Most original/experimental budget games

[SharkusMaximus]

As the title suggests, what do people think were the most original or unusual budget titles for the CPC? I'm looking for things that were also technically impressive and just generally showed that budget games really could compete with the full-price offerings.

[zeropolis79]

Not technically impressive, but Steg the Slug by Codemasters wins points for originality.

[eto]

As the title suggests, what do people think were the most original or unusual budget titles for the CPC? I'm looking for things that were also technically impressive and just generally showed that budget games really could compete with the full-price offerings.

Technically impressive will be rare for budget titles, but technically solid can be found pretty often. Honestly, I have the gut feeling the percentage of rubbish titles was by far less than for full price titles. Thinking of it, when I look at what I usually play even today, the budget titles are much more often selected than full price titles... seems their typical simplicity helps to keep up the motivation to play it again.


BMX simulator is somehow special with an amazing title music.
Ghosthunters - technically not special but the gameplay is
Mission Genocide - technically impressive: smooth 50fps scrolling

[Gryzor]

Steg looks cute on the CPC, but I got bored after barely 30 seconds of it:

https://youtu.be/DtyQhethavs?t=309

[ComSoft6128]

Zub was a little cracker of a game - drove me bonkers every time I fell off one of those little clouds


https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ZUB


http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/z/index2.html

[reidrac]

+1 for Zub!

I would say as well Spellbound because the interface. All the games in the series are great for a budget game!

[Shaun M. Neary]

Rasterscan by Mastertronic definitely falls into this category. It can be frustrating the first few goes but once you figure out the locks and where everything is, it's a lot of fun.

Once you finish it though, you're not likely to bother playing it again though.

[Gryzor]

Ah I remember watching @chinnyhill10 's vid on it, looks pretty impressive, technically speaking and for the era (and price)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqieSpYA_xE

[SharkusMaximus]

Thanks, one and all. These are some good choices and definitely the kind of thing I was looking for.


I'm asking because I was just thinking about the different roles that budget games played. On the one hand, you have games which were simply straight copies of better known titles but sold at a lower price than the licensed ones, such as Ninja Massacre, but on the other you have the more unusual ones which let curious buyers try something different but without the risk of losing a tenner if they turned out to be a dud. Thanks to you all, I now have a few more ideas for the latter category.