It is that time of the year again, and it has been one with many ups and downs. We finish the year as we always aim to, with a set of new releases and recoveries for you to enjoy. Hopefully you will enjoy what we have in store for you:
‘Sooty and Sweep 2’ – full games recovered (two versions!)
Out of the blue and straight off the bat, we have the complete version of Sooty and Sweep 2 which was due for release by Alternative Software in 1991/92. But not one version, but two! A completely different build was made, and we have that here for you as well to check out:
‘Thomas the Tank Engine 2: The Race’ – full game recovered!
Putting to bed yet another lost Alternative Software game, we also have Thomas The Tank Engine 2 that was due out at the same time. I once thought this was vapourware after seeing it for so long on Commodore Format’s Early Warning scanner – but its here, and complete!
Thomas the Tank Engine 2: The Race
‘Paddle Mania’ – Playable advanced preview recovered!
We also have a big surprise (and something we weren’t expecting) with a fully playable and advanced preview of Sales Curve’s unreleased and incomplete Paddle Mania conversion. Written by Mark Greenshields and which was looking pretty solid. Now you can see the promise for yourself:
‘Rooster Booster’ – What became ‘Bombo’, special prototype recovered!
Whilst preserving Mark Greenshield’s disks, we were asked to look out for ‘Rooster Booster’ – the original game which eventually became ‘Bombo’. Thankfully we found a playable build which is mostly complete, but just lacking music. There’s different sprites and titles and possibly map differences for you to check out:
‘Spindizzy’ prototype – recovery of a very early prototype
Another surprise lurking within Mark Greenshield’s disks, marked “Spindizzy Preview”, this is a very early build of the game with unfinished score panels, missing sprites, missing colour schemes and unrefined controls. There could be some unused screens waiting to be discovered:
‘Kick Off 2’ prototype – very early look at Anco’s football game
Again, within Mark’s disks was another early build – this time for Kick Off 2, showcasing very different graphical menus compared to the disk version (tape was plain text) and a different score panel:
‘Cyborg Mission’ – complete Hungarian SEUCK effort recovered
Then right at the death, Csaba Virag got in touch to say that he had preserved a lost Hungarian SEUCK effort called Cyborg Mission – so we’ve added it to the update just in time for you:
5 new entries added
Then we have a set of other new entries to the archive to check out:
Fogd a Penzt, Infiltrator 3, Insectivore, Shadow Force, Unknown body defence game
20 updates added for existing entries
Finally, 20 existing entries have been updated with various scans, new information and more. Check out the history tab for each title for details of what has been added.
Abyss Zone, Albyon, Charlie Chaplin, Crackdown V1, Cyberdyne Warrior Intro, Cyberworm, Dr Bongo’s Safari Park, Eelona – The Warrior Princess, First Strike, Knights of Legend Expansion Packs, My Day On The Highway, Pegasus And The Trials Of Perseus, Phantasm, Shadowkeep, Skateball, The Liquidator, The Stock Exchange, Trick Ramp Crazy, Warp One, Welcome to hell
And with that, apart from an update this afternoon and tomorrow for other platforms – this is it on the Commodore 64 side of things until next year. We wish you all a great holiday break and thank you everyone for your kind support and input in 2025!
Until next year!…
