Retro Jump : 1983

Games back in 1983 used to look this way. Now three decades on and with the platform game concept evolved, this retrospective looks at how games used to be, by mixing a modern game play style with an old audio visual style.

Objective:
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Keep jumping on platforms, as high as you can, tilt your device to guide the player.
But watch out for the video nasty hazards, toxic weed, strange guardians, falling stalactites.

Styling:
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In 1983 on a home computer called a ZX Spectrum 48k, which you connect to your television and cassette tape player. Yes its true, none of this 64GigaByte flash storage, games loaded from tape, taking several minutes, and screeched!. With this in mind have recreated a noisy loading sequence.

All of the graphics have been crafted to look blocky - low res, and using a limited colour palette (of the era).

The impact of Manic Miner on the British Computer Game Industry:
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In the summer 1983, Matthew Smith (age 17) created a breakthrough game for the era called Manic Miner. This was an inflection point in the British computer game industry. One person, (in his bedroom) revolutionised the quality of games adding an in game sound track and iconic graphics, it stood apart from games at that time.

I have used a similar visual style, and sounds in this retrospective, and hope you enjoy it.

Ironically I have used Garage Band on the iPad to create the soundtrack; it is difficult to make In the Hall of the Mountain King sound this retro-bad on such a great Application.

If I could contact Matthew, we could discuss using the actual graphics and sound - that would be cool.

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Matthew and Manic Miner inspired me at the age of 12 to start leaning to program Z80 based home computers such as ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Tatung Einstein, and 4 years later I released my first titles.

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Enjoy this game for what it is - Nostalgia in Retrospect !