Mastertronic Memories

[TL]

Apart from Codemasters the other prolific publishers of budget games for the 8-bit machines were Mastertronic who also released games for more than just the big 3 of the Spectrum, Amstrad and C64.

So what were your favourite games by them, for what machine and why?

I am going to start off with the less than obvious one (I let somebody else mention that!) and go for this beauty:



I loved Agent X II, from its strangely melodic music to its colourful graphics and unique fruit based power-up system. This was probably the best budget horizontal shoot 'em up released on the machine.

[Havantgottaclue]

Did the Spectrum version of Agent X2 have music by Tim Follin as well? I remember that being the highlight of the C64 version.

My memories of Mastertronic go right back to the early "delights" of BMX Racers, Squirm and Starace (sometimes spelt Star Race). They were all pretty awful. First Mastertronic game I remember enjoying was Spooks - a challenging arcade adventure with primitive graphics. It gave you a percentage rating when you pegged it - despite my many attempts I don't think I ever managed to get much over 40%.

[TL]

Did the Spectrum version of Agent X2 have music by Tim Follin as well? I remember that being the highlight of the C64 version.

Yes it did and what was more impressive is that it just used the 1 channel beeper and not the AY chip of the 128k!!!!

Agent X2 ZX Spectrum

[guest4281]

The first ever game I bought from Mastertronic was this:



Wasn't it amazing that you could go into your local newsagent, buy a pack of Panini stickers, some Monster Munch and a computer game for under £3.00!

By the way, whilst searching for the above cover I came across this site:
http://www.mjb-graphics.co.uk/mastertronic.htm

[TL]

I have never even heard od, let alone played, that game! 

[Carlos]

Chiller was great, my first Matertronic game was Whodunnit, it was a cludo clone written in BASIC. not great.

[DreamcastRIP]

Mastertronic games for Speccy I have fond memories of,

180
Chiller
Kane
Kikstart II

[CeefaxOfDelphi]

Kane, The Last V8 and Finders Keepers were the ones that come straigh to mind - but I had loads at the time - wonder how many titles they released?

[zapiy]

Quote of the day. Love it.

Wasn't it amazing that you could go into your local newsagent, buy a pack of Panini stickers, some Monster Munch and a computer game for under £3.00!

[Havantgottaclue]

By the way, whilst searching for the above cover I came across this site:
http://www.mjb-graphics.co.uk/mastertronic.htm

Wow, very interesting find there.

[Greyfox]

Since my mastertronic days where based on the Atari 8 bit days, the last v8 and red max where very popular with my m8s back then, also I absolutely loved Ninja, so much , I used to sneak down to our front living room and wait the 9 mins the game used to take to load up and have a bash, when I should off been in bed, and when my mother walk passed the stained glass door, I'd turn the tv off and hope I wouldn't be caught, and hide in the darkness, man they where the days, so I thank Mastertronic for that alone, I think I was about 9 years old.

[Havantgottaclue]

Ninja was an enjoyable game. It had quite nice animation IIRC. The C64 version had only one enemy attacking at any given time, the rest "queued up" - I seem to remember that on the A8 they all attack simultaneously, or is my memory deceiving me?

Anyway, some other C64 Mastertronic games I enjoyed were:

Motos: A very simple game involving pushing enemies off a bas-relief platform. Elementary but very addictive.
Gaplus: Probably my favourite single-screen shooter, it's a very well presented conversion with terrific music.
POD: Possibly better on the C16 because the colour schemes don't cause eyestrain. Either version represents the very essence of twitch gaming.
Voidrunner: Another very interesting single-screen shooter, it's Minter at his most focused - a more-or-less yak-free shooter whose variety comes primarily from the movement of your 4 turrets, which changes from level to level. Like POD, it really is all about your dexterity and therefore really a must for purists. Also on C16 I believe, though I've never played it.

I should also mention:
Intergalactic Cage Match: It's hideous.

[CeefaxOfDelphi]

Minter did a Mastertronic game - blimey - never knew that. 

strange the way mastertronic supported C16 when a lot of software houses didn't

[Havantgottaclue]

Yes, Mastertronic did support the C16 well - there's a list of all their C16 releases here. I can't see Voidrunner amongst them, so I can only assume there wasn't a version after all. POD is though, which I'm very glad about, because I've actually played the C16 version of that.

Of the bigger software houses, they were quite well supported by Gremlin. In fact, Trailblazer first appeared on the platform. I suppose the C16 was really meant for the kinds of basic arcade thrills that were more suited to budget releases than full price.

As far as Minter is concerned, he also released Revenge 2 (listed as Return of the Mutant Camels on Lemon 64) through Mastertronic.

EDIT: Voidrunner did appear on the C16, it's just listed as produced by Llamasoft so it's not on the Mastertronic list, although I'm pretty sure it was published by them.

[Console Compulsive]

Personal favorites from mastertronic were Spellbound, Finders Keepers, Lap of the Gods, Jasons Gem, Ghostbusters but the one that kept me occupied for the longest had to be Journeys End, a great multi part fantasy adventure game.