November in Review

After a few months of relative inactivity, November saw me getting back on track with 20 new game reviews. This included my ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ mini-series, taking a look at some Mastertronic games release on other systems. I also looked at five different fighting games in my ‘Fists of Fury’ mini-series.

Acquisitions-wise it was a slow month as expected, but I did pick up three more games, one of which I had suspicions didn’t actually exist!

During last months reviews I’ve discovered a few new decent games, most notably Rad Ramp Racer, and some more complete stinkers, including Jungle Story. So my three ‘top ten’ lists have been tweaked again slightly with two new entries in each.

Top Ten Original Mastertronic Games

  1. Street Surfer (Entertainment USA, 1986)

  2. Kikstart (Mastertronic, 1985)

  3. Big Mac: The Mad Maintenance Man (Mastertronic, 1985)

  4. Rad Ramp Racer (Mastertronic Plus, 1990)  **NEW ENTRY**

  5. Bomb Fusion (Mastertronic, 1989)

  6. Kane (Mastertronic, 1985)

  7. Hero of the Golden Talisman (M.A.D., 1985)

  8. Ninja (Entertainment USA, 1986)  **NEW ENTRY**

  9. Mindtrap (Mastertronic, 1989)

10. Night Racer (Mastertronic, 1988)

Top Ten Mastertronic Re-releases

  1. Ghostbusters (Ricochet, 1988)

  2. Rock n' Bolt (Ricochet, 1988)

  3. Rescue on Fractalus (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  4. Gemini Wing (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  5. Way of the Exploding Fist (Ricochet, 1988)  **NEW ENTRY**

  6. Aliens (Ricochet, 1988)

  7. Toy Bizarre (Ricochet, 1989)

  8. Alcazar (Mastertronic, 1989)  **NEW ENTRY**

  9. Tetris (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

10. SpeedKing (Mastertronic, 1985)

Bottom Ten Mastertronic Releases (In reverse order, worst at the bottom)

10. Rockford: The Arcade Game (M.A.D., 1988)

  9. Molecule Man (Mastertronic, 1986)  **NEW ENTRY**

  8. Knightmare (Ricochet, 1988)

  7. Speed Zone (Mastertronic, 1989)

  6. Jungle Story (Mastertronic, 1984)  **NEW ENTRY**

  5. Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Ricochet, 1987)

  4. Double Dragon (Mastertronic Plus, 1990)

  3. FA Cup Football (Ricochet, 1988)

  2. Sport of Kings (M.A.D., 1987)

  1. The Election Game (Mastertronic, 1984)

October in Review

Well, not a lot to say about October as I’ve only just started reviewing games again after my Play Expo distractions. Those that I did review were pretty good though, with the exception of the dire Super Trolley!

So, it must be time for an updated ‘best and worst’ games chart. As mentioned a couple of months back, I’m splitting the original games from the re-releases so I now have two top tens, but am keeping a combined ‘bottom ten’. The most notable addition to these new charts is a brand new worst-ever Mastertronic game!

Top Ten Original Mastertronic Games

  1. Street Surfer (Entertainment USA, 1986)

  2. Kikstart (Mastertronic, 1985)

  3. Big Mac: The Mad Maintenance Man (Mastertronic, 1985)

  4. Bomb Fusion (Mastertronic, 1989)

  5. Kane (Mastertronic, 1985)

  6. Hero of the Golden Talisman (M.A.D., 1985)

  7. Mindtrap (Mastertronic, 1989)

  8. Night Racer (Mastertronic, 1988)

  9. Panther (Entertainment USA, 1986)

10. Protector (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

Top Ten Mastertronic Re-releases

  1. Ghostbusters (Ricochet, 1988)

  2. Rock n' Bolt (Ricochet, 1988)

  3. Rescue on Fractalus (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  4. Gemini Wing (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  5. Aliens (Ricochet, 1988)

  6. Toy Bizarre (Ricochet, 1989)

  7. Tetris (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  8. Speed King (Mastertronic, 1985)

  9. Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge (Ricochet, 1987)

10. Erebus (Ricochet, 1988)

Bottom Ten Mastertronic Releases (In reverse order, worst at the bottom)

10. Super Trolley (Mastertronic, 1988)

  9. Munch Mania (Mastertronic, 1984)

  8. Rockford: The Arcade Game (M.A.D., 1988)

  7. Knightmare (Ricochet, 1988)

  6. Speed Zone (Mastertronic, 1989)

  5. Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Ricochet, 1987)

  4. Double Dragon (Mastertronic Plus, 1990)

  3. FA Cup Football (Ricochet, 1988)

  2. Sport of Kings (M.A.D., 1987)

  1. The Election Game (Mastertronic, 1984)

I’m hoping to ramp up the frequency of reviews again over the coming weeks, so expect to see new additions to all the charts in a month’s time!

Month 3 in Review

Well it’s actually month 3 and a bit really, but I thought after a quiet June it would be better to baseline each month of collecting as an actual month.

The majority of games reviewed this month have been rather mediocre, with nothing exceptionally good or bad for the most part. Consequently there are just a couple of new entries in my top ten and the bottom five is unchanged from last month.

Nothing else of note really happened during June either but hopefully now holidays and events are out of the way for a while, things may get a bit more interesting…

Top Ten

 1. Ghostbusters (Ricochet, 1988)

 2. Street Surfer (Entertainment USA, 1986)

 3. Kikstart (Mastertronic, 1985)

 4. Rock n' Bolt (Ricochet, 1988)

 5. Bomb Fusion (Mastertronic, 1989)

 6. Toy Bizarre (Ricochet, 1989)  **NEW ENTRY**

 7. Rescue on Fractalus (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

 8. Gemini Wing (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

 9. Kane (Mastertronic, 1985)

10. Tetris (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)  **NEW ENTRY**

Bottom Five (In reverse order, worst at the bottom)

5. Speed Zone (Mastertronic, 1989)

4. Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Ricochet, 1987)

3. Double Dragon (Mastertronic Plus, 1990)

2. FA Cup Football (Ricochet, 1988)

1. Sport of Kings (M.A.D., 1987)

One thing I am noticing is that a large proportion of the games in both ‘charts’ are re-releases of full price games, so from next month (once I’ve got more reviews under my belt) I’m going to do separate charts for original and re-released titles.

Month 2 in Review

It’s not quite a month since my last summary, but I’m off on holiday tomorrow so when the second month comes to an end nothing will have changed from today. This second month has been purely focussed on collecting and reviewing, so I’ll dispense with a highlights list and jump straight to the updated Top Ten and Bottom Five, based on my reviews so far.

Top Ten

 1. Ghostbusters (Ricochet, 1988)  **NEW ENTRY**

 2. Street Surfer (Entertainment USA, 1986)  **NEW ENTRY**

 3. Kikstart (Mastertronic, 1985)

 4. Rock n' Bolt (Ricochet, 1988)

 5. Bomb Fusion (Mastertronic, 1989)

 6. Rescue on Fractalus (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)  **NEW ENTRY**

 7. Gemini Wing (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

 8. Kane (Mastertronic, 1985)

 9. Speed King (Mastertronic, 1985)

10. Mindtrap (Mastertronic, 1989)

Bottom Five (In reverse order, worst at the bottom)

5. Speed Zone (Mastertronic, 1989)  **NEW ENTRY**

4. Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Ricochet, 1987)

3. Double Dragon (Mastertronic Plus, 1990)

2. FA Cup Football (Ricochet, 1988)  **NEW ENTRY**

1. Sport of Kings (M.A.D., 1987)

Interesting to note that thus far no M.A.D. game has been worthy of making it into my Top Ten. Maybe I just haven’t found the decent ones yet, or maybe that extra £1 per game just wasn’t worth it!

Month 1 in Review

It’s been just over a month since I started this blog so I thought I’d do a little summary of the highlights of my first month of collecting. If you’re new to the blog, just click on the links to jump to the original posts for more info.

Month 1 Highlights

• Starting this blog and my collection with 17 games from the Mastertronic range.
• Interviewing Anthony Guter about his time working for the company.
• Picking up over 100 new games from a variety of sources, including a great bundle from Steve Perry, a nice lot of ‘new old stock’ from Ebay and a selection of rarer titles from Retro Gaming World.
• Discovering some decent games that I’d never played before, such as Bomb Fusion, Speed King and Rock n’ Bolt.

Games-wise it’s been a real mixed bag, so here’s my Top Ten and Bottom Five of the games I’ve reviewed so far. Expect the Top Ten in particular to change dramatically over the coming months…

Top Ten

  1. Kikstart (Mastertronic, 1985)

  2. Rock n' Bolt (Ricochet, 1988)

  3. Bomb Fusion (Mastertronic, 1989)

  4. Gemini Wing (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  5. Kane (Mastertronic, 1985)

  6. Speed King (Mastertronic, 1985)

  7. Mindtrap (Mastertronic, 1989)

  8. Protector (Mastertronic Plus, 1989)

  9. One Man and His Droid (Mastertronic, 1985)

10. Action Biker (Mastertronic, 1985)

Bottom Five (in reverse order, worst at the bottom)

  5. Sweep! (Mastertronic, 1988)

  4. Rockford: The Arcade Game (M.A.D., 1988)

  3. Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Ricochet, 1987)

  2. Double Dragon (Mastertronic Plus, 1990)

  1. Sport of Kings (M.A.D., 1987)