Future Basketball

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1990

One of the first Speedball clones takes the basic court layout of basketball as its inspiration. There are 5 players on each team, on a small court with 2 and 3 point shooting areas. The difference is that physical contact of a fairly violent nature is allowed, and the court is littered with mines and bombs to wound the players. Shooting involves holding down fire to get the height right, so avoid being tackled as you prepare your shot. Other basketball rules such as double-dribbling and the 25-second hand-over are unsurprisingly waived. A 3-division league is included to progress through.

Future Basketball

Atari ST - Released - 1990

One of the first Speedball clones takes the basic court layout of basketball as its inspiration. There are 5 players on each team, on a small court with 2 and 3 point shooting areas. The difference is that physical contact of a fairly violent nature is allowed, and the court is littered with mines and bombs to wound the players. Shooting involves holding down fire to get the height right, so avoid being tackled as you prepare your shot. Other basketball rules such as double-dribbling and the 25-second hand-over are unsurprisingly waived. A 3-division league is included to progress through.

Moonfall

Commodore Amiga - Released - 1991

Moonfall is set on the moon Frontier Alfa which was once colonized by human settlers. Unfortunately they were enslaved by an alien race later. After even more time passes, the player arrives on this moon. He does not become a slave, however, but receives a trading license. The big goal of the game is to earn enough money to buy every base, factory, station and plant in order to free humanity. Similar to Elite, this is a mix between a trading and an action game. The player travels over the moon, visits the settlements and buys/sells one of the 18 different goods. Of course it is important to know where which product is needed in order to receive a good profit. This should not just be saved but also reinvested into weapon upgrades (additionally to the starting laser shot, homing missiles and mines) to survive space pirate attacks. The player may also choose to go into the pirate business and attack freighters. The ship has a high-speed travel motor to speed up the traveling time between settlements after choosing them on the navigation computer. There are also some missions to do.

Moonfall

Atari ST - Released - 1991

Moonfall is set on the moon Frontier Alfa which was once colonized by human settlers. Unfortunately they were enslaved by an alien race later. After even more time passes, the player arrives on this moon. He does not become a slave, however, but receives a trading license. The big goal of the game is to earn enough money to buy every base, factory, station and plant in order to free humanity. Similar to Elite, this is a mix between a trading and an action game. The player travels over the moon, visits the settlements and buys/sells one of the 18 different goods. Of course it is important to know where which product is needed in order to receive a good profit. This should not just be saved but also reinvested into weapon upgrades (additionally to the starting laser shot, homing missiles and mines) to survive space pirate attacks. The player may also choose to go into the pirate business and attack freighters. The ship has a high-speed travel motor to speed up the traveling time between settlements after choosing them on the navigation computer. There are also some missions to do.

Steel

Atari ST - Released - 1989

The space ship Steel is so advanced that it is completely operated by robots. As usually in video games, these robots went havoc and have to be put out of business. This job falls to the player who goes on the ship to shut down the security system. He is disguised as robot, but this does not stop the other ones from attacking. So the player wanders around the maze-like ship, consisting of non-scrolling screens, with the ultimate goal to collect eight cartridges. The player can hold up to three at the same time and needs to bring them to the main control panel. The enemy robots can be blasted away with the laser weapon, but contact costs energy. Losing all energy results in death, but it can be refilled in special stations which are spread over the ship. Using them costs points from the high score. There are also some terminals which need to be cleared by solving a mini game. It basically consists of shooting a wall enough within a time limit without being hit by bullets.