We leave the orb stealing, gravity pulling, highly enjoyable but Thrust-rating (hope you caught that?) space adventure and we turn to quite possibly the strangest titled game in the Your Sinclair Top 100, one that in some parts of the UK is really lost in translation. We’ve arrived at No. #61 and in bobs Eric and the Floaters.
Eric and the Floaters, programmed by Y. Tanaka, T. Sasagawa, came from the Hudson Soft stable back in 1984. Hudson Soft – more commonly known as Hudson – were subsidiary of Konami, releasing games on home computers during the 1980’s and later on consoles and mobile phone. However, it’s the 1980’s were more interested in specifically the “Floaters” title which looks suspiciously like another game, anyone who has watched the video below will be instantly thinking, “That’s Bomberman!?” and you wouldn’t be that far wrong either.
Konami also released a redressed version of Eric and the Floaters shortly after with the same programmers involved, renamed as Bomberman and both this – along with Eric – are counted in the chain of numerous versions of the game franchise.
The ZX Spectrum version while looking very much dated now, still retains the core fun that you have within all future Bomberman games. You still find yourself attempting to lure out the enemy – in this case balloons – with your fleshy body with a hope that they’ll walk into the path of your well placed bomb; you find yourself panicking as you drop a bomb, the realisation you’ve locked yourself into a corner with mere seconds to find a safe route out. Eric and the Floaters may be thirty-two years old but it still has spades of gameplay available.
If you can give the basic graphics a chance, I think you’ll find that Eric and the Floaters will keep you playing for quite a while.
Originally published June 28, 2016. Updated March 21, 2023.
