Two new entertainment-based software productions have recently been released for the old BBC Micro thanks to the independent web-based publishing outfit Retro Software.

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For anyone who's a fan of the classic 'Snake' game, in which you guide an ever-hungry, slithery reptile to eat the pellets and satisfy his (or her) appetite, there's Hyper Viper, released as freeware and written by Kenton Price.

Hyper Viper is (loosely) based on a Barcrest fruit machine of the same name, and rather than the traditional Snake game, scenery has been added to make proceedings just a little more difficult and interesting, such as pesky rocks and walls, which are limiting factors to the space left as your legless reptile grows in length.

Additional fixes have been added by Paul Davis, who has tweaked the sound so that it plays on the Acorn Electron, added a high score table and reduced the chance of a random respawning rock killing you instantly without warning, so whether you own the Teacher's favourite 8-bit micro'(that's the BBC Micro model B, by the way) or its cost-reduced cousin, Hyper Viper is one for the collection.

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If you're more of a fan of 2D platform games, then why not give Hard Hat Harry a look-in. It tells the story of intrepid hero Harry who's been tasked with collecting all the mugs of tea stolen by the animals. It's that simple really; traverse the screen and climb the ladders, avoid the disgruntled animals and collect the mugs. Hard Hat Harry is written by Tom Walker and is compatible again with the Electron and BBC.

Both titles may be downloaded from www.retrosoftware.co.uk, at which site you will find other releases for the educational 8-bit, including a recently uncovered and official Repton game. Those Acorn-inclined types should certainly bookmark this page.

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There's a new demo version of an Eric And The Floaters clone called Flynn's Adventure In Bombland, which has been announced through the World of Spectrum (WoS) forums.

If you know your gaming history, you'd be aware that Eric And The Floaters, released by Hudson Software in 1984 for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, was known as Bomberman in Japan when it graced the MSX around the same time. This title later found its way onto the likes of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and other consoles, and became one of the most popular multiplayer games of the 1990s.

Flynn's Adventure In Bombland requires a 48K Speccy, and although being single-player, is extremely polished (the graphics especially so for this type of game). It is Tom Dalby's first attempt at Z80 machine code; I have to say, you wouldn't think so. Any feedback or comments will be very welcome.

To find out more, and to obtain the tape image of the playable demo, head over to tinyurl.com/Flynns-Adventure, and if you're a member of the WoS forums, then leave Tom your thoughts. And if not, why not sign up today?

I know it's been a longer break than planned, but the Commodore Coding Corner series will be returning to this page next week for those who've been waiting for another dose of 6502 assembly language. If you've missed any parts of the tutorial, then why not ask some questions over at the Retro Mart sub-forum via the Micro Mart website. You'll see the relevant thread there. I'll see you next week.