Popular games published by company Melbourne House

J.R.R. Tolkien's War in Middle Earth is the 16-bit game with additional adventuring features compared to the 8-bit version, loosely depicting the events of the One Ring from the Shire to Mt. Doom. The game starts with the three hobbits: Frodo, Sam, and Pippin surrounded by nine individual units of Nazgul near the Shire. Although the first task is to travel to Rivendell, the player is free to decide how heroes and armies progress, despite the in-game conventional storyline.

Discover Kung-Fu: The Way of the Exploding Fist (also known as Way of the Exploding Fist, The Way of the Exploding Fist), an excellent game of 1985 runnable on Amstrad CPC system. With side view, fixed / flip-screen perspective, the publisher Melbourne House had wonderful ideas around fighting, martial arts.

Xenon is a 1988 vertical scrolling shooter computer game, developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Melbourne House which was then owned by Mastertronic. Xenon was followed in 1989 by Xenon 2: Megablast. The player assumes the role of Darrian, a future space pilot called into action by a mayday report from his superior on a nebula space station. As of late, the colonies of mankind have been under attack by mysterious and violent aliens called the Xenites and it is finally time for Darrian to engage them. Unlike most scrolling shooters, the player can move in any direction instead of straight up. The player craft has two modes, a flying plane and a ground tank. The transition between crafts can be initiated at almost any time during play (except during the mid- and end-of-level boss sections, as well as certain levels where a certain mode is forced), and the mode chosen depends on the nature of the threat the player faces. Destroying some enemies released power-ups the player could catch to enhance their ship.

It's 100 years since nuclear warheads totalled the Earth, 40 years since the militant Survivors crawled from their underground bunkers to struggle against the mutated Evolved for control of the surface. With a victory for either side seeming doubtful, many people from both sides fled the conflict 40 years ago and have spent the time regrouping, licking their wounds, and planning for the next assault. Now the New Survivors pour out of the ground, trying to retake the surface. The 'Further Evolved' ride mutant beasts to defend the surface once again. But now there's a whole new factor no-one's accounted for. From a line of dust on the horizon, the Series 9 robotic army, once farming robots, whose purpose in life was lost when the farmland they were built to protect was burned in the nuclear annihilation, and now with revenge in their crazed visors, storm across the land killing anything they can find. The War of the Three Armies is getting underway. Pretty scary huh?

A ground breaking text-adventure video game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

Nuts & Milk is a platform-style puzzle game developed and published by Japanese software developer Hudson Soft in 1983. The game was released initially on the FM-7, MSX, NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-6001, and later to the Famicom in Japan. It was the first third party video game to be released on a Nintendo console.

Welcome to the world of Barbarian. In this world you control our hero "Hegor". Once the game has started you will see him standing in the marsh. Using the mouse, jouystick or keyboard (or all three simultaneously) you issue commands that control his actions. Thus enabling you to explore the world of Durgan. You should always remember that Barbarian features context sensitive animation which allows the same commands to do different things depending on the situation Hegor is involved in. In order to complete the game you must locate and destroy the crystal which is the source of the evil power of Necron. Once the crystal has been destroyed the volcano in which Durgan is located will start to erupt making it imperative that you reach the surface again before it blows.

Princess Priscilla has been kidnapped and the player seems to be the only valliant hero willing to rescue the damsel in distress. This is the second text adventure with illustrating graphics released by Sierra. Communicating with the game works via entering commands which tell the player's alter ego where to go and what to do. Since the parser is a very basic one it only understands two-word commands. Two years after its initial release, the game was renamed "Adventure in Serenia" for its PC release. This suggested sequel was, however, exactly the same game as in its previous incarnation.

The Fellowship of the Ring is an interactive fiction (with graphics) game based on the first volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, describing the efforts of the Hobbits Frodo, Pippin, and Sam and their quest to bring the ring to Mount Doom. The game is divided into two parts (represented by two separate executable files: DOS version). The first part starts with Frodo at his home in the Shire, where eventually you will team up with the other Hobbits Pippin and Sam, as well as Aragorn and Gandalf. From meeting with Tom Bombadil, the Green Knight, the Balrog and ends with the Nazgul River incident. The second part of the game starts with forming of the fellowship, thus adding new team members: Boromir, Legolas, etc., until the end of the novel.

Gyroscope is based on the Atari arcade game Marble Madness, the gameplay is very similar except the player controls a spinning gyroscope rather than a marble. The game is presented in isometric 3D. The player must guide the gyroscope from the top of the course to the bottom within an allotted time limit. If the gyroscope topples off the edge, a life is lost. Hazards on the course include potholes, aliens and glass slopes which cause the gyroscope to spin in random directions. There are five courses comprising four screens each. The gyroscope had to land on a marked square to complete each level.

The Amiga port of Double Dragon.

Based on the French comic heroes Asterix & Obelix, the game is a side-scrolling beat-em up developed by Krome Studios in 1986. In super early previews from old UK magazines, you can see a tiny Asterix sprite for the C64 version but when it hit shelves worldwide, it was already renamed to Ardok the Barbarian

Horace to the Rescue is a cancelled game for the ZX Spectrum.

The world of Fist II is a sprawling, hostile land of dark swamps and dark forests, of mountains and underground caves. A world where the enemy is not always human, and, even when he is. does not observe the rules and courtesies of temple tournaments. Obstacles and hazards abound. Ninja, Shoguns. warriors and soldiers lie in ambush. Savage animals prowl and prey upon intruders. At the culmination of this quest lies the volcano fortress of the evil warlord, ruling the blighted land from behind a deadly defence of mercenary guards and traps. The warlord can only be destroyed by a true Fist Master! Fist II: The Legend Continues defies classification. Over 100 different screens, more than 700 sprites.

Fighting Warrior is a melee / weapon based beat em up game released

It is a slash 'em up 1 or 2 player game in which you play one of 3 princes, each out to defeat his brothers and gain control of the castle. You can see the 2 players simultaneously side by side. You navigate to the different rooms by selecting the windows on the scrolling castle display on the bottom of the screen. These windows are color coded to whichever prince controls that particular room. The rooms are displayed as a view from the window showing exits left, right and forward (which can move you up or down).

A Soccer game for early computer systems. The match is viewed from the side, although it switches to a 3D view when the ball is close to the goal. The ball roughly sticks to the player's foot. Set pieces are controlled by moving an aiming cross-hair.

A graphic adventure from the '80s. Featuring super-hero Redhawk.

You have to search a hotel in order to find the plans for a super computer in this adventure with arcade elements.

Conquestador is a classic hack 'n' slash arcade adventure, developed by Erbe Software, an atmospheric game of fantasy and nightmare.

Step into the shoes of the Master Detective, and abuse Watson in whatever way you see fit in this text adventure

In 1982 Tang also produced Horace Goes Skiing. In it, Horace must cross a dangerous road teeming with traffic to rent out a pair of skis, à la Frogger, get back over the road and successfully navigate a ski course. This title is not a true sequel, as it does not follow on from an original story and is only similar in that it features the same character. Like Hungry Horace, this title was available on the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Dragon 32. As before, Sinclair distributed the Spectrum version, Melbourne House the Commodore 64 and Dragon 32 versions.