Gauntlet II Atari ST conversion, US Gold, 1988 The entire first 3 1/4" floppy disc is consumed by this splendidly animated arcade machine, rotating to display the magnificent title screen The superb visuals are accompanied by suitably atmospheric digitised organ music

International Karate Plus ( IK+ ) Atari ST, 1987 The late coding maestro Archer Maclean's tour de force, perfecting the one vs. two combat genre The quality of the title is immediately evident in the title screen's psychedelic fighters, cheat codes, and comedic key functions

Novagen's Mercenary The first open-world game, with the first in-engine cutscene, I recall ever witnessing, on a friend's modified Atari 400 (1985) Opening with the Prestinium ship's Novadrive emergency and crash sequence, Benson's withering sarcasm is superb: "good landing!"

The Great Escape, Ocean, 1986 Denton Design's WWII p.o.w-camp sandbox classic features a unique mechanic - without control input, the player's avatar automatically adheres to the daily prison routine Four decades on, the game remains relevant as a contemporary life simulator

Alien 8... Alienating Acclaimed developer Ultimate's sci-fi re-skin of Knightlore I found the game to be a technical showcase, but frustrating as hell I spent one Saturday morning entering a huge infinite lives Poke routine I had a map I got trapped in a corner and rage quit

A truly magnificent creation, wrought from the humble ZX Spectrum, working within the massive limitations of 8 x 8 attribute colour resolution Batman: The Caped Crusader MAC (Marco Antonio del Campo) of Batman Group

Matt Smith, complete genius; from Manic Miner's loading screen to the game-over animation. I don't know if this implementation of the Spectrum's FLASH attribute was the first commercial use, but it's definitely the first time I recall seeing it Simple, but so very effective.