Popular games for platform Sinclair ZX81

A Defender like (right only) side scrolling shooter. You are equiped with a laser to shoot enemies and a few super bombs destroying all enemies. While fighting of enemies you have to rescue prisoners on the ground by flying close to them (whatch for gravity pulling you down). This "high-resoluation" game runs on a standard ZX81 with a 16K memory expansion module.

A Pac-Man clone for the ZX81 with 16k memory expansion module and for the ZX Spectrum

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.

Asteroids (Software Farm) is a clone of the Arcade version which sees your craft in the middle of an asteroid field and you must destroy all the asteroids to survive. The asteroids start off large and when you shoot one then it splits into two, and shooting an asteroid this size splits it into two again before being destroyed with another shot. Occasionally an alien craft appears moving across the screen and this can be destroyed for extra points. If you are hit by an asteroid or the alien craft then you lose one of three lives. You are able to turn your ship 360 degrees as well as move forward. There are three skill levels (1-3) and four players can play with each player taking it in turn when the last player is killed.

Jungle Maths is an educational game for multiple sytstems. The player must travel through a jungle to reach their home base and safety. To do this, they must correctly answer 10 math questions. A map tracks the player's progress. If the player answers incorrectly, they could fall in a pit, sink into quicksand, or have other animated maladies befall them. Five incorrect answers, and it's game over. Options include numbers from 10 to 1000, subtraction or addition, negative numbers, and time to answer the questions.

You control a base on the bottom of the screen moving left or right, and you have to blast or avoid falling meteors with your laser over five waves. As you avoid or blast the meteors, you also have a panic button which removes all meteors on the screen but using this reduces your bonus. A wave ends when your base is hit and you move to the next wave but with the meteors falling faster. Before you start the game, you can select three levels of difficulty, Slow, Fast and Expert.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Breakout 3 is based on the arcade game Breakout but instead of the bat on the bottom of the screen, the bat is on the left side of the screen. The aim is to hit bricks on the right of the screen to make them disappear but if you let the ball past the bat then you lose one of three lives. Before the start of the game you can choose whether to play with one or two bats, and playing with two bats has them parallel to each other a small distance apart. There are also three types of games to play and they are: Practise Game: A normal game with the choice to choose the speed of the bat (1-4) with 1 being the slowest. Progressive Game: Every time you hit the ball it speeds up and also removing a set of bricks makes the ball faster. Acceleration Game: The ball will speed up for every 10th brick disappearing and it speeds up when all the bricks have been removed.

Released in 1982, Adventure B: Inca Curse is the second in a series of eight interactive fiction adventures made by Artic Computing. The aim is to explore an Incan temple in order to find golden treasures. There are eight treasures and only six items can be carried in the inventory, so the correct treasures must be collected in order to leave the temple with the maximum score.

A unique platformer with twist. While being chased by a giant blob you need to gather fuel and a rocket on the right platform. After this you can fly, over water, to the left platforms to gather jewels. Given the capabilities of the ZX81 an wonderfull game in "high-res".

Early ZX81 game.

Ten 1K Games is a collection of ten games and programs that contains: Survival: A program that sees you sat on the screen watching bombs explode around you, seeing how long you can survive. Typing: A typing tutor that allows you to select the speed of the program before typing the letter or number that flashes on a keyboard on the screen. Reverse: A puzzle game where you have a row of mixed up numbers from one to nine and you have to select how many numbers to reverse to put the row in order. Night Rally: You move up a road and you have to move left or right to avoid hitting the sides. Airstrike: A plane flies above a target from left to right at different heights and you have to press P to try to bomb it. Crocodile Swamp: A plane flies above a target from left to right at different heights and you have to jump out and move left or right to land on the target. Missile Chase: A missile flies at the top of the screen and you control the speed (normal or fast) of an Exocet to intercept the missile. Moonlander: Your craft falls down the screen and you have to move it left or right to land on a landing pad. Music: A program that lets you listen to a tune. Invader Dodge: Invaders move downwards and you have to move left or right to avoid hitting them.

Backgammon for the ZX81 with 16K memory expansion module or for the ZX Spectrum.

Sim of a catering business.

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.

You have to defeat the Lords of Chaos in this action adventure.

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.

Arcade Action is a collection of five games which include: Overtaker: The aim of the game is to drive up the screen passing as many cars as you can in two minutes to get the highest score you can. You can move your car left or right, and increase your speed but you can't slow down and the faster you drive the quicker your score increases. If you hit other cars then you stop which also stops your score increasing. Missile Man: Based on Galaxians, you must move your craft left or right at the bottom of the screen to blast and destroy the aliens above moving left and right. The aliens will drop missiles on you and occasionally an alien will move down the screen. If you are hit by a missile or an alien then you lose one of three lives. Spacefighter Pilot: Your crippled Mothership is orbiting a planet but the planet residents are firing missiles upwards to destroy it. You control a crosshair at the top of the screen and you must move left or right and hit the missiles. If your Mothership is hit too many times then it is game over. Greedy Gobbler: In this Pac-Man clone you must move about a maze eating all the dots while avoiding ghosts who are out to kill you. If you touch a ghost then you lose one of three lives but there are four power-pills that can be eaten to allow you to eat the ghosts for a limited time. Extra Terrestrial: Your mission is to destroy the whole world before a timer reaches zero. You move across the screen to the right above a map of the world. Pressing keys 1 - 8 fires a missile and the number you press determines the range of the missile.

Alerta Vermelho is a game where you need attack the enemy planet using the lasers and bombs you have and, at the same time, defend yourself.

An obscure compilation consisiting of six games for the ZX81.