Villordsutch counts down Your Sinclair’s Top 100 ZX Spectrum Games…
From Avalon yesterday we bounce towards the life of a sentient tennis ball with the first Gremlin Graphics game (and it certainly won’t be the last) to grace our countdown, as Bounder arrives to truly shatter our nerves.
Gremlin Graphics was the software house that delivered numerous titles that have stuck in the minds of many old gamers – titles that included Jack the Nipper, many Monty Mole games and H.A.T.E.; however it takes a simple game, like Bounder, a game that contained that certain spark, to really stick in the recesses of your brain and never ever leave.
In Bounder your task was easy, control the bouncing tennis ball, taking it from the bottom of the level and guiding it up to the top. However, with platforms spread apart, many pitfalls, traps and aggressive mobs you often found yourself turning the air blue around you. The worst thing is no matter how many times you died, you bizarrely found yourself instantly clicking the start button again; like some odd masochist who needed to be punished by this game once more. You cursed it and reset your machine, yet still eventually you loaded Bounder back up for it was that good.
You can currently pre-order from Bitmap Books A Gremlin in the Works by Mark Hardisty, which looks at the life of this rather grand British software house of the 1980’s & 90’s.
SEE ALSO: Follow the rest of the Your Sinclair Top 100 ZX Spectrum Games
@Villordsutch
Originally published May 30, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
