Dragon Ninja (Imagine) (Commodore 64/128)

An excellent conversion. The trouble is that, just like the coin-op, it's very samey so, for all the nice graphics and frenetic action in the world, it's not a classic.

Thunderblade (U. S. Gold) (Commodore 64/128)

By no means a disaster but it comes nowhere close to Operation Wolf in the gameplay stakes.

Veteran (Software Horizons) (Amiga 500)

Veteran is by no means a poor game, but it's budget and it does show. The test is undoubtedly tough enough, but I think most would rather wait for the real thing than meet the poor relation.

Zak McKraken And The Alien Mindbenders (Lucasfilm) (Commodore 64/128)

If you can put up with American humour and the lo-res graphics then who knows, you might find yourself having a lot of fun with this game.

The Incredible Shrinking Sphere (Electric Dreams) (Commodore 64/128)

A complicated sort of a game in which you control a sphere on a metallic 3D pinball table landscape. All sorts of bumpers, flippers and weirdo gadgets for you to experiment with.

Robocop (Ocean) (Commodore 64/128)

A very good game, although it doesn't rank anywhere near the Spectrum 128 version, which has much better graphics and sound.

Tiger Road (Capcom) (Commodore 64/128)

It's not what you'd call sophisticated, but it's a good crack all the same.

Sorcerer Lord (Wargamers Series) (Amiga 500)

A passable war game though somewhat devoid of any real expansion or scenario change.

No Excuses (Arcana) (Amiga 500)

No Excuses is fun, but when it comes down to it, it's really nothing more than fifty levels of stand on the right square, press Fire, and then stand on this square, press Fire, etc, etc.

IK+ (System 3) (Amiga 500)

The hippest, not to mention the best, beat-'em-up on the Amiga yet. Should be considered essential.

Arkanoid: Revenge Of Doh (Imagine) (Amiga 500)

The original concept of Arkanoid is so brilliantly simple, and so simply brilliant, that, warts and all, Revenge Of Doh couldn't ever be a total turkey. But the poor sprite detection renders the gameplay unpredictable, and therefore naff.

Spitting Image (Domark) (Amiga 500)

Domark have quite successfully managed to capture the feel of the TV programme, fun, well put together, but short lived.

A Question Of Sport (Elite) (Commodore 64)

The time might be right for trivia games, but the board version is better, and you can still play along to the real thing at home.

Super Hang-On (Electric Dreams) (Amiga 500)

One of the best arcade conversions on any machine to date and certainly one of the best racing games.

Better Dead Than Alien (Electra) (Commodore 64/128)

Give this a swerve at all costs.

Total Eclipse (Incentive) (Commodore 64)

A huge game with a lot to do and keep you occupied. But what really ruins it is the appalling speed, caused by the graphics and their angular positions being so complex.

Mafdet (Wicked) (Amiga 500)

Depressing to play, not that cheap and most definitely not cheerful.

Eliminator (Hewson Consultants) (Amiga 500)

The gameplay is simple, but don't let that put you off: there's plenty there to keep you occupied and the levels are well graded so that progress is steadily won.

Return Of The Jedi (Domark) (Commodore 64)

The first two games fared averagely on the C64 because they were vector graphics only, and the C64 isn't very well equipped insofar as vectors are concerned. But this one will fail because it isn't much fun.

Return Of The Jedi (Amiga) (Amiga 500)

Doubtless the best version but perhaps for completists of the Atari trilogy only.

Supersports (Gremlin) (Commodore 64)

It might sound exciting, but it's all a bit feeble really.

S.D.I. (Activision) (Commodore 64)

It's a good old blast, no question about that, and if you liked the coin-op you won't be disappointed, but I guess it is just a bit too crude for a sophisticate like me.

The Deep (U. S. Gold) (Amiga 500)

A good game, and something of a novelty.

Double Dragon (Melbourne House) (Commodore 64/128)

It's only really necessary to use the punch and kick to knock the enemies down... but they get up again, giving confusing exhaustive boredom with addictive toughness. The agonising multi-load on the thing does it no favours either.

Double Dragon (Amiga) (Amiga 500)

The graphics and gameplay are much improved from the C64 version.

Master Blaster (Zeppelin Games) (Commodore 64/128)

This is actually just pure Asteroids, which isn't such fun.

Peter Packrat (Silverbird) (Commodore 64/128)

Solid budget entertainment for old-fashioned gamers.

Camelot Warriors (Mastertronic) (Commodore 64/128)

A lot of destruction for such a cheap game, very pretty graphics though and more than a couple of quids' worth of puzzlement.

Hustler (MIL) (Commodore 64)

You position a cursor where you want the cue ball to go and press fire when the power meter reaches the required wallop. Then the cueball heads for the target ball with not very much realism. Cheap - even for a cheapo.

Into The Eagle's Nest (Pandora) (Commodore 64)

It's standard arcade adventure fare, but enlivened by well-drawn graphics.

Super Stuntman (Codemasters) (Commodore 64/128)

A stuntman theme is a cracking idea for a game, and I don't know why someone else didn't think of it sooner. Each stage is a vertical scroller with obstacles.

Bubble Bobble (Silverbird) (Commodore 64/128)

Great fun still - they don't make 'em like this any more!

Ghost Hunters (Codemasters) (Commodore 64/128)

This is not bad at all, though the idea of a ramboesque figure zapping spooks with a big gun is a little odd.

Leaderboard (Kixx) (Commodore 64/128)

It was the bestselling title of 1986 because it is one of the best sports simulations to appear on the C64.

Terra Fighter (Zeppelin Games) (Commodore 64/128)

Nothing new here, but it's competent budget blasting for shoot-'em-up fiends who need a regular infusion of something new each month.

Dream Zone (Baudville) (Amiga 500)

Once you get used to the command system, and familiar with the way the game plays, it's brilliant!

Thunderblade (U. S. Gold) (Amiga 500)

There's no denying this is the home computer version: Amiga owners are finally getting what they want from their machine!