Sleepwalker and the army of British 8-bit fans still playing cassette games in the '90s
It's true that the UK moved on to Amigas and consoles as the '80s faded. But a lot of Spectrums, C64s and Amstrads were still plugged in. A handful of prolific publishers were happy to serve them
I’ve been on a few podcasts in the last few years to talk about the Commodore 64 in the early to mid ‘90s (it’s ‘cos I made this). One of the questions I usually get asked early doors is: the ‘90s? That’s a bit late in the day, isn’t it?
What they’re really asking me is wasn’t everyone using an Amiga etc after some mythical cut-off point at the back end of ‘89? Well, yes. A lot of people were. But gamers who’d been dazzled by the 16-bit machines fondly held on to their old microcomputers in decent numbers. They were joined by legions of younger siblings using hand-me-downs. A third group of people who were finally able to afford a computer for the first time made up a good chunk of players too (by late 1990, 8-bitters were selling for around the £150 mark). Finally, there were those who didn’t want to upgrade or just couldn’t afford it.
Look at the sales figures for the three biggest 8-bit magazines between January and June of 1992, when this week’s featured game Sleepwalker was released:
YOUR SINCLAIR (Spectrum) – 40,648
COMMODORE FORMAT (C64)– 60,045 (can’t go direct to the page here, but flip to p.11 for the news story)
AMSTRAD ACTION (CPC) – 35,298
Two of these titles (CF and AA) boasted in their October ’92 issues of circulation increases, and this combined total of nearly 136,000 readers doesn’t account for people buying another mag or no mag at all. So, er, those 136,000+ and their spare change are the answer to that podcast question. What were they all playing, then?
Well. A mix of publishers hung about (including big boys like Ocean and US Gold) before retailers like WHSmith and Boots stopped selling 8-bit games in the Autumn of 1992 (Alternative Software’s Roger Hulley described that moment on the Retro Hour as “killing the market overnight”). After that a handful of mainly budget publishers cartwheeled for attention via mail order, big city stores like Virgin and specialist shops.
Codemasters and Zeppelin notably super served the market with a string of four quid games which were short, good-natured and technically brilliant. After a few years of the 8-bits spluttering along trying to replicate advanced arcade and 16-bit games, this back-to-roots stuff was refreshing. The software took advantage of what the machines did best. CJ’s Elephant Antics was colourful platform action unbothered at pretending to be Mario. Slicks was favourably compared to Micro Machines. And who could resist Chris Butler’s unexpected C64 swansong, the no-relation-honest Arnie? There are tons to choose from, and if you did migrate to an Amiga or whatever at the close of the ‘80s you might’ve missed out on these late treasures. Every now and then here on Bang! I’ll pick out a few of the most interesting ones from a very special era.
Sleepwalker (Zeppelin, C64 in late 1991 and Spectrum in 1992) gets a firm fist bump for novelty. You and your Uncle Silas – who’s possibly inspired by this 1864 gothic novel - live in a knackered old mansion. Silas is always sleepwalking. It’s your job to get him back to bed every night without waking him up (as anyone who’s ever watched cartoons will know, that shit is dangerous for reasons). The house is full of stuff that could awaken the old geezer, of course: drawing pins on the floor, exposed electrical wires and radios turned up to full volume. There’s only one thing for it: you have to throw yourself under the bus over and over. In this game you’re forever getting electrocuted, pierced in the foot, waterboarded and blown up with dynamite. If you get your dozy uncle through a whole week of this slapstick safely, you win.
The flick screen action’s viewed as a cross section of the house. Silas wanders aimlessly from room to room, arms outstretched. It’s easy enough to, say, boot the cat out of the way as he approaches it. But that costs time - by which point your daft bastard uncle will usually be in another room. Unless you’re lucky, by the time you catch up he’s wandered off somewhere else: it can be really easy to lose Silas in the massive playing area. A scanner (like in a football game) would’ve really helped with this. As it stands, if you lose track of the chap it’s only a matter of time before he falls into the cellar. It puts you off doing the fun stuff like, er, getting electrocuted. The other gripe is that the Commodore version can crash unpredictably. It’s maddening, and sometimes chilling (on one occasion Silas just froze on my screen making the scream sound effect on loop. It was like some awful ‘80s flick where he was stuck in the game and I was his only hope. I think of it often).
And yet, and yet. Sleepwalker redeems itself. It has a cheeky personality and the feel of something that the programmers enjoyed making (the gorgeous animated C64 title screen is like an old matinee movie, and the way the cat really moves like a cat on the Spectrum is deeply satisfying). The excellent animation that accompanies being blown up, deafened or otherwise ended are what really make this game. It is genuinely funny, and rather like Grand Theft Auto in modern times you’ll find yourself getting killed for comic value. The C64 one looks nicer at first and its comedy deaths definitely win, but I preferred the Speccy game overall. It feels darker and more tuned in to the theme. Silas moves more predictably and looks beautifully Dickensian. The playing sprite glides around in a suitably frantic fashion too.
This one’s a laugh whichever flavour you choose, though. Ultimately, it isn’t more than an evening’s playing (get through it once, there’s nothing more to see) but Sleepwalker is like a last days of summer love letter to the 8-bit machines: quirky, engaging and a little bit bugged. Sleep well. 💤
There are a bunch of games about sleepwalking, and a fair few called Sleepwalker. If you’re gonna hunt this one down, you’re looking for the Zeppelin Games release. See you next week!