Issue 10, December 1984 - The YS Top 20 & Top Turkeys
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| T H E Y S T O P 2 0 |
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| Here we are, it's almost Christmas and it would seem, from our
chart at least, that everyone's still playing the 'oldies but goldies'.
Remember, this chart is based solely on the votes you send in -
and not on fictitious sales figures - so if you don't agree with
what you see, fill in the form below (or a photocopy ... we're not
fussed) and tell us what you think should be topping the charts. The carrot is still three software packages for the first voting slip to be pulled out of the Editor's hat, and this month's lucky winner is Matthew Williamson of Haverfordwest. As you can see in Frontlines this month we've compiled a Christmas Turkey Chart of the top five software 'nasties'. But don't think we're going to let you off so easily! You'll notice our coupon still allows you to fill in your top three turkeys of the month - these will be used to get together our Turkey Chart for Christmas 1985. So don't forget to fill 'em in! On a last note, when you're sending off your letters to Forum, or ordering ZIP or YS MegaBasic, why not put your voting slip in as well. It'll save you the price of a stamp! Post all entries to YS Charts, Your Spectrum, 14 Rathbone Place, London W1P 1DE. |
| THIS MONTH | LAST MONTH | MONTHS IN CHART | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
| 2 | 7 | JET SET WILLY SOFTWARE PROJECTS | BACK AT THE NUMBER ONE SPOT WITH A VENGEANCE! SO HOW COME IT'S TOP TURKEY AS WELL? |
| 2 | 
| 1 | 4 | SABRE WULF ULTIMATE | AT LAST, IT'S BEEN KNOCKED OFF THE TOP ... ULTIMATELY, IT HAD TO HAPPEN! |
| 3 |
| 5 | 7 | MANIC MINER SOFTWARE PROJECTS | AREN'T YOU FED UP WITH THIS ONE YET - IT'S POSITIVELY ANCIENT ... |
| 4 |
| 6 | 7 | ATIC ATAC ULTIMATE | GOING UP! A NEW LEASE OF 'UN-LIFE' FOR THE SPOOK SPOOF. |
| 5 |
| 4 | 6 | TRASHMAN NEW GENERATION SOFTWARE | THIS ONE'S ON ITS WAY DOWN ... AGAIN! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF TRASHY'S LATEST ADVENTURE? |
| 6 |
| 8 | 2 | ANT ATTACK QUICKSILVA | NOT THIS ONE AGAIN! HASN'T ANYONE OUT THERE SEEN ZOMBIE ZOMBIE YET? |
| 7 |
| 19 | 7 | CHEQUERED FLAG PSION | ACCELERATING UP THE CHARTS. HERE'S ONE TO DRIVE YOU TO DISTRACTION! |
| 8 |
| 3 | 6 | LUNAR JETMAN ULTIMATE | SEEMS THAT NO-ONE'S INTERESTED IN THE MOON ANYMORE. WHY'S THAT? |
| 9 |
| 12 | 6 | WHEELIE MICROSPHERE | NUDGING ITS WAY INTO THE TOP TEN. THIS GAME LOOKS SET TO STAY. |
| 10 |
| 11 | 4 | LORDS OF MIDNIGHT BEYOND SOFTWARE | OK, HANDS UP WHO'S SEEN ALL 32,000 SCREENS! |
| 11 |
| 13 | 4 | MUGSY MELBOURNE HOUSE | THE RUMOUR'S NOT TRUE THAT WE'VE BEEN BRIBED TO INCLUDE THIS GAME! |
| 12 |
| 9 | 7 | CHUCKIE EGG A'N'F SOFTWARE | YOU'LL HAVE EGG ON YOUR FACE IF YOU LET THIS GAME SLIP AWAY UNSEEN. |
| 13 |
| 10 | 2 | THE HOBBIT MELBOURNE HOUSE | GET THE HOBBIT HABIT - THE SOFTWARE OF THE FILM OF THE BOOK, ETC. |
| 14 |
| 16 | 4 | WORLD CUP ARTIC | ALL THE FUN OF THE FOOTBALL PITCH ... WITHOUT THE MUD! |
| 15 |
| 14 | 2 | MATCH POINT SINCLAIR | SINCLAIR COULD BE AT FAULT SERVING UP A TENNIS GAME AFTER WIMBLEDON. |
| 16 |
| - | 1 | HUNCHBACK OCEAN | WE HAD A HUNCH THIS ONE WOULD BE BACK. WE WAS RIGHT! |
| 17 |
| - | 1 | FOOTBALL MANAGER ADDICTIVE GAMES | SO, TWO FOOTBALL GAMES IN THE CHARTS AT ONCE. WHICH DO YOU THINK'S BEST? |
| 18 |
| 17 | 2 | JET PAC ULTIMATE | NOW YOU SEE IT ... SOON YOU WON'T? JET PAC LOOKS SET TO BLAST OUT OF THE CHARTS. |
| 19 |
| - | 1 | TLL VORTEX | OBLITERATE THE TARGETS IN THIS FLIGHT SIMULATION AS YOU CONTROL A SWING-WING FIGHTER. |
| 20 |
| - | 1 | FRED QUICKSILVA | WHAT'S THIS ONE DOING SKULKING AROUND THE CHART'S NETHER REGIONS? HAVE YOU NO TASTE? |
Funny thing is some of them also get voted as the best! (Well I never! Ed.) Still here are the Turkeys in descending order of nastiness - culminating, of course, with this year's winner of the coveted Your Spectrum Strangled Turkey Awards for 1984. 
1 JET SET WILLY SOFTWARE PROJECTS Hey ... how come this is top of the best sellers and bottom of the dogs? Is there sneaky work afoot? Perhaps it was just the publicity overkill ... And no, I haven't got any more POKEs for chrissake!
2 TRANSYLVANIAN TOWER RICHARD SHEPHERD SOFTWARE Here it is again - skimmed off the top of last year's poll and pipped only by JSW. Looks like some people never forgive and forget.
3 MAD MARTHA II MIKRO-GEN After Mad Martha I, who would be man enough to sample MMII? A few it seems - otherwise we'd never have known just how awful the follow-up was!
4 YOMP VIRGIN GAMES One of the true low points of 1983 disinterest. Still this early Virgin release pulls in the negative votes - with the most impeccable reasons.
5 SCHIZOIDS IMAGINE SOFTWARE If you weren't already before you started, then schizoid you're likely to be before you're finished - if you can stay awake that long. Let's hope it's one that Imagine's receiver isn't able to flog off in the foreseeable future. |
If there's one thing you can say about the games software released in 1984 - it's that the quality overall has been higher than in 1983. That's not to say, of course, that there haven't been the usual crop of misfires. Take A'n'F Software's Dashing Dougie, for instance. The copious pages of advertising early in the year suggested a mega-bombshell was on the way - then. nothing. The ads stoped and A'n'F quietly forgot about it. Perhaps the game was so awful it never reached the duplication stage. Certainly whispers went around that the software changed programmers towards the end of its aborted life; was the first programmer making a pig's ear of it? Or was it just that the second programmer was unfamiliar with the particular coding techniques of the first? It looks like we'll never know. Biggest teeth-gnash of the year for me has been the latest 'megadventure' program, Eureka. On the whole it's pretty good, but - and that's a big but - the arcade games that you have to play to get into the adventure can be summed up in one unprintable word. Pass the POKEs, Gladys. Those unkind enough to want to present companies with Turkey Awards for knocking out consistently bad programming may look no further than Virgin Games. On the other hand, VG has just gone and ruined everything by switching strategy and actually buying the rights to some decent stuff! K-TEL, however, is still riding high on its lowliness ... I haven't seen a good game from that direction so far. 'Two-for-one' sounds OK, providing somewhere down the line you're getting value for money. Sidney Snide says the programs we list in YS are far better than the wee packs K-TEL send us for review ... of course, I wouldn't dare say such a thing myself. So, on we go to '85. It might be nice to predict that we've seen the last of the turkey droppings and that next year, all will be fascination and excitement on the software shelf. The trouble is, should such an awesome dream gain fulfillment, what am I going to write about next year? |
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