Popular games for platform Sinclair ZX81

31.12.1984

Casca a Cobra is a strategy game where you need to chase a snake and eat its body up to the head.

31.12.1982

An unofficial port of Atari's Centipede made by Jeff Minter in the early years of Llamasoft.

01.09.2019

"Sam Mallard: The Case of the Missing Swan" is a short film noir adventure on the go with 15 different locations to explore and a fantastic 8-bit Jazz noir sound-track.

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31.12.1981

01.07.1983

Aeroporto 83 is an action shooter game developed by Renato Degiovani and published by the magazine Micro Sistemas, it is considered to be one of the first Brazilian computer games to be commercially released.

01.06.1984

Tournament Tennis is an early tennis game featuring or even creating many conventions that would become standard features in later tennis simulations. Matches can be played at quarter-final, semi-final or final level - winning at one level automatically moves the player to the next one. They can last for 3 or 5 sets, with a player requiring a 2-game lead to win a set, though a tie-break comes in at 6–6 in all but the final set.

31.12.1985

Endurance is a motorcycle racing simulation game released in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Up to five players compete in turn-based races across various tracks, managing speed, endurance, and strategy. The game features alternating turns and was praised for its realism and challenge.

31.12.1982

Fortress of Zorlac is a shoot 'em up with some similarities to Yars' Revenge. The player's objective is to rid the galaxy of a dreaded alien called Zorlac. Zorlac is positioned on the right side of the screen and is protected by a fortress consisting of three rotating walls as well as four indestructible stationary guns. The player starts out at the left edge of the screen but can move around in all directions. To be able to hit the alien the player first has to blast a hole through the three walls. It is made harder by the constant movements of both the rotating walls and the alien. At the same time the player has to avoid being hit by the defense guns which automatically lock in on the player ship. As the game goes on the fortress slowly moves toward the player who gets less space to dodge the enemy fire. Once the player has been able to hit Zorloc, he gets enraged and the game moves on to the next level that's played at a higher speed. The player scores points by destroying the walls of the fortress and for hitting the alien. Points are awarded based on the skill level chosen before a game and the player's distance from the edge of the screen. Hitting the alien is worth fifty times more than destroying a block in the fortress. The player has access to five ships and once they have all been destroyed the game ends.

31.12.1983

Byter is a Pac-Man clone. You control a mouse, moving about a maze and attempting to eat all the dots while avoiding monsters. If you touch a monster then you lose one of three lives but if you collect one of four dollar signs then you can eat the monsters for a short time.

31.12.1983

Munchees is a Pac-Man clone where you must move around a maze to clear it by eating all the dots. As you eat the dots you have to avoid ghosts and if you touch one then you lose one of three lives. There are power-pills that can be eaten and these allow you to eat the ghosts for a short time. You have a choice of how many ghosts on the maze (1-4).

31.12.1982

QS Scramble is a clone of the arcade game Scramble. It's a side-scrolling shooter where the player controls a space craft flying over the surface of an alien planet. Movement is limited to moving up and down and there are two weapons to attack with: forward going missiles and bombs that are dropped onto ground targets. Five missiles can be fired at a time and three bombs can be dropped at a time. Targets include aliens that swoop down from above and rockets that launch from the ground. On the ground there are also fuel dumps. The game goes on until the player has lost all three lives or the fuel runs out.

31.12.1982

Namtir Raiders is a fixed screen shoot 'em up. The objective is simply to shoot down as many enemy raiders as possible and save the earth. There are four waves of enemies and each wave has a different kind of enemy. The movement of the ship is a bit different from other shoot 'em ups. Rather than having keys for up, down, left and right, they here lead to diagonal moves (for example up and left, down and right). The player has five lives and earns more when all four waves have been completed. Once they have the game starts over with the first wave. A difficulty level between one and three can be chosen before the game begins. The higher levels run at a higher pace.

31.12.1981

QS Asteroids is a fairly basic conversion of the original arcade game. The action starts immediately after loading (no title or options screens here) and players finds themselves in a space ship in the middle of the screen with numerous asteroids passing by. To control the ship, two keys are used for rotating it, one for shooting and another for thrusting it forward. Shooting can be done in eight directions. On an unmodified ZX81, the ship is represented by a number which changes with rotation (For example 0 means it's pointing up, while 4 is down) and the asteroids are o's, while users with a QS CHRS board get graphics more similar to the arcade original. The player starts with three ships and after 10,000 points a bonus ship is given. Asteroids appear in waves. The first one has two large ones and the number increases with each new wave.

31.12.1983

Pac Rabbit is a Pac-Man clone where you take the role of a rabbit and you move about a maze eating all the dots to clear the maze. As you eat the dots you must avoid the hounds that are hunting you but you can eat magic carrots which enable you to eat the hounds for a short time. If you touch a hound then you lose one of ten lives. There are six mazes split into two parts, Rabbits Revenge and Run Rabbit Run and you can choose the speed of the game (0-9) with zero being the fastest.

31.12.1982

Thro' The Wall also Scramble is a double games pack that contains: Thro' The Wall: A Breakout clone where you control a bat on the bottom of the screen moving left or right, to hit a ball upwards and remove bricks above. If the ball goes past the bat then you lose one of three lives. There is a choice of the speed of the ball and they are Normal, Fast and Superfast. Scramble: You view your craft from the side as it flies from left to right horizontally constantly, and you must avoid or shoot ground installations and enemy craft with your missiles. You can use a smart bomb to destroy everything on the screen but you only have one and if you hit the ground or any enemy then you lose one of three lives. You have the choice of ten speeds (1-10) with one being the fastest.

31.12.1982

Artic Computing's take on Reversi

01.10.1982

In what is possibly the most baffling text adventure ever devised, navigate a surreal landscape with the aid of the Pi-Man in an attempt to discover the (real world) location of a golden sundial. Originally published in 1982.

31.12.1983

08.10.2023

Stinger is a tank-shooter with several enemies, levels, power-ups and items to pick.

30.06.2023

Shuriken is somehow inspired by Pac-man and Pengo.

31.12.1983

Cassette 50 is a compilation of 50 games that was released for a variety of 8-bit home computers, albeit with different selections of games on different computers. The majority of games within the collection were programmed in BASIC and are widely considered to be of poor quality.

31.12.1984

31.12.1983

3D Grand Prix (for the ZX81 with 16K memory expension module) is a racing simulator with a first person view. You race against others on random generated track. You have to accellerate, brake, steer and switch (6) gears.