As I write this, I'm preparing to start at the University of Derby (other Higher Education establishments are available), so I thought that I'd reflect on one of my favourite 8-bit games from the classic 'home computing' era for a change, and you may not have heard of it.

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One of the very first pieces of entertainment software I played was Activision’s excellent Park Patrol, in which you had to take on the day-to-day life of a humble male or female Park Ranger. I remember vividly the pastel colours of the Commodore 64 that my Dad purchased for us from his brother when my Uncle upgraded to a C128 (we had a "Revision A" motherboard with the extra 'noise' on the VIC-II graphics chip). I remember being impressed with the apparent smoothness of the way Mr. or Mrs. Parkie ran around, as well as the superb tones emanating from the television speaker, all happening thanks to the box of tricks plugged into the TV.

Although not nearly as memorable as musical scores from the likes of Firebird's Arcade Classics - with their superb guitar-like harmonics and melodies - or Mastertronic's curious One Man And His Droid, I still remember Park Patrol's somewhat simpler tunes with a certain amount of glee, something that - sadly - emulation doesn't quite capture.

As for the gameplay, well... At such a young age, it was simply brilliant - even if I wasn't that good at playing it. Not only could you customise most of the events within (to make a super-easy mode, something that I really appreciated), the tasks were also nicely balance - the main job being to collect the rubbish strewn around the park, whilst keeping an eye on the swimmers in-the lake and avoiding the turtles on land.

You could re-energise by visiting your shack, though ants would take your food on later levels by default. You'd also need to look out for the water snakes, which could pierce your dinghy, and the floating logs that would throw you into the water if you hit them at the right speed. With enough skill, though, you were able to practice log rolling for extra bonus points, but this was way too difficult for me.

Revisiting Park Patrol after nearly 25 years was quite an experience; for a moment, I was a child again - from when the loading screen appeared through to the familiar main menu. The main difference is that I'm a whole lot better at playing the game than I remember, and whereas I used to make the game easier, the opposite is happening now; I actually fancied a bit more of a challenge. There isn't so much shame in playing the female Ranger anymore, either! Though, at the time, I did wonder why there weren't more girls interested in home computing or video games.

Tony Ngo created a fine game at a time when developers had more freedom and the industry became obsessed with licences and branding. Choosing the gender of the main character gave us something aimed at both sexes equally, bold thinking as video and computer entertainment software was clearly more a boys thing, wasn't it? Well, there’s one of my memories, so I'd like to hear some of yours.

Contact Retro Mart If you have any retro-related questions, memories, stories or news, why not email shaun@micromart.co.uk, or use the Micro Mart forums available at www.micromart.co.uk.

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