open to the public most of the year. The circuit, in its present configuration, is 13.629 kilometres long, making it one of the longest circuits in the world, capacity of the race stadium, where the short Bugatti Circuit is situated, is 100,000. Le Mans is a race where up to 85% of the time is spent on full throttle, meaning immense stress on engine. Even with the modifications put in place over the years, the Sarthe circuit is known for being very fast. This classic configuration was 8.369 miles long and remained almost unaltered even after the 1955 tragedy and its frighteningly narrow pit straight was narrowed off to make room for the pits and was part of the road itself, without the road becoming wider just for the pits. The pit straight was about 12 feet wide and the race track, the pit area was modified at a cost of 300 million francs, the signalling area was even moved to the exit of the slow Mulsanne corner, and the track was resurfaced. With cars getting ever faster in the 1960s, criticism rose, especially when drivers were killed. Since 1965, a smaller but permanent Bugatti Circuit was added which shares the pit lane facilities, for the 1968 race, the Ford chicane was added before the pits to slow down the cars. The circuit was fitted with Armco for the 1969 race, one of the Porsche Curves was affectionately named Maison Blanche and a short straight with a slight kink and two chicanes before the pits named the Ford chicanes were all added. In 1979, due to the construction of a new public road and this redesign led to a faster double-apex corner as well as requiring the removal of the second Dunlop Bridge. In 1986, because of construction of a new roundabout at the Mulsanne corner and this created a right hand kink prior to Mulsanne corner. In 1987, a chicane was added to the very fast Dunlop curve where cars would go under the Dunlop bridge at 180 mph, the Le Mans circuit was changed between the Dunlop Bridge and Esses, with the straight now becoming a set of fast sweeping turns. This layout allowed for a transition from the Le Mans circuit to the Bugatti circuit. This layout change would require the tracks infamous carnival to be relocated because the area it had once occupied became runoff. As part of the development, a new extended pit lane exit was created for the Bugatti Circuit and this second pit exit re-enters the track just beyond the Dunlop Chicane and before the Dunlop Bridge. Following the fatal crash of Danish driver Allan Simonsen at the 2013 race at the exit of Tertre Rouge into D338, the radius will be moved in approximately 200m for safety reasons with new tyre barriers at the exit. Le Mans was most famous for its 6 km long straight, called Ligne Droite des Hunaudières, a part of the route départementale D338
12.
Anderstorp Raceway
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Anderstorp Raceway, previously known as Scandinavian Raceway, is a 2.505 miles motorsport race track in Anderstorp, Sweden. The track was built on marshlands in 1968 and became a popular venue in the 1970s. It has a straight, as well as several banked corners. Unusually, the pit lane is located halfway round the lap, the raceway hosted six Formula One Swedish Grand Prix events in the 1970s. When Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson died during the 1978 Formula One season, public support for the event dried up and the Swedish Grand Prix came to an end. The circuit is also noteworthy because it was the site of the first, the circuit has been a popular car club venue since the 1990s. The FIA World Touring Car Championship returned to Anderstorp in 2007, for the 2008 season however, it was replaced by the Imola circuit. The circuit has been modified at least twice in its history, and then it was later modified again and slightly shortened to its present-day length of 4.025 km. Track variations,4.018 km –1968, –19774.031 km –1978 –. Anderstorp Racing Club Satellite picture by Google Maps
13.
Circuit Paul Ricard
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The Circuit Paul Ricard is a motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, near Marseille, in France, with finance from the eccentric pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a highway, opened on 19 April 1970, its innovative facilities made it one of the safest motor racing circuits in the world at the time of its opening. The circuit had three track layout permutations, an industrial park and an airstrip. The combination of facilities, mild winter weather and an airstrip made it popular amongst racing teams for car testing during the annual winter off-season. The original track was dominated by the 1.8 km long Mistral Straight that is followed by the right hand Signes corner. The long main straight and other fast sections made the very hard on engines as they ran at full revs for extended spells. Nigel Mansell crashed at the place in the same weekend during practice. Mansells crash was the result of a puncture in his left rear tyre causing it to explode at over 200 mph. The Honda powered FW10 holds the race lap record for the circuit when Mansells team mate Keke Rosberg recorded a time of 1,39.914 during the 1985 French Grand Prix. This compared to the slowest car in the race, the 550 bhp naturally aspirated Tyrrell-Ford V8 of Stefan Bellof which could only manage 277 km/h, not surprisingly, Bellof qualified 9 seconds slower than Surer and 12 seconds slower than pole winner Rosberg. It opened in 1970 with a 2-litre sports car race, the circuit hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix on many occasions, the first of which was the 1971 French Grand Prix. In 1986, Brabham Formula One driver Elio de Angelis was killed in an accident at the fast first turn. The length of the Mistral Straight was reduced from 1.8 km in length to just over 1 km, and the fast sweeping Verierre curves where de Angelis had crashed were bypassed. Effectively, after the start, instead of heading into the left hand Verierre sweeper, cars now braked hard and this changed the circuit length for a Grand Prix from 5.81 km to just 3.812 km. This also had the effect of cutting lap times from Keke Rosbergs 1985 pole time of 1,32.462 in his Williams-Honda turbo, the last French Grand Prix held at the circuit was in 1990, the event then moved to Magny-Cours where it ran until 2008. Since then there have been discussions towards reviving the French Grand Prix with Paul Ricard one of the believed to be considered as the venue. During its life of hosting a round of the Formula One World Championship, the Long Circuit was used from 1971-1985, with the Club Circuit used from 1986-1990. On six occasions the winner at Paul Ricard went on to win the World Championship in the same year, ronnie Peterson and René Arnoux are the only Ricard winners who never won the championship
14.
Brands Hatch
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Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit near Swanley in Kent, England. First used as a dirt track circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts many British and International racing events. Gerhard Berger once said that Brands Hatch is the best circuit in the world, Paddock Hill Bend is a renowned corner. The longer Grand Prix layout played host to Formula One racing, including such as Jo Sifferts duel with Chris Amon in 1968. Noise restrictions and the proximity of residents to the Grand Prix loop mean that the number of race meetings held on the extended circuit are limited to just a few per year. The full Grand Prix Circuit begins on the Brabham Straight, an off-camber, slightly curved stretch, despite the difficulty of the curve, due to the straight that precedes it, it is one of the tracks few overtaking spots. The next corner, Druids, is a bend, negotiated after an uphill braking zone at Hailwood Hill. After the straight, the circuit climbs uphill though the decreasing-radius Surtees turn, the most significant elevation changes on the circuit occur here at Pilgrims Drop and Hawthorn Hill, which leads into Hawthorn Bend. The track then loops around the woodland with a series of mid-speed corners, most notably the dip at Westfield and Dingle Dell, the British Rallycross Circuit at Brands Hatch was designed and constructed by four-times British Rallycross Champion Trevor Hopkins. 0.9 miles long and completed around 1981, unlike earlier rallycross courses at Brands Hatch, cars start on the startline then veer right and downhill on the loose at Paddock Hill Bend. From Cooper Straight, the cars swoop up the old link road, Brands Hatch was originally the name of a natural grassy hollow that was shaped like a amphitheatre. Using the natural contours of the land, many cyclists from around London practised, raced, the first actual race on the circuit was held in 1926, over 4 miles between cyclists and cross-country runners. Within a few years, motorcyclists were using the circuit, laying out a three-quarter-mile anti-clockwise track in the valley. They also saw the advantage of competing in a natural arena just a few hundred yards from the A20, and with the passage of time, the first motorcycle races were very informal with much of the organisation being done on the spot. Initially the racing was on a strip approximately where Cooper Straight came to be when the track was tarmacked. In 1932, four local motorcycling clubs joined forces and staged their first meeting that March, motorcycle racing quickly resumed after World War II and in 1947, Joe Francis persuaded the BBC to televise a grass track meeting, the first motorcycle event to be televised on British TV. Following World War II, cinders were laid on the track of what was by then known as Brands Hatch Stadium and that was until 1950 when the 500 Club managed to persuade Joe Francis, that the future for his stadium lay in car and motorcycle road racing. The group behind 500 c. c. single-seater racing cars was the 500 Club and it, together with the owners, amongst those giving the demonstration was a very young Stirling Moss
15.
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
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The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is a race track located next to the town of Misano Adriatico in the frazione of Santa Monica. Originally designed in 1969 as a length of 3.488 kilometres, in 1993, the track length was increased to 4.064 kilometres. As of 2007, it began hosting the San Marino and Rimini Coast Grand Prix as part of the MotoGP World Championship, in 2012, the track was renamed to commemorate Marco Simoncelli, a local motorcycle racer who died in 2011. The circuit was designed in 1969, it was built from 1970 and 1972 and its initial length was 3.488 km and only had a small, open pit area. This version of the circuit hosted three editions of the San Marino motorcycle Grand Prix, from the 1985 season to the 1987 season. It was at Misano during the 1993 Italian Grand Prix that the defending 500 cc World Champion Wayne Raineys career ended after he fell, between 1996 and 2001 all facilities were improved further, adding more pits and stands. In order to host again the World motorcycle championship, the circuit was modified in 2006. The first MotoGP race held on the circuit after the modifications was the 2007 San Marino and Rimini Coast Grand Prix, which was won by home marque Ducati. During the 2010 Moto2 event, Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa was killed after losing control of his bike, coincidentally this incident occurred 17 years to the day of Wayne Raineys career ending incident also at Misano. Simoncelli was born in nearby Cattolica and lived since childhood in Coriano, on 8 June 2012 the tracks new name was confirmed at the San Marino round of the Superbike World Championship
16.
Silverstone Circuit
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Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side, the Northamptonshire towns of Towcester and Brackley and Buckinghamshire town of Buckingham are close by, and the nearest large towns are Northampton and Milton Keynes. Silverstone is the current home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted in 1948, the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly created World Championship of Drivers. The race rotated between Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but relocated permanently to Silverstone in 1987, the circuit also hosts the British round of the MotoGP series. However, the Donington Park leaseholders suffered economic problems resulting in the BRDC signing a 17-year deal with Ecclestone to hold the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Silverstone is built on the site of a World War II Royal Air Force bomber station, RAF Silverstone, the airfields three runways, in classic WWII triangle format, lie within the outline of the present track. Silverstone was first used for motorsport by an ad hoc group of friends who set up a race in September 1947. One of their members, Maurice Geoghegan, lived in nearby Silverstone village and was aware that the airfield was deserted and he and eleven other drivers raced over a two-mile circuit, during the course of which Geoghegan himself ran over a sheep that had wandered onto the airfield. The sheep was killed and the car written off, and in the aftermath of this event the race became known as the Mutton Grand Prix. The next year the Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield and their first two races were held on the runways themselves, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track demarcated by hay bales. However, for the 1949 International Trophy meeting, it was decided to switch to the perimeter track and this arrangement was used for the 1950 and 1951 Grands Prix. In 1952 the start line was moved from the Farm Straight to the straight linking Woodcote and Copse corners, for the 1975 meeting a chicane was introduced to try to tame speeds through the mighty Woodcote Corner, and Bridge Corner was subtly rerouted in 1987. The track underwent a major redesign between the 1990 and 1991 races, transforming the ultra-fast track into a technical track. The reshaped tracks first F1 race was perhaps the most memorable of recent years, following the deaths of Senna and fellow Grand Prix driver Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994, many Grand Prix circuits were modified in order to reduce speed and increase driver safety. As a consequence of this the entry from Hangar Straight into Stowe Corner was modified in 1995 so as to make its entry less dangerous, in addition, the flat-out Abbey kink was modified to a chicane in just 19 days before the 1994 GP. Parts of the circuit, such as the grid, are 17 metres wide. After a new pit building, the Silverstone Wing, was completed in time for the 2011 race, almost flat out, the right-hander of Abbey leads immediately into the left-hander of Farm before cars brake heavily into the second gear, right-handed turn three, Village Corner. Turn 6, the left hander of Brooklands, is taken by drivers in second gear and leads immediately into Luffield, another second gear curve, a right-hand hairpin
17.
Overdrive (video game)
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Overdrive is an arcade-style motor racing game which was written by Peter Johnson for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro and released in 1984 by Superior Software. The game was inspired by the hugely successful Namco/Atari arcade game Pole Position which was one of the most popular arcade games when Overdrive was being developed. Like Pole Position, Overdrive uses the rear-view racer format but there are no bends in the track, the aim of the game is to finish in the top 12 in order to qualify for the next track. There are five different tracks but as there are no bends, points are awarded for the distance travelled as well as a bonus given at the end of each level depending on the number of computer-controlled cars that have been passed. If the player collides with another car, they explode and regenerate and this can happen an infinite number of times but it wastes time and many opponents will pass while the player slowly accelerates. It is also common for opponents to crash into the back of the player while they are still accelerating causing another explosion, the game was hugely successful selling almost 40,000 copies across both BBC Micro and Electron versions which was exceptional for that platform. It was Superior Softwares biggest seller, out-selling even the individual Repton titles and it was especially popular on the Acorn Electron. Overdrive remained the only 3D racing game available for the Electron until 1987 when Superior released the motorbike racer Crazee Rider, a game originally conceived as a follow-up to Overdrive. Also in 1987, Overdrive was included on the Superior Collection compilations, meaning it was still available until the demand for 8-bit games dried up in the early 1990s
18.
Revs (video game)
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Unlike most contemporaneous racing games, Revs features selection of aerodynamic settings by the player and a full three-dimensional environment. The player is allowed to drive the way around the track or even away from it completely. Unusual for the time, the track and terrain are not planar, whilst this would ordinarily be distractingly visible, timer-based manipulation of the BBCs display palette has the effect of turning all the code pixels blue, thus hiding it in the games sky. The game features rudimentary AI for control of the opponents cars, johnny Turbo and Max Throttle are usually the fastest opponents, whereas Miles Behind is usually the slowest. The BBC Micro version release features Silverstone as its one track, there is also an expansion pack, Revs 4 Tracks, which adds Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Oulton Park and Snetterton to make a total of five. The game was received by the press for its relative realism. Acorns marketing for the game included racing sponsorship, with driver David Hunt being sponsored in the 1984 British Formula Three Championship Acorn Computer European Trophy. An enhanced edition of the BBC version was released in 1986 by Superior Software/Acornsoft as Revs plus Revs 4 Tracks which included all 5 tracks, the enhanced edition also included a steering assist driving aid designed to improve control of the car when using keys or a digital joystick. Revs was later ported to the Commodore 64, with the game providing the Silverstone. The 4 Tracks pack for the Commodore included the Nürburgring, Oulton Park, images of Commodore 64 version of Revs box, manual and screen shots at C64Sets. com Revs at Everything2 The Revs series at MobyGames
19.
Shoot 'em up
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Shoot em up is a subgenre of the shooter genre of video games. In a shoot em up, the character engages in a lone assault, often in a spacecraft or aircraft. There is no consensus as to design elements compose a shoot em up. Some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of movement, others allow a broader definition including characters on foot. Shoot em ups call for fast reactions and for the player to memorize levels, bullet hell games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles. The genres origins can be traced back to Spacewar, one of the earliest computer games, developed in 1962 and eventually released in amusement arcades in the early 1970s. However, Tomohiro Nishikado, creator of Space Invaders, is credited with inventing the genre. Space Invaders premiered in Japanese arcades in 1978, shoot em ups were popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, shoot em ups became a genre based on design conventions established in the 1980s. A shoot em up, also known as a shmup or STG, is a game in which the protagonist combats a large number of enemies by shooting at them while dodging their fire, the controlling player must rely primarily on reaction times to succeed. Beyond this, critics differ on exactly which design elements constitute a shoot em up, some restrict the genre to games featuring some kind of craft, using fixed or scrolling movement. Others widen the scope to include games featuring such protagonists as robots or humans on foot, as well as including games featuring on-rails, mark Wolf restricts the definition to games featuring multiple antagonists, calling games featuring one-on-one shooting combat games. Shoot em ups are a subgenre of shooter game, in turn a type of action game and these games are usually viewed from a top-down or side-view perspective, and players must use ranged weapons to take action at a distance. The players avatar is typically a vehicle under constant attack, thus, the players goal is to shoot as quickly as possible anything that moves or threatens him. In some games, the character can withstand some damage, in others. The main skills required in shoot em ups are fast reactions, some games feature overwhelming numbers of enemy projectiles and the player has to memorise their patterns to survive. These games belong to one of the video game genres. Large numbers of characters are typically featured
20.
Galaforce
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Galaforce is a fixed shooter video game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, written by Kevin Edwards and published by Superior Software in 1986. It spawned a sequel, Galaforce 2 and a remake for Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the 25th century, in the fictional Magellanic galaxy, the player takes the role of a pilot of the Galaforce, an elite unit of the United Cosmological Federation, on a mission to conquer and overthow hordes of savage aliens. Galaforce is inspired by arcade fixed shooter games, particularly the Galaga series, the player controls a spaceship that can move horizontally and vertically in the bottom part of the screen. The ship comes under attack from successive formations of aliens, the object of the game is to survive while scoring as highly as possible. Unlike many similar games, not all aliens need to be destroyed, most of the formations involve aliens entering from one side of the screen, moving quickly across the screen in a set pattern, then leaving the screen or disintegrating at the edge. This most resembles a Challenging Stage in Galaga as unlike the standard Galaga stages, there are thirteen different aliens, requiring between one and ten hits to be destroyed, and a large number of different formations. The game is broken up into zones that include a series of formations. The aliens in Zone 1 do not fire at the player and never fly into the area of the screen so as long as the player does not move upwards. The zones get progressively more difficult, with aliens entering or leaving the screen at the bottom, firing at the player, some formations are known as multiplier formations where a small number of one type of alien keep spawning other aliens until the originals are destroyed. The game was created by Kevin Edwards for the BBC Micro, the Electron version runs a little slower and in a four colour mode rather than the eight colour mode used on the BBC. Both versions were released in September 1986 by Superior Software and it was the first title released under the joint Superior Software / Acornsoft name in the new double-cassette sized cases which would become standard for Superior releases. It was included on the Play It Again Sam 2 compilation in 1988, following the motorbike racing game Crazee Rider, Kevin Edwards created a sequel to Galaforce. The game is similar with the difference being the inclusion of end of level bosses. It also supports two players, alternating turns, Galaforce 2 was first released on the Play It Again Sam 6 compilation in 1988. It was later given a release in the Superior/Blue Ribbon budget range in 1990. An updated and expanded version of the game was released as Galaforce Worlds for Microsoft Windows in 2003 by Superior Interactive and this adds a full simultaneous two-player option, power-ups and a level editor
21.
Compact Cassette
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The Compact Cassette or Musicassette, also commonly called cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. It was released by Philips in 1962, having developed in Hasselt. Compact cassettes come in two forms, either already containing content as a cassette, or as a fully recordable blank cassette. Its uses ranged from portable audio to home recording to data storage for early microcomputers, the first cassette player designed for use in car dashes was introduced in 1968. Between the early 1970s and the early 2000s, the cassette was one of the two most common formats for prerecorded music, first alongside the LP record and later the compact disc. Compact Cassettes contain two miniature spools, between which a magnetically coated, polyester-type plastic film is passed and wound and these spools and their attendant parts are held inside a protective plastic shell. This reversal is achieved either by flipping the cassette, or by having the machine itself change the direction of tape movement. In 1935, decades before the introduction of the Compact Cassette, AEG released the first reel-to-reel tape recorder and it was based on the invention of the magnetic tape by Fritz Pfleumer, which used similar technology but with open reels. These instruments were expensive and relatively difficult to use and were therefore used mostly by professionals in radio stations. In 1958, following four years of development, RCA Victor introduced the stereo, quarter-inch, reversible, however, it was a large cassette, and offered few pre-recorded tapes. Despite the multiple versions, it failed, consumer use of tape only took off in the early 1960s, after playback machines reached a comfortable, user-friendly design. This was achieved primarily by the introduction of transistors which replaced the bulky, fragile, reel-to-reel tape then became more suitable to household use, but still remained an esoteric product. The team at Philips was led by Lou Ottens in Hasselt, Philips was competing with Telefunken and Grundig in a race to establish its cassette tape as the worldwide standard, and it wanted support from Japanese electronics manufacturers. However, the Philips Compact Cassette became dominant as a result of Philips decision to license the format free of charge, Philips also released the Norelco Carry-Corder 150 recorder/player in the US in November 1964. By 1966 over 250,000 recorders had been sold in the US alone, by 1968,85 manufacturers had sold over 2.4 million players. By the end of the 1960s, the business was worth an estimated 150 million dollars. In the early years sound quality was mediocre, but it improved dramatically by the early 1970s when it caught up with the quality of 8-track tape, the Compact Cassette went on to become a popular alternative to the 12-inch vinyl LP during the late 1970s. The mass production of blank Compact Cassettes began in 1964 in Hanover, prerecorded music cassettes were launched in Europe in late 1965
22.
Floppy disk
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Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive. Floppy disks, initially as 8-inch media and later in 5¼-inch and 3½-inch sizes, were a form of data storage and exchange from the mid-1970s into the mid-2000s. These formats are usually handled by older equipment and these disks and associated drives were produced and improved upon by IBM and other companies such as Memorex, Shugart Associates, and Burroughs Corporation. The term floppy disk appeared in print as early as 1970, in 1976, Shugart Associates introduced the first 5¼-inch FDD. By 1978 there were more than 10 manufacturers producing such FDDs, there were competing floppy disk formats, with hard- and soft-sector versions and encoding schemes such as FM, MFM and GCR. The 5¼-inch format displaced the 8-inch one for most applications, the most common capacity of the 5¼-inch format in DOS-based PCs was 360 kB and in 1984 IBM introduced the 1.2 MB dual-sided floppy disk along with its PC-AT model. IBM started using the 720 kB double-density 3½-inch microfloppy disk on its Convertible laptop computer in 1986 and these disk drives could be added to older PC models. In 1988 IBM introduced a drive for 2.88 MB DSED diskettes in its top-of-the-line PS/2 models, throughout the early 1980s, limitations of the 5¼-inch format became clear. Originally designed to be practical than the 8-inch format, it was itself too large, as the quality of recording media grew. A number of solutions were developed, with drives at 2-, 2½-, 3-, 3½-, the large market share of the 5¼-inch format made it difficult for these new formats to gain significant market share. A variant on the Sony design, introduced in 1982 by a number of manufacturers, was then rapidly adopted. By the end of the 1980s, 5¼-inch disks had been superseded by 3½-inch disks, by the mid-1990s, 5¼-inch drives had virtually disappeared, as the 3½-inch disk became the predominant floppy disk. Floppy disks became ubiquitous during the 1980s and 1990s in their use with computers to distribute software, transfer data. Before hard disks became affordable to the population, floppy disks were often used to store a computers operating system. Most home computers from that period have a primary OS and BASIC stored as ROM, by the early 1990s, the increasing software size meant large packages like Windows or Adobe Photoshop required a dozen disks or more. In 1996, there were a five billion standard floppy disks in use. Then, distribution of packages was gradually replaced by CD-ROMs, DVDs. External USB-based floppy disk drives are available, many modern systems provide firmware support for booting from such drives
23.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system
24.
Moped
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Although mopeds usually have two wheels, some regions classify low-powered three- or four-wheeled vehicles as a moped. Manystates have laws on the books that anyone convicted of a DUI cannot legally operate any motor vehicle powered by gasoline for the length of their sentence. The word moped is a portmanteau of motor and pedal, originally coined in Sweden, like some of the earliest two wheeled motorcycles, all mopeds were once equipped with bicycle pedals. The name moped has now been applied by some governments to vehicles without pedals, based on criteria of restricted engine displacement, speed. This is a misnomer, as they are no longer mopeds at all, and might instead be called a noped if they appear to look exactly like a typical moped, but no longer include pedals. The term moped now only applies to vehicles, but pedals were fitted to some early motorcycles. Pedalling away from stationary was an improvement over run and jump. The earliest mopeds were bicycles with a motor in various locations, for example on top of the front wheel. An example of type is the VéloSoleX brand, which simply has a roller driving the front tire. A more innovative design was known in the UK as the Cyclemaster and this had a complete powered rear wheel which was simply substituted for the bicycle rear wheel, which originated from a design by two DKW engineers in Germany. Slightly larger machines, commonly with a 98 cc engine were known as autocycles, on the other hand, some mopeds, such as the Czech-made Jawa, were derived from motorcycles. A further category of low-powered two-wheelers exists today in some jurisdictions for bicycles with helper motors – these are defined as power-assisted bicycles or motorized bicycles. Other jurisdictions may categorize the same machines as mopeds, creating a certain amount of confusion, in many countries three-wheelers and microcars are classified as mopeds or variations thereof. This practice is not restricted to the world, France. The Ariel 3, a motorised three-wheeler is classed as a moped, the word moped was coined by Swedish journalist Harald Nielsen in 1952, as a portmanteau of motor and pedal. It is however claimed to be derived from motor-velocipede. According to Douglas Harper, the Swedish terms originated from mo ped, other terms used for low-powered cycles include motorbicycle, motorized bicycle, motor-driven cycle, and goped. The term noped is sometimes used for mopeds that do not have pedals, motor scooters are sometimes referred to as mopeds
25.
Electron User
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Electron User was a magazine targeted at owners of the Acorn Electron microcomputer. It was published by Database Publications of Stockport, starting in October 1983, the focus was news stories, type-in programs and software reviews. It also contained cheat codes and a column on adventure games initially by Merlin in a column entitled Merlins Cave. Its advertisers included the top BBC/Electron games distributors of the day, such as Acornsoft and Superior Software
26.
Hunchback (video game)
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Hunchback is an arcade game developed by Century Electronics in 1983. The player controls Quasimodo from the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the game is set on a castle wall. The player must cross the screen left to right avoiding obstacles in order to ring the bell at the far right. Obstacles include pits which must be swung over on a rope, ramparts which must be jumped and flying fireballs. To impose a limit on each screen a knight climbs the wall. Eventually, after completing a number of screens, the player must rescue Esmeralda, if this final screen is completed, the game begins again at a faster speed. The hunchback character was originally to be Robin Hood, hence the green costume, the artist who drew the Robin Hood character left the company before the decision to change the theme to Hunchback. By the time a new artist was taken on, the costume had become accepted. Ports were made for most home computer systems of the time by Ocean Software in 1984 and it was their first arcade port. The exceptions to this are the BBC Micro version and a port for the MSX. The Spectrum version of the reached number one in the UK sales charts. The version released by Superior Software for the BBC Micro in 1984 was originally an unofficial clone, when Ocean acquired the home computer rights to the game they reached an agreement so that Ocean could release the Acorn Electron conversion which had been developed. Superior continued to sell the BBC Micro version and released versions on their Play It Again Sam 6 compilation in 1988. Hunchback at the Killer List of Videogames Hunchback at SpectrumComputing. co. uk
27.
Killer Gorilla
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Stephens wrote Killer Gorilla at the age of 17 after buying a magazine that had screenshots of Donkey Kong, and that made him feel like doing something similar. He was paid 400 pounds for the game, stephens wrote two other games for Micro Power, Escape From Moonbase Alpha and Mr EE, a clone of Universals Mr. Do. The game involves controlling a man to reach a fair-haired heiress trapped by a gorilla at the top of the screen. It is made up of four levels, set higher and higher up a construction site –25 m,50 m,75 m and 100 m. There are two hammers on the 25 m,50 m and 100 m levels, with none on the 75 m level, hammers last for about 10 seconds, as measured by the amount of bonus that ticks away. You cannot climb ladders or jump gaps when holding the hammer, after completing the four levels, the player returns to the 25 m level and the game repeats, getting progressively faster and with more barrels, custard pies, and fireballs. In addition, the girders on the 25 m level acquire more holes, an extra life is awarded when the player completes the 75 m level for the first time. Thus, the quicker a level is completed, the points the player is awarded. The game appeared on a number of compilations including 10 Computer Hits, Micropower Magic 2, PIAS3 also included a game called Killer Gorilla 2 but this was actually a re-titled early Superior Software game. This version has surfaced on the Internet. Http, //www. bbcmicrogames. com/micropower. html http, //www. cimweb. co. uk/killergorilla. htm Video clip of the BBC Micro version running under emulation How the packaging for Killer Gorilla evolved
28.
Tempest (video game)
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Tempest is a 1981 arcade game by Atari Inc. designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a surface, sometimes wrapped into a tube. The player controls a spaceship that crawls along the near edge of the playfield. Tempest was one of the first games to use Ataris Color-QuadraScan vector display technology and it was also the first game to allow the player to choose their starting level. This feature increases the starting level depending on the players performance in the previous game. Tempest was one of the first video games to sport a progressive level design in which the levels themselves varied rather than giving the player the same layout with increasing difficulty levels. The objective of Tempest is to survive as long as possible, enemies swirl around at the far end of the playfield, then enter the playfield and move toward the player. There are multiple types of enemy, each of which has different behavior. At higher levels, some enemies leave a spike in the middle of the lane as they travel toward the player, when all enemies in a level are destroyed or reach the near end of the playfield, the player warps to the next level by traveling down the playfield. As the player warps to the level, he or she must avoid or shoot away any spikes. The player loses a ship when an enemy comes into contact with their ship, shoots it or otherwise destroys it, at certain point thresholds, the player earns a new ship. The game is over when the enemies destroy all of the players ships, when all sixteen screens have been played, the sequence repeats with a different color scheme and a higher difficulty level, including the invisible levels. Each sequence of levels adds additional enemies that are faster and more deadly to the players ship, the numbered levels stop incrementing after level 99 and a random one of the 16 variations will appear after each player death or the successful completion of subsequent levels. The game was meant to be a 3D remake of Space Invaders. Theurer says that the design came from a dream where monsters crawled out of a hole in the ground, during the prototype stages the game was entitled Aliens, to Vortex and finally titled, Tempest. Three different cabinet designs exist for Tempest, the most common cabinet is an upright cabinet in the shape of a right triangle sitting on top of a rectangle, when viewed from the side. This cabinet sported colorful side art, a shorter and less flashy cabaret-style cabinet was also released with optional side art, and a cocktail-style table cabinet allowed two players to play at opposite ends of the table. In this configuration, the screen would flip vertically for each player, Jeff Minter created two authorized sequels, released long after the original game, Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar, and Tempest 3000 for Nuon enhanced DVD players
29.
Repton (video game)
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Repton is a computer game originally developed by 16-year-old Briton Tim Tyler for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and released by Superior Software in 1985. The game spawned a series of follow up games which were released throughout the 1980s, the series sold around 125,000 copies between 1985 and 1990 with Repton 2 selling 35,000 itself. The games have since been remade for modern systems, including iRepton for the iPhone / iPod Touch in 2010, followed by Android Repton 1. The author was inspired by a review of the recently released Boulder Dash, compared with Boulder Dash, Repton was a much more calm and organized playing experience with the emphasis on puzzle-solving as opposed to arcade-style improvisation. This remained true as more types of object were added in the sequels, the original Repton game was released in the summer of 1985 and has 12 levels, with passwords making it possible to jump directly to later levels. If passwords are employed, on completion of the level the displayed message challenges the player to complete the game without using them. The new versions of Repton for the PC, iOS and Android introduce additional levels, the sequel to the game, Repton 2, released for Christmas 1985 is much bigger. It introduces several new features, spirits and skulls, both of which are fatal to Repton on collision, there are also jigsaw puzzle pieces to collect, which eventually spell out the message Repton 2 is ended. There are no levels as such in Repton 2, instead transporters move Repton between different screens which, subject to restrictions, can be completed in any order desired. The entire game is in one very large level without passwords. Finally, some also contain an exposed roof, where meteors fall from the sky. Reptons requirements in Repton 2 are challenging, Repton must not only collect all diamonds and this part is particularly tricky, since the meteors fall in a random fashion, making it difficult for the gamer to guide Repton to safety. When Repton 2 was re-written for the PC, it introduced a game feature making it considerably easier to complete. In addition, brand new scenarios were included, effectively new games, while the first two games had only taken a month each to program, Repton 3 took eight months. It reverts to the form of a series of time-limited, password-protected levels, a few new features were introduced, fungus, time capsules, crowns and a timebomb which must be defused to complete each level. The inclusion of the timebomb meant that, as well as collecting all of the diamonds and crowns, Repton 3 includes a map editor along with the game, so that it became possible to create data files with alternate maps and new graphics for the levels. Three themed sets of files were released as continuations of Repton 3, with the titles Around the World in 40 Screens. These three titles used a modified game engine, in which the algorithm for deciding on the direction spirits first move at the start of a level was improved
30.
Deathstar (video game)
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Deathstar is an 8-bit computer game for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro developed by Peter Johnson and originally published in the UK by Superior Software in 1985. It is a clone of the arcade game Sinistar, the player uses four keys, two to rotate the ship, one for fire and one to launch a starbomb. Firing can destroy both enemy workers and warriors, but only a starbomb can be used against the eponymous Deathstar itself, collisions with workers, warriors or asteroids do not harm the player. The job of the workers is to build the Deathstar by transporting crystals to it, whilst the job of the warriors is to mine the crystals, the starbombs are ultimately used against the Deathstar, once the workers have finished constructing it. The player must successfully defeat the Deathstar to progress into the Worker Zone which has very few planetoids, the game employs 16-way scrolling over a multi-coloured starfield and runs at a fast rate on both the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron hardware. Despite the inferior hardware of the Acorn Electron, the sound can be improved up to BBC Micro standards with the addition of Project Expansions Sound Cartridge. Originally, the game was to be published by Atarisoft as an port of the arcade version under its original name. However, the Atarisoft brand was dropped in 1984 and Atari decided to out of the Acorn computer market altogether whilst a number of games were still under development. The game was instead renamed Deathstar and a new title screen designed, the game was released shortly after another popular game Repton and is regarded as being part of a successful run of titles from Superior Software in a short space of time. The then-renamed Deathstar was first published solely by Superior Software in 1985 and later re-released in 1989 by Superior Software, the game also appeared on the Beau Jolly compilations Five Star Games and 10 Computer Hits 4, and Superior Softwares own Superior Collection compilations. A cheat loader program for the game was published in 1988 by Impact Software on the compilation Cheat it again Joe 1. An in-built cheat was discovered to have left in the BBC version of the game and was published in the March 1989 edition of Micro User magazine. Deathstar was prominently advertised with full-page dedicated ads in various Acorn-related publications of the 1980s and was reviewed in magazines such as Acorn User. In the 21st century, Deathstar was again reviewed in the 2009 book The 8-Bit Book -1981 to 199x by Jerry Ellis, published by Hiive books. A similar title Mega Apocalypse also for the BBC Micro, was due to be released by Martech Games Ltd, but was ultimately abandoned half-finished in 1988. The BBC Micro had a speech synthesiser chip available as an official add-on, featuring the voice of Kenneth Kendall, a well-known BBC newsreader, but it had a very limited vocabulary. Users who played with this hardware fitted would hear the speech chip say R, R, R, I an complete, martin Reed also in Electron User described the game as an excellent conversion and a great blast. Oliver Robinson on the bbcmicrogames. com website describes the game as almost arcade perfect and as an example of how well the BBC could replicate fast paced, game programmer Jason Sobell stated that he liked Peter Johnsons DeathStar, pointing out the similarity to the game Asteroids
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Citadel (video game)
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Citadel is a computer game developed for the BBC Micro and released by Superior Software in 1985. It was also ported to the Acorn Electron, upon returning the crystals, the player must teleport to a separate set of locations to complete the game. Once the game is completed, the player is free to roam the castle in order to achieve the maximum possible score if they have not done so already. The only way to see the final message is to reach 99 points. Citadel was unusual at the time for playing synthesized speech before loading the game, as well as having other special effects advanced for the time. Citadel has a number of distinctive features, if the player continuously loses too much energy in a room, the screen turns red and the player is transported back to where they entered the room. This prevents players from passing through a room simply by walking through enemies, the game also allows the player to choose the sex of their character and uses a different sprite accordingly - quite unusual in the days when in-game memory was at a premium. For instance, the player sprite normally has pink hair and yellow skin. Most enemies cannot be destroyed, only avoided, the exceptions to this are the monks which can be destroyed by jumping and firing a projectile-like spell into their face. Each spell expends one unit of energy, which is restored if the player is successful in killing the monk. In addition to the crystals, various items are located throughout the 100 different rooms of the castle which can be collected and used to solve puzzles in order to obtain the crystals. The player is limited to carrying two items at any one time and a combination of objects in their inventory is often needed to solve particular problems. For example, one crystal is located in a room behind a brick wall, access is obtained by finding a cannonball and sack of gunpowder and then walking past a cannon. These items are automatically loaded into the cannon which fires. The numbers below the name of the screen indicate the number of units of energy left, the players score, the letter next to the key which is being carried in the inventory was used by players who only had access to a monochrome monitor. In order to port the BBC Micro game to the Electron and this was actually machine code, that was left on-screen as decoration rather than use more memory to hide it. Citadel received a deal of acclaim at the time of its release. The game Palace of Magic, released in 1987, used extremely similar gameplay principles, however, by this time the BBC Micro was declining in popularity — Citadel 2, written by Symo was one of the last BBC Micro games released — and the sequel is little known
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Thrust (video game)
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Thrust is a 1986 computer game programmed by Jeremy Smith for the BBC Micro and published by Superior Software. The players aim is to manoeuvre a spaceship by rotating and thrusting, as it flies over a two-dimensional landscape, the gameplay of Thrust was heavily inspired by Ataris Gravitar. Superior Software agreed to publish it as a full price game, while this was being created, it was also ported to other systems beginning with the Commodore 64. All other versions were to be published by Firebird Software at a budget price, the C64 version actually made it to release a couple of months before the BBC/Electron version and became a number one best seller. The aim is to pilot a spacecraft which must pick up a pod using a tractor beam, the ship and pod are subject to gravity and inertia, and being connected by a stiff rod can end up spinning around each other, out of control. Hitting the walls of the cave with either the ship or the pod results in death, each planet has turrets which fire bullets at the ship, which can be destroyed with a single shot, and a reactor which powers the defence system of each planet. If the reactor is shot enough the turrets will cease firing for a amount of time. Hitting the reactor with many bullets causes it to go critical and destroy the planet in 10 seconds - the ship must escape into space before this happens, with or without the pod. Fuel is needed to manœuvre the ship and can be collected with the tractor beam, a shield is also available, although when activated it uses fuel and the ship cannot shoot. Later levels have doors that are opened by shooting a panel, after the 24th level is complete a message is displayed. Two more messages are available after completing the 48th and 72nd level, on the BBC Micro implementation, the messages displayed are Support Hotol, Physics is fun and I love space. The realistic physics, pixel-perfect collision detection and a difficulty level were some of the main attractions of the game. As well as C64, Firebird released versions for Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 16/Plus 4, Firebird also released a sequel, Thrust II in 1988. More recently, unofficial ports have also released for the Vectrex. The 2600 version was published in 2000 by XYPE, the Vectrex version was released in 2004. Thrust was credited by Bjørn Stabell as an influence on the game XPilot, terraFire, MS-DOS Video of Thrust played on the BBC Micro Thrust from Firebird Software at Byte Cellar
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Stryker's Run
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Strykers Run is a video game designed by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller for the BBC Micro and BBC Master which was published by Superior Software in 1986. It was also converted to the Acorn Electron. It is a 2D side-scrolling action game and it was well received, particularly for its graphics. Strykers Run is a 2D side-scrolling action game, the game is set during a futuristic war. The player takes the role of Commander John Stryker of the Allied Nations who has obtained plans of an attack by the enemy Volgans, the objective of the game is to escape with the plans and reach the Allied headquarters. Stryker is armed with a pistol and grenades. He can also commandeer aircraft that can be used until the fuel runs out, the Volgans have a wide variety of weapons including rifles, pistols, grenades, machine guns, mortars, mines, helicopter gunships, rocket launchers and SAM missiles. As well as enemies, the game features allied soldiers who will fire at the enemies, the game takes place entirely on one level on a scrolling landscape. The game was developed and coded by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller on the BBC Micro with additional graphics by Nick Elms. As well as extra in-game graphics, this adds a title screen with music. The music, a version of the Yellow Magic Orchestras Rydeen, was created by Martin Galway, the standard version could only fit in a plain screen with minimal text. The BBC Micro version of the game was released by Superior Software in 1986 on cassette, after completing the sequel to the game, Martin Edmondson and Nicholas Chamberlain did create an Electron version. The main difference is instead of one long, scrolling screen. The Electron version was released in 1987 at the time as the sequel. The game was included on the first Play It Again Sam compilation released for Christmas 1987 and this included the Electron version on disk for the first time. The game spawned a sequel, titled Codename, Droid - Strykers Run part 2 and this took place in a multi-level underground base with many added moves and features. It is an example of the Metroidvania genre. A third game was in development for the RiscPC in the mid 1990s but was never completed, a remake of the original game for Microsoft Windows by the original publishers has been in development since 2007 but has no set release date
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Ravenskull (video game)
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Ravenskull is a British graphic adventure video game. It was originally developed by Martin Edmondson and Nicholas Chamberlain for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, the player may choose from one of four character types, an Adventurer, a Wizard, a Warrior or an Elf. The choice defines both the graphics for the player and the treasure pieces to be collected. The game was conceived after the authors created a new routine for hardware scrolling, when the player uses a speed scroll. Due to lower specifications, the Acorn Electron version used a much smaller playing window. Superior released a faithful 32-bit port for the Acorn Archimedes on their Play It Again Sam 4 compilation in 1994 and this version was not compatible with the Risc PC so a new version was released by ProAction in 1997 on their issue of PIAS4. The possibility of a port from Masabi was circulated in late May 2002
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Elite (video game)
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Elite is a space trading video game, written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell and originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. The games title derives from one of the goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of Elite. Elite was one of the first home games to use wire-frame 3D graphics with hidden line removal. It added graphics and twitch gameplay aspects to the established by the 1974 game Star Trader. Another novelty was the inclusion of The Dark Wheel, a novella by Robert Holdstock which gave insight into the moral and legal codes to which they might aspire. A third sequel, Elite, Dangerous, began crowdfunding in 2012 and was launched on 16 December 2014, following a period of semi-open testing. Elite proved hugely influential, serving as a model for other games including Wing Commander, Privateer, Grand Theft Auto, EVE Online, Freelancer, non-Acorn versions were each first published by Firebird and Imagineer. Subsequently, Frontier Developments has claimed the game to be a Game by Frontier, to be part of its own back catalogue, the player initially controls the character Commander Jameson, though the name can be changed each time the game is saved. The player starts at Lave Station with 100 credits and an armed trading ship. Most of the ships that the encounters are similarly named after snakes or other reptiles. Credits can be accumulated through a number of means and these include piracy, trade, military missions, bounty hunting and asteroid mining. In the game universe, stars have planets, each with a space station in its orbit. Stars are always separated by interstellar distances effectively untraversable using the ships sublight engines, travel between stars is accomplished by hyperspace jumps, and is constrained to those within range of the limited fuel capacity of the ships hyperdrive. Sublight fuel capacity is apparently infinite, an extremely expensive one-shot galactic hyperspace upgrade permits travel between the eight galaxies of the game universe. There is little difference between the different galaxies. However, in some versions it is necessary to travel to at least the second galaxy to access the games missions, the planetary layout of the galaxies is different, and many players discovered trade runs between closely positioned planets with fortuitous economic combinations. Elite includes several optional paid missions for the Galactic Navy, according to Braben and Bell, Elite was inspired by a range of sources. The developers cite 2001, A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Braben also cites the works of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Arthur C
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Syncron
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Syncron is a shoot em up video game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, written by Gary Partis and first released in 1987. It is a fast vertical-scrolling shoot em up, the player must collect a number of orbs by first blasting off their covers, then flying over them to pick them up before depositing them by landing on a runway. The game vertically scrolls, with the player being able to change direction at any time, the landscape loops with the player being able to reach the bottom by travelling up far enough, and vice versa. The game is incredibly fast and smooth scrolling, and the author stated that he designed Syncron as an exercise in pure speed rather than playability. The levels feature tall buildings that need to be avoided, as the scrolling is so fast, the player must learn the layout of the level to avoid these hazards. The game was first released in 1987 as the game on The Superior Collection compilations. It was eventually given its own release as part of the Superior Software / Blue Ribbon budget series in 1989 and this version uses cover-art also used on the similar Blue Ribbon game Syntax
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Palace of Magic
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Palace of Magic is a computer game released on 1 November 1987 for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro by Superior Software. Combining platform elements with problem solving, it extremely similar gameplay principles to that of the earlier and better known game. As with that game, it is an example of the Metroidvania genre. The game begins with character in a palace, having been shrunk and taken out of your normal place. The overall objective is to restore your character to his original size. This involves guiding your character through the Palace and other locations, such as a church, woods. As in Citadel, the game is divided into rooms or screens and if the player loses too much energy in a room, the screen turns red and this prevents players from passing through a room simply by walking through enemies and taking the damage. Other similarities to Citadel include, Some areas of the game are not immediately accessible, in order to gain access the player needs to find a key with the same colour. Various objects are scattered throughout the game which must be collected to overcome obstacles, the location of a particular screen is provided by co-ordinates, with being the starting screen of the game. The BBC version also includes a vertical hardware scroll when the player strikes the ground after a long fall, in 2016, a new Acorn Electron version of Palace Of Magic was released. Called Palace Of Magic 2016, this new version is identical to the higher resolution Mode 2 BBC Micro version
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Zarch
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Zarch is a computer game developed by David Braben in 1987, for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer. Zarch started off as a demo called Lander which was bundled with almost all releases of the Acorn Archimedes, in 1988, Zarch was ported to the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and IBM PC. It was later ported to the ZX Spectrum by Steven Dunn, when it reviewed Zarch with a score of 979, the highest rating ACE had given at that time, only bettered by the later Amiga port Virus at 981. Virus was one of the first solid 3D games and was also the first to have 3D lighting effects and shadowing, in Zarch, the landscape is being invaded by aliens who are spreading a virus across the landscape. The seeder vessels scatter red virus particles across the landscape, as they land, they turn the green landscape to brown and red, and cause the trees to mutate. Some flying enemies shoot the mutated trees, to themselves to become much more aggressive. To clear each attack wave, the player must destroy all enemy vessels, at the conclusion of each attack wave the player is awarded bonus points for the amount of landscape which remains uninfected. After four attack waves have been repelled, the player is awarded a new landscape, however, there is comparatively less land and more water. Zarch is a difficult game for beginners. Controls are extremely sensitive, simply moving the mouse while taking off can cause the lander to explode on the launchpad, the lander has a single thruster pointing directly downwards beneath it. Firing the thruster causes the lander to fly straight upwards, the lander has a flight ceiling above which the thruster will not fire. To fly in any direction requires the lander to be tilted in that direction, the lander can only pitch and yaw, it cannot roll. Too much tilt can cause the lander to turn upside-down, a position which may be difficult to recover, the lander, although agile, is extremely vulnerable, and may be destroyed by a single enemy shot. The lander expends fuel and must occasionally return to the launchpad to refuel, the lander must be completely level to land. While refuelling, it is vulnerable to attack from the air. Every round fired costs one point, and the lander is equipped with a rapid-fire autocannon and this makes it possible to achieve a negative final score if one does not actually hit anything. At such times the game wryly points out that slugs and dried up bits of lichen have been known to get better scores than that. No powerups are available in the game, although the player has a number of smart missiles
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Elixir (video game)
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Elixir is a computer game for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro released in 1987 by Superior Software. It is an adventure platform game in which the player takes the role of a shrunken scientist. The story follows a scientist, named Cyril, who manages to shrink himself. In order to him to his normal size the player has to navigate their way around the laboratory, collecting vitamin pills. The game was released in 1987 for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro on a variety of media. It was available on cassette and 5.25 DFS floppy disk as well as ADFS3.5 disk for the Acorn Electron Plus 3 and Master Compact. It was included on the Play It Again Sam 5 compilation in 1988, elixir was not as widely praised as other Superior releases. Acorn User said The logical puzzles are well thought out, and give players something to get their teeth into
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Bonecruncher
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Bonecruncher is a computer game for the Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Commodore Amiga first published by Superior Software in 1987. It is a game which uses the rocks and diamonds mechanics of Boulder Dash. The player controls a dragon called Bono, who operates a soap business and he collects bones from around the chambers of his castle and uses them to make soap in a cauldron. He then delivers the soap to sea-monsters, situated at various exits from the castle. The main difference in game is that, although the characters are depicted in side profile. The boulders are living creatures known as Glooks and rather than just heading down the screen, as such, they change direction during play which changes the layout of the maze. This means the player must decide the order that the soap is delivered, Glooks are generally harmless but can crush the player when they move. There are two other creatures in the castle, monsters and spiders. Monsters can be trapped by pushing Glooks onto them, if they cant move, they turn to skeletons which Bono can collect to make soap. They can also be lured into trapdoors but then their bones are lost, spiders, as well as being deadly to Bono, eat skeletons. Another character in the game is Bonos assistant Fozzy who can be used to hold back monsters or spiders, there are also keys and doors and on each level a hidden volcano that will spew out Glooks if walked over. It takes five skeletons to make a bar of soap and five bars of soap must be created, there are 22 chambers in the castle. The game was designed by German programmer Andreas Kemnitz, originally for the Commodore 64 and he submitted the game to Superior Software, who had recently published the similar Repton 3 on the C64. Superior commissioned conversions to the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, machines on which they were market leaders, all versions of the game are almost identical, with no real changes for the 16-bit Amiga version. The game was launched before Christmas 1987 with all four versions being advertised but the Amiga version was delayed, the BBC and Electron versions were included on the Play It Again Sam 7 compilation in 1989 and reissued as part of the Superior/Blue Ribbon budget series in 1990. The game received positive reviews but there was a mixed response. ACE gave the C64 version a score of 943 and the Amiga version 948, Electron User gave an overall score of 9/10, particularly praising the humour of the game and the beautifully animated sprites. However, it is designed, presents sufficient challenge for worthy gameplay
