Sam Slade Robo-Hunter In : Escape From The Planet of The Robot Robo-Hunter Hunters (ZX Spectrum Game)

They said it couldn't be done!

They said it shouldn't be done! 

They said "Eh? Who's this 'they' he keeps going on about? We didn't say that!"

They said "Oh, we did say that, though... Now we're confused!  :s"

2000AD comic's Sam Slade Robo-Hunter has returned in a brand new, totally unofficial game for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum!

The 'C' stands for 'Christmas', 'Crackers' and 'Computer Code'!

 PLOT & OBJECTIVE

Oh, we need a plot, do we? ...Erm... Give me a minute...

Okay, how about this...

  It's Christmas and Sam Slade's faithful robot assistants Hoagy and Stogie have bought him a state of the art Virtual Reality system, (the ZX Ripovotron 3000), bundled with a brand new game entitled "Escape From The Planet of The Robot Robo-Hunter Hunters". The clueless duo believe that they've purchased a bargain, having obtained the system for a fraction of the recommended retail price from a mysterious figure on the street. Little do they know that the game is actually a trap devised by an evil, self proclaimed cyborg tech-genius known as Noel Skum.

  Having slowly become more and more roboticised while also becoming increasingly involved in a number of dodgy dealings and nefarious schemes, Noel believes it is only a matter of time before he ends up on Sam Slade's bounty-hunting radar and has decided to pre-empt such an eventuality.

  When Sam puts on the VR headset he immediately becomes trapped within the virtual world and must fight for his life for real. Eventually realising what has happened, Stogie patches Hoagy into the system in an attempt to assist Sam, but Hoagy's inferior AI fragments, causing the robot to appear in-game in a number of locations as a levitating head and also have some of his memories manifest, such as that of Sam's Robo-Meter, Cutie.

  It transpires that Noel Skum has also patched himself into the system remotely, in order to direct the game's virtual droids and generally keep an eye on things. To escape from the digital realm, Sam must search for and defeat Noel's robotic avatar, thus completing the game and destroying Noel in both worlds.

CONTROLS

• Kempston Joystick
• Sinclair Joystick
• Cursor Joystick (or keys, 0 = jump)

Up - Move forward
Left + Right - Rotate
Down - Fire
Fire - Jump
A - Quit game
ALT and F4 - Exit bundled emulator

Note : Exiting and re-entering a room resets it.

Zip file includes the instructions and mock inlay shown above, tzx, tap, z80 and sna files, PLUS a version you can run straight away without setting anything up! Just extract the files, click on "Sam Slade.bat", (or "Slade.exe" in the 'PC' folder), and you'll be up and running. You can even use your favourite control pad by selecting 'Kempston' from the options.

Sam Slade Robo-Hunter is a completely unofficial, not-for-profit fan-game by Malcolm Kirk.

Created using Iain Christopher Hayward's 3D Game Maker.

Robo-Hunter™ Rebellion A/S, © Rebellion A/S.

SPECIAL BONUS PROGRAM INCLUDED!

Blockmania : A list of cheats and pokes for 2000 AD ZX Spectrum games!

TO DOWNLOAD SAM SLADE ROBO-HUNTER, CLICK HERE!

My previous 2000 AD related ZX Spectrum games are available to download from the following links...

TO DOWNLOAD DREDD OVER EELS, CLICK HERE!

TO DOWNLOAD ZOMBO'S CHRISTMAS CAPERS, CLICK HERE!

TO DOWNLOAD THE FIRST ZOMBO GAME, CLICK HERE!

Created in conjunction with the 2000AD MESSAGEBOARD ADVENT CALENDAR 2022.

JINGLE BORAGS, EVERY ONE!

The Unofficial Zombo's Christmas Capers (ZX Spectrum Game)

He's back, and this time it's Christmas! Zombo returns in this brand new completely unofficial game for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum! Now featuring 76% less game-breaking bugs than the first game in the series!

What's that you say? You can't be bothered fiddling with emulators? Now you don't have to, as it comes bundled with a version that'll run on your PC without having to set anything up!

THE PLOT

Centuries of overwork and stress have finally taken their toll - Santa™ has suffered a psychotic break and gone missing from his workshop in North Renfrewshire. The Government™ have tasked Zombo™ with tracking down Mr. Claus™ and retrieving the gifts for all the good little boys and girls™. Luckily, the naughty list is rather long these days, so he only needs to find a total of six presents.

GAMEPLAY

You must retrieve 6 presents and defeat the end of game baddy to win. Colour coded keys are scattered around, as are several other items, some of which are useful, others of which are not, but there's a Shootybang 2000™ somewhere which'll probably come in handy, (please bear in mind that the Shootybang 2000™ can only fire horizontally).

CONTROLS

• Kempston Joystick
• Sinclair Joystick
• Keyboard 

Q - Up

A - Down

O - Left

P - Right

SPACE - Fire
H - St. Bernard's Watch (Pause)

3 - Instantaneous Death Button (Quit Game)

ALT and F4 - Exit bundled emulator

BADDIES

Killer Sprout - Bounces, requires 1 shot to kill.

Yellow Snowman - Moves erratically, requires 1 shot to kill.

Nutcracker Soldier - Moves vertically, unkillable.

Scrooge-Elf - Moves horizontally, unkillable.

Killer Xmas Tree - Follows player, requires multiple shots to kill.

Zip file includes the instructions and mock inlay shown above, tzx, tap, z80 and sna files, PLUS a version you can run straight away without setting anything up! Just extract the files, click on "Zombo's Xmas Capers.bat", (or "Capers.exe" in the 'PC' folder), and you'll be up and running. You can even use your favourite control pad by selecting 'Kempston' from the options. However, please note that this version does away with the loader, (but if you want to see what that looks like, click here).

TO DOWNLOAD ZOMBO'S CHRISTMAS CAPERS, CLICK HERE!

But that's not all! I've also updated the original Zombo game to include a new Mint Choc Chip flavour! What's that I hear you say again, (thus confirming I'm either psychic, insane, or have surreptitiously bugged your home)? What the hell am I talking about? I'll tell you what the hell I'm talking about... It now comes with a built in emulator just like Christmas Capers, and the 'teleportation' bug feature has been removed for ease of play. How d'ya like them artichokes?

The original Vanilla version is also still there for the masochistic among you.

TO DOWNLOAD THE FIRST ZOMBO GAME, CLICK HERE!

Zombo and Zombo's Christmas Capers are completely unofficial, not-for-profit fan-games by Malcolm Kirk.

Programmed in Jonathan Cauldwell's Arcade Game Designer.

Zombo™ Rebellion A/S, © Rebellion A/S.

Created in conjunction with the 2000AD MESSAGEBOARD ADVENT CALENDAR 2016™.

Zombo For The ZX Spectrum

You've read the comic, you've bought the action figure, now play the brand new game for the ZX Spectrum!

Not a dream! Not an imaginary thing like what someone does for a joke or something! This is the real thing - an actual thing that you can download right now, right here.

Artwork by Henry Flint

FEATURES

• Predefined keys!
• The ability to fire in two different directions - left and right!
• Roughly ten whole minutes of semi-challenging gameplay!
• Random teleportations into different areas, becoming trapped in the scenery for all eternity!

More stuff from the comic. © 2015 Rebellion.

THE PLOT

When Flight 303 crash-lands on the proto-sentient and highly lethal deathworld known as Chronos, it does not bode well for the surviving passengers. Only one well-mannered zombie/man hybrid can save the day. He is Zombo, the result of a top secret Government™ experiment to create the ultimate soldier or weapon or something. Trust your Government™.

GAMEPLAY

You must rescue 6 survivors and defeat the secret end of game baddy to win. Colour coded keys are scattered around the planet, as are several other items, some of which may help, others of which may not, but there's a gun somewhere which'll probably come in handy. However, please bear in mind that the Shootybang 2000™ can only fire horizontally. To fire vertically, you'd require an upgrade to the Shootybang 3000™ and that's not available to you within this game.

CONTROLS

• Kempston Joystick
• Sinclair Joystick
• Keyboard 

Q - Up

A - Down

O - Left

P - Right

SPACE - Fire
H - Pause

3 - Instantaneous Death Button (Quit Game)

BADDIES

Killer Space Fruit - Bounces, requires 1 shot to kill.

Killer Space Scorpion - Moves erratically, requires 1 shot to kill.

Killer Mutant Space Hillbilly - Moves vertically, unkillable.

Killer Space Zombie - Moves horizontally, unkillable.

 Killer Rogue Death Shadow - Follows player, requires multiple shots to kill.

WHY HAVE YOU MADE A ZX SPECTRUM GAME ABOUT ZOMBO?

Because the plot of the 2000 AD comic strip is exactly the sort of bizarre premise that a lot of those old 8-bit games used to have, and I knew there was software available that meant that I could if I wanted to, (in this case, Arcade Game Designer by Jonathan Cauldwell). Add to that the strangely British sensibilities and twistedly nostalgic pop culture references, and a slightly buggy game for the Spectrum just seemed a perfect tie-in.

Zip file includes the instructions above, tzx, tap, z80 and sna files, and a mock cassette inlay. You'll need a Spectrum emulator to play, but you should have no trouble finding one of those online.

TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME CLICK HERE!

This is a completely unofficial, not-for-profit fan-game by Malcolm Kirk.

Programmed in Jonathan Cauldwell's Arcade Game Designer.

Zombo™ Rebellion A/S, © Rebellion A/S.

Incidentally other, older, official spectrum games based on 2000ad properties are available from HERE and  a recently rediscovered Judge Dredd game by Virgin games is available HERE.

Splundig Vur Thrigg, as they say on Quaxxan.

SEPTEMBER 2015 UPDATE :

To view the walkthrough mentioned in the comments CLICK HERE.

To see a game map CLICK HERE.

For an infinite lives poke CLICK HERE.

To see a retro advert for the Zombo action figure/toy thing, featuring Tharg The Mighty, alien editor of 2000 AD,  CLICK HERE.

DECEMBER 2016 UPDATE :

Now includes Zombo in Mint Choc Chip flavour, (essentially a bugfixed version which removes the 'teleporting').

Dead By Dawn : New Game for the ZX Spectrum!

30 years ago, a man unleashed something into this world, the likes of which had never before been seen by mortal eyes. A thing which changed forever all who came into contact with it. That man was Clive Sinclair, and that thing was the ZX Spectrum.

One year previously, the first Evil Dead film had also been unleashed upon an unsuspecting public.

Now these two pop culture phenomenomenomena have been forever fused together into a disturbing game what I did. (Actually there was another spectrum game years ago, that kind of already did that, but forget about that for now).

Dead By Dawn is actually based on the second film in the series, Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn, a film which mixed the original's horror with a large dollop of dark cartoony comedy.  Both films have  constantly been homaged, referenced, parodied and ripped off over the years, in everything from cartoons to music videos to other films like Cabin In The Woods. There was a final sequel in 1992, Army of Darkness, (not really a horror film at all), and next year sees a suitably nasty-looking remake of the first movie being released.

Anyway, back to the game...

I first had the idea for Dead By Dawn, around the same time I was using 3D Construction Kit to create Loups Garoux, (more info about that HERE).  Evil Dead 2 was, (and still is), one of my favourite films and I found myself figuring out how different scenarios from the film could be implemented within the confines of the Freescape game engine. Of course, this was at the time the Spectrum's commercial life was ending, and I had little motivation to get the thing made. It was only a number of years later, when I became aware of just how big the retro gaming scene had become, that I decided to sit down and make a start on it.

PLOT

You are Bruce Charcoal, you've accidentally awoken an ancient evil and now you must find 12 pages of a magical spellbook in order to banish that evil forever. There are a few beasties you'll have to defeat on the way, but luckily, you're armed with a shotgun and you also get access to a chainsaw, which you'll need for one big beasty in particular, but you'll have to find it first.

CONTROLS

O : Forward

K : Back
Z : Left
X : Right
Q : Turn left
W : Turn right
P : Look up
L : Look down
R : Stand up
F : Crouch
A : Activate object
SPACE : Toggle gun-sight
B : Fire
U : U-turn
I : Centre view
symbol shift : run (different emulators may use different keys for this one, but it's most likely to be CTRL on your keyboard)

There's a work in progress video of the game HERE, (I've altered the border around the main play area since I recorded that).

The zip file contains the game as tzx, z80 and sna files, and there's also a jpeg of a mock cassette inlay for the game. You'll need a spectrum emulator in order to play the thing, but you should be able to find something suitable HERE. 

RIGHT CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GAME!

Addendum 24/11/12 : Now also includes a tap file, that I noticed had been posted on the World of Spectrum forums, courtesy of Frank Triggs. Ta, Frank.

I'll leave you with an iconic scene from the film which inspired it...

Indeed.

Malcolm Kirk's Crap Games Corner

Something a bit different this time. Today is the 30th birthday of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, a classic British 8-bit computer. To celebrate this, I've decided to upload a few programs I 'created' way back when, (I actually nicked two of them from books and fiddled about with them a bit). They're .Z80 files and the most of them are crap, (but that just adds to the nostalgia). You'll need a spectrum emulator to have a proper look at them, though you should be able to find something suitable online.

Click HERE to download the tiny zip file containing all the programmy stuff.


1 : ADENOIDS

This was a Breakout clone printed in the Spectrum +2 manual in the BASIC programming language. I modified it slightly, adding graphical flourishes and snazzy effects, making it far slower and quite a bit worse. Hurrah!


2 & 3 : ATTACK OF THE KILLER LAWNMOWERS FROM HELL 1 & 2

I'll let the video speak for itself...





Controls for AOTKLFH1 : Shift & M     Controls for AOTKLFH2 : M


4 : ADVANCED GETTING EATEN BY SOME GIANT BABY BALD EAGLES SIMULATOR

An unplayable demo programmed in BASIC, using user-defined graphics.


5 : MICK THE MOLEKILLER

Another UDG BASIC demo thingy.


6 : TARGET CRAP

You can 'play' this one. Enter your initials, press enter,  and press SPACE to fire and see if you can hit the target. Basic in every sense of the word.


7 : ULTRA BOMBER

This was another type-in program printed in a book, (not sure which one). Again, I added a few extra graphicy bits, namely, an explosion, a splash and some contrails.

Controls are 8 : Down, 9 : Up  and 0 : Fire.


...and last but not least, a proper, less crap game...


8 : LOUPS GAROUX





This is a game created using Domark's 3-D Construction Kit, a nifty program that allowed you to create 'Freescape' games in the style of classic spectrum games, such as Driller, Total Eclipse and Castle Master. I'd originally intended to send the game for inclusion on Your Sinclair magazine's cover-tape, but this was 1993, the Spectrum was no longer in production. Its commercial life was over, and so games and software were disappearing from shops, and inevitably, all the magazines disappeared too, with Your Sinclair being the last to go in September of that year, (although it would return for one more issue, eleven years later, as a free giveaway with Retro Gamer magazine).

THE PLOT

In Loups Garoux you play the part of Antoine Gandillon, a man cursed to become a wolf each full moon. Seeking a cure for your affliction, you must find a witch and collect potions for her. You'll also need crucifixes. Not only do these restore energy, you'll need them to defeat a creature which holds one of the potions.

CONTROLS

O : Forward
K : Back
Z : Left
X : Right
Q : Turn left
W : Turn right
P : Look up
L : Look down
R : Stand up
F : Crouch
A : Activate object
SPACE : Toggle gun-sight
B : Fire
U : U-turn
I : Centre view


COMING SOON...

I've got a few more crappy bits and pieces that I'll probably upload at a later date. So, keep an eye out for those, and there's also another one of those Freescape things that I've been meaning to finish for ages which will definitely be online in some form or other by the end of this year. Yes, it will. I've said it now. Watch this space!

In the meantime, check out World of Spectrum for "loads" (ho, ho), of speccy goodness.

Coming Soon...

In ZX Spectrum-O-Vision!